GABF Photo

Beer chips!! I'm famous I'm famous! Just go look on the website!!! http://beerchips.com/index.php?page=beerchips-pictures

Bubba's First Birthday!

October 17, 2007 my nephew was born. William Budge Wallis IV ??? I'm' not sure which number he is. We called him Bubba before he was born, it sort of stuck. We call him Will, too. I've not had a new nephew since 1996! So we are thrilled to have a yet another baby boy in the family. He makes 13 neices and nephews and counting. Can you believe three of my siblilngs including myself haven't even started their families yet? My mother is going to get screwed on Christmas's and Birthday's. I guess she already has. It's funny to think that I will more than likely become a great aunt before I even become a mother...probably before I become a wife to someone. Weird! I have a nephew who is on a mission, so he's 20 now I think, and a neice who turned 21 in September. Yikes. I don't really have plans to pop out any babies until I've finished my bachelor's degree. Who knows how long that will take. Hopefully I can hunker down and take more credits next semester and just shut myself out of the world so I can get this whole painful ordeal over already and start my career. I'd really like to move somewhere out of Utah fairly soon, but since I am working at the University of Utah, I had better take advantadge of half price tuition and finish my degree here.

Anyway that's enough rambling for one day. I'm still hounding Mike to download the American Idol and Great American Beer Fest pictures so I can makes posts on those. I will try harder I guess.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Yes, September is arguably my favorite month of the year. The weather is beautiful, leaves begin to fall, classes begin, and life is simply wonderful.
I started classes two weeks ago. It will be a great semester. I don't see any reason why I won't do fantastic this semester. I'm excited to be in school again and to feel accomplished. I'm still working in financial aid, and that's going great. I love the people I work with and the work that I do. The benefits are equally awesome. I just discovered that University employees will get the 24th and 26th of December off with pay. Yippee!! That makes a five day weekend. Yes! I'm considering a non-traditional christmas vacation this year. I can't decide exactly what I'd like to do, but I'm looking forward to it.
I'm excited for the weekends coming this fall. I predict many hikes, picnics and festivals to come. I just love this time of year, and I love being on the University of Utah campus everyday. There's just something truly calming and peaceful about it. I've had great experiences on this campus. I won't lie though, I do miss singing in the University Singers more often than not, but I know that there are other opportunities out there for me that I need to experience next.
Life keeps moving and before we know it we'll in be in 2009. I'm grateful for the experiences I've had this year. Yes, we still have 3 months before the year is over, but I feel like writing down my thoughts and experiences. I've grown so much thi s year. I feel lucky to have crossed paths with Mike. He's been a great part of my life this year. We've been together nearly 9 months now. I hope to share many more experiences with him.
I often wonder what lies in my future. I don't spend too much time thinking about the future, but just enough to strike my curiosity and influence me for the better. It's easy to be curious because life hasn't turned out like I had expected in any way. So how many more unexpected turns will my life take? It's curious for sure.

Got a headlamp? I do! I do!

So Mike and I went up some Canyon last wednesday...somewhere off the left side of I 80 heading towards Park City. I didn't really want to go at all since wednesday nights I usually meet up with my girlfriends and do dinner or something. I've been itching to get in the mountains and use my super cool headlamp for months now. The second Mike mentioned that it would be dark I said "oooh I get to use my head lamp! I'm in!!". My friends made fun of me so bad, but I didn't care. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures with me wearing my super cool head lamp, but I added in another picture of the one I have. It's so cool! Needless to say, it was nice getting up in the mountains and enjoying the nice weather up there. We cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmallows on the camp fire. Tastey! It ended up being a good time.

I'm the new financial aid specialist.

Today is my first day as a full-time with benefits employee for the University of Utah in the office of financial aid and scholarships. I interviewed a week and a half ago for the position, which I was invited to apply for by my boss in the temp position, the director of financial aid. I interviewed and was told I'd hear about the position early in the following week. That was last week. Monday passed. Nothing. Tuesday and Wednesday came and passed. Nothing. Thursday was the last day of the work week since Friday was the Fourth of July and by three o'clock I still hadn't been informed on a decision. Four o'clock comes and the manager that interviewed me asked if I had a moment. Finally! He sits me down and offers me the job! They offered me more than the maximum per hour than they'd posted on the job description. I signed the official acceptance letter and jumped for joy. Literally. We brought the acceptance letter to the director, my temp boss, he's kind of a goof, so I jumped in the air and flailed my arms about when he saw they'd offered me the job. It was hilarious really.



My pay increase started July 1st, so it will reflect on the next pay check for all my hours. Yay! I am so thrilled to have found a full time job at the University. Not only do I have a stable job with 40 hours a week now, I also have the benefit of working for the U and taking advantage of half price tuition in six months and fantastic health benefits. The ultimate bonus is that the people I work with are great people. The administration is fun and has really achieved a balance of hard work and fun. The team I will be working directly with are all people under 30. Ahh, it's like a breath of fresh air. I haven't worked with people in my age range since high school. How refreshing!



Now that I have a job that has consistent hours that I can count on I am finally able to move on and focus my energy toward more important things in life than how I'm going to pay the bills. I'm eager to begin school in August and explore the opportunities that lie in higher education. I'm interested in several major areas of concentration for my course work but I'm not going to settle down on one until I've fully researched each one. Right now I am focusing on educating myself and enjoying the experience. When I am ready I'll know which major to choose. In my experience, I've placed to much emphasis on choosing a major and have overlooked the point of going to college, and that is to get educated! Go Maggie!

The Next American Idol??

The moment I heard that American Idol was coming to Salt Lake I knew I should audition. For years people have been telling me to try out, but the idea of traveling to another city isn't appealing and I didn't want it THAT bad. The opportunity has fallen into my lap, so I can't let it pass me by. I'll always wonder if I don't.

I'm confident in my vocal abilities, so whatever happens will be for a good reason. I won't walk out crying and throw my talent down the drain because they didn't think I was right for the competition. I am truly gifted with the ability to sing, if being a star isn't my destiny, then I'm cool with that. I would really love to go to Hollywood, even for a week. That would be a really awesome experience.

So, I'm working like a crazy woman to prepare and get my voice back in shape. It's been a while since I've really sung. I'm getting excited. Auditions are July 29th, so I'll let you know how it goes!

Oh and if you have any suggestions or comments please share them with me!!

My most powerful experience in 2008

During the months of April and May this year I worked for the University of Utah, Teen Mother and Child Program. It's a program geared toward the under served population in Salt Lake County, dealing specifically with pregnant teens under 18 years of age. In this program the girls are given many resources including counseling for substance abuse , social and/or personal problems, adoption placement, parenting classes, vocation/education, and financing medical bills, etc. That is all in addition to the prenatal, postnatal and pediatric visits they receive as a patient in the program. It's an amazing work the team does in helping these young, soon to be parents, through this life changing event.

My role in the program was small, yet significant. I sort of did all the dirty work; preparing charts, sending letters, faxing records, keeping records, updating reports, etc. I did, however, have the opportunity to interact with the teens a bit. I was often the first person the girls spoke with or met in the program after their positive pregnancy test. Sometimes terrified mothers would call in on behalf of their frightened daughter. It was very humbling to see the circumstances of some of our patients. Knowing that I played a small role in helping them through this overwhelming process is something that comes to mind when I consider my life now and my future. I have many years ahead of me to utilize my time and talents to better the lives of others.

This experience sparked the first genuine interest I have ever had in seeking higher education. It's about time right? Not only do I want to educate myself, but I really want to experience personal success and achievement. I recall in high school feeling proud of my accomplishments and proud of my ability to succeed considering all of my personal circumstances. I didn't love going to class...I skipped school way more than a kid should get away with...but even still I was smarter than half my class. I loved being involved in music and drama. I loved to work after school and be social. I loved football and basketball games and going to school dances.

So with all that said, I'm enrolled for 6 credit hours this fall and will be working 40 hours. This isn't to say that I'm not scared of school a bit because I've had some difficult semesters which have lowered my confidence in succeeding. I am ready to move forward, take what I have and give it all I've got. I realize that those experiences that discourage me now were absolutely necessary. Difficult and unfortunate at the time, yes, but it's clear that from each of those experiences I learned something I couldn't learn any other way. In hindsight those weren't failures, they were successes. I learned what I needed to and now I can move on and let go of those feelings that have held me back until now. In twenty years my past will look like a staircase and I'll be at the top. You have to start at the bottom to get at the top. There's no way around it.

Catching Up

I have been slacking on updating my blog. I've made up for lost time though! Go me! I posted blogs in the month they should have been added, so that's where they are. Everything on this page as of today is new.

Enjoy!

My new assignment

So I've started a new job. As you know I was working at Macy's since last October...well they cut my hours back drastically so for quite some time I was basically "getting by" on my seriously weak paycheck. I still work there a few hours a week though. But as you probably know I decided it's time to take a risk and start temping for the University of Utah in their UTemps clerical job pool. I had looked around and applied for several administrative positions but people just won't hire without at least a year or two of secretarial/clerical experience. So I figured this is a great way to gain experience as well as network while jumping around the entire university. My first assignment was at the Teen Mother and Child Program, I was an administrative assistant. I started that assignment mid April. It was very educational working in that program. The team consists of a Pediatrician, Nurse Midwife, RN, LCSW, Voc-Ed Counselor, Financial Counselor, and the Administrative Assistant. These seven people facilitate an amazing work with these young teen moms. My next post will expand more on this experience but for now I'll just explain more about my job situation.

So I completed that assignment and now I'm beginning my next assignment this monday. In this position I will, again, be the administrative assistant in the financial aid office in the Student Services Building at the U of U. I'll be there until July 31st...and maybe stay permanently if the girl I'm subbing for decides not to return after her maternity leave...which wouldn't be unheard of. I'm excited to start on monday. I went two weeks without work...and still I did okay since I've been getting paid way more than at Macy's and was getting a steady 40 hours. That is not to say that I didn't nearly go bonkers sitting at home bored all day...because I did.

I'm really hoping that temping at the U of U will open up doors for a permanent, full time position. That was I will receive health benefits as well as half price tuition after 6 months of employment! Yippee! On top of it all I can finally get ahead and build some savings and such.

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend I took a trip to Breckenridge, Colorado with Mike and his three friends. It was a cramped car ride in his friends Volvo--sedan. I sat in the middle seat the entire 7 and a half hours to Breckenridge. I was so happy to finally have arrived on Saturday afternoon! The highlight of our trip was the white water rafting sunday morning. We had to get up and head out to Brown Canyon at 7 a.m. in order to suit up and begin rafting by 9 a.m. The drive out to the rafting place was about an hour and a half. So much driving!!! We were on the water for about four hours. We all had really sore butts at the end of the day. We also smelled disgusting. This was my first time river rafting and I must say I did pretty great! It was a total blast. After it was all said and done our day of rafting ended around 5 p.m. We were exhausted. We had talked about hiking this 1400 ft mountain but after sitting in the sun for hours we had no energy. I guess it's a good thing Utah has mountains to hike too!

Hiking!

Mike and I went hiking in Milcreek Canyon today! It was cold and most of the trail was still snowy. I had a hell of a time getting up the mountain in my lame tennis shoes. I'm so buying hiking boots before I attempt another snowy hike! We brought up Mike's cool camping stove and mountain man dinner to eat while we rested before heading back down the mountain. It was actually pretty decent food. It's dehydrated, prepackaged dinners meant for backpacking. All you need to prepare it is boiling water, then you let it sit for a few minutes and voila! Dinner is served! My favorite part of the entire hike was when we were practically skiing down the mountain. Well if you know me, you might know I've never skiied before so I had a hard time sliding down the snowy trail in my stupid tennis shoes. We finally found me a decent walking stick to help brace myself as we made our way down. I had to pee really bad and was cracking up the whole way too because Mike was slipping and sliding the entire time...but never fell. Just lots of close calls. He's from northern wisconsin so he's pretty good on the ice. I, however, am not so graceful. I finally made him hike down behind me because I knew I'd pee my pants if I watched him slip around anymore. So the mountain was beginning to level out a bit so I said "I'm chucking the stick now, I'm good without it". I take, literally, one step and I slipped and fell right on my butt. I almost peed my pants laughing. The best part was since Mike was hiking behind me he got to see the whole thing. It was classic.