Comfy, Cosy

My landlord finally put up my shelf in my room, and it is complete! 

Happy Falloween!

Today was wonderful. Scaringly wonderful. This week is red ribbon week and so every day is a different dress-up theme. Yesterday's was stuffed animal day and today's was nerd day. I have always loved red ribbon week and I'm so glad to be back in public school, so i can participate! I dressed my City Year normal look up a little with a few small modifications: lopsided ponytails, glasses with a band aid in the center, my polo buttoned to the top, and my ensemble would be incomplete without the coffee stain, where I "accidentally" spilled coffee on myself this morning.

Today was also our middle school Falloween dance. It began right after school, and the amazing teacher I work with is also in charge of student government and all the school events. Needless to say, I spent the majority of my day getting things ready for the dance. It turned out great! City Year hosted a Haunted House that they had to walk through in order to get into the dance. It was great! I was a zombie and I kept screaming, " Help I'm trapped!" "I need a date to the dance" and different things like that. After the kids went through, it was time to chaperon. Some chaperons might like to hang back and be ready to pounce if kids get to close. But for me, I take a different approach. Instead I get right in the mix with everyone and pull out the most ridiculous dance moves I know. Sprinkler anyone? What about the Egyptian dance? Or the hand rolling that is ever so popular? Dancing super silly actually helped keep kids from dancing too close. I distracted them. And some of them even joined in, either to make fun of me or to have fun with me. lol It could have easily been either one. Anyways it turned out great!

Happy Falloween!

[She] has fought the good fight, [She] has finished the race, [She] has kept the faith

Today marks a year since my GrandMary has been gone. I still think about her all the time and miss her a lot. I miss her when I'm cooking. I think of her every time I go to mass, knowing that without her strong Catholic faith, I would not have been raised Catholic. While I wish my GrandMary was still with us, I take comfort in knowing that God has got her back and that I will see her again someday. I'm hoping she's saving a spot for me up there!

Link to the video I made ( may not work)

Weekend of fun

This was one of my best weekends in a while! It started with strawberry margaritas with some City Year friends. Don't worry because our jobs have turned us into old people, I was still in bed before midnight, as was my roommate and her friends. The next morning was wonderful!

1. I FINALLY GOT MY FOOD STAMPS

I know, I know, these are not the words most college grads long to hear themselves say.

And while I would have never thought I would be so excited to get them, but I really am. If I didn't get them, I could definitely be okay, but by accepting them, I'll be able to eat healthier and not stress about money this year. 

Anyways after I got them, I ran down to the Farmer's Market, where I had to move quickly and ended up buying a lot of tomatoes and some really good bread. Next, I picked up two of my City Years and we headed to the Rosa Park Lady's Volleyball Tournament! This is our girls first year of volleyball and, while they didn't have a lot of wins under their belts, it has been really awesome watching them become better and better. By the end of today, they were finally calling balls, going for balls, and getting serves in. The Rosa Parks team fought hard and it was a close game, but they ended up loosing in the end. I was a proud supporter though! I was probably driving everyone around me crazy yelling "Go Rosa Parks!" "Nice Job, Ladies!!" throughout the entire game. It was also cool  for some of the girls in my English class to see me in real clothes! One of them told me today that when she started getting mad at the game, she would hear me cheer and it would make her smile! :) Moments like that make it all worth it. 

Later on, I did something I've really been meaning to do for a while. I went to reconciliation, confession. I hadn't gone since probably March and especially after moving to a new City, I really wanted to. I almost didn't make it, but I convinced myself to go, and I'm so glad that I did. I love going to confession. Some people can't wrap their heads around it Why go see a priest when you can just tell God yourself? I can think of several reasons. There's something different about saying your sins out loud, a way of really owning them. I think also you go into confession thinking This priest is gonna judge me and think I'm terrible. Then, after stepping into the confessional, the opposite happens. He doesn't wag his finger at you and point out all your mistakes, instead he reminds you of God's mercy, forgiveness, and everlasting love. You walk out feeling new, and what better way to start the weekend. 

Sunday morning I went to church and on wimb even decided to stay for a Women's Breakfast, which was lovely and  I made some friends. After mass, I made my way over to my new favorite coffee job with to die for Mexican Chocolate Iced Mochas ( so good, you have to capitalize). I got a little GRE stuff done, mostly just enough to stress myself out and realize how much work I have to do between now and the 17th. :/ 

I ended my night with Capernaum. Right where I belonged. Capernaum Sacramento is trying to raise more awareness and funds, so tonight they held a summit, where they talked about different things and had some really great speakers. One of the speakers was Nick Palermo, who founded Capernaum! It was so exciting to meet the man responsible for one of the best parts of my life these past three years! I had a great time talking with people and hanging out with friends with special needs. I only wish it happened every week instead of every two weeks. In the summit, we heard some really great things, that I couldn't help but take notes. 

Our  friends with special needs teach us too...

have Joy in a sad world. 

Love in a hateful world. 

have Gratitude in a whiny world.

Be loved for who we are, not what we do. 

"Everyone wants to do something good with their life, they just don't know where to start."

Be comfortable being uncomfortable. 

BUBBLES

Not the best picture of me, but today I got to blow bubbles as students ran through to wait for the bell to ring! Every morning we "power greet" the kiddos as they make their way to school! Usually we sing different songs, but today we added bubbles in the mix!

Pumpkins

After a wild week, I got to have a little fun Thursday night with my roommate Jocelyn! We went to a coffee shop down the street from our house that was having a pumpkin carving contest. It was her first time carving pumpkins, so we had fun! We only competed against two other people, but they gave us a run for our money. One guy carved his German Shepherd, lol. We were proud of our Dia de los Muertos  pumpkin! And even though we went into Trader Joes ( grocery store) 5 minutes before it closed, that didn't stop us from getting a clerk to take a quick picture of us in the beetle-juice cutout! 

Is it seriously only Tuesday?

Today has been a long, not horrible, just long. I woke up at 4:45 this morning to make the cycling class at 5:30 at my gym. I also dealt with my second day in a row of having a sub. Working with subs is not the easiest thing. Because I'm there everyday, I can run the class, but having the sub there it usually doesn't work out perfectly. Mrs. Barber, the ELA teacher I work with, is AMAZING and together we are a dream team. She gives all the instruction and enforces everything, while I reinforce everything and am able to provide one on one attention to students. Today and yesterday I felt like I was having to do both our jobs, and because of how overwhelming it was, I felt like I wasn't do either job very well. In first period a boy offered me a high five,  to which I was excited about until I realized that apparently we were high fiving my bad hair day. "No offense Ms. Sammie, but you look kinda like you just woke up." Thanks, actually I have already been up for about three hours and it's sorta been a bad hair month, thanks for noticing. Kids can be ruthless. The second graders in my roommates class have been pointing out all of his pimples (which are very few). My day didn't end with the crazy sub either, I still had after school, which wasn't bad today. However, as usual I dealt with kids being too chatty, lying about their homework, not understanding geometry (when I don't understand it myself), and the everyday back talk that never seems to fade away in our class. My day didn't end after that either. Today was family math night. We actually had a pretty good turn out. I spent most of my night wrapping hotdogs to be passed out to the families during the event, and while that wasn't super exciting, it's awesome to know that we had so many families there tonight that I needed to be helping to wrap sooo many hot dogs.

Theses days are long, and it makes me lonesome for my Texas friends, who provide me with endless support. Luckily though I'm 33 hours away, these friends are still able to support me through phone calls, texts, facebook, and reading my blog - like you are now, thanks!

This job definitely has it's ups and downs, but ultimately I know that it is good and that kids are getting a lot out of us being at their school. My friend recently made a prayer blog and I found this image in it today.
In light of it being the feast day for Blessed Pope Benedict XIV and a rough beginning to my week:

Lately I've been getting so caught up on how I miss the comforts of being home...of being in college... of having  endless support system... that I've forgotten the very reasons I came to Sacramento. I came here to be uncomfortable. I came here to get out of my comfort zone and start doing things to better our nation and our schools.  I came here to be a beacon of light to people that needed help, and I came so that others might begin to understand that they too were made for greatness.

Be Great. 

Weekends :)

Productive weekend. Friday night I went out with some City Year folks and we had a really great time. I also learned that my boots I bought last Saturday were not exactly "made for walkin'" especially after we walked back to my friend's house from downtown. My feet are still crying! Saturday morning I woke up early to help set up the Farmer's Market in my neighborhood. Last time I went I asked if they could use any help, so this week I thought I'd give it a shot! They are so nice and it felt good to be helping with something!

Had fun getting to skype with my sweet Gran and Scout!

Sacramento Kings fan in the making!

Even though I've never really been a huge basketball fan, I would've been crazy to say no to free NBA tickets to watch the Sacramento Kings! We had an awesome time and they played really well! So crazy to see all the slam dunks!

Love and Basketball 

Me want cookies

Today in my after school art club I made cookies for them to decorate and we had so much fun! There were only a few girls today,  but I really love it when we have small groups because we can really get to know those kids.

Cheers!

OH WHO?

Perfect weekend.

My dear friend Stephani came to visit me this weekend! I visited her in San Jose a few weeks ago, and this weekend she returned the favor by making her way to Sacramento. The big Texas vs. OU game was this weekend, and we HAD to watch it!

She got here Friday night, and our day began early Saturday morning. The game started at 11am Texas time, which meant 9am here. We found a great place with bottomless mimosas and Mexican cuisine to satisfy our need for something close to TexMex. The food was delicious and the mimosas were actually bottomless. The waitress just kept coming to refill our glasses. We stayed at the sports bar until about one. And speaking of ONE, The University of Texas WON the game against OU! It's the first time we've won since I've been a student, so this was exciting, especially since this season hasn't been the best for Texas. It was so much fun watching the game with Steph and so great when we won! After every touchdown we would sing the familiar chant, Texas Fight! Later, I showed Stephani downtown Sac, the capitol, and Oldtown Sac. On our way back to the car, we decided to run into Macy's so Stephani could check out some boots. Macy's really knows how to getcha with those sales! We both ended up buying a pair! I never buy expensive shoes, but I deserve it, right? :) Anyways we stopped somewhere to eat on the way home, and tried on our boots again. Then after we practiced our catwalks, we both accidentally fell asleep on my bed and woke up still wearing our boots. We woke up this morning and both slept in a little longer than planned.

Steph left around 10, then I had a slow morning, which I was determined to turn into a productive day. I'm actually surprised I pulled it off, but I did! I took a practice GRE test today, because I'm taking the real one Nov 17th. :/ And then this evening I went to Sacramento's first Capernaum Club of the year! It was awesome and made me feel both at home and super nostalgic of all my Austin Capernaum friends. I can't wait to go to the next one, and I think I'm even going to be able to go with them to their Winter Weekend in Nov.

Pics coming soon!

attitude and gratitude

One of City Year's focuses is on behavior,  and at Rosa Parks behavior problems definitely are not on short supply. We deal with them constantly.  It's hard being talked back to, ignored,  and having kids roll their eyes at you. But, today was a reminder that for most of these kids their biggest concerns aren't whether or not their going to be able to pull of an A in pre algebra ( like mine was), instead some of them have to worry about where they are going to live next month. 

There is an eighth grade girl who I see daily and always greet when I see her. She always ignores me. She never answers me. This drives me crazy. But, today when I found out she was moving I could not say I was at all happy to hear the news. Instead it made me want to cry. Because her grandmother is loosing custody after being in the hospital for so long and her other relatives cannot have custody over her, tomorrow she's moving to another nearby town where she will be put into the foster care system. It was hard watching her and her friends cry today as they knew it would be her last day at Rosa Parks. Sometimes I forget that while not every child at this school as that much weight on their shoulders, many of them are dealing with pretty heavy stuff. 

Today made me stop and think about how truly blessed I am to be so well cared for and loved by my family and friends. It's because of my strong support system that I yam who I yam. I hope that us being here for these kids makes some sort of impact on their lives. It's my prayer that these students will feel cared for and supported by us, and it's my even bigger prayer that those feelings of empowerment will continue to grow after we've gone. 

Cootie Catcher Monday

Today was great. I taught kids how to make cootie catchers ( little fortune tellers). We had a lot of fun and I had forgotten how much fun they are. By the end of the day I was telling everyone's fortunes!

May good luck come your way! 

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Pictures from my delightFULL Saturday

I had a FULL Saturday! It began with picking up two large boxes of books one of my teammates had gotten a library to donate to our school! :) Rosa Parks k-8 has a library, but sadly has no librarian. No one can check out books, so we want to start a City Year library, where kids can check out books from our office! After the book pick up, I couldn't resist stopping at the Farmer's Market by my house. And while my friends were jamming out in Austin at ACL (Austin City Limits ) I was having my own jam session at the Farmer's Market, eating my tamales and horchata while watching a really talented guy sing and preform. 

Next, I made my way to Oakland, where my great Aunt Catherine lives. I hadn't seen her in about a year, so I was excited! I met her at her house and then we drove down the hill to a really cute restaurant where we met up with her son ( and my dad's  favorite cousin) Paul, his wife, and their daughter. We had a really nice lunch. It was nice being with family. Once our lunch was over, they went back to their home in San Francisco and I went back to my aunt's house, where we had a really wonderful conversation. The last time I got to see her was at my GrandMary's funeral, so it was nice to see her under different circumstances. And it was nice because in many ways my Aunt Catherine reminds me of my grandmother. She is my grandmother's older sister. They speak similarly; similar voices with similar vocabularies  Though I might describe Aunt Catherine as having a very mild tone and my GrandMary has having a more emotional, feisty tone. You could always tell how she was feeling, by her voice. My GrandMary's laugh was contagious and could make anyone join in, and her sarcasm was always on point. I miss her, so it was comforting to feel connected to her through my aunt. Aunt Catherine also shared with me an old picture GrandMary sent out just after my Uncle Bert was born. 

The left is a picture of GrandMary and Aunt Catherine growing up

and the right is a picture of my grandparents, my dad, and all of his brothers 

After our visit, I planned on stopping somewhere cool to start studying for the GRE before heading back to Sacramento. Her house in Oakland is right on the border of Oakland and Berkley, so I ventured into Berkley. I loved it, but parking anywhere seemed out of the question. This meant studying was out of question. haha In my search for a cool study spot I kept getting glimpses of the bay over the hill. I guess it's the Pisces in me that couldn't keep myself from heading towards the water. I found a perfect spot right on the "dock of the bay". I could see the Golden Gate and Bay bridge from my spot on the rocks. As I called my parents to catch up, my dad starting singing this song to me. It was the perfect song to soundtrack my moment. I was literally wasting time and sitting on the dock of the bay. 

I would say it was the perfect way to end a beautiful day, but my adventures weren't quite over yet. As I've mentioned before, navigating in California has not come naturally for me. It seems I always enter and leave by different routes. This was the case Saturday night and I ended up passing the first Sonic I've found since my move to the Golden State. I've been out of the habit of eating any fast-food, but this was an exception. I had to order the Jay Sheppard special  "medium cherry Dr. Pepper with extra ice". Cheers to you, Mom and to a great day!

Sunday

I tried to pack a lot in this weekend. Friday night me, my roommate Todd, and a few others from City Year decided to check out a back to school event in Davis. Davis is just about 20 minutes outside of Sacramento. UC Davis has a beautiful campus and it's a really cute town. I would gladly go back or even go to school there.. grad school? maybe..who knows?

Anyways we had fun at the event and in the end some of us got to do some free hena. It was cool, but what wasn't super cool was the millions of questions from our students that would come as a result. 

"Why did you draw on yourself?" "Is that marker?" "Is that a tattoo?" "Ohhh.....you in trouble!"   "Can you draw that on me?" "When is it going to come off already?" 

We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get out of Sacramento and discover another city in Cali. Then Saturday we had a Team BBQ. It was the perfect day for it and we had lots of fun playing Texas Hold "Em and B.S. Some crazy people jumped in the freezing pool, but I just dipped my feet in! :)