Arizona, what can I say?

Hi,finally cooling down here in Arizona.  Looking forward to my princess coming home.

peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies

Christmas in the desert

Sold Out in Arizona

 Apples from New York Empire and Macoun unavailable in the state of Arizona       I am in a rare mood tonight-actually not so rare.  Sometimes I feel I need to get out of this red state and into the blue.                                                                       

home on a Saturday night...

I'm still writing this stupid paper. We have to write a paper where we choose a neighborhood in Boston and compile data on it...it's a fine assignment, but it's just so tedious and there's so much that goes into it. Not to mention I have another paper due the 28th, and a midterm in a class I haven't even been assigned yet. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to school work.

I will say though I'm enjoying the things I'm learning. I really like my internship. When I am working with a client I just feel sort of in my element, which is funny in a way because I really have no idea what I'm doing the majority of the time. But I'm using the clinical skills that I'm learning at school and applying them, asking a lot of questions of my superiors, and learning a lot. Finding out about poetry therapy has opened up a whole new door for me. Another social worker at work mentioned it to me, and I'm centering my group on it for next semester. I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do yet, but my goal is to examine self-esteem and social skills through poetry. I think it could be really fun, and if it goes well, I'll be even happier. But it's interesting and very exciting to think about how I could combine the two fields I love so much. I used to think I would just get an MFA because it's something I would like to do for myself. While I still feel that way, it could be applicable to what I'm doing in the therapy setting as well. Very cool and exciting to think about the future in this way.

It's raining and a mere 55 degrees today. This feels like a mild winter day we might have in Arizona so it's definitely different for me. I love the weather, but I'm worried about winter. I'm worried I won't be warm enough ha. Hopefully it won't be too bad this year so I can ease into it.

It's weird that my birthday is in about a week and a half. Even weirder, Lee (my younger brother) will be 21 in 4 days. All the Breisblatt children will be official, legal adults. Weird to think about. I'm not prepared for my birthday at all and I think I'll be a little upset the day of just because it will be the first time I'm without family and friends.

Can't wait to come home for Thanksgiving. I'm already making plans and I'm really looking forward to it.

I better get back to my dreaded, stupid paper....ugh.

Home in Arizona

I can't believe that a week ago i was in Boston.  It was a good time.  The weather was beautiful and it was great seeing Faith.  I really loved being on the East Coast at this time of year.  The weather has also changed in Arizona.  It is now in the 60's overnight and the upper 80's during the day.  The air-conditioning is turned off for the first time since May.

Common Ground Fair Unity Maine

more common ground fair

paint job of house in Maine

Warren made eggplant!!!!

my pizza

view up the driveway in Maine I had a great couple of weeks there.I miss it.Just looking at this picture makes me happy.Hope all is well.Peace

oct 1

Can't believe it's already October 1. Mom should be back in Arizona now. It was so nice having her here. It felt like we are on vacation together in Boston, not that I lived here at all. It was fun though. We went to Harvard Square which neither of us had seen, did some shopping, explore Harvard, ate dinner at the North End. It was really great. I'm looking forward to my Thanksgiving break, and even longer winter break at home.

I started to look at my schedule for classes for next semester. We don't register until the 30th of October, but most of my classes are chosen for me. I will be taking Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families and Groups (all of which are their own separate class, conducted over about a month-5 weeks' time, so they are shorter 2 credit classes for each), research methods, my field placement, social welfare policy part 2, and then i can choose one of 3 electives- child psychopathology, adult psychopathology, and racial justice. I have to take racial justice at some point, but I think I will take child psychopathology, only because I am trying to load all of my classes on Monday and Tuesday (which will be terrible, but I need to do it because my internship has staff meetings Wednesdays and I need to be there that day and it makes the most sense to also be there thursday and for whatever reason racial justice is offered thursday). The class schedules are a mess and everyone agrees but I guess there's nothing I can do.

I have a paper due next week, and then two due in two weeks. It's starting to get stressful. Hopefully I will get a lot done this weekend.

see you soon

Will be on the east coast soon.  Can't wait to see Maine and your life in Boston.

flowers for my anniversary,29 years

Garlic chicken from a Rosh-aShana meal

Sweet and Happy New Year!
Can't wait to get out of this heat 105 today.

survived my first week

So far so good. All of my professors so far seem great, the classes...I think will get better with time. Next semester will be better because it I get to take a class about doing interventions/therapy with individuals, families, and groups in the same semester. My internship also seems great so far. They're really flexible and are open to me doing anything really which is great. I'm starting off co-leading a group and doing a bit of case management, or at least shadowing with case management, so I like that so far. My advisor suggested since they are in the process of becoming a non-profit I should try and do grant writing if possible so I think I will try to get in on that too.

I'm also looking forward to finding out about BU's MFA program for poetry. It's only one year, so it's definitely a possibility and manageable I think. I also need to look into then, after getting my MSW if I should wait a year to take the licensure exam to become a LCSW because I think you need to be working afterwards. Or, I suppose, I could go to school part time. I need to find out all the possibilities-it may not even be possible or worth it, but the faculty at BU, such as Robert Pinsky, would be a dream to work with.

sunday in arizona it is raining !!!

got up at about 5:30 this morning and it was raining and continued to rain till about 1:00

had breakfast of pancakes,raspberries,and turkey sasuage

the start of football season and baseball continues. I can't stand it.  Going to try to get some knitting done which you can then see on my Knitme2az.com blog

tomorrow I start classes

I'm pretty nervous about starting classes tomorrow. Wednesday I start my internship too so I have a feeling this week will be a blur. This weekend was fairly relaxing. On Friday after orientation I met up with a girl from my elementary/middle school who now lives in Boston and we got lunch which was nice. Later that night, I went out with a few girls I met in the program which was good I think to do. I know it will take time to make friends, but it is hard while I'm waiting around for that. It's too bad a friend didn't move out here with me or something, or already was here. Saturday I went to a concert which was really fun, despite being alone. Here's a picture of one of the bands, Local Natives.

Vampire Weekend was the headlining band for this day, so it was cool to see another part of Boston (City Hall Plaza area) and have something to do. I'm enjoying learning how to use the public transit and walking around everywhere. Hopefully the weather stays nice for awhile!

New Year

For me there 2 New Year's.  The traditional one January 1 and one in September.  Maybe because we go to school for so long plans for new starts and energy happen in September.  So again I will try to eat healthy , expand my knitting skills by doing some mystery knit-a-longs with my knitting friends,and do a online american literature course.  Off to the grocery store for Rosh a Shana. Have a great day everyone.

Not even a week in Boston yet...

but it feels like a lifetime has passed. I don't know where the time goes. Today I had orientation for my program in the school of social work, which ended up being better than I expected, although quite long. I met a bunch of new people and learned a lot about the program. We have another orientation friday for our field placement, and I head to my field placement thursday to meet everyone there which makes me anxious/nervous, but also excited.

It's weird being away from everything you know..almost feels like a vacation that I'll head back to at any point. Or a camp. Maybe in a way it is. There is no telling whether or not I will stay here, but I can tell I already love Boston. I'm nervous for the cold weather, the heavy rain, the intense summer humidity (which I am currently battling, but it is about to dissipate) but that's part of the move anywhere. I feel like there are so many more like-minded people here with similar goals and outlooks on life, so it's refreshing. I also feel like there are generally more resources/opportunities here than in AZ. It was a nice place to grow up and for undergrad, but I feel past that point. And it's weird to feel so strongly after not even a week.

So far I have moved across the country, unpacked and made my apartment a home, attended a cousin's wedding in Connecticut and seen all my family, gone out in Boston with my cousin, explored the city quite a bit, and attended orientation.

Tomorrow I plan to venture to the university gym, maybe do a little shopping, and meet up with my program later for a few drinks.

I am excited for you to come visit, Mom at the end of the month! It will go by quickly and then you will be here!

my apartment  as ive been setting it up

my cousin, my grandma, and me

the old folk at the wedding

view of the Charles right near the School of Social Work

Hi
some pictures from Arizona. 

sunrise over the McDowell Mountains you can see where it was raining

Later in the day sun out nice and strong with temperature of 106

dinner shrimp scampi grilled and sweet potato fries

                          This is a picture of me and Faith at her ASU Graduation in May

a little about me

Hi
I am the Arizona in this blog. I am Faith's mom and she is leaving tomorrow for Boston.  I will miss her.  We thought we would start a blog as another way to stay in touch with what is happening in our lives.  I have another blog about my knitting, books , and the great state of Maine where we have a house.  This blog will be different (I Hope) but I 'm not quite sure how at this point.  My daughter does not really care that much about my knitting or what books I am reading.

This is my future apartment building in boston. I move in on August 29th, so not too much farther from now! I'm excited but it really scares me and makes me nervous just thinking about it. And moving across the country and starting a whole new life is scary. Especially without my family and more specifically my mom. But I really think this will be great and will be just what I need.