New York in Chicago

Nick took his first CPA test (out of four) on August 31st, so we decided to do a little celebrating. :) We found a great flight from New York to Chicago that came out Labor Day weekend...and couldn't pass it up! We had a blast going into the city everyday and exploring...hanging out with auntie, john, neighbors, and the red heads (family friends from when we lived in chicago who i consider sisters)...and most of all, spending time together!

Nick flew in Thursday afternoon. Auntie and I made him a little "welcome" sign with balloons to go with it :) We even made up a list of things to do for the weekend, just so we wouldn't forget! It was great because I think we completed all but one "to-do" on the list of 10! Here are pictures and captions to prove it ;)

Ready to start our adventures! We are in Auntie and John's kitchen right now. Auntie was so sweet to drop us off/pick us up at the L station throughout the entire weekend! Nick is showing how excited he is to head into the city. :)

Ohhh my goodness! Look how high we are!!! This was our first stop on Friday: a glass box on 103rd floor of the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower.) Looks safe right? As we were about to step into the glass, a man told Nick, "I am a paratrooper and I'm not even going out there!!" 

Here is a good view of how high we are. I am standing in one of the other boxes taking this picture. He looks scared!

Wow, those cars sure look small. This was such a crazy feeling to have looking down.

Ok ok, I was a little nervous. :) I sllllooowwwwllly sat down here. 

I love this picture :) We had such a great time up here. It was a perfect day to be so high up, we were able to see the city line and beyond! I found out the following week, a couple got married up here! How cool?!?

Taking a food break is so cool (always part of the plan when I am with Nick...eat, eat,, eat!) :) We are at Giordano's Pizza...one of the famous pizza places in Chicago. They have great pizza, but it's no Carmens!

The bean will never get old!! This piece of art is so neat, especially underneath in the middle.

A shot with the whole bean. A nice couple from Brazil took this for us...and of course, we did the same for them. They seemed to be having just as much fun as we were! :)

Here is Millennium Park. This was the first place we came to Thursday night. They were having a concert to honor Benny Goodman as his work with jazz and swing. It was a great time...so many people were dancing! This is a great concert area because no matter where you sit, you can hear perfectly. There are speakers in the cross-work, shown in the picture, all the way to the back.

Nick being silly in front of Buckingham Fountain. This is the area where the Chicago marathon starts. Nick laughed when he saw this picture and said, "Look Leigh, Summer and Forrest are in the picture with us!" haha too cute. Nick knows how much I love and miss those two. 

Right before entering Navy Pier, Wii had a free tent set up to play their new games. Of courrrrse Nick and I had to challenge each other to a ping-pong tournament. You might have to asked him who won. ;) I bet Nick that he wouldn't wear the lei the whole night. He proved me wrong by wearing it even to the bar we went to that night. haha  

Ok, things got a little scary for me here. Anytime Nick gets on a moving, well, anything...he get's a little crazy. I don't know how this happen, but he got full control of the steering and brakes on this quad-bicycle we rented from Navy Pier: bad move. I thought we were going to have a romantic ride up and down the bike paths on the lakefront...but no. Every time he saw a sand spot, he pulled the ebrake and did donuts! He also decided to put on a show for the crowd when he steered the bike into a water fountain area to get me wet. Haha, I got off right after that....and he wanted to go one more time to "make the people happy," so he did...and ended up tipping the bike over because I wasn't in it to balance it out! hahaha...oh man, it was too funny! I love that adventurous boy, even if I'm scared out of my mind :) 

It was such a wonderful weekend. We couldn't have asked for better weather...warm in the daytime, cool at night. We went everywhere we wanted and more! Maybe we can make this a tradition: every time he finishes a CPA exam, he has to come to Chicago to celebrate! Good idea? I think so :)

guess who is coming?!?

oooowweeeeiii :) I just can't stand it, I am so excited because Mr. Nick Crane is coming into town tomorrow! We plan on doing a LOT of fun stuff...can't wait to share it all when the weekend is over.

Another exciting event tomorrow: I will be interviewing for a part-time position with the Mental Health and Deafness Resource Center. If I get the job, I will working Wed-Fri (7:30am-3:30pm) as a 1:1 aid in a classroom setting with children and adolescence who are deaf and have additional behavioral issues and/or mental illnesses. Super excited about this! Hopefully I will get the position, it would be great experience for me in the Deaf Education setting.

I heart harper

The first week of classes at Harper College went swell....and I am ready to dive into ASL and the Deaf culture! This week teased me a little bit though, because the first week of classes are always shorter and focused on the syllabus rather than the material. patience, patience...I know. ;)

Monday (Deaf culture)- My teacher is Deaf, but chooses to use interpreters throughout the semester. I'm thinking he wants to do this so he doesn't have to simplify his ASL for those who are not up to par. It makes complete sense, but I was kinda bummed. On the contrary, I am going to receive such helpful information in this class to truly understanding the Deaf culture and history.

Tuesday (ASL III)- hmmm, class was cancelled. :-/ bummer. The same teacher from Monday, but I guess something came up. This worked out well though, because I headed over to the library to "check out" (no pun intended, haha) what kind of books they had on Deaf Education. Boy oh boy, was I in heaven...I checked out 7 books related to Deaf Education! Needless to say, I will try to take advantage of the resources in the library!

Wednesday (Fingerspelling and Numbering)- FINALLY, a FULL class period! My teacher ROCKS in this class. She has been studying Deaf Ed and Interpreting for about 25 years now. She recevied her Masters in Interpretation from Gallaudet (sound familiar? that's the program I applied to this past semester!) ...and now is a certified interpreter in the medical and legal fields (very challenging fields, but in MUCH need of qualified interpreters. Think about it, what if the doctor said 15 mL grams and the interpreter signed 50 mL grams...dangerous. and that's just one example of endless.) She is hearing, but her students in this class who also took her for ASL I and II never knew what her voiced sounded like until now! In her other classes, she only signed...but in the class, she speaks. This is going to be both a challenging and rewarding class. I struggle with fingerspelling and numbering, so I'm looking forward to a class focused solely on those topics.

Ok, as you can see...I can and will go on forever if you get me talking about ASL, Deaf studies, Deaf culture, Deaf advocacy, Deaf Ed, etc. The bottom line is, I am thankful to have found this passion. A passion that combines my desire to help and empowers others, my belief in social justice and equality, and the joy I have of interacting with others. In this field of study, I will forever be in education mode...how cool??

Speaking of cool, Harper College has a freaking football team! You better believe I will be attending these games :) Plus, I am not venturing too far from my Seahawk Pride because the mascot here is a HAWK!

Here are two shots of campus. This place is HUGE! Imagine a ring of parking lots surrounding campus (like a donut with campus being in the hole.) Every lot and building are numbered and lettered, so it is super easy to get around and find things. So organized....i love it :) Another plus? parking is FREE! Can you believe it?! I could also get my teeth cleaned for a reduced price (through the Dental Hygiene Program) and massages (through the Massage Therapy Program.) Now, it's no UNCW...but I could get use to this place :)

Chicago is coming together o-so well :)

Enjoy the virtual tour of my (almost) finished room! I had so much fun organizing and putting it all together! There are a few final touches I need to do like print out pictures and add them to picture boards.

Anyway, now that I have the room together...I can really start living here! :) I am heading to Bally Fitness, about a 3 minutes drive, for a free tour and information guide. Hope to like it there and start getting back into the groove of working out after 5 weeks off! The weather is absolutely amazing since I've been here. I went for a run yesterday around the neighborhood and it was glorious. Today, the sun is shining bright and the wind is so cool (can you believe the windy city has wind?!?) Yesterday, I brought to back oldschool by swimming and laying out in their neighbor's pool. (the brothers and I use to go over there alllll the time when we were little.)

Living with Auntie and John is just a blast. We celebrated Uncle John's 39th anniversary of his 21st birthday yesterday :) (haha I told them we started doing that after our 21st birthday in wilmington...so I decided we should do it for his birthday as well.) Baked some birthday banana bread for John last night too...and made some guacamole dip today to munch on.

Classes start on Monday. This past Monday I went to Harper for a language placement exam to see if I was ready for ASL III....and I PASSED! :) I am now enrolled in all 3 classes I wanted (ASL III, Fingerspelling and Numbering, and Cultural Perspective.) I will be taking these courses Monday 6-9:30, Tuesday 6-9:30, and Wednesday 6:15-9 totaling 11 credit hours. Suuuuper excited about starting this semester!!!!

Overall, I'm having such a great time...and it's only been 4 days! Now, if only the weather can stay juuuust like this for the entire year... ;) I can only hope, right?

Okay, back to the video....ENJOY!!

Speech on video:

"Okay, here is the virtual tour of my room! So we have...the bed.

Ya know, the desk is over here. Were gonna put pictures over here (on the boards beside the stracke frame), we just have to print them out. We have the Stracke picture frame.

Calendar of course, little decoration up there (on the shelf).

Over here is my crafting area, and hamper. Here's my earrings, it was great because the curtains match the room, we didn't have to change it. The mirror. Auntie gave me a specific craft light.

Here are my books underneath. And under here, you see my crafts and jewelry stuff.

Great...so more decoration: the girls (girl's picture), the boy (nick and I), uncw. I have my life instructions, bed side (table), life laugh love (mirrors above the bed), the boys (pic of my brothers), my closet, nick and leigh picture frame, and we can see my clothes fit in here...with a little extra room!

So, pretty happy about that...that's all my shoes behind my door with plenty of room left.

So that's kinda the view from afar of the desk. So cute, I have to put pictures in the frames and there's the tack board. So that's it! I'm really happy with the rooom :)

wide open spaces

As I sit down to finish up packing, I realized this is the last day I will be living in North Carolina for awhile....pretty crazy. This whole part of my life right now (graduating from college, moving to Chicago, thinking about a full-time job, starting a new chapter in life) is pretty surreal. I feel like I should be making my way back to Wilmington any day now to start another year at UNCW. Although I feel that way, I am so extremely ready and excited to be in this new chapter. Surrounded by new people, places, and experiences...I will soon believe Chicago is the place I can't bare to leave. I'm ready to learn...I'm ready to grow...I am ready.

And as I drive tomorrow...you better believe I will be playing "Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks, it's only appropriate :)

Summer with the Schultz's

Where do I even begin with this family?!? My life is truly changed because of these people...and I am so thankful they allowed me to be apart of their lives for this past summer. Even though we spend such a short time together, I have made lifelong friends :)

I first met Joy (mom) in January as the instructor of my ASL II class. What an awesome teacher! She soon became a mentor to me, as she was always willing to answer any and all questions I had about a possible career in Deaf Education. She went above and beyond by inviting me into her home to spend some time with her family. Towards the end of the Spring semester, Joy decided she wanted to teach more ASL classes in the summer...and asked me if I would want to watch Summer and Forrest (kids) while she taught in the mornings. I don't think I even thought about it before saying, "OF COURSE!" At that time, I knew these kids were special....and soon became aware that I only knew a portion of their awesomeness!!

What a blast we had....went to the pool, read books at the UNCW library, played with Mel and Lori in the Landing apt, played outside at the Schultz's house, and sooo much more! The summer (my last summer is Wilmington) wouldn't have been as memorable if it wasn't for Summer and Forrest, and Joy and David. :)

Below you will find some great pictures of our summer adventures :)

Sorry Forrest, but I had to post this one! Forrest wants to be just like his big sister...so he dresses up just like her, too! We were playing upstairs and he ran out of the room to come back with Summer's dress up shoes on. He is just too cute for words. Watch out Joy and David...if he is a looker now, just wait until he's older! ;)

I love this pictures of Summer because it shows off her beautiful eyes. :) What a sweet, sweet girl!

This was their secret hiding spot in the landing apartment and served many purposes. Some days it would be a baby crib, some days it would be a doctor room....but every day it was their hiding spot from mommy when she came to pick them up! They loved it when she found them!!

This boy sure loves his vacuum! He would point to the closet that stored the vacuum every time he came to the apt. He could vacuum all day if you let him! I guess he wants to be just like mommy too :)

You can just call her Dr. Summer. She was the queen at doctor and loved playing this all the time! Here she is wearing a graduation cap, along with Mel's stethoscope and safety glasses. How cute?!?

Mel and Lori (my two roomies, who are now nurses at Georgetown Hospital in DC) were their favorite "doctors." Summer and Forrest would always want one of the nurses to check their heart and fix any pretend booboo they had. The girls equally loved these two. They would wake up extra early, just so they could play with Summer and Forrest.

Here we are getting ready to walk around campus. This stroller was awesome! We would always walk by the construction sites for Forrest so he could see the trucks. Campus was so much fun, we always had something to do around UNCW!

Look at the two little graduates walking around campus :) Summer and Forrest loved to wear either the graduation caps or my crown and pretend to parade around campus humming to the graduation song, "bummm, bum bum bum bum bummm, bumm. " Summer would always make sure she pointed out all the students with their "pack-packs" on :)

Here we are cuddled up in our movie spot. Mary Poppins was their first choice, followed by the Car movie and Strawberry Shortcake. We loved to snuggle up on the couch during rainy days!

:) Our very first visit to the library. They loved to pick out each book on their own...and we would take turns reading their picks. Snack time was always fun in the library, too. The librarians sure loved these two, but then again....everywhere we went, they were loved :)

What a wonderful summer it was! Thank you Joy for trusting me with your children...I am so happy to have a friend and mentor like you. I can't wait to see this family again!!

excited about blogging :)

Excited, yes....actually doing it? not so much. BUT, I hope to get use to blogging so I can continually post about my life! As I drove away from Wilmington this past Sunday, I realized I'm leaving some wonderful friends, experiences and memories. As sad as that is, I am super pumped about the road ahead. These past four years in Wilmington prepared me to be ready for anything. SO, I hope to keep this blog up-to-date for all of this "anything" I am prepared for. :)