LaLa Lori

1. My nieces - I absolutely love spending time with Alvin (9), Lily (2), and Cory (6 months). They live in Seattle and I miss them every single day. Whenever I’m visiting them in #PST I have a ridiculous amount of fun and have a really hard time leaving. The girls always make me smile and I try to keep in touch with them as much as possible.

2. My favorites - Jerome is my boyfriend who I have been dating for four plus years. He is very sweet, adorable, and amazingly techsy! I love how smart he is and how much fun we have when we are together. <3 Lisa is my best friend, road dog, and cousin. Everything is more fun when I am with her and she is without a doubt the coolest person I know. The three of us have been on some awesome adventures and I always look forward to the next ones.

3. My favorite bands - I could go on and on about my favorite bands forever. Listening to them instantly puts me in a better mood. I live for their live shows. I’m sad that The Matches broke up and that LBC doesn’t really tour anymore. However, I still get to see the Plain White Ts and Lars on a fairly regular basis.

4. My dogs - Wishbone Swenson is a sassy little Shiba Inu. We got her about two and a half years ago when she was a tiny little puppy. I love the way she tries to howl and how jealous she gets of Miley. Miley is our black lab who is less than a year old. She is very playful and friendly! The Hawk adopted her with that name. I love everything about my dogs except their dog hair. I like to have one of them sleep next to me at night, but make sure to put a sheet over my comforter first.

5. Excellent grades - Getting As is extremely important to me. I’m trying to keep my 4.0 until I graduate in May. I love looking at the gradebooks and seeing perfect scores! It makes me very very happy. In contrast, if I were to see a less than perfect or even a B grade I am pretty upset about it. I expect the best from myself and love to learn!

6. My job - I really love the organization I work for and almost all of the people that work with me. I have an awesome boss and an amazing intern/friend in my program.  My days go by very quickly and I stay pretty busy. My favorite time of the day is when my teens come in after school. I love hanging out with them and helping them do better in school, get prepared for college, and gain real work experience. It’s very rewarding and I thoroughly enjoy all the time I spend with them.

7. CAWC - The Classy Ass Wine Club! This is definitely my favorite club. We meet once a month with a group of varying size. Jerome, Jason, Emily, and I are the founding members. Our first meeting was on Halloween in 2008 and we’re still going strong! We each share a bottle of wine and have tons of fun together! Other regular members include Cassi, Kate, Troy, and Margaret. Sometimes we like to have big CAWCs. I like throwing open ones at the ranch from time to time.

8. Social Media - I can’t get enough of it. I am a very social person in general, but even more so online! I love the convenience and ease of keeping in touch with people that are important to me. I also love making new friends and meeting up with them when I can. My favorite things to do online are email, IM (yes, like a high schooler), tweet, and blog. Gary V is my social media inspiration. I love everything about him and am so happy to have met so many Vaynerizers because of him. :)

9. Traveling - I love visiting my friends and family and going to new cities whenever I can. I have an above average amount of vacation time to use up throughout the year and definitely take advantage of that. Seattle always come first as far as vacation priorities, but I also want to visit Charlotte this summer! <3 Being in new environments and discovering new things to do is always exciting for me.

10. Volleyball - My favorite sport! I especially love playing sand volleyball. I play on teams during the summer and want to get back into indoor volleyball once I’m done with school. I’ve made some amazing friends through teams and pick up games over the years. I’m usually not very competitive, but I take my volleyball very seriously! My favorite things to do are overhand serve or set for my spike partner. I don’t usually spend a lot of time outdoors, so it’s nice to spend a little bit of time in the sun while I play.

Here’s a list of various websites taking relief donations to Haiti in the aftermath of yesterday’s 7.0 earthquake. Every dollar helps. Please re-blog.

American Red Cross International Response Fund

UNICEF Haiti Earthquake Fund

Yele Hati - Text “Yele” to 501501 and $5 will be charged to your phone bill and given to relief projects through the organization

Operation USA

What If? Foundation

AmeriCares

Doctors Without Borders

Haiti Arise

Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

Mercy Corps

Partners In Health

I tend to enjoy nearly all of my days, but for some reason unfavorable events seem to occur on Wednesdays. That’s true at least in Team 3.14 anyway.

However, I’ve been having an absolutely wonderful Wednesday thus far. I woke up with my adorable black lab laying at my feet. I got out of the house on time. There wasn’t a lot of traffic. I got to Case just fine and didn’t even turn the wrong way once.

I met up with Lana at the Coffee House and discovered my new favorite tea, Apple Cinnamon! So good. I always enjoy hanging out with Lana when I have trainings at the Mandel Center. We always have really good conversations. They seem to go by very quickly because I always have to rush to take my fake walk of shame down the frat house driveway and run into the training so I’ll be on time. :)

I had an awesome MyCom session today. I’m developing a plan for next year where we’ll host four life skills retreats which will touch on interpersonal communication, self empowerment, academic commitment, and value exploration. I’m really excited about it and I’ve gotten a ton of help from the other youth professionals that are also in the training. It’s such a good way to network with other people and find new resources for the teens!

Whenever I go there I leave feeling really great about the work that I do. Someone mentioned that non-profit workers realize the good in the work that they do, but have trouble painting a picture for others when they talk about it.

I think it is difficult to describe how I feel when I’m at work or elaborate on what an impact youth programs have on the lives of teens in the community. I try to make everything I do meaningful for my teens and keep in mind that everything they do during these years will affect them as they grow up. I feel really privileged that I’m able to be a part of that. I also feel fortunate that I enjoy it as much as I do.

One of my favorite facilitators, Honey, gave everyone a little gift to end our training. They are these little hand massage tools that are shaped almost like starfish or something. She said we should use them and keep them as a reminder that we need to take care of ourselves in order to take care of others.

:) I like that. I’m going to miss going to these, but I’m sure there will be something else hosted at the Mandel center soon. I have really learned a lot from them and feel like they have already changed my view on the work I do, how I do it, and most importantly why I do it.

Also! It was pretty sunny out today for a little bit. We worked by the fireplace area and all the walls are like windows, so the sun kept shining into the room. I felt like I was getting sunburn on my arms like I do when I drive. It also got in my face a lot and I didn’t have sunglasses, but it was a welcome change to the dreary overcast skies we always have in the winter. I know how much my road dog likes the sun, so hopefully she got to see it as well! <3

The rest of the day should go smoothly. I’m on my lunch break now drinking some tea. It’s creative writing tutoring day and I’m hanging out with Brett tonight. The forecast is looking good!

Jason and Amos <3

J looks great in the Mario Pajama pants we got him for Christmas! :)