Looking up!

This month has been up and down and all over the place. I started the year with goals galore, and each day I continue to work on them and meet them.

Goal one was health. I joined a great group of women in a challenge to lose weight and get healthy, and so far it is working. Lower calories and more exercise is great! I feel lighter, happier and able to focus more on some of the truly important things in life.

Goal two was career. I got a new job this week! I will soon be employed as an Intervention Specialist. I will get to work with kids of all ages and do groups and individual counseling to meet their needs and help them succeed in school and beyond. I can't wait to get started doing what makes me happy. Each day will be a new adventure, and it all begins on Monday! With the new job came the need for a new place to live, and low and behold the world works in marvelous and mysterious ways and I will be living with a great family in Chico. I am excited to be in a place that is stable and where I will be able to focus.

Goal three: do well in school. I am so excited about this quarter's classes. I am taking a class on consultation and my research class. Both are challenging in their own right, but I am learning so much already. I have decided to research substance abuse and violence prevention programs in schools, and with my new job it is a perfect topic. I can't wait to learn more and apply it to the work I will get to do each day. Research papers may not be the easiest projects, but they make you take time to learn something in detail, and I really appreciate the process.

Each day is such an adventure lately, and very exciting. As I am visiting my family this weekend I am reminded at how blessed I am to be part of such a loving a supportive group of people. It is humbling to be surrounded by such passionate, beautiful and hardworking people who truly care about who I am and what I am doing with my life. I am thankful to be a part of this community. I am also thankful for such great friends who have offered such support during my transition. I am a big fan of "what goes around comes around" and in this case, it will be coming full circle whenever my friends need my support.

Today I am joyous, excited and anticipatory of what lies ahead in the next few weeks, but I know what ever it is, it will be an adventure full of surprises and excitement.