A year ago today, I wrote this post:

So I'm in Houston this weekend for a very exciting event.  My best friend Jonna is getting married! I'm super jealous of her.  We have shared a lot of experiences over the past couple of year but I'm sad to say that she won the race to the knot.  Although at times I thought that bride wars might erupt, we kept it clean and i graciously moved aside so she could have the glory of getting married first...

So here is to Jonna Lamb... sadly probably the last time I will type her name that way.  For all the drives to College Station, all the times we ate cookies, cookie dough, copious amounts of ice cream, cyclones, the fun times playing phase 10, the margaritas in my blender, the tornado slumber parties, sonic runs, target runs, heb runs, slc runs, the year of extreme, hungry girl, cooking and freezing, whispers during meeting, burning our faces off at homecoming, kinappings, the times you watched lucy, all the hugs, kind words, and sincere apologies, being with me on april 12, 2007 and any other day i needed you.

On the off chance you read this before sunday.  Thanks for everything.  You helped me survive all things Phi Lamb and Baylor and everything else too.   And before people start to think I'm writing your obituary... I can't wait for everything to come in our future.  I can't wait to visit you in CS. I can't wait for you to stand beside me as I take the leap you are on Sunday.  I know you will continue to be there for me (like you have shown this week... which I am so thankful for) and I will always be there for you. I'm so happy for you and Bryan.  Congratulations Mrs. Sonnier!

Who knew that we would be across the street neighbors in our new "married" lives.

I love how life keeps the people who mean most to you in your life even when you think your paths will be tough to cross again!

Happy Anniversary Jonna and Bryan! We have loved having yall so close to us.  I know Jonna has been a lifesaver for me! Can't wait to see what God has in store for our friendships in the future.  Yesterday Jonna said "we have to keep taking pictures like this forever", Jonna's not really mushy so I was literally shocked that this came out of her mouth... (I didn't tell her that until now)... but I guess yall have accepted that you are stuck with us as friends! Kinda made me tear up a little bit....

The World of Apps

So I do not have an iphone and therefore ignored the world of apps (these are applications that can be purchased-some are free- and downloaded to your phone for use).  I recently discovered that I own a ipod touch! Okay, okay... I already knew I had one but had not discovered the amazing potential it has.

So I hereby solemnly swear to use my ipod touch to be the very very best therapist I can be.  How in the world can my ipod help? Ahhh... yes... apps!

1. Percentally

I'm pretty convinced that this app can revolutionize the world of data collection for SLPs! This app allows you to take data with the touch of your finger.  For instance, I can set up a folder for each of my clients.  Within their folder there would be tallies set up for each of their goals.  These can either be dual tallies (so a spot for right and wrong answers) or single tallies (so just the number of times something is done).  Best of all it takes this data and converts it to percentages automatically! It tracks the data so I can save it from session to session and every BETTER it transfers it all to my computer so that I can submit it to medicaid or wherever else it needs to go!

2. ABA flashcards

These cards are great... they include a picture and the printed word. I can flip through hundreds of them on my ipod which saves me the pain of making them myself or buying therapy grade cards!

3.  iReward

This app is awesome.  It would be great for anyone with kids, not just therapists.  I plan on setting up different reward systems for each of my kiddos.  It basically digitally doles out colored stars or smilies up to your specified amount while displaying a picture of the anticipated reward.  So I plan on saving myself some moolah by NOT purchasing a million packs of stickers and using these nice digital ones!


I'm sure I'll be adding to this list.  What do you think? Sound cool? iPad/iPhone/iPod usage is one of the biggest growing trends in education/therapy.  There were several companies at TSHA presenting on them.  Lots of school districts are working on using these devices in the classroom.  They are really inexpensive options compared to many older technologies.  For instance, there is an Augmentative Communication Device for the iPhone/iPod that contains over four thousand symbols and buttons for use.  This is a lot.  It can easily become a person who is nonverbal's entire speaking system.  After making a sentence on the ipod by choosing from picutres, the device can speak for them.  It's awesome.

So let's do some math... an iPod starts at $199, the software I talked about above is about $129 (one of the MOST expensive ipod apps).  So for $340 a person has verbal language. NICE!
A Dynavox (which is one of the most widely used AAC devices) starts around $7,000.  What the heck! School districts struggle with paying for the for children and sometimes evaluate kids for eligibility and essentially say that they aren't worth the cost of one! Imagine the possibilities.  Even the iPad at $499 is world's cheaper (and also has a much bigger interface which is great for users with mobility issues).  Plus, kids are rough on technology.  A child I worked with this semester beat the heck out of dynavox (on accident) on a regular basis.  He had his attached to his wheelchair and would frequently run into walls and doorframes with it.  Or someone would knock it off his desk... imagine breaking a $7,000+ piece of equipment.  Not cool.  You could buy 20 of the ipod combinations for the same price!

Plus just think how good these kids will feel.  They don't have some weird device, they have an ipod or ipad. I'm all for reducing the stigma of disabilities!

Look around you? How could you use technology to help your life? I wish I was a computer programmer... I would write all kinds of apps!

Drool

I'm completely drooling over my recent retail therapy purchases.

I used my graduation/birthday money to buy a new computer.  My poor old plastic Macbook survived 4 years of being hauled to college/grad school.  I used it every day for at least 8-10 hours a day for the past year and a half.  It has actually had to have it's plastic body replaced twice, and is currently missing the "up" key.  It also no longer stays charged for more than 1 hour... which is sad because I used to be able to leave my charger at home during the day.

So I took the plunge.  The new macs are not only faster with larger hard drives (typical upgrades from year to year), but they have aluminum 'unibodies'.  Basically the entire thing is made from one piece of recycled aluminum.  No seams and no plastic.  It's keys are back lit which is great for dark classrooms (good thing I'm done with school).  It's overall a much better design and I'm hoping it will last me quite a bit longer.

I will also be working from home in my new job (more on that later), so I figured a new computer was starting out on the right foot.  

My dad also decided to get me a new camera for my birthday/graduation.  I've been playing around with an older Canon DSLR for the past few months and have enjoyed it.  However, I knew it definitely wasn't a stopping point for me in terms of cameras.  It was way too big and heavy for me.  This camera's body is half the size and weight. I love it.  Introducing my new camera: The Nikon D50000

It has a multi directional LCD screen! So much fun! I can't wait to use it. 

Regarding the job:

I am going to sign employment papers at Care Options for Kids on Monday.  This is where my sister-in-law, Amy, worked when she lived in Dallas.  It is a home health agency that primarily serves low income kids on Medicaid.  They pay exceptionally well and I feel extremely comfortable with the company's vibe.  I'm anxious to start working. I'm sure I'll have more details on Monday! 

Sorry if I haven't responded recently...

I found at 11am yesterday, my birthday, that I didn't get the job at UTDallas.  I jumped into over drive yesterday trying to salvage the offers that I had gotten earlier on.  But now it's hitting me.

When William IS home...

If you weren't aware... William is not home very often.
But when he is... it's great!

Last Wednesday night William got home from work around 8:30pm.  I had waited for him for dinner so we  went to grab something at Genghis Grill.

We hadn't been there before but there is one right by our house so we thought we would try it.  We had a lot of fun going through and picking out what we each wanted in our stir fry.  William definitely won the award for making the best one! It really reminds me of Fire + Ice in Boston.  That was always our "going out" spot and it was awesome!

Thursday we woke up early and started doing laundry! Fun right? Well even chores are fun when you never have help doing them! We hung up some pictures in our guest room which hasn't been done since we moved in two months ago.  William went to the Army store while I went to spinning.  Spinning always puts me in a really good mood.  I got cleaned up when we got home and we went to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  It was delicious.  We LOVE eating there.  William had BBQ Chicken Pizza and I had the BBQ Chicken Salad.  Yum. 

We headed out Thursday evening to go see a movie.  We got to the mall early... since the theatre is in the mall... and did a bit of shopping before it started. We had an almost fight about shopping... but William was incredibly apologetic (possibly a consequence of being apart) for pissing me off.  It was such a good feeling to be able to resolve a little argument so quickly so that it didn't ruin our night.  We finally settled on shopping for sunglasses for me.  I think William is living vicariously through my holidays. He really wants new sunglasses but since it was my birthday/graduation he helped me look for some.  We shopped all evening before the show but I couldn't decide on any at that point.  

We went to see Iron Man 2.  

I was reluctant because I never saw the first one but it was great regardless! I thought the acting was great and the special effects were pretty cool.  In the beginning of the movie I was afraid that I wouldn't like the character of Tony Stark... I thought he was going to be a little to narcissistic for me, but I actually found him kind of relatable.  Anyways I loved it! 

We made a late night stop at Taco C since we didn't exactly have dinner. 

Friday morning we got up and William packed.  I finished tidying the house for the incoming company.  William and I went to MicroCenter to get his computer looked at.  It turns out it has a bad motherboard (despite it being only 3 months old) and is getting sent back to Sony. Then we went to the mall to buy some sunglasses.  

I finally decided on some.  They were definitely not what I thought I would get because I typically choose a funky, chunky looking plastic frame.  Instead I went with a wire frame that was kind of aviator-esque. 

Thanks William! I love them! 

All in all I would never trade those two days with William.  It's going to be hard when I start working and I can't drop everything to spend time with him when he is home.  Until then... if William is home, sorry I'm busy! 

Graduation

Here are some pictures from this weekend!

Denim Drive

I love new green initiatives! Here is a great article about donating jeans. Everyone has a few pairs of jeans laying around that are no longer wearable... drop them off at Gap and you can get 30% off of a new pair! Plus, your old ones become insulation for Habitat houses! How cool is that?

Denim drive expands to insulate Habitat for Humanity homes - Green House - USATODAY.com

Lucy's Eventful Walk

This morning Lucy and I had a very eventful walk.
First, she saw a squirrel.  Apparently, I wasn't holding on to the leash very well. You can guess what happened.  Good thing she was chasing the squirrel who kindly chose to run up the nearest tree.  I only had to take a small romp around the yard before I caught up with her.  I grabbed her leash.  She was shaking. I think she was in shock about how close she got to the squirrel. I finally managed to pry her away from squirrel hunting and we continued on our walk.

Since moving, Lucy has demonstrated a very unique skill.  Apparently she can climb walls.  Yes, walls.  There are these stone walls in our complex that are about chest high on me.  Clearly several times her height.  Well she climbs them.  She takes one leap and then claws the rest of the way to the top.  Kind of like the squirrels she chases.  Well today she climbed a wall to get to an area of monkey grass (it's her favorite) she enjoys plowing through shoulder high (on her) monkey grass at every chance she gets.  However, today there was a surprise waiting for her.  She was plowing along and all of a sudden I hear a "hiiiisssssssssssssssss".  I hadn't been paying attention, but she dove off the wall like she was running for her life and I grabbed her and then looked in the grass.  Apparently we startled a napping cat.  He (or she) was not happy.  I put her down, and what does she do? She jumps back up there.  I pull her off the ledge into my arms and said "uhh, that cat narrowly missed swatting you the first time, and you want to try it again?"  Genius. That's my dog.