Video

I won a video contest at work. We had to create a video that was less than 2 minutes about AmeriCorps, GreenBrier, or just a day in the life. It is now featured on the website: greenbrierlearning.org

I created this:




Enjoy!

E

The Food I Can Buy With Food Stamps

Spoiled much?
Thank You Virginia Government!
This has been another edition to what Erin can buy on Food Stamps.

Politically Incorrect,
Erin

Getting Things Done

"Getting Things Done."

It's the AmeriCorps motto. It's very vague and silly and we use it probably more than we should ; ) Recently, we headed to Richmond, VA for the 2010-2011 Virginia AmeriCorps Kick-Off. It was loads of fun. 

Downtown Richmond: Ileana & Carolyn, not amused.

Kyle and his shoes

@ a bar: Kyle, Ileana, Me

It was also Ileana's Birthday!!

At the Kick-Off Conference, Steve and I had to prepare a 30-second elevator speech about Greenbrier Learning Center and present it in front of over 100 people, which was pretty cool. We also attended several workshops including a 90-minute workshop on ICEBREAKERS! My favorite! Here we are after taking the AmeriCorps Oath:

Greenbrier Team: Carolyn, Ileana, Kyle, Me, Joslynn, Steve

Look how cute we are in our AC gear. Aw. I love my coworkers with such a passion. I can't stand to be away from them (two are out of town this weekend). We were sure to use these days off work for all that they were worth. For me & Steve, this meant making Dirt Pudding Cups for Ileana's Birthday:

Beautiful.

And, of course, a little Karaoke.

To add to all the excitement, Carlie came to visit me from Chicago. Her, Steve & I had a blast touristing around DC. Finally I felt on the other side of the situation. Can you believe I've already been here almost 2 months? Or, even crazier, that I was almost done with India ONE year ago? crazy.

Yay New + Old Friends!

and Pancakes!

and "Peg"Cakes?

 Got to see some old friends this weekend, too! I love my life.

Back in Hollybrook 

<3

Update

Whoo. It's been forever. Things at work are chugging along and I'm quite exhausted actually. The kids has very much obviously passed the "honeymoon" stage of the program and have become particularly dissatisfied with the program and unaffected by my oh-so-meditated behavioral management techniques. I swear the more I work with kids the more I realize that no behavioral management strategy is foolproof. It's become..a little difficult to control the group. At the end of the day Im just happy that they finished their homework and didn't hit anyone. 

Anywhooo... More on that later. NOW, check out these wonderful costumes we threw together for the first day of fall RELAY RACE.  We wanted to be scarecrows but didn't have hats or pants for the kids to put on, so we just threw together an assortment of items:

Illeana! Scarecrow?...more like sexycrow.

Hawt. The Tevas are a nice touch

Meanwhile, the team is stronger than ever. We love each other even though we spent our entire days and nights hanging out. Here's an adorable picture we took before going out to an EPIC karaoke bar in Dupont Circle. It's the full-time staff.

The Full-Time Team  : ) : )

We have been going strong on our Thursday night potlucks--such great conversation, and equally amazing food!

This upcoming week, we'll be heading to Richmond for an AmeriCorps kick-off thing. I'm pumped for the free hotel rooms, spending time for the best people ever, and perhaps meeting some other interesting AmeriCorps members in the area. I hear Richmond is AWESOME. Can't wait.

Erin