Grandma

The world lost a very special woman yesterday. Born on March 23, 2011 (yes she was just 2 months shy of 100!), my grandmother was an extraordinary woman. Elfrieda was born in Hamburg, Germany, the daughter of August and Amanda Schmidt, younger sister to Ada. At 12 years old, her father had been killed in WWI, and she and her mother and sister moved to New Jersey. Knowing no English, she was placed in second grade but quickly moved up to sixth, with the highest grades in the class by 8th grade graduation (we even have her report cards!). She worked for AT&T for many years, played on a women's basketball team in New York City and married my grandfather, Joseph Calleja, on November 3, 1934. We had many many photos to go through, and they tell me that Grandma was a very glamorous lady! She and my grandfather traveled the world and had a wonderful family. I'm honored to have been able to call her my grandmother, and I think that all ladies should hope to always wear shoes as cute as hers ;-) Here are some pictures (pictures of pictures actually, I was too lazy to scan) to let you see the lovely lady.

Grandma, her father August and sister Ada

Black and white photos are just so cool!

Grandparents wedding photo, 1934

Grandma (on the right) and her friends, dressed up as guys

Me and Grandma, circa 1990

 Funny story. A few months ago, I was reading something.. I don't remember what or where, but a German word struck me, and I actually put a memo with it's definition in my phone. Gemutlichkeit (geh-mayt-luh-kite...???) means an attitude of acceptance, conviviality, and enjoyment of what are you doing and those you are with. Sitting at Grandma's last night with my family, I peeked into her old dictionary, and there were random words on pieces of paper scattered throughout the book. Lo and behold, there was gemutlichkeit, in her old fancy script! I couldn't believe it and made everyone make sure I wasn't crazy. But it was really my word, how weird is that? So I take that as Grandma's lesson to enjoy life and be happy wherever I am. I think if we all live with this word in mind, wouldn't we all be much happier?

Rest peacefully, Grandma, we'll all miss you <3

Great Weekend!

Hey there =) Since starting this blog, I've felt great. Refreshed? Less bored? I don't know but it's good and I'd like to stay this way!

Aside from that, it's just been a good couple of days all around. My dad's away on business so I've gotten to have some QT on the couch with my mom. Tonight I've been in my comfy Christmas-present PJs since 6:30 and I'm getting ready to settle in for Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. Ahh, this is the life. Too bad tomorrow's Monday again, boo.

At least I like my job most of the time. I'm finishing school to be an audiologist- that means I take care of people's hearing. This year I'm doing my residency at a hospital. I get to do a little bit of everything there- hearing tests on adults and lots of kids, balance testing, and working with hearing aids and cochlear implants. At work on Friday I got to be a part of getting hearing aids donated to a super cute, super deserving little girl. She was so excited for her awesome blue hearing aids and little stuffed mouse that came along with them- she promised me she'd write a story about them this weekend =) It was such a great feeling to help her and her family out, since times are tough for many families now and hearing aids are expensive but so necessary. It's great that I work for a corporation that is able to do things like this!

I spent a ton of time outside this weekend playing with my camera, and freezing my ass off! But I totally enjoy walking around taking pictures. I'll be happy when it's warmer out though.. why didn't I decide I needed a camera for Memorial Day instead of Christmas? Oh well! Here are some pictures I took, and also a link to my Flickr account. I can't figure out how to put the link elsewhere on the page, so here it is for now.

Kait's Table Flickr

Oh, and here's the yummy treat I made for myself tonight. It's just low fat graham crackers around chocolate melted over mini-marshmallows topped with a teaspoon of peanut butter. Somehow, 1/2 of this is only 3 points on Weight Watchers. So excited to eat it! Have a wonderful Monday y'all ;-)

- Kait

Growing Up

Welcome to my very first blog!  I'm beginning a very fun and interesting year of my life, and I think this blog will be a great place to keep track of it all.  Here's a little info about me- my name is Kaitlin. I just turned 25. I'll have my AuD (doctorate in Audiology) in May, and I'm hoping to have a full time job once I graduate. I just bought a digital SLR camera, and still really have no idea what I'm doing with it but it takes such nice pictures! I have an amazing boyfriend who I've been in love with for almost half my life, and we hope to have our first apartment together within the next few months. Hopefully he'll officially become my fiancee within a few months too... ;-)  We have a pretty good story, I'll tell you about him soon. I also have an awesome family who has always been super supportive of me. 

So within the next year or so, there's a lot going on. I hope to be growing up a lot, I'm ready for it- I'm happy with who I am, but definitely ready for some change. Moving out of mom and dad's, starting my own home with the boy, learning photography, joining the workforce, planning a wedding, learning to cook in my own kitchen.. it sounds like a lot, and I don't want to forget a second of it. I've never kept up with a traditional journal, but I really hope to update this blog at least a few times a month to start, and more frequently once I get the hang of it. I'd like to include updates on projects I'm working on, recipes, photographs, etc., as well as basically keeping a journal of what's going on in my life. Even if nobody ever reads it, I know that I'll have this all saved for myself =)

Happy New Year... here's to a great 2011! Here are a few pictures I took on New Year's Day with my new camera, just for fun!