A Long Awaited Update

It has been along time since I have last written. I was preparing a new blog post a few weeks ago, and then everything changes making it no longer relevant.

Life has been great. I have a new understanding of Spring and why people love this season so much. It is a reward for making it through the daunting and long winter. Winter can be discouraging at times, and I definitely had my challenges, but Spring. Spring made is worth it (almost). I already forgotten many of the issues with winter other than I didn't really like it very much.

With Spring came the famous DC Cherry Blossoms. That appeared one day and were beautiful. They fell off as quickly as they came but they were beautiful while they lasted. I have never seen as many tulips spread out across a city before. They turned up in the most random places and I couldn't help but take a picture almost every time.

Spring has brought thunderstorms and waves of hot weather followed by a week of cold! It consistently unpredictable.

Spring has also been the beginning of my job search. I decided to throw myself into the aupair search. I have had some fun really learning about so many different families and researching potential new cities to live in and places to visit. A few weeks ago, I was offered a job in Switzerland with a great family. They had everything an aupair could ask for. I signed the contract and began making plans! It was so exciting. It was exciting to have a plan. I was planning on going home for about a month to enjoy my family and friends before I left them for an entire year. I was dreaming about Amsterdam in the Spring for the tulips and Germany for Oktoberfest.

It was all coming together, until I learned that Switzerland was placing tight limits on the visas they were giving out. This was quite the curve ball. It was a heartbreaking phone call from the father. I have since been looking for away around this while beginning conversations with new families.

I am confident that I will find a family that is a good match, even if it takes a little longer. I am building a great network in DC and am loving every minute of it. I have a bunch of pictures that I will hopefully get to put up soon!

A Woman's Nation Changes Everything

I had the opportunity to attend a conference put on by the Center for American Progress many months ago about the Shriver Report. Maria Shriver and a team of people created this report which interviewed people across the country about what it is like to be a family member, to be a woman, to be a man, and what needs to be done about it now. Many of the authors spoke at the conference. It was a great experience and one of the many things I did when I found myself unemployed in a new city.

A few of the statistics-

• Women make up 50% of the workforce for the first time ever.
• Women are receiving 57% of college degrees and 50% of master's and doctorates.
• Women are still being paid $0.77 to the dollar for doing the same work as their male counterparts.

Women's empowerment and equality is what I have found I am most passionate about.  I know that my ideal job will surround women's economic empowerment, education, and all together community development.  I have recently been reminded of this passion as I continue to do research regarding graduate school and what I want to do.  I have also watched or read the following articles.  I recommend taking a moment if you have one to look at them.  There are also a few articles about getting married or being single, which I find interesting to think about as well. 

Still Working- Commentary on the road ahead for equal opportunities for men and women.

The End of Men - An article about equality and where we are going. Lots of issues brought up!
Rich White Men Are Doing Just Fine -- It's Men and Women of Color Who Continue to Fall Behind - This is a response article to the article in "The Atlantic." 

Eve Ensler- She wrote the Vagina Monologues which became one my proudest accomplishments at school.  Eve continues to work hard to fight for women everywhere and is always an inspiration to me. This is a great talk about everyone embracing your inner girl. (Ted.com is an awesome website with 15 minute talks about everything you can imagine! It is a quality time waster.)

The first article I have ever read saying something positive about Walmart

White House Council on Women and Girls: One of the first things that President Obama did when he came into office was create the White House Council on Women and Girls. Valerie Jared is in charge of the council and I have really enjoyed listening to her speak over the past year and a half. 

I would recommend everyone read Arianna Huffington's book On Becoming Fearless. It is a FANTASTIC book about looking fear in the face and realizing that it might not have been worth fearing after all. 

Marry Him and On Settling for Mr. Good Enough are thought provoking articles about finding the balance on "settling" and compromise.