Happy Wednesday!

xoxo Liz

Jar cat

Deliciously normal

Dear Internet,

So I've been here for a month now and there's not a whole lot more to say about my job or life in Helena. They're pretty normal, which is a nice change in pace, but doesn't give me a lot to talk about.

I have gotten to know a few of the people in my office a little better - the other two AmeriCorps guys and another young guy in the office invited me to go to Blackfoot (the brewery) with them after work on Friday, and it was nice to hang out with them outside of work. I'm also joining the office bowling team, starting this Tuesday! It will be nice to have a kind of regular hang-out time with some of my co-workers, and it'll give me something to do on Tuesday nights.

Other than that, like I said, life is deliciously normal and low-key. I'm joining a book club at the library, spending my Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market, and have been canning lots of things:

Top left: spiced peaches; top right: pickled beets and roasted
garlic pasta sauce; bottom left: sweet cherry jam; bottom right:
dill pickles and sweet cherry jam.

I went to see a community theater production of Avenue Q, which was fantastic, and I'm hoping to take voice lessons soon and start auditioning for shows there. Of course, on a reduced stipend and increased rent, all of this is subject to some serious budgetary restrictions, but I'll figure it out.

I've also been studying for the GRE (which I take this Saturday) and the LSAT (which I take next Saturday)... I'll be glad when that's over. Especially because ERT will be back in Montana this week! In talking to Will, they should be heading up this Wednesday, arriving Thursday night or Friday afternoon. So I will get to see them this weekend... once I finish my GRE :P

Other than that, I don't have much to say, so here's some photos I took of Helena:

The building where I work...

... right across from the "Man Store."

Farmer's Market!

Walking around downtown on Last Chance Gulch, one of the
main drags

The Cathedral, and some guy who didn't seem
to want to get out of my photo. Legend has it that
some guy flew his plane through the spires on a
bet - and then measured his wingspan and found out
that he cleared the spires by about 3 inches.

Big Dipper Ice Cream on the Walking Mall = amazing.

The Walking Mall. This is a staute of a newspaper-selling kid
across from the crêperie!

View of Mt Helena from the street

The road that leads to my house. The leaves are starting to get pretty

And I took two panoramas from Mt Helena and couldn't decide which one to put up, so here they both are. If you look closely you can see the red roof and spires of the Cathedral.

xoxo Liz

An Adventure

Dear Internet,

So I had this fantasy the other day that I won a round-the-world trip from a (fictional) airline. I was thinking about where I would go, and this is what I came up with:

• Iceland
• Costa Rica
• Tuscany
• Ghana or Kenya
• Sri Lanka
• Croatia
• China
• Russia 
• Australia or New Zealand

 It's been a while since I've been on an international flight... here comes the travel bug, and he's hungry!

xoxo Liz

Happy Monday.

"In the mountains of Montana, sometimes we forget to count the days."

Dear Internet,

The above was painted on a bench in an antiques shop on Last Chance Gulch, the downtown district in Helena. I went for a walk during my lunch break since it was such a beautiful, clear, sunny, slightly brisk day and stopped in to look around the shop. We've been cloaked in smoke from surrounding wildfires (none too close; all the smoke just floats down here into the valley, even all the way over from Idaho) for over a week, so it was nice to see the mountains surrounding the city today! Also, to breathe a little easier. So,

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo Liz

Daily Odd Compliment

Courtesy of Daily Odd Compliment, a great site to look at when you're having a rough day. Cheer up, buttercup! :)

xoxo Liz

This is real science.

Come Alive

Dear Internet,

Today I was thinking about Pinterest.I like it a lot. I have several virtual "pinboards," one of which is just a collection of photos and quotes and other images that make me happy. Then I thought: maybe you guys would like them too. So I'll put up some images from my Pinterest board every once in a while. Just to change it up. Just to spice up your day (or at least mine!)

That's all.

xoxo Liz

The Queen City of the Rockies: A Week In

Dear Internet,

Well, I’ve been in Helena for a week now and things have been going pretty well! But first I’ll back up and tell you - or just put up some pictures - from Will’s and my road trip here.

On the Road, Arizona!

Bright Angel Canyon, a tributary canyon of the Grand Canyon
which Will and I hiked down (2.5 hrs) and back up (3.5 hrs). Ouch.

A canyon most grand!

Me & Will (respectively).

The Great Salt Lake (it was pretty gross)

Temple Square in Salt Lake City,
a.k.a. Mormon HQ.

Okay, cool. So my first day of work, my supervisor, Brian, showed up wearing all black, including a kilt and combat boots. I had been warned about the kilt but not the black or the boots or anything. So I knew it would be a good job.

My job is confusing to explain. I’m funded by a Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) from Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and I work with the Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (LSNTAP). The office I work at, and that sponsors my hiring through VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America, by the way) is Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA). Lawyers love acronyms. Jeez.

Basically I work with legal aid organizations to help them reach and serve low-income people better, via technology. So this entails monitoring a help desk and listserv of email addresses, blogging, and helping with social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube...). It’s a lot of computer time, and I didn’t realize how tough that would be for me.

On the plus side, it’s decently interesting. I deal more with the tech side of things than with the legal side of things, but I hear a lot of what goes on in the office at least - attorneys dealing with clients who have housing or domestic violence or a host of other issues that they otherwise would not be financially equipped to deal with. It’s pretty cool and I’d feel worse about eavesdropping if the attorneys bothered to close their doors when they were on speakerphone.

I’ve also re-re-rediscovered how much I like to write. Blogging is probably my favorite part of my job. So far I wrote a piece on captioning YouTube videos and am now working on one about different options for video conferencing. It’s not terribly exciting stuff for me - I’ll never be that much of a techie - but I’ve enjoyed the process of putting it together. I think I’m better at teaching in print than out loud. I’m not sure if it’s the research that I enjoy, the writing, or what, but writing posts is sure better than combing Facebook for legal aid organizations to “like.”

Overall, I think the job might take some warming up to. At this point, I’m used to being outside all the time, hanging out with at least three other people at all times. In this job, there isn’t a whole lot of human interaction, which I guess I didn’t realize how much I relied on to feel like I was really doing something. Out there in cyberspace, it can be hard to feel like you have an impact. This is a good thing to know about myself in the long run, I think; in the short term, I’ll try to keep perspective and remember that whether I see them or not, the information I’m disseminating to lawyers around the country is helping them to help a lot of people.

Beyond the job, life has been pretty great! I think I will love living in Montana, aside from the winter, which my roommate Justin assured me “is not as bad as it is in Bozeman.” I’m from the South. Your normal winters are my apocalypse... not to be too dramatic.

Anyway, the first week I was here was the last Alive @ Five in Helena (yeah, I do lots of links now). I was able to meet up with one of the girls I met at my Pre-Service Orientation (PSO) back in July, Jillian, and her friends at Blackfoot River Brewery, a local institution, before heading over to the festivities. Then I got to hang out with a few other people from my PSO at Grand Teton National Park that weekend (Labor Day weekend, as luck would have it)! Both were great experiences and it was kind of reassuring to know that I can still have a social life even though I don’t live at the over-populated and under-cleaned apartments on Shenandoah anymore. It’s a different way to meet people and make friends, but it can still be done.

The Tetons!

Also Tetons

And I got to see Old Faithful!

Crater made by the Excelsior Geyser in Yellowstone

Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone

Artists' Paintpots in Yellowstone

Me and some of the super-cool people I got to hang out with
in the Tetons: Kelly, Sammie, and Michael.

That’s about it for now - in closing, a photo I took when I hiked up Mt Helena this evening:

My awesome new city: Helena

xoxo Liz