Dietrich is 26!

Friday was Dietrich's big day! I took the day off of work and we had a great, fun-filled day. I took him to a great local breakfast place, the Catalyst. But before we left he opened his first present...a new sweatshirt I made.

I love him

Cozy

And cute!

 This lovely art work was hanging above our table. Not the most appetizing theme.

After coming home and having a short rest I got out these hidden gems for a little art project.

The finished products...

 After an hour of clean-up (it turns out oil paints are hard to get off the skin...who'da thunk?) Dietrich opened his second present. I took a mini silk screening class at the local arts center so I could make this Crafty Ewings t-shirt for Dietrich.

Our salmon, cilantro-lime rice, and green bean dinner

 We wrapped up our day with our first Missoula Maulers hockey game. We certainly saw a different side of the community. There were some season ticket holders in front of us who put on quite the show, complete with macarena dancing at intermission. Also, it smelled intensely of body odor and locker room in the arena...yummy. We had a great time.

Slash, the mascot

Season ticket holders...

HALF Done!!!!

 So, I, Abigail, am half done with my Americorps service! Hooray! In a timely way, this week has been the busiest yet. I have been working on planning two service areas for our local Project Homeless Connect. The last three weeks I gathered six Subaru car loads of coats, jackets, gloves, hats, and winter wear from six local churches. Each load was lovingly carried up a flight of stairs at the Y and sorted by yours truly. Today I spent several hours "setting up shop" at the local Methodist church. To give you an idea of the true immensity of clothing...it filled a box truck to the halfway mark!

Our progress was slow, but we had some great volunteers.

This woman, Amylisa, reminded me so much of Jenna Bryant. She was hilarious. She spent a long time making signs for me, and could never quite manage to fit in the s at the end of each word. She's getting her masters in Intercultural youth and family development. Apparently the University of Montana is the only university to offer this marvelous degree.

I was so happy with how things turned out. Our clothing area looked like a little shop.

Pet services came together nicely too. I gathered four car loads of pet food for a grand total of 1,600 pounds!

Before

                               

After

I thought I would throw in a couple pictures of the office as well, exciting place that it is.

This is my fun desk mate, Hattie. She hails from St Louis, is a huge Cardinals fan, and works for our Children's program at the YWCA. I have no idea what that thing is around her neck.

Birthday Photo Shoot Take 1

Today, on January 2nd of 2013, we took the opportunity to celebrate and yea, mark, the birth of one Abigail Ewing 26 years ago today. We took with us a few items of import and began... 

 Can you find the broken big toe?

 This one is simply "Bear and Fish"

 Peacock and sir, reading papyrus scroll

 Missoula's fine rent-a-bike service

 Fierce bird of prey, meek peacock, brave wave-kayaker

 Crazy-eyed donkey

The following are a compilation of pictures that will simply be called "untitled"

Happy birthday, to a very classy lady!