Christmas...

...was wonderful.
Marshall and his parents stopped by for about an hour in the morning. He got me the most beautiful pearl necklace and his parents got me matching earrings. I absolutely love them. (whenever dad and/or Michelle get around to uploading some pictures, I'll post some here.) We then headed to see my aunt and uncle and cousin and had dinner with them.
Marshall and Renato then came here on Monday and we opened more presents with them. Mom got them both a stocking since Marshall has never had one before. His family must really love me because his goddaughter/her family got me a present and another couple from his family whom I've never even met sent me a present as well. Mom got him a dart game that looks like it combines trivial pursuit with darts, which we are quite excited to play. I'm heading to VA for New Year's Eve/New Years, so maybe we'll get a chance then.

Hope all is well with everyone.

In an effort to get people commenting (since you all stopped once I got back from Uganda), leave a comment with your favorite Christmas present or Christmas activity!

Holiday Fundraising

As you all may or may not know, I'm on the board of directors of a brand new organization called Confere Inservitus. Charlie, the executive director, and his fiancee Becky are Marshall and my best friends in Pittsburgh, and Charlie went to grad school with us. Charlie has been passionate about starting this organization from the moment I met him (he was the first person I ever met from GSPIA...we met up to go salsa dancing before orientation). It's been such a great experience working with him on forming this organization. Charlie, me, and a bunch of other wonderfully talented people have been working hard to get this organization off the ground. I'll let Charlie explain the rest (copied from facebook):


Hello Everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know that our non-profit to prevent human trafficking, Confere Inservitus, is moving forward. We chose the name Confere Inservitus because it means “Coming Together Against Slavery” in Latin. Our mission is to confront the causes and manifestations of human trafficking, slavery and severe forms of exploitation. We will prevent human trafficking by collaborating with service providers, law enforcement and other anti-trafficking organizations. With their assistance we will use information technology to identify the most vulnerable and at risk populations and design interventions where they live.

To really get this project off the ground, we do need some help.

We are hoping to raise at least $3,000 dollars this holiday season to build our information sharing network. I know this seems like a lot of money, but if everyone invited to this page gave $20, we would more than exceed our goal.

Please consider donating this holiday season. Checks can be made payable to Confere Inservitus and mailed to 3424 Monroe St. Pittsburgh, PA 15213. If you think you will be able to help, please send me a facebook message [you can contact me for Charlie's email address], or if you prefer, anonymous contributions are also welcome.

If you know someone that may be interested in helping us out, please invite them to this event as well.

Below you’ll find more information on human trafficking as well as a very brief description of how we’re planning to confront it. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at cayhap@confereinservitus.org.

Thanks for your support!

Charles Yhap, MID
Executive Director
Confere Inservitus

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world today. In terms of illegal revenue it is second only to drugs and the arms trade. A wide range of estimates exist on the scope and magnitude of modern-day slavery. The International Labor Organization (ILO)—the United Nations agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues—estimates that there are at least 12.3 million adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and commercial sexual servitude at any given time. Of these victims, the ILO estimates that at least 1.39 million are victims of commercial sexual servitude, both transnational and within countries.

According to the ILO, 56 percent of all forced labor victims are female. Targeting vulnerable people, human traffickers use creative and ruthless ploys designed to trick, coerce, and win the confidence of potential victims. Very often these ruses involve promises of a better life through employment, educational opportunities, or marriage.

Confere Inservitus is dedicated to confronting the causes and manifestations of human trafficking, slavery and severe forms of exploitation. Our two phase approach is unique and will allow us to develop a strong track record of successful interventions. The first step will be to collaborate with service providers, law enforcement and other anti-trafficking organizations to collect and analyze information on victims that have been trafficked to find out what made them vulnerable. Once an opportunity for successful intervention has been identified, we will seek to form partnerships with organizations operating in the areas where victims originate. Collaboration with these organizations will enable us to tailor responses to the local conditions and address the vulnerabilities of these at-risk populations.

Your donations will help us to get our project running and off the ground, focusing on several initial key steps:

• Cover costs associated with attaining 501(c) 3 non-profit status
• Advertise our incorporation as required by Pennsylvania law
• Create informational materials
• Begin constructing an information sharing network to gather information on victim vulnerabilities
• Analyze information to understand who victims are and where they are coming from
• Take preventive actions in source countries to reduce the vulnerabilities of at risk populations

Pittsburgh

Marshall and my trip to Pittsburgh was lots of fun. One of his friends from college moved their right after we moved away, so a couple of their other college friends came to visit as well. He had a great time seeing them, and I did as well. They're a fun group of guys :) I didn't take many pictures, but I did get a couple at Light Up Night of us in front of the giant Christmas tree and ice skating rink downtown.
Saturday, we hung out with Marshall's college friends, then had dinner with Michelle and Renato. I then had a board meeting for the anti-human trafficking organization Charlie is starting up, then more hanging out with people. Sunday morning we all met up for breakfast at Pamelas (the best breakfast place ever) before everyone headed home.


Marshall and I


Becky, Charlie, Me, Marshall, Chris (Marshall's college friend), Chris' girlfriend Danielle


all of us with the tree

in other news...

I now have a third job, working at Maggianos, an Italian restaurant. I'm working at the carryout window and doing deliveries. I'm getting a decent amount of hours there, especially over the holidays, which is nice.

Marshall and I are heading to Pittsburgh this weekend. Since we both work at a shopping center, and it's the holidays, I doubt either of us will be able to get away again til after the holidays. Friday night is one of my favorite things to go to, Pittsburgh's Light Up Night. There are all kinds of activities downtown - music groups, ice skating, carriage rides, the Macy's Christmas window display, lighting up the giant tree, Santa, and the night ends with fireworks. Michelle and Renato are going as well, so hopefully we can meet up with them. Saturday, Marshall and I are going out for dinner with Michelle and Renato, then I have a board meeting for my friend's organization, before hanging out with friends :) It should be a fun weekend, and it'll be nice to get away for a couple days before the holiday craziness starts at work.

good news...

...for Marshall. He has a job interview at Systems Planning and Analysis on Thursday. A friend of his who works there recommended him a while back, and they had been calling him, but the contract they were going to hire him for fell through. He got a call today that they got another project that they thought he would be good for, and when he said he would send them his updated resume, they told him not to bother, they wanted him to come in for an interview. So keep your fingers crossed and him in your prayers that all goes well and he gets the job.

Kiva

Kiva is a great organization working with microcredit programs throughout the world. They allow anyone to choose and donate to a loan group. When the loan is due you can either get your money back or loan it to another group.

The project I'm currently lending to:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=148453

The image below is a random project in need of funding.

my leadership program :)

The program started with its first 10 students this month. I'm pretty excited :)

Check it out in the Johnson Institute News: Leadership Portfolio Program

Tiësto

Wednesday night we went to Philly to see one of the world's best DJs, Tiësto. It was a great show. I loved it. Here are a few pics and a video (warning: flashing lights and loud music) of his remix of Adagio for Strings.

Lisa, me, Liz - on the way to Philly


Me and Pat


Tiësto


Tiësto's Adagio for Strings remix

PA Renaissance Faire

About a week and a half ago, a bunch of us went on our annual trip to the PA Renaissance Faire. This year we went for Oktoberfest, however, none of the men were willing to wear lederhosen, so they all dressed as peasants.

We kept running into this guy all day. He was with the street performers and did a pretty cool fighting stick demonstration. Every time we ran into him, he would tell us all to come see his show (which we did) and tell Marshall that he needs to tell me every day how lucky he is and how wonderful I am (which he does) and to buy me a flowers...(we ran into him yet again as we were leaving, which is when these were taken)


So Marshall bought me a beautiful copper rose, which I absolutely love :)


Marshall apparently loves puppets, which I didn't know until this trip, and loved the dragon puppets. This is Archimedes. (I know it looks kind of creepy, but they grow on you, he's actually quite cute...the dragon, not Marshall...haha). They're all hand crafted, and the guy that designs them does a lot of stuff for movies, and there's a mini museum of his sculptures. It was really neat. Link to the website: Imaginarium Galleries


The 3 lovely beer girls


Al


The rest of these were taken by Tapan:
Tapan and Neil (or at least his camera...taken by Liz)


in the sword shop




The Joust

some pictures from a professional

Liz went out with a friend of a friend who's a professional photographer, who of course happened to have a camera with him when they met up with us later, so we had a photo shoot at the Fox and the Hound. (They went out to a nice restaurant in Philly, and I took Marshall to Maggiano's for his birthday which is why we're dressed up and Lisa isn't.)

Liz, Lisa, & I

Lisa & Al


Marshall loves eskimo kisses


Liz took this one of the guys: Tapan (her date), Doug (our friend), Marshall, Al (Lisa's bf)

ING Distance Run

Amanda and I did another half marathon this morning. I was doing really well until mile 9 when I think I strained something in my ankle. I still managed to finish a little over 10 seconds faster than last time. My time in Pittsburgh was 3:23:50, and today it was 3:23:38.

We had perfect weather today. It was beautiful, sunny, and only in the 70s. I liked the Pittsbrugh race more though, because there were spectators cheering along the entire course, and here there weren't many.

Other than my ankle, and a cramp that I got in the car on the way home, I feel much better than I did after the last race :)

Watch me cross the finish line: http://philadelphia.competitor.com/features/finishlinereplay/
Pictures: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47946&BIB=18210&S=230&PWD=

Pictures Marshall or I took:
Marshall and I before the race (I lost Amanda)
Approaching the finish line:
Marshall driving me home

I have jobs!

I'll take a break from all the fun summer pictures for a post. As of today, I have 2 part-time jobs. One, doing what I used to do - cleaning office buildings. As of right now, 3 hours a night weekdays, which is great since I'm a night person. He also said once I get used to cleaning my building, he can probably get me another couple hours a day, which would be great. Then on weekends, I'm going to cater =) That should be a fun job...I always enjoyed catering, plus I get to go to lots of weddings.
I start catering Saturday, working a wedding, and cleaning office buildings on Tuesday. (I'm going to Virginia Sunday and Monday.)

Well, that's my exciting news =)

Pictures and the song of the day

2 weeks ago was our annual trip to Rickett's Glen State Park. We brought along Al's nephew and Lisa's little half brother, who were both excellently behaved and a lot of fun to have with us. This year the whole waterfall trail was open (last time we went in April and half of it was closed due to ice.) It's a pretty difficult trail, but the kids made it and were eager to go canoeing after some food.


The water was freezing!
Last week, Marshall and I met at Gifford Pinchot State Park out near York (about an hour and a half from each of us) for some hiking and then hanging out by the lake. We had a really good time :)
This past weekend, Sara (one of my college roommates) and her boyfriend, Jason, were at his parent's house near Lancaster, so I met up with them. Tomorrow, I'm headed back to Pittsburgh to help Michelle move back in, to stop by the office, and to hang out with some friends. Then back on Saturday for Kim's birthday bbq Saturday night.

I'm still looking for jobs. No success yet, but I'm sure something will work out eventually. Hope everyone's doing well!

As a parting gift, go check out this pretty sweet song:
Bela Fleck with Oumu Sangare and Toumani Diabate - Ndiya

Pictures

I had to drive the truck home from the pick up place...that was quite an adventure

All colorful at the Tiki Bar
Andrew taking cover from the rain while we got the car after our canoeing trip

in case you were wondering...

i'm back home. my former neighbor from pittsburgh is wonderful...he's like a moving machine. we had everything packed in the truck in 2 1/2 hours (it was all in boxes and on my front porch by the time he got home from work) and unpacked (by that i mean a living room full of boxes) in an hour and a half. he also drove the 15' truck (i ordered a 10' truck, but they didn't have any) from pittsburgh to phoenixville. now the challenge is figuring out how to fit everything from my house into my room.
we did some fun stuff while andrew was here, but ever since he flew back to pittsburgh, my days are filled with job searching, working (i'm working at my old job at the johnson institute through august), and playing wii fit (apparently i have terrible balance). it's pretty boring. i may start bringing my laptop to the coffee house just for a change of scenery from time to time.
(michelle got me this really sweet llama hat made from alpaca wool (is it called wool?) from chile!)
not this coming weekend, but the next weekend is our camping trip (liz, lisa, me, and a bunch of other friends try to go camping every summer) so that should be fun :)
that's about it in my life. hope everyone is doing well <3

song of the day

Kodé by Kimi Djabaté
listen/download here

History and review can be found here

i hate packing

loading the truck friday night and heading home saturday. feel free to come over and pack/unpack depending on where you live :)

Marshall was here this past weekend to see Les Miserables with me. It was so good. I really enjoyed it. Musicals aren't really Marshall's thing, but he said it was ok, so at least he didn't hate it =)





Afterward, we hung out it this little park outside the theater for a while to avoid having to sit in the parking garage forever. We then had some friends over for a cookout. Monday, Marshall hung out with one of his college friends who just moved to Pittsburgh most of the afternoon, and they packed his car with stuff from his storage unit. He's coming up again next weekend to try to get the rest of it. Then Monday night we just hung out on the porch with candles and had ice cream. It was nice =)

Anyways, I'm quite busy with work and job hunting. I need to start packing!

4th of July and other randomness

Some pictures from the pool

I spent the 4th of July weekend in VA with Marshall and his friends and parents. His parents are really sweet, and his friends are nice. I had a great time! He had to work til after 9 on the 4th, so we didn't really get to see any fireworks except while driving. (He promised me real fireworks next year). We hung out with his friends around a bonfire, which was almost as fun as fireworks :) We hung out with his friends most of the rest of the time I was there too, and had lunch with his parents on Monday.

Liz is coming today til Friday to go salsa dancing tomorrow night.

I've been/will be busy the rest of the month.
I'm moving home the 25th, so I'll be spending a lot of time in the next couple weeks packing and cleaning. I'm also working some extra hours at work to get this leadership program up and running by the beginning of the semester. My friend Charlie is starting an organization to combat human trafficking and exploitation, so I've been doing some work with him on that. He and his fiancee Becky (some of Marshall and my best friends here) are getting married in March in Florida, and I've been doing some wedding dress shopping with her, which is a lot of fun =)

Lazy summer afternoons...

Last week was fantastic. The only week of good weather we've had yet this summer, and a friend just happened to be house-sitting at a house with a pool and a nice deck. A bunch of us hung out every evening, laying out by the pool, swimming, and barbecuing. It was a lot of fun.
Marshall was here Sunday and Monday. We barbecued with Charlie & Becky Sunday night, then Monday was a bunch of errands he had to run and then helping Charlie & Becky move some stuff to their new place before grabbing some dinner and meeting some friends for a drink.
This week is more job hunting. Still haven't hear anything from anyone =/ I think I'm going wedding dress shopping with Becky this weekend before I head to VA. I'm not sure when her and Charlie are actually getting married though. Then Saturday afternoon I head to VA. I get to see Marshall 3 weekends in a row =) He's coming here to see Les Miserables with me on the 12!

so happy!

Marshall sent me flowers and a bear today just to say he loves me and to make me happy =)

Chautauqua

Pictures

Home, Kim's Wedding, etc.

Nothing too exciting going on in Pittsburgh...except maybe the Pen's winning the Stanley Cup tonight =P

Anyways, being home last week was lots of fun. Kim & Kenny's wedding was beautiful. (Pictures are here; some of them are from other people which is why they're not in order).

Marshall also came to visit for a couple days :) We had a lot of fun, and all my friends really like him :)

Still nothing jobwise, but something will turn up I'm sure.

No exciting updates for work either. Just working on the Leadership Portfolio Program.

I'm going away for the weekend. Sarah's grandparents own a cabin by some lake, so about 15 of us are going there tomorrow and Sunday, which should be fun.

I also registered for the Philadelphia Half Marathon on Sept 20. Amanda and I are going to do it. If anyone else wants to, it's $65 til June 15th, then the registration fee goes up. If you're not up to walking or running 13.1 miles and are in the area, come meet us at the finish line!

Life as Master Mary

I graduated with the exact same GPA (3.75) that I had when I graduated from Etown. At least I'm consistent... =)

Last week was our Nigerian Executive Leadership seminar for work, so that kept me busy. We took them to see a Pittsburgh Pirate's game one night, but they didn't like it, so we left after the 2nd inning. I'm probably going to spend the rest of the summer work with David on getting the leadership program up and running because he's probably going to be in charge of it once I leave. (If I haven't mentioned it yet, my proposal was approved at the last faculty meeting!) I'm pretty excited about that.

David & I

Lauren & I

Marshall came to visit for the past couple days, and we had a lot of fun. We had a cookout with our friends Charlie and Becky one night and went to a Pirates game one night. He's looking to buy a house in Pittsburgh, so we drove around looking at houses a lot.



Other than that, I've pretty much just been looking for and applying for jobs and hanging out with the neighbors. I'm heading out to State College tomorrow for Michael's graduation, and I'll be home at the end of the month for Kim's wedding, so I'll probably see most of you in the next couple weeks =)

Half Marathon Results

Bib

FName

LName

City

State

Country

Div

Age

Sex

ChipTime

ClockTime

Overall

SexPl

DivPl

7 1

11Mi

City

State

Divtotal

Sextotal

Pace

7401

Mary

Larzelere

Pittsburgh

PA

USA

Women 20-24

24

F

3:23:50

2:24:09

3950

2315

334

The clock time is different b/c walkers started an hour before runners, and they started the clock with the runners. (I also stopped for a potty break partway through)
There were well over 10,000 entrants, so I was in the top half! (ok, statistics are deceiving...4083 people finished the half marathon, avg time was 2:14:52, so I didn't do that great, but I finished!) Better shoes definitely would've helped me a lot. Oh well...next time. It was a great experience. Amanda finished in a little over 2 hours running it.
Official race pictures should be up in a couple days, so I'll post them when I get them. Amanda and I are showering and then crashing. We got up at 4:30 am. What a day, and it's only lunchtime! (We stopped at the Greek Food Festival for lunch...YUMMY!)

Graduation Pictures

GSPIA Class of 2009

Pitt Panther & I

Family Picture

The guys I play darts with every Wednesday

Marshall & I

My prof/boss & I

Sandra & I

The girls