#4 - spend time with good friends

- Recap -
List of things to do this week:

1 - visit family
2 - visit the Tanzanian embassy for my visa's
3 - photo shoot with Jac
4 - spend time with good friends
5 - pack for cali
6 - figure out how to take a train to JFK

#4 - Spent loads of time this week with amazing people. I've basically just gotten a good dose of awesome over the last week. Obviously, the family time is included in this.

Jac & I went up to Albany to visit Allisen for a mid-week dinner. She'll be back Friday night for our family dinner before I leave for California. And by family dinner, I do of course mean that it's a celebration for Jackie's housewarming/Allisen's birthday/Carrie goes to California.

In addition to that, spent lots of time with Jac&Kate. No, it's not a typo, they are not sold separately. It's a package deal when you get one, you get both. And I love it. For this reason especially... Only good things happen in Wal*Mart at midnight...








More to come as I finish up my list....

my carbon footprint

I've purchased my ticket to California! I'm heading to California to visit my sister and her lovely little family. My nephew Jax has big plans to take me to the San Diego Zoo. I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on my trip. This will be my first time visiting California and I'm sure, not the last.

In my travels, I want to have a positive impact on the people and places that I go. I want to be conscience of the impacts of my travel on the planet. Just call me environmentally saavy. Yes, Allisen, this part is just for you. Allisen, being the eco-friendly lady that she is, has inspired me. In order to start this, while purchasing my ticket, I chose to offset my carbon footprint caused from the flight. The organization I chose is a not for profit and their website has some really great information for you to check out.

What exactly is a carbon footprint? According to Wiktionary.com, "A measure of the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a person, organization or state in a given time."

What is your carbon footprint? Find out with their handy carbon footprint calculator!


Here's my certificate showing my offset:

Carrie Goes to Kilimanjaro

I decided that I would volunteer for global community service. Alone.

This is my story.

I first heard about Cross-Cultural Solutions from my sister, Jackie. We had started talking about volunteering abroad with the organization almost 3 years ago. We had checked our schedules with our best friend, Allisen, and as it turned out, we never had the same availability.

Allisen is an early education teacher and after finishing her Masters (congrats Al!), was starting her career. Which means - summers are pretty much the only time for vacations.

Jackie is a (basically) self-taught a-MAZ-ing photographer. I might be partial, just because she's my sister, but you can check out her work here, and I'm sure you'll agree. Her main focus right now is weddings, and guess when wedding season is - yeah, summers.

I, on the other hand, am a licensed insurance broker for a small (but very busy) agency. I've been there for 5 years (as of 09/23/2009). My job is constantly hectic and can be very time-consuming. I've worked close to 50 hour weeks for nearly 4 out of 5 years. I've earned 4 weeks of vacation each year and there really is no "good" time to take time off.

This brings me to Seafood Fest 2009. This is an annual summer party at my Aunt Terri's house. This is where I had a nice long chat with Allisen, Jackie & Lisa (I'm still not 100% on how exactly we're related, but she's my Dad's cousin, and awesome). After my good-long "talking to," I decided that I needed to make some changes in my life. I have to stop waiting for someone to do the things that I want to do and just do them myself. I don't want to be "the best friend" in my own life story, I want to be the main character. I want my own stories. I can't be afraid to be alone in my next steps. I know that my family & friends will always support me in everything that I do.

On the ride home from Seafood Fest '09, I got an e-mail from Cross-Cultural Solutions. I have been getting e-mails on a Semi-Annual basis since originally checking into this program with Allisen & Jackie 3 years ago. I clicked into the website and started looking into it again. This time, thinking only of myself. This program offers various lengths of time volunteering in many different areas. After looking at all of the areas available, I chose Kilimanjaro. I decided that I would volunteer for global community service. Alone.

This is my story.