Year in Review:

Since I’m not very good at blogging I figured this year in review thing that has been going around was my kind of blog post.

2009

January

I spent the first week or so in the best place ever, New Zealand. It was an awesome trip & I hope to go back asap. Started my last semester of classes at BYU, bittersweet. I finished my graduate school applications and the waiting game began.

February

Started really prepping for OIMB and staying busy with school. I spent some time in California looking at schools and visiting friends.

March

BIRTHDAY MONTH!! I participated in my last BYU Luau and received some acceptance letters to graduate schools J

April

I finished classes at BYU and decided I was going to Western Washington University to pursue my Masters degree in Marine & Estuarine Science.

May

I had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant for BYUs marine biology spring term in Coos Bay, OR. This was my 2^nd time as a TA, 3^rd time out to OIMB & I loved it. We had a great group of students/TAs and it was a blast.

June

I spent all of June in Oregon as well. I miss those 5 mile round trip runs to Bastendorff Beach every morning and waking up before dawn to hit the low tide. “When it’s low, we go!”

July

After talking about it multiple times, Carly & I decided to give ourselves a graduation present and go to Hawaii. It was SO much fun & a much needed vacation! We stayed at Auntie Olly & Uncle Phil’s house in Kona and spent a few days in Laie with Uncle Eldon & Auntie Hi’i. My mom came along too & we had heaps of fun!

August

The day finally came, I graduated from BYU. I was asked to speak at convocation. Later that day we had a graduation luau at the house, full of family, friends, food, & fun!

September

Moving day!! Dad & I drove from Utah to Washington and I moved into a cute little house in Bellingham. School started & it’s been awesome!

October

I submitted my first research grant proposal. I was lucky enough to escape for a weekend and fly back to Utah for Carly’s wedding.

November

School, school, and more school. My parents were nice enough to fly my home for Thanksgiving and it was nice to spend time with them. I was accepted into the MS PHDS program which is funded by NSF and NASA. Oh and I got through all of my undergrad without it but I guess I couldn’t escape it in graduate school…I got mono

December

I made it through my first quarter of graduate school. I spent a week in San Francisco at the AGU conference, (this was part of the MS PHD program) I meet so many great people. Christmas was spent at home and it was awesome!

2009 had it’s ups and downs, I am grateful for all of them and I feel so blessed to be where I am today, doing what I love. 2010 has started off well & it looks to be another crazy year! Cheers!

I <3 PNW

I moved up to Bellingham, WA this past Monday & I am falling in LOVE...

no, not with someone (don't get your hopes up people), but I'm falling in love with the Pacific Northwest all over again, I don't think I ever lost the love I have for this place, it just keeps growing the more time I spend here.

I can't even tell you how lucky I feel to be up here. It's amazing!!! It's such a beautiful place (ocean & mountains, what more can you ask for?) with wonderful people. I can't wait for classes and to start developing a thesis (nerd...duh!). Although I do miss Utah and BYU (shocking I know!) I am ready for this next step, I've waited so long for this to happen and it finally is!

I have had some free time since I've been here because classes don't start until Wednesday, so I was able to go to Shannon Point Marine Center (SPMC), in Anacortes. I spent 6 months out there for MIMSUP and I was so excited to go back. It was fun to see and talk to everyone at SPMC. After my visit there I stopped by Washington Park and met a guy from Rotorua, NZ, nice guy, we talked for a bit about NZ & the similarities to Washington (which are A LOT!).

The view from Washington Park.

On my way home I decided to take a detour to Deception Pass, just look at the pictures

The picture at the top of my page is also from Deception Pass. So that's Deception Pass, if you ever come and visit me I'll take you there (especially if you are afraid of heights).

I LOVE the house I moved into, it's so cute & my roommates are awesome (shout-out to Emily & Kim!). Here are some pictures,

don't mind the plastic over the windows, the house is in the process of being painted.

OK, I only put one picture of the house...I'll put more up later this week, once my bed arrives.

The picture above is a picture of a park about 5 minutes away from my house.

Moral of this post: I love my life right now, I probably won't be singing the same tune once classes and TA stuff start, but hopefully.

Man I love this place

Dear Blogging World,

Hi, we haven't talked in a while...sorry, I honestly think this is ridiculous but people have been asking what I have been up to, so I figured since I haven't started classes yet & I have a little bit of free time I'd give this blog a go (again...). So I don't know how long this will last but I will do my best to keep ya'll up to date on my "oh so exciting" life.

Loves,

Amy Keita

Be ready....

Amy's about to jump into the blogging world, if only for a few weeks...

Work

So I'm sitting at work, transferring film slides to digital, listening to 800 vocab words I need to learn by next month, reviewing math problems, searching the internet for potential grad programs, & fixing my CV...fun huh?