College Graduate

I have 2 hours before my last Undergraduate final. I'm sitting here eating Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, watching The Bone Collector, checking my Facebook, and texting a very special person...obviously my body hasn't processed the fact that I'm supposed to be cramming and focusing on this last test.

Two days ago I shared a fun morning with all of my Anthropology major friends, we participated in a 'ritual' for our Capstone final with all 4 of our department professors and ate some awesome food while visiting about whatever came to mind. I can't help but feel so thankful to have shared the past year and a half with these people. We have all shared so much of ourselves and learned so much about each other, and I hope that each and every one of them is successful in whatever they do. SOU seemed like an odd choice for me, but now I realize that it was probably the best thing I have chosen to do.

I have lost friends along the way for reasons that I can never change, but in losing them I found others. Erinn has been one of the best friends I could have while travelling on this crazy journey, and I am so very happy to have shared the stress and joy this senior year gave us. Working at Best Buy was initially a choice made to bring in a check and to learn some things on the way...little did I know that my job there would lead to a whole slew of new friends. They have supported me through my bad days even when they had no idea why I was upset, hugs all around. I'm excited to be done, but nervous because school is all I have ever known, so finishing this and starting life seems like a doorway that I can't yet see all the way through yet, but it is cracked ever so slightly.

Presentations, Awards, and Graduation

Oh my gosh, I'm a bit behind...so after the move I've determined that I have waaay too many books, which sucks, but I love them all still. I moved my entire life into a tiny trailer that is now jam packed with all of my special memories and belongings, many movies and tons of clothes, and it is going to be my home for a long time.

Other than the move I've been super busy with school and my blooming persona as an archaeologist. I recently (April 15-16) spoke at the State of Jefferson conference in Arcata, California about a student's perspective on professional archaeology, so all of the work that I have done while at Britt, and it was an amazing trip. Only a handfull of us from SOULA went, and it was a perfect sized group to keep us all close and yet allow us to converse with archaeologists from other locations and get our names out there. The presentation was fantastic and even though I was super nervous, it felt amazing to speak to a group of people who were genuinely interested in what I had been doing. While this was a professional conference trip, the three of us students did go out of the town and bonded as college kids do...had a couple beers, mingled with the locals, and called it a night by like 11pm...yep, I'm a sissy.

This spring I will be giving another presentation, this one for graduation. It will include more work from Britt regarding a local family and some of their pottery that we have been finding, and while it's still intimidating, it will be to a much more relaxed group so I should be okay (I hope).

Lastly in line for my archaeology doings this term, I will be receiving the AAUW Outstanding Woman in Archaeology award at SOU, so that's pretty cool. I have no idea how that all worked out, but I'm pretty sure it was limited selection seeing as I'm the only female archaeologist graduating this spring!! Cheeeaaaater!! But I'll still take it.

So, back to homework, back to classes, back to work, and any other kinds of things I can find to cause my brain to fry for the next couple months!

Spring Break what??

What is this 'break' word in relation to the 'spring' word?? Looking outside the window shows no signs of a fun spring, and the break I was supposed to receive did not occur. Between work, moving (again), and digging at Britt (again), I have had no 'break'.

Work has been fun times actually, I have made many great friends :) and do some pretty silly things while at work that keep my mind occupied from other things.

My move has been fairly painless, I haven't had to move too much just yet, but will have to figure out what the heck to do with the heavy furniture stuff since my happy little camp trailer isn't very big. But it is fun to live by my lonesome and do whatever I want, eat whatever I want, watch whatever I want, and most importantly, SING whatever I want =D

Britt was a muddy and mucky mess...rain storms, hail storms, sticky dirt, and lots of traffic left the site very slippery. I actually almost slid down a decently steep hill with our fancy camera, but was saved by a co-worker. (He later tried to push our boss down the same hill :) fun times) We didn't find near as much cool stuff as we had during our public day, but that was the plan. These few units and test units were more for information purposes rather than artifact purposes.

Hail...a bunch of it...only for like 5 minutes

The 'Ivy House' complex...reminded me of a Tetris piece, I loved it

Spring term starts next week, and thus the last final few pages of my Bachelor degree college life. I'm kinda excited!!!

What a Week!

I know it's finals week, and I do have papers to write, but I couldn't help but think about how crazy this past week has been for me! While I can't go into all of the details :) I had to say something about how things can change so fast without you knowing it.

This time last week I had just devoured some delicious cupcakes for Brooke's birthday...they were absolutely delicious, and Erinn and I had a BLAST making them!! We used some of the colorful frosting leftover from Hannah's birthday cake and created some chocolate cupcakes with a small garden worth of fondant flowers and Erinn's buttercream frosting...

Before decorations...we had to cut a bunch more small flowers...we tended to use a lot :) And I totally hogged the blue frosting, I don't think Erinn decorated a single blue cupcake!!

The finished cupcakes that we decided to take to class for Brooke's birthday party...don't worry, there were many more, they were just devoured before Wednesday and given to Erinn's awesome family :)

Wednesday was also the day of a very upsetting incident that occurred for a friend of mine. Tuning into CNN news told viewers of a very sad incident involving a shooting in a Germany airport that resulted in the death and injury of some soldiers. Having family overseas myself I was immediately upset, but nowhere close to what my friend was. It's a very different heartache when you know the people, and I prayed for my friend, for the families of the fallen soldiers, and for my own family to be strong and safe. I am proud to know men and women who are working hard to protect the things that I believe in and will always support them in what they do.

Kyle Holgate

Michael Holgate

Now, Thursday I went out to have a couple drinks for girls night but went a bit earlier than I normally do...I hadn't eaten much for the two days leading up to that, and I'm a lightweight on top of that, and had like three drinks and a shot...needless to say I got a bit drunk...enough to spend some significant time getting to know the toilet and the perfect angle to lean against the wall so I didn't feel sick again. Once again, Erinn proved her unyielding friendship and showed up after a crazy bar call from a friend present. She swooped in and forced water down my throat, made sure I didn't do anything stupid, and even made me stay with her to keep me from getting in trouble. <3 her!

The weekend was filled with work and hang out time. I made a random drive out to Jacksonville to check on my beloved Britt project and inspect the rest of the Gardens (I hadn't actually made it up to the amphitheater thingy, so I wandered a bit). I also got to be a kid again after taking a late night trip to an elementary school playground and tried to slide on my feet down a SOAKED curvy slide, of which my feet shot out and I soaked my bum going down. But it was fun, and I enjoyed running around like a child :)

I can't believe it's been 7 days since I ate those cupcakes because it feels like I've done soooo much since then, but that's the crazy thing about time, you just never know quite how to gauge it.

Frustrations in Life

I'm at the end of Winter term of my senior year, my parents are helping me get things paid off and settled for Spring so it will be completely official for me to graduate in June...finishing up last minute papers for this term, getting ready to run during break and spend time with Erinn :)

On another amazingly sick note Chelsea informed me today that she would like for Steve and me to plan a presentation for a conference in Arcata in April about Britt from student perspectives...YES!! I'm completely nervous beyond belief because it will be our little debut in a professional setting, but I can blab about Britt for a looooonnnng time, so we'll be fine, I guess I'll let Steve talk a little bit...all I've got for now, I just couldn't contain myself about this presentation!!!

<3

DEAD week...ew

At this point in the term, 19 credits and part-time work duties later, I continuously ask myself how the heck I did this...I'm excited to have maintained my sanity throughout this madness! I have to admit that school has kept me busy through some other things, and even though I complain about my only social life being at school or at work, I am happy with those that keep me entertained. (High five to Erinn!! <3 to girls nights!)

I'm almost done with this chunk of school and I can't believe it's almost over, that soon I'll be researching grad schools and shooting for my Masters...it's so weird to adjust to this new plan in life. Before I didn't think that I'd need anything past a Bachelor's degree, that I'd get my diploma, settle down, start a family, and that would be that. With a bit of situation change I've been able to rearrange my future, ix-naying the family focus and swinging it back to school. What's a few more years at this point? Excluding the $20,000 or so I'll probably have to look at in loans...but that's way better than some I know. I want to shoot for something in Cultural Resource Management to keep my ending job position options open. I absolutely LOVE the work that we do in the lab and field with SOULA, and would kill somebody for that type of position, so to work there would be sick, but the future changes every day so I don't want to get bogged down thinking that's all I'll ever do.

Two more weeks this term, then one more term, and a completely different layout for life will be ahead of me, and I'm excited to see where it takes me...only time will tell what I'll end up getting myself into!

Confusion ends in chocolate :)

It's Monday, and I'm already behind and way past confused. A presentation, a paper to edit, two papers due, class field trip...it's not finals week, what's going on!!?? 9 weeks of class does not mean that students should be completely swamped at all times!

To make up for this madness, I'm giving myself the complete guilt-free treat of a few delicious pieces of dark chocolate and Kool-Aid!! Screw this stress crap, I will conquer this damn term! Muah ha ha ha!

*please excuse the mad cackling and crazyiness I portray...lack of sleep and no breaks are killllerrrr*

Back to Britt!!

The archaeology Gods always find it funny to throw some terrible weather into the mix, so for the past few days we have been in the lab working on our older projects. I spent a few hours trying to catch up on the materials from the last dig at Britt, but still have a looooong way to go.

I stole a couple more photos from Britt from the Arch Lab stash, they are a couple of my favorites :)

Chelsea teaching Steve how to do a profile

Chelsea's awesome cupcake in hand :)

The only two new ones...I love the candids and will get more once I can get the lab camera photos on the computer.

BUT, good news, we are heading back to Britt tomorrow through the weekend!! The weather will be pretty crappy still, but less chance of snow and rain than earlier in the week. We will be closing the few units that we have open and won't work on any new ones until later in the spring. Speaking of spring, my spring break will be totally packed with digs now, Chelsea informed me that if I'm not busy she wants me to stick around so that she can have me available for an out of town dig, which will be sick!! Looking forward to all of the work that I will be doing in the next few months, can't wait to continue my archaeology life :)

Britt Project = Love

A few days have passed, and our immediate work at the Britt Gardens has slowed down due to weather, imagine that. This weekend was probably one of the best I've had, like ever, and I can't believe I'm so lucky to be doing this type of training for a potential future job!!!

My first day at the dig was Thursday the 10th. I showed up a little bit later than everybody else (I'd had a meeting with a professor at 8:30am, go me!) and spent my first few minutes wandering to see what the heck was going on. They had opened up four trenches with a small Bobcat, removing fill-dirt that had been placed on top of the original Britt house foundation in 1974, a kitchen midden (garbage dump) that we had worked on last time in September, uncovered the top of the supposed location of the Ivy House, very carefully scraped dirt from the location of the original cabin (Ryan's 'Zen' project), and a small quick project that was myself and Steve's little side job (the two of us are the only students working on the Britt material in the lab, and this was the first project where we weren't working with a staff member, big juju here).

Over the course of five days, I took a LOT of photos, most on Saturday when the public day occurred, had some fun staged ones, and some great candids.

Thursday: first day on site!!

Steve, Chelsea, and Katie in the cellar trench (this isn't staged at all...cough...)

Other three trenches, Lana screening.

He bit the bullet for me...I did NOT want to do the interview.

Chelsea...I have to say, she's the coolest boss I've ever had!!

Friday: preparing and cleaning up for the public day.

Sorry about rotation...a lot of glass bottles and eventually a table in this one.

Ryan found this in his Zen unit!

Lunch!! Chelsea wanted to put out "Don't feed the archaeologists!" signs.

Saturday: the Public Day, sooo many people!!



The water tower unit...secret mission/special project, yay!

Ivy House location

Fantastic image of the man himself...painter and photographer.

Me and Erinn :) she brought me coffee!

A slow moment at the table...there was constantly six to a dozen people there.

The kitchen midden...we were kicked out of the water tower unit while people were there, so he got bumped to this one while I was working at the table.

Sunday: I hadn't been planning on showing up since I had to work at 11am, but when your alarm is set for 7:30, and you wake up at 6:00, it has to be a sign...got in two hours :)

The foundation in our water tower project.

Looking down over the Britt house foundation location.

The 'Zen' project...Ryan had to be very patient and excavate the brown post hole spots...the 'Zen' is an inside joke...Ryan is very thorough and effecient, but goes 'Zen' on us.

Monday: Valentine's Day!! Chelsea made us some AMAZING cupcakes with homemake raspberry buttercream frosting made with raspberries from her garden...oh my gosh they were delicious...

We found something!! We think...what do we do with it?? Hence asking the boss, who is leaning in for a better look...

They were close, and not afraid, and loved my strawberries...

I love Katie's sweatshirt, she practically glows!

You can barely see the top of Matt's head in the farthest unit...

It was a really deep unit haha!

Okay!! So these were some of my favorite pics, there are a few more great ones on the SOU camera that I'll add later, including some more of me.

Needless to say, this weekend was awesome, and I can't wait to clean the artifacts that we found...many of them were too dirty to really see while in the field, but I know that there are some pretty sweet finds :) hopefully the weather will calm down and we can return to the Britt Gardens soooooon!!!



Mini Indy

A friend suggested that I start this blog because they can be fun...that they can be a 'release' much like a journal...but I honestly have no idea where to start. So, inspired by Harrison Ford (watching Blade Runner) and a constant reminder of my archaeology future, I'll dive into that.

According to Robert L. Kelly and David Hurst Thomas, archaeology is "characterized by an effort to reconstruct the past based on things - artifacts - and their contexts." (I'm resisting the urge to cite this...)

How do I fit into this category?? For the past year I have been taking classes that teach me history and archaeology field methods, and have been applying what I have learned to a few projects around the Valley. Our most recent project was just outside of C.P., and boy was it a fun one. We knew it was an historical site to begin with, and the dozens of artifacts lying on the surface would have been a dead giveaway to anyone walking in this field. Chunks of brick, pieces of glass, and fragments of ceramics were all marked with different colored flags...it started to give us all headaches because we couldn't even tell where the next unit flag was.

The weather was considerably better than we had been dealing with, and naturally on the last test unit of the last day, we hit the jackpot. At first we thought it was just going to be another chunk of brick like we had already found all over, but it turned out to be much more than that...



Because we could only open so much of the surface area, we could not dig around this section of the feature, so my boss (pictured above) cleaned out as much of the dirt as she could, took a bunch more photos, and had to cover it back up to come back another time.

I had been on a couple digs before, but this one was my first with an actual feature, and it felt amazing. To see something that has not been seen for around 100 years is pretty cool, especially when you are interested in historical archaeology. Around the entire site we found hundreds of pieces of glass, nails, ceramics, and other artifacts that were bagged and taken to the lab to be cleaned and labeled.

This was a very brief overview of what I have been up to so far, but the most exciting dig for me will be this upcoming weekend at the Britt Gardens. All of my Practicum hours have been spent slaving over Peter Britt's homestead and artifacts from it, so getting to go back gives me butterflies in my stomach. I've been itching for this since the term started!

February 12th is the Chinese Festival in Jacksonville, so for anybody who wants to come see what the Southern Oregon University Lab of Anthropology (SOULA) is up to, public hours are from 11am - 3pm in the Britt Gardens...hope to see you there!