And it is decided.

Heavens to Betsy, yesterday was the perfect day of unemployment. Gym, beach, Chipotle, watched Mad Men, nap, three beers and a night on the town with Charlie. Well, I better live it up while I can ... because it's all going to be over soon. (Note my greatest achievement of the past three months: my epic tan lines from time at the beach).


That's right, I officially have a purpose in life after three months of being a drain on society. For the next year, I will be a volunteer with Americorps VISTA, working in South LA with the LA County Community Development Commission. There's still SO much I need to learn, but essentially, I will be working with the residents of low-income housing to better assess their needs - say the seniors need a better food program or want to start a gardening club. I will also be in charge of all the volunteers that help with the programs, so I will be visiting colleges like UCLA, USC and LMU pretty frequently to make presentations and get student volunteers.

And, a really exciting part of all this is that I will be living at Ascension Catholic Church and School (right near the 105/110 interchange) in an old convent (!) that was renovated to house 11 volunteers from different programs. So I will be living in an undoubtedly amazing community.

I'm really excited about this next year. For one, it will be a great experience before graduate school (which I honestly get more excited for each time I think about) and will help direct me with exactly what I want to pursue when getting my MSW. I'm sure it's going to be a challenging year - emotionally, mentally, fiscally (living in LA on about $500/month!). But I'm totally excited :)