I am a SCHOOL COUNSELOR! (finally)

Working at Capella was pretty cool. I got an entirely new experience with for profit education. I got to advise some very interesting doctoral (or doctorial - if you prefer to mispronounce the word) learners. I learned a lot. I got to work downtown and walk to Target field from work (probably my favorite perk). BUT I drove way too far to make it a realistic option long term.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to the world, especially Nick, for having to listen to me constantly complain about my commute. 

And now I'm going to issue my final complaint about it. It sucked. It took up way too much of my precious time that I would have rather spent with my guy, my family, my friends, my dog, etc.

Okay. That's it. I promise. No more.

So, I looked for colleges that were closer. I am limited here in Mayer. So, it was time to take a risk. Time to get a little more creative.

I finished my master's degree in 2006 in school counseling. I loved my internship in Cambridge. I loved working with middle schoolers at West Midland Family Center. But, I have applied for COUNTLESS school counseling positions in the past and not gotten so much as an interview. I was told I needed experience again and again. So, with some hesitation and nervousness about being rejected repeatedly again, I started randomly applying for school counseling positions a little closer to Mayer. Fortunately for me, there are K-12 schools everywhere.

I happened to be surfing through the district HR web pages one day while I was bored. I have them all bookmarked on my computer so I can get from one district to the next quickly while looking for those hard to find, hardly ever available school counseling positions. I saw a .6 position open at Wayzata. Wayzata is an awesome district. Hmm...do I apply?  Yes.  Nick and I talked about the potential salary cut by going down to 60%, but decided I would apply. We both figured it probably wouldn't matter.

Until I got called for an interview. Then we talked about it a little more. We thought it was still worth trying. Then the interview went really well, and I decided I really wanted the job. And Nick, being the amazing future hubby that he is, said "We'll make it work." Actually, I think his exact words were, "This is probably the most inopportune time given that we have to pay for a wedding, BUT we'll make it work." He is right about the timing, but we will make it work. I truly love him for being the realistic one in our relationship and pulling me back to Earth.

Then they offered me the job (yesterday).

And I took it! The student services team is a very good group of people who are obviously dedicated to the well-being of the kids and families at the school. And the position is seriously perfect for me. The .4 counselor runs the testing and does more of the administrative work. I will be working with 7th and 8th graders doing the fun stuff like small groups, conflict resolution, coaching on academic skills, consulting with teachers about behavior and learning. SO excited! And did I mention, it's closer to Mayer?

I will be working Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 7:30-3:30. I am hoping to pick some additional responsibilities or sub jobs to supplement my Mondays and Thursdays, but I am absolutely thrilled with my new schedule!

Anyway, those are the details! I feel like it all happened so fast. They called me Friday, and I start Monday. At the same time, I feel like it took me five years. This was obviously the right time, the right job. I'm so grateful to my mentors for their support, Nick for his encouragement and willingness to reduce my rent and most of all God for directing my life is such an unpredictably awesome way.

I'll let you know how it goes this week! I am SO happy.

Puppies!!!

On Sunday, Nick and I drove to Le Seuer to look at the puppies at River Valley British Labs. They breed British labs for hunting. British labs are a little smaller than what I normally picture when I think "lab" but they have a calmer demeanor and are more thoughtful hunters. We got on a waiting list for a litter that is due November 17. The parents are Rap and Bella. The pup would probably be black and be ready to come home the first week or so in January. We are SO excited! But Sera and Charlie have NO IDEA what's coming!


Bella is very playful, even as pregnant
as she currently is. She is very stocky and
muscular and also very sweet.

I wish we had a better picture of Rap. He has
a very strong-looking face and is a very good-looking dog.
He is extremely calm and quiet but very friendly as well.

Family filled weekend!

Last weekend was pheasant hunting opening weekend and turned out to be a family-filled weekend! I kept meaning to blog about it, but it was another busy week so it's a bit delayed...

This post has the potential to get really long, so I'm just going to outline a few of the weekend highlights before I write about the first ever Sykora Women Pheasant Fun Day:

• Justin and Brad each shot a pheasant on Saturday. Note: The next three sentences are facts, not highlights: 1) Nick did not shoot any birds and also missed a duck. 2) Sunday, they didn't hunt very long and didn't get anything. 3) I don't have pictures of the guys in their hunting gear.

• I met my parents, sister, cousin Kristin and her boyfriend Shane for lunch on Saturday. I LOVE that I can do stuff like this now that I live in MN. It was my first time meeting Shane, and I'm super excited for Kristin. He's a really nice guy. It was kind of funny because they were going to a wedding in Watertown which is a small town about 5 miles from Mayer. It's a small world!

• After lunch Saturday, my sister and I went wedding dress shopping. My parents and my friend Sheila came with us, too. It was super fun to do this with LeeAnn! Neither of us found "the one" but I got a lot closer to knowing what I want. We had a lot of fun goofing around in the dressing room. We did take pictures, but sorry - I'm not going to post them. You'll have to come to our weddings if you want to see us in wedding dresses!

• Sera survived having the hunting dogs Baxter and Beau here all weekend! She's getting a lot better around other dogs - thank goodness! Side note: Tomorrow we are going to a British Lab breeder to look at the breeding dogs and some puppies. We aren't getting one right away, but perhaps soon!

Sunday was Sykora Women Pheasant Fun Day. Sherry and I met Briana (Justin's wife and my soon-to-be sister in-law!) and their daughter, Hailey, at Como Zoo. Here is a picture of Bri, Hailey and me. I can't believe we didn't think to get a picture of all of us though!

We had a really good time at the zoo! Sherry packed an incredible picnic lunch, and we got to see just about every exhibit. There's a new polar bear exhibit so that was fun to see. I think this was Hailey's favorite. My favorite was the giraffes. Not only are giraffe's my all time favorite animal, but they have a new baby giraffe that was adorable!

That's all for now!

A reason to look forward to pheasant hunting opener...for a non-hunter!

As many of you already know, Nick is an avid outdoorsmen and hunter. Pheasant hunting opener is coming up this weekend, so I am preparing myself for the first of many lonely hunting seasons. Nick's mom, Sherry, emailed me earlier this week proposing an annual "Sykora Women Pheasant Fun Day" that fortunately doesn't include pheasants at all. The men ALL go on opening day, and now the women are going to do something fun while they are gone. I'm really excited and she had great ideas for what we could do! Here were some of her ideas:

• Doing a special walk and then out to lunch.(October is breast cancer awareness month. We could walk for a cause.)
• Visit a zoo or park and take a picnic lunch.
• Go to a museum and do lunch.
• Visit a historical area.
• Attend a community or church fall festival.
• Go to a movie, take Hailey to a Disney movie or see a cute chick flick.
• Do noon show at Chanhassen
• Get together and do a scrapbook project.
• Tie a quilt (ok I'm old, this is something I did with my grandma)
• Bake holiday treats to divide.
• Get together and make three meals to freeze for easy after work pop in oven meal.(even though this borders on work)
• Slumber party with snacks wine and movies.

I love her ideas, and I feel so lucky to be joining a family that values family time so much. I grew up with the same family values, so it just feels good and right.

We are starting the tradition with a trip to Como Zoo this Sunday. It will be fun to share a day at the zoo with Hailey (Nick's neice), and I can't wait to see the new polar bear exhibit!

We are hosting Nick's dad and brother and their two yellow labs at our house for the hunting weekend. Little Sera is so scared of those big dogs, so it will be a rough weekend for her. If you believe in praying for dogs, send one up for her. ;) I'll try to capture a picture of all three of them so you can see the size difference. It's actually sort of funny...

Here are our engagement photos :)

As I predicted, Carrie took GREAT pictures. I LOVE them! Here are my favorites! :)



Engagement Photos! :)

On Saturday, Nick and I had the opportunity to work with Carrie Weston for our engagement photos. One of my friends recommended that we watch Craigslist for photographers offering free photo shoots to build their portfolios...and that's how we found Carrie. Carrie has done baby and maternity photos as well as commercial work in the past and wants to break into engagement and eventually wedding photography. So we offered ourselves up as models in exchange for copies of the photos.

Carrie was really fun to work with. We emailed lots of ideas back and forth, and we ended up choosing the Carver Park Reserve as our location. The Park Reserve was beautiful. Nick and I drove through it the weekend before the pictures to find a few places where we wanted to take photos. We decided on the old farmhouse and a fishing pier. We had some other backups in mind also, but Carrie had a good eye and found a wide variety of shots in those 2 areas.

In typical Jana fashion, I was organized and brought all kinds of props including hockey jerseys, uwrf stuff, fishing poles, fishing lures, and a sign (made with my newe cricut). Not everything made it in the photos but most of it did, and I'm super excited to see how they all turned out! Our full gallery should be posted this weekend or early next week, so I will share some more pictures then.

And by the way, Carrie is fantastic. She has some really wonderful photos posted on her website. After reading her blog, my perspective is that she views photography not only as an art, but also as a service she has the privilege of providing to others. For example, she is offering "gotcha day" photos for adoptive families as a gift because of her belief in and support of adoption. I think that is great. Seriously great. So if you need photos taken (of you, your kids, whoever), I would definitely recommend her! She'll take the time to really personalize your photography, and you'll also have a lot of fun.

Thanks Carrie! :)