... what now...

After a over a week of frantic reviewing, rewriting, studying and cramming I am left sitting in an empty house with not a lot to do. My room is pretty empty except for my clothes - which I am about to pack.

I spent the afternoon watching season five of Weeds. I haven't seen the first four seasons, but that is on my list of things to do now.

I looked for jobs in Edmonton but I am running out of decent paying ones to apply for. I was hoping to actually be able to save and get ahead of the game this summer but it looks like it will be another summer of just making it - which is slightly depressing in its self.

I'm scared to move to Edmonton without a job, I don't want to have to do retail. It's the last thing on this earth I want to do. But it looks like that might be where I end up. I am just so frustrated. I started applying for jobs at the beginning of March and I have applied for over thirty of them.

I am excited to be done school for the summer but sad at the same time because now I have nothing to do and I won't see my friends for who knows how long. Janvier is leaving for Africa/Australia/Europe next week, Jessie's off to her boyfriends, Trista and Cassie are chilling around Red Deer for the summer. Andrea has been busy for the past however long. I have said all my goodbyes except Andrea. That will happen this weekend likely.

I found a dress I like, I am meeting with Andrea tomorrow to get her opinion on it. It's on sale and CHEAP and I need one to wear to the weddings I have to go to this summer.

I am off to do laundry, pack my clothes and start cleaning AND I think I might go to bed early tonight to get a decent sleep!!

... more than that ...

After my last post I have had a couple of concerned texts and calls. I realize I have accomplished "stuff" but it's not to the extent I had hoped. I guess it is just hard for me to realize that some of my accomplishments are meaningful and that they do matter. I don't see them as big things, but others do.

Why is it that I am so hard on myself but I have no issues recognizing the small and the big accomplishments everyone else makes?

You're right obviously if I hadn't accomplished anything meaningful - my portfolio wouldn't be as thick as it is. You were also right when you said I needed to chill and reflect in a more positive light. You were also right when you said I could not realize my accomplishments because of where I was at when I wrote that...

So yes, I have accomplished things. Sometimes I just let my failed attempts at things cloud my judgement...

... what have I done ...

In under two months I will turn 25. Yes it is frightening. I will be a quarter of a century old. And I haven't accomplished a lot in those 25 years. I had high hopes for myself in high school. I thought by the time I was 25 I would be so much farther ahead in life and would have had things figured out and accomplished... I was naive.

This is what I thought I would have completed by the time I turned 25:
- University degree
- Have a teaching job
- Started to save
- Travelled more
- Married
- Started a family

Seriously though this is like a third of my life and I haven't accomplished anything great like I had thought I would. It means the bar has been raised for the next portion.

This year will be much like last - there won't be any celebrating. I don't think there's much to celebrate. I am not saying my life has been a waste, cause I know that is far from the truth. It's just in the past seven years I haven't quite kept up to the standards I had earlier and when looking back and completing my portfolio I seem like less of a useful person in society. I didn't celebrate last year because you all forgot about me and made other plans, so why would we celebrate this year?! pshaw - no!! It's just another day... that's what I keep trying to remind myself.

… two words …

I received a text message last night from a good friend. It was a forward. I don’t care for forwards, but it brightened my evening (which wasn’t a chipper one)… so I figured I would kind of copy it a bit and send it on…



The forward read “U R beautiful! The guy u love will show u how much he needs u in 2hrs but 1st u must tell ten ladies they are beautiful! <3”



So I sent ten ladies a simple text saying “You’re beautiful!” and from the responses I got I decided to send it to all of the important ladies in my life. It’s crazy when you stop and think how much power two simple words can have on the outcome of someone’s evening. It was a small action, but it changed the course of events for at least four of the recipients.



It also let me catch up with some friends I hadn’t talked to in a while and it gave me the opportunity to be there for a friend who recently lost her father. I reminded her to keep her options open, that she has a lot of potential and will do great things and that I have faith in her. I wasn’t doing it to be nice. I was doing it because I actually believe that and because she is a good friend and I don’t think she hears that enough.



I know I often need to be reminded of the small things just to be sure I am on the right path. I know it feels good to know people believe in you, or that people have high hopes for you and that you have people backing you. So if I need to be reminded – why shouldn’t I realize that perhaps my friends are in the same boat and often need the same reassurance?



I used to be a more thoughtful person. I admit I have become a bit selfish and self absorbed. But it happens to all of us from time to time.



I miss my friends and I will miss my Red Deer friends as I move on. Thankfully I won’t be going far – and I will be coming back to visit because I do have some pretty amazing friends here.



Make someone’s day – remind them of why you believe in them or that you think they’re beautiful. Two small words have a great deal of power – use them!

... a relaxing girls weekend ...

I had an amazing weekend with some of the greatest friends ever! Friday night was our 219 pot luck and girls night! We had a grand time! We played LIFE, chatted, ate and just had a good time! I took Janvier and Cassie to the bar, and picked them up and let them crash at my house. I am really going to miss this set of friends. THANKFULLY two if not three of them will be transferring to schools in Edmonton in the next two years so I will still get to see them!




I wasn’t feeling very good on Saturday so I just spent the day in bed reading, watching movies and sleeping. Then I went babysitting. We went fishing in the kitchen sink. We filled one sink with water and bubbles and fish and the other sink with just water. The boy grabbed his fishing rod and went fishing in the bubbles… rinsed the fish off in the water and threw them back in the bubbles. This continued for an hour to the point where we had water all over the kitchen and the boy was soaked head to toe (hair included!). The good thing is he helped clean the water up. We got him changed and ate our macaroni.



Then today I met up with Echo. We bought baby Raleigh some clothes and then went to the Taboo show. Then we went for lunch and visited a lot. It has been months since we caught up so it was a good visit. Then we met up with Jackie another friend from high school and chatted a bit. I am meeting up with Meghan on Friday so I can give her and Raleigh the cute little dress I bought her!! It is fun having a baby girl to buy for!!! There are tooo many boys in my life it’s nice to change it up and buy cute girly things!



So that was my exciting weekend! Now to start the studying again!!

... an update ...

So it has been forever since I blogged. I had lots to blog about I just didn’t know how to write it or really feel like blogging. I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately – just a tiny one. I have had some roommate drama and then both roommates have decided to vacate – with most of the baking utensils and CAN OPENER… my house is too quiet, no tv… boooring.




I was super stressed with my last few EDUC assignments, but I think they went pretty well! I get them all back the day of the exam (a week from tomorrow). The last day of classes is Monday. I nearly had a meltdown in math today. That is the one test I need to study my ass off for… who am I kidding I need to study like crazy for all four. I don’t want anything lower than a B or B-…



I am also working on my math project – it will be called Math Madness. A manual for a complimentary hands-on math program for grade 4! With games, activities, group activities to make it easier for textile and visual learners to learn.



Other than that I have to start studying for exams. Move the rest of my stuff home and get ready to move to Edmonton! I haven’t been accepted to the U of A yet, I haven’t notified the MS Society – I am kind of scared to. I thought I only made a three year commitment to the board but it is actually 6 years. I am done 1.5 years of my term. I will offer to stay and travel back for the five or six meetings each year. I have a job interview on Tuesday in Edmonton. I was kind of offered a position at the shelter for alternating weekends overnights. I said I would love to – told them about Edmonton and said I would still take the position. She said she would let me know soon. I haven’t told my babysitting families, but I will send an e-mail out by Wednesday.



AH! I didn’t realize I was running out of time… the 219 girls will be here in about a half an hour and my surprise chocolate dessert is not ready yet!! I will blog more later!

... autobiography ...

Autobiography: Adrianne Michelle Shepherd


On June 11, 1985 I entered the world. I am the youngest of three children: Adrianne Michelle Shepherd, sister to James Alan (four years older than myself) and Carl Roberts (two years older than me but had passed away prior to my arrival), daughter of Alan (deceased in 1989) and Leigh.

I am an average adult with brown hair and brown eyes. I went to elementary school in Botha, AB; junior high in Gadsby, AB and high school in Stettler, AB. Throughout my primary and secondary school years I was very active in extra-curricular and community activities. It was my way of giving back to the community that had helped raise me. I was an avid Boys and Girls Club member attending many different groups including Keystone, Torch, Spark, Zap, Kidpower, holiday programs and Big Brothers Big Sisters. I was involved on a provincial level as a youth co-chair for the Regional Youth Council for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Alberta and on a national level as the secretary and Alberta representative for the National Youth Council for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Alberta. I belonged to many different 4-H groups including Botha 4-H Multi, Botha Beef, Byemoor Beef and Endmoor Multi. Throughout the different clubs I gave public speaking workshops for younger members, participated in club events including public speaking and judging and I held various executive positions. I was a founding member of the Students Against Drinking and Driving group at Wm. E. Hay. I was the secretary in my first year and president in my remaining years. I coordinated strikes where we would take large signs that said why you shouldn’t drink and drive and stand along the road. I was a member of Team SADD Alberta, which was made up of six SADD members from around Alberta that coordinated the provincial conference. I was a member of my local Canadian Girls In Training group, which is a nondenominational group of girls that met on a weekly basis at my church. I was a member of the Botha United Church Youth Group, I was the vice-president of the Student’s Union and sat on many graduation committees.

Following graduation, I boarded a plane to the Netherlands where I lived for a year and worked as an au pair. I took care of four school aged children. I learned how to speak, read, write and understand Dutch. I travelled around the Netherlands and Europe. During this year I learned a lot about myself and what I wanted from life. While in the Netherlands I wrote for my hometown newspaper the Stettler Independent as a global correspondent. This is when I realized that I wanted to become a journalist.

Upon returning to Canada I had the opportunity to go to SAIT And take journalism or to go to RDC or the University of Lethbridge and take education. I decided upon journalism, it seemed like a more exciting opportunity. I loved the journalism program at SAIT and I excelled in my classes, however upon graduation I found how difficult it was to find a good journalism job and how poorly they paid.

I was working for the Stettler Independent and the chain of local papers it produces when I was sent on an assignment to cover an anti-bullying evening at the Boys and Girls Club. It was this club where I had spent most of my youth and where I learned to belong. It was near the end of the night, when the executive director brought up a story of one of the members from when I was a part of the club. This girl she spoke of was an avid volunteer, very selfless and giving. She was an acquaintance and a bit of a role model for me. The girl was being bullied at school and took her own life because of that. That is when it clicked, I felt like I wasn’t living up to my potential, for myself or for Nicky’s memory. So that night I applied to the U of L and to RDC going back to where I started. I decided that night that I needed to become a teacher.

So here I am, finishing my first year at RDC and transferring to the U of A. In 2013 I hope to graduate among friends and colleagues and to head out into the teaching world and educate and to help students realize that life is far too important and fragile to bully or to take your own life.

I currently volunteer at the college as an ESL tutor, for the MS Society as the coordinator of their youth program and as a board member and for a handful of other youth related activities throughout the city.

I am a relief youth worker at the 49th Street Youth Shelter in Red Deer. This job has been very eye opening and educational, it has opened new opportunities. The position has also made me question my minor – do I want to teach ESL in elementary or would I prefer secondary high needs education?

I love to travel. I have been to England, the Netherlands, France, Monaco, Germany and Switzerland. I hope to explore more of Europe in the near future and to meet up with the people I met while living abroad. I have travelled to many Canadian cities and to Wisconsin on a 4-H exchange.

Although I traded in my byline for textbooks, I still love to write. I have a blog and I write for fun. I am considering looking into freelance writing while living in Edmonton to make some extra cash.

I am a caring individual. I care about my friends and family the most. I have two amazing nephews who I spoil with educational toys and active dates (bowling, swimming, soccer or skating). My mother is my best friend. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1990 and I became her sole caregiver. I could do the laundry, cook, clean and do grocery shopping by the end of Grade 2. I have an amazing boyfriend who is understanding about how into my school work I get and how dedicated I am to finishing school. Between my mother, my boyfriend and school friends I have an amazing support system and a great group of people to bounce project ideas off of.

I have learned over the past year to push myself to try harder. I have learned that I have more potential than I thought I had. I have more passion, drive and enthusiasm towards teaching and becoming a teacher than I ever thought I encompassed. I have found what I love and I cannot wait for the next three years to breeze by so that I can do what I love.

... creation vs evolution ... (Grade 11)

Creation VS. Evolution




Adrianne Shepherd

Biology 20

Jan 9, 2001

Prepared for Ms. Stayura



To me the thought of one of my far back relatives or ancestors being a chimpanzee is just not comforting. I would rather stick to the Bible and believe what I have been taught since a toddler. That is that we all came from two humans, Adam and Eve (in the book of Genesis).

Theories have been proven wrong time and time again, who is to say that one day, and someone might be able to prove evolution wrong. Between each fossil finding, there are time gaps. LARGE time gaps, what can explain this? If the chimpanzee were to “evolve” to be man, shouldn’t there be more fossils around of the transition from chimp to man?

In the Holy Bible, in the first book of Moses, more commonly known as Genesis 1: 24-31 talks about the fifth day of creation. On this day, the Lord created all creatures that creep on the earth, and later man female and male. So if creatures such as monkeys, apes, orang-utans and the chimpanzee were all created on the fifth day and humans were created on the fifth day, it is not possible that we all came from apes. It however, may be possible he created us to look alike to create curiosity.

Chimpanzees do not walk upright like humans. They use their front arms to aide them in walking. So if by any chance we possibly did evolve from the chimpanzee when did they start to walk upright? What gave the strength and power to all of a sudden walk with two feet instead of all four?

In the Bible, Genesis verses 6-8 talks about Noah and the Great Flood. This flood caused all animals and beings to die; all but two of each kind. A male and a female of each species were saved, with the exception of humans – there were eight on board. The animals and being not on the ark died, therefore their bones would be left on the earth, to later become fossils and covered by sediments and volcanic ash over the years.

The footprints that were found in the sand, and preserved by the volcanic ash could have been from any type of animal not necessarily an ape or early human. This could be so, because no one knows what kind of animals lived back then, and what their footprints would look like, there are most likely many thousands of animals out there that haven’t been discovered yet. Their fossils still buried deep in the solid.

At this point in time, I do not believe in evolution. I still have many questions to answer about my faith and religion as it is. Once I have those questions answered I will then begin to wonder more about evolution and other issues, but right now my number what concern is what I believe in religiously.