Cafe Victoria

Checking in on Motherhood on Mother’s Day

cafevic — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:18:45 +0000

Reading: Email updates from Baby Center.com. All you do is type in the birth date of your child and before you know it, you get emails about things I should expect or even notice Sam is doing at his age.
Watching: Recently watched Sam watch the ocean waves. He was so amazed by it.
Thankful for: On this mother’s day, I am so thankful for being a mom and that I got to spend it with Sam and Matthias. Thankful for my own mother and all the support she gives to us and all the fun outfits she finds for Sam.
Looking forward to: picking Sam up after work. Best way to leave work at work
Motherhood Lesson: Being a mom has taught me to make time for “slide time” at least once a week. Need to let go of some stress, hit the local park and go down the slides with your little guy or girl!
A few tips that are helping me enjoy Motherhood:
1) Invest in a housekeeper who can come out at least once a month. They can take care of the shower cleaning, dusting, etc. Yay, they are coming tomorrow!
2) Have one day a week where you make no plans. My day is Sundays.

Checking In

cafevic — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:00:07 +0000

Reading: “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. Almost done. Awesome read!
Watching: The last “Desperate Housewives”.
Thankful for: the students in my life.
Looking forward to: our summer trip to Germany!

Phi Theta Kappa Nashville Convention Workshop “Come Together” PowerPoint and Handout

cafevic — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:50:06 +0000

I’m back from the amazing Phi Theta Kappa 94th Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, April 11-April 15, 2012. It was awesome! Between staying at the beautiful Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center to hearing authors Amy Chua and Malcolm Gladwell speak, to sharing the weekend with 4 thousand Phi Theta Kappa students and their advisors, plus my mom, and to top it off, my college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter Beta Zeta Nu, Cañada College, Redwood City CA , brought home the award for 4th finalist for Most Distinguished Chapter out of 1300 chapters!! First time in the college’s history. I was so proud of our students and their advisors.

I attended the convention as a guest to co-present with their co-advisor Paul Roselli. Our workshop title was: “Come Together! How to Build Better Relationships Between Your Phi Theta Kappa Chapter and the Associated Students.”
For those who attended (thank you!), for those who were unable to attend, here is our PowerPoint and Handout for you to download.
PowerPoint: Final PTK ASCC Breakout Come together
Handout: PTk AS Come Together Handout

Everyone, keep up the great work!

Know “your” Accrediation Chapter

cafevic — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:33:52 +0000

Greetings fellow student affairs professionals!
At some point in your career, you will be asked to write a specific chapter for the institution’s accreditation report. Accreditation comes every 6 years. At the community college level in CA, the area of Student Life often is given the Accreditation standard: II.B.3.b. The institution provides an environment that encourages personal and civic responsibility, as well as intellectual, aesthetic, and personal development for all of its students.

It is spring break on my campus, and I FINALLY found the time time to get my chapter done.

My advice for you, read another college’s chapter, make an outline, and realize you will probably have to make time out of the office to get it done. Between student government meetings, planning commencement, and updating your department’s website, finding the time to write the chapter you are in charge of will be hard to find. But you know what, you will get it done

Checking in on Motherhood

cafevic — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:29:08 +0000

Reading: I’m still working on “1-2-3 Magic, Effective Discipline for Children 2-12″ by Thomas W. Phelan, Ph.D. I started reading “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. After reading a couple chapters, it already is making want to be more attentive to my own son. I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job but could always do better. It is nice to be reminded how much our children need and want our attention.
Watching: Sam eating more food. He is now enjoying steak! Oh but loves his Mac and Cheese!
Thankful for: Sam’s preschool La Creche Child Development Center. He is already counting to 20! And he just turned 2 last month.
Looking forward to: This summer we will be taking Sam to Germany for the first time! It is pretty cool to watch Matthias get excited about all the places he grew up and enjoyed as a child. Now he gets to share them with Sam.

Checking in

cafevic — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:20:09 +0000

Reading: “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. Been looking for a great read. Loving it. Already read 65 pages just today!
Watching: My Sunday nights are “The Good Wife”, as I am DVRing “Army Wives” and “Desperate Housewives”. Ohh, and if you have not seen “The Middle” yet, a must for Wednesday nights. Funny!!
Thankful for: So much. These days it’s laughing and cooking with my son Sam and getting time in to exercise before running off to work.
Looking forward to: sharing my trip to Nashville, Tennessee with my mom. I will be presenting during the educational forums at the 94th Phi Theta Kappa International Convention at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. My topic is “Come together! How to building better relationships between your Phi Theta Kappa Chapter and the Associated Students”. I’ve teamed up with my own college’s Phi Theta Kappa advisor Paul Roscelli. I’m looking forward to my mom and I both being Nashville for the first time. We both love country music, plus she gets to see me in action!

Checking In

cafevic — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:47:42 +0000

Reading: Hape Kerkeling’s “I’m Off Then, losing and finding myself on the Camino De Santiago”
Watching: Clouds come and go over the Half Moon Bay/Skyline Mountain range
Thankful for: Joy in my work and with my family and friends.
Looking forward to: the Lady Antebellum concert next month in San Jose

Checking in on Motherhood

cafevic — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:41:13 +0000

Reading: “1-2-3 Magic, Effective Discipline for Children 2-12″ by Thomas W. Phelan, Ph.D.
Watching: Sam putting stickers all over the windows. We found the ones that peal and stick. Awesome! Great way to learn animals too.
Thankful for: Sam smiles and my husband doing the grocery shopping with Sam. Nice quite time at home
Looking forward to: Sam learning how to dress himself.

Renew and be refueled

cafevic — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:35:38 +0000

Student Affairs/Student Services Tip of the Month

Renew your NASPA Membership Today! www.naspa.org
This last month, I renewed my NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) one of the leading national professional organizations for our field, yearly membership. It has been a few years since I was a member, and boy, I did not realize what I was missing. In away, the last few weeks of catching up on trends, hot topics, etc. has refueled my passion for this field. Thanks NASPA!

Checking in on Motherhood

cafevic — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:00:17 +0000

Hmm..it’s has been awhile since I wrote something for my Motherhood section. How about I try the “checking in” on Motherhood.
Reading: “What to expect the second year” by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. When I give Sam his nightly bath, I skim through checking for things I need to pay attention to or could be helpful. Last night, I read “Provide the toddler a fork, how else are they going to learn how to use it”. Good point!
Watching: As I write this, Sam is laying his head on his pillow watching “Elmo’s World”. The best!
Thankful for: Sam hugs!
Looking forward to: Sam eating a bowl of cereal.