Monday, December 31, 2012

Last day of 2012

The biggest tree !


Reflections on the year....

Nothing against 2012 at all. But I am ready for 2013 and what will feel like a new start. 2012 was filled with stress, stress and mega stress. Much due to comps, grad school stuff, moving, and wedding planning. All of this ended up well and  good but I am hoping 2013 will be filled with tons of fun. Exceptions being certain grad school classes and trying to find a job. Other than that my wedding is in 172 days!  WHOA. I am grateful to 2012 for coming and going so I can marry the best man and friend I have. Graduation is before that and I couldn't be more ready and terrified. This officially will be the year I enter the working world full time. It should be interesting. 

Some Memories...
Last New Years Eve
My Valentine
My other Valentine

Race where Kasey Kahne won!
Sweet babysitting adventures

Paleo Expeditions
Engagement shoots in the awful heat



Hailey & Jenna Olympics


Puppy sleepovers
Walk to End Alzheimers!
Bridesmaid get-together!
My crazy new family
Best friends/MOH


Bachelorette Parties
Luna doing her Yoga
Thomas catching a 17" flounder!
Funny puppies


Thomas turned 30
Christmas 2012

My Goals for 2013...


  1. Have a FANTASTIC wedding. So much has been done to prepare for it already but the last 6 months marks the time where showers, registering and having fun with people involved in the wedding. I'm super excited about that. I am determined to have fun on my day even if everything falls apart. (Let's face it, I planned it myself, something is bound to) Plus after it's over we can then plan our London honeymoon!!! (update on wedding planning will come later)
  2. I have been sick the last couple of days so exercise has been put on the back burner until I  can get my lungs back to do cardio. Seriously though, we have a YMCA membership and I will be taking full advantage of this, especially these upcoming months before the wedding.
  3. Along with exercising more regularly, eating more fruits and vegetables. I've already made a grocery list and menu plan for the first week of 2013. Need to get back to normal with a full pantry and get rid of all the Christmas goodies which are good but ya know not really that good for you.
  4. Graduate! Then find a job! Oh please please please
  5. Be better about taking photos. I always miss opportunities and I really wish I could get over my awkwardness of taking pictures.
  6. Be a better blogger. Simply just do it.
  7. Read 25 books this year.
  8. Be more organized. Including cleaning more often. (I did make a cleaning schedule, maybe this will help).
  9. SAVE MORE MONEY. We are currently relying on a teacher's salary while I am in school and I have wedding things to pay for as well as saving up for a honeymoon. I need to impulse buy less. 
  10. ??? Maybe I'll think of the tenth later.

So, How am I bringing in the new year?
Well, I think this may be the funnest way that I've ever brought in the year. I am going to see The Avett Brothers play in Greensboro. I am so excited. I am listening to them right now just in preparation of the night since lately all I've been listening to has been Les Mis.... (views on the movie to come later)
Hope they play any of these....






    

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Les Mis!

Don't get me wrong, Christmas is exciting and I'm ready for the food, family, and presents. But one of the things I'm looking forward to the most is the Les Miserables movie. I love the musical but haven't listened to it or watched the Anniversary concert in a very long time.
Anyone that really knows me, knows that I love musicals. My favorites include Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Spring Awakening, Sweeney Todd, and Rent. I've rediscovered Les Mis and it is amazing.

Needless to say I am listening to the music all the time and am so ready for the movie to be out. Christmas day!

I also discovered another musical, Once. I wish I could go see it on Broadway. The music is fantastic. My favorite song is "Gold"



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Preparing for the end of 2012.

I really should be better about updating my blog. Right now I'm simply wasting time before walking out the door to go volunteer at the Food Shuttle and I'm kind of already over this day entirely. It is my last day of class for the semester and we have a case study to turn in and as our final we have to complete another group's case study that they created. I'm just prepared to roll my eyes a lot and stare at the clock.

In my absence, there have been some interesting things going on and some not interesting things ( Beverly Hills 90210 marathons, anyone?) But yes, I have been squeezing through this semester of grad school and it isn't pretty. This was by far the worst of the worst semesters. It borders the dreadful semester of '08 where I had the Biochemistry class that I passed on a technicality (she couldn't fail the people that didn't drop the class, which was the majority). I am happy to say that I will be passing this semester but if it's with A's, that is the question.
I took my comprehensive exam in October and passed both the multiple choice and written portion. Yay, go me! However, I never want to relive the stress of the 6 weeks prior to taking the test. It was hell and mostly due to anticipation and wanting to get it over with. But I studied my butt off and it worked out in the end! Plus, my advisor seems to think I am definitely on the path to graduate in May so there are no words to describe how excited I am for that. MAY 11th here I come!!

The next step in this graduate school journey is to start my practicum project , which I decided to get some hours in for that early so I will be officially starting it on Monday. It's scary but I'm sure it will be fine. I feel like I have an understanding advisor and an organized and supportive supervisor at the Shuttle who is quite familiar with the practicum process since  she is a student at Meredith as well. So I feel like I have some great mentors for this project.
However, I will only get a small portion of my hours completed this month because I would like some time to do some Christmas festivities and such. Thomas and I already put up our tree, which is real by the way, and it's a little bare at the moment. We put all the ornaments we currently own on it and I feel it really does represent our life together. As we go on with our lives together we will collect more and more ornaments from places we go and memories we share. Each year our tree will represent more and more memories and eventually our kids will make ornaments too!

I am very excited for this Christmas despite the fact that money is pretty limited and I feel bad asking Thomas to help me out with gifts. I am trying to enjoy spending time with friends and family over thinking about what gifts I will get or give out. Hopefully by this time next year I will have a job so this will not be an issue anymore.

Here are our Christmas pictures for this year, as usual taken by Thomas's talented dad.

Luna looks kind of mad but she's always that way at Tom & Debbie's house because her best friend (their dog, Samson) is there. She doesn't want to take pictures, she wants to play tug-a-war!


I couldn't be more excited for the next 6 months!