Friday, September 30, 2011

feel free to judge me for this...

I'm one of those people who loves holidays, but I feel that stores and society in general tends to start in on Christmas stuff WAY too early. I saw Christmas decorations out at Hobby Lobby the other day. It's insane!

That being said, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite for what I'm about to admit...

I've already picked out Christmas gifts for people (including myself and given Steve the appropriate information) and may have listened to the Glee Christmas CD. There also may be a brochure on our refrigerator about the new 10 year ornament and flute collection from Waterford that starts this year.

Like I said... feel free to judge. I haven't even bought Halloween candy yet and I'm already busting out the Christmas stuff.

I don't even feel badly about it either. That's the shocking part. Then again, look at this ornament and tell me it doesn't make you feel ready to haul out the holly:
This is the first ornament from the new special collection called "Snowflake Wishes". This particular one is "Wishes for Joy" and features a ruby. I think it will look beautiful on our tree... which I actually get to put up this year! This beauty can hang right next to our Captain Kirk and Superman ornaments.

Uh... I mean... right next to our other beautiful, super grown up looking ornaments....

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

laundry really shouldn't be this exciting

Recently I have made two purchases that have completely changed my life. The first is a canister of Downy Unstoppables:

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These llittle scented granules go into your washing machine and make your clothes smell incredible. Best of all though is the fact that the scent doesn't go away for DAYS. Seriously. I wore a dress and sweater to the beach recently and got covered in sea water (a consequence of being short and an unexpectedly tall wave)... once the clothes dries they STILL smelled good. Even Steve's undershirts smell good after being worn all day. Anything that can make sweaty man clothes still smell fresh is a winner in my book.

The second purchase was this Canopy 3 bin laundry sorter:

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Steve put it together for me, so I have no idea how easy that part is, but the finished product is one of the best things of my week so far. Most laundry sorter things I've seen are just one big mesh or canvas bag with dividers in it attached to the frame with glue or something so you HAVE to store the fool thing in the laundry room to make it even slightly useful... not the case here. There are three seperate canvas bags which are easily hooked onto the frame by what is essentially a modified clothes hanger. Each bag is completely removeable on it's own so when one is full I just lift it out and carry it to the laundry closet. Even bigger perk, the handles of the bag (yeah, it's got legit handles) are wide enough to fit over the handles on the laundry closet door and hang there while the clothes wash. Each bag is big enough to hold about one large load of clothes and the unit isn't so big that having it in our room creates any space issues. I see this thing being really convenient for college students or anyone who has to haul laundry down stairs to wash it.

Anyway.... as I was doing laundry this morning, using my new stuff, feeling all
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I realized that I am 24 years old. People my age get excited about a lot of things, like the new season of American Idol and a sale at H&M, but they don't typically happy dance over a new laundry basket or anything to do with Downy.

Suddenly, all those years of being called "Martha" by friends in school make sense.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

another race!

Tonight I registered for my second 5K race. It's the Lanier Under the Lights 5K at Lake Lanier Islands' Magical Nights of Lights.

Of course, I am really excited for many reasons.
1. This is my first race since my surgery (ok, first race since before ALL of my surgeries) and is sort of a celebration of my health.
2. This:

It's the week before Thanksgiving and the course goes through a huge Christmas lights display. Considering I was busy having internal organs removed and moving across the state (again) last holiday season, this is a way for me to fit in extra holiday excitement this year to make up for it.
3. It is my first night race.
4. I'll be running it with some cool ladies that went to school with Steve and currently live in the ATL.

With the start of the semester and other stuff going on in my life, running has sort of fallen by the wayside, so signing up for this also is working as a swift kick in the pants to get back to training. My current training reward system is simple, super cheap, and inspired by one of my favorite Gleeks.

In the first season, Rachel Berry talked about how she likes to put a gold star by her name because she is a winner. After several reward schedules and plans fell apart for me, I decided to take a play from Rachel's playbook and use gold stars too.

I have a calendar hanging in the hallway. On the days when I meet my training goals, I get to put a gold star on the calendar for that day.

Sounds a little ridiculous and a lot silly, but if today (technically yesterday since it is now 1 am... yikes!) is any indication the system is going to be very successful.

So... here's to putting some mileage on my still relatively new running shoes and loading up that calendar with a ton of gold stars! Because I am a winner and I am going to rock it out at that race!

Monday, September 19, 2011

music monday


This song has been stuck in my head for days. I love it!

I think what I love most about it is that the song manages to still be upbeat and optimistic even though the person singing has clearly been the victim of some shady shenanigans (teasing, bullying, etc.).

Recently I've figured out that some of the things people have done to me have more to do with their own issues and nothing really to do with me at all. If I remember that then I find myself feeling much more at peace and better able to enjoy my own life.

Friday, September 16, 2011

5 years...

This post is a bit late, but I feel like it still deserves to be written.

August 26, 2006 was the day Steve and I had our first date. That night was awkward, nerve wracking, and then, out of nowhere, became the beginning of something really special.

You see, that night Steve picked me up from my friend's apartment (since I didn't have one of my own) and had planned on taking me to dinner. We went to Applebees because that's all there really is in a college town, but both of us were too nervous to eat or really talk at all. The guy actually answered his cell phone at dinner.

Shortly after that I realized we wouldn't really get to know one another if we stayed at Applebees, so I suggested we go to my favorite place in Columbus... the Riverwalk.

Steve paid and we quickly made our way down to the waterfront and sat on a bench looking up at the clouds, pointing out the shapes we saw.... having a blast. We finally started talking to each other like we had done at the party the previous Saturday night. He told me I was beautiful and kissed me right there on that park bench by the Chattahoochee and we decided to be together no matter what.

our first party after becoming a couple

Now here we are, 5 years after that first date, and the dreams and plans we made back then are coming true. We are living in Atlanta in a great townhome. Steve has a job he loves. I'm finally finishing my degree in a field I'm passionate about. We have a dog that we love and adore as if he were a child.

Life isn't perfect, we have rough days and craziness always manages to find us, but that's kind of the point. We've spent the last 5 years dealing with life as it comes and even the big blows weren't so terrible because we took them on as a team. As lame as this sounds, he's the Spock to my Kirk. :)

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The date is set!

I've set up an appointment to meet with my advisor tomorrow to get my application to the College of Education pulled together!

My archived Advanced Placement scores finally came in (after a full month of nail biting) so I can officially move forward with my application. From what the GSU website says, I'll submit the application form, proof of my GACE 1 exemption (since I'm a smarty pants according to my SAT score), proof of tort liability insurance, and my criminal background check.

The meeting tomorrow is really to make sure I knwo how to go about getting all of that stuff and how to officially submit it when I do gather everything together.

The final deadline for applications is October 27th, but I figure getting things in early can only be a positive thing for me. This is not the sort of thing to procrastinate. If all goes well, and the committee thinks I look good on paper, they'll call me in for an interview.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed for positive outcomes on this one... thanks. :)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

warning: nerd alert

My classes this semester are really great. Not only do I have knowledgeable professors, but the subject matter is engaging. What we are studying actually pulls me and and holds my interest. Doing the readings for class don't seem pointless... in fact, I've found myself doing extra research on my own just out of my own curiosity.

My favorite so far is my educational psychology course. That sucker has given me so much useful information and such interesting material to read that I'm thinking of subscribing to the journal we get a lot of our readings from.

We recently finished discussing a study published in 1995 about the development of language and how traditional education does or does not influence that development. We also discussed how the study has impacted the public school system as well as the perception of preschool and daycare for young children.

I've spent many years bouncing around from one major to the next. I've taken many many classes and studied a lot of varied material, but this is my favorite. Not only is it quality psychological research, but it's research that I understand and can put into practice in my own classroom in the future.

It's all very exciting.