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. :)

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. :)

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.

fall semester has begun!

Today marks the beginning of the fall semester for me and the 31,999 other students at Georgia State. Fun times my friends.

This semester is a pretty big one for me. I'm only taking three classes, but they are important ones. They are my last prerequisite courses for the College of Education. Being enrolled in them allows me to submit my application to the College of Education for admittance into the Early Childhood Education major. If I am admitted, I will be three semesters of coursework and a semester of student teaching away from being a certified teacher. I'll be four semesters from being completely FINISHED with my bachelor's degree.

As exciting as that idea is, I've been trying to keep a level head about the situation. After all, I still need to get through the current semester of courses and get accepted into my major. It doesn't sound challenging, but I know being successful in this is going to take a lot of work. There are 80 spots available in ECE and last semester almost 200 people applied. It isn't impossible, but it is certainly competitive.

My advisor assures me that my GPA and experience makes me an ideal candidate though so I am attempting to remain optimistic until I have a reason to feel otherwise. I have to believe in the things that led me to go into education and work with kids in the first place.

Bugs are evil and my dog is awesome

We interrupt this really long blog silence to bring you a story about me, my dog, and a bug attack.

It seems that I have inadvertantly trained Finn to alert me to bugs in the house and then protect me against them.

For the record: I keep my house clean. Bugs come in because we have gross neighbors and it is summer in the south. You would be hard pressed to find a house without bugs around here.

Anyway, I went to use the bathroom downstairs and Finn blocked me. I'm thinking he just wants to play, but no. He actively blocks me from the bathroom and barks when I keep walking. Then I notice he's also pointing his nose at something under the cabinet. I look down there and there is a HUGE BUG just chillin like it's his house.

My rule for bugs is like this: bugs live outside. I won't kill them if they are outside. The minute they invade my house though, they are going to die.

After screaming and hiding for a minute... because that sucker was big and ugly... I took action. I put on my tennis shoes (to prevent the bug from going rouge and getting on my foot), grabbed the roll of paper towels and went in search of the Raid can.

Turns out, the only Raid we have is for wasps and other flying insects. This was not ideal, but I figured it would at least maim the ugly jerk enough that I could squash him without any last chance escape efforts.

I headed into the bathroom again with my supplies in hand and Finn by my side, ready to battle it out. I was still really grossed out because I HATE bugs with a firey passion, but I sucked it up since nobody else was there to kill it. I was too proud to wait until the cable technician showed up to get him to do it either.

Finn guarded the door to the bathroom after I went in to make sure the bug didn't escape (I didn't even have to tell him to, he's just an awesome battle wingman). I started out shooting Mr. Bug with a few shots of Raid to get him out from under the cabinet and when he did come scurrying out Finn blocked him from going into the hallway while I squashed him with my shoe.

There was a super gross popping sound when the bug finally crushed too. Ew.

He was buried at sea (ok, I flushed him) and I may or may not have done a victory dance. Finn got a treat for helping too.

check out this voodoo

Starbucks has figured out a way to make coffee taste like a Mounds bar.

You know, the coconut and sweetened milk logs covered in dark chocolate? A.K.A the best candy bar in the history if candy bars?

Starbucks has managed to take this deliciousness and make it better by adding coffee and making it dairy free. My day seriously just got about 4 times better.

While I was in the store getting my chocolatey, summery, coffee fix I found something else that is awesome. I think I've mentioned how my beloved green mug is severely cracked an on it's last leg handle, right? I've been looking for a stand in to help me out on late night study sessions when I'm too tired to remember to compensate for the fragile handle... and today I found it.

Also green and white with some gold accents, also a cheesy souvenir, also full of win for no real reason.... my new mug is like the long lost cousin of my old mug. It is slightly bigger though which means more coffee with less breaks to refill. Overall, very pleased with my random stop at the buck.

  

Happy Birthday to ME!

Whoo! Party!

Or, well.... sort of.

As far as birthdays go, this one is pretty mellow. My day has been just a regular day outside of the texts, calls, and facebook messages full of birthday wishes. I love knowing that people are thinking about me today, but none of it changes the fact that I still had class and work.

Case-in-point: being the birthday girl is not a valid excuse for missing my 3 hour math lecture today... so I went. All part of being a responsible adult.

There will be a cookout/gathering/party type event this weekend though when I visit my parents.

I'm also throwing myself a bit of a celebration tonight. In fact, a recent discovery of mine has ensured that my own little solo celebration is going to be epic.

As I was browsing whole foods yesterday for some sort of non-dairy, low sugar, nut free treat for my birthday I discovered that the stories on the internet are true... vegan chocolate does in fact exist! As if that weren't good enough, I also found vegan pizza!

That's right friends... I am having pizza and chocolate tonight for the first time in almost a month! If grocery shopping was like Scrabble those finds would have been the equivalent of a triple word score using the letters Q and Z.

So happy Birthday to me and thank you again to all of myfamily/ friends who have made me feel so loved today, and thanks to the scientists/food engineers who have given me "safe" treats to indulge in on my special day.