I just submitted my graduate applications for Shippensburg University and Johns Hopkins University. Obviously JHU would be my first choice but if I'm being honest with myself - what's the odds I'll actually get accepted?
Today's goals: Get my transcript requests to Wingate, get my Letters of Recommendations out to an old professor and employer, and finalize my essay & resume.
And we're off!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
My Bucket List
The only place I had this saved was on myspace, which I never do anymore so I'm bringing it over here...
The Blind Side
My parents gave hubby some movie tickets for Christmas this year. We're not real big movie-theater people (I HATE how people talk/text/etc all through a movie that I just paid $10 to see!) but hey, give us some free tickets and we can find a way to use them!
He's been gone a lot lately because he's helping a co-worker finish his basement. Normally I would be fine with this but it's a little different when I sit at home all day bored and then have to sit home all night bored too. When I start a job/school and start to make friends up here it'll be fine and dandy. Last night he reserved the evening for "date night". We went out to eat and then headed down to Gaithersburg to go see The Blind Side.
That movie was...phenomenal.
If it's not the best movie I've ever seen, it's right up there with the best of them. I laughed, I cried, I was oblivious to the packed movie theater all around me. Yes, as long as this movie has been out, it was a nearly sold-out show.
Leigh Anne Tuohy is my new idol. Just a sassy Southern woman who knows what she wants and goes after it with this matter-of-fact stance on life. At one point in the movie I looked over at Brad (yes, I broke my own pet peeve in the movie theater) and told him I want to be her.
It would have been a good movie even if it hadn't been a true story. What made it a great movie is that it is a true story.
It's the ultimate feel-good movie. There were parts of it I wondered if it really happened or if it was just added to make it a better movie. Then I came home and did some research only to find that no, it really DID happen.
Excuse me now, I believe I'm going to go out and save the world...
He's been gone a lot lately because he's helping a co-worker finish his basement. Normally I would be fine with this but it's a little different when I sit at home all day bored and then have to sit home all night bored too. When I start a job/school and start to make friends up here it'll be fine and dandy. Last night he reserved the evening for "date night". We went out to eat and then headed down to Gaithersburg to go see The Blind Side.
That movie was...phenomenal.
If it's not the best movie I've ever seen, it's right up there with the best of them. I laughed, I cried, I was oblivious to the packed movie theater all around me. Yes, as long as this movie has been out, it was a nearly sold-out show.
Leigh Anne Tuohy is my new idol. Just a sassy Southern woman who knows what she wants and goes after it with this matter-of-fact stance on life. At one point in the movie I looked over at Brad (yes, I broke my own pet peeve in the movie theater) and told him I want to be her.
It would have been a good movie even if it hadn't been a true story. What made it a great movie is that it is a true story.
It's the ultimate feel-good movie. There were parts of it I wondered if it really happened or if it was just added to make it a better movie. Then I came home and did some research only to find that no, it really DID happen.
Excuse me now, I believe I'm going to go out and save the world...
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Ughhhhhhhh
Dear Windstream and/or Dish Network,
You truly do suck at life.
I'm so sorry I tried to make my life simpler by getting my phone/cable/internet packaged under one umbrella of Windstream.
Pardon me for calling to cancel in November when I get my bill only to be told I must be charged for yet another month (completely useless since no one was living there) because I missed the dreaded cycle date by one day.
Pardon me for calling after Christmas to question why I received yet another bill from Windstream after I supposedly cancelled over a month prior.
Pardon me for calling Dish after I get a $100 bill from them only to be told that "Well, Windstream should have told you that you needed to call us directly to cancel."
Pardon me for getting pissy when you tell me that I have 30 days to return the remotes, receiver and satellite.
Pardon me that the guy stuck the dish on the 3rd floor roof of my house - he used a ladder to get onto my deck, then used the ladder on the deck to get to the roof. I am NOT risking MY life because your installer-dude decided to be spiderman.
Pardon me that the remotes and receivers are 7 HOURS from where I am now.
Pardon me that the whole reason I called to cancel in NOVEMBER is because I was moving out of the state.
Congratulating me on my marriage is not going to put me in a better mood. Nice try homefry.
Absolutely not, I do not want your services moved to my house here. After this bullcrap? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Did I mention that my house is nice and locked up with a realtor's lockbox on it? Yeah. My spare key is IN THAT BOX. Therefore, having someone "run over" to get it isn't going to work.
I hate you both and will never use your stinking services again.
Have a wonderfully dreadful day.
You truly do suck at life.
I'm so sorry I tried to make my life simpler by getting my phone/cable/internet packaged under one umbrella of Windstream.
Pardon me for calling to cancel in November when I get my bill only to be told I must be charged for yet another month (completely useless since no one was living there) because I missed the dreaded cycle date by one day.
Pardon me for calling after Christmas to question why I received yet another bill from Windstream after I supposedly cancelled over a month prior.
Pardon me for calling Dish after I get a $100 bill from them only to be told that "Well, Windstream should have told you that you needed to call us directly to cancel."
Pardon me for getting pissy when you tell me that I have 30 days to return the remotes, receiver and satellite.
Pardon me that the guy stuck the dish on the 3rd floor roof of my house - he used a ladder to get onto my deck, then used the ladder on the deck to get to the roof. I am NOT risking MY life because your installer-dude decided to be spiderman.
Pardon me that the remotes and receivers are 7 HOURS from where I am now.
Pardon me that the whole reason I called to cancel in NOVEMBER is because I was moving out of the state.
Congratulating me on my marriage is not going to put me in a better mood. Nice try homefry.
Absolutely not, I do not want your services moved to my house here. After this bullcrap? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Did I mention that my house is nice and locked up with a realtor's lockbox on it? Yeah. My spare key is IN THAT BOX. Therefore, having someone "run over" to get it isn't going to work.
I hate you both and will never use your stinking services again.
Have a wonderfully dreadful day.
Owie.
Well, I certainly can't move right now.
I'm loving the gym access. Wednesday I did 45 minutes of cardio and a half hour of weightlifting. Thursday I ran for 30 minutes then got in the pool and swam for 20 minutes. Yesterday I did the elliptical for 30 minutes (hard, too, man, I think I got in competition with one of the basketball players in there!) and then the stairmaster (gotta get that booty into shape!) and finished with some weightlifting. And now I'm paying for it. I think it's a good thing it's closed today and tomorrow. If the weather's still nice tomorrow I think I might try to go for a slow run out but we'll see. I forget sometimes that I'm not in shape like I was in college - I try to go at the same pace as back then and I wind up majorly hurting. Oh well, it's good for me :)
I've been working on my book/album of pictures from the wedding. I have 3 regular albums that have all of the wedding pictures in it but my photographer had told me about a book that you can create with the wedding pictures. He offers it but he knew I liked doing graphic design stuff so he just told me where I could do it. I'm lacking two pages and I don't know how to finish it - I still have so many pictures I want to use! But it's been great because I can use all the "detailed" pictures as backgrounds...but still have the main pictures front and center. I'm probably going to wait until I actually start my job to send it off and purchase it, but still. It's exciting to know it's coming along! I think I drive Brad crazy because I could look at the pictures over and over again and never get tired of it.
Speaking of the job...I met with the psychologist for what I think was my final "test" on Wednesday. It was pretty interesting. Apparently I'm normal (no comments from the peanut galley!). Brad found it hysterical that the psychologist told me I should consider a career in law enforcement though. I guess my "curl up like a turtle" defensive response doesn't impress him much. The job starts in February...I wouldn't mind if it started a little sooner but oh well. The first 8 weeks or so will be intense, full-time training but at least I'll be making bank for it. I'm going to try to work all the hours I can until I start school. Between my house selling soon (hopefully-it went on the market Tuesday!) and the money I can save with working this part time job I'm hoping to be able to save enough for the whole master's degree before I even start. Plus, Brad's uncle (who will be my boss) said they get a lot of college students who work there - when times are slow, we're allowed to do our classwork. So basically I'm getting paid almost $20 an hour to do my classwork. Niiiiiice! It's definitely nothing I want to turn into a full-time career, but we can easily live on Brad's salary so it'll be nice to have mine for school so I don't have to apply for loans. As much as I wanted to fight the whole thing, it seems to be working out fairly well so far.
98 days since we've been married. I still feel like we're just "playing house!"
I'm loving the gym access. Wednesday I did 45 minutes of cardio and a half hour of weightlifting. Thursday I ran for 30 minutes then got in the pool and swam for 20 minutes. Yesterday I did the elliptical for 30 minutes (hard, too, man, I think I got in competition with one of the basketball players in there!) and then the stairmaster (gotta get that booty into shape!) and finished with some weightlifting. And now I'm paying for it. I think it's a good thing it's closed today and tomorrow. If the weather's still nice tomorrow I think I might try to go for a slow run out but we'll see. I forget sometimes that I'm not in shape like I was in college - I try to go at the same pace as back then and I wind up majorly hurting. Oh well, it's good for me :)
I've been working on my book/album of pictures from the wedding. I have 3 regular albums that have all of the wedding pictures in it but my photographer had told me about a book that you can create with the wedding pictures. He offers it but he knew I liked doing graphic design stuff so he just told me where I could do it. I'm lacking two pages and I don't know how to finish it - I still have so many pictures I want to use! But it's been great because I can use all the "detailed" pictures as backgrounds...but still have the main pictures front and center. I'm probably going to wait until I actually start my job to send it off and purchase it, but still. It's exciting to know it's coming along! I think I drive Brad crazy because I could look at the pictures over and over again and never get tired of it.
Speaking of the job...I met with the psychologist for what I think was my final "test" on Wednesday. It was pretty interesting. Apparently I'm normal (no comments from the peanut galley!). Brad found it hysterical that the psychologist told me I should consider a career in law enforcement though. I guess my "curl up like a turtle" defensive response doesn't impress him much. The job starts in February...I wouldn't mind if it started a little sooner but oh well. The first 8 weeks or so will be intense, full-time training but at least I'll be making bank for it. I'm going to try to work all the hours I can until I start school. Between my house selling soon (hopefully-it went on the market Tuesday!) and the money I can save with working this part time job I'm hoping to be able to save enough for the whole master's degree before I even start. Plus, Brad's uncle (who will be my boss) said they get a lot of college students who work there - when times are slow, we're allowed to do our classwork. So basically I'm getting paid almost $20 an hour to do my classwork. Niiiiiice! It's definitely nothing I want to turn into a full-time career, but we can easily live on Brad's salary so it'll be nice to have mine for school so I don't have to apply for loans. As much as I wanted to fight the whole thing, it seems to be working out fairly well so far.
98 days since we've been married. I still feel like we're just "playing house!"
Friday, January 15, 2010
My life in prison.
The day my future child decides to play high school sports is apparently the day my prison career will begin.
Maybe I was naive (okay, I know I was naive, that was stupid). Maybe I didn't notice when I was younger. But it's the parents that are out of control these days.
Brad's cousin is a freshman in high school and got bumped up to play varsity basketball this year. I personally think she's pretty awesome so I go when I can to support her, even if Brad can't come along.
Every game I have felt like starting a fight.
One game it was a girl on the opposite team. Okay, so she was good. But she was so obnoxious about it. Sweetie, you're a senior in high school. You might be the only person on your team now who can play but next year, when you go to college, you will be nothing. So all those NBA winks/fistpumps/screams aren't going to fly when you are sitting on the bench. Enjoy it while you can, darling, I'm just saying.
Last night was the icing on the cake. The girls on the opposite team were just playing dirty. They were pushing, punching, slapping - and nothing was being called. Their parents were whooping and hollering from the stands, encouraging it. I saw one girl in particular who, as one of our girls would shoot, she would punch them in the back - she obviously knew that the refs were looking up to call the fouls, not down. You could tell that T (Brad's cousin) was getting pissed. After one particular incident where a girl shoved T, you could see that she was done with it. The next time she had the ball, she went barreling down that court - that girl tried to stand in her way but T just clocked her. I mean, this girl went down like you see in the movies. Luckily the refs called the foul on the other girl.
All of this was annoying but the worst was towards the end of the game. It was pretty close - which meant, of course, that tensions were high. T stole the ball and went heading down the court to do a layup. A girl from the other team came up beside her and just shoved her into the wall - hard. Mind you, this girl went into the wall too - and apparently hurt her knee. I was sitting with T's mom and we just saw her neck snap back. She got up and shook it off like a champ but that other girl's mom threw a hissy fit like you have never seen before. They ended up calling an intentional technical foul on that other girl (uh, duh) and their side went into uproar.
See, my big problem is this. One, the refs should have done a better job. If they hadn't let the game get out of control, it wouldn't have escalated to that point. But the other team just played a dirty game - once our team realized nothing was being called, they started playing dirtier too. Two, the other team's parents were cheering anytime their team hurt or assaulted our team. How can you encourage your children to do that? If I were a parent and I saw my child down there on the court, playing dirty and intentionally trying to hurt another person - you'd better believe I'd be down there in 5 seconds flat, yanking their butts off the court myself.
Those kids are being taught that it's okay to play a dirty game. That's not helping them in life. Do you not want them to play in college? Because that crap might fly in a small town high school game - but when you get into a higher level, they're either going to get called for it or they're going to shove the wrong girl and wind up seriously hurt themselves.
Seriously, I think you should have to take a test to reproduce sometimes.
Maybe I was naive (okay, I know I was naive, that was stupid). Maybe I didn't notice when I was younger. But it's the parents that are out of control these days.
Brad's cousin is a freshman in high school and got bumped up to play varsity basketball this year. I personally think she's pretty awesome so I go when I can to support her, even if Brad can't come along.
Every game I have felt like starting a fight.
One game it was a girl on the opposite team. Okay, so she was good. But she was so obnoxious about it. Sweetie, you're a senior in high school. You might be the only person on your team now who can play but next year, when you go to college, you will be nothing. So all those NBA winks/fistpumps/screams aren't going to fly when you are sitting on the bench. Enjoy it while you can, darling, I'm just saying.
Last night was the icing on the cake. The girls on the opposite team were just playing dirty. They were pushing, punching, slapping - and nothing was being called. Their parents were whooping and hollering from the stands, encouraging it. I saw one girl in particular who, as one of our girls would shoot, she would punch them in the back - she obviously knew that the refs were looking up to call the fouls, not down. You could tell that T (Brad's cousin) was getting pissed. After one particular incident where a girl shoved T, you could see that she was done with it. The next time she had the ball, she went barreling down that court - that girl tried to stand in her way but T just clocked her. I mean, this girl went down like you see in the movies. Luckily the refs called the foul on the other girl.
All of this was annoying but the worst was towards the end of the game. It was pretty close - which meant, of course, that tensions were high. T stole the ball and went heading down the court to do a layup. A girl from the other team came up beside her and just shoved her into the wall - hard. Mind you, this girl went into the wall too - and apparently hurt her knee. I was sitting with T's mom and we just saw her neck snap back. She got up and shook it off like a champ but that other girl's mom threw a hissy fit like you have never seen before. They ended up calling an intentional technical foul on that other girl (uh, duh) and their side went into uproar.
See, my big problem is this. One, the refs should have done a better job. If they hadn't let the game get out of control, it wouldn't have escalated to that point. But the other team just played a dirty game - once our team realized nothing was being called, they started playing dirtier too. Two, the other team's parents were cheering anytime their team hurt or assaulted our team. How can you encourage your children to do that? If I were a parent and I saw my child down there on the court, playing dirty and intentionally trying to hurt another person - you'd better believe I'd be down there in 5 seconds flat, yanking their butts off the court myself.
Those kids are being taught that it's okay to play a dirty game. That's not helping them in life. Do you not want them to play in college? Because that crap might fly in a small town high school game - but when you get into a higher level, they're either going to get called for it or they're going to shove the wrong girl and wind up seriously hurt themselves.
Seriously, I think you should have to take a test to reproduce sometimes.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Lots of updates!
Whew, time gets away from you sometimes.
Christmas was strange this year - it was weird having Brad there with me on Christmas morning but it was still nice. He thoroughly enjoyed the benefits of having "two" Christmases :). It was exhausting with all the traveling so I'm glad next year we'll have Christmas with my family a week or two early. Two days in a row + 7 hours traveling both ways = cranky, sleepy me!
His aunt and uncle got us a membership to use a local university's recreational facilities for 6 months which I am extremely excited about. We activated it on Tuesday and I went up there yesterday to do cardio and weightlifting. It's different from a gym in that there's not rows and rows of cardio equipment but at least it's not very crowded and I also have access to the pool, sauna, indoor track and indoor tennis courts. I think today I'm going up to do laps in the pool. I'm planning on going to Richmond in March to run a 10k with my bff, Kristi - she's been trying to get me to run it for years so now that I'm this close to her I'm going to take advantage of it :) I'm guessing it's similar to Cooper River which is always fun. It's one of those races you don't even really have to train for because you're not going for time - the race itself is so huge you're just taking in all the sights around you.
My first birthday as a married woman was fantastic. I heard from people I hadn't heard from in years, wishing me a happy birthday. That morning I got up and went skiing by myself - it was PERFECT conditions. Sunny, warm but not *too warm*, no snow blowing and very few people on the slopes. I literally would ski down the mountain and ski straight back onto the lift. I went inside and had a cup of hot chocolate and looked out, enjoying the day. Brad came back from the co-worker's house he's renovating in the early afternoon and we finished taking all the Christmas stuff down (yes, I know, we're terrible haha). I had assumed we would go to Carrabba's for my birthday - it's my favorite restaurant and his mom had given me a gift card for there for Christmas. But he said no, he wanted to take me somewhere special - that the gift card will be used later but it was a gift for me and shouldn't be used on my birthday. So I got dressed while he was in the shower - khaki's, a nice sweater and heels. He comes out of the shower, kind of looks at me, and goes, "ummm, you might want to get more dressed up than that." I almost fainted. This coming from the man who acts like it's torture to put on anything remotely "nice". I get dressed in 'appropriate' attire and we head out to Frederick. We pull up to a restaurant I've only ever heard of, The Dutch's Daughter. It. Was. Phenomenal. I ordered a glass of wine, Brad ordered a Gentleman Jack & Coke. He ordered an appetizer of scallops wrapped in bacon (delicious!). I ordered a main course of blackened salmon (soooo sweet and HUGE portion) and added a crab cake (they weren't kidding, it actually was all crab!) and it came with green beans (it was meant to be) and twice baked potatoes (yummmy!). He got the filet mignon which was like eating bread it was so tender. It was just a fantastic meal. We were seated by one of the fireplaces and the place itself was so elegant. Listening to the conversations around us was quite entertaining since they were all big businessmen from DC who had come in on a Tuesday night to eat there. But all in all, it was an absolutely wonderful birthday.
I don't really do resolutions - but last night Brad and I were watching a special about a man who had himself dropped into the Yukon rainforest to see if he could survive by himself for 3 months. I wouldn't say there was anything *miraculous* about his documentary...but it did flip a switch inside me somewhere. Watching this man try to survive on his own with no other human contact was heartbreaking. Even though he woke up each morning with the most beautiful scenery, you could see his inner turmoil from missing his loved ones. So this year I'm going to try to appreciate everything. I'm going to appreciate that I have a husband, even when he picks on me, because I know he loves me. I'm going to make more of an effort to maintain my close friendships because I truly enjoy them and don't want them to "fall away" because of distance. I'm going to try and find the beauty in each day and thank God that I have another day. "Hippie-ish" or not, I'm going to try.
This was a pretty random update but I'll try to do better from now on. I'm just enjoying this whole married lifestyle, that's all :)
Christmas was strange this year - it was weird having Brad there with me on Christmas morning but it was still nice. He thoroughly enjoyed the benefits of having "two" Christmases :). It was exhausting with all the traveling so I'm glad next year we'll have Christmas with my family a week or two early. Two days in a row + 7 hours traveling both ways = cranky, sleepy me!
His aunt and uncle got us a membership to use a local university's recreational facilities for 6 months which I am extremely excited about. We activated it on Tuesday and I went up there yesterday to do cardio and weightlifting. It's different from a gym in that there's not rows and rows of cardio equipment but at least it's not very crowded and I also have access to the pool, sauna, indoor track and indoor tennis courts. I think today I'm going up to do laps in the pool. I'm planning on going to Richmond in March to run a 10k with my bff, Kristi - she's been trying to get me to run it for years so now that I'm this close to her I'm going to take advantage of it :) I'm guessing it's similar to Cooper River which is always fun. It's one of those races you don't even really have to train for because you're not going for time - the race itself is so huge you're just taking in all the sights around you.
My first birthday as a married woman was fantastic. I heard from people I hadn't heard from in years, wishing me a happy birthday. That morning I got up and went skiing by myself - it was PERFECT conditions. Sunny, warm but not *too warm*, no snow blowing and very few people on the slopes. I literally would ski down the mountain and ski straight back onto the lift. I went inside and had a cup of hot chocolate and looked out, enjoying the day. Brad came back from the co-worker's house he's renovating in the early afternoon and we finished taking all the Christmas stuff down (yes, I know, we're terrible haha). I had assumed we would go to Carrabba's for my birthday - it's my favorite restaurant and his mom had given me a gift card for there for Christmas. But he said no, he wanted to take me somewhere special - that the gift card will be used later but it was a gift for me and shouldn't be used on my birthday. So I got dressed while he was in the shower - khaki's, a nice sweater and heels. He comes out of the shower, kind of looks at me, and goes, "ummm, you might want to get more dressed up than that." I almost fainted. This coming from the man who acts like it's torture to put on anything remotely "nice". I get dressed in 'appropriate' attire and we head out to Frederick. We pull up to a restaurant I've only ever heard of, The Dutch's Daughter. It. Was. Phenomenal. I ordered a glass of wine, Brad ordered a Gentleman Jack & Coke. He ordered an appetizer of scallops wrapped in bacon (delicious!). I ordered a main course of blackened salmon (soooo sweet and HUGE portion) and added a crab cake (they weren't kidding, it actually was all crab!) and it came with green beans (it was meant to be) and twice baked potatoes (yummmy!). He got the filet mignon which was like eating bread it was so tender. It was just a fantastic meal. We were seated by one of the fireplaces and the place itself was so elegant. Listening to the conversations around us was quite entertaining since they were all big businessmen from DC who had come in on a Tuesday night to eat there. But all in all, it was an absolutely wonderful birthday.
I don't really do resolutions - but last night Brad and I were watching a special about a man who had himself dropped into the Yukon rainforest to see if he could survive by himself for 3 months. I wouldn't say there was anything *miraculous* about his documentary...but it did flip a switch inside me somewhere. Watching this man try to survive on his own with no other human contact was heartbreaking. Even though he woke up each morning with the most beautiful scenery, you could see his inner turmoil from missing his loved ones. So this year I'm going to try to appreciate everything. I'm going to appreciate that I have a husband, even when he picks on me, because I know he loves me. I'm going to make more of an effort to maintain my close friendships because I truly enjoy them and don't want them to "fall away" because of distance. I'm going to try and find the beauty in each day and thank God that I have another day. "Hippie-ish" or not, I'm going to try.
This was a pretty random update but I'll try to do better from now on. I'm just enjoying this whole married lifestyle, that's all :)
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