Bailey's 1st Christmas!

This year was Bailey's first Christmas {with us as least} since she was only 4 weeks old last Christmas.  

Bailey with Clint's dad (February 2010)

Now she is a big 1 year old and was ready for some Christmas fun.  After sniffing out her stocking, I made her pose with her yummy treats and bed from Santa.

After a lazy Christmas day, we woke up to over 1 FOOT of snow in Wilson! We are certainly not used to seeing so much snow and the only one prepared for the weather was Bailey..with her new Ducky Raincoat!!

"Where did all my pinecones go??"

"Oh well, this stuff is great!"

I loved watching her running through the snow and having sooo much fun!  After LOTS of playing and eating enough snow for a lifetime, we ventured back inside for a good nap.  Gotta love the Holidays! 

"Mom, you are bothering me."

I hope everyone has a fantastic {and safe} New Years Eve! It's looking like ill be cooking dinner and ringing in the New Year {champagne included} with my wonderful boyfriend. Sounds perfect to me :) 

For Rent

Clint and I have been spending our free time searching for somewhere to live starting in May!! I have been dying to look for a while, and he finally gave me the "go-ahead" last week.  Finding something perfect is less than a perfect process. I mean come on, there HAS to be some super cute, pet-friendly, 2 bedroom houses with a fenced-in back yard in close enough proximity to Jersey Mikes and Durham Regional for under $1100, right??  Oh yeah, and it has to be available starting May 1st-9th. I am convinced we will find something we love, and even more convinced that everything will work out like its supposed to.  

As a side note...

Today is graduation day for the OT Class of 2010.  I can't even imagine what they are feeling right now, but I am sure I will be beaming on my graduation day, December, 16th, 2011!  I can officially say that I have LESS than a year until I will be free from school :)  

The end is near!

A. Blogging is such a great procrastination tool!

I have spend the better half of my day studying for my last final of the semester {can I get an AMEN!} I can't do too much complaining considering this semester hasn't been terrible, and next semester (aka, the LAST) will be even more easy, breezy!  Once I get though my final on Monday, and get to PAY DAY WEDNESDAY, I will officially be able to commence Christmas Shopping 2010 :) This year I am going all out to make sure that I give some really cute, thoughtful, but low budget gifts.  {I am aware that I have said one too many times that I am broke, but really, I am BRRRRROKE.} To help me in my quest I have been stalking reading some awesome blogs like Thrifty Decor Chick.  I'm truly excited about finding great deals and making cute little reminders of how much I love the ones who mean so much to me.  

Grinch Eggs

Tomorrow marks the end of classes for the Fall '10 semester...wahoooo!!! To celebrate, my OT class is having a Tacky Christmas Party so finding the perfect dish to bring was my distraction for the evening.  Being on a budget, I thought I would do something that I already had all the ingredients for.  After a quick look around the kitchen, I settled on deviled eggs {yummmmmy}.  As if deviled eggs aren't delish enough, I wanted to *spice* them up a bit and make them more festive.  I started with the idea to sprinkle cayenne pepper over the eggs for the RED of Christmas, but then I stumbled upon the GREEN food coloring :) So, hellloooo red and green eggs! 

When I showed them to my roomie, she said..

       "OH, they look like Grinch eggs!"

 So there you have it, cutie patootie Grinch Eggs :)

22 weeks

Man, the boredom of biostatistics can really force you to think about where your life is going.  I realized today that I only have 22 more weeks left in Greenville.  More importantly, that means only 22 weeks until I move to Chapel Hill and get to FINALLY live side-by-side with the one I love.  

Within that time frame I have...

3 weeks til Christmas

5 weeks til NYC with Clint 

13 weeks til Spring Break

14 weeks til my 2nd fieldwork level 1 

18 weeks until a girls trip to Chicago 

19 weeks until I present my thesis research

Looks like I have a LOT to look forward to!!

And the excitement doesn't end at 22 weeks.

In 24 weeks I will begin my fieldwork level 2....where I will be working as an OT (without pay)

In 1 year... I will have my MASTERS!

Bailey turns 1!!

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me....Bailey's 1st birthday!! I had been telling her about her birthday all week, so I gave in a gave her an early birthday present Monday night. 

After a full night of playing her her new toy, the birthday girl was a quite exhausted come 7am and poor lil hippo lost a leg. 

Per her request, we went on a few extra walks yesterday and she got oodles of treats :) Mid-day I couldn't wait any longer and I decided it was time to officially celebrate with a PUPCAKE!

I put it in her food bowl to try to cut down on the mess, but she had other plans.

She must have thought she was doing something wrong because she ran off with the cupcake and decided to eat it under the kitchen table. Coincidently, she eats her cupcake just like her mom!! Cake 1st, then icing :)  

Oh well, a little mess never hurt anyone.  

Happy birthday Bailey :) You will never know how much you have given me in your 1st year of life. 

Tough decisions

I try to lead a fairly worry free life, but there is always one stressor that keeps Clint singing the chorus of this tune to me....$money$.  When I found out I was not going to be able to work at the Autism Society as much next semester I had a mini-meltdown.  I have enjoyed saving my extra $4,000 of student loans each semester for a wedding one day, and not being able to do that was frightening.  So, I went out and found job #2.  I will be working at the ECU Distance Education Proctoring Center! Its such an easy job, with perfect hours, and excellent pay. The plan was to work there Monday-Friday and at the Autism Society Friday-Saturday..no worries, I can handle it.  Or can I? Now enters the tough decision...should I quit job #1?  It is so rewarding, but does it come at the cost of less time with my boyfriend? I mean seriously, why save up money for a wedding if there is never a time when you sit back and relax with your significant other for a weekend?  So I am letting go of the Autism Society.  I need to focus on myself and not set myself up for being overwhelmed in my last semester of classes {hallelujah, praise God!!}.   Seems like this may be the best decision I have had in a while.

Distractions

Tuesdays are LONG days.  Today, on top of 6 hours of back to back classes, I also had to make cupcakes for the Student Occupational Therapy Association bake sale.  I was able to find some creativity deep down inside despite the exhaustion and they came out pretty cute! You will notice that one "accidentally" messed up so I HAD to eat it. Good thing I woke up extra early this morning for a morning workout to counterbalance the yummy sweet satisfaction :) 

I personally like the cute little monsters! 

Just a taste.

I was a bundle of nerves this morning as I was getting ready for my first day of fieldwork at UNC hospital.  Clint got up and made me some coffee {which I could barely drink} and I re-read my emails 20x to make sure I didn't miss any pertinent information. Once I got to the hospital and met my supervisor, my nerves were put at ease.  My supervisor is GREAT and is giving me a lot of opportunities to make my own decisions when making treatment plans and writing goals.  I had some pretty challenging patients on my first {non-stop, busy, busy} day but I loved every second of it.  I am trying to eat up this week as much as possible since it is just a small taste of my life to come.  I am loving waking up at Clint's, having breakfast with him, and then us each heading off to our separate work places.  After work {and him allowing me some zzz's on the couch} we hit the gym!  He promised that he would support me in going after work each day, and boy, is he the tough one to work out with! I will assure you that I will be sore tomorrow, but that is just what I need. Going back to Greenville next week with a full class schedule and 2 hrs away from Clint will be sad...but only 7 more months!!

Ranch bound.

Went to bed proud of myself, and woke up bummed out.  After yesterday's workout and healthy eating, I decided to hop on the wii fit scale this morning.  Results: +1. To make matters worse, I hit my highest weight for the year and {thanks to the wiii fit weight tracker} discovered I am +12 from March.  NOT. GOOD. Clearly what I am doing {or not doing} is not working.  I wallowed in self-pity during my walk with Bailey and then decided to pick myself up and head back to the Bigger Loser Ranch...virtually of course.  Instead of picking up where I left off, I started new and set up a 4 week challenge with a weight loss goal of -14.  I have high hopes that this 4 week challenge, along with healthy eating and Pirate Fit I will be able to reach my goal.  My weekly challenge and weigh in is on Wednesdays so I will be posting my results then {again, to keep me accountable}. If you have any words of motivation, please share! 

Defeated.

Lately I have been feeling a little defeated when it comes to getting to where I want to be physically.  If you know me, you know that I will always have an excuse for not working out...and as much as I try to eat healthily, I am a SUCKER for mexican.  I recently found something to get me back into the workout groove, Pirate Fit @ ECU. It is a new, work-out motivation program through the Student Rec Center that awards coming to the gym with various prizes--even an iPad :) You would think getting rid of this booty and thunder thighs is enough incentive to work out, but free stuff is just the icing on the cake.  My current method of getting rid of the excess lower body flab is something I actually feel extremely defeated by...the spinning bike.  Today was my 2nd day on the bike.  Only made it 5 minutes on day 1, but today (with the help of Women's Health magazine) I made it 10.  It is certainly a love-hate relationship.  On another high note...I ate only healthy foods today.  That means no left over wedding cake, no Reece's cups, no pumpkin cake, and no ice cream {and yes all of these things currently inhabit my kitchen}. No promises for tomorrow, but I am going to try my best before I end up like this lovely lady. 

Wedding fever!

All of these beautiful weddings in the past few months have really pushed me into wedding fever! Now that I am getting to the point in my life where I am approaching the end of grad school classes and my move to Chapel Hill, contemplating my own wedding has become more of a reality.  It's gotten so bad that Clint has started commenting that we are just going to have a shotgun wedding since I will have everything planned before he can even pop the question!  Now if I could just begin to channel this wedding obsession into a workout obsession I would be alright!!

Love this picture from Clint's sister Sarah's wedding :) 

On the home stretch

I have been a bit slack about posting, but with school starting tomorrow I thought I should get back on the ball.  

{For starters, surgery went well! The doctor removed not one, but five polyps and he thinks the pathology report will come back fine :) I am still a little sore and crampy but feeling much better on the whole!}

I had a great 3 weeks off and although I am not dying to get back to classes, I am in desperate need to get back to some sort of schedule. My break was packed with lots of fun including my 22nd birthday, a road trip to Ohio with my love for a (super fun!) wedding, my surgery, and lots of play dates for Bailey with her BFF Greta.

But now..... IT'S MY LAST YEAR OF SCHOOL!!!  After circa 18 years of school, I am SO ready to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  This year will be crammed full of classes, work, research for my thesis, and writing my thesis.  Not to mention 1 week of fieldwork in both October and March!  It's already hard to believe that I will finally be moving to Chapel Hill to be close to Clint in only 9 short months :) So many exciting things in my future and I am ready to embrace it!  

Medical update

First off, thanks for the kind words and prayers :)  I had two different songrams on Wednesday.  The first was painless and showed normal results.  The doctor wanted to be a bit more through so he did a 2nd sonogram where he threaded a tube into an opening in my uterus, pumped water inside, and then took a look around.  This was 0% fun, especially since I did not realize it was going to hurt.  This time the Dr. found what he thinks is a polyp, which is hopefully the cause of the bleeding.  To get rid of the polyp, he is going to do two different surgical procedures... 1) a hysteroscopy and 2) a D&C.  The hysteroscopy is where they insert a lighted scope into my cervix and into my uterus so they can easily see the polyp.  Then the Dr. can insert a surgical instrument through the hysteroscope to remove the polyp.  The D&C will be a scraping of the lining of my uterus to determine where the polyp came from and if I am at risk for developing more.  It will be an outpatient procedure with a 5-7 day recoup window since I will apparently have a lot of soreness and cramping.  Due to changes in my family's insurance plan, I cannot have the surgery until August 18th...which has its pros and cons. PRO: I won't have to miss class or any upcoming weekend plans (weddings, birthdays) that I already have planned. CON: I will keep bleeding for another month and a half, and will continue to bleed for a few weeks after the procedure.  I also cannot swim for 2 weeks after the surgery or run/jog for 4 weeks afterwards, so I guess I should hit the gym hard before August 18th! Thanks again for all the support!

Power of Prayer

Lately I have been attending Eastern Pines Church of Christ in Greenville and I absolutely love it.  I have been going at least once a week, either to Sunday service or Wednesday bible study, and have met some really great people!  Going to church more often has really renewed my feelings about the power of prayer and how it can really make a difference.  With all of that said I could use a little prayer this week.  I started having abnormally heavy periods about 8 months so I my doctor changed my BC.  It didn't help so we changed it again.  Then 3 months ago I started spotting and it has not stopped since then.  I finally went to my doctor and after an exam he determined that I am having abnormal cervical bleeding.  He put me on 2 weeks of antibiotics with no positive result.  I go back for another exam and further testing this Wednesday and I am praying for the best (even though I can't get the worst out of my head).  I normally wouldn't be this public with these sorts of issues, but I am asking you to keep me in your prayers the next couple of days.  Clint claims that I just over worrying as usual... I am hoping he is right in this case!  Thanks in advance :) 

Buggin'

I have been known to make some rash financial decisions at times, so I need some help figuring out if my newest temptation is worth it or not.

The Body Bugg

If you have not heard of it, it is pretty much the coolest thing ever.  It tracks all your calories IN and OUT, so that you can try to reach your weight loss goal.  

My Pros:

• It will certainly help me lose weight because I will be able to see the impacts of my snacking habits visually
• It will encourage me to take move around more (i.e. take Bailey on more walks, start running, walk to class)

My Cons:

• Wearing it on my arm will most likely not be the season's best fashion statement when wearing anything without sleeves
• It will set me back $175.

I am anxious to hear some opinions! Thanks in advance :)

Finding balance

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance, rhythm and harmony."  -Thomas Merton


...So true!  
Recently I have realized that I have felt a bit off due to a crazy, inconsistent schedule and no desire to get back into my workout groove.  As I decided to jump back on my Wii Fit this morning, I realized I have gained 10 lbs since before the cruise in March!  WOW!  Prior to the cruise, I was super busy with school but I was still eating right and working out, in some form or fashion, daily.  This lifestyle brought me down 13 pounds and even below my "ideal weight" of 130! Now I am back up a whopping +7 up from my ideal weight and I am feeling quite worthless!  Let me interject with, it is not about the weight anymore for me.  It is about feeling great and being healthy, and to get there I need to find some BALANCE with...

• eating right
• exercise
• quality time with family and friends
• spiritual life
• finances

Now, how I am going to do that?

Eating right will be a piece of cake granola bar.  I know what to do, I just have to start making wise choices, again.

Exercise is something I have to make time for.  It is not that I don't have the time, I just don't think about making the time.  Therefore, I am going to start writing my workouts in my planner so I will think of it more as a "must do" opposed to an "uh, I'd rather lay on the couch and watch Hoarders." 

Quality time is something that I think I have under control. But when you think about it, Is it really quality time when you are sitting on the couch watching a movie and not talking to each other? Maybe to some, but take a peak at The 5 love languages-- truly life changing. 

Spiritual life is something that I used to make a lot of time for, but my church going and bible reading has dramatically decreased over the college years.  I have made small steps to going to church more often, reading devotions nightly with Clint and reading The Shack.  Tonight I will make another small step in attending a bible study group!

Finances..YUCK! Hate dealing with finances and quite frankly I am not as great at saving money as I think I am.  I have recently taken up coupon cutting which has been helpful, but I still have a long way to go.  In my defense, it is pretty difficult to save when in graduate school and can only hold a part time job, but still have those lovely bills coming in each month.  

With a little dedication and a lot of encouragement I might actually be able to pull this off.  After all, you only live once! 

Lazy Dazy

Even Bailey partook in our wonderful weekend of relaxation.

Usually the best weekends always go by so quickly.  Fortunately, this long weekend has been packed full of good quality time and lots of laughter.  Clint and I were able to do the usual errand running and playing with Bailey, but also got to spend some time with his handsome, 1 week old nephew.  I never thought watching a sleeping baby squirm and change expressions could be so entertaining!  I am truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people.

back on track...

My first year of graduate school is over!! Well, technically. Here is what has been going on....

*We got a sweet 1 week break and now we are back to the grind.  My lovely professors have decided to fit a 16-week course in 11-weeks, so from here until July 29th I will be sitting through 3-6 hours of classes and doing school work (how preposterous!).  
*I have fun summer plans set up, like tons of weddings and looking forward to playing with baby Jackson!  I am also looking forward to mine and Clint's 2 year anniversary (July 3rd) and yes, I have already begun bouncing around ideas :) Living almost two hours away from one another I welcome any chance I can get to plan a fun weekend for the two of us.  
*I have taken a job with the Autism Society of North Carolina!  I will be working a lot, but it will be great practice for the OT world...and I will hopefully not be so dang broke all the time.  
*I found a church I really like in Greenville, Eastern Pines Church of Christ. I met some of the members while doing some OT work in the community and thought I would give it a try. It feels nice to finally to have found a place to worship in Greenville since my home church is still in Wilson.  
...Amongst the already set plans, I will also be trying to 1) get back to working out 2) helping Clint find a place to move in August (a whole other post in its entirety) and 3) work on saving up for the future. After all, if I serious about wanting to ever buy a house or get married I need to have some way to pay for it!   

So close!!

I figured I was in need of (though not deserved) a study break and blogging is always such a wonderful way to procrastinate :) I had the  most fabulous weekend with the boyfriend and wish I could replay it all over again instead of studying for 6 finals..BLAH.  I had the privilege of having Clint in Greenville all day Friday and Saturday which is incredibly rare between his work, my school and our 20 million other events going on.  We were able to spend Friday afternoon at the pool, grab a late lunch at a Tavola, made a glorious crock-pot dinner (which I love the combination of 5% work and 100% yummy), and actually made it out to meet some friends!! Saturday we made it back to the pool where Clint managed to look like , spend the late afternoon napping (Clint) and studying (me), and had a romantic date night filled with Olive Garden, the movie Date Night (HILARIOUS!!!), and my oh so favorite Lo Yo!!  Now honestly, could this weekend have been any better?!? Do take note that Bailey was sadly left out of many of the weekend activities due to her need to recoop from her mean ol' parents getting her spayed.  No worries, she is doing fantastic...although she looks a little bored with all my studying as well...

Ah-Ah-Ahhh*CHOO* -lergies

I.hate. allergies! This year they are almost debilitating! I am constantly sneezing, blowing my noise, and putting eye drops in my eyes.  As I sit here in my gym clothes, I am dreading the feeling of running with a stuffy head.  Not to mention my asthma (I know, I am a walking disaster).  My darling Clint bought me a neti pot...and at first I was as skeptical as Oprah looks here. I will say that it helped me to sleep last night so maybe I should stick with it!!  




As a side note, I will have to put aside my misery so I can take care of beautiful little puppy tonight.  She is currently at the dreaded vet getting spayed and will need a lot of love and cuddles!

L-I-F-E

As the semester draws to a close I seem to begin running on auto-pilot.  My planner is filled with too many things to get accomplished and way too little time. I (already being the chronic planner) block out my entire day in effort to get all of my work and other essential.  The stress of 6 exams in 4 days is looming over my head doing nothing but increasing my cortisol levels.  Of course, this becomes a never ending cycle....stress and constant studying leads to high corisol and constant eating leads to getting fat and unhealthy leads to unhappy and miserable.  So, why do it to myself? In the end, my health and my sanity must prevail.  I am vowing to look at what is important in life during this "stress mess."  In a time where I should be cooped up under my books, I am going to break out of my apartment and go for a run.  I am going take breaks and play with my beautiful Bailey.  I am going to relax and enjoy the moments I get with family and friends.  I am going to get through exams stress free.  It may be easier said than done, but... "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans” (-John Lennon) so I am choosing life.  

So much for saving....

Note to self: Never assume that you are in control, of ANYTHING.  


I have been busting my butt to find ways to save a penny here, a penny there so that survival on a graduate school budget would be possible.  HA!!! Clint was coming into town on Friday so I thought I would take some time Thursday night to clean and do some laundry. I began with the comforter...MISTAKE!  Apparently my comforter was too big for the washer (who thought a grad student could be so dumb?), so not only did the comforter not get washed....I had to take it out, rinse it out in the bathtub, wring it out, try to throw it in the dryer (MISTAKE 2) and ended up drying it out on the balcony.  Meanwhile I am having to clean up a leaking washing machine.  I tried to do a smaller load to see if it would work...(MISTAKE 3).  I ended up wringing out all of the clothes one by one and scooping all the water out of the drum with a cup.
Come to find out, fixing the 11 year old, hand-me-down washer was not worth it...so $600 later I have....

 I am trying to remain optimistic about being dreadfully in debt now and even more so looking forward to my prosperous OT future...December 2011, where are you?!  

So if anyone knows of a good part-time job in Greenville, send it my way! :) 

  

AMAZING low-fat recipes!

In my recent battle to get my on the wagon I have been searching for some healthy, but delicious recipes...and I think I may have found the solution! Skinny Taste is a website that has weight watcher recipes that really look great! This site may deter me from getting all the work I want to get done tonight, but I assure you that Clint and I will be trying out some of these dishes this weekend! 

Darn that wagon!

It is that time again to get back on that proverbial weight loss wagon.  Pre-cruise I was super motivated to eat right and get in shape so that I would be happy with how I looked in my bikini.  I started eating very healthy with the help of Biggest Loser, Simple Swaps (which I highly recommend), watching my portion sizes, and working out with Jillian on Biggest Loser Wii Fit.  Miraculously I lost 10 pounds and felt amazing for the first time since I can remember! Now I can feel myself slinking back into old habits and need a wake up call!  My biggest problem is buying healthy foods on a grad school budget...Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


So this month's goal is to be a chronic coupon clipper, making those healthy meals, and working out with no excuses!  Hopefully I can get the little fluff ball to take up running to maximize my success :)  


 As a side note, I had to throw in Bailey's newest glamor shot.  Poor girl, she must hate us by now!

 

Why the name?

I figured it might be time to explain why I named my blog "Building my yellow brick road."  

A) If you know me at all, you know that I am overly obsessed with the Wizard of Oz.  It has been my favorite movie since I could say "rewind," which I often asked my mother to do for me so I could watch it over and over again.  I have built a pretty impressive collection of Oz paraphernalia over the years and yes, have even met 3 different munchkins (I know, kinda creepy)!  My latest Oz adventure will be going to see Wicked at DPAC in a few weeks thanks to Clint's wonderful mother who bought us all tickets! 

B) I wanted to come up with something personal to me and the changes that have been going on in my life in the past year.  It was about this time last year when I was finding out that I would be moving to a new city for graduate school which would be at least 2 hours away from Clint and all of my friends.  I was also embarking on the path to my career as an OT and learning the ropes of truly being on my own.  In essence, I was starting a new chapter in my life and I was beginning to realize it for the first time.  No more undergrad comfort zone with the sorority house of home cooked meals...I had moved on to coupon cutting, getting in bed at 10pm, and needing my morning coffee to make it through the day. Soooo....there you have it.  


"Building MY Yellow Brick Road" encompasses how I feel about finding all the pieces of this new chapter of my life and how they fit together... one brick at at time.  I am both excited and anxious about where my yellow brick road will lead and I look forward to sharing that journey with you.  

Spring, Sprang, Sprung!

Don't you love when it truly starts to feel like Spring again?! I knew that I had to fully take advantage of the beautiful weather today and Bailey was coming with.  Luckily she didn't mind too much since she got a treat at Wachovia AND at PetSmart! Guess it pays off to be cute, huh? She also had to tag along to Goodwill so I treated her with an outing to the dog park! It was her 1st time at this park and her 4th time overall and she had a freakin blast! 

Well, at first not so much....  

Bailey likes to hide under the bench when she gets scared at the dog park, but this one just happened to have a huge hole in the ground!

By the end of the hour she was looking more like this...

I was so proud of her, and most importantly she currently looks like this....

which means I will get a fully uninterrupted night of zzz's!

Since Bailey got her exercise I figured I would come home and go for a run myself to take in some more of the beautiful day.  Hoping for more of these days....especially since I will be enjoying Easter at the beach with my family :)

Rain to SHINE

Wow, what a productive Monday! Usually that is a huge oxymoron but somehow I the little engine that could deep down inside pulled out a victory!  I woke up this morning to bright flashes of lightning, bangs of thunder, and a wide-eyed little puppy.  I drudged out in the pouring rain to avoid a puppy made puddle in my apartment and just ended up with a sopping wet Bailey (and Brittni, actually).  So, lightbulb...since she is already wet, what a perfect time for a bath!! (check!).  After class the sun was shining and apparently motivated me to get my booty to work! I actually made it to the gym, took the puppy for a walk, and made it to Harris Teeter...where I saved $20 with coupons! THEN, (drum roll please)...I organized my bedroom and closet, dusted, cleaned the bathroom, and gathered up a bag of clothes for Goodwill!  I even managed to get in a little school work and Dancing with the Stars (GO KATE!).  I'm patting myself on the back for a job well done.  Maybe Monday's aren't so bad after all?!

Crusin' away from reality

So Clint and I booked a cruise back in November to Key West and Cozumel (Carnival Imagination) for my Spring Break at the beginning of March.  I was super excited, but never in a million years would have guessed how highly needed this cruise would actually be.  The week before we left I had 5 midterms...yes 5!! It was utterly miserable and I was so ready for a week without school work! I was also ready for a week with my wonderful boyfriend, since we had not been able to spend any 1-on-1 time with each other in a looooonggg while.  With him living in CH and me living in Greenville, not to mention our busy, busy schedules, we usually only get a day or two together a week....so a full week was going to be AMAZING! The sad part of the cruise was having to leave our little baby for the first time, but she was in great hands (with Clint's family) and loved her mini-vacay as well.  

The actual cruise was fantastic and flew by way to fast.  We were able to lay by the pool, sip on fruity cocktails, drink on Duval St. in Key West, sun bathe in Cozumel, eat yummy food, and most importantly spend time with each other!  I must also say, I am even more in love having had a whole week with Clint and cannot wait to plan our next getaway :) 

Kinda hard to see....Clint and I dancing during formal dinner

@ Margaritaville! 

Formal dinner night....we love our food!

@ Playa Mia in Cozumel

Catching back up

So it has been a while since my last post, which is surely due to my preoccupation with my NEW PUPPY :) My boyfriend Clint and I bought an adorable border collie mix puppy in the beginning of February.  Her name is Bailey and she has brought so much joy into our lives! We bought her from an organization called Mustard Sandwich, which I must admit I was a bit skeptical at first.  The 2 hour drive to pick her up felt like 2 days and I was so excited when I finally got to hold the little fluff ball for the first time!  Her story is that her original owners abandoned her and her 5 brothers and sisters when they were born so this organization took her and her siblings in.  She is such an amazing puppy, and although there have been a few frustrating, sleepless nights...it has all been worth it.  Here is a picture of her when I brought her home at 10 weeks. 

Now she is a 4 month old "big girl" and is getting into everything.  She sleeps through the night, is fully potty trained (thank goodness!!), and loves to play! She is still a little timid of people, but LOVES her some dog park! 

In her short 4 months of life she has posed for at least 1000 pictures so there will be many more to come! 

More updates to come soon on grad school, the diet, and the cruise to Key West and Cozumel with my charming boyfriend :) 

Moving day....again!

Well, yesterday was moving day...again!!! Since I was 18 I have moved from a dorm to a sorority house, to an apartment, to a house (break in 2X), to another crappy apartment, to a sub-leased room in a house, to a NEW town a new house (break-in again), now FINALLY to a nice apartment where I am keeping my fingers crossed I will be for the next year a half.  I am getting to be a professional at this whole packing, unpacking thing now so at least it went pretty smoothly! I was lucky enough to have my wonderful boyfriend come to town to help me move all of my belongings...which trust me...was A LOT! I am amazed how much a person can accumulate in 22 years.  Lord help me when I have a husband and children and then the junk quadruples! After 7 hours of actual moving the goods from place A to place B we were able to take a breath to eat and sit down. I was also very fortunate to have my mom and grandma  here to help me get stuff organized, put away, and my grandpa to help me get the curtains hung, pictures on the wall, etc. Still have a bit of a way to go until it is how I want it, but its coming together!!