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!