who knew?

I feel like I just stepped into the new age of technology (about 5 years late). I have been thinking for awhile that I would like to have a new laptop. After about 2 months of thinking and thinking about it, I finally went out and bought one. I found a laptop for half the price of the last laptop I purchased 5 or 6 years ago.

This laptop has a built-in webcam. I didn't even know that was an option. It was pretty reasonably priced, and since the wedding costs are pretty much taken care of, I don't feel too bad about buying one. My major reasoning for buying one now was that I need a reliable, fast-working portable means of studying. I get very distracted in the apartment, so I very rarely get more than 30 minutes of studying done at any one time. I envisioned myself studying in the library for hours at a time or sipping coffee at panera while typing up lesson plans and other projects that require some serious planning.

So far, I have used my new technology to take a picture of my new haircut. See?

I am actually sitting in Panera, sipping coffee. So I guess now would be an appropriate time to crack open the 10lb book about teaching little kids to read. Oh yeah, and study for the science extra credit quiz to make up for the one I bombed last week!

Mid semester

This past week I had 2 midterms. One midterm went beautifully and the other felt like a scary disaster. Taking 3 classes in my undergrad felt like a breeze, midterms were never particularly hard and life was so much different. Taking 3 classes in Grad school is a bigger undertaking than I ever expected!

Following midterms, the bulk of my major assignments are due. We have a lesson plan to write, present to a group of students, record on video said presentation and write a report on the lesson plan experience as a whole. On top of that, we had to conduct an extensive reading assessment on an emergent reader and write a report on that interview. Aside from these assignments, we have to write weekly journals based on the readings (100+ pages sometimes) each week. The journals take about 5 hours to complete, no exageration. These are just for one class!

For my other classes, I have to write 3 more lesson plans and take 2 finals. The other classes are less intense, but still need attention.

There was a time when I was really feeling spread too thin. I was subsitute teaching and working at Target, pulling doubles across the 2 jobs. Studying for midterms and preparing for papers. Taking piano lessons. Trying to plan a wedding. Trying to spend time with my fiance. Trying to fall asleep at night after long, mentally and physically exhausting days and feeling unsure as to whether I would be able to keep my head above the water.

Things have calmed down quite a bit, mostly because I was about to break. I bought a planner and got organized, cut back on substitute teaching only on days when I don't also have to work at Target, my last piano lesson is on Tuesday (sad), and I'm taking the wedding planning in manageable chunks. A little organization goes a long way! Of course, I am always behind on the laundry and the apartment is in a constant state of disarry. We always have clean underwear and food to eat, so something must be going right!

Mid semester means I am running down the homstretch. I can't allow the homework and busy schedule become a mountain that I am afraid to climb. One week at a time, keeping a weather eye on what's coming up, but celebrating the little gains. I can do this without losing it.

Done!

Regimental Commander

Astropath

Officer of the Fleet

And a Space Marine for Jenn*

Planning a Wedding

The initial "ohmygodisthisreallyhappeningtome" is slowly starting to become "ohmygodthisreallyishappening!" I had no idea there would be so much that goes into a wedding.
We have a LOT of details to figure out. Fortunately, Ryan is very patient and easy-going. He lets me talk my through my thoughts out loud and isn't set on anything in particular.
We have yet to decide if we are going to have the wedding in Jacksonville (where my big family is) or Gainesville (where lots of Ryan's family is and where we have spent the majority of our relationship). I always thought that a wedding was supposed to happen in the girl's hometown, but I guess that's a detail that's changed over time. I have found 3 or 4 locations in each place that are serious possibilities. We are planning to make some phone calls and schedule some tours within the next month or so. Picking the location seems to be a good starting point. We'll let the rest of the details flow after the location is settled on.

There are some details that I am set on, but so many more that I don't even know where to begin.
1. Should we get a videographer?
2. What should the centerpieces be?
3. Where/when will we go on a honeymoon?
4. How much can we do ourselves and how much do we pay to have things done for us? Invitations? Wedding favors?
5. What should the wedding favors be?
6. I have no idea what kind of wedding dress I want!

Help! If you have any tips or trick up your sleeves, please share them!

September 25, 2010 - Save the Date!

Ryan and I are ENGAGED! Despite the fact that I have been thinking about this nearly constantly for the last 4 or so years, it still feels wonderful and exciting. He picked the most beautiful and most perfect ring.

We have this running joke that if I go broke, he doesn't mind being my sugar daddy, he just won't fund my IRA. When he proposed, he said to me, "So, I was thinking that you know I am unwilling to fund your IRA, but I would be happy to fund our IRA." Then he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him! Of course the answer was yes and we had a little romantic moment as we basked in our new engagement.

We went out to dinner to celebrate. My phone has 6% battery life left in it because I have been on the phone for so long!

I am so in love with Ryan. He is everything in my life that makes me happy. When things are sad or happy or exciting or boring, I only want to share it with him. This engagement isn't just the necessary next step, it is simply what he and I are meant to do. We love one another, we share interests and we support each other's separate interests and hobbies. Our relationship is important to us and therefore we work at it every day to be sure that we continue to love and support each other.

In order to take the pictures, I had to invade Ryan's craft space because it has the best lighting situation for up close pictures. Since my fiancé is ever-obliging, he simply worked around me girly foolishness.

Here is the ring up close. So pretty!

And as a toll for borrowing the workspace, this is Space Marine standing with my newly ringed finger.

And here we are! Engaged! In love!

September 25, 2010 is the day that we hope to celebrate our wedding. So mark your calendars, people. It's going to be a sensational Saturday.

Ugh.

Today, we went to walmart to see if they had a game that was recently released. I very much try to avoid walmart at all costs, and not just because of where I work. Ryan' describes trips to walmart as completely depressing, and I am inclined to agree. One of the major things that bothers me is the fact that walmart cashiers are consistently resistent to the idea that I would like to make my purchase and walk away without getting a bag. We usually bring our reusable bags to publix and target, but when we forget, we never get any trouble for choosing not to use a bag. On one shopping trip to crapmart, one cashier actually got mad at us for not wanting a bag.

This trip we had 4 items, 2 cans of spray paint and 2 packages of Heroscape figures (toys), easily carried by two capable individuals without getting an unnecessary plastic bag. The cashier rudely informed us that "you can't just walk out of the store without this stuff and no bag, it'd be different if you had a package of gum but this is completely different." To which I replied, "Even with a receipt?" Crapmart cashier insisted, "No. I have to put it in a bag. You can recycle the bag at the door, but I can't let you walk away without a bag." The aforementioned recycling bin was inside of the store, so you'd have to empty your bag before you exited which means we would walk out of the store with products and no bag!" The situation mostly annoys me because I just don't get why the cashiers seem to take it personally that I choose not to waste plastic bags. It also wouldn't have been so bad if the cashier wasn't so rude about it. She was so angry that we didn't want a bag for our merchandise. So angry. I'm just going to have to start bringing my Target reusable bags each of the very few times that I shop at that store.

I'm just saying...

Far, far away

Wow. I didn't realize it has been so long since I last posted.

Since I got back from vacation, things have been kind of crazy. I'm taking 3 classes this semester which isn't terrible. It is taking quite a bit of effort to keep up with it all, though. Between working at Target, substitute teaching and going to class, I'm stretching myself a little thin. All of my classes require a substantial amount of reading and I'm proud to say that I have been keeping up pretty well.

Also since I got back from vacation, I have had this overwhelming feeling of isolation. I went from being in an RV surrounded by my mom, dad, sister, brother and sister-in-law to apartment living with just Ryan. Here in Panama City, we haven't really made any friends. There are people that I talk to at Target and maybe once in a blue moon I'll spend time with one of them outside of work. Literally, in actuality, I mean once on a blue moon night, I went to dinner and then shopping with a girl from work. I think we did that about 2 months ago.

We might not have gotten along perfectly well on the RV trip, but it was really nice and really fun to be surrounded by my family. I genuinely miss them all. Since moving out of my parents house waaaay back in 2002, I haven't really had that feeling sink in so deeply. Living in Gainesville meant that my family was only an hour and a half away. I never missed anyone's birthday and never worried about making it home for the holidays. Ryan's family was just around the corner and that meant more family and more fun. Panama City is only between 4 and 6 hours away from it all, but somehow that seems too far.

I missed my sister's birthday last week and it was pretty much heart-breaking to hear about how she had about 30 people (mostly family) came to her house to celebrate with her. I'm not even sure I'm going to make it home for Thanksgiving since I now work in retail. That is truly depressing.

I very much miss being close to family and friends.

Up...kind of a downer

Ryan and I took advantage of a common evening off by going to see the new Pixar movie "Up". It's about this old man who decides to use a million or so ballons to fly his house to South America. Only...the previews don't really mention that it's a rather depressing path that leads him to the whole house-flying decision. It is an animated film by a company who has a history of making excellent children's films, but Up isn't exactly along the same happy-go-lucky theme as, say, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Cars, etc.

I'm not going to say it was a bad movie and I won't give anything away, but I will say that it wasn't the happy fun date movie we had hoped for.

IN OTHER FANTASTIC NEWS! I splurged. I bought an iphone! I am in awe of all the wonderful things it can do and I've only discovered half of it. I had been planning on buying an itouch for several months now. I mentioned as much to my brother who promptly convinced me that an itouch was simply a iphone without the phone capabilities, and if I was planning on buying both a new phone and a new ipod by the end of the year I might as well get the iphone (I apologize for the run-on sentence). I thoought to myself, "I can never justify in my mind paying for a wildly expensive phone, breaking my current phone contract and paying ridiculous amounts for a data plan." Again, my brother directed me down the right path. Apparently, all I needed was to buy an iphone through craigslist on the cheap. Another problem arose at this point, living in a relatively small tourist town means that there are slim pickens on Craigslist. Jacksonville, however, has options galore. After a few calls, a quick trip to meet a guy with a phone and a fedex delivery (delayed by a holiday weekend), I am a proud owner of an iphone for a lower-than-market-average price!

And now I'm going to play with the fanciest gadget I have ever owned.