Listening to- Eisley: Combinations, Adele: 19
It's been a most excellent week for me! Monday was it's normal monotony, but the rest of the week has been rather enjoyable!
Tuesday- I had my first golf lesson from my sweet hubs-to-be! I will confess that I thought it was a particularly ridiculous "sport" before then, but I am absolutely hooked! It's exactly the arm and ab workout I've been seeking for some time!
Wednesday- We had no customers whatsoever in the gallery, which I know I should consider a bad thing, but I was kind of nice to get to just hang out and do nothing when I'm normally pretty busy! Afterwards, I tried to rescue a dog but it said no...
Thursday- snow day! Grady was off work and we got to chill and cuddle all afternoon and evening! He was subjected to an evening of Gilmore Girls, but we did get quite a bit of My Name is Earl in there first :) We tried again to save the dog, twice. I was straight up rejected once again, then the dog had been caught the second time around. Thank goodness someone was able to successfully get the poor yellow lab out of the snow!
Friday- should have been a snow day, but it was AiD's presidents day... Either way, I got almost the entire apartment clean! I still need to do some clothing-putting-away (my least enjoyable task...) and a bit of vacuuming and then the entire place will be spotless!
Today has been a most eventful day so far: we went and bought Bo and Geri, our African dwarf frogs, a new tank so we can better care for them. Of course moving live animals from one home environment to another always seems to be shenanigans when I'm involved. Bo found his way into our sink and then the drain and we thought Geri had been crushed by the shifting gravel... You'll all be glad to hear that I successfully fit my hand into the drain, rapidly got over how surprisingly ticklish I find frogs in my palm to be, and transported Bo into his new home. Geri was just being a punk and they are both happily swimming around in the clean water!
And now I'm caramelizing a crap ton of onions (four large ones) for some French Onion Soup! I am absurdly excited get to use my French Onion Soup bowls for the first time ever! And we discovered a new favorite wine: the recipe calls for a red wine and being "adventurous" with our selection, we went with the 3 Blind Moose Cabernet Sauvignon. Don't ask why; we wouldn't be able to say. I know, I know- label loving is frowned upon, but I find our random selections are our winners more often than not. Anyways, after a sampling of, I have concluded that it is delicious. That's saying a lot coming from me- a white wine wussy who can only handle reds when paired well! It's really smooth with notes of cherry and just a hint of smokey-oakiness. I love it!
Once I get my happily caramelized and drunken onions over to the crock-pot (don't judge me) to hang out in beef broth and herbs for the remainder of the day, I think I'm going finish the aforementioned chores, maybe rearrange the living room and then spend what's left of the day to embark in a a pamper-me afternoon of bathing, lounging, and reading, glass of wine in hand!
I would highly recommend you all do the same. :)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Well, Hello February!
Listening to- A Fine Frenzy: One Cell in the Sea, Priscilla Ahn: A Good Day, and the washing machine a room away
Watching- Iron Chef America, practically muted
Working on- wedding stuffs and gifts
Current Countdowns-
48 days to graduation
231 days to our wedding!
72 work hours to externship completion (at 18-19 hours a week, that should be just under 4 more weeks)
As of today, Grady and I have nailed down a date (September 25, 2010), a ceremony location (the sanctuary of Custer Road UMC), and now our reception site (The Tribute Golf Club). Colors, flowers, cake baker, dj, and favors all pretty solidly selected.
This frees up our Tuesday afternoons for new activities: I have a agreed to learn to golf and Grady is pretty ridiculously excited to teach me! I'm sure hilarity is what we have to look forward to.
*Ammendment 1 (February 7, 2010):
(Listening to-Eisley: Combinations. Watching- Ace of Cakes marathon [don't judge me- they have an interesting creativity even if they don't really make cakes]. Working on- honeymoon location picks to give to the Prices.)
It seems that the wedding plans are coming together in ways better than I could have imagined, all in this weekend! We have a couple of friends from church that are wanting to offer their help and services to make my life easier which is more than welcome!
First: A friend has offered an amazing photography package with more services included and a much better cost than I have found with absolutely anyone else around!
Second: A botanist friend has offered to grow our sunflowers for us to ensure the type, quantity, and quality that we are expecting for our wedding! That cuts out the cost of a florist while eliminating the anxiety of hoping a grocery store will have what we need available on September 25.
Third: While in the church's wedding meeting, I got to hang with a friend (whom I have desperately missed) and her family. Her mother offered to throw me a wedding shower! So sweet!
My most sincere apologies if you don't care about the wedding details, because this looks like its rapidly morphing into a wedding blog! I like this venue better than annoying everyone with constant wedding updates on Facebook. :)
Watching- Iron Chef America, practically muted
Working on- wedding stuffs and gifts
Current Countdowns-
48 days to graduation
231 days to our wedding!
72 work hours to externship completion (at 18-19 hours a week, that should be just under 4 more weeks)
As of today, Grady and I have nailed down a date (September 25, 2010), a ceremony location (the sanctuary of Custer Road UMC), and now our reception site (The Tribute Golf Club). Colors, flowers, cake baker, dj, and favors all pretty solidly selected.
This frees up our Tuesday afternoons for new activities: I have a agreed to learn to golf and Grady is pretty ridiculously excited to teach me! I'm sure hilarity is what we have to look forward to.
*Ammendment 1 (February 7, 2010):
(Listening to-Eisley: Combinations. Watching- Ace of Cakes marathon [don't judge me- they have an interesting creativity even if they don't really make cakes]. Working on- honeymoon location picks to give to the Prices.)
It seems that the wedding plans are coming together in ways better than I could have imagined, all in this weekend! We have a couple of friends from church that are wanting to offer their help and services to make my life easier which is more than welcome!
First: A friend has offered an amazing photography package with more services included and a much better cost than I have found with absolutely anyone else around!
Second: A botanist friend has offered to grow our sunflowers for us to ensure the type, quantity, and quality that we are expecting for our wedding! That cuts out the cost of a florist while eliminating the anxiety of hoping a grocery store will have what we need available on September 25.
Third: While in the church's wedding meeting, I got to hang with a friend (whom I have desperately missed) and her family. Her mother offered to throw me a wedding shower! So sweet!
My most sincere apologies if you don't care about the wedding details, because this looks like its rapidly morphing into a wedding blog! I like this venue better than annoying everyone with constant wedding updates on Facebook. :)
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Hard Times, My Friends
Last Friday, when I first got the news that a friend of mine passed away, I felt like perhaps I was going to be a bit alienated from the whole grief process; he and I had never been extremely close and to be honest, we hadn't spoken in three years or so. I'm not quite sure why I thought that would exempt me from the hurt of this situation.
We might not have been bffs or anything, but we still have memories together. Most of all, I have known his family for the same 10 or so years and have a great deal of love and respect for them, specifically his parents. Since I moved home a year ago, they have offered unexplainable amounts of support and love. That's where the vast majority of my grief has been directed: my heart breaks for these parents who have had to experience the kind of tragedy no one should.
Addiction took my friend away. Made him into a person he didn't even realize he was. Addiction has brought a whole world of hurt down on people who never could have deserved it. Brought scars into the memories, jaded us all forever.
In the last day or so, I find that my grief is moving towards deep sadness for the girlfriend he left behind. In my mind, I keep putting myself in her place and can't keep from crying every time. I know how very much I love Grady, how wonderful everything is in our little world, how we love to talk of things yet to come; they had a past, a present, and plans for a future, but none of those dreams and expectations will ever be fulfilled.
The Lord is sovereign. The Lord is sovereign...
We might not have been bffs or anything, but we still have memories together. Most of all, I have known his family for the same 10 or so years and have a great deal of love and respect for them, specifically his parents. Since I moved home a year ago, they have offered unexplainable amounts of support and love. That's where the vast majority of my grief has been directed: my heart breaks for these parents who have had to experience the kind of tragedy no one should.
Addiction took my friend away. Made him into a person he didn't even realize he was. Addiction has brought a whole world of hurt down on people who never could have deserved it. Brought scars into the memories, jaded us all forever.
In the last day or so, I find that my grief is moving towards deep sadness for the girlfriend he left behind. In my mind, I keep putting myself in her place and can't keep from crying every time. I know how very much I love Grady, how wonderful everything is in our little world, how we love to talk of things yet to come; they had a past, a present, and plans for a future, but none of those dreams and expectations will ever be fulfilled.
The Lord is sovereign. The Lord is sovereign...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Everything Keeps Changing
and that's a very good thing.
Since the last post, the mister has moved out of Waco and into the new apartment! It's really nice and that's pretty much where I am if I'm not at school, work, or church. Grady's gotten through almost all of his training at Allen PD--he's only still working on the police radio because the woman now in charge of training him has a whole arsenal of excuses for not doing so... That aside, the whole job thing is going well for him, which makes us both happy! He's currently working night shift, 10pm-6am, and that's been a little weird but mostly amusing in conversation and meal decisions. When I'm wanting some dinner, Grady is waking up and wanting breakfast; when he leaves work at 6am, all he wants is dinner but IHOP and Denny's aside, there are few/no places serving anything besides breakfast exclusively. Regardless, this schedule works well enough for us because he sleeps while I'm in school or doing homework mostly and our "free time" (as if such a thing exists...) is available to be spent together!
In the same span of time, I have wrapped up a quarter and begun another. Everything from summer quarter turned out nicely with mostly A's and B's-- the only C was from my design class where the teacher refused to take a grade for the month's worth of homework that I had to do late because my dominant arm was in a sling... An issue to take to the dean? Yes. Do I have the time or energy to fight this battle? No. I came out of the quarter with a 3.1 so I'm still pleased. This quarter now is ridiculously insane, but the best challenge I've had in a long time! I am taking 18 credit hours (which translates to 24 in class hours) and working two jobs (Saxbys Coffee Barista and a Baking TA at school). At least the class load is filled with mostly fun classes! I'm taking Supervision and Career Development, Cost Control, Beverage Identification, Advanced Patisseries, and Chocolates, Confectioneries, and Centerpieces. I find it really forces me to stay on top of my homeworking, although I'd like to be ahead of my homeworking. Perhaps that's asking a bit much for now; hopefully this Friday (Oct 30), a randomly gifted day off of work, I will be able to bust out a lot of recipe cards and cost a most of my recipes for Cost Control.
With all of this craziness, you should know that I am the happiest girl in the world. No matter how tough a day has been or how frustrated/stressed I become, I know that there's only a half hour drive at most to get to the most fabulous and wonderful guy who will do practically anything to make me smile again. We finally get to do that couple's stuff that I've been waiting patiently (and some days impatiently) for for the past three years. We can take walks, watch movies or shows, read, work out, eat meals, take time to worship and praise God, play with our puppy! The last two and a half months have been wonderful. Face to face discussions and arguments so beat the over-the-phone ones. We've learned so much more about each other and grown as a couple in really great ways. Even when I'm not happy, I'm happier than I've ever been before.
Since the last post, the mister has moved out of Waco and into the new apartment! It's really nice and that's pretty much where I am if I'm not at school, work, or church. Grady's gotten through almost all of his training at Allen PD--he's only still working on the police radio because the woman now in charge of training him has a whole arsenal of excuses for not doing so... That aside, the whole job thing is going well for him, which makes us both happy! He's currently working night shift, 10pm-6am, and that's been a little weird but mostly amusing in conversation and meal decisions. When I'm wanting some dinner, Grady is waking up and wanting breakfast; when he leaves work at 6am, all he wants is dinner but IHOP and Denny's aside, there are few/no places serving anything besides breakfast exclusively. Regardless, this schedule works well enough for us because he sleeps while I'm in school or doing homework mostly and our "free time" (as if such a thing exists...) is available to be spent together!
In the same span of time, I have wrapped up a quarter and begun another. Everything from summer quarter turned out nicely with mostly A's and B's-- the only C was from my design class where the teacher refused to take a grade for the month's worth of homework that I had to do late because my dominant arm was in a sling... An issue to take to the dean? Yes. Do I have the time or energy to fight this battle? No. I came out of the quarter with a 3.1 so I'm still pleased. This quarter now is ridiculously insane, but the best challenge I've had in a long time! I am taking 18 credit hours (which translates to 24 in class hours) and working two jobs (Saxbys Coffee Barista and a Baking TA at school). At least the class load is filled with mostly fun classes! I'm taking Supervision and Career Development, Cost Control, Beverage Identification, Advanced Patisseries, and Chocolates, Confectioneries, and Centerpieces. I find it really forces me to stay on top of my homeworking, although I'd like to be ahead of my homeworking. Perhaps that's asking a bit much for now; hopefully this Friday (Oct 30), a randomly gifted day off of work, I will be able to bust out a lot of recipe cards and cost a most of my recipes for Cost Control.
With all of this craziness, you should know that I am the happiest girl in the world. No matter how tough a day has been or how frustrated/stressed I become, I know that there's only a half hour drive at most to get to the most fabulous and wonderful guy who will do practically anything to make me smile again. We finally get to do that couple's stuff that I've been waiting patiently (and some days impatiently) for for the past three years. We can take walks, watch movies or shows, read, work out, eat meals, take time to worship and praise God, play with our puppy! The last two and a half months have been wonderful. Face to face discussions and arguments so beat the over-the-phone ones. We've learned so much more about each other and grown as a couple in really great ways. Even when I'm not happy, I'm happier than I've ever been before.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Whoo Who!
I only have one week left in the long distance portion of my relationship!
Grady got the job with Allen PD and starts work on Monday, August 24th. His last day of work in Waco will be Thursday, August 20th; Grady's father, brother, and I are driving down to Waco frickin' early on Friday, August 21st to get all of the furniture and whatnot out of Grady's current apartment and move him up here! He'll have to live with his 'rents for a week seeing as his new apartment won't be ready for move in until the 29th.
Wanna see where Grady's going to be living? Times Square is mighty pretty; read a bit and have fun! He'll be in a one bedroom A9 plan, which isn't listed on the web page, but it's the same layout as the A6, but 830-something sqft instead of 787 sqft. We also negotiated the same price for the A9 as he would have gotten for the A6. :) He'll be on the fifth floor (and there are elevators)!
I am absolutely in love with his bathroom-to-be; I have honestly never seen a bathroom this big or nice in any apartment ever! I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as we have him moved in!
I'm just so excited to not have to say goodbye anymore. We're so used to being on our own all the time that I'm sure it's going to be incredibly weird being together all the time, but I look forward to driving him crazy, being driven crazy by him, having our first face-to-face fight, and learning how to deal with all of it! I'm more excited about sharing meals, making friends, hanging out, and more together however! People will stop thinking that I've fabricated an imaginary boyfriend :)
Grady got the job with Allen PD and starts work on Monday, August 24th. His last day of work in Waco will be Thursday, August 20th; Grady's father, brother, and I are driving down to Waco frickin' early on Friday, August 21st to get all of the furniture and whatnot out of Grady's current apartment and move him up here! He'll have to live with his 'rents for a week seeing as his new apartment won't be ready for move in until the 29th.
Wanna see where Grady's going to be living? Times Square is mighty pretty; read a bit and have fun! He'll be in a one bedroom A9 plan, which isn't listed on the web page, but it's the same layout as the A6, but 830-something sqft instead of 787 sqft. We also negotiated the same price for the A9 as he would have gotten for the A6. :) He'll be on the fifth floor (and there are elevators)!
I am absolutely in love with his bathroom-to-be; I have honestly never seen a bathroom this big or nice in any apartment ever! I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as we have him moved in!
I'm just so excited to not have to say goodbye anymore. We're so used to being on our own all the time that I'm sure it's going to be incredibly weird being together all the time, but I look forward to driving him crazy, being driven crazy by him, having our first face-to-face fight, and learning how to deal with all of it! I'm more excited about sharing meals, making friends, hanging out, and more together however! People will stop thinking that I've fabricated an imaginary boyfriend :)
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Life Looks Good
I have the best family ever, and that does include the Prices that have so lovingly taken me on as a daughter. It's been a challenging week, to say the least.
For those who don't know, I accidentally rode my bicycle into a park bench last Thursday (July 23) while out with Grady's parents, Ed and Sharon. I sprained my left shoulder (dominant hand, mind you) and needed stitches in my right pointer finger. I earnestly thank God for how lucky I was to not have smashed my head in or broken anything, not to mention for the care administered by Ed and Sharon.
I find it quite endearing actually- Sharon hopped on her bike and took off as fast as possible to get the truck to pick us up while Ed stayed with me, holding my finger together, telling me stories, and helping me calm down. Then the roles swapped- Ed rode his bike home, and Sharon drove me back to the house keeping me comfortable and happy, transferring me over to the car. Even after the trip to the hospital, their care was constant, getting me ice packs, finding me bandages, a sling, and neosporin. They even insisted on transporting me and my car over to my house-sitting job for the weekend. They are amazing people.
Then there's my parents and boyfriend (the latter driving up on his day off to take care of me) who all helped type my homework while I dictated my journals, vocabulary, recipe cards, and other task lists to them. There were even times where something else required my attention, and they would take turns reading and typing in my absence! Mom and Dad have waited on me hand and foot even though I haven't really required that much attention. And Grady probably takes on the most of it, even though he's only been physically with me for a day and a half of this week. I try to be strong and okay with everyone else, but he's had to put up with all of my crying, whining, and moaning. He even took my calls in the middle of the night a couple of times because I hurt too badly to sleep! He's the very best!
Class was entertaining. I was pretty useless... I was great for entertainment and photocopying. Oh and mixing dough starters by hand (literally (gloved, I promise)).
I am starting to feel better, especially with a good nights sleep which at this point is pretty much only on the Price's couch. It is the softest, squishiest, most comfortable couch in the world and I want it to be mine! It also helps that I've always slept on my back on this couch, whereas I'm a belly sleeper everywhere else. I'm thinking about moving back in for a few more days so I can actually sleep and maybe recover faster!
Completely separate from this saga, besides the fact that his name was mentioned, Grady has a panel interview on Tuesday morning for the City of Allen Police Department and a psych/polygraph test on Wednesday, all of which will determine his hiring status with them as a dispatcher. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer that he'll do well and get the job? Thanks :)
For those who don't know, I accidentally rode my bicycle into a park bench last Thursday (July 23) while out with Grady's parents, Ed and Sharon. I sprained my left shoulder (dominant hand, mind you) and needed stitches in my right pointer finger. I earnestly thank God for how lucky I was to not have smashed my head in or broken anything, not to mention for the care administered by Ed and Sharon.
I find it quite endearing actually- Sharon hopped on her bike and took off as fast as possible to get the truck to pick us up while Ed stayed with me, holding my finger together, telling me stories, and helping me calm down. Then the roles swapped- Ed rode his bike home, and Sharon drove me back to the house keeping me comfortable and happy, transferring me over to the car. Even after the trip to the hospital, their care was constant, getting me ice packs, finding me bandages, a sling, and neosporin. They even insisted on transporting me and my car over to my house-sitting job for the weekend. They are amazing people.
Then there's my parents and boyfriend (the latter driving up on his day off to take care of me) who all helped type my homework while I dictated my journals, vocabulary, recipe cards, and other task lists to them. There were even times where something else required my attention, and they would take turns reading and typing in my absence! Mom and Dad have waited on me hand and foot even though I haven't really required that much attention. And Grady probably takes on the most of it, even though he's only been physically with me for a day and a half of this week. I try to be strong and okay with everyone else, but he's had to put up with all of my crying, whining, and moaning. He even took my calls in the middle of the night a couple of times because I hurt too badly to sleep! He's the very best!
Class was entertaining. I was pretty useless... I was great for entertainment and photocopying. Oh and mixing dough starters by hand (literally (gloved, I promise)).
I am starting to feel better, especially with a good nights sleep which at this point is pretty much only on the Price's couch. It is the softest, squishiest, most comfortable couch in the world and I want it to be mine! It also helps that I've always slept on my back on this couch, whereas I'm a belly sleeper everywhere else. I'm thinking about moving back in for a few more days so I can actually sleep and maybe recover faster!
Completely separate from this saga, besides the fact that his name was mentioned, Grady has a panel interview on Tuesday morning for the City of Allen Police Department and a psych/polygraph test on Wednesday, all of which will determine his hiring status with them as a dispatcher. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer that he'll do well and get the job? Thanks :)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Quarter Four of Six (Fingers crossed)
Monday, the Summer 2009 quarter commenced at the Art Institute and that means vacation is a thing of the past, at least for the next ten weeks. If this week is accurately indicative of how the whole quarter will turn out, I think it'll be my most enjoyable term of all time. We'll just have to see! This term, I am taking fundamentals of design (an art/drawing class run through the fashion design department), oral communication (apparently the same course from Oklahoma doesn't count?), artisan breads (we play with yeast and flour all day), and European cakes and tortes! I think all shall be delightful! I have really great professors for each of my courses, so I anticipate a lot of learning and a lot of fun!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Kind of a Big Deal
I just got off the phone with Chef Nina Hunter, my pastries teacher. We were discussing this weeks work schedule since I'll be her TA for the first half of the week and personal assistant the second half; during this call she called me, and I quote, her "favorite student right now." I know it's not her "favorite student ever," but that would be asking a bit much anyways, don't you think?
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Count Down Update!
It's been a while- sorry! This quarter has been nuts! Lots of fun, but I've been crazy busy for a long while now! Fortunately through all of the insanity, the days have been passing, thus making my countdowns new and exciting numbers!
Grady and my third anniversary- 4 days
End of the quarter- 6 days
Visit DC with AJ and Tracy- 20 days
Start of the new quarter- 31 days
Christmas- 196 days
Graduation- 288 days
On the flip side, here are the rolling tallies:
Grady and I have been together for 1092
I've been alive for 7807 days
Grady and my third anniversary- 4 days
End of the quarter- 6 days
Visit DC with AJ and Tracy- 20 days
Start of the new quarter- 31 days
Christmas- 196 days
Graduation- 288 days
On the flip side, here are the rolling tallies:
Grady and I have been together for 1092
I've been alive for 7807 days
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