changing targets

So much for graduate school just having it out for the blog ... it is going straight to the source and trying to do me in!

Graduate school is trying to kill me ... it may even be winning. On Tuesday I was convinced that I was going to either quit or die trying to do all my reading and writing.

Perhaps the family would chip in and build a mini-chapel
to me that would look like this:


Paris, France


Mmmm, probably not ... its a bit too fancy. How about a headstone like this
(minus the WILSON on the bottom):

Harrisonburg, Virginia



Perhaps that one is too masculine ... maybe something with flowers - in stone so they don't have to bring real ones (I know how those Johnson's are):

Harrisonburg, Virginia



Lets be honest, most likely my headstone would look like one of these:

Annapolis, Maryland


Either way, the inscription would read:

Insufficient consumption rate of written information.

Death by tome ... gee, that's neat.

The hardest thing about graduate school so far is that a lot of the reading is actually very very interesting and engaging ... its just so much for me to handle in a small amount of time. I feel like I don't have time to actually think about what I am reading because I am too busy trying to consume all the material.

Sigh. I will get through it and grow and learn and stuff like that. Wish me luck ... only 9 more weeks to go.

Utah Trip - August 2007

As I am about to embark on a new adventure - school - I want to take the time to reflect on the past summer. After quitting my first real job (two years is a good effort, I think) and moving from DC, I was able to be on vacation for about a month in California before I moved to Oregon. I wrote here, here, here and here - just to remind you of a few. But I left out lots of stuff, so here it is!

August:

My trip to Utah to see my brother and his family was fantastic. Of course, I only have pictures of his children. They are sooo cute!

Terrick (or T as we call him) ... bluest eyes ever! And white blond hair ... I just love it.
He wants to be big like his brothers sooo badly. I wanted to steal him away in my suitcase.

Cameron (or Cam) and a dinosaur ... he likes dinosaurs and he picked out this alligator shirt to wear to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

Mikyla (or Kyla) ... sings songs to spell her name, always wears dresses, often says the phrases: "that's perfect" and "isn't it beautiful?"
She is a girlie-girl, despite the fact that she has three brothers!

Classic picture ... couldn't help but take it. Hunter is in the orange shirt on the right - he's the oldest ... such a cute little boy that is a great big brother most of the time - especially early in the morning when he is telling Cameron and Mikyla to play quiet because Aunt B is still sleeping in the next room.

My friends Sarah and Jon Bush's baby Jonah ... so cute!
It is crazy how much he looks like his dad!

Sarah Bush and baby Jonah ... I can't believe we met our freshman year in college and now she is married and has a baby! Crazy how time flies. It was so great to see these two and eat at Cafe Rio ... it had been over 2 years since I had been back to Provo!

school is trying to kill the blog ... but I am fighting it

Apparently school is bad for my blogging health. Technically classes haven't even started and I already can't find the time, brain power, or desire to blog. This is serious people ... I love blogging and want to continue to love blogging. Sigh. I plan to dedicated tonight to some serious attempts to chronicle my last few weeks ... pictures and all.

Check back tomorrow ... I hope to have something new here.

Little Red Corvette

Ok, not exactly … but this is my little red corvette:

So while my apartment screams poor grad. student ... my new car winks and says: "How you doin?"



Isn’t it adorable?! I love it. I can’t stop smiling, I like it so much. The XD was a great choice for me. I have already laid down the 60/40 rear splitting back seats to fit in the laundry and trash bins, as well as furniture and organizational bins. It is tons of fun to drive and the coolest feature is the direct connection for my ipod! The pioneer stereo (it comes standard) allows you to scroll through the music on your ipod with the stereo controls … AMAZING. Seriously it’s the best new car a girl could have. It’s a little bigger than just a regular four door … but still small. Its spunky and fun and well … just look at it!




For the record … all my clothes were packed in boxes and this was the only clean shirt I had … so I had to break my own rule of never wearing clothes that make you look like a tree. We also had spent the entire day flying, driving, loading and unloading boxes and suitcases, moving those boxes and suitcases up two flights of stairs, trying to fit a full size bed (which I got for $40, thank you very much) in the back of a mini-van and then driving across town and taking it out again … so that is why I look the way I do.

To check out the 360 degree view of my new car ... click here ... although its not red like mine.

Inspecting the trunk and checking out all the cool features and compartments.

Rear view ... literally.

Self portrait with my new car .... what should I name her?

my apartment says it all ... I am a poor graduate student

I am here. I made the journey, as well as all my things. I have a lot of stuff and yet I still had to buy more – how is that possible? Well, it is. You have to buy cleaning supplies, dishes, organizing things, hangers, laundry and waste baskets, lamps, all furniture (bed, dresser, bookcase, desk, chairs, etc, etc, etc) and school supplies too! So I didn’t see my apartment before I moved in … I saw a few pictures, I thought had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into. And I did. But you know how thinking about something and then experiencing it for real is different? That’s what happened when I first opened the door. I little bit of sadness crept in. It’s very basic, very old (not in a good way), and very college living. It’s hard to go backwards. Just when you are finally getting nice things and living in nice places … you go back to school … and back to the little apartment with bad fixtures and ugly carpet. I kept repeating to myself … its ok, you are a poor student now, you are poor, you have no money, you are a student. Sigh. Little things about college living I forgot about or never experienced in my undergrad … like the idea that dishwashers aren’t standard. Doesn’t every apartment come with brand new stainless steel appliance? Just kidding, just kidding. But its hard to go from being the first people living in a brand new building and a new apartment back to college apartments.

This is the before shot of my roomies empty bedroom (since I forgot to take one of mine ... its the same but the window size and placement is a bit different ... but you get the idea):



This was my dilemma when I got here. Since I was the first to move in, I got my pick of the rooms (three of them). The two in the back had shorter, but longer windows than the front room and are thus much brighter. The front bedroom however has a larger closet. While the sunlight is something I am very very concerned about here in Oregon and the front room's window faces out to the front doors and thus the noise/wandering eyes of neighbors ... I didn't really have a choice. I needed the bigger closet. So it is darker and noisier, but all my clothes fit. Yes, my priorities are called into question with this decision.

I will post pictures of the final product - aka: my decorated room in a week (after I go on my field study to Northern Idaho). In the next few days I hope to do a little catch up and post about the last month's activities ... pictures and all.

again, about mandy moore

I just watched Chasing Liberty ... great, even if typical, Mandy Moore movie. However ... contrary to the popular belief that she sings in every movie she is in, she does not have a song nor does she sing in any scene of this movie. The way her character is written is not my favorite ... she has some really bad lines through out the movie ... really her character is just stupid sometimes, but its Mandy and thus I get over it. The rest of the cast is great also - some attractive no-name British guy is the love interest that she gets to lock lips with, Jeremy Pivon is her secret service tag-along, and Mark Harmon is her dad/President of the United States (oh, did I forget to mention that she is the first daughter? well she is). Also - the Roots preform at a concert in it AND she is gallivanting all across Europe in the movie ... it would be pretty fabulous to be Mandy Moore.

hot, hot, heat

Power outage in the OC ... whatever will we do? You see it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't still 100 degrees at 6 pm. I am melting ... ahhhhh. So the folks and I went to the pool. It was lukewarm but nice enough. We stayed until my fingers and toes were all prune-like. That is when you know its time to get out.

Its my last night in the OC until November or December and its hotter than Hades. Kind of makes me happy to move to the Pacific Northwest and embrace the rain ... hahaha ... yeah right. I just gotta keep reminding myself of this deathly heat come November. Oh yeah, did I mention I have to wake up at 4:15 in order to catch my plane ... yeah ... good times.

Peace-out OC vacation life ... its been good while it lasted. Pictures from the past month to be posted when I get a wireless network for my lap top set up. Be excited. Be very excited.