Days of Inspiration

off to the big apple!

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:14:38 GMT

On the Chinatown bus, en route to NYC! I'm updating on my phone so please excuse typos. This keyboard is tiny!

I'm spending today doing research in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Should be a good time! Also going to dinner with the mom of one of my dearest friends :-)

This week is going to be crazy. Way too much stuff due. Plus there's a conference on Friday. And, more importantly, it's almost Halloween!

I'm impatient for my next trip to Wooster.

ok typing is too hard. later, folks!

Wolf whined

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:26:32 GMT

and so I will update my LJ to make him happy.

I am currently in raptures about Nicholas Kristof's NYT editorial:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/opinion/08kristof.html?_r=1

I think that's the most clear-cut case for health care reform I've heard yet. I am impressed. And a little in love with Nick Kristof.

I wish I had more exciting things to report but, alas, my life hasn't been all that interesting lately. I had the plague last week, which was pretty terrible but thanks to an inhuman amount of sleep and large doses of Sudafed, I survied and am feeling all better this week.

Most of my time is spent reading for class, writing for class, and going to class. The percentages are probably 50-30-20. I'm pumped about my cultural history research project. I had a nice meeting with Dr. Bailey yesterday and I'm scheduled to meet with her again bright and early Monday morning to keep discussing it and to talk to her about reapplying to the PhD program. This makes me nervous.

I like my fellow history dept. grad students! They make me laugh. And one girl brought homemade apple pie to class tonight. Can't ask for more than laughter and pie!

My new roomie, Leanne, moved in! She's great! I spent some time last Sunday getting to know her and I think we're going to get along fabulously. If I ever see her. Our schedules are completely different. My other roomie, Charlotte, and I have a crepe date tomorrow. We found this adorable little creperie not long ago and we've been dying to go back ever since. Mmm I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. (Yes, Wolf, I know I'm a fattie.)

Matt is coming on Friday!!! We have reservations at a snappy little cafe for Friday evening and a more trendy place for dinner on Saturday. We've got plenty of other stuff on the agenda, but I'll blog about that after it happens. I'm mostly just happy that he'll be here!

TV is good this season. Especially House which, in my humble opinion, has faltered a little over the past two seasons. The new episodes have fully redeemed the series in my eyes.

So I don't particularly like the message of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" but I can't stop listening to it. It's just so catchy!

I'm obviously running out of material here. Goodnight!

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:36:01 GMT

Hiiii

I'm still around. SIck though. It's the kind of sickness that I keep thinking I've finally kicked, only to have it resurface after attempting to do anything that requires energy. And I think I have a fever now. Ugh.

Other than being sick, things are good. School is going well. I applied for a bunch of jobs yesterday, most of them at Temple. It would be nice to have even a small income at this point. Health insurance would also be nice.

Wooster was wonderful last weekend. I got to see Brooke and Elizabeth and the Uppities. And I got to spend lots of quality time with Matt. I'm really glad that he's coming to Philly next week!!

Today, I bought a microwave, which is such a wonderful convenience, I can't even express it. Oh frozen dinners and speedy hot beverages, how I've missed you...

Ok, time to curl up under the covers and watch a movie or something. That's pretty much all I'm good for right now.

My status.

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:27:27 GMT

Hey all,

I've been the lamest LJ updater ever recently, which is kind of ironic because I spend a remarkable amount of time refreshing my "friends" page and being disappointed if no one's updated. So I thought I'd try updating to see if it sparks some kind of updating frenzy!

I'm finally settling into a groove at grad school. I'm less overwhelmed by my classes. I'm getting a really good sense of my strengths and weaknesses, which is great for being able to prioritize my time and efforts. The profs are cool and waaayyyy smart while still being very nice and approachable. I'm starting to get to know some of the other students as well. A few of them are genuinely kind, fun people who I really want to be my friends. I still need to work on participating in class. I used to be pretty good at that at Wooster but I'm clamming up here. This week, I made myself say one thing in each class. Next week, I will aim for two comments per class!

The living situation is going pretty well too. I totally adore Charlotte and I'm really happy to be rooming with her. Our new roomie, Leanne, is supposed to move in... this weekend? Definitely sometime soon, but I'm not exactly sure when. She seems pretty awesome too. I need to do something about my room, though. It's very bare and uninspiring (although it's also huge and luxurious so I shouldn't complain too much). Maybe some art and flowers will brighten it up!

I'm going back to Wooster on this weekend for Homecoming and to see my best guy! I'm terribly excited!

And I just checked my bank account online and realized that my financial situation is not as dire as I thought it was. That's a good feeling.

Definitely time to sleep now. Tomorrow is going to be ridiculously busy-- laundry, course reading, research prospectus, finding a dress for Friday, class, post-class social hour, and packing!

World's most efficient diet:

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:39:48 GMT

1. Move to a new city where walking is a primary form of transportation.
2. Live near a farmer's market & a Trader Joe's which makes eating healthy foods very convenient.
3. Work yourself into a nearly daily panic which destroys your appetite.
4. When money runs low, convince yourself that Diet Pepsi and Twizzlers really can be a delicious dining experience!

A few life tidbits

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:35:13 GMT

I don't want to write anymore. I just want to go home and watch the new episode of Mad Men. Alas, I cannot leave until I have adequately completed my assignments for tomorrow. I did manage to update my history blog:

http://uppitygrad.blogspot.com/

I encourage all of you to read/comment because the more feedback I get, the more impressive the blog looks to my prof. And I could really use a little bit of impressiveness!

Next week's workload won't be as rough as this week's, and for that I am grateful.

Ooh AND I get real internet installed in my apartment on Friday! Hooray!

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:39:24 GMT

Hellooo...

Last weekend was pretty great! I loved having Susan here! I think I already updated about Friday and Saturday, so I'll start with Sunday.

We got up super early to catch a train to NYC! We arrived at Penn Station around 11:00 and walked down to Times Square! I hadn't seen it since they filled it with lawn chairs and bleachers, but it's really nice-- way less congested and more walkable. We wandered through the street market, popped our head in a few shops, and enjoyed the general excitement of the city. Then we lined up with about 40 others to enter the lottery to get discounted tickets to In the Heights on Broadway! I was ridiculously excited about this because I've been listening to the soundtrack nonstop for months and I've imagined the show thousands of times. After waiting anxiously for a half hour, they started calling names and Susan's name was the third one called!!! (My name was called later but I turned it down since Susan was able to get 2 tickets). What luck! We grabbed some pizza for a quick lunch and then headed back to the theater to enjoy our FRONT ROW SEATS to the show!

The whole performance was incredible. I was thrilled that most of the original cast was still there. Mandy Gonzalez and Chris Jackson as Nina and Benny were particularly impressive. And Sonny had me laughing long after the show was over. I honestly can't say enough good things about In the Heights. You'll just have to see it for yourselves!

After the show, we went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum and took a ton of pictures of ourselves with shockingly real-looking wax celebrities. Those will eventually be posted on Facebook. We also saw a 4-D movie of Spongebob Squarepants. The whole 4-D experience was very weird... I liked that there were real bubbles in the theater but I did not like that my chair frequently blew blasts of air on my neck.

We got some delicious gelato on our way back to the train. We were exhausted when we arrived back home and managed to reheat some Indian food for dinner before collapsing. Unfortunately, we didn't get to sleep in on Monday because the mattress people were supposed to deliver my box spring between 8-10am. It was a little disappointing that, after waking up at 7:45 to be ready for the delivery people, they did not arrive until 9:50. Oh well. At least I have a REAL BED now! It's terribly luxurious.

That afternoon, Susan went off to do fun, touristy stuff, and I went to my very first grad school class! It's a public history course called "Managing History." I've never taking a class on public history before, so this should be pretty fun. Our first assignment is to start a blog. I'll post a link to that here once I get it underway (although I should warn you that it's probably going to be fun of boring academic stuff).

After class, I met up with Susan again and we walked through the ritzy part of downtown Philly and looked in the windows of Tiffany's, BCBG, Coach, Chanel, and a number of other stores that I will never be able to afford. We had a yummy dinner at Cosi and then thought about taking a ghost tour but decided to return home instead to watch my new Netflix movie. (By the way, how did I live so long without Netflix?! It's AWESOME!) We watched Revolutionary Road. It was a scathing commentary on marriage but I liked that it was a little bit like Mad Men. All in all, it was a very good movie, but not something that I'd want to watch again. It left me feeling very uncomfortable.

Today, Susan and I had lunch at the train station. And then we got hungry again, so we had a second lunch at the train station. Then she left and I felt very sad and alone for awhile. So I donned my iPod and went to Temple's center city campus to immerse myself in reading before class. That made me feel better. Then I went to my second grad class, which is also the one that I am most concerned with succeeding in. The class was very interesting and I learned a lot but I felt like it was kind of competitive with regard to talking. People seemed to be trying to outshine each other rather than build on each other's ideas. I found this very intimidating so I was quiet for most of the class. It's a little unfortunate too because I had a lot of questions about the reading but no one else was asking questions so I felt like I shouldn't either. Hopefully I'll develop a little more confidence as the semester progresses.

And that brings me to now.

Being a tourist

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:07:53 GMT

Susan's visiting and we've spent the last couple of days doing touristy stuff around Philly. Yesterday, we went to the Ben Franklin Science Museum, which was directed mainly a kids, but was still really cool. There was a neat planetarium. I particularly enjoyed the special Galileo/Medici exhibit. We intended to go to the art museum after that, but it started raining really hard so we hopped the trolley back to my place and ordered Indian food and watched Mad Men instead.

Today, we wandered down to the farmer's market, which was pretty cool. Then we hung out at my street's block party before going to Old City. We wanted to go to Independence Hall but, by the time we arrived, they had already sold out all of the tickets for the WHOLE DAY. We opted to go to the Constitution Center, which was really incredible. I highly recommend it for visitors to Philly. Then we saw the Liberty Bell which was actually a little unexciting. It wasn't quite as grand as I'd expected. We walked down to Penn's Landing and saw the memorial to the Irish immigrants who came to the US to escape the famine. Then we went to a really neat pub for dinner and dessert. After a whole day of traipsing around the city, we were *exhausted* so now we are back at my place, showered, and ready to go to bed early. The early-to-bed thing is actually pretty practical since we're planning on catching a 7:49am train to NYC tomorrow. Should be another exciting day!

Check out THESE apples!

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:44:44 GMT

eeeee I've been so productive today! I managed to take the trolley/subway to school. I made a new friend there. His name is George and he also goes lives in West Philly and goes to Temple. And his wife is from Minnesota, so I might have another midwest contact! I got my Temple ID. I fixed all of my financial aid issues with a very kind lady in the financial services department. I checked out the bookstore and the library. I set up an appointment with the head of the graduate department to discuss transitioning into the PhD program. I emailed two other profs to make sure I haven't missed any first-day assignments/syllabi from them. And now I am going to go to the computer lab and print out my first readings for Bailey's class! And THEN I am going to read them!!! I'm an AWESOME grad student!!!

Other plans for today include finishing unpacking and finding a cheap desk. Preferrably a cheap desk that someone is willing to deliver and haul up the stairs for me. I love my attic room but it does have certain drawbacks.

Oooo AND I signed up for Netflix and my first movie (Confessions of a Shopaholic) is supposed to arrive today! Yay!!!

What a day!

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:59:34 GMT

My bed was delivered. Kind of. They brought the mattress and the frame up but they brought the wrong kind of box spring, so it wouldn't fit through the door. But at least now I can sleep on the mattress, which is WAY more comfortable than the couch! The box spring will be delivered, correctly, on Monday.

I checked my email and realized that I had received confirmations about one of my loans, but not the other. Apparently the other hasn't been processed yet. Tomorrow, I am going to go to the financial aid office in person and try to sort this out because they are extraordinarily unhelpful over the phone. And I really need that money.

I drove down to Wynnedon today. It's a little suburb about 15 minutes away from my apartment. On the way there, I got a flat tire. I drove on the flat (dumb, I know) until I got to the Bed, Bath & Beyond. I contemplated changing the tire myself but realized that, in addition to having no clue what I was doing, I did not have one of those tools that takes the screws off of the tire. So I called roadside assistance and waited a half hour for some 16 year old to show up and change my tire for me. It hurt my pride a little but at least it was free. Then I went to BB&B and bought a new bed-in-a-bag for my new mattress since all of my other bedding is for a twin-sized bed and I am now the proud owner of a grown-up QUEEN bed. I also got a really pretty shower curtain and now I can shower without also inadvertently washing my entire bathroom floor.

I came home and continued the slow process of getting my room organized. I really wish I had a desk and a bookshelf but I haven't found any I can afford yet . Then Charlotte came home and we had some roomie bonding time. She's really a great girl; I'm glad we're living together.

Susan is coming to visit on Friday! It will be sooo nice to see a familiar face. Plus I'm really looking forward to sight-seeing and getting to know my new city!

I hope I can get this to post. My internet here is so unreliable...

My lists

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:55:05 GMT

Accomplished:

Purchased high speed internet. Installation pending.
Purchased mattress/box spring/frame. To be delivered tomorrow morning.
Started unpacking stuff from car.
Grocery shopping.

To do:

Book buying.
Unload trailer (uggh I am really not looking forward to this)
Find laundromat
Buy desk/chair/bookshelf. Really cheaply.
Work our financial aid issues.
Organize my room.
Buy shower curtain
Buy new comforter for bed.
Yikes, I am going to be seriously broke.
Orientation (this actually starts in a couple hours, so I'd better go...)

My life as a Philadelphian begins!

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:51:17 GMT

[the following is excerpted from an email I sent to my book club]

I made it! The drive here was eventful. I spent the first hour having an existential crisis and wondering if the whole plan was a HUGE mistake. I gave serious thought to turning around and going straight back to Wooster. But I managed to push through and spend a lovely few hours driving through the mountains. Pennsylvania has beautiful landscapes! Unfortunately, when I hit the toll booth just outside of Philadelphia, all of those happy feelings left when I realized I COULDN'T FIND MY WALLET! The toll people were friendly enough to let me stop on the side of the road and search my car for a half hour. Then, panicked and on the verge of sobbing, they let me fill out a form promising to pay and sent me on my way. That was when I gave way to tears and called my mom telling her that I'd lost my wallet and that everything-- including my social security card, credit cards, cash, student ID, driver's license-- was in there. I was having flashbacks to identity theft episodes of Law & Order.

I finally arrived at the new apartment, my previously unknown roomie, Charlotte, and then went back out to my car to start unloading. And as picked up the first bag, guess what fell out of a tiny crevice between my luggage and my seat? That's right-- MY WALLET.

It's kind of an anti-climactic ending, isn't it? But I don't think I've ever felt that relieved! And, for those of you who are laughing at this story, I've attached the song "Schadenfreude" from Avenue Q!

The apartment is fantastic. I particularly love my attic room, which has ceiling fans, a skylight, and a little reading nook. And LOTS of room for guests (hint, hint). I'll send you a picture when it's all set up and not filled with half-empty boxes!

[Excerpt ends here]

I woke up before 8 this morning (very unusual for me) and I've just been putzing around, trying to get things in some kind of order. I think that will be easier when I finally get my desk/drawers/hangers, etc. Those things are all on the moving truck, which will not arrive until tomorrow afternoon because the moving company has to get a permit from the city to park the trailer in front of our house. Yikes.

So today, I intend to go shopping for my new bed, pick up some groceries, and try to figure out the trolley system so I don't get lost on my way to orientation tomorrow.

Time to go find a furniture store!

my life in transition

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:50:27 GMT

Haven't updated in awhile, so I thought I should. Things have been hectic, getting ready for the move to Philly. But my trailer has been loaded and is en route. My parents are coming on Saturday to take all of the things I don't want. I will be very glad when the move is over and I'm finally all settled.

I had a great meeting with the Uppity women a couple nights ago. We taped a review of Cathie Beck's new book, Cheap Cabernet. It's a wonderful book and I recommend that you all read it when it's finally released.

Last weekend, I got to see my HOTT sisters. I love them a lot.

I had dinner with Brooke tonight, which was really nice.

I am so tired. This week has been draining.

Tomorrow is my last day of work.

I'll try to write a more thorough entry when I get to Philly.

Recent things

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:46:08 GMT

Deposit and first/last month's rent have been paid for the apartment in Philly. Since August 1st, the apartment has been 1/3 mine!

Received terrifying emails from David Farber concerning the class I'm supposed to take with him next semester. Currently in email consultation with Roche to decide whether to take the class.

The Uppity Women are going to be taped in a couple weeks so we can be featured on the website for a new book written by Cindy Beck.

Went to Portage for the weekend and had a wonderful time hanging out with my parents, shopping, catching up with Maeve, and chatting with Mitch.

Before Portage, had a great dinner with Chris and Colin in Ann Arbor. Miss those two a lot.

Eye doctor told me that if I can survive one more year without my vision changing, he will recommend me for LASIK surgery. Yay!!!

13 days of work left.

Getting REALLY excited for the HOTT reunion in less than two weeks!!!

Now, I am hungry.

Running around like a head with my chicken cut off.

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:59:25 GMT

The title of this post is borrowed from a tech I talked to on the phone today.

Wolf told me that I haven't updated in ages, so I am updating. It will be a brief update though because I'm a little tired and I don't feel like being too verbose.

Last weekend was great-- a bunch of my Woo friends came to visit for Keith and Danielle's wedding. Susie and I went shopping for cute new dresses. I loved my dress so much that I didn't want to take it off at the end of the night. The ceremony was lovely but it was Orthodox so it wasn't quite what I expected. It was neat to see a new kind of marriage ceremony though. I particularly enjoyed the cake at the reception. It had the most amazing strawberry filling. After the reception, I went out to dinner with the other Woo girls and our dates at Center Square Steakhouse (no, I did not eat steak). The food was delicious. I had salad with awe-inspiring raspberry vinagrette dressiong, a garden vegetable pasta dish, and carmalized bananas with a chai martini for dessert. Mmm. Then we all went to Matt's for a bonfire and hours of intriguing conversation.

The following day, most people had to leave but Susie, Ben and I went to see Bruno. Oh man. It was terribly crass and terribly funny... I don't regret seeing it and I definitely laughed to the point of tears at some parts, but I don't know that I'd recommend it to others. After Susie and Ben had to go home, I went to Marilyn's to meet up with other Uppities and drive to Karen's for another bonfire and another night of talking and laughter. I love the Uppities!

This week has been pretty good... mostly working and sleeping. I did go to the Wayne County Young Republicans meeting last Tuesday which was pretty great. It was followed by an after-party at Matt's which was even more entertaining.

Last night, I saw the new Harry Potter movie with Sandy! I liked it a lot, even if it wasn't all that true to the book.

This update is already longer than I intended... time to hop in the shower and then begin my Friday night!

Woohoo Independence Day!

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:32:44 GMT

I'm having the most awesome weekends this summer!!

Yesterday was Matt's lakehouse party! I had a beautiful drive to Lake Buckhorn (despite the fact that I was mildly panicking about my chronic holiday bad luck). Matt and I had some quality time with his puppies before the others arrived. It was cool to see some of his friends again! They're all very entertaining. We hopped on the pontoon and went out to a cove where we anchored and jumped in the water and had fun just floating and talking. Then Matt's dad pulled out the speed boat and we all took turns tubing. Matt and I jumped on the tube together and had a thrilling and slightly terrifying ride. Just as we were slowing down, Matt goaded his dad into going faster and I was, eventually, thrown from the tube. It was a lot of fun but I did face-plant into the water so I have a lovely bruised nose and forehead. Totally worth it though. After a little more swimming, we had dinner on the deck (steaks for the carnivores and roasted veggies for me) and then sang happy birthday to Matt and enjoyed some delicious birthday cake. Matt and his boy scout pals built a fire and we sat around talking until it was time to move down to the dock for fireworks, which were pretty cool. By the time they were over, we were all exhausted and drifted to the various cots and beds around the cabin for a good night's sleep followed by a good morning's coffee and donuts. Mmm.

Today I'm catching up on all of the little things that I need to do for the week... laundry, lawn mowing, grocery shopping, cleaning... Not the most exciting way to end a holiday weekend but it has to be done.

And I'm already looking forward to next weekend :-)

Things I am looking forward to:

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:50:53 GMT

Having a quiet reading night tonight.
Matt's 4th of July party at the lake tomorrow.
The new Harry Potter movie.
Keith's wedding and getting to see a bunch of my Woo friends.
The HOTT reunion.
Moving into my *fabulous* new apartment in Philly.

And I am looking forward to enjoying the memory of last night! I went out to dinner with Matt, Matt's parents, and some of their friends. It was a pretty great time! Then I met up with Matt, Brooke, and Wolf and we headed out to BW's for a drink and then to the movies where we saw Public Enemies. Johnny Depp and Billy Crudup were pretty awesome but the movie was a little too long and hard to follow.

This morning, Britt and I went to the outlet malls where I picked up a cute new swimsuit for tomorrow and a new cardigan! Yay for shopping!

Time to get started on my relaxing alone night!

Another fabulous weekend

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:11:55 GMT

Friday night drinks with Wolf.

Saturday night outing with Matt.

Sunday visit from Deb, merging into a mini party with Wolf and Matt.

Mixed in with all of that, I went shopping, spent an irresponsible amount of money, got my car fixed, baked a cake, went to dinner at Brewester's Winery, watched the sunset, saw "The Hangover", watched the US men's national soccer team,had dinner at BW's, laughed a lot, and watched half of "Airplane!"

I am mildly afraid that having two incredible weekends in a row will jinx next weekend's Independence Day plans.

Work is going well but due to my excessive fun this weekend, I was very tired at my desk today.

Speaking of being tired, I'm going to get ready to go to bed now.

Another irrational fear

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:19:48 GMT

I really need to get an alarm clock. I'm convinced that I'm going to sleep through my cell alarm and then be really late for work and then get fired.

Speaking of work, day two went well. I'm feeling more confident in the computer programs. Apparently the company is having an ice cream social on Wednesday afternoon. Definitely looking forward to that.

My future roomie, Charlotte, has been apartment hunting in West Philly today and she's found a couple of amazing--and amazingly affordable--places. You'd think I'd have more reservations about putting my life into the hands of a girl I've never met, but I don't. I just know this is going to work out. I can't believe I'm moving in 9 short weeks!

Super tired. time to read and fall asleep nice and early. I'm aiming for a full 8 hours tonight!

And it keeps getting better!

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:40:06 GMT

Hello!

This weekend rocks! Last night, I went to this little winery out in the middle of nowhere. It was a gorgeous renovated barn with a delicious selection of wine and the best pizza I've tasted since Italy! I was invited out by Sandy and Marilyn, two of the wonderful ladies from my book club. Marilyn brought her husband, Jim, and the four of us enjoyed delightful wine, food, and conversation. All in all, a wonderful continuation to the best weekend I've had in ages.

Today, Brittany is out with her family so I'm enjoying a little quiet time with Turner Classic Movies. Gigi is on right now ( I love the french accents!) and The Long, Long Trailer is on next. What a relaxing Sunday!

I have a feeling this is going to be an incredible summer.

A happy update!

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:31:10 GMT

Hello friends!

I am happy.

Yesterday was an AWESOME first day at work. Everyone is really nice, I'm picking up the job quickly, and I'm sooo excited to finally be able to look forward to a paycheck!

Last night, Matt and I went to a Toby Keith concert. It was loud and fun and fabulous.

Today I got to catch up on a huge sleep deficit.

My diet/exercise thing is really working! I'm officially at 123.5 lbs and I still have two weeks before the lake party! I can totally do this! Although, I have to confess, yesterday was my cheat day and I indulged in a BK veggie, french fries, and beer. At least it was lite beer... But I'm back on track today (with the diet anyway... still working up the motivation to exercise).

I am currently very content with life.

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:46:09 GMT

I dislike nights when I know I have to be awake super early and the pressure of that knowledge keeps me from being able to sleep.

I start my new job in the morning! I really, really hope I don't screw it up.

Matt and I are going to a concert tomorrow evening. Definitely looking forward to that!

Ok, time to try to sleep again. I should've taken a Tylenol PM hours ago. I will remember that next week.

Yayyy new avatars!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:14:43 GMT

All NCIS themed, of course.

I had my job interview today. It was very informal, which was a really nice change. I think it went well but I won't know anything for sure until Thursday. Trying not to get my hopes up too much.

I can't believe June is almost over. This summer is already flying by! I talked to Charlotte, one of my future Philly roomies, today and realized exactly how much I have to do to prep for the move in August. Fortunately, she's already in Philly and can apartment hunt in person while Kristen (other roomie) and I observe pictures and bombard her with requests! I'm really looking forward to getting to know a new city. Charlotte pretty much has me sold on West Philly which she described as young, hip, and diverse. It'll definitely be a huge change from Wooster!

I am going to miss Wooster though, especially the people.

Back to the present: I have an extensive summer reading list for Temple. I really need to get started on that soon. I have a feeling it's going to take some serious discipline to remind myself how to sit down and read an academic book. Reading nothing but novels over the past year has been wonderful but I'm afraid that it's damaged my tolerance for intellectual stuff.

I've been working hard to lose a few more pounds but instead, I've been experiencing drastic weight fluctuations-- up and down a 5 pound range in one day! I talked to Lindsey and she discovered that I cut my calories a bit too much and I need to eat more to boost my metabolism and actually keep the weight off. Lindsey is a genius. Plus I love any solution that involves food.

And now it is time for me to go to sleep so I have lots of energy for strength training tomorrow. Goodnight!

Oh, hi!

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:02:18 GMT

It's been awhile so I figured it's time for an update. Here are the things that are new in my life:

Got a haircut. My hair is now jaw-length and I have low-lights that give the blondness a little dimension. I like that it's cut my shower/hair drying time in half.
Have a job interview on Tuesday at a company where I worked as a temp for a whole three days last week. The temp position was eliminated but they're looking for someone for the summer. I hope this works out.
My parents came to visit last weekend! I had a wonderful time hanging out with them and playing Scrabble and just talking. I've missed them a lot over the last few months.
Excited for Deb's visit this weekend. We're going to make Indian food! Well... Deb will make Indian food and I'll do the dishes or something.
Rejoined Healthpoint for the next month in another weight-loss attempt. So far, I'm doing pretty well with the exercise but struggling with the diet. I'm trying to lose 6 pounds by Independence Day. Any advice (especially diet advice) would be greatly appreciated.
No news from Temple... I'm getting a little impatient about getting my financial aid and registration info.
NCIS is quickly becoming my new favorite tv show.

I think that's everything that's going on in my life lately... I'll try to be better about updating more frequently :-)

Ennui

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:41:01 GMT

As much as I'm going to dislike waking up super early, I cannot wait to start work on Wednesday!! I've been so incredibly bored lately and feeling useless makes me grumpy. Fortunately, I have a lot of little things to do before I start work and before my parents arrive on Friday: house cleaning, haircut, hiring paperwork, laundry, oil change... It's a short list but it should keep the next two days slightly above dull. Plus, Brittany's going to be on vacation so I'll be Goldie's full-time caretaker this week, which should be fun. I like quality puppy time and my little attention-grubbing puppy likes it too.

I am slightly irked because I want a pencil and I realized that I do not own a pencil. I do, however, have dozens of pens. How is this possible?

Exactly three months 'til my first day of graduate classes! And I'll be moving to Philly even sooner than that! It's my light at the end of the very, very long tunnel that has been the past year.