Thank You, Thank You Very Much

Awww, one of my absolute favorite bloggers, Brittany, gave me the "Blogger BFF Award." I am so excited because I really do consider her a blogger BFF. Thank you Britt! Lucky you guys, this award doesn't require me to tell any weird/random/"interesting" facts about myself. It just requires me to pass it on. So I am going to pass this award on to 5 bloggers that I would love to grab a drink or 4 with if we ever met in person.

1.Mandee at The Bear Naked Truth. Mandee and I have talked on The Nest, on FB, and on G-Chat. There is no doubt the NewlyHusband and I would have a blast with Mandee and her Mr MandeeFoFandee.

2. Carissa at Carissa Jaded. Carissa is adorable and fun and clumsy --like me, although I have never broken anyone's arm doing a super awesome kick ;) If she was ever down in my neck of the woods, we would have to grab a glass (read:bottle) of wine together.

3. LiLu at Liv It, Luv It. Um did ya'll see how many 20sb awards this chick got? And her karaoke videos? Who wouldn't want to grab a drink with her? LiLu- you, me, and some Sweet Caroline karaoke style if I ever make it to DC.

4. TKOG at Not That Kind of Girl. I'll be honest- I'd be scared of what kind of NTKOG stuff I'd be getting into by hanging out with her. :) But she does live in my favorite city in the US and I think it'd be fun. Heck, I could probably use a NTKOG moment.

5. Vanessa at Caramel Covered Photographs. I know Vanessa got this award from Britt also, but I can't do this list and not include her. We have soo much in common that I know we'd get along fabulously.

Thanks again Brittany!

Have I Learned Anything?

As you all know, I am in my last semester of college right now. I will graduate with my Bachelors in History with a minor in Psychology in April. So I thought it would be cool to look back on the classes I've taken in my college years and see if I really learned anything. So this is what I've taken:

Math:

Math for Liberal Arts
Elementary Statistics.

Yes I have gotten away with only taking two maths and not taking College Algebra at all. I hate math with an absolute passion. And no, I don't remember anything from these two classes.

Science:

Zoology
General Biology for Non Science Majors

Again, I took as little science as possible. Math and Science are just not my subjects.

English:

Composition 1
Composition 2
Compositon 3
American Literature
Creative Writing

I thought I wanted to be an English major, so I took a couple more English classes. Turns out- not for me. I like to enjoy my books and not analyze them. I did enjoy my creative writing course though.

History:

US History
US History Since 1877
Politics and Society in Britain and Ireland
Russian Thought and Culture
Craft of the Historian
American Revolution and Constitution
US Since World War I
Irish History
Modern China
1890s
Global Environmental History
History of the New South
Nazi Germany
Florida History

You knew this list would be long. I am a history major, after all. I have actually learned quite a bit in my history classes. They have certainly made me better at Germany. My faves have been Nazi Germany (still in this one, so we'll see how I feel when the semester's over), Irish History, Russian Thought and Culture, and US History Since 1877. The worsts were Florida History and Modern China. In Craft of the Historian, Global Environmental History, and the 1890's, I had/have to write a 15 page paper. My Craft paper was on the cause of the Salem Witch Trials. My Environmental one was on the role of women in the toxic waste movement, and my 1890s paper is going to be on the experience of immigrants at Ellis Island.

Psychology

Understanding Human Behavior
Human Growth and Development
Educational Psychology
General Psychology
Psychology of Women
Social Psychology
Industrial Organizational Psychology
Stress Management
Learning Theory

I have really enjoyed having Psych as my minor. All the fun stuff without the crappy research courses majors have to take. My faves here: Stress Management, Learning Theory, and Psych of Women. I am currently in IO Psych and I think this is the one I'm going to take the most out of.

Other Junk I Took as Electives or Was Required To Take

The Humanities I
The Humanities II
Microcomputer Applications
Fundamentals of Speech
College Success Skills
Introduction to Education
Sociology of Work
People and Cultures of the World

So here I am, nearing the end of my college years, having taken all of those classes. Is it sad that I couldn't tell you a damn thing about the majority of those? How much do we truly learn in college?

Oh and PS, I realize this is probably the most boring post ever. But here it is.

Something's Gotta Give

Right now, this is my life:

-School Mon, Wed, and Fri.
-Work Sat and Sun
-Homework and research for school
-House hunting
-Getting our house ready to sell (decluttering, general cleaning, painting, staging)
-Eating
-Sleeping
-Computer time

These are the things I want to add into my life:

-Daily Bible time either by myself or with the NewlyHusband
-Working out at least Mon-Fri.
-Devoting more time to schoolwork


I seriously suck at motivation though. I can spend hours on the computer, although I'm much better than I used to be. I know I need to make Bible and prayer time a priority, but I haven't. I have got to start working out. We've had this conversation here before. I am not a big girl, I realize this. But I am bigger than I used to be. My stomach hurts constantly and I hate wearing jeand cuz they dig into my belly (This is after I've already gone up a pant size).

So help me out, awesome readers. How in the world do you get motivated to give up your favorite foods, give up soda (I've done this before and it made me feel so much better, but it never sticks), get up early and WORK OUT? Why is this soooo hard for me? I just don't know. I think about it and it should be easy.

This is how I would like my days to go:

-Get up early with the NewlyHusband and hit the gym.
-Come home, shower, and eat breakfast.
-Hit the books and get my schoolwork done
-Only after schoolwork is done, get on the computer.
-Go to school (on the days I have school)
-Come home and have dinner with the NewlyHusband
-Do a house project so we can get the house on the market.

This is how my days tend to go
-Wake up when NewlyHusband gets up to go to work
-Do a little homework
-Eat breakfast while watching tv
-Get on the computer
-Go to school
-Come home and have dinner with the NewlyHusband
-Maybe work on the house, maybe chill out.

I drink two sodas a day (Mr Pibb or Cherry Coke). The only workouts I get done are walking from my car to campus for class. I don't eat well. I spend way too much time on my laptop. At the end of the day, I feel fat and unproductive. So I make the decision to change...and I don't.

I am almost in tears writing this, because I hate myself for being so lazy.

Help? How do you do it? How do you make the positive changes in your life that will make you feel better in the long run?

Thoughts, Things, and JellyBeans

A random title for a random post. Guys, I can't believe I have only posted twice in January! We have lots to catch up on, don't we? This post will be a complete smorgasbord of thoughts. Hope ya don't mind!

Uno: Why haven't I been blogging lately? Some days I feel like I don't have anything to say. Like life is just happening, but nothing anyone would want to read. I feel like I shouldn't even have a blog. Other days, I feel like my brain is so full of things to blog that I am too overwhelmed to even sign in. So instead I've just stayed away. I have been reading your blogs, though! But I enjoy this whole blogging thing and the connections I've made with some of you. It's something I want to continue, so this is me getting back into it.

Dos: Exciting things happening in this newlywedded life. We are going to see Jimmy Buffett in February and Gabriel Iglesias (the Fat and Fluffy guy) in March.

We are also house hunting. Here's my major issue with the house hunt. We've found one we like a lot. It is in a good area of town. The only thing is the neighborhood is far from everything. It's 10 minutes to get to a grocery store, gas station, etc. That's a big deal for me. I like to be close to things. So I am trying to decide if that is a dealbreaker or not.

Tres: My aunt and two of my cousins came to town last week. The youngest that came was 17 years old and I had never met him before. How sad is that?

Quatro: We got new furniture!

New couch and loveseat

And new bedroom furniture, although ours is a darker wood.

Well, peeps, I have to be off to school but it was nice talking with you again!

And ps: My friend Mandee just got a blog and I have a feeling it is going to total awesomesauce. Go check her out at The Bear Naked Truth

5 Months Married!

We've made it 5 months as husband and wife. I do believe I promised to show our engagement pictures to celebrate 5 months. But first, the story.

There is a very private beach in town that we love to go to. You have to walk through a wooded path to get there, so not very many people go. This is where we wanted to do our engagement pictures. So we get together with our photographer and start to drive out there (about an hour away from us). We are almost there and realize that it is high tide. The way this beach is set up, if it's high tide, you can't even get onto the beach. So we decide to scratch that plan and take the ferry over to this park and take the pictures there. While in line for the ferry, it starts pouring rain.

We decide to reschedule the shoot for another day. That day comes and the forecast says rain, although it hasn't started yet. I call the photog and we decide that we really need to try for that day because the NewlyHusband was going to have ear surgery in a couple days and we would not be able to reschedule for a while. So we go ahead with the shoot but decide to do them at the more public beach closer to our house so we can hopefully get it done before the rain starts.

It was windy and thundering, but we got it done. Part of me still wishes we had been able to do the pictures where we really wanted to, but I do like how they turned out.

Here are some of the pictures.

This one is my favorite.

Notice how the NewlyHusband rolled his pants up to walk through the water and I didn't

And how in all subsequent pics, my pants are wet and his stay rolled up. Oops!

Told ya it was windy!

More evidence of the wind

Us being our goofy selves

Don't Worry. Life Will Only Get Worse

Sorry guys- don't know why I've become a once a week blogger. I guess there's just not much going on in my life to write about. But I can write about this little pet peeve I have. I've been encountering it more lately.

The people who say "Oh you've only been married 5 months, so you're still happy. That won't last." And the people who say something along the lines of "You think your life is busy now. Just wait till you have kids and can't do anything."

Bitches, this is my life and if I want to be happy I will be. Maybe your marriage sucks and if so I'm sorry. But I went into my marriage fully committed to having a forever lasting, good marriage. A marriage where we communicate and strive to make an effort. A marriage where we talk about our problems and miscommunications. A marriage where we put forth the time and energy to make quality time for each other.

I am realistic. I realize that no marriage will ever be perfect. But that doesn't mean you can't stay happy and in love. I fully expect to have arguments. I fully expect to disagree over things and have times where I just don't feel like I'm getting all the love and attention that I need. But I also fully expect to communicate those issues to my husband if/when they occur and work them out.

It is not up to anybody else to just assume my marriage will go down some shitty path. It is up to me and my husband where our marriage goes. I just don't understand why people feel the need to tell all newlyweds that they better not get used to the bliss that comes from being newly married. Misery loves company, I guess.

Now on to the other pet peeve- kids. Dudes, I am so not ready for kids yet. I want them one day, one hundred percent. And I like other people's kids enough. I love my nieces and nephew. I can't stand it when people give me the kid lecture. "Oh woah is me. I have a baby and I'm in school. Baby takes up all my time." Kudos to you for staying in school after you got preggers, but it ain't my fault. You chose to bring a child into this world. I'm sure it's hard. But I don't necessarily want to here about how my life will be sooo much worse when I have them. I'm not an idiot and I know kids are a lot of responsibility. But don't downplay my life just because mine does not involve children.

Ah, it sure feels good to blog all this out.