Category Archives: grad school

Cloud Twelve

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{via}

Last Friday at approximately 8pm I finished my final final ever.
Grades are still pending, but I know that I passed the class, no to mention the fact that I am cleared for graduation. 
(Side note: there is no December commencement for fall graduates. I have to wait until May to walk which kind of bums me out.)
Since Friday I’ve been flying high, on cloud nine, sometimes cloud twelve, and really just embracing the fact that I do not have to do homework anymore.

I. Am. Free.
I still don’t quite know what to do with all of my time which I’m ok with. I’m a lovely contradiction of wanting to stay busy but also sit back and relish in this accomplishment.
So for now, I’m taking it slow. Enjoying my nights free from classes. Planning weekend trips, afternoon dates with friends, skype dates, organizing/cleaning my living space, spending more time with Jack, enjoying real life conversations and re-entering the world of the living.
It feels amazing.

I have so many posts swirling around in my head but with all the lovely, amazing, positive things going on in my life I can’t seem to settle down in front of the computer long enough to focus.

I can’t thank all of you enough for being so supportive over the last few years. I am working on a “Thank You!” Giveaway which I hope to have live before the end of the month.

In the meantime, I’m jumping for joy and in celebration!

 

 

Life in Front of the Camera

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I have a reputation among my friends: the chronicler. Always with the camera, taking pictures both posed and candid, and back when I was on Facebook I was known for posting them within mere hours of getting home. Sometimes you miss out on the jokes, the commradery, the fun, when you’re focused on the next best shot.

My capstone class behind me, I went to my best friend’s fall ball (aka the best farm party ever) for the weekend. And that is when I decided to give my camera a rest and live my life in front of the camera, focusing on really being in the moment.

Tossing the camera aside meant that when I went on the tractor ride, through little valleys and over rocks, clutching my beer and laughing the whole time, soaking up the weather and fresh country air. It meant that I got my hands dirty with pumpkin carving, helped the men make dinner by peeling oodles of onions and carrots, and got to be friends with the local country boys including those who looked like Heath Ledger a la Brokeback Mountain. (Ahem, swoonworthy.) I learned about beer darts, the strategy behind washers, the merits of Natural Light vs Busch Light, that people will laugh at you if you are drinking Bud Light Lime, even if it really does taste good.

I fed horses, avoided cowpiles, and marveled at how huge the bonfire was. I sat on hay bales, chatted with friends I haven’t seen in ages, and took walks away from the fire to cast my eyes upward. I made new friends, had the kind of conversations that leave you with nothing but hope and maybe a few butterflies. I climbed on top of a roof with large blankets to stare up at the galaxy , voiding my head of all the normal weekday clutter, chatting with my best friend, her husband and his best friend, giggling until 2am over the silliest of conversations despite the fact our teeth were chattering and our fingers were cold. 

We convened over breakfast casserole, swapping stories and learning new things about what happened after we left, retreated to the couch for a brief nap and then we all went our separate ways.

It was a soul-searching, rejuvenating weekend that reminded me of what’s important and that life is full of lovely, unexpected moments. Sometimes that’s all you need.

Things I've Decided

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* Someone should really come up with a way for bloggers to be paid to meet their fellow blog friends.

* The sound of my dog Jack snoring is one of the cutest sounds in the world; cute enough that I don’t mind if he’s sleeping on my newly washed comforter.

* I have to see Ray LaMontagne in concert next time he comes to STL. 

* I will no longer feel guilty about sleeping in on the weekends.

* As much as I love training for races, like my upcoming 10k, I really hate that my physical fitness is tied so tightly to a schedule. I’m a gym rat by nature but I like to do things when I want to, not because I have to.

* 38 degrees in October is too darn cold.

* The days that you look messy are the days you will run into cute guys. It’s just a fact.

* Sometimes the best weekends consist of no plans whatsoever. This leads to lots of laughs, naps, catching up household chores, with friends and leaving you feeling truly rested on Sunday evening.

* The kindness and generosity of the people I have met through this blog will never ever cease to amaze me.

* People look at you just a bit differently when they notice you have a nose ring. Mostly good different (so far).

* I will be having a total guilt-free, laze-about, movie-marathon, dessert-baking weekend when mygrad school finals are turned in.

* Now that I’m 27 I don’t feel any different at all.

* I would love to meet my future husband at a Dave Matthews Band concert.

What have you decided recently?

Monday, Monday

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It’s Monday.

Which means that my brain is still on weekend time, struggling to keep up with the corporate world, perhaps even wishing it were still in bed under warm blankets (fall has arrived here in STL). Something that looks a lot like this:

 {via}

This also means that this morning you get some Nora Randomness.

* I had to pay a late fine of $3.15 at the library about a week ago. Three books were only five days overdue. I understand that they were late and it was my fault, but $3.15? It seemed a little steep for an overdue charge.

* No one at my office noticed my new glasses. This seems odd to me as I wear my glasses all the time at the office since they are readers/computer glasses. I guess everyone is really wrapped up in what they are doing on a daily basis which is fine, but I guess I thought they were a huge departure from my old ones.

* Every time I go to visit my brother, I inevitably have a great time. I also inevitably realize that I’m not 21 years old anymore and do not have a problem going to bed before midnight. I learned a lot this weekend too; suffice to say college and the college culture has changed drastically.

* I have one of the best brothers and family anyone could ask for. Hands down.

* I am really proud of my Tigers so far; a huge win yesterday ought to give them the confidence to get through our conference games later in the season.

* Getting one’s nose pierced doesn’t hurt nearly as much as you’d think. It’s also relatively easy to get used to. Here’s a picture for those who are curious:

* The closer I am to being done with school the more excited I get for all my free time. I literally am counting down the days. 14 days.

* Shopping at boutique stores can lead to finding some amazing presents for friends. Bonus for supporting local economies and entreprenuers.

* Free (early) birthday peppermint chip ice cream is the best. Also, I have mixed feelings about my birthday being in two days.

* My 10k is only three Sundays away and I’m getting a little nervous about my ability to run 6.2 miles all at once; I’ve been doing pretty well in my training runs but I’m nervous anyway!

* I purged my book collection yesterday; I decided to part with about 10 books that I know I won’t read again and/or recommend to friends, so why bother keeping them on my shelf? My shelves are exploding with books as it is, so freeing up some space was a great feeling.

Any Monday randomness that you’d like to share?

Grace in Small Things: Week Two

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1. Taking a long lunch with my dad on Monday. It’s rare that we both have free lunch hours so we took about 90 minutes to chat work, to discuss my after grad school plans, and my upcoming birthday.

2. An amazing run on Tuesday night in between Glee and Parenthood. No idea if it was because I didn’t want to miss a moment of Parenthood or what, but I had the best time. Running under the glow of a nearly full moon is also quite calming; I felt like the road was all mine.

3. Staring a “Creative Journaling,” class at my library. We only meet once a month but the teacher is incredibly enthusiastic: she brought treats, “bling” to decorate our journals with, and has guest speakers lined up. The class consists of a few people my gram’s age, a young kid who is maybe 12, and a few mother/daughter combos like Darling and me. I also found out this lady runs a knitting group that I might try as well; they teach people who don’t know how to knit too!

4. I’m going to visit my brother this weekend. He can’t make it home for my birthday so he invited me to my college town for a weekend of movies, fun, tailgating, and whatever other trouble we get into.

5. Having a good sales week at work; I’m not 100% in the sales department but I dabble and I did pretty well this week. It’s kind of fun/exciting.

6. Only 3 weeks of school left, and of those three, I’ll only be busy with school work for two of them.

7. Figuring out/firming up my New Year’s Eve plans… in California!

What small things made you happy this week? Anything in particular you are looking forward to this weekend?

Grace in Small Things: Week One

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Since I revived this series last week and several people said they are glad I did so, I’ll be doing this on Fridays almost every week.

(Also, today is love the lovely Becky’s birthday. Leave her some birthday love today!)

* Chatting with my good friend Lisa. Whether it’s BBM or emails, it’s so great to have a friend who gets me. I may have been tempted to pack up and move to Minneapolis when she told me last night that she wished we were roommates or at least lived closer to each other. (Edite to add: So I talk to numerous fabulous ladies every day and they make my life infinitely better. Seriously. Habbala. Ashley. Mandy. Just to name a few. You know who you are. If we chat and you make me smile, you’re on this list.)

* I gave Jack a new toy on Tuesday night which meant two hours of playing fetch until he settled in for the night with the toy tucked under his chin. I suppose he was afraid that my parents 17 year old beagle might try to steal it from him.

* Receiving some awesome comments from my professor on  my most recent case study. Sometimes I sell myself short, I think, when it comes to all that I’ve learned in the last few years but nailing a paper with positive comments from an otherwise snarky professor? I’ll take it.

* Parenthood started this week. Enough said.

* A microderm abrasion facial. I’ve been getting facials for almost a year now and I’m in love with them. This past week my technician gave me a special deal on microderm and seriously my skin has never looked so good. The entire process was relaxing, the collagen mask at the end smelled divine and I’ve been “glowing,” all week.

* 10k training is going well and I’m halfway thru the program so this makes me happy. The knees are holding up ok, my endurance has improved and I love being in the gym six days a week again.

* Planning mini-trips to see friends and taking the entire Thanksgiving week off from work. I can’t wait.

Where did you find grace this past week?

Idle Hands

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So there’s the old saying that Idle Hands are the devil’s playground. (Also, Idle Hands is the name of a super ridiculous movie from 1999 which I wound up working into a paper in undergrad for my English Essay writing class because the professor was a total scifi freak. That has nothing to do with this post at all actually…) When my hands/social calendar/personal calendar are idle and empty I just get really bored.

Over the course of the last few weeks several of my friends and family members have asked me just what I intend to do come October 15th (well likely October 12th if I have my way) when school is officially over.

My first reaction? A big, fat nothing. As in come home after work, get in a workout and then literally laze about from couch to bed back to couch with books in hands and DVDs by my side. I will be taking book + movie recommendations when the time comes.

However, that will only fly for the first week or two after school is done. Then I’ll want to be busy again with something. I’m rarely sitting still. I thrive on a busy schedule both socially, professionally, personally. So on the short list (I know, I know, I should give myself some time to relax but I’m a list girl. It’s part of who I am), in no particular order:

* Take tennis lessons again.
* Get involved with the local USO if they’ll have me, or another equally awesome charity.
* Find another 10k to train for preferably in December.
* Organize my recipe magazines + recipe binder and then bake/cook up a storm.
* Send more snail mail!
* Spend one entire Saturday in bed reading a book (I think this will be repeated often throughout the winter months).
* Tackle a few of those 30 before 30 items (which reminds me I have an update to share on that list soon!)

But first I must endure less than 25 days of books, notes, case studies, group work, discussion questions. I can’t quite fathom that I’ll have my M.B.A.  (with honors most likely). When I can fathom it I realize that it’s kind of freakin’ awesome.

(Also for all of my lovely readers and friends who have been here thoughout my life journey so far something for you: There will be a giveaway when school is all said and done (likely the week of October 10th) as a thank you for all your support, encouragement and believing in me when I thought I couldn’t do it. )

What about you friends: after you accomplish a big goal of any kind do you enjoy it for awhile or get on to the next thing?

Books & Boys

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It’s no secret that I spend some time at my local Barnes & Noble. And that three out of the five trips there I buy something other than hot chocolate.

What you do not know is that my B&N (as we so affectionately call it in my family) hires some adorable guys. One’s the store manager, the other is what I suppose you’d call a regular store clerk. On the rare occasion that I a) actually need assistance finding a book or b) they are the ones who check me out, both times have been totally embarassing.

Embarassing moment #1:

Saturday afternoon, hanging out in the cafe working on my econ case study. Parents are there as well, enjoying a latte or some such (not being a coffee drinker I never know the difference between the various kinds of drinks). My dad kindly offers to treat us all to a book if we like, so of course Darling & I scatter immediately to find a book on our wishlist. Couldn’t tell you what my mom and I purchased but my dad picked up a book about non-violent communication for a work-related project. Cute store manager was working the register so my dad sends me up with the books, the money and of course, our B&N member card. He was all chatty, checking out the books and then he gets to the non-violent communication book. Silence. Not another word except to ask me how I’m paying for my books.

Embarassing moment #2:

So last week I put my study mode on and powered through two really boring chapters of stuff that you probably don’t care to hear about. I love books of all kinds and one of them happens to be a totally embarassing kind of book: vampire romance + mystery. Yes, you read that right. It’s a guilty pleasure. There’s a total of eight books in the series, I’m three in over the course of the last two years (I read them sparingly even though they are addictive) and so I thought that since for the most part class is going well and I am a mere 25 days from being done, I’d treat myself to a book. This time the cute store clerk was the only person checking people out at the cash register. I tried to distract him from the title of the book by asking about random books & trinkets behind the counter and it worked for the most part, but he gave a good long look to the book cover (which is of course a dude kissing a half nake woman). At least I had my grad school books in my hand. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.

I know it could have been worse but not exactly the first impressions I’d like to make, especially around cute boys who love books at a place I go to on the regular.

What’s the most embarassing book you’ve purchased before? Any similar stories where something you’ve been doing or bought clearly surprised a guy (or girl) who was helping you?

Who Knew…

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Who knew that after two plus years of being bloggy best friends, it looks like I’ll finally meet Ashley in one week, including a Hanson concert no less!

Who knew that today I’d be excited when I saw that my dad joined Twitter and that my mom hopes to do the same this weekend.

Who knew that at age 26 I’d be graduating with my MBA, feeling mixed emotions about being done with school “forever,” wondering what the next big adventure would be.

Who knew that my blog friends would no longer be called blog friends; they would be called real life friends. Real life best friends for that matter.

Who knew that after holding Jen’s adorable newborn baby so many emotions would well up in my heart, soul, and eyes as I walked to my car. That said emotions would result in an open, honest conversation with another fabulous friend who really gets where I’m coming from.  That I really *do* want to have a baby (or two) someday.

Who knew that closing in on my 27th birthday in a few months, so much of my life would be unknown; exciting, but unknown.

What about you, what is one “who knew” moment you’ve had lately?

Senioritis

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Seinioritis: I have it, in the worst way.

I don’t care that I’ll be done by October 15th, or that I have only a total of 11 weeks of class between now and then. Oh no, instead, I come up with every possible way to procrastinate, such as:

1. Browsing the stream-able movies on Netflix, reordering my queue and finding new TV shows to be addicted to.

2. Real Estate Classifieds. There’s nothing like dreaming about what color I’ll paint the living room, hosting dinner parties, and sitting on my patio drinking wine with Jack by my feet.

3. Naps. It’s amazing how “tired” I am when I have schoolwork to do.

4. Cleaning which probably makes me weird but I am convinced I can think better when I have fresh sheets, a dust-free and newly feng shui-ed room.

5. Mentally planning trips to Europe, week long beach vacations, and what it would be like to own a house in the Hamptons.

6. Sitting poolside, letting my mind go blank and enjoying the sweet summer nights.

7. Dreaming of all the things I’ll do when I’m done with school: Travel. Volunteer. Exercise More. Worry Less. Sleep in on a Saturday. More girls’ nights, baking and time with family.

Are you a procrastinator? What’s your favorite way to put off the inevitable?