I really should pay attention to this blog if I'm going to bother to have it. Life has been NUTS. David and I both finished the semester strong. I got 2 - As and a B (Calculus II....grrrr!), but some folks barely passed so I should not complain. I've gone back and forth on getting out of the service or staying in......I'm a fickle one....I KNOW! Poor David has to live with me changing my mind every other second......but today.....today is a FABULOUS DAY! I applied for several positions and got a call last week about a civil service/guard technician position. They asked me to do the phone interview ASAP as the position had been vacant for some time. To make a long story, short, I interviewed this morning and he called me this afternoon to offer me the position.....ummm yayyyyyy! I could not be happier....but holy crap...there is SO MUCH to do! Things to pack....an apartment to find....aaaagh!!!! Off I go....I gotta find someplace to rest my head!!

Life and all that jazz

Life is crazy...but we already know this don't we? I'm not so great at updating this blog but a friend emailed me tonight and said she couldn't leave comments. Hmmm....it says they are enabled. Try again Julie and let me know if it's still not working and I'll get with the computer geniuses to find out what the issue is.

I am ever so busy with work, school and work and school. Did I mention work and school are keeping me busy? LOL! Who has time to plan for a wedding.. I did sort of teach myself how to sew again. It is the first time I've sewn something since I was about 13 years old. Thanks to my sister-in-law who let me borrow her sewing machine I got my 30 foot aisle runner sewn on Saturday. I took the entire day to do it (MISTAKE -- made for a long Sunday of work and homework to do!). I am glad to have it out of the way though. The humorous part was watching me try to thread the thing. It's a good thing she gave me the owners manual with it because I would have NEVER figured it out otherwise Now I just have to find some time to paint it.

Off to bed I go.....Mondays are typically crazy busy and we all know that I am not the most pleasant person w/ little sleep...Ta ta!

P.S. We got our engagement photos back from our photographer. If I forgot to send you the link please email me and I'll forward the link and password to you. They turned out FABULOUS!

What a week!!

What a week it has been!! We've been in MS since Sunday -- we had a TON to finalize this week for the wedding. I think I understand why people hire wedding coordinators. Aaah for us non-rich folk....we get the luxury of doing it ourselves. Maybe in the end it will make me appreciate it more...lol.

Today is our last day....and we get on the road in the AM to head back north. And all I can say is YAYYYY! I love to come to MS and all but there NO PLACE like your own bed, your own living room, your own everything. I miss my stuff. I don't miss the schoolwork I will be catching up on ALL DAY Sunday but hey I guess you can't have it all right. We ended our day today with engagement photos with the most fabulous photographer in the world. Check her out here. No one told me how hard it would be to act intimate with David with a huge ole lense staring you down...haha! She said she thought the photos would be fabulous (well she is taking them I hope they are!). We'll email those close to us the link once she has doctored and uploaded them for us. Honestly....we really could not have picked a better photographer if we had tried. She is wonderful -- if you're ever planning a wedding in the MS/LA/AL area (or anywhere....she WILL travel) ...look her up. And she is not overly priced. We are paying 3300 -- this includes engagement photos, 6 hours of photography on our wedding day, a graphi (italian made) coffee table book with 60 of our fav photos and a 16x20 canvas print framed AND all of the copyrights to both our wedding and engagement photos. Not bad at all I'd say. We looked at some photographers that started at 5K. While I was not willing to skimp on a photographer since in the end all we will have are memories and photos....I also didn't want to spend two arms and legs to have good photography. I will reiterate again....it was TRULY a perfect fit for us.

Anyhow, we're headed home tomorrow.....much less money in our pockets but we had a great week. Back to the grind for us....bleeeegh!

It's official!

We're going to St. Lucia for our honeymoon!! Yayyyy!!!

Not that there was ever doubt that we were going, but today I purchased the airline tickets for our 7 days in paradise. We absolutely cannot wait....for both wedding and honeymoon.

School is just nuts. I have always like Math -- call me crazy -- but I'm in this Calculus II class now and my professor......argh...my professor. Before I say something unprofessional I'll just say again.....ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!! Music class is a breeze and Management Info Systems isn't too bad (albeit VERY time consuming!!).....which is another reason I'll be glad for August to get here. My leave of absence starts then so I can concentrate solely on school for the next year. I don't know how anyone is a full time student and works full time....I really do think I'd shoot myself if I had to do this long term. I just am trying to keep everything in perspective....it's a means to an end....but it sure feels lousy in the short term. I need SLEEP!!

More Wedding Stuff

Holy cow....August is coming fast....much faster than I anticipated. I sure thought I was on top of things but between work being an absolute NIGHTMARE and my school load increasing tenfold there doesn't seem to be enough minutes in the day to worry about wedding details. Funny I should say that because it didn't seem like I was that behind in my last blog post.

Anyway, we are headed back down to MS next month to finalize LOTS of things....minister, flowers, cakes, music lists...blah blah blah....you get the drift. Either way...while we are there we are getting our engagement photos done. It came as part of the package with our photographer....so you know what that means....it means SHOPPING baby!!!! Of course, NONE of the clothes in my closet will do....no siree...ha!

We went shopping today and here are the two outfits, courtesy of Jcrew.


Here is outfit number 1....Jackie Cardigan, Silk Cami and White Capris (and a long necklace I won't post here)








And Outfit Number 2....a cute dress and a cardigan






I simply LOVE Jcrew and their clothing line.....Banana Republic used to completely be my favorite but JCrew is slowly but surely taking over. Typically I will not buy anything from them unless it's on sale but I made the exception this time. I think it's the first time I've ever bought something full price.....it was.....well painful...good thing it's cute!!

A little bit of baking....

For those of you who know me well you know there is NOTHING I love more than sweet stuff. I mean surely my middle name should have been sugar. I could live off hostess cupcakes and reese's....I mean it! Ha! Of course, as I've gotten older I've had to give up some of the sugar. My girlfriend's would be irritated that I could sit down and eat an entire box of cookies (in high school) and wouldn't gain an ounce. Nowadays if I even think about eating that much sugar I'd probably gain 5lbs just for thinking about it..

I have found a small passion in baking. I was never a big fan of cooking...maybe that was a result of not being close with my mother growing up (she did all of the cooking) although as I get older I find myself enjoying trying new dishes/cooking dinner. Who would have thought?! Anyway, I was in the mood to bake this week but school/work schedules seem to get in the way of baking on the fly....so I had to put it off until this morning....and what did I make?!

I made Maple-Pecan Muffins (courtesy of The Wednesday Chef) and Banana Nut Bread courtesy of my late Grandma Miller . Oh did I mention we like pecans too?! Rarely do I bake something that doesn't have some sort of nut in it....maybe because I'm nutty? LOL...ok that was a lame attempt at a joke...nevermind me.

Anyhow, if you're into the whole baking thing or just the cooking thing....check out the Wednesday Chef's Blog -- the woman is a genius...err fantastic cook/baker. I have borrowed more than one recipe from her and have rarely been disappointed. I haven't tried those Maple-Pecan Muffins just yet.....I'm impatiently waiting for them to cool down....they look divine though.... The banana bread I've been eating for my entire life....mine still never tastes quite like Grandma's but it's a damn close substitute if I can't have her here to bake it for me. Happy Baking y'all!

**Edited to add: Tried the muffins....very v. good...I didn't think it had a huge maple flavor (and I love maple) so I drizzled real maple syrup over the muffin and that made it fabulous!!

A Snow Day.....

Well sort of anyhow. Here in OK they are more like "Ice" days. I seriously need more Mondays like today -- we got released from work at 1130 and then my evening college class was canceled too...um Yayyyyyy! Who could ask for more? Not me! :-)

On a not so fabulous note, Oklahomans do NOT know how to drive in this weather. I'm no expert by any means but when some idiot blows by me going 60mph in this stuff I just shake my head. He'll be the guy rear-ending some innocent family who was driving appropriately. I was sliding all over the place and I was driving 25mph. There will be two things that I most definitely will not miss when I leave this place....the drivers and the friekin WIND. OK should rename themselves as "The Windy State" because it's windy as hell here!

Back to School!

It was my first week back to school....I was initially quite excited. Maybe I should rephrase -- who loves to study (not me!) -- I was ready to get the show on the road though. The sooner the semester started, the closer I would be to my degree. I've only attended two classes since school started on Tues, 20 Jan and one of my classes is a Monday only class....I'll find out all the fun stuff on that one on Monday.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a Calculus (II) for Business Class and an Understanding Music class as well. I knew in advance that the Calc class was going to require a LOT of my attention. By no means am I an idiot in Math, I got As in both Algebra and Calc I, but I also know that I don't have a photographic memory and it requires lots of studying. Okay, I can live with that! After chatting with a friend who also got her degree from OU, I was looking forward to the ease of my Understanding Music class. It was an elective so I figured "How hard can it be?" Okay....well maybe you should scope out the professor before you sign up for the class. My professor is a PhD student and since she has to do tons of work for her dissertation, she thinks us undergrads need to do it too. Seriously, I have to attend 3 classical concerts and write papers on them.....*sigh*....I can't drop the class since it was the only one that fit into my schedule with work. I'll suck it up and do it but so much for the easy peasy class. I really shouldn't complain, it could be so much worse.....I could be working full time and a full time student....oh wait....never mind! LOL!

On a different note, wedding planning is coming along just fine. David and I were in a bit of a pickle about finding an officiant. We're getting married in MS, but don't know any pastors since neither of us are very religious and we don't live in MS. David's uncle has an old friend who is a retired minister who said he would be happy to do it! Yayy! We found our cake folks -- you can check her out here. We asked them to send samples and they sent us 3 six inch, two layer cakes in the flavors we selected! We just about died they were so good! I don't know that it was very diet friendly.....aaaah well....can't do it all right, can we? And we've found our musicians -- rather than hire a band/DJ -- we decided to go with a String Duet -- they will do all ceremony music and will be at the reception for 3 hours. We're happy....most things are wrapped up....we drive home on spring break to finalize items, menus, seating and get our engagement photos done. We'll post those on here (and send to family) since we opted to purchase the rights to the photos from our photographer. You can check our photographer here
We simply love her!

Weight Watchers What?!

I started my New Year's with the devout resolution of losing weight. I decided to go with Weight Watcher's since I had heard that people had so much success with it -- I didn't want something faddish (Atkins, South Beach, etc). I love bread too much to give up carbs. I would truly never EVER do a diet if it told me I had to give up carbs for more than about a day. I just can't do it....or maybe it's just I won't do it...hehe.

Anyhow, I started WW about two weeks ago and lost 1.5 lbs my first week. I wasn't as faithful about tracking points as I should have. I told myself that I was busy but that I would do better the following week (right!). So I start week two and don't seem to be doing any better. I didn't opt to attend meetings because there is just something about sitting around with a bunch of folks who want to lose weight that freaks me out of a little bit. It makes me want to start singing "Kumbayah my Lord..." or something fantastic like that. A few days ago I decided to stop procrastinating (and I'm the QUEEN!) and truly start tracking my points......what I found completely turned me OFF from WW. WW told me when I signed up that I could eat 21 pts a day worth of food to get to my goal weight.

On Day 1 of truly tracking my food here is what I ate from Breakfast through Lunch:

Breakfast: Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Granola Bar - Peanut, 2

Snack: Special K Snack Bar

Lunch: Turkey Burger w/ slice of onion, 2/3 piece of cheese, 1 tsp (yes a tsp!) of low fat mayo
1 serving of Baked Lays (plain variety) on an onion bun

After inputting all of this into the WW database (it calculates pts for you based on specific brands/items), it told me that I had used 20.5 pts. Ummmmmm.....whhhhaaaaaaat?! I thought that cannot be possible -- it wasn't like I went to Wendy's and got a hamburger......I ate a damn turkey burger for crying out loud!! I thought well maybe I put something in wrong so I went back to double check what I had input -- I didn't make a mistake. They say I really used 20.5 pts. So I thought, well this isn't going to work and thought maybe I needed to calculate calories as opposed to points. I calculate the calories for the above two meals (breakfast & lunch) and I had consumed 967 calories. WW cannot really say that it is safe or healthy to consume 967 calories a day to lose weight. I went to several other websites to see what my caloric intake should be with a moderate level of activity (I exercise 3-5 days a week depending on how late I'm at work) and it said I needed 2100 calories a day to MAINTAIN my current weight (155lbs). They said to lose weight I should cut calories to approximately 1500 per day (w/ maintaining my current activity level). Now THAT'S more like it!!

I joined www.my-calorie-counter.com -- it was FREE (yay!) and you can input entire recipes and it will tell you total calories, fat content, sugar, protein, etc etc. You just don't realize how many calories you unknowingly eat everyday --- I've tracked my calories for the last 3 days (like a Nazi...lol) and have done amazingly well at keeping my fat content low and calories just under 1500 per day. Bye Bye WW, Hello Calorie Counting!!

P.S. No hatemail from WW fans please, to each his own for diet remedies....I just prefer not to starve!

OU and parking crap!

As most of you know -- I start the last leg of my work towards my Bachelors degree in a couple of weeks. There's nothing I enjoy more than working full time and having a full load (13 hours) of college too. Who needs a life anyway, right? I have mixed feelings about it all really. I'm so ready for it to be over -- trudge through the 18 months and just get it out of the way, but on the other hand I think....18 months is a long time to do nothing besides study, work a full time job, oh and did I mention study?!

I had to go down to the campus today to finalize paperwork, get another lovely ID to tote around (I think I'm up to 5 now between military ID, student IDs and license...sheesh!) I also had to get a parking permit. I just about choked when he said it was $97.....$97 frieking dollars for a parking permit for every frieking semester?! I sure miss the junior college that I attended....parking was $5. That is DEFINITELY more my speed..ha! But what is even more ridiculous to me....is the reserved parking. I will pay $97 (per semester) and have to spend 30 minutes a day looking for a parking spot that's probably 2 miles from my closest class. If you're crazy enough, you can pay $889 for a reserved parking spot for the year. Um.....HELL NO I'm not spending that kind of money.....FOR A PARKING SPOT?! You have got to be kidding me!

Oh well...that's my rant for today...$100 parking permits....what an exciting life I lead right?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year y'all! I hope 2009 brings you all that you wish for!