Done with Finals! FOREVER!

So fall semester is officially done. My requirements for my degree are (almost) done. The classes that will require finals? DONE. No more finals for me. Forever.

FOR-EV-ERRRRRR!!!!

What? Pinkie Pie says it best :)

Things that have changed in the last... 4 months? 

• I'm officially switching from a Master's to a PhD. :) 
• A result of: wanting a PhD eventually and finally figuring out what I want to do and being able to tailor my current project to that ideal. SCORE!

• I will be teaching again next semester. DQ's Marine Botany lab!
• Apparently I'm next in the rotation of DQ's grad students to teach the lab portion of her class. The nice thing is that I won't have to do all of the grading by myself!

• My wedding dress came in and I went for my fitting and supposedly the alterations are done. Woo!
• I was asked if I wanted to wait for the alterations to be done at a later date. I said no. The sooner things can get checked off of my list, the better!

• Lots of wedding details are coming together, thankfully. Trying to get as much done as possible.
• The dress... the tuxes... figuring out the favors... making my veil... the schedule... wedding party gifts, toasting flutes and cake serving set, and staying within budget! That was a very happy order.

• The guest list is by far the worst part of wedding planning.
• I don't think I've said a truer statement.

• Dissertation proposal still not written, but that's my assignment for myself next semester. Oh and taking quals. 
• :-/

I think things are falling into place very nicely! We're leaving for California for the holidays next week (SO. STOKED.) and I actually get to see my hun bun for an entire TWO WEEKS. That hasn't happened since this summer! 

Christmas gifts this year are rather small. While we don't have to pay for the wedding anymore (still feeling the blessings of an amazing family, bee-tee-dubs), we're still kinda in the not-able-to-afford-lavish-gifts income bracket. Sticking to small gifts for the immediate family and baked goodies for everyone else this year. Apparently my gingerbread cookies are a hit! The tin that I brought for my lab mates yesterday was hoovered by the end of the day. The only issue is figuring out how to get baked goodies to the family in California since we're flying instead of driving this year. 

And you know? I keep getting asked by family members what I want for Christmas this year. And while there are things that I wouldn't mind getting, I can honestly say that I'm good without gifts this year. All I want is to spend time with family that I haven't seen in a year, and my wedding is still happening. I'm good. No. I'm GREAT. 

Happy holidays, everyone :)

Well, Hello Again.

Many apologies for the long hiatus on posting. I know you all have been DYING to know what I've been up to since my last post. A quick summary of happenings of the past few months:

I have...

*...moved to Houston.

*...traveled to San Francisco to visit future sister-in-law and get wedding details arranged (all successes!)

*...bought my wedding dress. (*squee!*)

*...started working as a graduate research assistant at the Galveston A&M campus. The new Ocean and Coastal Studies Building is SO PRETTY. I'll have to take pictures and post next time.

*...been on a research cruise out in the Gulf of Mexico (and will be doing so again next week!).

*...been reading for my thesis proposal (I was supposed to have it written by the end of summer, but there's SO MUCH to read).

*...put up drapes in the living room, dining room and bedroom. So homey and it makes being in the first two rooms a lot more bearable in the morning.

*...made my own hummus.

*...ordered wedding invitations, reply cards, thank you cards, save the dates (all with free envelopes included!) and place cards. I love vistaprint :)

*...taken a day trip to Rice Village.

*...hung out with future sister-in-law for a few days in Houston which included: seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at midnight, a beach day in Galveston, tapas in Rice Village and general laziness.

*...taken part in crazy water month in the lab.

*...tried to go see the Houston Symphony Orchestra perform the Lord of the Rings soundtrack while the movie played on a big screen, but failed. So we improvised and watch the special extended edition at home really loudly instead.

*...dog-sat a vicious demon. No really. He was a vindictive little monster who is no longer welcome in my house.

And that brings us to the present. Right now I'm still reading for my proposal. Well, obviously not right this second, but that's what has been occupying most of my time. Rather, it's more me trying to read for my proposal and really just feeling burned out about it. It's impossible to read or write in a cubicle. It's impossible for me to want to get things done when working at home. So what now? Do I need to take a week-long vacation and come back to it? To take a vacation would require going somewhere and spending money that I don't have. I've been working from home for two days and being stuck inside is driving me insane. I suppose I'm at an impasse. I leave for a cruise on Monday, and will come back the following Tuesday, which leaves a week and a half until school starts. Do I really want to start the school year feeling burned out? Not really. I only have 2 real classes plus a seminar and research hours.

Maybe I will take a week off or something. Hopefully that will fix me.

The World is a Vampire

I have Bullet with Butterfly Wings stuck in my head.

First week of school is going well so far. DQ came into CS today, and she came by my office and we chatted for a while. I made sure that my degree plan was okay and submitted it. So one thing off of my checklist. Woo.

First two classes I taught were okay. I had one student not show up to my last class on Wednesday but they were actually responsible and emailed me to say that they were sick with the flu and they can show me a doctor's note if necessary. I said it wasn't (I don't really want to be in the vicinity of someone that just had the flu). But it was nice to have a student that actually took care of their business when they missed class. Just one more class to teach tomorrow morning. I think I have my introduction to the class and webcom down.

In lab we're starting a recycling drive where students can bring in the caps from various bottles (water and soda, laundry detergent, shampoo bottles, gallons of milk, etc). Basically the hard plastic caps that are not allowed in normal plastic recycling bins are being collected, which is awesome because we show in the Nekton/Benthos lab that the main trash found in the stomach of birds and turtles and on beaches are those caps. I'll to bring it up at the TA meeting tomorrow that we could possibly boost the collection by making it competitive between classes. There are about 40 classes every week. I'm not sure what we can legally provide as a prize (remember in elementary school we could get a pizza party for pop tops?), but hopefully that will encourage our students to participate in recycling.

In wedding related news: I found my dress in the College Station mall, for about the same price as I found it for in Glendale. In my overexcited state, I said that I'd be okay to purchase on Saturday. However after talking to my mom, she said that it's too soon, she needs time to save money for it and we still have 16 months until the wedding. The store said that they can get the dress in in approximately 3 months. They don't do alterations, which is fine, I can take it to a seamstress/tailor in Galveston or the Houston area when we move in May. Sigh. I don't know when to order my dress.

*thought*

Maybe I should look in my many bridal magazines and Wedding Planning for Dummies. The Knot says 8 months ahead. I dunno. I feel like whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. It's happened to me in the past.

At least I know what dress I want, right? The hard part is over.



Innnnn other news... Yesterday was George's birthday. I made him peanut butter cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting to take with him into his lab to share. Mainly because I hate peanut butter and chocolate together and we're trying to lose weight, so this way I still got to bake him his special birthday cake, he got to enjoy it, AND we don't have to keep staring at a mound of cupcakes that only he will eat. Everyone wins! I think his lab-mates love me, haha. After classes were over we went over to Terrazzo Wine and Coffee Bar where we had yummy glasses of wine and an appetizer of hummus and pita bread.

Speaking of losing weight. We started an exercise regime where we exercise on MWF in the mornings, mainly by walking around Wolf Pen Creek at an aerobic pace for about 45 minutes and doing some push ups and sit ups or something. Or if it's freezing (like it is right now) we have a bunch of yoga podcasts to warm up in the morning. Sadly though, I hurt the arch of my foot while walking on Monday, so I've been reduced to limping around O&M and the house for the past few days. What's weird is I didn't realize that my foot hurt until Tuesday, when I felt REALLY sore. Now, not so sore, but my foot is being a pain by being in pain. I was hoping to take the bus this week so that we can cut down on gas expenses and also get some of the workout that we used to get before having our own cars.

I really want a balance ball now.

The other reason why I'm confused as to when to order my dress is when I tried on the sample gown at the mall, it was the perfect size for me... a perfect "10" as it were, because that was the size. The combination of that and my jeans being a bit tighter than they used to be spurned the exercise routine. So if I'm trying to lose weight, I should probably wait a few months and see if my measurements are different. Right? Siiiiiigh.


Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.