The [May] Month of Great Change

So not only did I graduate this past month with my final, most awesome degree but I have since moved to a new place and am about to start a brand new job.  It was quite the crazy last few weeks.  So let’s start close to the beginning, shall we?

First off, I had to say good bye to everyone amid packing up the entire apartment.  I don’t know about you all but packing up everything in your life is incredibly displacing and uncomfortable.  Not to mention busy, chaotic, and just downright messy as all else.  It is definitely one of my least favorite things, ever. 

Saying goodbye, or see you later as the case may be, to people you love and have spent so long around, is difficult.  I think it almost made it worse too because I didn’t just have one party where I said “so long” to everyone in the same night.  I took the draw-it-out path and had individual dinners and things with those important people.  While this gave me a chance to hang out with everyone individually, it meant that I had to suck up the tears multiple times before leaving behind my life there.

Never-the-less, these people were worth it, and I’ll miss them terribly!  They’ve all been such an integral part of my life these last seven years.  But, I’m sure there will be new friends and new things waiting for me here in my new city.  Never to replace the old, just to add on the new.

By the end of the month, the 24th, it was time to actually move.  We had a rocky start to the 23rd, the pack-the-truck day.  Budget Truck Rentals called me to tell me that they simply didn’t have a truck for my reservation.  I’m sorry, what?  What the heck is a reservation for?!?!  The only silver lining to this was that they called me a half hour before the pick-up time, rather than having us go all the way there to find out there wasn’t a truck waiting for us.  We managed to find another truck, thanks to the lovely people at Penske. 

We packed things up in the truck, with many thanks due to Jack and a new friend Eric.  I treated them to lunch in exchange.  Jack and I then returned to clean our way through the apartment before handing in the keys.  Sadly this took even longer than it took to pack the whole place up!  How crazy is that.  Thankfully, Jack’s mom came to help us out.  Couldn’t have done it without her.  After that, we were more than hungry so we met up with another friend and indulged in some great Greek food as my last meal before leaving.

I had some delicious vegetarian sampler plate, some of the flaming cheese, and a piece of the best baklava ever.  And with this food baby in my belly, we slept it off and woke up bright and early for the move day.  Jack and I made the entire move in one day and by the time we got here and unloaded everything, we were completely wiped.

The mess was just unbearable so we left and got food.  We went to a recommended pizza place and immediately sat down to order waters and a cream cheese pesto dip.

Then we had some drinks and a bacon cheeseburger pizza.  And yes, it was as incredible as it sounded.  Seriously delicious.

When we returned thankfully we had already made the bed so we could crash immediately.  No joke, if you do one thing the day you move, make your bed.  You will be ever grateful to yourself and your forethought.

The rest of the weekend was spent unpacking and getting things that I had determined to simply buy new on the other end.  I managed to get the entire apartment unpacked in a single day.  Sunday was a full 8 hours of work but it was nice to finally have everything done.  This cause for celebration meant another night out.  We headed to a local stellar burger joint and ordered a bunch of yummies.

I had the andouille chicken sausage burger with watercress, blue cheese, and onions.  Jack had a burger with a parmesan crisp and a fried green tomato.  On the side was a trio of sweet potato fries (with herbs and brown sugar….amazing!), truffle tater tots, and ridiculous onion rings.  The whole meal was insanely good but we decided shakes would make it better.

And my peanut butter marshmallow one certainly did.  And again, nursing food babies, we went back home and crashed again.  We were so tired from all the unpacking and stuff.  Moving just takes it out of you!  Also, Jack was kind of getting over a sickness (which he eventually gave to me and I haven’t stopped sniffling since) so that didn’t help either.

But, in the end, we were finished.  And I am moved.  And the rest of the adventure was (and is still) just getting started.  In other news, Memorial Day also turned out to be a pretty stellar day.  More on that in another post though, probably tomorrow.  Believe me, it’s a sparkly surprise.  =D

Questions: How do you get through moving?
Where do you get your recommendations for places to eat in a new city?

Gone But Not Forgotten

Hello group!  It’s been over a month since I’ve blogged and I’m sorry for that.  I have been incredibly busy doing a million and seven things getting ready to graduate.  Here’s a brief recap of some stuff off the top of my head:

1) Job stuff is coming along awesome.  There may be an announcement soon.  No promises but I’m on the edge of my seat!  (Been looking pretty cute on interviews too.)

2) I see my absolute last patient as a student today.  I can’t believe I’ve made it through 15 weeks of  prenatal counseling and a whole year of other types of counseling.  This schooling has been some of the toughest I’ve ever endured but I know I couldn’t be a counselor without it.  I am ever grateful for the experience.  No matter how many times I griped…

3) With all this emotion going around (finishing up school, getting ready to graduate for the last time, trying to find a job, balancing school work, taking [and acing] a cumulative exam, etc. –> you get the picture) it is amazing how easily I am reduced to tears now-a-days.

4) I made a new friend recently.  Maybe I’ll introduce you to him soon.  This may depend on the results of #1.

5) Salads and I have been really close lately.

6) Besides #2, the only thing that stands between me and my graduation is finals week.  I have two: one on Monday and one on Tuesday.

7) Thanks to my awesome boyfriend, I have been enjoying massages to keep me sane these past couple of weeks.  Oh he is good to me.

8) Speaking of Jack, we went to a Thunder this year and saw some incredible fireworks.  What a nice day to relax and take a break.

9) I've been studying in my pajamas a lot recently.

10) I got a cute new purse that I absolutely love!  Cute orange crossbody.

In short, it’s been nuts.  I hope to blog more soon as school wraps up and I graduate.  From there I think big things will be happening.  I definitely want to keep tabs on those for you!  Have a super weekend everyone and I’ll catch you soon.

Questions: How has your month of April been?
What are your plans for the weekend?

2013–The Year of Change

First off, I’m so sorry I haven’t been around.  The last weeks of the holiday season were incredibly packed with traveling, family time, cooking, gift exchanging, and much needed relaxation.  As such I was less than inclined to blog but I’m back, at least for a bit.  I do warn you that this upcoming semester, my LAST!, is going to be my hardest yet and as such, I’m might be a bit sparse on the blogging front.  I think it really depends on how under control I feel while learning the ropes of each new clinic site.  I have three this semester and I’ve heard they’re all pretty different from one another.  Should be challenging.

Anyways, I figured I’d do a quick recap of some of the Christmas season and New Years time before starting work on some more academic things like my thesis/project presentation.  My holiday break started with a brunch visit with my 6-months-pregnant cousin.  It was so great to see her and catch up before she moves to Germany because her husband is being stationed overseas.

Next up, Jack and I were at my parents’ home from Christmas.  We spent a bunch of time opening presents on Xmas morning after a wonderful brunch of potato waffles and bacon.  My favorite gift of the day: a college quilt made for me by my mother.

Tasha decided she liked it too and decided to photobomb all attempts to capture the gorgeousness of my quilt.  Oh well, she’s pretty cute too.  Another favorite: my Christmas bling from Jack.  Beautiful.

A bunch more presents later, including clothes, tablets, and some interesting family art, we wrapped things up only to go downstairs and realize the sump pump had failed.  Our basement was soaked.  Oi, what a lovely morning.

Most the entire day was spent recovering from the water leakage but thankfully things slowed enough that we could actually sit down for dinner.  The night previous I had made some homemade noodles which we cooked in veggie broth when the time came.

Let’s just say they were entirely awesome.  We ate them with some mustard rubbed ham and a carrot, pineapple, apple, and cranberry honey salad.  Delicious night.  We also put away a fair number of bottles of wine.  Dessert came in the form of raspberry and apple pies with creamy vanilla ice cream.  The family had gotten some cute gelato dishes as a present so we playfully tipped one over and sent a picture to the people we got them from stating “This is how you’re supposed to use them right?”  It was pretty funny.

The rest of break was less eventful, which if that means no flooding…I’ll take it, and we finished off the week with my parents at their favorite restaurant.  I had the shrimp and lobster mac and cheese and it was incredible.

Most interesting part: those little spikes you see are actually deep fried raw pasta that are then tossed in parmesan.  Very interesting touch.  I ate one and left the other though, sometimes raw pasta is just a bit awkward.  Seriously though, terribly good meal.  The next day Jack and I headed out early so we could make it to our friends’ wedding.  Two of our swing friends tied the knot and, as the groom so bluntly put it, “we wouldn’t be here without you [meaning me]”.  Let’s just say that I played matchmaker for these two.

It was incredible to watch them grow.  They also had some yummy angel food cake available.  You know how I love my cake!

Super personal touch: the tea, coffee, and hot chocolate bar complete with adorable personalized guards for the cups.  We thought this was just adorable.

All in all, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time.  We even got to teach a swing dance lesson while the bride and groom were taking their pictures.  Honored to say the least.

The day after the wedding, Jack and I played host to some of our good friends, Tom and Liz (who wed a bit over a year ago).  I decided on a make-your-own-calzone bar after manchego-stuffed-bacon-wrapped-date appetizers.

We were up past midnight playing games and chatting.  We haven’t seen them in a while so the conversations were long overdue.  Next up, New Years Eve arrived and Jack and I decided to stick close to home and attend a Black, White, and Red party at one of my classmate’s apartments. 

We had a stellar time.  We brought food to share as well as some sparkling wine.  Pretty sure the whole party when through a ridiculous amount of wine bottles by the end of the night.  There was even some intoxicated MarioKarting by one in the morning.  Admittedly, the most incredible moment happened embarrassingly late in the night, or rather early in the morning.  I was creeping on Facebook and there it was, Jack’s brother proposed to his long time girlfriend on NYE in Paris!!!  We were so excited.  We immediately cheers to them and posted congrats on their profiles.

This was a long time and coming and we couldn’t be happier.  I can’t wait to watch the whole event take shape.  It’s going to be awesome.  So, as you can see, it was eventful and crazy and happy all the same.  Now is the time where I thought I would discuss NYE resolutions and plans for this upcoming year of great change.  After dropping my NYE resolutions of last year around the six month mark, darn it, I decided perhaps this year wouldn’t start off with resolutions per say.  I still want to establish a healthy relationship with food and, as cliché as it is, I would really love to lose my 2012 weight by the time graduation rolls around in May.

Speaking of which, can you believe it?? I’m graduating for the final time in just four and a half short months.  Oh my gosh!  I think that’s hands-down the biggest change coming up.  Graduation = finding a job = maybe moving (something which makes me kind of nervous).  I have been applying to positions around the country but I would really love to stick around Jack if at all possible.  The bottom line remains though: I need to be employed after graduation.  I have loans that need to be paid.  I will try and keep you updated about the job process as much as I can over the coming months.  I have a feeling its going to ramp up any day now.

Well, this post became about five times the size I thought it would.  However, it felt nice to write after a while of being gone.  In the spirit of regular food photos fairly typical of this blog, I’ll leave you with some pictures from yesterday’s Noodles & Company lunch and homemade dinner (actually eaten at the dining room table without the TV going…how odd, haha).

Questions: How was your holiday season?
Have you made NYE resolutions?