Just Breathe.

Holy smokes, it's been 8 days since my last post. And what a crazy-whirl wind-nonstop-emotional-challenging-awesome-exciting-big mix of emotions it has been in 8 days! This semester is definitely going to challenge me....not so much in the classroom (whew!) but definitely outside of it. I have officially started my new position at the hospital so along with that, I am still teaching two discussion sections, working at the rec center, trying to teach Paisley new tricks, make crafts/gifts/decorations for the wedding and trying to keep up with Jordan's hectic schedule and also keep our relationship fun and exciting. This is recipe for a five course meal because clearly, just one plate isn't going to cut it. Thankfully, I have become obsessed with excel and already have all of my obligations for school and work stuff scheduled in on each day and of course, color coded. And I have weekends and specific nights marked as NOTHING NIGHT. As in, we're doing absolutely NOTHING school-work-wedding related. Just lounging. And watching movies or playing games or whatever we wanna do damn it! Because we can and we should! It's healthy! 


Besides school and work somewhat taking over my life the past week...although, starting next week it'll really amp it up when I start to juggle working 34 hours on top of my own classes and teaching two. I'll report back later how that goes. I just need to remember to breathe and tell myself that it will all be worth it. Anyway, the best part of January is that all of the fall shows are finally starting up again after their long winter breaks. I have never understood that anyway. Why do they always do that to us as viewers, get us engaged and on the edge of our seats then take a 2 month long break?! Dude, ABC and NBC producers, if you need some creative writers and some new ideas, I'd be more than happy to share my thoughts with you. Anyway, enough of that. I don't even know why I'm complaining because obviously I waited the 2 months and am still going to watch all the new episodes as if they didn't just ignore us! 


Paisley had to make another trip to the vet's office today. She went under the knife and got fixed and more shots. And she also took a huuuge crap right in the front office on their welcome mat. Basically saying, "you're gonna cut me open today? I'm gonna shit on your floor, jerks." At least, that's what I'd like to think she'd say if she could talk. I could just tell by the way she looked at me that she knew I was leaving her there. Seriously, the puppy dog look?? It's A MILLION TIMES WORSE when it's a real puppy giving it to you!!!! I held her on my lap and kissed and cuddled her for as long as I could until the vet assistant was ready to take her back. Ironically, she wasn't as happy about this visit. It's like she knew that going in the door on the other side of the office didn't just mean some quick shots and lots of treats. Poor Paisley. She kept looking back at me as she was getting  taken to the back room so I had to leave before I lost it. And duh, of course I shed a few tears on my drive back home. Because I'm a paranoid freak about stuff like this. What if she doesn't wake up? What if she has a bad reaction? What if she gets a bad infection? My mind was going crazy all  morning until they called and said she was waking up and recovering just fine. Ahhh what a relief! So we picked her up at 4:00 and she has been cuddled up on her pillow snoozing away ever since. She has been wagging her tail at least but damn, she just looks so sad and in pain. I'm so thankful our vet sent her home with pain meds to take over the next 5 days. Hopefully, she'll bounce back sooner than later!

And that's just the beginning of the endless thoughts and ideas that are constantly running through my head! It's no wonder that I have bizarre and off the wall dreams and can't ever sleep a whole night through! Just never know what you'll get in this crazy life of ours! But it's a journey that I'm glad to be on and wouldn't trade it with anyone else! 

And so it begins...

Well, the second semester is officially underway. And with two days in, it has already been quite the whirlwind of events. And of course, the two classes I'm taking this semester are in the two formats that I despise of...online and at night. Double Curses!!! Seriously. Oh well I guess, whatever gets the requirements checked off is all that matters to me! I have also been getting ready to start my new job at the children's hospital next week. I don't think I've ever been this excited before just to start a new job! But I know it'll be great and hopefully a good lead in for my future internship and jobs. In the Child Life field, it seems like the biggest part is networking and it comes down to who you know, not what you know. I'm thankful I know the right people. However, I'm not thankful for what all I had to go through today just to start orientation. The hospital requires two TB tests, which yes, that is ridiculous. And why you might ask? Wellllllll obviously, because the first one could just be read wrong and is a "control" to get your body geared up for the 2nd one! Oooh right. Thanks Nurse, because my body was really sad without these two TB tests and now I'm gonna feel all nice and geared up after having both. Wow. I have a better idea....um how about you read the TB results right the first time so not everyone has to do a second one?! There. Boom, problem solved. Anyway, since I'll be in the children's hospital, I also had to get a flu shot and tDAP shot (it's a combined tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine for all of you non-medicine people) and on top of that, my blood drawn to test for chicken pox antibodies! Which, if you're following along, that totals up to 4 pokes. I may be 24 but that doesn't mean I have to be okay with getting 4 pokes in one day...in a 30 minute time frame and two in each arm. This, I am not ok with at all. And no, your Muppet Character bandaids didn't make it hurt any less but nice try. Needless to say, I left the clinic with my arms feeling lifeless and slightly throbbing. You know when Ace Ventura got hit with the tranquilizer dart and his arms were just flailing around and he couldn't lift them? Yeah, that's how mine felt.

Now that I'm finally starting to have feeling again in my arms, turns out my biceps and shoulders are feeling pretty sore. Why must vaccines make your arms all achey and then your whole body starts feeling it?? And on top of it, I've already been fever-ish with a wicked sore throat and a nasty head cold over the past few days. I haven't had strep yet at all this winter season so maybe my body is finally caving in. Big bummer. Good thing the weekend is in the near future! But better yet, good thing my bed is even closer right now. One week in and I'm already exhausted. I need to start mentally preparing for next week when I have to work 30+ hours a week, do my own class stuff and teach all the newbies about health. Yikes. Since Jordan is playing Call of Duty (ugh, don't even get me started about that) I think I'll mentally prepare by snuggling up with Paisley and watch The Lion King in bed! I knew that 5 week break would catch up to me eventually....

the end is near

Well, the end of break is finally in sight. And now I'm suddenly realizing just how much I didn't get done over break. And I'm perfectly ok with this. Because there's not too many days that I can spend posted up on the couch with Jordan and watch an entire season of Dexter...or when I can sleep til 10:30 or 11:00 (if my body even lets me)...or do some laundry and cleaning between napping and cuddling with Paisley. But I am ready for school to get started. I'm actually feeling really prepared for this semester. I even have my books bought and one lesson done already for my online class. What's happening to me? I think the biggest nerd I know my sister is starting to rub off on me. Not like I'm complaining, clearly it's paid off for both of us to be nerds. Literally. Schools love us and are PAYING us to be students. What's up to no more student loans?? Booyahhh.


To cap off break, I decided that tomorrow I'm giving myself a spa day. And I'm telling myself that I deserve it and since I have Christmas money, that means it should be used for a special treat. I love the feeling of a fresh hair cut, highlights and a mani! I gotta look good at the start of the semester to impress the kids in my class. Don't want them to think I'm some greasy, broke and sloppy TA that they have. Obviously, I am none of the above even without the spa day. But who doesn't feel better about themselves knowing they're nicely put together? I rest my case.


In other news, we finally got some snow here. Puke. Seriously, I was perfectly happy and content with having no snow yet. I could have went all winter without it! It's like snow hits the pavement and suddenly people are like, "ooh driving, what is this crazy metal box with wheels that I have gotten myself into? Brakes? What do you mean I need to tap on my brakes in the snow and ice?" Some people's driving in the snow/winter conditions ends up driving me fucking nuts. Unless you're going to work or have an emergency, get off the roads people. Go back home, get some movies lined up and be a bum all day. And then order delivery pizza like we did because we're not driving out in this weather and afterall, that's their job...right? 


Jordan is finally on the second book of The Hunger Games Trilogy, thank god. I feel like we're in a two-man book club because we discuss it each night before we go to bed. Then I turn on a movie or go to sleep and tell him that he has to keep reading so we can talk about it more. I wonder if our kids will just keep reading like that when I tell them to? I hope that they love reading as much as I do or even if they're big closet readers like Jordan, I'll be happy with that as well. Speaking of reading and watching a movie in bed, looks like it's that time of night to shower and get in bed to talk about The Hunger Games some more and our weekend plans. I wonder what kind of adventures we'll get into this time...cheers to the weekend and Happy Friday!!! 

fruit ninja

There is finally one thing that we have discovered that I am better than Jordan at.....and it is.....


FRUIT NINJA!!!!! 


It's a big deal on touch screen phones/iPhones/iPads, yada yada yada. Anyway. It's also a huge deal on the xbox kinect. And it's the bomb. And super addicting. I set the first official "high score" and then Jordan beat it, of course. We literally just kept exchanging high scores more or less and it was not settling well with me. This back and forth high score crap went on for a while and I finally put an end to it tonight. Jordan had the current high score of 588 which set for a day and then some because we were feeling defeated, well just me, and he was feeling pretty comfortable in the lead. Well I channeled my inner ninja, stretched it out, and then entirely dominated. And down right destroyed his score. Boo yah. Or so I thought now that I see he's playing on repeat and clearly will not sleep until he goes to bed with the high score. What is that about guys anyway? They can just never admit defeat, I tell ya.


In other news, we are officially registered at Target!!! Target literally has everything. Jordan and I were like two kids in a candy store walking around with that precious red gun scanning everything our hearts desired. And then we had fun talking and "planning" what we would do with our stuff and how it would look here or there.... But there's really no bigger downer than having people say to you, "well never hurts to dream big because you never know I guess what people might get ya. But I doubt you'll get any of that." Gee, thanks a heap. I think that's the point of a registry....to just give people ideas and we're clearly not realistically expecting everything we put on it. But I mean, if anyone does want to surprise us with that 55" Philips TV, iPad or KitchenAid Mixer, we sure as hell won't turn it down and I promise that you'd get a nice hand-written thank you in return!


Well, another weekend has come and gone. Boo hiss. Two days of sleeping in just isn't fair when I have to wake up at 6:10 every day this week. What a drag. Especially on my last week of break! What a drag times two. Oh well, at least I'll already be on a good sleep schedule for when school starts again so that's one plus to this madness of being up before the sun and dog. Which is totally depressing....is it time for daylight savings yet?!! I hope everyone had a good weekend and starts off the week with a not so Manic Monday!

Paisley & The Vet

Paisley had an appointment today with the vet to get up to date on her shots and have her "puppy wellness exam" to make sure she is healthy and free of any parasites or infections so she can get spayed in two weeks. Her appointment wasn't until 1:30 this afternoon and I woke up at 6:12am and that's the first thing I thought of. Not the fact that I had to work in half an hour but that she had to go to the vet. My poor baby has to go get shots and be manhandled and go crazy from all of the smells there and I really hope they don't have an office cat...... 


Basically, her vet appointment was giving me more anxiety all day than I think Paisley had in the 40 minutes that we were even in the office. She was a pro. I'd even go as far to say that I think she liked it there! She already loves going for car rides so I felt bad like I was tricking her since we weren't just going for a drive but she hopped out at the clinic, sniffed around, and headed straight for the door. Whatever happened to dogs and cats cowering and freezing up before they even get inside? Maybe she's just naive still. Or maybe that's just how awesome she really is. Obviously, she's just that awesome. Anyway, Paisley sat on the scale and laid on the table. LAID ON THE TABLE. And no doctor, I did not give her any sort of calming medicine or treat before we came in. Like I said, she's awesome. But she also loves a good bribe so as soon as the doc and ass (that's short for assistant, in case you didn't know) started to offer treats, then she really showed off. She let them look in her ears, touch her paws, give the shots and only gave a small fight when they had to draw some blood. Oh and to top it off, I had to bring in a "fecal sample" aka I was carrying around a milk dud size piece of shit in a ziplock baggy that had to be tested for worms. Just lovely. Needless to say, we got 100% good news! Paisley left with a mouth full of treats and a clean bill of health and I left without a big chunk of my bank account . I can't complain though. She really is the sweetest pup, the best little spoon and the perfect addition to our lives. 


After some snuggling and resting on the couch, we topped off the rest of our afternoon by enjoying a long and relaxing walk around town. It was almost 60 degrees! In January! IN IOWA! Yep, amazing. Looks like those shots didn't phase her one bit! Now, here's to hoping that when I drop her off when she gets spayed, I spare myself the embarrassment and save the meltdown for the car. And Fergie's hit "Big Girls Don't Cry" better not be on the radio...it gets me every time.

Mom, I can't relax with your camera in my face....

down time

Happy New Year's from (in 214 days!)
The future Mr. & Mrs. Easton :)

Well our New Year's Party was a complete and 100% success.....minus one minor accident. Apparently, I was "standing like a ballerina" and so Jordan tried to mimic how my feet were, leaned towards me for balance which then made me step backwards and I stepped into the corner trim around our floor/wall in the kitchen. And it instantly sliced my heel open. Just split right open. Yep, nasty. Ouch. F bombs were dropped, as well as my drink, and blood pooled on my heel. However, we got it cleaned up and bandaged though and the party went on. As annoyed as I was during the day while I was baking/cooking/cleaning (and watching Jordan play xbox and test out our new surround sound system AKA not helping me at all) I loved having all of our friends there and "hosting" the party. Makes me feel like a real grown up and all like a housewife. Even Paisley loved all of our friends there because she got belly rubs and treat all night like it was her job.


Now that New Year's has come and gone, Jordan is already back at it for school for his J-Term class. Boooo. While I'm still on break until the 17th, yikes. At least I start back at work this week, finally. Jordan and I have spent the past few days on the couch snuggled up with Paisley and alternating between watching the college football bowl games or some new movies that we each got for Christmas. I love our families and our friends but damn, I also love the peace and quiet of it being just the two of us and now that the holidays are over, it's nice to have this time together. I mean, just because we live together, doesn't mean we really get that much down time or "us time" together! And for how stressful and down right upsetting/frustrating/annoying the first few weeks of our engagement were, I'm so happy that we're both back to who WE are as individuals and as a couple. 


I have a lot on my to-do list to accomplish over the next few weeks....it includes finishing our photo guest book, making the table numbers, and finalizing the design for our mailbox-cardbox. As of today, there's 214 days until the wedding and tomorrow will be exactly 7 months! Ahh!!! So happy to have lots of things knocked off the to-do list and I'm ready to tackle this next bunch of crafty DIY's!! Today I also kicked off my own "Bridal Bootcamp" and did my first kettlebell workout. HOLY SHIT!!! People who swear by these babies really weren't lying....my heart was pumping and I was sweating like whoa. I didn't get bored with the workout at all, which is usually my problem so hopefully these DVD's keep me entertained and sweating! I'm constantly paranoid about my dress fitting and have already had a few nightmares about it not zipping up....Jordan laughs about this. And I don't find it funny. one. bit. Hence why I made the resolutions I did: more sweating, less sweet eating.  


Well I hope everyone's New Year's celebrations were wonderful and that 2012 was welcomed with open arms! Hopefully all of those resolutions haven't been given up on already! As for me, guess I better get back to my to-do list for now!