School

This week was my first week back to school after winter break.  I am now officially stressed. I will be working harder this semester than ever before and I'm starting to panic.  I have a total of almost 70 pages in papers I have to write and it's all a little much.  I will read anything assigned to me, but I HATE writing papers.  I'm not good at it and it takes me forever.  Needless to say, this should be an interesting semester.  I hope I can pull off straight A's again.  My goal is to graduate with at least a 3.5 GPA and this semester will make or break that.  Good Luck to me!  Hopefully I can find time to relax during the moments/days when I am about to lose it from the stress.  I'll definitely need to plan out the next 4 months of my life...Here we go.

Money, Money, Money

I really need a job.  I also really hate looking for jobs so that's a problem... I love working and feeling productive but I lack the motivation to actually find a job.  I have to suck it up though and start looking and applying.

I want to buy a bow and a camera but the total price for the two is going to be around $1,000.  So I definitely need to job to start saving up.  More importantly than the bow, is the camera.  I have wanted a nice camera for a long time and I finally found one I want.  A Canon Rebel T2i.  It's $699 and comes with a bunch of accessories.  I can't wait until I can afford it! I love taking pictures and hopefully the pictures from this camera will be wonderful! :)  I'm excited about the bow too!  Kyle and I will hopefully be getting into archery and it will be a really fun thing to do as a couple.  He really wants a compound bow and spends his free time online looking for the perfect one.  Goof.  At first I wanted a compound bow but now I'm leaning toward a recurve bow.  We'll learn on recurve bows so that will help me decide for sure.  Either way, I'm really excited.

So, long story short... I need a job so I can buy nice things. :)

The Past Week

This past week has been rather boring but I'll post this anyway.

-Monday I was sick so that wasn't much fun and I didn't do anything but sit at home.

-Tuesday was more exciting.  My sister and I met my mom for lunch at Olive Garden and then went shopping afterward.  That night I went to Taco Tuesday with Kyle at Z Cafe which was delicious, as always.  This was also the first day of exercising and it felt great to be moving around again.

Nattie, my mom, and I!

-Wednesday morning I woke up and spent the better part of the morning talking about life with my mom.  I always enjoy talking to her and with everyone's busy schedules I don't get as much time with her as I would like.  I also started knitting again.  I'm working on a black scarf currently.  My next project is going to be a baby blanket for my friend Liz, but I can't start it until I know the sex of her baby (which she should find out next week!).  I also worked out that night as well, despite the fact that I was super sore from the previous night's workout. :)

-Thursday Kyle signed the two of us up for archery lessons and I'm so excited!!! I've always wanted to learn how to use a bow and now I'll get the chance! It also gives the two of us a fun couple activity!

-Friday Kyle was so excited about the archery lesson that he wanted to go visit an archery shop to see what they had to offer.  Because we know nothing about archery, it wasn't a surprise that we only spent like 10 minutes in the store but it was still cool to see bows and talk to people who knew what they were doing.  After the archery shop we decided to go to the beach and walk along the pier.  We were hungry by the time we got there so we stopped at Dairy Queen to get some fries and a blizzard and then walked to the pier.  It was a gorgeous day, but a little on the chilly side so we only walked to the end of the pier and back.  Here are some pictures I took:

Look how gorgeous it was!

View from the end of the pier.

First shadow picture we ever took...and apparently we're giants.

Nothing but blue skies!

 -Saturday I went shopping with my mom.  We didn't really buy much but it was fun to spend the day with her.  We did get some small decorations to add to my room though.

Found the vase at Pier 1 and the flowers at Michael's.

 

The flower and vase are both from Michael's.

-Sunday I ran some errands with my mom and hung out at home reading.  We made beef stew for dinner and as always was delicious!

After we added everything! It was so yummy. :)

So, not a very exciting week but I think I'll miss lazy weeks like this once I start school a week from today!

Sea World

As my Christmas present this year Kyle took me to Sea World.  I kept telling him how much I wanted to see the snow and apparently Sea World had a Snow Day type thing going on so this was his way of getting me to the snow. :)  They also had a deal going on where you paid for the day and got in for the rest of the year for free which we will definitely take advantage of.  Here are some pictures from our fun day!

Sleeping polar bears. :)

Kyle's impression of a polar bear?...

Beluga whales!

Friendly Sea Lion begging for food.

Having fun!

Chillin' with Mr. Snowman.

Picking Mr. Snowman's nose...

Turtle!

We had such a fun day and I can't wait to use our passes more this year!

A Little About Me

Where to begin…

I love my family.  I feel so lucky to have grown up in such a loving family.  My mom and dad have been happily married for 30 years.  I have a sister who is 16 months younger than me and while we don’t always get along, I know without a doubt that she will always be there for me and I will always be there for her. My mom is one of ten and I love her family to death.  They are crazy and silly and so wonderful.  My dad’s parents are both doctors and in their free time have traveled the world.  Every year my family spends time in New York in our house on Lake Ontario and I look forward to it every year.

Sunset view from our house in New York

I love to travel. I’ve been to about 40 of the 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.  I’ve been to both Canada and Mexico. I really want to spend some time in Ireland.  I would love to step foot on every continent.

I love to learn. If I could spend the rest of my life in school I would.  I’m fascinated by so many different subjects: Psychology, Biology, Math, Anthropology, Astronomy, Foreign Languages, History, Political Science, Chemistry, Zoology, Photography, Theater, Interior Design, Computer Science… The list goes on and on.  My bookshelves are full of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other books of knowledge.

I love music.  Music is beautiful to me.  I can’t imagine a life without it and am in awe of those who create it. 

I love nature.  I am most relaxed and at peace when surrounded by nature.  This is one of the reasons I love camping so much.  I also enjoy hiking and bike riding.  I’ve been sky-diving and I am a certified scuba-diver.  On my final dive to get certified I swam with sea turtles and it was the most amazing experience. 

Lake Morena Camping trip

I love Kyle.  We have been dating for 5 years and 7 months as of today.  I fall in love with him more every day.  He can always make me smile and I feel at home in his arms.  He means the world to me.

5 year anniversary

New Year's Resolutions

I figured my first post of the year should be my resolutions for the new year:

1. Get My Degree: If all goes according to plan I will be done with school after the fall semester.
2. Get in Shape: Last year I joined Weight Watchers and have lost 27 pounds so far.  This year, now that I am back to a weight I feel comfortable with, I want to get in shape and tone my muscles.
3. Blog: I've never had a blog before so we'll see how this works.  My goal is to post once a week about my life.
4. Have Fun!

Okay, well I think that takes care of things.  Hopefully I'll have fun stuff to talk about next week!