Another Lesson in Trust

Less than a month ago, I wrote about my struggle with trust.

It seems that I needed another lesson. Trusting God in the middle of uncertain times is one of the most difficult things to do. And I've been getting good practice in the past few months!

Going back to school was kind of a big risk for me. I went from having a full-time job and work everyday, to subbing three days a week. Subbing is a little more scary than having a full-time job, simply because you never know how often you're going to be called in. Hopefully it will be a lot, but you never know.

My friend told me a few months ago that this will be a really exciting time in my life because I'm putting myself out there and I really have nothing to fall back on except the Lord. I do believe she's right, but it's kind of scary now that I'm right out in the middle of it with no turning back!

Last night during class, another post-bac student started talking to me about getting in to grad school. The way the program works is that we have to apply to grad-school this semester in order to start the masters program next fall. So the deadlines for things like taking the GRE and finding letters of recommendation and all that fun stuff are coming very quickly.

As if that's not enough stress, this other student told me that she had been talking to one of the professors about how many people apply to the graduate program verses how many people actually get in. And I'm not going to share the numbers because I don't want to panic my family, but WOW. It was a lot : not very many. I've been told that as a post-bac student, and a student at the University of Akron, I probably have a better chance of getting into Akron's program than other people. And there are tons of other schools I plan on applying to as well, but it's still terrifying.

This other student and I talked for a while about the whole situation, and by the end of our conversation, I was in an all-out panic. What if I take (and pay for!) this year of post-bac classes and then can't get into the program? It would be such a waste of time and money! It's all I could think about during my night class, and even on the 45-minute drive home. I started second-guessing my decision to go back to school.

But I know that God has led me to this place, and I know this will sound cliche, but if He led me to it, He will lead me through it. There is no reason for me to waste time worrying when God is in control of it all. I just need to place this situation in His hands, and my trust in Him.

I tried to leave it at that last night. It was a struggle, but I tried to let go of the panic and worry I was feeling.

And then this morning, in my Joyce Meyer's devotional, I received a blessing, reassurance, and peace. It was about John 21 when the disciples fished all night long, but couldn't catch anything. And then Jesus came along and told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat, and when they did, they had so many fish in the net that they couldn't even haul it up into the boat.

After reading that devotion this morning, I realized that I really have nothing to worry about. If this is where God wants me to be, He will put His blessing on this situation. I will get into grad school, and the perfect program for my situation if it is what He wants. And if it's not what He wants, then I won't. And I will be able to make peace with that and move on with my life. If nothing else, I will have learned a lesson in trust.

Throughout this process, everything has been working out pretty well, and I feel blessed. My schedule worked out perfectly so I can sub three days a week, and only have to drive to Akron two. I've made friends in my classes so far and have absolutely loved the content that I'm learning about. I took my first quiz yesterday and I'm pretty sure I aced it! Luke has even gotten all kinds of side jobs this summer and those have helped make ends meet when it comes to buying books and paying all the (outrageous) fees that college students have to pay. I guess what I'm saying is that so far God's blessing seems to be on this. When I first started thinking about going back to school, I prayed that God would open doors or close them according to His will. And so far, all the doors seem to be opening. So hopefully last night is the last time I will ever waste any time worrying about getting into grad school!

What are you worried about today? God would love nothing more than to take care of it for you...you really don't have to waste another second in anxiety.

Retail Therapy

Since I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and since the school where I'll be subbing hadn't started class until this morning, I had a nice 4-day weekend! (And I'll have another one this weekend!!) So when Luke asked if I wanted to go shopping with him and JC at Grove City Outlets on Friday, my answer was, "obviously!" Hello...no tax on clothes in PA!!

As much as I loved my first week of classes, they were a little bit stressful! Okay, a LOT stressful for someone like me who worries about everything under the sun. So some retail therapy was definitely in order.

We literally spent the entire day out shopping. The boys had a great time spending most of their day in stores like the Under Armour and Nike outlets, and I spent most of my time in places like Yankee Candle, Bath and Body Works, and New York & Company.

How cute are they with their matching Under Armour bags? :-P

Speaking of Yankee Candle, since it was an outlet store, most of their scents were older ones, or ones that had been retired. So they were SUPER cheap! I bought a medium-sized jar candle that smelled like mulled cider for just $8! I was so excited. Until we went to the food court to grab some delicious subs for lunch. I just put the bag on the table right beside me, and forgot to pick it up again when we were done eating. I went back about 10 minutes later, but it was gone. It was a sad day :-P

But I cheered myself at Bath and Body Works. I can't say enough good things about their new fall scents! By the way, it made me so happy all day to see displays full of fall merchandise in just about every store we visited:
I loved all the new scents, but my favorite was definitely cranapple crisp. I bought just a small bottle of antibacterial gel, but now I feel totally ready for fall :-)
I guess I looked at this shopping trip as a whole as preparation for fall. I also bought some new jeans and warm tops, and some dark purple leggings. Hopefully I'll be able to get up the guts to wear them!

I really enjoyed this little treat at the end of a stressful week. And I even worked on homework in the car, so I guess I was killing two birds with one stone!

Now that school is back in session, I'm going to be really coveting the weekends. And the first weekend of the school year was definitely a success! It involved our shopping trip, hours of HIMYM watching, a Cleveland Indians game, two family get-togethers, and tonight we're heading out to dinner and an Akron Aeros game with friends. I am so thankful for all these blessings!

Week in Review: Back to School

Highlights:

~Luke and I spent some time with friends (and one very cute baby) on Sunday evening. The guys helped install a speaker system into our friend's car while the girls hung out inside. Pizza and wings were also involved :-)

~Monday was spent shopping and preparing for school starting the next day. And I also had a three-hour visit with my Grandma. It was a nice last day of summer :-)

~On Tuesday the madness began: I started my classes! I know I've only been in class for a week, but I am enjoying it so much!! The first day was a little scary, but I didn't get lost and found a parking spot. Those were the major things I was worried about. I liked all my classes and met a few other post-bac students in the SLP program. We have already formed a study-group, and I'm thankful that I don't feel so alone!

Random and only picture taken during my first day of class. I snapped it on my walk back to my car around 8 PM. I thought I needed something to commemorate the day with :-P

~During my break from class on Tuesday, I spent some time at my sister's house. I'm thankful she let me crash there on my first day, while we made plans for our Etsy shop which will hopefully be a reality sooner than later.

~Wednesday I didn't have class, so Kristin and I hung out all afternoon. We made a homemade pizza together, so that was fun. It turned out pretty good!

~Friday was great! Luke, JC, and I went shopping at Grove City, and then some random places in Boardman too. I think I'm going to be posting more about that on Monday. I was happy to do something fun on the first day of my 4-day weekend! The week was a little stressful just because it was all so new to me. So it was great to let loose a little on Friday.

Had to grab a picture of all the fall stuff at Bath and Body Works! I was so excited that all the stores seemed to have their fall stuff out, even if it is still August!

~Saturday evening was spent at the Indians game for my dad's birthday! We ate at Panera on the way, and then had a great night at Progressive Field. It was beautiful out, and not too hot/not too cold. It was a long game, but the Indians won right at the end, so it was worth it

~I guess I didn't do a whole lot of exciting things last week. But it was a HUGE week for me, and marked the beginning of something I'm so excited about. I guess all summer I knew it was coming, but was a little afraid that something would go wrong and I wouldn't be able to go back to school. I guess it didn't feel real at all until the first day of class. So now that it is real, it's so exciting to me!! And I have to say that I spent pretty much all of my spare time studying and doing homework, and I know this sounds crazy, but I loved it. I have such a peace about what I'm doing, and a passion that I know is only coming from God. He has blessed me so much!! But anyway, I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts, because I know in a few weeks, doing homework will probably lose its luster a bit ;-)

***

Books I'm reading: Still working through UnPlanned by Abby Johnson. I have a feeling my reading is going to slow significantly now that I have so much textbook reading to do!

Songs I'm loving: Love's Lookin' Good on You - Lady Antebellum (I have so enjoyed my time listening to country music BLARING from my car speakers on my 45-minute commute to and from classes!)

Favorite picture:

Luke and JC with their matching bags while we were shopping. They are for sure Bffs! ;-)

Things I'm looking forward to next week: A birthday party for my dad and dinner with Luke's family on Sunday, follow-up appointment with the doctor on Monday where I will hopefully get some meds to help my allergies, Akron Aeros game with friends on Monday night, more classes, and a party on Saturday. Looks like I have a pretty full week ahead of me! I feel so blessed!!

Acting Out

Just a quick post this Friday morning about my two children cats. I set up a study area for myself a few weeks ago where I can do my homework and - naturally - study. Every time I'm working there, the cats start acting out to get attention. Just like children.

Gabby jumps up on the desk and starts randmonly knocking things off of it.

Then she tries to lie down beside me and purrs REALLY loudly, just to distract me, I think :-P

But Gabby's not nearly as bad as Ellie.

Ellie will jump up on the desk and lie down right on top of whatever I'm working on, right in front of my face!Is it the cutest thing ever? Probably. But it sure makes it difficult to study!

My poor cats are probably going to be starved for attention for the next three years...But they're going to have to learn to deal with it!

***

Check out my post today at My Twenties Blog! It's one of my favorites I've written lately:-)

It's Okay Thursday

It's Thursday, so I'm linking up with Neely and Amber

It's okay...

...to spend an entire Saturday afternoon playing Just Dance with a friend.

...to stay up until 1:00 AM playing Chicken Foot on your iPhone...even when you have to get up at 6 for church the following morning.

...to be insanely giddy about getting new textbooks for your first semester back to school!

...to have a legit panic attack when you hear the price of said textbooks.

...to take the scenic route every once in awhile

...to miss your pets when you're away from them at school for 12 hours, 2 days a week.

...and your husband too!

...to start over when you're not happy with a part of your life. It's never too late! Starting school this week has been so exciting, and I'm extremely happy that I've chosen to do something about the fact that I wasn't happy with the path I had chosen!

First Day

I survived my first day of class! And I didn't get lost at all, which was my biggest fear. Here is a quick recap, bullet-point style:

• After the first day, I feel like I am really going to love the field I have chosen. It may be too soon to tell, but this is my gut feeling.
• My favorite class is definitely going to be phonetics, where we forget everything we've learned about spelling and focus only on the sounds in the English language. We are going to learn the IPA - International Phonetic Alphabet, which is an alphabet full of symbols for each and every sound in the English language. I just think it's going to be fun. And I really love the professor.
  
• My most difficult class will definitely be Anatomy & Physiology of speech, language, & hearing. I am taking that class online (because I'm crazy) and also a lab on campus that goes with it. I'm pretty sure all of my spare time is going to be taken up studying for that class.
  
• However, we get to color in A&P, so that's a small consolation.
• And in lab, we are going to be dissecting some pretty gross things, including a pig's mouth/throat area, and a sheep's brain. I'm going to have to get over my queasiness!
• We already dissected a Cornish Hen yesterday and it didn't bother me at all. So I felt pretty tough. I'm going to pretend like it wasn't something that our professor just picked up at Giant Eagle.
  
• My least favorite class is going to be Audiology. In the program I'm in, you can go one of two ways: either the speech pathology route, or the audiology route. And I've chosen the speech route, so audiology isn't as interesting or relevant to me. Plus the professor is pretty boring, and he seems to go off on tangents a lot. Like the 10 minutes he spent talking about earwax yesterday. Which was probably more gross to me than dissecting a sheep's brain.
  

Well, that's about it! Have I sufficiently disgusted you?? I just wanted to make sure I wrote about my first day back since this is such a big change for me. I know I've been writing about school a lot lately, but that's because going back has been such a major part of my life. I'm sure now that I'm back, things will go back to normal around here :-)

Happy Wednesday!

New Chapter

Today is the day! My very first day of classes at The University of Akron!

Are you sick of hearing about it yet? Sorry, I'm just really excited to be a student again! And sort of in disbelief that it's really happening, all at the same time.

Yesterday I spent my day getting ready for classes. I received my first textbook, and I'm so excited to start! I also got all my clothes picked out and packed my lunch in the morning (yes, YESTERDAY morning), because I was just so excited. Sort of like a 5-year-old on her first day of kindergarten.

This is my new lunch bag from Thirty-One! I love it

I also started working yesterday on my two online classes: language science and acquisition and anatomy and physiology of speech, language, and hearing. What a mouthful :-P

And today I will be attending my audiology class, my anatomy and physiology lab, and my phonetics class. Although I only have three classes, it will be a looong day, beginning at 10:00 AM and ending at 8:00 PM. But I have a 4-hour break somewhere in the middle where I plan to visit my sister and eat some lunch. I am really hoping that I don't get lost, because that's really the only thing I'm MAJORLY nervous about. I'm not used to driving around the city! And worrying about finding a place to park!

I'm sure I will be updating tomorrow on how my first day back to school went! Until then...wish me luck! :-)

Couponing Summer Review

It's been awhile since I've written about couponing, so I thought I would share an update today and some advice that I've found to be true.

The month of June was when I really began couponing again. That month since I was just starting out, I was using coupons like crazy, and stocked up on just about anything you could imagine. And since it was such a big month for stocking up on things, we landed right on our budget for that month.

In July, I decided to take another approach: since I had already stocked up so much in June, it was my goal to try to only buy things from the meat, produce, bread, and dairy aisles. Just perishable things that I couldn't buy with a coupon. And this was the best idea I could have ever had. Because when you use coupons, it becomes a little addicting, and there is the temptation there to buy tons of stuff that you don't really need simply because you get a little thrill out of the bargain you receive. In July I pretty much stuck to my goal. I didn't even have to think about buying things like shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, body wash, feminine products, most non-perishable food items, or even a single cleaning product. And that month we came in under budget by $222!!

This month I've gone back to couponing again. However, I haven't gone quite as crazy stocking up on things as I did in June. I'm getting better at knowing which coupons I'll actually use. And also at not buying things JUST because I have a coupon for it. So this month I've continued to build my stockpile, and I'm still $200 under budget with just a week-and-a-half left in the month.

And honestly? It really doesn't take that much time. I'd say all that extra time spent clipping and organizing coupons, and reading the sale ads has been well worth it for the extra hundreds of dollars we've saved in just a few months!

So here's a breakdown of what has worked for us:

~Alternate between using coupons/stocking up one month, and taking a couponing break and using your stockpile the next month. This is how I've saved the most money

~Don't get sucked in by the thrill of finding a good deal. Only use coupons for things you would have bought anyway.

~Try to find your thrill by being way under budget. Not by looking at how much you saved at each individual shopping trip. Because it sounds weird, but you almost get the tendency to buy more, so your savings look bigger when you're at the grocery store.

~Some of your more expensive grocery stores will double coupons up to a certain amount (like Giant Eagle in my area). Because of this and their great sales, I save a lot more money there than I would at someplace like Walmart.

~Shop at a wide variety of places. My main grocery store is Giant Eagle, but I like to shop at Aldi's, Marcs, and even Family Dollar too. I really watch the sale ads, and just shop wherever I can get things the cheapest! And I usually hit up Walgreens because they have amazing sales, coupons, and register rewards (free money for shopping there, basically). A couple of weeks ago I bought $28 worth of stuff at Walgreens for $7! That's probably a personal best for me :-) I really love Walgreens. (Shout out to JC!!)

~Put the word out that you're a couponer. You probably have lots of friends and family who get the newspaper, but just end up throwing the coupons away. They would be happy to give them to you instead!

~Stock up on seasonal items. I've been really focusing on buying a lot of things like barbecue sauce, steak sauce, salad dressings, iced tea bags, etc. There are usually great deals for those types of things during the summer, but you'd probably have to pay full price in the winter. I am pretty confident that my stockpile for these things will last me all winter! And most of them were bought at $1 or less. I'm sure pretty soon things like soups and hot cocoa will start going on sale since the season's about to change. Keep your eye out for those types of things, because they'll only be on sale at certain times of the year.

I think that's enough for one day. What couponing advice do you have to share??

Week in Review: Last Week of Summer

Highlights:

~On Sunday we had our second family reunion in the same weekend. Good food and good people were involved.

~Monday morning after my CT scan (just to get a good look at my sinuses, nothing major) I went on a mother-daughter breakfast date with my mom and our friends Julie and Kristin. I just love going out to breakfast, and I only do it 2 or 3 times a year, so that was a treat.

~I may have spent copious amounts of time laying on my couch and watching Secret Life. While my cats sprawled out on top of me on Monday afternoon. It was rainy and gloomy out, and I just thought it was a good excuse for a lazy afternoon. Plus, it was my last week of summer, and relaxation is something that's not really going to be part of my life once I'm a full-time student + substitute teacher.

~I'm so glad I have friends to keep me company on days where Luke works for 12 hours. Like on Tuesday when I spent a few hours with Sarah in the morning just catching up, and then spent the afternoon and part of the evening with Kristin, swimming and then watching a movie. And ordering pizza for dinner. Yum.

~Wednesday was a productive day! I moved some furniture around and set up my own little study area in the dining room:
~Thursday evening was so much fun! I went out with my cousin Rachel. We went shopping a little bit and then went to dinner at O'Charley's. We somehow ended up ordering our food two minutes before half-priced appetizers ended. So we both ordered an appetizer and shared. Since we both ordered water to drink, our totals came to a little over $4 each!! I couldn't believe it. That's probably the least I've ever spent on a meal, including fast food. After dinner, we went to see The Help. All I can say is, go see it now if you haven't!! It was one of the best movies I've seen in a really long time. I have to read the book now!

~Friday afternoon was spent by the pool with my Aunt Beth, cousin Rachel again, and Rachel's baby, Elin. It was almost too cold to swim, but I had fun anyway as Elin was our entertainment :-)

~ And Friday night I got to take pictures for a party at church. At the party, they showed a new Veggie Tales movie (Princess and the Popstar). All the little girls dressed up like princesses or popstars, and I took all of their pictures for them so they'd have a little souvenir to take home with them. It was so fun, and the little girls were so cute!! I used my mom's camera, so I sadly have no pictures to show. But it was a fun night!

~ After that, I went over to watch a movie with my parents. We watched RED. I had seen it before, it it's a pretty good movie!

~On Saturday afternoon, I headed over to my friend Sarah's house to play Just Dance on her Wii all day. I am absolutely in love with that game!! So it was fun. And then she taught me how to play Chicken Foot! It's a fun game with dominoes, and I am now addicted to the Chicken Foot iPhone app.

***

Movies I watched: Scream 3 (B), The Help (A++++), and RED (B)

Books I'm reading: UnPlanned by Abby Johnson. This is a really great book, and also eye-opening. I think I will be posting about it when I finish.

Favorite Picture:

I didn't take many this week, but I thought this one was pretty cute!

What I'm looking forward to next week: Girl's night with a friend on Sunday, and the only other thing I really have going on is classes starting. I'm so nervous, but so excited to begin this new chapter, all at the same time!

Saturday Morning Scene

Linking up with Katie again for Saturday Morning Scene

Here's what I'm doing this morning:
Enjoying a quiet morning at home alone with my breakfast and Joyce Meyer's devotional.

And I may or may not be burning my Farmer's Market candle from Yankee Candle. It may or may not smell just like fall...I got a little impatient
P.S. - You need to buy this candle NOW if you don't have one. It's my new favorite scent, and I pretty much burn it all.the.time. I'm going to have to buy another one before fall even starts!

It's such a peaceful morning here, and I think it's going to be a pretty great day, too. I have no plans whatsoever, except for a dance party with my friend Sarah this afternoon. That's right, we're going to play Just Dance on her Wii until we drop. And I can't wait. It's the perfect way to spend my last Saturday before school starts!

How are you spending your Saturday morning?

It's Okay Thursday

Linking up today! With Neely and Amber.


It's Okay...

...to read two books at once. I can't read just one at a time, there are too many good books out there!

...to feel a little disappointed that your husband's softball tournament game falls at the same time as Bachelor Pad. Thank goodness for DVR!!

...to wish for a thunderstorm. We have had such a dry summer, and I have loved every rainstorm we've had this year.

...to act like you know exactly what you're doing, even when you're really clueless. I'm beginning to learn that this will get you further in life than being timid. Fake it 'til you make it.

...to plan on leaving for your first day of class two hours early just in case you get lost or can't find a place to park.

...to put past hurts behind you and move forward in a friendship! This is a big lesson I'm learning lately. Life is too short to hold grudges.

...to be totally sick of summer.

...to secretly watch episodes of Secret Life of the American Teenager on Netflix. Not that I do that. But, you know, it would be totally okay if someone wanted to do that ;-) (Okay, okay... I admit it. I'm totally addicted!)

What's okay with you??

Getting Organized and Getting Ready for FALL!!

{ Sorry, Callie, you may not want to read this one until after your vacay! ;-) }

Today I spent most of my morning setting up a little study area for myself. Our office room has sort of become the catch-all room. It's where my desk used to be (naturally). But I decided that room was too chaotic to use as a homework/studying spot. (Since we don't have a garage, Luke ends up using that room to store his bike and his golf equipment. I just can't imagine trying to concentrate in that room!) So I moved the desk into a room that is peaceful: the dining room.

I created a little spot for myself to not only study, but also to work on my couponing and other projects. I have a few people who give me their unused coupons, and I had been just laying them in piles around the house. I'm glad I finally got organized and made a coupon file in my desk!

So here is where I will be spending a LOT of time in the following months:
(the bottom drawer won't close all the way and it is driving.me.crazy!!! But I'll have to figure that out later)

I think I need to hang some pictures above the desk, too.

I made monthly calendars where I can record my subbing jobs as the calls come in. September through December are all there. I had fun making them in Scrapbook Factory!

All the essentials: writing utensils (I don't think I'll ever run out!), stapler, and cute notepads. Plus my computer.

And...I doubt I will need to use these much, but I guess when you're an ex-elementary school teacher, you collect a lot of art supplies. Even when you just teach math and phonics...


Inside the top drawer I have all the extra misc. office supplies I could ever need (I love office supplies!) Also, a stray star-shaped silly band that was a gift from a student :-)

The bottom drawer is filled with important files, stationary stuff (like lots of thank-you cards. I am so terrible at writing thank-yous and I'm trying to get better. I hate that about myself!!) And a few cleaning supplies so I can wipe down the surface of my desk. it's a habit when you've worked with eight-year-olds for four years.

And these little shelves are the most important thing of all! The bottom shelf is full of important school documents and logistical information; the middle shelf is for all my coupons, weekly ads, and receipts, and the top shelf is full of envelopes and projects that need to be completed ASAP.

Now the only thing I'd like to add would be a dry erase board that I could use as a to-do list. I'm so glad I got my little study area all put together. Starting the semester out organized is definitely starting out on the right foot. Because if I'm not organized now, it's just going to go downhill in the next 15 weeks!

Gosh, I can't believe my classes start on Tuesday!! I get gigantic butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it for some reason. However, I am sooo excited to start school, because the beginning of a new school year means that it's my favorite time of year:

Fall.

Oh my, I cannot wait for pumpkin spice lattes, fall-scented candles, apple dumplings, scarves, crisp air, jeans, football games, leggings, pumpkins, sweaters, my birthday, beautiful leaves, soups, Halloween, apple pie, Thanksgiving..... And all the other wonderful things that go along with fall!!!

I do this every August. (See here and here) But I'm just going to post a quick few fall pictures because I'm so excited, and I miss it so much!
Okay, maybe that was more than "a quick few fall pictures." but tell me you're not excited about fall now!!

Facebook Verdict:

I wrote a month ago about how I was having some problems with facebook.

There were many reasons why I thought about giving it up for awhile or decreasing my time on it. You can click on the link above if you'd like to know what they are.

To be honest, I was going through an extremely difficult time for a lot of reasons when I wrote that post. A little while after writing it, I got completely fed up with everything and decided to completely cut myself off from facebook. I didn't know how long I planned to take a break, but I just knew I needed one.

And honestly? It's been great. I haven't missed it for a second. I think the break was very good for me, and I'm glad I took it.

I've been without facebook for about three weeks now. And a lot of the reasons I gave it up are kind of non-issues now. I've talked out some things with some people, and I feel like I can use facebook now and be at peace. (I'm still working through some of my jealousy issues, but those are things that are so deep-rooted, getting rid of facebook will never completely get rid of the jealousy. Please don't judge me for that statement. If you knew my situation, you would probably understand.)

So today I think I am ready to bring facebook back into my life. I had about a three-week break, and it was great! But I am kind of itching for an update on a lot of my friends!

I feel a little hesitant though, so I think I will ease myself back into the whole thing.

I guess I write all that to say that if you are feeling annoyed with facebook like I was, take a break. Don't torture yourself! You will thank yourself for it later. And like I said, it really wasn't that hard, and I didn't miss it much. I'm coming back from my break with a different perspective, and I feel much better about things. And I won't hesitate to take another break in the future if I find that facebook is causing me to resent people again or to compare myself too much to others!

Week in Review: Nearing the End of Summer

This was a busy week, and full of preparation for school! I am completely ready now, except for buying my books. I can't believe classes start in a week-and-a-half!

Highlights:

~Luke had tournament games last week. It was fun going to the games on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. He had some really good games, especially on Tuesday! Unfortunately, they lost a game on Monday, and another game on Wednesday, so they were out. It was a fun season, though!

~Tuesday was a big day! I got to go to The University of Akron, where I will be taking classes in a few short days, and register for classes, buy my parking pass, get my student ID, and all that fun stuff. My sister met me halfway through the day to help me find my way around campus (it's definitely a little bigger than Malone, where I got my undergrad degree!!) We ended up going out to lunch at Bricco, where we had some amazing tomato-basil pizza. My mouth is still watering for more.

~Wednesday morning I finally had my big doctor's appointment with the allergy specialist. It was nice to finally have some things figured out, although the doctor won't be able to treat me until I have a CT scan of my sinuses, and a Scratch Test. Me and my sinuses are both looking forward to that time, and a little relief!

~Later on Wednesday, I got to go to our church library and give a tour to some sweet ladies from a different church. We talked about our libraries and asked questions for over an hour. #nerds. (Oops, do you ever forget you're not on Twitter when you're blogging? :-P)

~On Wednesday night during Luke's game, I started to get really hungry for ice cream. Pavlovian Effect-style. However, Luke had band practice after the game, so I had no one ot go with! So I called my mom and asked if she wanted to walk to the corner store and get some ice cream with me. She was busy painting an old picnic table (getting ready for a big family reunion on Saturday), but told me to come over and have ice cream at her house. I obviously accepted her offer, and it was nice to sit out on their new deck and eat ice cream with Mom and Dad :-)

~On Thursday, Julie and Andy came home to visit since we had a big family reunion coming up on Saturday. So Thursday and Friday afternoon they came swimming at my parents' house. I was obviously there too, doing my daily laps, so it was nice to catch up with them!

~P.S. Julie and Andy crossed over to The Dark Side this weekend and got iPhones. Guess what Julie's favorite app is:

~Saturday was a big family reunion at my parents' house for my dad's side of the family. It was a beautiful day, and we got to enjoy their new deck. It was kind of weird, because I had never met half of my relatives who were there! But it was a fun day and Julie, Andy, Luke and I spent most of it playing Shanghai (the card game). I won, so I especially enjoyed it ;-)

~Saturday night Luke and I were sooo tired. So we decided to chill at home and watch a movie. It was a much needed night together. I can't wait until fall when Luke doesn't have to work so much! I feel like I never see him anymore!

***

Movies I watched: The Reef (B)

Books I'm reading: Unplanned by Abby Johnson

Songs I'm loving: Anything by Adele, and Marry You by Bruno Mars

Favorite picture:

Just thought this was cute of Luke and JC at their softball game...BFFs!

Things I'm looking forward to next week: Another family reunion, brunch out with my mom and friends, hopefully spending some time with Sarah, swimming laps with Kristin, photographing a party at church for little girls like last year, and hopefully finding some time to spend with Luke! This is my last week of summer, so I hope I enjoy it!