LBMM

Goodbye old life…

lbmm — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:46:00 +0000

After my graduation in May, I came to my parents house for a few days here and there while I did a lot of traveling. I guess I knew it would be my next move, but I had been hoping and praying that I would get a job offer and find a place of my own somewhere. On Friday though, I decided it was time to suck it up and move my stuff to my parents house. Until that point, I had a place that I could get away to and just relax. Now that I don’t, it’s really hitting me hard that for now, my parents house is my home again and I’ve been thinking about all the wonderful things I’m going to miss about living in College Station.

My top 5:

1. Grocery store literally across the street.

2. Any kind of food less than 2 minutes from my house.

3. Movie theater less than 5 minutes away.

4. Vic and Sarah!

5. Target and Old Navy.

When I decided to graduate early, I didn’t really have a plan. I just knew that I wanted to not go to school anymore. I guess I thought that a job would just land in my lap and everything would work out like it always has.

After graduation, I was traveling so much and having such a great time enjoying my summer that I didn’t really worry too much about not having a real job yet. I was still applying to school districts and crossing my fingers, but no word yet.

Then the “Do you have a job yet?” questions started coming and that’s when I got a little stressed. I tell people that no, I don’t yet but I’m still applying and they immediately follow up with their own advice about getting a job. I appreciate it, but it doesn’t really help me all that much when everyone says the same things that I’ve been doing to find a job.

I have a hard time with failure and patience. Since graduation, it’s been really hard to have faith that eventually the right job will come along, and peace about living at home and not on my own. I want to be ok with everything and sit back and enjoy the life I have, but this dream I had for myself after school keeps getting in the way. I have to work on these things so that I can be happy and enjoyable to be around.

It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!!

lbmm — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:38:00 +0000

When I sat down to write this post, I noticed in my list of previous posts that I already had three drafts all basically saying the same things. Somehow, I just forgot to post them. Probably because I didn’t want to have to title them. It’s really a serious fear of mine. What if I title it something that has nothing to do with the post, but I think it does and no one gets it? Or what if I title it something that can be turned into an innuendo? Wouldn’t that be totally embarrassing? I’m all about rational thinking.

Anyway, the main events going on in my three previous drafts were the following in quick summaries and minimal pictures.

Taylors Graduation:

1. I drove 6 hours to Lubbock on Friday night only to wake up and ride 7.5 more hours in the car with Taylor’s parents to Colorado. My behind started to go numb!

2. Our hotel had this thing called “Manager’s Special”. Free drinks every evening from 5-9. FREE. Have I ever mentioned how much fun it is to be an adult?

3. We went to church at the Academy Chapel. Beautiful.

4. We got to have our picture taken with the Superintendent of the Academy. Super cool.

5. We got wind burned at a parade while getting to see some of Taylor’s good friends, Ryan and Brett jump out of planes. Painful, but really neat.

6. Kristofer, Vic and Sarah’s planes were all delayed because of high winds in Colorado so Whitney, Taylor’s mom and I all got to go shopping while waiting for them. I totally got a cute top and some shoes. And a purse. Score!

7. Vic lost his wallet at the airport, but luckily it was found!

8. Taylor was commissioned into the Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant. I may have gotten a little teary.

9. Taylor graduated and we got to see an amazing Thunderbirds show. It was a gorgeous day and I even remembered sunscreen for quite possibly the first time in my life. But the important part was that Taylor graduated.

10. We totally got to see an almost fight in the parking lot after graduation. Hilarious.

In between all of the events during the week, we had lots and lots of really good food and tons of fun with everyone who came. I was/am so proud of Taylor for his completely amazing accomplishment of graduating from the Air Force Academy!

Golden and Keystone, Colorado:

1. We packed up after Taylor’s graduation and headed to the mountains for a weekend of relaxation and a tour of the Coors Plant.

2. I volunteered to be the photographer because I really didn’t care that much about the Coors plant. It was neat to see everything, but it wasn’t something I cared to learn about. Have I mentioned that I don’t like beer? Yuck.

3. We got a sweet condo in Keystone that had an indoor hot tub!

4. Whitney and Vic kept our bellies full with delicious food as usual. It’s good to have those two around.

5. Sarah and I made Taylor and Vic watch a “Say Yes to the Dress” marathon. They totally loved it.

6. Taylor ran over a boulder with his truck and the boulder won.

7. We learned all about Vic’s fear of heights.

8. We wore shorts to the top of a ski lift. What an interesting experience.

Sadly the week ended and we had to drop Whitney, Vic and Sarah off at the airport before driving back to Texas where Taylor discovered my whistling pet peeve. After arriving back in Texas, I stayed a couple of days in Lubbock and then drove back home to Frost while Taylor began his summer working on the farm.

Now for the more recent stuff:

1. I preordered my new iPhone which took THE ENTIRE DAY but eventually worked out. I originally had an entire blog post for that, but decided it was weird and whiny so now it just gets a number.

2. I moved home for what looks like permanently. It was supposed to just be until I got a teaching job, but now it’s July 14 and I have had absolutely zero leads. I keep telling myself that it’s free in hopes that I’ll like it more but I soon may need more to keep myself going.

3. I’m really thinking hard about what’s been going on since I last wrote anything and I’m slowly realizing how boring I am. Hooray for me.

Last week I went to Lubbock to finally get to spend time with Taylor and what a perfect week I picked! It rained the entire week I was there so Taylor didn’t have to work at all and we got to hang out almost the entire time! It was an adventurous week though! Lubbock ended up getting 10 inches of rain and at one point I was put in charge of navigating us through a flood. I thought they would have been better off with a monkey driving, but luckily I got us back to the house safe and sound. Then the carbon monoxide detectors started going off at Taylor’s house and we had to call the fire department who came sirens blaring only to tell us they needed to be replaced. We had opened all of the doors and windows to let out the poison and so a few bugs got into the house. The next morning I was getting ready in the bathroom when a wasp started flying around my head. I turned around to go find a fly swatter only to run head first into the door frame. Hoping nobody would notice, I went back to getting ready only to have Taylor’s mom come down the hallway wondering what all the noise was so I had to explain that it was only me, being an idiot. We also went to the family reunion, and of course, multiple Best Buy trips. Oh and we also saw Despicable Me. What a fantastic movie. I almost forgot the most important thing! Taylor decided after graduation that he was going to start a 60 day beard. This trip was my first time seeing the infamous beard in person and I have to say, I’m glad the military doesn’t allow facial hair. Not that Taylor doesn’t look handsome all the time, it’s just that I find him more handsome without the facial hair. He likes it though and I guess it is his face so I support it! On Sunday, I had to drive home and I think I’ve said this before, but it really gets so much harder every time I have to say goodbye. Taylor really is the coolest kid I know! Who knew the first summer we’ve both had off in four years would be the one where we saw each other the least?! Not a fan, people. Not a fan.

How long until I have to grow up?

lbmm — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:45:00 +0000

It’s been forever and a year since I’ve posted anything. I guess not needing distractions from math homework has taken its toll on my poor unread blog!

So sit back and prepare yourself, this is going to be long.

Let’s see… since last time…I have graduated, Taylor graduated, I semi moved home, Taylor moved back to Texas, I’ve changed jobs, and I’ve gotten more sleep in the past two weeks than all of last semester combined. It’s been cah-razy to say the least.

We’ll start with my graduation! First of all, I spent the ENTIRE week leading up to the ceremony doing math homework day in and day out. There were even a couple of all nighters. By the Wednesday before graduation when grades were supposed to be turned in, I still had not heard from my professor on whether or not I would pass the class. So regardless of whether or not I would pass, my grades had not been turned in. I pretty much knew I would find one of those stinking little blue dots on the end of my tube.

Sure enough, it was there. After sitting through an hour and a half of my graduation ceremony, I was really tired and just wanted to hang out with my family since they were there. My department was the second one called and there were still about 25 more departments left! So since I didn’t have a diploma in my dadgum tube, I left the ceremony.

BIG MISTAKE. Dad was NOT happy in any way shape or form. He thought I was going to get some sort of “ticket” because I didn’t stay. So, after that the day was pretty much shot and I didn’t get a single picture. I was so sad because I had looked forward to that day for so long and didn’t have any tangible memories!

Luckily I have Vic and Sarah, who I love so much and who were so wonderful that they hosted my family and a few friends over at their house that night. Even though Sarah was preparing for a conference the next week! Seriously, I couldn’t ask for better family/friends. After a rough day, it was so nice to relax and be around people who are hilarious.

Taylor was able to make it into town for my graduation, and I’m so glad he did! We had such a great time! And doesn’t he look so handsome all dressed up? Those are actually Vic’s clothes because all Taylor brought was a pair of jeans! I talked him into this outfit and Vic even let him keep the shirt because Taylor’s arms are longer than his!

After my graduation, Taylor flew back to Colorado for a few days until everyone came out for his grad week. Yes, an entire week dedicated to Taylor’s graduation. Turd.

That comes in the next post!

Make me a ‘Rita, Mommacita

lbmm — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:19:00 +0000

My mom is the greatest. I don’t know how else to sum her up. She loved me as a teenager, she helped me fix my mistakes, she kept all my secrets, she told me I was a turd when I needed it, and she made me who I am today. I am so proud to call her my mom.

This picture just makes me laugh because I think it’s the epitome of mine and my mom’s relationship. She’s always running after me trying to keep things straight and I don’t have a clue what’s going on.

And I just love this picture. And Mom’s bangs. SWEET!

Mom and I 20 years later on my Aggie Ring Day.

This is where Mom is happiest…making margaritas for the par-tay!

Thanks for everything, Mom! You’re the greatest!

Sneez Sneez, go away

lbmm — Wed, 05 May 2010 06:34:00 +0000

I’m not in the mood to do anything productive, so I thought I would fill out a super fun survey!

5 names you go by:

1. Mary
2. LBMM
3. Mare
4. ??
5. ??

Three things you’re wearing right now:
1. Aggie T-shirt
2. Purple boxer shorts (I match pretty awesomely right now, btw)
3. I’m not telling you what color my underwear is :)

Three things you want very badly at the moment:
1. A D in my math class. Oh pretty pretty please!
2. NO ALLERGIES
3. A job.

Two things you did last night:
1. Since it’s 1:30 does last night count as two hours ago? If so, I watched Glee, parenthood, and HGTV
2. Took a two hour nap at 6 pm.

Two things you ate today:
1. Popcorn
2. Cereal

Two people you last talked to on the phone:
1. Mom
2. Haley

Three things you are going to do:
1. Go to bed soon, hopefully
2. Pass my math class, hopefully!
3. GRADUATE!

Two Favorite Beverages:
1. Orange Juice
2. Margaritas

I am still not technically done with school until Friday after I turn in my final test for one class and my final project for another class, but i’m finding it EXTREMELY hard to make any progress on my final project. It’s optional, but if I want a decent grade in the class, I should do it. But I just don’t wanna! Also, I’m still waiting on my grade from my math class. I’m not holding my breath because I ran out of time on the test and didn’t even get to some of the questions, but I’m hoping my professor will show some mercy and pass me. I hate to be all, JUST GIVE ME THE D. But I spent 85 hours on this class and honestly, I feel like I worked my butt off for it. I hate hate hate not being good at things and it’s really hard for me to admit that I’m not good at things. So telling people that I’m most likely not going to pass a class? It’s torture. I usually don’t even attempt things that I can’t dominate but unfortunately, Texas A&M told me I had to attempt it. And that I had to pass it. I don’t know what this place expects from me sometimes. I can’t do it all.

Other than being completely unmotivated, I’m also getting sick I think. I hate being sick by the way. I get all wimpy and pouty and when everyone says I should go to the Dr. I act like I’m fine. It’s because I hate the Dr. almost more than being sick. I feel like every time I go, they act like I’m wasting their time. I know it’s just a sinus infection dude, but please medicate me and I’ll leave you alone.

Hopefully it’s just allergies and it will be gone in a couple of days.

Graduation and real life doesn’t feel like it’s only a couple of weeks away. I can’t wait for it all though, if only I was going on some super fun adventure this summer!

Countdown to Margaritaville

lbmm — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:03:00 +0000

It’s Friday. And that means two things. One, I’m done with attending college classes forever. And two, only four more days until I let my math final determine my future (more on that later) and two weeks until I walk across the stage. I hope I don’t fall.

Last night as I was working on my math homework, I found a place where I could see how long I had worked on the program. My syllabus at the beginning of the semester said I should dedicate 3 hours a week to the class, which would equal out to about 48 hours at this point. Want to know what my time was? 85 hours. That’s almost double the recommended time and I don’t have ANYTHING to show for it. In other news, I like to beat my head against the wall sometimes.

Anyways, I’ll be working on math for the next three days in preparation for the big final on Monday and then I may be paying a phone call to my professor and there might be tears involved. I’m just being honest here.

After Monday, regardless of how the test goes though, you will be able to find me at Happy Hour drinking Margaritas until I forget the whole thing ever happened.

Also, I’ve been thinking a lot about graduation. More specifically though, walking across the stage. I’ve done it before at my high school graduation, but that was in Frost. Where everyone knew me and had no doubt I would mess something up. Standing up when nobody else does is always fun. Anyways, I’m worried about walking the stage because um, it’s in Reed Arena, where there are more than 150 seats and usually for graduation they’re all full. What if I trip? Or go to the wrong person for my diploma? Or drop my diploma? Or shake with the wrong hand? Or get so excited, I decide to run across the stage? I know these are silly things and they probably won’t happen, but really, anything is possible where I’m concerned.

Oh well, I’ll just drink a margarita and forget it all happened.

On a completely unrelated note and because I just like to include pictures with every post, here’s one of me, Haley, and Jaryn at another one of Haley’s wedding showers. When I bought that dress I really thought it looked good on me. I’m hoping it’s the way I’m standing, but I need to hit the gym again. Crunches here I come!

I wanna take yo’ pitcha

lbmm — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:06:00 +0000

So I wrote yesterday that I would post some fun pictures from my recent trip to Colorado. I finally found my camera tonight, so here they are!

This was at the zoo overlooking Colorado Springs. It was so beautiful and this is one of my new favorite pictures of Taylor and I.

This is Taylor’s favorite animal at the zoo, a lynx! They do have pretty sweet pointy ears so I guess I can see why he likes it.

It’s a weenie dog of the sea! The otters were such good swimmers, Taylor and I are jealous of their skills.
I love this picture of Taylor, he is so cute! He liked feeding the giraffes more than I did.
I don’t think Mr. Giraffe was too pleased with me stopping to take a picture. He wanted his cracker!

And now…pictures of the best hotel I’ve stayed in so far! Taylor’s Air Force hookups are pretty much awesome. When Taylor booked the room, he reserved just a regular room, but I guess since it wasn’t very full, they upgraded me to a “Distinguished Guest” Suite. We even had our own parking spot!

And I’m not letting Taylor forget that I’m distinguished. The Air Force said so.

I apologize for the order, I guess I added them backwards.
This is the KITCHEN! It was in the hallway between the living room and the bathroom. Just like my kitchen at home though, it didn’t get much use.
This is the sitting area of the bedroom with a big flat screen tv. The room was huge!
Looking from the door, this is the other side of the bedroom. That bed was so comfortable and amazing. And the blinds shut out all the light. I slept until 11:30 on Saturday and when I woke up, I thought it was before dawn!
This is the living room area, it had two chairs and a couch. Not a love seat, a couch!

I should probably get out more.

Another TV!
We never sat in the living room. I wish I could have stayed longer to enjoy the whole suite, but I wasn’t ever in the room except to sleep!

Too bad this was my last trip to Colorado before Taylor graduates and leaves forever! We’ve tried to reserve the on base hotel before but it’s always been full. I’m glad I got to stay at least once though!

Silly Monkeys

lbmm — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:50:00 +0000

Tonight as I was taking one of a million breaks from my math homework, I caught up on one of my favorite TV shows, Modern Family.

If ya haven’t seen it, please do that immediately.

It has to be the funniest show I’ve seen in a long time. Has to.

I don’t know why, but it just tickles my funny bone every time.

And when I have kids one day, I hope they are all like the little girl that plays Lily. Seriously, that kid just hangs out like it’s her job. I mean it is, but if all babies were that calm, I would have a million of them. Not really. Why am I talking about this? Moving on…

This weekend I got to visit Taylor in Colorado. I feel like a big ol’ dork for saying this, but it just gets harder and harder to go a long time in between our visits. Even the 2.5 weeks since Hawaii was torture.

We had such a fun time, even though it was a relatively short visit. Normally I fly in on a Thursday and leave on Monday night. But neither of us had Monday off, so I flew out on Sunday evening and even though it was 4 days, it only felt like an afternoon. To me at least. I’m sure Taylor was ready to put me on that plane. I can be a handful.

Shocking, I know.

Not that it wasn’t fun, it just went by lightning fast. Some of our weekend activities included a night out in downtown Colorado Springs, a bowling night, and THE ZOO.

Oh the Zoo was so much fun! We got to FEED THE GIRAFFES. They reminded me of cows. One even stuck his tongue all the way up his nose. I had a hard time feeding them, because I have issues with animals. I don’t like getting animal slobber on me and I have a deep dark fear that they’re going to take my hand with the food.

Anyways, after we left the giraffes with all body parts attached, we wandered around and visited the other animals. I liked the otters the best. I wish I could swim like an otter. They remind me of weenie dogs.

Weenie dogs of the sea. I like it.

I think Taylor liked all of the cats the best. Especially the Lynx because of its ears. If he could keep one as a pet, he would!

Towards the end of our visit, we got rained on just a little bit, but we ended up seeing everything and getting to our car just as it really started to rain. We saw the entire zoo in just under two hours. How do people stay there all day long? Or for that matter, go every week? Animals pretty much do the same things all day every day. Especially when they’re cooped up in a cage their entire lives. We had tons of fun, but I’m not going to plan my next visit for a couple of years. The monkeys stunk too bad.

The night before the zoo, we went bowling with some of Taylor’s friends at the Academy. I’ve decided that I prefer Wii Bowling. Like 1,000 times over.

If we were playing golf that night though, I would have beaten everybody by a mile.

Unfortunately we weren’t, and my competitive nature had to take a seat once I realized there was absolutely no way on Earth that my ball was going to stay out of the gutter. I lost part of my thumb nail too.

Like I said, I prefer Wii Bowling.

Oh well, I provided the entertainment I guess. LBMM is always sure to come with the entertainment.

I’ll have pictures of our zoo outing soon, but not until I find my camera in the abyss of my suitcase.

I should unpack sometime before May. We’ll see though.

In other news, only 24 days until graduation. I want it to hurry, but I still have a ton of stuff to do so I hope it doesn’t hurry. I’ve started applying for a few teaching jobs, so I’ll be crossing all of my body parts hoping somebody wants me to mold the minds of their innocent children.

Update!

lbmm — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 05:39:00 +0000

Does anyone remember when I wrote that post about New Routines? Just to update you all on that process…it ended I think the week after that. I was doing really well with it by going to the rec center every day and then I got sick with strep or whatever it was and I didn’t go for a week. And then I got busy with my alternative teaching stuff. So I got out of the routine and haven’t been back since February.

I knew as soon as I put that into words that something would happen and I would stop going. But the good news is, I have kept up (for the most part) with the healthy eating part. I still don’t eat fast food unless it is my only option and I don’t remember the last time I had more than a sip of Dr. Pepper. Unfortunately I have visited the land of unhealthy, aka my parent’s house a few weekends in a row and junk food just always tastes so much better here! Just cutting out carbonation and fast food though did a lot. I lost about 5 pounds, which on me is almost an entire size. It was really just all of that water weight that eating junk food and cokes adds. But I feel better and I’m really glad I have stuck with it. Being 21 doesn’t really help too much though because alcohol still has a lot of calories! I haven’t been overdoing it or anything, but I do like my margaritas at dinner!

In other news, only 33 days (HOLY COW) until graduation. I talked to my advisor last week and she said that I can walk the stage regardless of if I pass my pesky math class. So far though, it looks like I will pass it so not only will I get to walk the stage, but I will also get my diploma in the tube! I’m really excited about that because my diploma will say May 2010 instead of August 2010.

Also, I just found out on Friday that I passed my content exam for my alternative certification. I was ECSTATIC. When I started reviewing for the test and taking the practice exams, I really thought I had no chance. And then when I got to the test and started going through it, I still thought I had no chance. Thankfully though, I passed it! It only took 2 days for my scores to be reported. I thought that was crazy, but I’m glad I didn’t have to wait 3 weeks to get them. I was happy to be done with the whole process and to hand my book off to Haley so she could take hers soon!

Speaking of Haley, today was her lingerie shower at Jaryn’s house. Jaryn and her mom did SUCH a cute job decorating their house for it and it was a lot of fun. Haley got so many cute things, that I’m sure she (and Andrew) will enjoy! ;)

It’s so weird sometimes to think that we are old enough to be throwing wedding showers for each other and that Haley is going to get married in just a couple of months! And that I’m graduating from college in a few DAYS. Below is a picture from the shower! I think we have a few like this from when we were in elementary school!

Now all that’s left for me to do in the near future is find a job and figure out where I’ll be living starting in August. Send up some good location prayers for me! :)

LOL, TFFN, OMG?

lbmm — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:08:00 +0000

For a while now I have been checking out sites like Lamebook.com that make fun of people for posting silly/stupid/weird things on Facebook. It’s pretty entertaining and definitely passes the time at work. One thing I have been noticing though on the sites, the real Facebook, and especially comments on other people’s blogs is that people are typing in short hand pretty often. Especially the older generation, i.e. my mom’s age.

Thankfully my mother has no clue what any of it means and refuses to type in anything less than full sentences. Usually. Of course there are the senior moments when I have to ask what her thought process was.

Anyways, back to the short hand. I don’t know what any of it means! I thought the teenagers today were the ones typing in code words. There’s LMBO which I’m only guessing is the mom censored version of LMAO. Ones like that are the easiest to pick up on. But then there are the ones I haven’t ever heard of. TFS? DH? There are so many more! I try to use context clues but they never seem to do any good.

While I know that reading other people’s posts is useless, it is just something that I find entertaining. Older generations on Facebook still throws me off sometimes. I try to be much more careful in what I post and even though I’ve successfully shielded any unworthy eyes from my entire profile, I still go through a mental list of everyone who can see my profile just to make sure I’m not putting anybody off. Because making other people mad is my biggest fear.

In other news, I took my Content test for my alternative teaching certification today. I won’t know the test results until next week sometime so if you think about it…send up some good thoughts for me to the test results gods! Haha thanks in advance!