Switching blogs!

My wonderful fiancé loves to get domain names for random purposes. He snatches some up thinking they they will be useful for something...one day. A few months ago, he snatched up just such a domain name and finally decided on a use for it. Both Jon and I have done blogging on our own for quite awhile. Mine is obviously here while his has been here. This is one a few he has jumped between in the last few years, but it's the most current.


Anyway, he suggested to me that we combine our blogs into one blog for both of us to use. He entitled it "Adventures in life" as we are getting ready to embark on a huge and new adventure called marriage. So, with that, I think this blog might have seen its last days. You can continue to see me blog, along side of my soon-to-be husband, at http://www.jonandsuze.com/.

Hope to see you there!

About me

I stole this from a friend's blog (Kim). She stole it from another friend. I thought it was cute -- and it will give you a chance to learn a bit about me!

I am: a child of God, a fiancée, a paramedic

I think: in totally random thoughts

I know: I'm excited about getting married in 47 days and a handful of hours!

I have: the most amazing fiancé ever!

I wish: I was done with school for forever. 

I hate: having bad calls at work. I don't like seeing people hurt.

I miss: the beach. I haven't been in several years.

I fear: hearing strange noises when I'm alone at night 

Slow blogging month

It has (quite obviously) been a slow blogging month for me. It is not for a lack of things going on, that's for sure. I have been busy with school and packing and wedding stuff. It has been a busy month to say the least. We'll start with the first weekend of the month:

I dragged my fiancé back to where we will be living in a few months. It's "home"...sort of. It's where both of us spent the majority of our time growing up. It's where our parents and most of our friends live. But, it's not really "home" right now. Boone is our home, for now. (That changes in a few and short 3 weeks.) Anyway, Friday was an all around good day. I spent time with my wonderful fiancé. We went to see the "new" Narnia movie since it was at the $1.50 theatre. It was good -- quite a few laughs from it. I really enjoyed it. We also went for dinner at Chipotle, one of Jon's favorites restaurants. I quite like it too. For that weekend, I also found myself working for a whole 24-hour period. The day wasn't too bad of a shift...until about 11am. We didn't run a single call throughout the first 4 hours. I got myself a little nap in there (which was of great benefit later that day). Then, everything broke loose. There were structure fires and cardiac arrests everywhere. I found myself working a structure fire at a nursing home. We have jokingly talked about how this particular one should be burnt to the ground. Well, a portion of it tried. Something in the laundry room (presumably the dryer) caught on fire. Thankfully someone had the forethought to build the laundry room as a separate building from the main nursing home. However, as this building has a U-shape to it, they did put the laundry room in the middle of the U. The day was super-windy and we were worried that the wind might make the fire jump to the main structure. It didn't and the fire department got it under control rather quickly. The rest of my day was pretty much steady straight through until 6am the next morning. That was pretty much the extent of that weekend.

March Madness is over...but it sure doesn't look like April out there

Yesterday, the final game of what is known as "March Madness" concluded. From what I watched of the game, it was pretty bad, and by bad, I mean pathetic. By the half, Butler had a mere 22 points while Connecticut had only 19. By the conclusion, Connecticut had 53 points, enough to triumph over Butler who had only 41. Connecticut's score beats only 11 teams (UT-San Antonio: 46, St. Peter's: 43, Texas A&M: 50, Hampton: 45, Tennessee: 45, Bucknell: 52, North Colorado: 50, UNC-Asheville: 51, UC-Santa Barbara: 51, University of Alabama: 52, USC: 46)  in different games throughout the tournament, from round 1 through the championship game. It tied one other (Boston University). Butler, however, managed to have the lowest score of the tournament, period. (It was not the lowest scoring team in the history of the tournament games, however. That award would go to none other than UNC-Chapel Hill in 1941 with a score of 20. Since the shot clock was introduced, the lowest scoring team was Mississippi Valley State with a score of 29 against UCLA in 2008.) So, as I said, it was rather pathetic to see these 2 teams, supposedly the top 2 in the country, would play so poorly. The score definitely reflect that.


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was asked to participate in the completion of brackets for the tournament games by my fiancé's family. Out of the six of us, I did not place last. I was nowhere near first either. Overall, fifth place. For my first year of doing it, I was pleased. Maybe I'll improve next year if I do it again...


Leaving March Madness should mean that it's April, right? Well, when I looked outside my window this morning and saw snow falling from the sky, I had to seriously question that. Yesterday was quite beautiful! Sun, breeze, warm -- the lovely combination that is known as spring. Today, cold, snowy, windy -- the ugly combination that we call winter. Ugh. I'm ready for this stuff to be done. I am ready for some nice, warm weather that gives a gentle breeze to keep it from getting too hot. And no rain...not at home, anyway, until after Saturday. Bridal portraits coming up. Don't want to have it wet out there!


As for now, I need to finish getting myself ready for my long day of class. 4 weeks from today, classes will be finished and exams will be over after my last one at 6pm. Can't wait to be done! (And 8 weeks from Saturday...wedding!! :-) )

Relieving frustration

Today ended up being a rough day.

For starters, I woke up tired. Never a good thing. (The good thing was that I slept through most of the night. Not something I did any night last week. Must have been being up most of the night for work on Saturday that reset me.) After I got up, I had little motivation to do any schoolwork/studying. Instead, I cleaned a little and unpacked from the weekend. I made me some brunch and found other things to procrastinate with.

I headed to campus to (unfortunately) do some cramming for my exam. I did not get to study as much as I wanted to over the weekend because it ended up being much busier than I was planning on (isn't that how it always is?). I hate cramming. Absolutely hate it. But I did it for this exam. Grades are now posted for that exam and I'll go find it on my professor's door. At this point, I'm praying that did better than I feel about it. Skinner, Chomsky, Vygotsky, Piaget -- they all blur together.

Then, after leaving my exam, I had a sinking feeling. I didn't bring my workbook to campus for my second class. I quickly pulled out my calendar and, yep, we were doing an assignment out of there today. So, I tried to run and catch the bus. Fail. As a result, I decided I would try to walk home, get the workbook and make it back downstairs in time to catch the bus. Again, fail. I was hiking the final hill up to my apartment when the bus was going by.

70 days and counting....

70 days from today, a mere 10 weeks, I will be a married woman! It is kinda scary (in a good way) to think about it.......but so incredibly exciting! We continue to make progress in planning for the big event. The hope is that 2 weeks from now, there will be beautiful weather in the Raleigh area (praying for a fabulous day) so that I can get my bridal portraits taken (really excited about that!). We are still making progress of solidifying our housing once we're married. I have now officially been released from my lease obligations here in Boone as of May 1. That is exceptionally exciting -- at the most, we'll be paying 2 rents at a time if Jon is unable to find someone to sublease. (Even then, he is paid up through the end of his lease -- so it's already taken care of.)

School is moving along. 6 weeks from today, I will be a college graduate which, let me tell you, is a wonderful feeling at this point. Less than 5 weeks of class remaining plus a few days of exams are all that stand between me and finishing undergrad! Mixed in there will be two relatively involved papers, a few exams, lots of busy work (that's all thanks to one class) and MOVING (I hate moving...lots). However,

I have made significant progress on one of the papers, of which the first draft is not due for nearly 2 weeks (highly unusual for me). The "funny" part of this that I used the paper to procrastinate other homework and studying. Ironic, isn't it?

March Madness

So, it's a relatively well-known fact that I am not a huge sports fan. Before my involvement in sports medicine, it could be said I couldn't tell you the different between football and soccer. (This is a large exaggeration -- but you get the point. I never paid attention to it!)

As life has continued on past sports medicine, I still maintained an interest in some sports. Football, basketball (college only) and baseball were of primary interest, as these were the three sports I devoted my time to during my time in sports medicine. I also gained an interest in hockey as the Carolina Hurricanes gained greater popularity. While I have interest in other artistic sports (gymnastics and ice skating), the aforementioned sports are easier to find on the television due to their higher overall popularity.

Currently, we are in the middle of what is known as March Madness. The series is smack in the middle of the games known as the Elite 8. I have never filled out the all-to-famous brackets before. However, it is an annual thing in my fiancé's family to have a competition (round-by-round) to see who can be more successful at filling out their brackets. This year, I was invited into the competition. Unfortunately, I have no background in filling these things out (yes, I knew how to do it but I've never paid attention to March Madness in previous years and had no premise on which to base my selections on other than the team's seed). The exception to this is that I recall quite a final game last season between Duke and Butler. Butler (ranked 8th, 5th seed for the West division), the unknown underdog, made it all the way to the championship game against the Duke (ranked #3, #1 seed in the South division). Even then, they only lost to Duke by 2 points (61-59).

Another cooking adventure!

Earlier this week, I found some recipes that I was dying to try...and so, Sunday seemed like the perfect day since I would have company for lunch. :-) (Sunday is Jon's productive day at my place: laundry time. It's also the day he is guaranteed a home-cooked meal...though, it's not always something he's had before. You might could call this "guinea pig day". He's a good sport about it.

The theme of the day: apples, or something "apple" related.

I have been itching for some pork so I got some pork chops earlier this week with the intention of cooking them on Sunday for my wonderful fiancé. Yesterday, I made another run to the grocery store for some apples and applesauce once I realized I could have a theme! Haha...

So, here's what I made:

• Marinaded pork chops
• Stewed apples
• Applesauce bread

Common courtesy goes a long way

This week, I have seen numerous people on crutches. I don't know what happened over spring break to these folks but they were apparently having too much fun. So much fun that they came back to school with foot, ankle or leg injuries. I, personally, feel sorry for those people (unless, of course, they did something ridiculously stupid...then it's their fault). While I was in high school, I was on crutches for 4 1/2 months. It was no fun. At all. And, at that point, I only had relatively flat ground to cover. Here, they have hills...big hills and stairs...lots of stairs. I can only imagine how miserable they might be climbing all the hills and stairs.

Here's something else I've seen: these folks riding the bus and having to stand, balancing on one leg and 2 crutches as the bus climbs hills and makes less-than-smooth starts, stops and turns. I have been a late-comer on the bus each of these times and had to stand myself (an adventure when you can stand on both legs) so I had no seat to offer to these people. These people are wobbly and bumping (or half-way hopping) into the people who are seated as they try to maintain their balance and not fall on those seated or standing around them. Each time I have seen this, the people who are sitting stare at the one hobbling around on the crutches and as the injured one apologizes to the ones they bump into, these people continue to stare and say "oh, that's fine"...and refuse to offer their seat.

Spring break, part 2

Spring break flew by! It's strange to think that this is really going to be the last spring break I have as a student. If I do, in fact, go into teaching, I will continue to have them...just from the employee side. So, here's how the rest of the week went...

Monday, I worked a 24-hour shift. It was exceptionally busy but the night was wonderful. We slept all night but we're not too sure if it was as a result of a truly slow night or if it was due to the pagers not activating (there were LOTS of issues with them all day). Either way, I was happy to take it.

Tuesday, after I got cleaned up from my shift, Jon and I spent the morning and first bit of the afternoon looking at apartments. We settled on one that we loved, filled out an application and are currently waiting to hear if we get it. The one that's on "hold" for us at the moment, the current tenants move out on April 30 and with a 5-day turnaround from the apartment complex between tenants, it will work out well with our desired move-in date of May 8 or 9. I also had dress fitting number 1. It went pretty well and it should be finished the last week of March. I'm excited!

Wednesday, I had to head off to work for meetings and training. It was fun and informative (helped me catch up a bit on what I've been missing out on over the last few months that I've been in school).

Spring break, part 1

I am on day 3 of spring break -- and I've gotten a fair amount of stuff done during these last few days.

Jon and I came home on Thursday after his last class of the day. His last class wasn't held so we were able to get home at a decent hour, which was quite nice. Friday began early for me as I got up for an appointment with my eye doctor that never happened. I went there only to find out that they had been trying to call me for the last week to say the doctors would be out of town and needed to reschedule. The only problem was that they were calling the non-existent house phone at my parents' house. My appointment has subsequently been rescheduled to this coming Thursday. After my visit to the eye doctor's office, I had an appointment to get my hair cut with Janelle, someone who I have known for years but has never cut my hair. It's been several months (5, to be exact) since I got it cut. I also wanted to discuss the possibility of her doing my hair for the wedding. She said she'd love to -- and she liked what I had thought of, so we're on the same page for what's going to happen, I think. :-)

Following my new hair cut (really, just a trim), I had lunch with Dad. It's something we used to do often when I lived in Raleigh but we haven't done it in a while. After lunch, I was off to collect Jon so we could head off for the first 2 hours of our premarital counseling with the pastor who will be marrying us. The session went well and we have one more this coming Friday, hopefully getting it all finished up then. Before work on Friday evening, I went with Jon back to his house to hang out for a few hours and have dinner with him and his parents. Work was mostly uneventful, which was nice. Only 1 call for the 12 hours. I have a feeling I'll be paying for that with my shift tomorrow.

My family history

For some reason (and I have no idea what or where it came from), I was suddenly inspired to research my family history. I'm guessing part of it comes from the lack of motivation to do my school work for the week just before spring break (I mean, c'mon...it's time for a break!). However, how this particular topic came to me, I don't know.

I remember that many years ago (like, grade school...I think it was 4th grade) I had an assignment to make a family tree. Mom did the "digging" and asked my grandparents who our ancestors were and we made a poster that I still have at their house. I think I'm going to dig it out when I get home at the end of this week.

However, in the interim, I did some digging on my own on the internet and was able to trace my maternal grandmother's history back to the 1600's. I recognized a lot of the names from my poster that I did way back when...and it's really neat. I was able to go back 12 generations (which was a surprise to me).

I think I have found a new hobby. Maybe I'll be able to trace some of the other branches of my family. I'm excited about this!

Ranch chicken

So, I'm sure that someone out there has come up with this recipe. No doubt. However, after some searching, I didn't find one like this and thus the experiment began! Unfortunately, my better half took off for Florida yesterday morning and left me here all alone so he didn't get to be the guinea pig for this recipe (he claims to enjoy it...I guess because he's getting fed and doesn't have to cook).

So, here's what I used:

• 2 chicken breasts (no, I didn't eat all, or even half of that, but it's silly not to make enough for at least 2 meals for me
• 1 cup of chicken broth (I used 1 cup of water and 1 chicken bouillon cube)
• 1/2 package of dry ranch dressing mix
• 1/2 cup of milk
• Flour as needed
• Olive oil

Here's what you do:

Old Disney movies

I love watching old Disney films. I, often times, enjoy animated films more than live action movies. Here are some of my favorite animated classics from my childhood:

• Fantasia (1940)
• Cinderella (1950)
• Alice in Wonderland (1951)
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
• The Aristocats (1970)
• The Little Mermaid (1989)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991)
• Aladdin (1992)
• The Lion King (1994)

See a theme here? Lots of princesses and animals.

Random thoughts strung together

I have a bunch of random thoughts that were running through my head last night during my insomnia run -- and some are still running through my mind today. So, I'll share them with you in a bulleted fashion. (Warning: one thought is not guaranteed to flow nicely into the next. You have been forewarned.)

• When Jon and I get married, we have planned to take pictures prior to the ceremony so that we are not away from the reception for hours while we get all those necessary family pictures. This being the case, there will be a "reveal" that takes place between him and I. This will be his first chance to see me all dressed up in my gown, with my hair done and my face all made up. It will also be my first chance to see my soon-to-be husband that day -- and I couldn't get that out of my mind as I was trying to sleep last night. I was trying to imagine what his face is going to look like when he sees me. I was trying to imagine a scenario that I didn't cry in. I was trying to imagine myself with the gown and my hair/make up all done...in other words, imagine myself as a bride. I've seen the dress on me. I think I know how I want my hair. But, I haven't seen all that together. I'm rather excited to be able to see it all together. So, that was something I was thinking about (and if something was going to run through my mind and not let me sleep, I'm okay with that being it).

My twist on "aloha chicken"

There is a cookbook that I was given several years ago that has LOTS of delicious recipes in it. I haven't made nearly 1/4 of them but the ones I have tried have not been disappointing. One of my favorites is called "aloha chicken". Delicious! First I'll give you the original recipe and then I'll share my twist on it with you.


Original recipe:

Looking ahead...

I have yet to complete my second degree (but my first bachelor's degree); however, I am looking ahead to determine what it is that I am going to do with my life from work, to the possibility of continuing school, to getting married (that's already determined)...to whatever else may come. I'm a planner. And, because of that, I like to know what's coming up. No surprises.

Yesterday, I filled out my application for graduate school. Just about anyone who has heard I am looking at continuing my education at graduate school has made the remark that they think I'm crazy. I have been in school (college level) every semester since the spring of 2005. Honestly, yes, I'm tired of school. However, I know me and I know that if I quit school now, I may never go back. So, the next logical question is: what are you going to grad. school for?

That's easy. Teaching. The program I have chosen, after a lot of deliberation and searching, is a Masters of Art in Teaching with my specialization area being in elementary education. My associate's degree is in EMS and my bachelor's degree will be in psychology. That knowledge being known, the logical question that follows is: why not pursue a degree furthering one of those degrees?

The countdown has begun!

As I look over the past several weeks, I am so amazed at what has happened and how things have progressed forward. As a point of reference, it was 7 weeks ago yesterday that Jon asked me to marry him...and 15 weeks from tomorrow, I will be walking down the aisle to meet my groom and become his wife. It continually amazes me how much I (with lots of help) have been able to accomplish over the previous weeks. The planning process for the wedding is essentially done and now it's just the details that need to be worked on (and those are coming along well -- it's just a matter of actually deciding what Jon and I like). Amazingly, most of this period has been relatively stress-free. It hasn't been without bumps but it has gone so much more smoothly than I thought it ever could. I am so thankful for that.

The value of sleep

Over the last couple of weeks, I have re-realized the importance of sleep. Being up in the middle of the night doesn't bother me all that much...when I'm getting paid for it (just please make sure you really need an ambulance -- I have zero tolerance for stupidity at 3 am).


For several years, I've had on-and-off problems with insomnia but they haven't really kicked up until I got back to school for my final undergraduate semester. I'm guessing that it's a combination of the stress of my final semester and the work of planning a wedding that have caused it to resurface with a vengeance. I have ended up collapsing on the couch and watching a movie more often than I have slept in my bed over the last few weeks.


So, in light of this, I decided to take a look at the necessary function and the usefulness of that blissful thing called sleep.


First, a few definitions:

• Basal sleep need -- the amount of sleep that our bodies need on a regular basis for optimal performance
• Sleep debt -- the accumulated sleep that is lost due to poor sleep habits, sickness and awakenings due to environmental factors or other causes

It's Valentine's Day!!

So, here's the story:

My fiancé is the best. Really. This morning, I got a message from him to "come downstairs", presumably so I could let him in my apartment building. I walked downstairs to find him with breakfast and flowers and another bag...all for me.

My roses. :)
This picture doesn't do them justice!

Random facts

I felt like sharing some random facts today. Enjoy!

• The risk for heart attack is the highest on Mondays.
• It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 muscles to frown.
• A square inch of human skin contains about 20 feet of blood vessels.
• Humans shed about 1.5 pounds of skin per year. By the age of 70, the average human has shed 105 pounds of skin.
• If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
• The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

Chili!

I got creative today and made chili for the first time. I didn't have a recipe (I couldn't find one I liked) so I made my own. I thought I'd share it with you so that perhaps you can enjoy it.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground beef
• 2 cans of navy beans
• 2 cans of kidney beans (I used one light and one dark)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• Oregano -- probably about 2 teaspoons
• Basil -- probably about 2 teaspoons
• Garlic powder (I didn't have any garlic on hand) -- probably about 2 cloves worth
• Cayenne pepper -- to taste

These things I know to be true

These are things I was reminded of this weekend while at work:

• There is no cure for stupidity.
• Laziness is contagious.
• When the support in a home is underwhelming, the patient generally has something wrong with them.
• When the support in a home is overwhelming, it's generally an over reaction.
• Those who don't need to go to the hospital will have several family members at the home and several functioning vehicles in the driveway.
• People refuse to vomit in the bag or bucket provided to them.
• If you touch me again, you will meet your friends: the police.
• If you refuse to do what I tell you, you will also meet your friends: the police.
• Telling me that you take a "water pill", a "sugar pill" and a "high blood pill" doesn't help me. I need to know names.
• Showing me the pills without the pill bottle is not helpful either.
• You also need to tell me all of the medicines that you take.
• I won't intentionally kill you; however, you might kill yourself if you take off your seat belts.

117. :-)

Thoughts on my classes...

So, prior to coming back to school, I laid out my course schedule for my final semester of undergraduate study and promised to let you know how I thought the semester would go. As I am halfway through the fourth week of the semester, I thought it was time to fulfill that promise.

Child and adolescent psychology -- this class, so far, is really fun! I am learning a lot about development throughout childhood...both psychological and physical. This class is a fair amount of work, but nothing I wouldn't expect for a 4000-level capstone course. We have to write a paper based on a 12-hour volunteer experience. Last week, I completed all 12 hours of my volunteering which was a huge thing to get completed seeing as I expect this semester to get very busy with both school work and finishing all the wedding stuff.

Health and fitness -- oh...my...goodness. This class is ridiculously boring. I feel like the know-it-all in there. The instructor tries to elicit responses from the class...and nobody answers but me. (I do give them a fair chance to respond before I chime in.) Jon suggested that I talk to him and see if he'll give me the final exam and not have to go to class anymore. (Nice thought, but it likely won't work.) To be fair, if I didn't have my medical background, I would not find this class as easy.

Principles of learning -- this is quite the interesting class. I have learned a lot about conditioning and the learning process for different things, both conscious and unconscious. We have our first exam in this class next Tuesday...so hopefully that will turn out well.

State and local government -- I am not particularly enjoying this class. I, and most of my classmates, feel like our instructor gives an unreasonable amount of work for the course. We have sheets to turn in every day at the beginning of class and sometimes are given sheets to do during class (during lecture...no specific time to do it) as well as at least a quiz a week. It's a little crazy, I feel. I have had 3000- and 4000- level classes that require less work. She is also a terrible lecturer. It's not like she's new at it either -- but she is pretty bad and difficult to listen to.

US and Canadian geography -- this has been an informative class. My instructor is has a plethora of degrees and a wealth of knowledge to share with us on a variety of subjects. I am really learning a lot and he genuinely wants us to learn about the things he is trying to teach us.

One thing I have learned over the last few weeks is that if I have any children, I will be either a terrible mother or a really good one. I will be so overprotective (as in, "oh my goodness...they're not ______ properly") or just apathetic (as in, "meh, they'll outgrow it") with their developmental and physical changes. If this happens (the "having kids" part), we shall see if I'm overprotective, apathetic...or somewhere in the middle.

School diversity

There has been a long-standing policy in the Wake County Public School System (where I received most of my education until my high school graduation) to obtain diversity. This, for several years, has meant that children are bussed all over the county in order to create an atmosphere in the schools that balances socioeconomic standings throughout the school. This means that some students are on the bus for more than an hour both going to and coming from school...just so that "rich" kids and "poor" kids are mixed in the schools.

There are several reasons that I disagree with this:

I love Boone!

At least for now...

Today, we had absolutely beautiful weather! The temperature actually reached 63 degrees! ...in January!! This was a welcome relief from the previous week with snow and ice and wind and bitterly cold temperatures. I even opened my windows in the apartment for the day to let some fresh air in. It was marvelous!

I did discover this weekend that if there was any desire to live where it would snow, I had now lost it after shoveling snow for 3 hours. (This weekend...Friday and Saturday...I started, and completed, my required volunteer hours for my child and adolescent psychology class. I did it at a non-profit organization with children. I may write a post on that later.)

I know this is short...but I just couldn't not tell you about this fantastic weather!

Restaurant review: Dan'l Boone Inn

Last weekend, I took my fiancé out for breakfast at the Dan'l Boone Inn restaurant here in Boone, North Carolina. Since my arrival in Boone for school nearly 18 months ago, I had been wanting to try this restaurant. I have heard many good things about it, especially the country ham. I was not disappointed.

This is a quaint little country style restaurant complete with country-style uniforms the staff wear. Here, the meals are family-style. You are served bowls and plates of food from which you pick and choose what you want. When a dish is emptied, your server will grab it and bring you fresh and delicious food. Anything that you can eat is yours for the taking. Here is what we were served:

Wedding update!

So, this past weekend, Jon and I went home over our 3-day weekend (that's really a 4-day weekend because neither of us have classes on Friday!) to get some things done for the wedding that is fast approaching. We got a ton done!

• We have a venue for the ceremony and reception (that was solidified on the day we came back to school for the first week of classes -- the date, however, was not solidified until early in the week of classes).
• We have a caterer and I'm super-excited about the one we have! I've been at events that she has catered before and she is fantastic!
• We have a photographer -- I don't know her personally but she is Mom's coworker's sister. Jon and I have looked at her portfolio and we liked what we saw. We have an engagement session scheduled over spring break and I'll likely do a bridal session between graduation and the wedding.
• We have a pastor -- we emailed him early last week as to see if he was available and willing to marry us. He said he had to check and would get back to us. We talked to him while we were home this past weekend and he agreed to do it. :)
• We have a pianist -- a good friend of ours is going to play during the ceremony. We're still working on a playlist for her but we have her coming to play.
• We have a "florist" and designer -- one of my great friends who I have worked extensively with on decorating and designing (though she is so much better than I am) has agreed to help with the flowers and decorations and all of that jazz for the ceremony and reception. She's going to fiddle around with some things for the next 3 weeks or so and then show me what she's come up with and I'll figure out what I like or don't like and we'll go from there with bouquets.

My bucket list

Dear Diary (cheesy start, right?),

Here is a list of things I want to do before I die (probably not inclusive...nor am I likely to do all of them [aka...chicken out!]):

Welcome back to Boone!

Jon and I made the trip to head back to Boone yesterday in preparation for the new semester to begin on Monday. We were greeted by some not-so-lovely white stuff falling from the sky, already on the ground and trying desperately to stick to the roads (it eventually did but it allowed us to get each of us home and make a grocery run). I told Jon I might not be so upset over more snow had we not had the 8+ inches back home over break. In some ways (mostly through that and the ice event the first day we were back), I feel like I didn't even leave Boone. The positive side is that it's pretty. :)

Outside the front door of my apartment.

When I went to bed last night, that pavement
was black and there wasn't any snow on the cars.

So, classes are scheduled to start on Monday. I'm not sure if that will happen or not. The next 6 days have snow on the forecast and, apparently, the first few days of this (i.e.: through Tuesday) are supposed to bring us a big storm with lots of snow fall. I know the AppalCart is not running today (though I haven't been outside to look at the road conditions). If AppalCart doesn't run, the campus doesn't open for classes because so many (most off-campus) students rely on AppalCart to get them to and from campus. I told Dad before we left that I'm not sure if we should even head up to Boone because I'm not sure how much class-ification will be occurring this week. He, being the "voice of reason", said that it's good to be up there just to be prepared.

Whirlwind few days...

Well, what a week this has been! Thursday, Jon proposed. Friday, he left for Canada. Saturday, I had a wedding and a bridal show to attend (yes, I move fast). Sunday, I went to church. Monday, I worked a 12-hour shift. Tuesday, I worked a 24-hour shift. Wednesday I went dress shopping and Jon got back from Canada. And, today, I made a trip to the dentist and then went to see my wonderful fiancé. (Tomorrow, we're meeting with the church to try and set a wedding date before we head back to Boone.) I have kept myself busy, that's for sure...but it's been a good busy (aside from work...that was a bit rough).