One in A Million...Smiths that is!

What can I say, I'm a little off lately.

2010-08-30T19:37:00.001-07:00

This is Jeremy's loofa...I may or may not have stood in the shower smelling it while crying. Don't judge me...

More things...

2010-08-27T17:27:00.000-07:00

To add to the "what sucks about my husband being gone list..."

When your sick, not only do you have no one to take care of you but you also still somehow have to get the energy to take the dog out to go to the bathroom.

And lets not forget having to take the over flowing garbage to the dumpster (!though I didn't, I just stepped on it to squish it down till tomorrow when hopefully I feel better).

This has been a long week with my students back. I am so glad it is Friday so I can sleep all weekend long!

Okay okay, I know, its been awhile..

2010-08-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

So life gets in the way, and I completely forget to blog. Yeah its been over a year, what can I say.

So a lot has happened, as it should, in the last year and half. Not to long after my last post:
*I went home for a nice vacation for a week: Hung out with my family and friends, went to Kennewick, visited the place the Twilight Prom was shot and had a all around good time not knowing that I would be back really soon.

* Mid June we find out Jeremy is deploying, and in 11 days I pack up our entire apartment and we put it in storage. I return home and Jeremy deploys

* While home I road trip with Kristina to Zion National Park and Vegas, work at the daycare again off and on, spend time at the cabin with Kristina tubing and trying again to wake board, spend Thanksgiving in Medford with my Mom's parents and make it back to Florida around mid Dec. Jeremy makes it back state side just a few days before Christmas to an almost completely unpacked apartment...I'm good like that.

*Mom and Dad come in late January to celebrate Dad's 50th. We go to Disneyworld and have a blast. The last day they are in town we expand our little family with a four legged, furry child named Atlas. We adopted him him from the Humane Society and couldn't be any happier with our little guy.

*I spend February applying to jobs, which I end up getting 3 interviews for and 3 job offers. Yay! I also bought a car, a Escape.

*Started work in March, at Belleair Elementary (Go Tigers!) where I work as an assistant in an EBD (emotional and behavioral disorders) class. Its rough but I love working in a school setting and have decided I for sure want to go back and get my masters in elementary ed so I can teach.

*In June school ended on the 9th and I was surprised on the 10th by my brother Colin and his girlfriend Amber for my birthday. My husband had been planning in since Jan. and was very sneaky...I had no clue.

*The first couple weeks of July we spent in Vancouver, enjoying our time with our family and friends. Unfortunately we also attended the funeral of my Aunt Gail, who we all love and miss very much.

*The rest of July and August have been stressful. My parents house (the one I lived in for 20 years, two decades) burnt down and though they are safe we sadly lost our family dogs Chester and Buddy. I'm sad that Atlas never got to know his uncles, even though I am sure Chester and Buddy would not have been his greatest fans :).

* And now here we are full circle with Jeremy deployed again, and hopefully for the last time. He should be back, fingers crossed, by Christmas though it might be just a little after :( But luckily this is it, this is his last one (again fingers crossed something doesn't come up). We have just a little over a year left and we will be moving back to Vancouver! YAY! It's so awesome to think we are in the final stretch.
Things that suck about your husband being deployed: Taking the trash to the dumpster (its a pain in the but when you live in the building farthest from the dumpster!), having to haul 30 lb bags of dog food up a flight of stairs, doing the dishes...I also miss his lame jokes and his big smile but man his muscle come in handing when doing the tough jobs. LOL

* So now I am back to work, getting the classroom set up and taking beginning of the year trainings. Kids come back on Tuesday and it should be an interesting year. I'm looking forward to some of the things I missed last year because I started to late, like field trips and assemblies.

So that's my year in a Blog. I was going to add a picture or two from each big thing but it was taking to long to load so I gave up and just include the most important one! My baby Atlas. Anyways, we will see if I keep it up this time.

*

It took a little more than 4 months...

2009-05-30T16:35:00.001-07:00

So I have lived in Florida since January 22, and now four months later I finally experience what people are always talking about. Every person I have talked to who has at some point lived in Florida has mentioned the massive bugs they have here, I have read stuff online about them and about how there is no getting away from them no matter how clean or new your house is. Well for four months I am thinking that these people must be crazy because the extent of bugs I have seen are a few normal sized spiders and mosquitoes no different than you would see in Washington. Lots of alligators and lizards, but abnormal sized bugs? Nope.

Well today Jeremy and I got sushi for dinner, and on our way out to the car to leave I had my first experience. On the tire of the truck next to us was the biggest, ugliest grasshopper I have ever seen! The pictures don't do its size justice. I though about putting my finger next to it for scale, but there was no way in heck I was getting within feet of this nasty thing! I was thoroughly disgusted and creeped out.

Though the pictures don't look like it, the thing was as fat as my thumb and 2 to 2 1/2 inches long. It just occurred to me I have seen a grasshopper this size, 7th grade biology class. However that one was dead and had been in formaldehyde for at least ten years. And I still freaked out when its foot got stuck on my rubber glove and it moved...my silly 13 year old self swore it was alive for a minute. I was extremely freaked out, and made my lab partner do the dissecting...I was not getting within feet of it. Let me tell ya, they are even more freak and gross when they move on their own.

I will likely have nightmares tonight of abnormal large disgusting bugs....ewww!

Pictures from Mike and Savannahs Visit

2009-05-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a really long time since I updated, and I was told I needed to put more pictures on by Jeremy's parents. So here are pictures from Mike (jeremy's best friend or as Savannah and I say, his boyfriend) and Savannah (mike's girlfriend) visit to florida. We went to Busch Gardens, Adventure Island (waterpark) and downtown St. Petersburg. It was a really fun trip and we miss having them around! Jeremy and I both can't wait to see them again soon!
Jeremy and Mike being monkies and climing the Banyan trees in St. Pete

Boyfriends, reunited at last!

PROOF

2009-02-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

That I am officially a college graduate! YAY! This came in the mail last week and I can't wait to frame it and hang it up. It's so exciting to offically have a degree. Though like my last post expresses, being done with school and not having a job is not all i thought it would be back when I was dreaming about having nothing to do all day long inbetween work, school, internship, papers, tests and projects! But despite my boredom, I am glad to be done with at very least part of my education (still haven't decided on a master's degree).

Life as a housewife...

2009-02-22T21:11:00.001-08:00

IS SOOOOOOO BORING! It would be one thing if I had a kid, but I am literally bored out of my mind. It would be nice right about now to have a job, but because of all the time i would have to ask for off (for people visiting and going home) between now and August (when I would quit anyways since Jeremy is deploying and I am going to go home) I feel there isn't really a point. So instead I have been cleaning, scrapbooking, cooking and baking like crazy. Which if you know me, I hate to clean and cook. So here are a few of the things I have been whipping up out of boredom...I'm actually shocked at how well I am doing with this whole cooking thing. I have only cooked a small number of dishes in my life, so I am very shocked when all the dishes I make actually turn out. I need to start working out though, because bored at night leads to baked goods. And then I have to eat them of course, because it would be a waste for them to go bad. So yeah, the eliptical is really calling my name but motivating myself is really hard. Its much easier to watch HGTV and eat some more baked goods. MMMM

Busch Gardens

2009-02-22T21:02:00.000-08:00

Well this post is a little delayed but I wanted to post my pictures. SO for Valentine's Day instead of doing gifts (since we have been buying so much for the apartment), we decided to do something fun. So since we can get in free to Busch Gardens we decided to spend a fun day riding roller coasters. It was a blast, as most know I love roller coasters, so busch gardens is my idea of a perfect day! Afterward we came home and relaxed on the couch, ordered take-out and watched Harry Potter 5. It was nice to actually spend a Valentine's Day with Jeremy.
We did end up getting these matching Busch Gardens mugs for each other. I never find things with my name spelled right, so we decided to get them!

Wedding Pictures!

2009-02-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

Wedding Pictures came in today, so exciting! My cousin did such a great job! I love them. Sorry there are so many (though i didn't post even close to all of them) by my mom has been very anxious to see them like I have and I know she couldn't wait till she comes to visit in March, to see them all. All photos by Erin Smith

Neverending thank you's

2009-02-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

Well as of today the spare room is officially done, it is very neat, tidy and put together...yay. I tried to hang pictures and my bulletin board with these hook things so I wouldn't have to put holes in the walls (one more thing to do when we move, repairing walls). And no matter what i did, they kept falling. The only one that managed to stay up was the frame with the pictures of Kristina and me carving pumpkins each year.

So with the spare room organized, I took advantage of the neatness and scrapbooked new pages. It was fun messing it up and doing crafty stuff with my hands. I am so behind on scrapbooking, I have stuff from June, July, August, September, November, December, all the wedding planning stuff, my showers, my bachelorette party and of course the wedding rehearsal, wedding and honeymoon. So it was nice to have a chance to relax and scrapbook again.

But now that the cleaning and unpacking are done I am back to the bain of my existence...the never ending thank you notes. Everyone was so generous with the wedding presents and cash, but I swear no matter how many thank yous I finish, I turn the page in my notebook and there are more names. I try to be creative and gear the notes to the person I am writing to but I feel like I keep saying the same thing... Thank you for coming to our wedding, thank you for the (insert present here), its been put to good use in our new place, the wedding was beautiful and the day went so perfectly, we were so happy to have all our family and friends around us on our special day, hope you had as much fun as we did...and so on. Chances are if you are gettiing a thank you note, anywhere from 2 to all of these sentiments will be included...sorry for my lack of orginiality. It would have been so much easier if it wasn't tacky to have a stamp made with fill in the blanks for name and gift. Oh well they will be done eventually, then i will have to address them all...which is a job in and of its self!

As soon as we get a couch I am going to post pictures of the apartment. I think its looking pretty good, well as good as you can make a boring,white walled, average apartment look. I still need to move the bed in the master because Jeremy had it up against a wall, and its such a pain when he gets home from work and I am already sleeping, I swear he knees me or smashes a body part every other time he crawls over me into bed. But anyways, I can't wait for our tax return because I am so looking forward to sprawling out on a couch in front of the tv.

Well hope everyone is doing well and having lots of fun in life! Miss everyone back home and I can't wait to come and visit!

Settling in

2009-02-04T09:34:00.001-08:00

So its been awhile since I updated. We've been busy busy since the pod arrived on thursday. Hauling everything up two flights of stairs to the third floor sucked! But luckily for me, Jeremy did most of the work. Then came unpacking...I had to wash all the new wedding presents we got, dishes, gadgets, utensils, towels, sheets etc. But now everythings washed, the kitchen and living room are pretty much completely organized and now I am tackling the spare room which is where everything I didn't know what to do with when we were unloading got put. So needless to say its a bit of a mess. But I got the shelves up for my scrapbooking stuff and I put the bed frame together. So i think that tonight while Jeremy is at work I might be able to finish the spare room. I'm very proud of myself, the spare bed frame is wood and snapped in half during transport. And I fixed it good as new, maybe even better because it feels super sturdy now. Once I finish the spare room, we just need a couch and dresser (come on tax return!) and we will be all settled in. Feels like an actually home now. Then I have to finish my thank you notes (40 some down, 30ish to go) and wait for my pictures to get done so I can include one in the envelopes. Send those out and then start on scrapbooking all the wedding stuff.

Mom has a plane ticket to come and visit in March, yay. I think we might go to disney world for a day or two since she has never been and wants to do some of the other parks besides Magic Kingdom. Then I think after her visit I am going to job hunt. There is a job on base working with kids that pays surprising well, well enough to make it worth the 20-30 minute commute. Jeremy is going to be deploying in August, so we will see if i find a job and like it enough to stay in Florida while he is gone...my guess is not. If we can figure out how to both work with just one car, leaving my future job in august to go home won't be a big deal. But if we buy a car, and then have insurance on two and all the other expenses that come along with it, who know if i am gonna have to stick around florida by myself :( All my friends must come visit me between august and december if thats the case!

So I have officially changed my name, ive done everything I need to be Estes-Smith. I got my social security card, my new debit card (i was going through withdrawls), a Florida drivers license (its funny looking) and a military dependent ID. Let me just tell you, getting my ID from the military was the most pain in the butt step of all. We literally waited two hours in uncomfortable chairs to get seen, and it took all of 5 minutes. The thing that sucks about the military is they have their own way of doing things, so couples who showed up after us got seen way before us because a) rank or b) they were in uniform. Blah it sucks. But luckily my ID is valid till he gets out, so unless i somehow loose it then I will never have to sit in that office again! Everything else, tricare, finance etc. on base went really fast so that was good.

Well I am off to make something to eat. I will right more later, and probably post pictures of the apartment when its all put together.

A few honeymoon pictures

2009-01-24T17:33:00.000-08:00

2009-01-23T21:49:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of us getting our license, at the rehearsal, the wedding ceremony and reception. These are pictures from friends at our wedding, I can wait to see the professional ones my cousin did, and I will post them here when I get them!

Sitting in KC

2009-01-22T14:20:00.001-08:00

Jeremy and I are just sitting in the Kansas City airport on a lay over as we make our way to Florida. Still have about another hour before boarding starts. Thank goodness for free wifi! The last few weeks have been amazing, hectic and gone by so fast. Our wedding was perfect, if anything went wrong I do not know about it because it seemed to me like everything went exactly how it was planned if not better.

Jeremy and I then spent two days in a wonderful suite at the heathman, then left for the honeymoon the monday after the wedding. The weather in California couldn't have been better, unfortunately I didn't pack for nice weather since normally this time a year its like 60. But instead we had 80-85 degrees every day. So the first day we got there we walked, what seemed like miles (but was probably more like blocks) to target to get shorts for the nice weather. We spent tuesday through saturday park hopping Disneyland and California Adventure. It was amazing those first few days because it was off season, we barely had to wait in lines and when we did they were maybe 10 minutes. Also by spending 5 days there we got to sleep in, not feel like we had to be there the instant the park opened, got to do all the big rides multiple times and all the little ones that most people miss as well. We had gorgeous weather, relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We also definitely got a work out with all the walking we did...which helped keep all those churros I ate from taking up residence on my tummy and tush. I will post pictures of our trip once we get back to florida and have the cords to upload our pictures.

We got back Monday evening, spent some time with our families and then started packing all my stuff and the wedding presents up. We had a pod delivered and spent most of tuesday and part of wednesday packing it up. I am not looking forward to hauling it all up the three flights of stairs at our apartment in florida. We also did all the fun stuff, like picking up a copy of our marriage license, changing my name and Social Security info, closing my bank accounts and adding me to Jeremys etc. I still need to get a new drivers license but I have to do that in Florida. Then Jeremy spent the evening with his family and I spent the evening with mine. Mom Colin and I went to YouSkyMe for dinner, and Leilani and Shane met us there to say goodbye. Next thing I knew it was two hours later and we headed home.

Then this morning, my mom and brother took me and Jeremy to the airport. It was hard and mom and i both cried. But we are getting through it, reminding ourselves we will see each other soon and talking about when moms gonna fly out to tampa for a visit. We get to tampa tonight, adn then we have about a week to relax before the pod is delivered. Which gives us a few days to haul and organize everything in the apartment before Jeremy goes back to work on Feb. 2. Then I will just be a bored housewife (boooooo) who organize, decorates, cooks and writes thank you letters. But then Jeremy will deploy, I will come back to Vancouver and hopefully work some at the daycare again. Then when he gets back I plan to get a job in florida because I don't see myself enjoying just staying home and not contributing.

Anyways, I will post pictures as soon as I can of the honeymoon, wedding and Florida.

It was going a little too easy...

2009-01-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

Wedding planning has gone very smoothly, and this last week has been exceptionally so. So of course i wake up to find that I-5 and the passes have been shut down due to flooding. And of course I have a handful of family and friends up north who now aren't likely to make it. But the big stress is that both one of my bridesmaids and my PHOTOGRAPHER are up north. Now we have to find a way to get them here. My mom was stressing and started crying...and I wasn't to stressed about it. But now everyone seems just a little to relaxed about it, and I am starting to stress. Colin says he'll drive around to seaside up to aberdeen and around to olympia to get my cousin erin who is the photographer but who knows if those roads are open or about to flood at any moment. I would rather just get both them on flights, but everyone else seems to think it will work out! Grrr...I blame leilani, just last night she told me that every wedding has glitches and I would probably have one too....Well i do and its a pretty big one! Damn mother nature!

Wedding Favors

2009-01-03T00:11:00.000-08:00

To night we made my favors for my wedding. A crazy, time consuming, last minute idea caused by the snow storm. Just a week before I had decided not to do a favor because they were costly and time consuming...and really who cares? But then i was stuck in the house for a week with nothing but my computer to keep me sane! And I went through each of my things that i check when i get online; email, myspace, facebook, WSU website, blogspot, YouTube...and after exhausting those website i thought, hey I will check out the knot, its been awhile! And that was my down fall, i saw someones bio who had done the cones for their wedding...and I think hmm so cute, i could do that. So i search the internet to just see what it entails and how costly the cones are...and the next thing i know I am ordering a shipment of cone shaped cellophane bags! The thing is, if i had all the supplies while snowed in, it would have been a great way to spend my time, and very productive...but of course that was not the case. So here i was doing them on a friday night a week before my wedding!

I adviced Samantha tonight while making the cones that when she gets married to stay far away from the knot . com and the evil grandiose wedding thoughts it buts into normally rational girls minds! I also told her free slave labor is the best friend you could ever have when planning a wedding! But anyhow after countless hours of make the tags mostly by myself, then a few fun hours of filling the cones with Samantha and her mom kelly (my moms best friend) I have a beautiful favor that I am very very happy with.
I think they turned out beautifully, and i hope all my guests like them.
Or at very least takes them at the end of the reception so i don't feel like my efforts were a waste!

A few completely done...so many more to do!

Mom was tired from a long day at work, and not crazy about having to be doing favors...but she was a trooper. And i keep reminding her that i am her only daughter and that she won't have to do this when Colin gets married...her job is done in a week!

We had a little assembly line, each doing a
different part. It was very productive.

Samantha and Kelly finishing up the very last cone!

The finished product! This plus two big nordstrom bags full of more cones!

New Year Eve

2009-01-03T00:05:00.001-08:00

New years eve was very low key and fun...Hockey game, pizza and a couple of movies...oh and some illegal fireworks on a golf course :)

Kristina, her family, her boyfriend and I went to a Winterhawks game, it was my very first hockey game and i had so much fun. My favorite party was when players from each team got in a fight, pulling of their gloves and just bare knuckle fighting! And i love that they are allowed to just pounding on each other until one of them hits the ice. Its funny cause they don't do much damage since they are slipping around on skates! After the hockey game we had yummy pizza at kristinas house and watching Babylon AD and My Best friends girl. I thought dane cook we hilarious in my best friends girl! Overall it was just a great night! Thanks Kristina for the invite!

Bachelorette Party

2008-12-28T21:04:00.001-08:00

The snow totally messed up my bachelorette party, we postponed it but there were still weather issues and people had other plans. But we had fun, didn't turn out how I expected it but I got drunk quickly so I got over it quick. Just a few pics!

Snow...

2008-12-20T21:02:00.001-08:00

sucks when you have no one to play in the snow with. But I had fun alone...for about 5 minutes! Here are some pictures:
If Jeremy was here he would have fun in the snow with me! Though he probably would be stuck at his house, I think I would make him walk and stay at my house. My family are grumps...they don't play in the snow, they don't want to play board or card games...hmph! Hope everyone else is enjoying the snow!

Holy Cow!!!!!

2008-12-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

I am a college graduate as of today (woohoo!), and now that the focus on school is over it hit me...IM GETTING MARRIED THREE WEEKS FROM SAT! I'm freaking out just a bit, that seems so incredible close...it went from being far off in the distance to like any day now. I have a feeling that some sleepless nights will be coming up! And sadly, my bachelorette party is likely going to be ruined due to the crappy weather we are currently experiencing. I know we will do it another time, but I was really looking forward to it. Holy COW three weeks...I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it, as you can probably tell! AHHHHHHHHH.

When planning for my last semester and the wedding just weeks later, I thought that the stress of all that i had to do...full time school, working 30 plus hrs a week, completing an internship, planning a wedding alone since my fiance is across the country would likely put me in an early grave. And don't get me wrong, at times it was really tough and I just wanted to jump off a bridge. But not as bad as I thought it would be. Most of the time I even had fun! But nothing could prepare me for the insane emotions that come with having two very big...some of the biggest...events in my life occur within weeks of each other. Three actually, since I am neglecting the fact that I am hauling my butt and all my worldly possessions across country in just over a month. My brain just can't seem to function properly in processing all the monumental things to come in such a short time...

One Big Headache after Another...

2008-10-18T23:41:00.000-07:00

And that's not just metaphorically speaking either...I've had so many darn actually headaches recently, it's been driving me crazy. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the BC i started taking a little over a month ago.

Life as usual has been busy busy. Work school and internship are all hectic. I had about a week of a relative peace, i worked 40 hrs, was scheduled for 10 hrs of internship and i only had one test and two assignments! Sad that is what makes up a relaxed week these days! And that would of been nice, but of course I had to catch the stomach bug going around at the daycare which left me running to the bathroom on a regular basis :(

But a few wedding things:

Invites are done, addressed and mailed! They took a ridiculous amount of time to make, put together, address envelops, stuff envelops, lick (yuck) envelopes and stamp! Tip to all future brides...just pay someone to make them! Don't DIY them...it sucks! But here are pictures for your viewing please!
And I have had a make up trial and two hair trials. And unfortunately to get the do i want... I am going to have to sleep in sponge rollers the night before my wedding...so uncomfortable. But the hot rollers were not giving it enough curl and the curling iron takes to long and wasn't quite the look i wanted. The pictures are not a polished run through, just a test to make sure my mom's friend Jamie has the general idea and knows exactly what she needs to due. It turned out really well, and exactly what i had pictured in my mind but couldn't find a picture that was exactly what i had envisioned. Jury is still out on makeup, not sure if you can even tell in the pictures. Picture with hot rollers i make up trial, each eye is slightly different. The other is the picture of how my hair will be just not so many little fly-away hairs.
And for the laughing and viewing pleasure of all who read this...meaning Patty! I tried on my moms wedding dress from 1983! Don't mind the funny line around the middle, i was wearing a white tank top and jeans underneath and I didn't have the slip on so you can kinda see it! I'm glad I decided to go with a new dress for my wedding! That thing was so damn itchy! Oh and my mom was skinny so its not even zipped up...though my butt and boobs were mostly what got in the way from it fitting nicely! I'm scratching just thinking about that thing!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE???

2008-10-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

Mom, her friend Jamie and I went and saw Nights in Rodanthe tonight (see below rant for review)! And we got there first, got premium spots in the back row dead center. People came in but it wasn't backed so it was looking like it would be a pretty decent seating scenario (i hate when every seat is packed and strangers are right next to you. Well almost till right before the movie starts, no one else was in our row. Then a couple walks in and sits about four seats from my mom (im next to her, then jamie on the other side of me). Movie starts, and there is a pretty loud song on the opening title....and what do I hear???? Talking over a fairly loud song, the loudest point of the movie, from the dude four seats down from my mom. I give him the benefit of the doubt, but oh no he keeps talking. And maybe in any other movie I wouldn't have let it get to me, but i am a devout Nicholas Sparks Fan, an avid reader of his books and have a passion for movies made from his books. So hey, i was a little irritated...rightfully so in my opinion.

So I lean around my mom and give "the dirty look" but neither the man or his wife notice. In the past it would have stopped her, but apparently I grew the balls that my mom has some how lost in the last few years (she use to embarrass me so bad when i was a teen, because she wouldn't put up with that kinda crap). So after 5 or 10 more minutes of talking i take a big step for me and lean around my mom and go "SSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!". For most normal people, hey that would be enough for them to say to themselves "hmm i must be louder than i thought? ill be quiet now." But oh no, this man is not normal. So then all the sudden Jamie, who is like 7 or 8 seats away from this man, says to me " I hear talking" I point to the direction of the sound. She leans around both my mom and I and says "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" about 2 times louder than me. And does it stop? Oh no of course not. My mom keeps telling me to ignore it or sit on the other side of Jamie...but hell I am now pissed that they are ruining one of my movies! So after 10 more minutes of talking I lean around my mom and go "Would you please STOP talking?" And go back to watching my movie. The wife says to my mom "we are whispering" mom tells them that actually they are really loud. And what do I hear the old shit of a man say "Whats her problem?" So not only is he loud but he must be deaf too. Well my mom tells me to let it go, I fume...and they continue to talk! Jamie wanted to give them a beat down or at least call the theater...but we got enthralled in the movie and ignored them. For a time I couldn't get past my anger enough to focus on the movie, but the sheer beauty of nicholas sparks did wonders!

So here the review....minus obnoxious old farts who were never taught manners or respect for fellow movie patrons....Despite bad reviews, Nights in Rodanthe was beautiful. I laughed I cried, and I fell more in love with the work of Nicholas Sparks. Diane Lane and Richard Gere did a fantastic job. Though I absolutely adore all of his books, in a fight amongst them, Nights In Rodanthe is farther down on my list of favorites...probably because its about older people and I read in when i was 15 and probably didn't truly get it. But even so...the movie was in my opinion Beautiful, Heartwarming and breaking and worth the hefty fee to see it! But do yourself a favor and bring kleenex!

Stressed

2008-09-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

So it is always super exciting when Jeremy comes...but then I remember why it's always better to go visit him. When he comes home there is always people wanting his time and attention, his parents, his friends, his siblings...and he just isnt good at saying no to his family. Then you add into the mix my family, they want to spend time with him as well. I usually end up refereeing- trying to fit everything in to please everyone. My mom is stressing me out and really making me feel bad about the whole thing. I know she is just worried about me and also wanting to get to know Jeremy better before we get married but she doesn't help. Jeremy doesn't realize that when he doesn't make time for my family, it makes him look bad. So I end up feeling like my family doesn't like my fiance and my fiance could care less about my family. He's super close with his parents so he likes spending lots of time with them, but me I'm not crazy about them. They irritate me a lot...but since I want to be with Jeremy and I am also thinking about his needs before my own (part of loving someone) I usually go along with it. Throw in that this trip we need to get a few wedding things done and that its the shortest trip he's ever made home- and well I'm stressed. I just wanna cry. We've had next to no alone time together, and it doesn't appear like that will change before he leaves early thursday morning. I just wanna scream sometimes, at his parents, at my mom, at him! Agh....right now I just wanna to go somewhere all alone and decompress. But I have to much to do and I don't want to miss out on time with Jeremy even if its with a whole bunch of people around. God I was hoping typing this out would make me feel better but I just feel worse. I can't wait till January, then I can spend everyday with him...and when we come back to visit alone time will not matter so much!

Busy Busy

2008-09-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

So I have been really busy with school so I haven't had time to write. It's insane how much reading my online classes have. And I have been opening so I have been up at 445 and not home till 530...then homework and bed so I can get up at the crack of dawn again. Oh well its almost over now. I'm working on getting all of the next two weeks of reading and work done before Jeremy comes home, it's insane. So upon trying to figure out what all I have to do, I discover that I purchased the wrong books for my online class that I am doing DDP...grrr! I just spent another 111 dollars on textbooks and I can't return the wrong ones because it's too late. Sucks so bad!

So in my quest to take pictures for the blog, trying to get more

comfortable with it I took a picture of the following unsuspecting poor soul on campus at WSU Vancouver. And the reason for this picture you may ask? A little rant...WHY WHY WHY do people wear striped polos with plaid pants? Not sure if you can tell from the picture but that is in fact what this guy is wearing. I dunno, maybe I'm crazy but mixing two patterns is just so not cute...but yet every preppy guy seems to sporting this type of outfit. Oh well, atleast this guy matches, ive seen some who don't even do that! Okay fashion rant over.

So other than school and work I have got to see two new movies that were both really good, so I am recommending them to all. The first was Penelope...I had no desire to see this one but kristina talked me into it and I am glad I did because it was really cute. I've become a fan of James McAvoy recently and he is in it! The second is a movie called My Sassy Girl. Its a remake of a korean film, and was awesome. I will have to add it to my personal collection soon. It was also a recommendation from Kristina, she works at Blockbuster so she's an expert!

Oh the hustle and bustle...

2008-08-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Not much to say. Had school today...blah! It sucked, the class is going to be boring and a pain in the rear. For the most part it is new people, and since I've done all this HD stuff over and over. So i know the people who don't know or understand the simplest things (trust me there will be some like that, there always is!) are just going to irritated me. Anyways got out of school early and heading to my alterations appointment. Took maybe 10 or 15 minutes, and she said she could have it done the same day...so I made an appointment for 7 and headed to work. Work was long...annoying parent that I will likely bitch about later when I have the energy. And then came home, got sonic with my mom and went to my appointment. So here it is...the bustle will need to be played with a little bit just to get it hanging right, but thats just a matter of playing with it a few times as you hang it up. So omg, coming from a girl with plenty of weight in the back...damn my ass felt heavy! All that heavy material was really weighing me down! All who attend the wedding may see me fall backwards because of the pull of my dress! Luckily I'm not a big dancer so it won't be a huge deal. So after my appointment I brought my dress home, did some reading, and watched tv. Tomorrow I have class, my internship orientation and a dentist appointment. I have to have a filling...:( not really going to be the funnest of days!

Kicking off the semester in true Caitlin fashion...

2008-08-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

by procrastinating like I do all semester long! I should be reading my text...Chapter 1: Introduction to the Human Services Profession...I know I know enthralling right? How could I possible not be devouring every page? What really sucks is that this semester, HD 385 (Perspectives in Human Services) which i am taking, is a pre-req for HD 430 (Professional Skills in Working with Families and Individuals) which i took last semester. Basically meaning, I'm learning things I already learned...or I guess was suppose to learn. But i have to take this class cause I need one more HD elective and its the only one I haven't taken that works with my schedule. BLAH. I should be able to ace it though, well more than likely I won't since when I am bored I do worse.

Other than that, first day went pretty good. Left my house at 630 am to get coffee before work. Worked till 830, had school from 910-1035, back to work from 11-6pm and headed home. So i was gone from my house for 11 1/2 hours. Worked 8 1/2 hours total today. Luckily not everyday will be like this, just filling in for co-workers on vacation.

So I thought about taking a picture at school today for the blog, but I need to become more daring. I decided against it, because the school was so crowded and I didn't want to look like a weirdo taking pictures of the campus. Must work on courage for the sake of an interesting blog...though currently only Patty reads it. LOVE YOU PATTY!

So the worst part of my day???? The long ass (can I say ass on a blog? well i said it twice now...) walk from my car to class and back. All last year I spent the big bucks for an orange lot parking pass, which was practically in my classes compared to this semester. This semester I went cheap and got grey the cheapest one. Grey has one parking lot reasonable close, and I thought to my self "Self, you have early classes you will definitely be able to get a spot there before all the other grey lot losers!" boy was I wrong. It and the next closest lot were completely full! And of course the grey lots are only on one side of campus, and my classes are both on the other. Well atleast I will get a work out. Because then after hauling my butt across campus. I have to climb 2 flights of stairs (seems like a lot lot more!) to get to my class...same room for both classes. OH well I can definitely use the exercise. Well I should get reading so I can go to bed and get up for class in the morning! Maybe I will have the courage to take a picture for my one lovely reader!

Last day of Freedom..

2008-08-24T14:38:00.001-07:00

So school starts tomorrow...and the end of my life for 4ish months also starts! Blah. Im taking four classes, doing 3 credits for an internship (that means 135 hrs!), working about 30 hours a week and planning my wedding! AHHHHHH I know I am crazy!

So you would think I would do something fun, for my last day of freedom and sanity! But no the highlight of my day so far was walking to Walgreens to buy contact solution and playing Wii Fit. I know exciting right? I'm a party animal. Oh yeah and since i have to work at 7 before work, i probably go to bed around 9 o'clock tonight. Going to bed when the sun is still out is my fave. Well hopefully the start of school and all that is going on will provide lots of interesting material for this blog.

Thanks Patty for introducing me to the world of blogging!

2008-08-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

Had a fun evening with the girls! Patty was in town so Leilani, Patty and I went to Beaches then walked a long the waterfront. While we were walking along, Patty mentioned her blog. When I got home I checked it out and thought "Hey I should do that!" So it begins...and over the next 5 months (and probably beyond) I am going to chronicle the road to finishing my degree, completing an internship, planning a wedding, getting married and moving across country. Should be an interesting trip!