Summer has come and passed, the innocent can never last

6 weeks in to the school year and I think I'm going prematurely grey.

What on earth made me believe that I could go to school full time and work 38 hours a week?

It wouldn't be too bad if my classes were all lecture based, but I have 2 project based classes. Typography, which I don't think I'm doing very well in, and Computer Graphics 1, which I feel like I've already taken. It's really difficult to make time to do all of my projects when I get out of school, then come home, change, and go to work, then stay at work until midnight so that I can come home and go to sleep and wake up at 7 in the morning...then rinse, lather and repeat.

Anyway...

I have managed to have some sort of a personal life in between the madness of my life, though I'm not quite sure how.

On the 3rd, we celebrated Chris' 26th birthday.

My hubby turned 26!

It feels like just last year he was the one celebrating his 21st birthday, sipping a margarita and realizing how much he disliked alcohol. Now he's 26...and doing the same thing.

Anyway...

I managed to get his birthday off, both from school and work! Thank you labor day for cancelling classes, and thank you boss for scheduling me off on Mondays.

The father and Debbie-in-law took us out for a late lunch at Cattleman's, where we dined on delicious steak and potatoes.

Actually, the steak wasn't anything wonderful for its price, but it was good.

Anyway, after that I took Chris to the movies. Seeing as we had never been upstairs at the theater before (it's a section you have to be 21 or over to get in to) we went on up and Hubby enjoyed a cold frosty drink before the movie.

He's been really in to his bike riding (he did a 100k that I'll mention later!) and so we went to see Premium Rush...the bike movie.

I went in having terribly low expectations, but I will admit that I was very pleasantly surprised by it. It was action-ish, sure, but there was enough of a storyline and comedy to keep me interested.

Come the 13th, we celebrated Hubby's youngest sister's birthday with a little tRain concert (Yes, the capitalization was intentional).

We got rained on, but hey...that's what ponchos are for right?!?

We didn't want to have a De Ja Vu incident for little sister, who got rained out of her Sugarland concert because of lightning and thunder (which isn't so great for outdoor arenas)...so we had out fingers crossed.

Even then, it was actually a really great show.

I'd definitely go see Train again, though preferably without the rain. I love rain, but not being stuck in it and having a wet sweater sticking to me. And wet shoes...I hate wet shoes.

Our shoes were soaked and we were shivering, but singing along and dancing around (and huddling together) kept us warm.

The fact that Pat Monahan sang "Calling All Angels" right in front of us was pretty nice too.

The 17th, Chris and I celebrated our one year anniversary.

I can hardly believe I've been married for a year already. Time just flies by when you're not looking, and man did it ever fly!

We had this plan that we were going to take an extended weekend in Texas and go to Six Flags, but my History of Graphic Design teacher planned our first test that day, and she does not give make-up tests. In order to keep from failing the class before I even began, we skipped out on Texas and stayed at home for some dinner and a movie. Hopefully sometime soon we can celebrate late.

We did defrost our wedding cupcakes though and enjoyed the year-old pastries.

MMMmmmm...

Actually they weren't bad. A tad dry, but still pretty good.

And they still made our tongues nice and blue.

As I mentioned, Chris rode his bike in a 100k down in Texas, and I couldn't be more proud of him if I tried!

Originally he wanted to do the 100 mile, but he knew he wasn't ready for it yet. He has come a long way in the short time he's been riding, and it's very inspirational to watch him go. When he first started off, a 10 mile ride was like dragging himself to Hell and back. Now, he's riding in the Hotter 'n' Hell race in Texas and kicking its butt!

Well, okay so it wasn't an easy feat, but he did it and like I said, I'm so proud of him.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get time off to go and cheer him on, but I was thinking about him every second.

Way to go Chris!

My college had a career and internship fair last week and I decided I'd give it a look.
I definitely felt like I wasted my time.
It's unfortunate, but I don't think many job fairs cater towards artistic majors. There was one magazine at the career fair, and that was it as far as artistic jobs, and even then, a magazine isn't where I want to end up.
So I decided that if I want to get noticed or get professional, I need to start kicking it in to high gear. I'ce started to try and create a logo for myself (in between all of my other school projects) so that I can start designing stationary, business cards, and fixing up my portfolio. I want to start getting serious as a designer, because how welse am I going to make it in the world?
The job market seems to be geared more towards business jobs...the stereotypical office jobs...not the artistic ones. It sucks, but it just means I'm going to have to work that much harder to get myself noticed in a world full of starving artists.
Wish me luck!

Back to school (again)!

Today is the first day of school, and I'm a mix of emotions.

I'm excited, because I've always (mostly) enjoyed school, but I'm terribly nervous too because it's been a year since I've had any classes, and I haven't been staying up with my graphic designing. Graphic Design is a competitive career choice, and I've been pretty slack on keeping my creative juices flowing.

I've been to one class so far, and it seems like it will be somewhat of a repeat class as one that I took at Cuyamaca. Most people would probably not be to happy about that, but I'm glad because I think I need the refresher class.

I also had History of Graphic Design and I hated it. I took a class like it in summer school at Cuyamaca and it was incredibly hard. It was the only class I was taking, I studied my butt off, and I barely made a B (I would have celebrated with a C in that class). Plus, now I have to pick between potentially failing a class I have yet to even take, or going on my pre-planned anniversary trip with my husband. My professor doesn't allow make-up tests, and of course the first test is on my one-year anniversary. I told her, and she more-or-less said "oh well". She said most people fail her first test because they're not familiar with the format of the test, but then do well in the future...so by her logic, I'll still fail the second test because I never got to see the first.

Ugh...

Tomorrow, I've got Typography, which is another repeat class, but it's another one I'm very excited to take, because while I did take a typography class at Cuyamaca, I feel that I got cheated out of a good education on the subject because my professor was incredibly old school and we hardly ever worked in typography...plus she cancelled class more often than not, so I don't feel I got my money's worth.

After that, I also have one general education class that I never took back home...American National Government.

One thing that sucks though, is being a transfer student. I'm not a freshman...though it's still my first time ever being on campus. I know I'm not the only one in this position, but it still sucks. I don't know anyone, I don't know where anything is... I'm just thrown in to the middle of everything and put in a group of people that have all already taken at least a year of classes all together, now I'm the new girl being tossed in there.

I'm hoping that it doesn't keep me back from making friends, because I'm really hoping that I can meet some new people at college. After a year living in Oklahoma, I don't have any friends. There are some people at work that I'd love to hang out with outside of work, but I want some more friends. I've lost my nearby friends and family, and though I can never replace any of them, I want to fill the gap that their absence has left.

I'm trying to be more outgoing in school, but once I sat down in my first class, I felt my old introverted, quiet self start to creep back. The professor said to get to know the people sitting next to you while she tried getting the projector to come on, and I felt myself sink in to my chair. Luckily, the guy sitting behind me rolled over and introduced himself. I know I need to work on it, and people say all the time that it isn't hard to just say "hi" to someone...but it is for me! Which is so weird because at work, I can talk to customers and my bosses always tell me how fantastic my customer service is...but yet when it comes to my personal life, I can't do it! I can't talk to people!

*sigh*

Well I've gotten off track, so I may as well go further off track and talk about the house.

I LOVE IT!

I love not sharing walls with people.

I love not having to hear my neighbors arguing.

I love not having to listen to their movies.

I love not having to hear them get ready for work in the morning.

I love being able to play loud music and not worry if the people across the hall or above can hear me.

I love having a laundry room INSIDE my house (though we don't have a washer or dryer in there yet...the hook-ups are there)!

I love living in a house!

It's not a huge house, and of course there are things I'd change if I could...but it's our first one and I love it.

Take a look!

I posted a virtual tour in my last blog...but here are some pictures too.

View from the front door looking in to the living room

Standing in the doorway that leads to the kitchen

Looking in to the kitchen from the doorway

Standing in the corner (where our table now is)

Looking in to what we used as the master bedroom

Backyard view from the bedroom

Little bathroom

Lots of storage...

Spare bedroom (AKA Chris' music room apparently)

Backyard view from the spare room

Cool little bookcase built in to the wall of the hallway

Everything's Changing

So Monday's the big day!

Monday we move in to the house, and Tuesday we'll spend the day cleaning up the apartment and return the keys.

Part of me is really excited (okay so most of me is) but part of me is like "Really? This isn't done yet? Why aren't we in the house yet?"

We've got one load of stuff moved up to the house...blankets, our kitchen table, some miscellaneous computer items, Chris's random papers and other things we don't use as often.

Tomorrow, Chris is going to take most of the stuff we have packed up already to the house while I'm at work, and possibly the coffee table and some other big things.

Monday, Chris' mom and sister are going to come and help us move the rest of the bigger things up to the house.

In line with the other changes, I've got an Oklahoma phone number now! I've given up my 619 number and have a 580 number now. I'm having a little separation anxiety from my San Diego area code, but I knew the day would come.

It's weird not having my old number anymore since I've had it since like my freshman year of high school...but I guess I always knew the day would come since I moved to Oklahoma that I'd eventually have to get an Oklahoma number.

Part of me still hasn't really accepted the fact that I live here now though...that I'm not going back to San Diego other than for visiting.  It's weird, and kinda sad.

In unrelated news...we've heard back from the Putnam City job Chris applied for, and unfortunately he did not get the position.

We knew it was a possibility, and Chris isn't too heartbroken over it, though I think we were both a bit upset over the news.

Oh well... We're keeping our hopes up and our heads high, and Chris is turning in more applications at other police departments.

Wish us luck with the move and stay tuned for pictures of the house!

Happy Friday the 13th

Well, I just got finished with another dosage of family visits.

Kendra just came out for a week and stayed with me and Chris, and though I only had 3 full days to spend with her due to work, it was a good visit.

The first few days, Chris was able to spend time with Kendra. He took her to see fireworks and to a family cookout, both of which I wish I could have gone to. When my turn came, we went and had a girly day, then went to the amusement part and the water park...both of which we ended up getting rained out of!

We also introduced Kendra to the awesome-ness of snow cone stands. There aren't stands in San Diego, so we took her to get a snow cone 3 or 4 times during her stay, because snow cones are just so dang good!

Chris still hasn't got an answer on his job with Putnam City, but he did give them a call asking if the spots had been filled.

The spots have not been filled yet, and in fact, another has come open! During the interviews, another officer left...opening a third position! I'll admit, I was beginning to get discouraged, but this news has brightened my opinion on the job and I'm really hoping all turns out well. I know Chris wants this job still, and besides...if Chris gets this new job, we're going to get me a new car!

On Sunday, Chris and I go to the house to take "before" pictures and do a walk-through. We'll sign the lease and start moving in on Monday!

I'm so excited, and though it's a small house, it's still a house! There's a backyard, there's two bedrooms, and it's a house! No upstairs neighbors, no sharing walls with neighbors...I can't wait!

It's going to be a busy few weeks with moving and cleaning the apartment, but I'm still thrilled. There are a couple of things that I think we may get deducted out of our security deposit (some linoleum in the bathroom is peeling up and a couple chips of paint have come off the wall) but I plan on cleaning the heck out of everything to get back everything we can.

Blink and it's gone

4:47am ... June 6th, 2011
Chris and I pulled in to the yard of his mom's house.

4:47am ... June 6th, 2012

Chris and I are in Norman, married, sleeping, in our apartment, and both Oklahoma residents (though he's been one all his life).

So much has happened this past year and I can't believe it!

My life is nothing like I imagined it would be like. If you asked me 5 years ago what I thought I'd be doing in 2012, I can say for sure that living in Oklahoma and being married would be nowhere in my mind, yet here I am... having been an Okie resident for over a year and having been married for 9 and a half months.

I never imagined I'd leave my friends and family behind, and I never thought I'd want to get married, yet I did and I am.

Leaving my family is still the hardest thing I've ever done, and will probably always be one of the hardest things I'll ever have done.

I've still managed to visit my family for some important days, such as seeing my little sister graduate high school.

Last week, I flew back home so I could be in the stands when my sister received her high school diploma, and I couldn't have been more proud of her.

There were a couple times where subjects just weren't coming easy to her, and managing work, dance, and academics became too much. I never doubted that she'd get through it all, but I know she worked her butt off between working, dancing on the high school team, and getting all of her homework done, plus trying to have some kind of a social life to top it all off. My sister is such a strong young woman and I couldn't be more proud of her if I tried. I love her so much, and I'm so happy to see her grow up in to such an incredible person.

On top of seeing my sister graduate this year, I got promoted at work. Before, I was a Players' Club Clerk. Now, I am a Players' Club Shift Leader. There's not a whole lot more work involved, but I do have more authority, I am allowed to touch money items in certain situations, and I have more of a say-so in what goes on. Plus, it's a pay raise. Woohoo!

Chris has also been interviewing for another position as a Police Officer. It's over Putnam City School District, though I think his focus is the middle schools. Regardless, it's also a pay raise, it's more along the lines of what he wants to do for a career, and did I mention it's a pay raise?

Not that money is all that matters, but hey, if he can get paid more to do a job he enjoys more...why not?

He had a job interview a few weeks ago along with 10 or 11 other people. A week later, he got called back for a second interview with only 4 or 5 other people. Well there are two spots needing to be filled and his second interview was Wednesday, so hopefully we'll be hearing back soon if he got the job or not. I've got my fingers and toes crossed that he gets it. He really wants it and I really want him to get it too.

On top of the job excitement, Chris and I also got approved for a house! Now...we're not buying yet, but it is a rental and it'll be OUR rental! It's a little two-bedroom house in north-west Oklahoma City, and the location is perfect; right between Newcastle (work for me) and Edmond (school). Plus, if Chris does get the Putnam City job, it'll be very close for him as well.

The house has a washer and dryer hookup, which is outstanding because our current apartment does not and when we need to do laundry, we either have to go to Chris' sister's house, or the laundromat and I hate doing both.

The house also has a big backyard, and that means I can go Pintrest crazy and decorate for parties and barbeques, because I want to have plenty of both!

Once we get the go-ahead to move in...I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures to share with everyone!

Until next time...

P.S.
Has it really been 4 years since I graduated high school?!?!?
 And a year since I graduated from Cuyamaca?!?!?!?!?!??!?!

Ah... I work out!

Before the wedding, due to a combination of healthy habits and unhealthy stress, I got down to my lowest weight that I ever remember. I felt good though...healthy, and I was getting strong.

Then came the honeymoon cruise in October, where all I did was eat. The buffet was open nearly all day...there was 24 hour room service...a pizza place...a deli...ice cream machines all over the top floor...you could not escape the food! And it was good food too!

After the honeymoon came Thanksgiving. Chris' parents are divorced and both happily remarried, so we had multiple gatherings to attend. We forgo having our own Thanksgiving this year (though I'd like to host one year when we get a house) and went to his Mom's, Dad's, and step-mom's family's houses. Then again on Christmas, we did the same thing.

3 Thanksgiving meals and 3 Christmas meals!

Needless to say, I gained back just about all the weight I had lost.

As I mentioned before in a previous post, I've been eating better and exercising more since January 1st, and am slowly but surely getting my healthy-self back.

One of the ways I've been doing that, is my running (I know, what? Me!? Run!?!?) and bicycling.

Chris has fallen in love with bicycling in the last year. He bought a road bike, and is on it whenever he can be.

About a month ago, we took his road bike and my mountain bike up to Lake Hefner to ride on the trail that circles the lake. It's a sidewalk trail (for the most part) with two lanes, so runners and cyclists can enjoy a safer run/ride as if they're on their own little road. There was only one part that it was only one "lane" wide, and on the shoulder of the real road (which was only one way at that part).

It's about 10 miles or so around, and we made two laps (Chris probably could have done another, but it was really windy and it's difficult to ride in wind. Especially on a mountain bike when the you're trying to ride against the wind...which we did).

It was a lot of fun to ride, though I did mentally curse at the wind a time or two as we were riding.

While it's still hard to ride in to the wind, road bikes are a lot thinner and lighter than mountain bikes, and they can go a lot faster because of it. My mountain bike is heavier and bulkier, and I can't go near as fast as Chris can. I tried to average about 10/11 miles an hour, but there were times when I was riding that I got down to 6/7 miles an hour just because the wind was so stinking bad.

Speaking of stinking...I had forgotten how bad it can smell on the shoreline from fish and birds! Those can be some smelly animals!

Other than our Lake Hefner ride, Chris and I have only rode around Norman. Once I rode to the library and back to return some books, kill time, and just ride my bike. Just the other weekend, we rode to Wal*Mart to pick up a few things, then rode to Chelsea and Kalen's house for a cook-out (let me tell you, it's not easy trying to ride a bike with chicken, fruit and chips hanging off your handle bars. It makes for a very unsteady ride).

My other outdoor workout has been running.

I've always hated running, and it's still not my favorite exercise, but it's easy, and it works.

After coming with me to the gym a couple of times, Chris decided I needed to do a 5k. So he called up his mom and had her enter me in the Elmore City Footloose Festival 5k. Oh joy...running 3.1 miles in front of 80 other runners plus spectators!

In all honesty, the 5k wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'd almost say I enjoyed it (but I don't know I'd go quite to far as to actually say it). I forgot my running shoes, left my camera at the house, had to wake up at 6:45am and stand around in the chilly morning weather until it started...but I'd almost say it was fun still.

Chris, Randy, and April came along to cheer us on, and Randy came prepared with a stop watch to give us the official times (oh wonderful).

All my practice runs I managed in about 40 minutes. Considering I haven't really ran since middle school, I was just happy I could jog a mile non-stop at all, no matter the time it took me.

Jeanette did the 5k with me, along with about 80 other people (of all shapes, sizes, and athletic ability). Somehow I managed to shave 7 minutes off of my time, and I came in at 33 minutes and 25 seconds. 33 minutes! That's just over a 10 minute mile, and I walked a good portion of it too (you really didn't think I ran/jogged the whole thing did you? I'm not quite that good). My best mile time in school was 9 minutes. I was so proud of my 33 minutes!

Jeanette came in at 39 minutes, which compared to her 50 minute 5k she did over a year ago, that's great! She shaved 11 minutes off her total, and walked some of it too.

We were so happy with our times, and after catching our breath, we trekked in to town for some Footloose Festivities and (my favorite part) a pancake breakfast.

My 5k was two weeks ago. Chris though had his first event on this past Saturday.

We headed down to Jeanette's the night before and woke up bright and early again, but time time, we headed in to Pauls Valley, and I wasn't the one getting ready to run. Chris was getting ready for his first big bike ride...the Valley Ralley.

There was a 28 mile ride, a 47 mile and a 67 mile. Chris did the 28 mile since it was his first big ride, and though I'm not an avid cyclist, I think he did great!
Off he went with a police escort through town, and 150+ other cyclists.
You'll have to check his blog for the details of his ride, since I wasn't there and didn't experience it.
Jeanette, Randy and April came with me to cheer for Chris, and to help me kill the two and a half hours before he crossed the finish line. The BrickFest was also happening in Pauls Valley that day, so we stopped by there for a while and browsed. There were quite a few jewelry booths set up, and I treated myself to a new pair of earrings. There was also a BMX stunt team, so we watched their show for a while. There were 5 guys, and all but 1 were under 21 years old. They were doing all sorts of flips and tricks, and they made it look so easy, when riding a bike in itself can sometimes be a challenge!
After patiently waiting though, and a few updates from Chris as to when he hit the rest stops, we made it back to the park and stood at the finish line waiting to see my hubby cross.
When his time came, we cheered and congratulated Chris on a ride well done.
I'm so proud of him and how far he has come with his cycling. His goal is still to make it through Hotter than Hell this summer in Texas, and if he keeps at it as diligently as he has the past few months, I think he'll be able to do it. Though I'll admit I am worried about the heat, considering it's in the middle of summer.

I promise to try and be better about my updates...like I was before the wedding. Love and hugs to you all!

Easter with a side of tornadoes

I haven't posted an update in a while...so I think I'll break up everything that has happened in to a few posts so that I can really focus on details instead of skimming over everything.

Easter

This year, I spend Easter at Chris' dad and step-mom's house for his step-mom's mother's birthday (and Easter). Most of his step-family showed up for the event, much like for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

There were four kids (6 and under) and over 300 eggs, both real and plastic. Everyone hiding the eggs ran out of places in the backyard and we just started throwing plastic eggs out on the lawn!

After the kids had their fun...the adults had their fun! Chelsea bought some lawn games (you can always count on her to bring the games) and one was called ladderball. Basically, there is a stand with three horizontal bars, and you toss a rope with a ball on each end and try to wrap it around the posts.

 

People took turns all day playing, some more successfully than others.

Another game that got brought out was Headbandz. I am terrible at this game...but they made me play anyway.

It seems simple enough, but sometimes you find yourself thinking too hard and just confusing yourself.

Basically, everyone wears a headband with a card attached on your forehead. The card will have a famous person (alive, dead, fictional or real), a place, or a thing on it, and you ask the group yes or no questions to help you guess what or who you are. I always get stuck with people and I am terrible at guessing people. I get stumped after "Am I fictional?" "Am I young?" "Am I a guy?" Once those three questions are asked...I usually clam up. Sometimes it's funny watching people try and guess. Chris, for example, had Darth Vader and though you'd think that'd be an easy card to guess...it took him at least 4 turns to guess it (I probably would have given up).

 Though I did have to throw away my flats when we got home (it had rained and the grass was muddy and wet, which then soaked through my shoes on all sides) it was a good day. We got to see Jeanette and Randy (we took April with us to the Easter gathering) which was nice. I really got lucky and have a great family-in-law that I love to visit.

Weather

How is it that many Okies live without ever having a real tornado threat to their homes...and my first tornado season as an Oklahoma resident...a tornado forms and goes not 2 miles from my apartment when I'm alone at home?

A little before 4:00pm on the 13th, I was getting ready to leave the apartment to go to work when I heard on the news that a tornado had touched down in Norman near I-35.

Needless to say, I freaked out. I called Chris, who told me to call work and say I wasn't going to be in, then get to the bathroom and take the mattress if I could. The tornado sirens started to go off, and I started to cry. I was shaking so badly that it may have seemed comical to anyone that saw, but I was terrified. I grabbed my laptop and went in the hallway with my cell phone and listened intently to the news streaming from my laptop. We have yet to invest in a battery operated radio, so I was relying on the power to stay on so I could listen to my fate (sounds dramatic now, but I was so scared).

After the tornado died down and the storm was moving northeast of me, I raced (carefully) to Riverwind to be with Chris, because I did not want to be home, and I did not want to trek all the way to work. The storm fizzled out after another hour or so and we figured I was safe to drive to Newcastle, so off I went. My co-workers were all very happy to see me. Apparently my manager had been trying to call my cell phone to check on me and it had kept going to voicemail. I'm guessing it was when I was in the back at Riverwind, because my cell service is pretty bad back there.

Chris and I now know where the closest shelter is, and we will be getting a battery operated radio in the immediate future. Storms are picking up again, and I'm really wanting to invest. Tonight there have been at least 2 tornadoes in northern Oklahoma, and it's raining with incredibly strong wind gusts. No tornadoes nearby, but lots of rain, hail, and wind.

Stay tuned for my second update, all about my recent biking and running!