Friday, August 29, 2014

Action-Packed Summer!

After I finished up my first year of graduate school (!!!) I left South Dakota at 3:30 in the morning to drive to Georgia. I got to my parent's house at 11:30 at night...I thought about taking a break and spending the night in a hotel but I had fish in the passenger seat of my car so we needed to get home asap!


And I was also in need of both giving and getting some puppy kisses.


Chloe typically holds grudges and gives me the cold shoulder for a few days after coming home, but this time she was really cuddly and very happy to see me. Love this sweet girl.


But I was only home for a couple of days before my parents and I hopped into the car and drove all the way up to New York for my Grandfather's memorial service and a family reunion. I had not been to a family reunion in over 3 years so it was wonderful to see everyone and it was great to celebrate the life of someone so important to us all. 



And some of my family...


 Not a complete picture, but we got the majority.

During this time, my class started! This summer I got the opportunity to teach Lifespan Development to undergraduate students online. I also took a class online, so I was both an instructor and a student this summer which meant that I had lots of homework and grading.


After a few days, we drove back to Georgia. Since I was back home and could watch Chloe, my parents took a vacation to Florida, haha. While they were in Florida, my 2001 Saturn started to act up more than usual...and it died. It was actually perfect timing, because I took my mom's car to different car dealerships and test-drove cars and negotiated and then came home and researched what I drove and the prices. 

RIP my Barney Car. You were a great first car.
I bought a car while my parents were gone and when they came home they drove me to go pick it up!
They said it was the easiest and best bystander experience they have ever had, haha. 

I bought a 2014 Toyota Corolla L[ov]E. 

 Then life calmed down for a bit, thankfully. My brother came to Atlanta to present at a conference and we got to have a couple of family dinners and catch up. 


For the rest of the time I was home (roughly 2 months), I went hiking up Kennesaw Mountain with my friend Heather nearly every day, I spent time with my parents, met up with some high school and college friends for waffles and coffee, and honestly, I worked a lot on my graduate class and my teaching class. 
My days were full of teaching, reading, writing, and eating as much food as possible.


Before I headed back to South Dakota, my parents and I went on our annual trip to Florida...oh yes.

I'm fine with heat, but my body is not. Cold water, huge hat, & shade? I'm good to go.

I would lay out and relax in the morning and then do some homework during the hottest part of the day before heading back out in the late afternoon. 


Our hotel had complimentary happy hour...so that was amazing.


It was really hard to leave that happy hour and those pool chairs, but we left Florida and went back to Georgia and then I drove to Milledgeville to see my undergraduate professors. 

Pecan field in Milledgeville, GA
Best university ever.

I stayed with my amazing professor and her husband for a few days (not long enough!) and got to have lunch with another favorite professor of mine and got to give a big hug and have a long conversation with another. Georgia College's Psychology Department is made up of the best individuals...so glad that we still keep in touch.

Driveway leading up to my professor's house. One of my favorite places to go.
After a few days, I headed back to my parent's house because it was time to pack to go back to South Dakota! My mom and I took a hilarious and wonderful road-trip together up to South Dakota. We ate amazing food, had fantastic conversations, laughed a lot, and slept on the most amazing bed in St. Louis. Spending quality time with my mom is something that I've missed out on for the past couple of years, so it was awesome to have a road trip with her.


Some artwork in our hotel.
Slept on a cloud. It.was.amazing.

After a night in St. Louis, we traveled the rest of the way up to South Dakota. We finally got to Vermillion late at night and I was greeted by a letter saying that my rent had gone up despite the fact I signed a lease! So my mom and I woke up the next day, got some coffee, had breakfast with some of my friends, and then went apartment shopping and found a new place for me to move into. 
While I was waiting for my lease to finish at my current apartment and my lease to begin at the new place, I decided it was finally time for me to adopt a cat. 

And so I adopted Luna. Luna is nearly 3 years old and she was a pregnant stray who was brought into the humane society. She likes to meow before she drinks water, get brushed while she's eating, and sometimes she bites me (not hard) after licking my hand. She's an independent girl during the day and likes to cuddle at night... We work well together. 


Cat-loaf.

She's a little girl who only weighs 8 pounds but that's surprising..she's such an stress/emotional eater that I expect her to weigh double. But she's really the best. She's learned to stay out of the kitchen, she taps me gently on the shoulder to wake me up when she's hungry (always), and she's even getting toilet trained (she doesn't like it, but she's doing well so far)

Study buddy....sometimes.
 But now my 2nd year in graduate school has started! I'll hopefully start seeing clients this semester but in the meantime, I'm taking a full course load and I'll be teaching a class on campus. I love all my classes and I've missed teaching and interacting with students. Now Luna and I are all settled in the new apartment (thanks to the help of my wonderful friends) and we've got a positive attitude for the school year. 



Love the clouds in South Dakota


Life is good.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Vegas

I was a really lucky lady recently because I got to be Heather's boyfriend for a bit. I've known Heather since high school. We did RISE together (it's a volunteer program with elementary schools), drove in a horrible red van together, and we even went to the same university together. This girl is amazing and she's always at the top of my list-of-people-to-hang-out-with when I come back to Atlanta.

Her family was going on a trip to Vegas and Heather asked me to go with her. I said yes (of course)! And I can't even explain how amazing it was, but I'll definitely try. Honestly, I won't have another vacation as luxurious as this one until I'm rich...so it'll be awhile.

To start off our vacation (and my mental break from finishing my first semester of graduate school) we got seats on the plane with extra legroom, and then we got an insane amount of food from the flight attendants. Perfect way to watch Game of Thrones. 


Then we took a limousine to Caesar's Palace....


...and then we checked into our freaking unreal room. We had a flat-screen TV in our bathroom, a tub that was big enough for me to sleep in comfortably, and then we had a phenomenal view of Las Vegas and all the pools below. Pinch me.


We aren't the type of girls who shy away from eating tons of food and we were starving, so we went to Gordon Ramsey's restaurant...so freaking good!


Appetizers, beer, pork chops, AND desserts? Could I get any happier?



And then my pretty date and I went to a Penn&Teller magic show. I'd never seen their show before, but it was awesome! I can't figure out their magic tricks and that's okay. So good. We got to take pictures with them AND we got their autographs!



We went to bed pretty soon after that. We were both exhausted, happy, full...and we were going to the Hoover Dam in the morning so we had to get some beauty sleep!

That alarm in the morning wasn't the best thing to wake up to but we got a huge cup of Starbucks to help us wake up (it worked). We left for the Hoover Dam early in the morning via a luxury motor coach.



As a fun side note, Heather is amazing at hair braiding. She's so talented that she can braid hair while on a bus AND learn about the history of the Hoover Dam at the same time.


The Hoover Dam is intense. We learned a lot of interesting facts about its construction, got to go underground and see what it does and how it impacts people today both near and far. Staggering to think about all the work that they did and how relatively short the building process was.




And then we went on a riverboat cruise on Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake in the United States!




In case that wasn't enough....we got dressed because we had a show to go to after dinner!! We had a family dinner at a freaking delicious steak house. Never have I ever had meat so tender
 


So then, of course...since we were in Vegas and because why not?... we went to see the Chippendales
And then this happened, thanks 100% to Heather:

But really, the full picture IS on my 'fridge.

So then after that, you're thinking surely it can't get better than this, right? I mean, we basically had 1st class treatment on our flight, a limo to get to the hotel, the best room (and bathtub), and decadent food (and drinks...and men) + shows at night + the Hoover Dam. Shut the front door, there's more?

Yep.

The next day we slept in a bit, and explored around Las Vegas. It was so nice just to relax with Heather and catch up since I've basically been gone for 2 years. We wandered around and saw the gardens, watched the water fountain show, walked around a giant mall and relaxed before dinner time. 



For dinner, we went back to Gordon Ramsey's restaurant and then we went to see a Cirque du Soleil show! 

So of course we had to dress up! After spending 4 months in grad school and not dressing up except for maybe twice..this was so much fun. I love being a girly girl!



As a part of our tickets we got dinner included at some restaurant that we had never heard of....but we didn't really want dinner because we had just eaten before the show. So Heather asked and we got our tickets changed to "dessert only" 

I ordered dessert but I wasn't expecting something as big as my head: 


Hahaha, and Heather's was just as big! We could have split one and still not have finished it. 


And then we had to deal with a sugar high, haha


We left for Atlanta the next day :( We were lucky and we didn't have anyone in the two seats next to us, or the row next to us, so we just took up three seats and slept. We came home on Christmas Day, so I got to celebrate Christmas with my family! 

Best.trip.ever.