Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus?

The holidays are here! Thank goodness we got another dusting of snow last night, I was starting to see the grass and it was a little disturbing. The big bummer with any snow fall for me is the maintenance man for my apartment complex snow blowing around 5:30 am. We had about a quarter of and inch but I guess shoveling is out of the question for some individuals. The other bummer about winter in my apartment is that we don't control the indoor temperature. Since I'm in a second floor place, we hover in the high 70s most of the time and that's with our windows constantly cracked open.

I always eagerly anticipate my winter break but this one has been pretty boring so far with no roommate or Brian around. I go to work everyday which is fine, but when I go home I get really restless. I'm used to thinking about so many assignments and projects that my head feels a bit empty. To make up for it, I've been watching a lot of online TV shows: Parks and Rec, Bones, Castle, The Office (again), Arrested Development (again), Top Chef (bootlegged since Bravo is stupid), etc. I've also been reading a lot of books. Current YA favs: The Sky is Everywhere and Before I Die.

There was a lovely Fowler get-together last night. I love Fowler people and I'm so thankful I decided on a pretty big whim to apply to work there near the end of 2004. I would have never met Brian otherwise and moved to New York and decided to enter grad school for librarianship. Seriously, right now I could be living in Michigan, doing god-knows what, and scoping out dudes on Match.com. My current life is obv better than the alternative.

Spreading the cheer out the window

School ended last week which was a huge relief. Even though I only had four classes, as opposed to the five I took on during my first two semesters, the ones I had this semester were more challenging. Sadly I did finish all of my school librarianship class requirements. In my next and final semester I will be completing my last two education courses and two 150 hour internships. I am very excited to start my internships. My first one is under a school librarian who was also my adjunct professor recently, so hopefully I am learning from the best. I'm starting on Jan 3rd, so the winter break will seem shorter this year.

It is very strange to be contemplating graduation yet again. When I graduated from college in 2007 I felt much more unsure of my career path yet the job market was better. Now I feel confident in the direction I am headed and love my chosen focus in librarianship, but the possibility of finding a job seems bleak.

Thanksgiving already seems so far away. I spent the holiday in the Midwest and packed my time full with family and friends. I also completed my first 5k during the Grand Rapids Turkey Trot. Thankfully it was not too cold and I was able to complete the run without walking once (my ultimate goal). Since I've never been an athlete this was a pretty big accomplishment for me. I'll have to find another 5k soon because after I finished, my motivation to run took a nose dive.



Christmas will be upon us soon. I finished my shopping yesterday and today Albany got it's first snow fall. I really needed some snow to get into the spirit, so now I feel much better. Brian will come to visit for the holiday and I am looking forward to some Bri cooking.

I got marbles in my mouth

So I've been avoiding blogging since there always seems to be something I should be doing instead (homework/reading books). Also Brian left last week so I've been trying to hang out with him a lot before he took off for WI again.

So in no particular order (although I will try for chronological) lately I,

-attended a lovely Camp Fowler wedding for Darrick and Katherine. They looked super happy and put on a lovely wedding. I really liked seeing a wedding at camp since Brian and I are looking to do ours there in 2012.

-got the new Guster album: love it.

-visited Eric and Miriam again. Last time we went their place still had that moved-in-recently look too it. Now it looked like a real house where adults lived. Crazy! I really liked all their stuff on the walls and made a mental note to get some of that eventually.

-had a weekend trip to Boston w/ Brian where we: went to a museum, had lobster rolls, visited his cousin, and had the best soup ever! I never tried a lobster roll before and now I can cross that off my bucket list.

-took a midterm, presented two presentations, and turned in an 8 page paper all in the same week Brian left! It was intense.

-scheduled my last semester of grad school. Thank god all the classes I need are being offered, it was close.

-I've been training for the GRPS Turkey Trot 5k in Grand Rapids. I've never been an athlete so this is a lot for me. Surprisingly (to me) the training is going really well. My schedule makes it hard since I'm not home from about 8-10 a few days a week and the complex workout room is only open 9-9 (a joke). Running in the dark in the morning kinda sucks. But each Saturday, when I ramp up the distance I'm running, its the farthest I've ever run continuously in my whole life. I feel pretty good about that.

Anyway, fun times...

I can't believe I'm going to be done with graduate school come May. That really isn't that far off. I never really thought I could go to grad school, so I'm really happy I did and I'm really happy I found what I'm interested in and can make a career out of it. Recently at one of my field studies, a 5th grader asked me, "Ms. Stevens, in college do you get to study whatever you want?" I told him that after he took some general courses he could. I said that I liked libraries so I get to study libraries in my classes. The little boy and the girl next to him got so excited I didn't want to burst the bubble about endless gen eds. Man, he still has a lot of "general" schooling head of him. With his 5th grade class we introduced a site called Glogster for making online posters. They 5th graders love it and they also love the brightest colors imaginable.

My Other Fav Band with my Fav Lost character

My Favorite Band

I Whip My Hair Back and Forth

Summer flew by somehow. I went to Camp Fowler again to rock out a cabin. I rocked it out alright. 13 former staff members were volunteering that week. It was great to see so many old friends and meet some new ones. The week meant a lot to me, as it always does. I was exhausted after it, but no matter what, I still love Camp Fowler.

Brian and I have been really busy doing things on the weekends this summer. Last weekend we both had Friday through Monday off. It kinda felt like last summer when we both didn't have jobs (not by choice), only this time we have some dinero so we can afford things. We (Brian) made a couple awesome meals and I bought running shoes. I want to do a 5k this fall so I can cross it off my bucket list. We also went on a couple bike rides along the Hudson. Brian has a nice new road bike. I have a hand-me-down bike from the 80s I got free from my boss called Jazz. Jazz is awful and I think it made its last ride with me this past weekend. Stupid Jazz kept squeaking and the wonky wheels kept holding me back. Needless to say Brian beat me every time on the bike rides.

Grad school started up again last week. This week is a Jewish holiday so I really only had one class. I hate starting school one week only to have no class the next. I want a week off like, right before finals so I can study and write all the papers I've put off.

I'm down to four classes instead of five, like I had last year, this semester. It kinda feels like I'm slacking.

As of July 8th...

As many of you may know about a week and a half ago Brian proposed. It was a pretty intense moment for me. I felt really overwhelmed and honestly didn't know if I should believe what was happening. I kept asking if he was for real and if he was serious. I forgot to say yes right away and started bawling my eyes out. Needless to say, he got me pretty good. I had no idea it was coming and was shocked to say the least.

After the initial shock, we both got on the phone to call those close to us. It was great hearing everyone's happy reactions. It was also great to post on Facebook and hear from people I haven't heard from in years (freshman year RA?) that they were happy too.

The weekend after we went to Burlington, Vermont. It was a wonderful relaxing weekend which was made all the more relaxing knowing we were engaged. Brian and I didn't really do that much there other than drink some good beer, eat some great food and walk around looking at the beautiful views.

This past weekend I took my first teacher certification test. I had a really dumb moment and forgot my IDs in the car Brian dropped me off in. Thankfully they still let me start the test while he brought them over and everything was ok. The test went pretty well I think but its only the first of three. Those plus all the other things I need to fulfill to receive my teacher certification (to be a school librarian you need one) will probably end up setting me back around $1000. Pretty annoying, like grad school isn't expensive.

I also won tickets again from the same site that I won the DMB tickets from (I'm never this lucky something bad must be coming soon!). Brian and I were able to go see the NYC Ballet at SPAC on Saturday. We were both pleasantly surprised to really enjoy our first ballet. One of the principle dancers we saw was even from my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI.