...unexpected...

I'll spare you the details, but I have been trying to figure out what classes I'm going to take in the Fall to complete my Masters degree and graduate in December. After a few emails to the Dean, the Houston Administrator guy and the Associate Dean, this is what I figured out.

I only have 5 hours left to complete my degree (this I already knew). But what they told me was that all I have to do to complete those 5 hours is an "Internship" which is my job. This is huge because I thought I was going to have to take 2 classes on Tuesday & Thursday afternoons next semester and drive over to the campus which is on the other side of town 2x a week and be out of the office 2 afternoons a week, which would include missing staff meeting. None of this sounded good. So when he told me that all I had to do was another "Internship" (which is my job), I literally was in shock, just ask Rebecca, I didn't know what to think. I was numb to the idea that I am basically done, the last 5 hours are a formality. Wow. Still sinking in. This means I don't have to sit in another class, take another test, write another paper, do another project, none of it! All I have to do is keep a journal of my work and write a summary paper at the end. Seriously. That's it.

Ok wait, it gets better. I thought I was going to do this next Fall and finish in December, but it turns out that I can do this in the Summer term and BE DONE WITH MY DEGREE IN AUGUST!!! That's HUGE!!!

To say that I'm already planning the party is an understatement!

I am still in a bit of shock. The papers that I have due on Monday are it. The finals that I have on Monday, are it. That's it for the last big push! This semester has been unusually challenging, so I am glad to be ending on this note! Wow. So cool!

I'll be honest and say that I'm scared. I know that sounds weird, what's to be scared about, right? But my plan has always been to get my degree, get some experience, and then reevaluate and figure out life. Not that I have to jump ship the second I get my Masters, but still, I will have completed a huge goal in my life, so now it feels like, "Now what?" The plan was always a 5 year plan to get my degree, and now I'm so close to doing it...what next? Dang me and my need for a plan!!! Maybe the Lord is trying to break me of my need for structure. I guess I'm going to have to lean on Him and let go...we'll see how that goes!

Exciting? Yes! Scary? Yes!

The Good News: besides the obvious? basically done with my big Old Testament paper
The Bad News: been missing my kiddos...haven't seen 'em in over a month!!!

...a fun, but exhausting, weekend...

Well, since I had worked the previous week without a day off, my amazing boss said I could take an extra day off last week. I usually don't worry about equal days off, but with school I really need the extra time to get stuff done. So, I didn't go into work on Thursday. I woke up and worked on one of my papers that is due next week. Then I packed and got ready and got on the road around lunch time.

Most of you probably know that I travel A. LOT. So, this weekend I was off to Corpus for a party at my parent's house. Since Kelly & Brandon had a destination wedding, my parents wanted to have a party so that all of their friends could meet Brandon, see the video, pictures and get a taste of what we experienced in Puerto Rico!

I drove into Corpus around 4pm. My mom & I ran errands, she got a haircut, then we headed for my favorite fajitas at POETS!!! Mmmmm. Even better, the Pinson's were eating there too, so we joined them! A special treat to get to spend time with them!

Friday I woke up and worked on more school work. That was the deal. If I was going to spend the weekend at home, I still had to get some school work done! Then at 2pm I went to get the pedicure appointment that my mom had made for me!

Friday afternoon was jam packed with more errands for the party. My mom had gone overboard and there was a lot to do to be ready! Kelly & Brandon's flight got in late Friday night. Then Kelly, my mom & I stayed up til 1am putting out pictures and working on other details for the party!

We woke up Saturday and, yes, you guessed it, ran more errands. We also had some cooking to do. Mom had planned a menu that highlighted as many things we ate in Puerto Rico as possible.

The party was a 7. I think about 25 people came. The house was full, everything looked awesome, from the tropical center pieces to all the pictures of the wedding, I think everyone got a good taste of Puerto Rico! It was so fun to see all those people I grew up knowing!

Sorry, I took a few, and I do mean only a few, pictures, but they were on my sister's camera...so, no luck making it on the blog.

The bummer deal was that since the party lasted so late, of course I wasn't driving back to Houston that night, so I woke up at 5:20 in order to make it back to Tallowood in time to do my thing in Preschool. It was a long Sunday, but I did get a good nap.

Then, we had this special dinner theater event in place of Sunday night worship. It was really really fun! First Allen & Kristin Hightower sang that amazing song from Les Miserables...ahhhmazing!!! Then my favorite contemporary worship leader, Dave Ray, made an appearance as Davey Ray Pickens and sang his single, Incarcerated Woman! It's a HILARIOUS song about how dating an incarcerated woman is better than a woman on the "outside"!!! Then these ridiculous 2 old ladies came out and did a silly comedy act about being "church women." All in all a fun night!

Sorry this was all information, a little boring...

The Good News: I'm about 3/4 of the way done with both of my big papers that are due.
The Bad News: My head is stuffy and I sure hope I'm not getting sick, on top of having so much to do for the last week of school!

...school...

For the next 2 weeks I am in intense school mode. Ugh!

This is everything I have to do:

• Killer final in Old Testament 2
• Rather easy final in Relationships In Ministry (but will still require some studying)
• Major paper due in OT
• Paper analyzing a book I haven't read (with 2 additional comparative sources)
• Another book analysis over another book I didn't read
• Chapter analysis & present to class
• Catch up on journaling for Internship
• Write review over "Internship" experience - yes, I put Internship in quotes because my job is my "Internship" which is just plain dumb.

Now keep in mind, I work full time, and I'm going home to Corpus this weekend for my sister's "after the wedding" party with all of my parent's friends.

Needless to say, I CAN'T WAIT for Monday afternoon, May 4th!

The good news: I only have 6 hours left to take next Fall and then I'm DONE WITH SCHOOL F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!!!

The bad news: They aren't offering very good choices for classes that I need/want to take! Ugh!

...tag...

I've never created my own "tag" before. But since a few people commented about liking my typical day in pictures post I have decided it would be fun to see other people's day in picture form.

So...consider yourself tagged. I would like to see your typical day in pictures!

C'mon Teresa, Julie, Elaine, Sara, Erin and all you other bloggers out there. Join in on the fun and tag others...let's see if we can send this thing through the blog-o-sphere!

Can't wait to see what your typical day looks like!

...typical day...

7:45am -

7:54am -

7:58am -Sad I know.

8:06am -

8:18am -

8:20am -

8:26am -

8:34am -

8:45am - &

8:50am -

9:30am -

9:45am -

11:45am -

2:00pm -

4:30pm -

5:00pm -

6:15pm -

7:00pm -

8:30pm -

10:15pm -

10:20pm -

10:35pm -

10:55pm -

Super Duper: its the weekend

Super Pooper: not getting a day off this week, not Friday, not Saturday, not Sunday...don't feel tooo sorry for me, I'll make up for it next week, well, maybe, kind of...

...lately...

Since most of my posts in March were dedicated to Puerto Rico, I realized I haven't told you what's been going on. So, since you've been dying to know, here's what's been going on:

• school stress, what else is new? had a really hard test and a paper due last week. In the next 3 weeks I have 1 major research paper due, 2 book reports for books I haven't read yet, and 2 finals, plus catch up on my journaling for my "internship" (aka - my job) and a small paper to review my experience this semester...ugh!
• this weekend I have VBS Director's Dinner on Friday night and VBS Teacher training on Saturday morning. Woohoo for working all weekend (especially when I need the weekends to do school stuff!!) I'll feel soooo much better once we get this done!
• I had a lovely day yesterday for Easter with the Leforce's! This is the 3rd year they've invited me to join them since I have no family to spend Easter with. Dinner was super yummy!! It is always an eclectic group of people. The only slightly unpleasant part was when we started talking church issues and it got a little tense in the room. I mean, it was all informative and a healthy conversation, but it was a bit touchy and uncomfortable for a minute...ugh.
• I did end up getting a new dress to wear to church yesterday. Yeah, I did some damage at Ann Taylor Loft. I would show you a picture, but I can't find the dress on the website and I didn't take a picture of me in the dress yesterday :(
• My apartment is a mess. What else is new?
• I am officially going to Connecticut to do VBS for kids whose parents are church planters and will be in sessions for a retreat. Should be fun!
• I skipped class today!
• I heart Dancing With The Stars!!!

I know that's not much, but that's all I got for now...

Oh, wait. If you're in google reader or something like that, click on over and check out my new background :)

Super Duper: already started one of my papers

Super Pooper: barely keeping my head above water

...cake balls...

Today is Good Friday. It's my normal day off, but it's also a given holiday at church, which is lame to get a holiday on a day you weren't going to work anyway. I got out this morning and ran to Kohl's looking for an Easter dress. No luck. I'd already looked at Macy's, Stein Mart & NY&Co. Still couldn't find anything I liked that fit right for a good price. I guess I wasn't meant to have an Easter dress this year. I decided to drown my no Easter dress sorrows in 2 pairs of shoes:

After Kohl's I went to the grocery to get the stuff to make cake balls. While I was in the cake aisle I decided to get sprinkles to put on top of the cake balls, and then I had the genius idea to make them in egg shape so that they looked like Easter eggs. I later found out this was not an original idea. Here's what they are supposed to look like:

Here's how mine turned out:

We'll see how they taste...

Happy Good Friday everyone! I pray you have a blessed Easter weekend, living in awe of the sacrifice of our Savior on the cross, and thankful for the Resurrection!

Super Duper: actually bought groceries today so I can cook at home this week!

Super Pooper: slight headache

Monday, March 16th, Day Eight

Last day in Puerto Rico :(

WARNING: This post isn't very exciting and doesn't have many great pictures, but for the sake of completion and documention, here are the events of our last day in Puerto Rico and traveling back to Texas.

Kelly & Brandon had an early flight out, but the rest of my family (that's 12 people total, including 5 kids that range from 1 - 7 years old!!!) were all on one flight at 4pm. That gave us just a few more hours by the pool before we headed out. So that's just what we did, well, most of us anyways. We packed up all of our stuff so that we were ready to roll out around 1:30 pm.

My mom & Katy had decided that they wanted to go back to Old San Juan for some last minute shopping for souvenirs. I can't say that I blamed them, but they were late leaving, which meant they would be late getting back, and we had a plane to catch! But whatev, the rest of us hit the pool for one last time...ah, heaven!

I don't actually have any pictures from this day, other than scenery. I walked around the pool area, getting pictures of how awesome it was. So, incase you couldn't tell from the rest of the pictures I've posted, here are a few. I really wish I had taken pictures of the amazing lobby, I think Kelly did, but I don't have those :(

Like I said, we had a flight to catch at 4. There were 12 of us plus luggage and 1 minivan, so my dad was going to be shuttling us to the airport (it was only about 7 mins away), plus we had to check the lugage, and my dad would have to return the rental car before we could all check in, so the first group needed to leave for the airport around 1:30. So around 12:15 those of us hanging by the pool went and got a bellboy to come get all of our luggage. Again, I wish I had a picture of how well that luggage cart was packed...TO THE MAX! It was incredible! We left the cart with the front desk and walked across the street to get some lunch at Chili's...hoping my mom, dad & Katy would be returning soon. Ok, so maybe I was a little tense about this, but I wasn't happy that they weren't back yet and that we had had to move ALL of the luggage without them.

Just after we had gotten our food they arrived, so Brady & Blake downed their lunch just in time to head to the airport with the first crew. About 20-25 mins later, we had finished lunch and my dad had returned to get the rest of us and the remaining luggage. He dropped us off at the airport to meet the rest of my family and went to return the rental car.

There was quite a line to check in and check your luggage, so Katy's family went ahead and got checked in, just to get through, and Katy hadn't eaten, so they went ahead through security. The rest of us had to wait for my dad though because all of our tickets were linked together and we couldn't check in without him being there. So, he finally arrives and joins us in line. I think this time we only had one bag that weighed more than 50lbs, which we were able to redistribute into other bags and were on our way.

We made it through security, each made a potty stop and sure enough as soon as we made it to our gate, they were boarding. Perfect timing!

Thankfully all of our seats were together. Basically the whole trip was musical chairs, getting kids to sleep, some watching movies, eating a late lunch...it was busy, but relatively uneventful.

We made it back to Houston by around 8pm, had to get our mound of luggage and then wait for the shuttle to take us to the hotel where we had parked our cars for the week. It was after 9 before we got to the hotel, had to shuffle some stuff between all of the suitcases, get everyone in the right car, say our goodbyes and everyone on their way. I was the VERY VERY lucky in that I was already home, the rest of my family all had abt 3 hour drives! ugh! I was glad they all made it home safely!

And that my friends, is the end of the story. A wonderful marvelous fantastical amazingly memorable week to celebrate the marriage of my sister with my whole family in Puerto Rico!

Super Duper: found out today I might be going to Connecticut to do a VBS for kids whose parents will be on a retreat for church planting! Neat!

Super Pooper: don't feel good about my test today :(

Sunday, March 15th, Day Seven

We rolled out of bed Sunday morning...ex.haust.ed!!! I tell you what, after all the fun and excitement and for it to be over, just like that, we all hit a brick wall!!! I really am not sure what came over us, but for some reason we (my mom, Katy, Kristy & I) thought we would like to go shopping at this place called Plazas Las Americanas. We thought it would be fun and maybe we could find some more souvenir type stuff that was unique to Puerto Rico. So, somehow we talked my dad & Brent into taking the boys & Ashlyn to the Fort. I don't know much about the Fort except for it is really old and I guess some battle was fought there. Anywho, seemed like something the kids would enjoy, plus, it enabled us to shop kid-free.

So the 4 girls jumped in a cab and the guys took the rental car to the Fort. Well when we got to this Plazas Las Americanas we realized, this was a normal Americanized Mall!!! Nicer than A LOT of malls I've been to! We're talking Pottery Barn, White House Black Market, and a 2 story Old Navy...oh, and Macaroni Grill!!! To be honest though, it was a little disappointing. We weren't in the mood just to shop...I know, don't quote me on that! This is rarely the case. But we weren't looking for normal clothes, we wanted cool things so that we could say, "Yeah, I got that in Puerto Rico when I was there for my sister's wedding." The only thing tropical (and random) that we saw were plants and flowers up and down the center of the aisles, like Kiosks.

But oh well, fine, we'll shop at normal stores, twist my arm. I don't think I bought anything that day, I guess I was too tired to be interested in clothes that I could get back here in Houston. The whole time I was wishing I had just stayed back at the hotel in the glorious paradise that is The El San Juan Hotel & Casino pool or beach front! Kristy & I were moving slow, longing for a cabana and a virgin drink from the pool boy!

The only thing that saved the day and made it worth the trip was our lunch! We found this place called Que Pasta! MMmmmm it was sooo good! You got to pick your pasta, sauce, meat, and other toppings and then they'd cook it right in front of you. Of course everything you added was an additional price, but man, I don't know if it was because I was tired, or because all I had eaten recently was Puerto Rican food and it was nice to have a different cuisine, but it was some of the best pasta I've tasted in a long time!

Shortly after lunch we found this bakery type place and bought 3 ginormous slices of cake to take back to the hotel. You see, Brent had made one request from us while we were at the mall. He had been there before and had some divine coconut cheesecake. He didn't remember what the name of the place was, but we were on the hunt to find coconut cheesecake. Well, Katy had searched that mall up and down, inside and out, and none of the food places offered a coconut cheesecake. So, we settled for this place and bought a variety...the peice I had was de-lish!

After several wasted hours we called my dad. They were back from the Fort so he could come pick us up and save us the money of a cab ride.

Side note: my dad was so funny the whole trip. He was determined to get his money's worth out of having the rental car, so he was willing to drive as often and as far as necessary just to use the car. When someone needed a ride to or from the airport, my dad was on duty. If someone wanted lunch or dinner, dad was going in the rental car. This time, since we were done shopping, he was on his way to pick us up! This is just one reason I love my goofy dad!

You had best believe that the second we got back, we put on our suits and hit the beach/pool! Here are a few pics we took of our last time on the beach.

We stayed down there for several hours, basically til the sun went down. So we all headed upstairs and got ready for our last dinner in Puerto Rico.

We didn't really want to go far since there were so many of us, we wouldn't all fit in the minivan. But one of the only good places we had heard about close by was about $25 a head. But, we had also seen this BBQ place up on the 10th floor of the hotel. We went up and got a menu. It seemed slightly expensive, but we weren't really sure what other good options we had, besides the Chili's across the street, and several of us had already eaten there a few times, and it just didn't seem very festive or exciting. So, to the 10th floor we go.

I'll spare you all the details, but the night was a bit crazy. From not having a place to seat all of us, then getting seated where there is not roof overhang and then getting rained on and having to move the tables, to taking forever to get our food, to then getting some of our order wrong...it was a bit frustrating. But, we were on vacation and chose not to get upset about it. We got our food, it was a fun environment and it was our last night, so we chose to enjoy our time together rather than get upset about a few obstacles.

I guaruntee you that the kids only remember one thing, the mechanical bull!!! Yes, that's right. They had a mechanical bull and Ashlyn & Brady each had a turn! Now that's a fun memory!

All in all a good day, mainly because we did get a little chill time at the beach...notice a trend here?

Next post: last day, travel day :(

Super Duper: BAYLOR BEARS IN THE FINALS FOR NIT!!!

Super Pooper: Paper due & Test on Monday :(