If this were a movie

Today marked the end of my second week at my new job. That's right! Two and a half weeks ago I said goodbye to my amazing coworkers and STOPPED COMMUTING!!

Excuse the horrendous picture and my apparent lack of eyebrows

 It's been a little rough. Between new information overload, adjusting to a much harder work schedule, and completely rearranging my sleeping schedule I have been struggling just a little. I have reverted into a full blown Starbucks addict (although today I have made the decision to quit... Except for when my boss so generously buys it for the office because come on... I'm only human) and it's become completely outrageous. The past two weeks have also been completely unhealthy... Stress and not sleeping and eating to keep me awake etc etc.
On top of this we are currently moving into our new apartment.

By "our" new apartment what I really mean is our new apartment that only A is living in currently. I spend all of my time there but since we are not married yet I am not sleeping there. It's been really fun to move in but the day after we got the keys A got shipped off an hour away to stay in a hotel for job training so I was by myself for the week.It has been fun moving everything in though. I will post pictures as soon as we are officially done for the time being. The in-laws are coming down on Sunday to see it so it will have to be done by then. 

On top of all of this we have been super happy. Almost too happy. Everything that we have been talking about for the last couple years has been coming true. About a month ago I started to worry. It seems so silly to see it in writing but it's true. Things were going too well, at least in my mind and I was actually afraid to be too happy. It was like I was afraid to have such a big high because I was worried about the huge low I was sure that was going to follow. I didn't say anything to A because I didn't want  him to worry too. But then, a couple weeks after I started feeling this way A and I were driving and all of the sudden he turned to me and said, "Do you get the feeling that everything has been going too well lately?" I was amazed and so relieved that we were on the same path. "If this were a movie something tragic would happen right about now." I hadn't quite thought about it in those specific terms but he was right, that was the exact line of thought that I had been on. But in the end, that's a terrible way to live. You can't just live life expecting the worst. God has been teaching me to trust Him lately so that is what I am going to do. We are super happy and just trying to live and love and enjoy this precious life. What will come will come and we will take it when it does. As long as we do it together we will be perfectly fine.

One Step Closer

This past weekend A and I did some serious apartment hunting. We finally decided which one we wanted to apply for and spent Sunday and Monday gathering the various documentation from our new jobs etc that we needed for the application (it's seriously hard core). So this morning I took everything and went down to the complex to turn in our paperwork and officially apply for the apartment.
I got there and they won't accept checks or cash, so I had to go down to my bank to get a money order for the application fee and then go and drop it off.
I then drove home and as I was pulling up to my house (having decided that it definitely wasn't worth it today to drive to work) I got the call that we were accepted so long as our criminal check cleared (which it will.. duh)!!!
So I went back to the bank to get ANOTHER money order for the holding fee, went back to the complex to drop it off and came home again.
Basically I feel like I drove around my town about 6 times today.

BUT WE GOT AN APARTMENT!!! Yay! I'm so excited to be able to see it and move in. It's kind of hard to believe that this is all happening and the amounts of blessings that are pouring in are almost overwhelming. But we are so thankful that this is all working out for us right now so we'll take it as it comes :]

Woes of a Commuter

I never expected to be in love with commuting. I never expected to wake up every morning and be excited to have to drive 140 miles that day. I didn't have any preconceived notions that commuting was going to fabulous and easy... I expected it to be my reality for a while and since it was never going to be permanent it was going to be fine...

Commuting has taken over my life.

Don't get me wrong. I am so incredibly thankful for my two jobs. As someone who is currently in the market for a new job, I understand perfectly just how hard it is to find a job. A good job is even harder. I have two great jobs. Even though sometimes I don't appreciate them, they are fantastic. But my main job was a school job and I'm no longer in school. It's time for a new one.

In the meantime I am commuting.

By all standards I am a lucky commuter. I am typically going against traffic (for which I am eternally grateful, I would not have moved home if I had to commute with traffic. For those of you that do, I salute you) so even though I am driving for an hour (1h15m-ish) I am actually driving and not just sitting in traffic. Again, "typically". The problem with how long the drive is, is how much can go wrong between my house and work.

- Immigration checkpoint could be on - Overturned car - Car accident - Fire on/beside the freeway - Construction

So on any given day when I leave my house I have no idea how long it will actually take me to get to work. Almost every time I have promised my boss that I would come in early for work I have, in fact, been late because something has happened on the road outside of my control.

Another problem is that at 10pm the freeways get shut down where there is construction. There are currently 4 points of construction between my Point A and B so when I have rehearsals at night or want to go out to dinner with my friends I don't end up getting home until around midnight sometimes because of closures and traffic.

And because I am now driving so much I have had problems such as this:

I was incredibly lucky that this happened at work and not somewhere within my commute. But I am seriously putting wear and tear on my tires enough that this one literally just pulled apart. Luckily a friend came to my rescue and put on the spare so that I could drive an hour and a half on the freeway back home.

Last Monday I was driving to work and feeling incredibly down and sorry for myself with everything going on right now and as I changed freeways I looked to my right and saw three pristine perfect white doves flying together on the side of the freeway. It was as if God was smacking me in the face for being so ungrateful and untrusting. Literally the first thought that popped in my head was "Touché". So I am trying not to worry about it anymore. A door will open. Everything will be fine. 

On the Wednesday after ^ I received an email from a company about 13 miles from my house (that I had not applied to) asking to set up a phone interview because they liked my resumé. On Thursday morning I had my interview and the woman told me that she was recommending me to the owner of the company to get in touch with me and schedule an in-house interview. I'm really excited and I really hope that I get it because it seems like a great job. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers.

Hopefully I won't be commuting for much longer!!

Long Distance

Long Distance sucks. I always thought that I would never be the girl to put up with long distance... That is until I fell in love with a boy that just happened to move back to his home town three years into our relationship.

In my mind there is really no perk to being far away from each other and nothing to really make it better. I think that perhaps it may have been easier on us if our relationship had been this way from the start. At least then it would be our normal. But it isn't.

A and I met in the dorms of our University our freshman year of college (Fun Fact: My parents met each other in the same dorms, just on a different hall). We both lived on the Honors Hall and started out as friends.

The concert that lead to us getting together 

For anyone who has not had the fortune to experience dorm living, let me explain a few things.
1. Here is how it works: A bunch of strangers of roughly the same age are taken and forced to co-habitate with each other for a year. You find people you love, and those you don't.
2. Because you are all forced to live with each other, relationships are ridiculously accelerated. It shouldn't be that surprising really, you see each other every day, every night, in the bathroom, and in our case for honors we were taking classes together. In this type of environment you find out who people are pretty quickly. So, strangers can become best friends, total enemies, lovers, etc in about 2.5 seconds. One can also go through the stages in about 5 seconds.
3. I was a little bit different. Because I was so involved with the dance team, I spent the first couple of weeks (most of the first quarter actually) away from my hall. By the time I started making friends with people the rest of the hall had already sort of established its groups and whatnot and I slowly broke into some of them.

When I met A, he still had his high school girlfriend, but we became friends. Really good friends. It was in our second quarter when we got together. A few months into our relationship he reasoned that he had already probably spent more "actual" time with me than with his longest relationship. Because in a dorm you literally eat, sleep, and live with your hall mates. In other words... We were living together before we were even together.

Our second and third year at school all of my hall friends moved into the same apartment complex so that we were all still effectively living together. The girls and boys apartments even shared respective patios.

Summers sucked but we made a lot of effort to see each other... Going to Disneyland (the halfway mark) or going on vacations. But it was always okay because it was only 2.5 months and we would just go back to school.

Now because we are both working full time and A's schedule is so inconsistent we maybe see each other once a week.

After living together for three years we are now two hours away from each other with completely conflicting work schedules. My dad says to be thankful that we have modern technology like Skype and cell phones and Facetime... And I am.

But it is 6 months into this arrangement and I don't know how much longer I can handle it. Our plan is to get married but we want to be financially stable and we both need jobs in the same area and... and... and....

It just kind of seems like it isn't ever going to end.

P.S. 

If anyone has any suggestions on how they cope with long distance... I'd love to hear them :]

Summer Time

This summer... Well... Really the past month has been a little obnoxiously crazy and wonderful. One of the reasons that I haven't applied for other jobs yet is because I really wanted to take advantage of how flexible my current job is so that I could fully indulge in my last summer before full-blown adulthood.
So.
A and I went camping.
My family and I went to Tahoe and the Bay Area to visit family and friends.
I went to Central CA to visit my brother's girlfriend.
And I have just been genuinely enjoying myself.
Pictures to come later :]

The only problem with vacations is that after a while all I want is to resume normalcy. Before this weekend I had spent exactly three nights at home in the last three weeks. That's absurd! I had a great time but honestly I am just so ready to be back to normal. What I need more than anything in my life right ow is a weekend at home. I had been planning on going to visit my grandparents this past weekend but I just honestly couldn't. I can't afford the gas but more importantly I can't afford the mental state it would've left me in. I was still currently living out of a suitcase. My room was a disaster. My car is filthy and still lugging camping stuff in its trunk..... I couldn't. I needed to be at home for at least one weekend. Stuff from the move is still everywhere and my room is still completely unorganized and I hate it. I need to finally "move in" to my house so that it isn't just a place I sleep anymore.
Vacation is fun but I always feel like I need a vacation from being on vacation. Anyone feel me? Maybe it's because none of our family is local so we are always traveling when we go on vacation but I always feel like I need at least a couple of days after to just be at one and get back to normal.
Also I am really behind at my second job. A bunch of new responsibilities were just handed to me and although I am really looking forward to managing them I still need to get myself together and get started. I have started but I kind of feel like I am always one step behind where I need to be at work right now.
Between new work responsibilities, finding time for my long distance relationship, performances, two jobs, applying for jobs, and rehearsals... I am a little bit strung out. BUT I was home for the first time this weekend in about a month and it was glorious. My room is now almost beautiful and that in itself can heal so many things.

Roughing It

This weekend A and I were able to sneak off and have a mini-vacation. He was able to request time off for an entire weekend (gasp!) so we booked a campsite a couple hours away near Idyllwild. We both love to camp but also have very little experience doing so and as it was our first trip just the two of us, we had some minor difficulties. For instance, due to work schedules, we arrived after dark and struggled to erect our tent (a grad gift) for the first time, especially because our lantern (also a grad gift) would not light because we couldn't figure out how to make it work in the dark. Luckily a military family camping next to us took pity on us and lent us their lantern so that we could set everything up (after which we figured out the lantern... go figure).
We love camping. It is nice to just get away from the city, breathe some clean air, roast some weenies, and get away from technology. Plus it is cheap so long as you have the supplies (most of which was gifted to us for graduation) so that works perfectly into our tight "justgraduatedandhavetonsofloansandbillsandnewfoundresponsibilities" budget. It was a fantastically lazy weekend. We literally sat around, ate food, talked, enjoyed each other's company, snoozed, took a walk, and had a water fight. It was completely perfect. I even only got sunburned a little! A is far too brown to burn... Lucky guy!
One of the things that the trip made me realize is how much I need would like a nice camera. I want to be able to look back and say, "wow we were super underprepared", or "look how I totally won that water fight... sucker!"when we are old and wrinkly. Or show our kids how young and dumb we were and how much fun we had anyways and how much we love each other. I'm considering just getting an ipod touch or something since those now have cameras and then I could just upload my pictures to instagram but it seems like kind of an unnecessary purchase since I already have a really old version of the ipod touch. And an ipad. And a laptop. I fully endorse simple, uncomplicated living and having that many technological gadgets seems unnecessary to me. Any thoughts? I have a digital camera that I should probably just use instead but that makes it such a process to upload to anywhere except for here.
Wow. I sound like such a little spoiled brat right now. Never mind. I will just find my old camera, and I will make it work. I am lucky to even have it.
Anyways, hopefully the next post will have some pictures. I adore me some pictures!!
I hope everyone had an amazingly relaxing weekend <3

Stress

People told me that when I graduated my life would not get easier. If anything, I was told that it would become more difficult. While it is true that my life has changed dramatically in the last few months, I don't think that it has gotten harder.

When I was in school, I had fun but my life mostly consisted of stress. I was stressed about school deadlines, work deadlines, upcoming dance performances, tests, homework, bills, family. You name it. Even when I was doing something fun to de-stress I couldn't fully enjoy it because the back of my head was constantly nagging and reminding me about the homework I should have been doing. I wasn't getting nearly enough sleep and as a result I was eating constantly to stay awake. My body revolted in a variety of forms; I was sick most of the time, I was physically in pain, and I was gaining a lot of weight.  None of this was okay with me but I couldn't seem to find any other way around it, even with my impeccable time management planning skills. Graduation seemed like a light at the end of the tunnel. If I could only just get there, everything would be okay...

I don't often create expectations in my mind for how things are going to be, maybe because I am afraid of being let down, or maybe because I just don't think about it. But Graduation was different. I was excited. I literally could not wait any longer. Being done with school could not come a minute too soon.

All of the sudden I was done, and guess what? I was right about one thing... It is easier happier.

Yes bills are stressful, yes moving is stressful, yes work can be stressful. Yes. BUT my downtime is my own now; there is nothing in the back of my mind nagging me to do homework. BUT I always have enough money to make it through and then some. BUT my deadlines are much more manageable now.

And then, one night, I made a promise to myself. I decided that from now on, my life is going to be as stress free and happy as possible. Life is just too short. If I don't get something done today, I will get it done tomorrow. If something goes wrong, calmly find a solution. There is absolutely no reason for stress, when life can be lived without. It just isn't worth it to live in that kind of environment all the time.  Obviously it is impossible to do without it entirely, but by taking steps to prevent it I feel that I am much happier now. I've lost weight. I sleep better. I make better choices. It can only be a good thing in my life.

Some things that help me to de-stress are as follows:
- Eating healthy --> This has been huge for me. Becoming a mostly vegetarian/vegan has made me feel so much better. My body seems to function so much better and I don't feel nearly as sluggish or icky. I literally feel clean.
- Exercising --> Everyone knows that exercise gives you endorphins which makes you happy. But honestly, feeling overweight is just such a downer. As I am getting healthier and finally losing some of the weight I put on while I was in school my mood just keeps going up and up! Not because I am getting skinnier, but because I feel more confident in my strength and health. Looking better is really just an added perk to the emotional boost that I get because I am pushing and challenging myself.
- Crocheting --> I love to crochet. No I'm not a granny. I love crocheting because it is mindless and repetitive, and sometimes that is exactly what I need to get my mind to turn off from my day. I happen to do really basic stuff when I crochet, like scarves and blankets. Nothing fancy, no frills. I also crochet to donate. Currently I am creating a collection of them so that I can bring a bunch all at once to a woman's shelter or something.
- Indulging --> This is so important to me. If I want Starbucks, I will get Starbucks. If I want an ice cream, that's okay. If I want to sit around and just read my book for an hour instead of doing something productive, I will. Now, obviously this can't happen every day or it wouldn't be an indulgence it would be a hinderance BUT the more I allow myself to indulge, the less I actually feel like I need to. The second I tell myself I cannot do something, I want to. By allowing myself to partake in these kinds of things, I feel less of a need to actually do them.
- Visiting friends --> Not many people live in my hometown anymore but I really enjoy going an seeing them anyways. It is always fun to get out and go somewhere else to hang out with people in their territory. It always feels like a mini vacation, even if it only lasts for a couple hours.
- Writing letters --> My best friend and I have been writing letters to each other since high school and its a practice that we still continue. I adore writing letters. With so much technological interference we sometimes forget how therapeutic hand writing things are. I could easily shoot her a text (and often do) but there is something that is just so thrilling about receiving something in the mailbox that is not a bill.
- Having a clean room --> This is huge for me. Organization and cleanliness are by far one of the easiest ways for my to head off stress.
- Looking nice --> It might sound superficial but I don't care. When I feel like I look good, I instantly feel more confident and happier. I carry myself differently because of how I feel.
- Playing with Beckham --> Let's face it, cats/kittens are hilarious. It always makes me laugh to see him doing crazy acrobatics while chasing something so mundane like a straw or piece of balled up paper. I mean seriously, who needs to buy "real" toys? :]

The Necessity of Work Out Buddies

When I was in high school, I was very very active. I was dancing around 30 hours a week between dance team at my school and studio classes and rehearsals. I ate constantly and not always the most healthily but it was okay because I was so active. In my sophomore year I had several adults in my life take me aside and ask me if I was struggling with eating disorders because I was 5'8" and weighed somewhere around 125lbs. I was teeny tiny. None of my friends bothered to ask me because they saw the absurd amount of food that I brought to school and ate throughout the day. I really miss that environment of not having a choice of whether to go to dance or not and getting pushed when I got there. I was strong and in fantastic shape and its because I had teachers yelling at me all day. I couldn't get away with not doing it.

I'm on the right. Look how skinny I was!

When I got to college, I was accepted onto the dance team here, so for a while I was able to be pushed and forced to exercise. But time went on and I kept getting injured and eventually couldn't be on the team anymore and I was just gaining and gaining weight. I'm not sure when I hit my highest weight but it was somewhere around 170. I was horrified. My dad had always told me that the day I stopped dancing I would get fat because I always just ate so much. And the thing is, when my dancing got to a minimum, my eating habits stayed the same as what I was used to doing with a 30 hour dance week. It's a common misconception that dancers don't eat. Wrong. Dancers eat more than any other group I have yet come into contact with. We love eating. It's our second favorite thing outside of dance. And I kept eating. And my dad was right.
I tried to go to the gym off and on throughout college. I would get really motivated and then the second I had to get out of bed early I would fail. Especially with my schedule, giving up even one hour of sleep seemed like too much of a sacrifice. If I decided to go after school I was  always hungry, or I had homework, or I hadn't seen my friends all week and wanted to see them now. Excuses. Logical and fairly legitimate excuses. But excuses nonetheless. And I was able to put it off until tomorrow, and tomorrow I was able to put it off until the next day. And so on. Clearly I wasn't making any progress.
(I will say that I have mostly changed my eating habits, and I'm proud of myself for that. Health is like 80% food and so far I am learning a lot and making huge progress.)
So with my motivation clearly not there, I decided that Lent would be the perfect time for me to start running. Clearly making the commitment to myself was not good enough motivation so I would make it to God. I decided that I would run three times a week. I never decided how much I was allowed to or needed to run, because I figured if I could just get myself out there I would do my best. It makes me sad to say that I have mostly followed through. So far I have gone twice a week. Or all the times that I have gone running though, only three times has been without a partner.

My Work-out Buddy

G lives in my house with me. His wife T and I were hallmates our freshman year of college while G was overseas serving our military. Now we all live together along with our other friend V. G and I started running together in the mornings. It's great because he is this huge Mexican man who is an army vet and is trained as a medic. He is literally the perfect person to run with, especially in my neighborhood, where young women really shouldn't go running alone unless its in the middle of the day. We got up this morning and I seriously didn't want to. It sounded like a good idea last night but as soon as my alarm went off I was praying that I wouldn't hear him get up so I could just go back to sleep. Well the jerk got up and I am so glad that he did. We went for our run, which is slowly getting faster and longer, and when we got back I was so grateful. This is why I never succeeded before. I needed someone to keep me accountable and make me run when I say I'm going to. He has even brought new ideas into our workout. Usually we do interval training and it is so much more effective that running and you can do more of it. It's a blessing to have someone in my life that will make sure I do this. I have already noticed myself getting stronger. V feels left out because she is a runner too, but she is far more experienced and I haven't told her that it is my goal to be able to run with her and not feel like a giant LOSER.
Anyways, the morale of the story is that if you don't have a work out buddy, you need to get one. The only times I have ever really been truly successful at working out consistently is when I've had a running partner or work out buddy that I meet at the gym. People are lazy, but we don't want to let our friends down.
Just do it :]

Almost Done

That has seriously been my mantra this entire quarter and now it really is true. Only 3 more weeks until I am officially a college graduate!!!

Can I get some applause here?

I am completely beyond excited. I have a whole list of things that I can't wait to be able to do and accomplish.
1. I have a whole bunch of books on my list to read.
2. I really want to get more into blogging. I follow a lot of blogs and have gotten a ton of great ideas that I would like to put into practice in my own life and then share that experience.
3. Cooking. I recently discovered Whole Foods. Oh my.
4. Organizing. Words can't express my excitement for this one.
5. Riding. Oh my. I can't wait for this. I have literally been dreaming about riding almost every night for the last month. I am so ready to be in the horse world again. My grandparents even brought me my chaps, boots, and helmet back from their house out of state so that I could have something to ride with next month. So so so so so excited.
6. I have started running. It is what I decided to do for Lent. Rather than give up something I decided to add something. Its still a sacrifice and takes will power and commitment so I have decided that it's acceptable. I usually become a pescatarian (sp?) for Lent but since I am trying to not eat a lot of meat anyways, I thought that would be a waste. I haven't been as good about running as I hoped to be but at least its a start.

My housemate G and I have been running together. This was from our 5am run this week.

7. Working. Call me crazy but I am so excited to take on the rest of my bills from my parents and just work, save, and be completely financially independent. Yahoo man. I love paying for myself, and creating budgets, the whole nine yards.
There are more things, but I'm in a rush right now so that's all for today.

Updates:
A finished up his training for his new job and was transfered from his local training location to a location near his home town. He is now about an hour away from me and it sucks. I miss him terribly and even though I have already visited him once, I know that I won't be able to do it all the time because it is a lot of gas and time to see him. It has been a little hard to cope since I'm used to having him around all the time but honestly the hardest part is (predictably) at night. I don't feel as safe (or as warm... he's seriously my heat blanket) when I'm falling asleep and therefore fall asleep later and don't get as much sleep, leading to me missing or turning off my alarms without waking up. Its been bad, and I want to adjust but then again I don't because then its like I'm used to not being with him :[

This is from 2 1/2 years ago in Tahoe. Can you believe how time flies?!

I got a 100% on my African history midterm :]

I got to perform with my dance company PPDC at a Guardian Scholars event. This is particularly near and dear to my heart because the Guardian Scholars is a group that helps emancipated foster kids go through college, and I want to work with foster kids. Plus it was just a really great day to bond with the group and get to know everyone a little better.

This is most of PPDC <3

I think that's mostly it except to say that there are a lot more posts coming in March and then onward. I am so excited for the next few months. Big changes are coming in my life and I can't wait to share!

Beginnings

I can't believe that it is already 2013. The past few weeks have been crazy and fun and exhausting. Why is it that vacations always seem to tire me out?
Spending time with my family was great. We lazed around, spent time in the snow, read a lot, and mot importantly, stuffed ourselves. I swear that I gained about 10 pounds over the break. That's just how my family rolls, we literally plan our vacations around food. Don't judge :]

Enjoying the Snow with my Daddy

Driving Down the Lake :]

Our house <3

Bowling. Don't make fun of my terrible score!

My dad is awesome!

My Granny hates the deer that come in her backyard

My Dad's side of the family

In short, Christmas was fun, and it was lovely to spend time with my family, but I was looking forward to getting home. I it weird that I felt like I needed a vacation after my vacation?

In no time, I was back at work and back in school. I am now in my second week of school and I am already going crazy. In fact, I have already dropped one of my classes. I am still going to sit in on it, but it was just so much work for a class that I don't need when all of my other classes, that I actually need to graduate, have almost more work than i can handle on their own. Add that to my two jobs, and the dance company that I just started dancing with and I am already exhausted and stressed to the max. So today I went to my advisor and she told me that it wouldn't screw me up to drop it so I happy came home, broke out my computer, and immediately dropped it. 

I have also already hurt myself, which sucks. For almost a week I couldn't straighten my left leg. Its been rough. Its finally almost better, but its definitely been getting in the way. 

Also, A started his new job this Monday! He's been working long hours but he is slowly settling in. I am excited to see where this takes him.

My grandparents are also in town. They will be here for about two months and so far its been fun to see them this much and despite the reason for their stay, I'm glad that I get to spend the time with them.

So... Sorry for the really long break. I'm finally back again. 

And for your parting gift, please accept this picture :]

Look how cute my housemates are!!

Speaking of Dreams

I know that this may sound insane, but lately I have been coveting a secret dream. I haven't really told anyone about it because I know that it is going to sound crazy to everyone else.
My Dream
I grew up around horses. Helping my grandparents take care of their horses, taking lessons, having my own horse. My first passion and love has always been horses. I had to stop taking riding lessons the summer after my freshman year in highschool because we couldn't afford the time or money for both lessons and dancing. I knew that I could always go back to riding, while my body would not be able to dance forever. I spent two weeks of my summer with my grandparents working every day with their horses and I totally got the bug again. Ever since, there has been this dull ache that constantly reminds me that I miss my horses. I know that sounds corny but I am being so serious that I can't even put it into words.

Me and my baby Noel a few years ago.

The Problem
Well, for starters, I'm a college student that's about to graduate in a quarter. I pay for nearly everything myself and as soon as I graduate I will most likely take on the rest of my financial burdens. I'm pretty good with my money but money is tight, duh. Riding is expensive. The cheapest barn I have found is 40$ a lesson and that's pretty good. If I only take one lesson a week that comes out to 160$ a month. Now, if I was really desperate, I could probably only take a lesson once every other week, which would only be 80$ a month. That is totally doable for me.
Unfortunately, gas is also expensive and the closest barn is about 20-30 minutes away.
The other problem is that I am being more and more short on time. Dance is taking up more and more of my time and I work every day except for Sunday. As soon as I am out of school by nights will be freed up considerably but I want to start sooner than that.

This summer on Hank

The Solution
Well, honestly I don't know. I want to. Badly. If I had thought about it more thoroughly, I would have asked for this for Christmas. Unfortunately, I am a little late on that. That's okay with me though, this is really something that I would like to do myself, for myself. This is something that I feel I need to do so I  need to pay for this myself. I guess that I will pray on it, and at least wait until the holidays are over so I can see where my finances are at then. As soon as I graduate I will be making a lot more money so in about 3 1/2 months I will definitely be able to do it. I just don't know if I want to wait that long.

Giving Thanks

I'm giving thanks today because I have been presented by yet another wonderful opportunity. It's funny how as soon as you give up a dream God can open the door for you. I don't know what I did to deserve such happiness right now but I am definitely thankful.
Today my incredible boss, who already this week asked me to take on Customer Relations at the studio, has asked me to be a part of a performance team that she is starting, a dance company. I'm really excited about it because that's such an amazing opportunity.

I had basically given up on the whole idea of dancing except for taking random classes at school, partially because of my body, and partially because I just didn't have the opportunity. My boss has given me so much more than I would ever even have thought to ask for. Not to sound repetitive, but I'm just so thankful. God is good!

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In other news, we have our performance tonight for the benefit in downtown. I'll try to post some pictures of our scandalous selves soon :}

All Grown Up

I am happy to announce - for anyone who cares - that  A got the job!

I am so proud of my boy and so excited to see where this opportunity takes him. He is the first of our friends to get a "real job" post college so we are incredibly overjoyed. He will be making pretty big bucks and getting all of the benefits that he should and it just all seems like so much from the point of view of us nearly broke college students. Unfortunately, it does not start until June BUT at least he has it locked in and now we can plan accordingly.

So so happy. I am literally bursting. He has worked so hard and done all of the right things. So as for now he will be working 45ish hours a week in addition to working on his teaching credential. I am sure he can do it and I am so thankful for all of these opportunities for him.

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In other news, I am fully immersed in the last two weeks of this quarter. I am reading, writing, and working myself to exhaustion but I am hopeful that the results will be worth it. I am sick again but I am trying to power through it and not succumb to it. 

I also received an email from one of my bosses today that told me I would be taking on more responsibility at work concerning customer relations. I am kind of scared but definitely excited to be trusted with this new responsibility and I can't wait to jump right in and get my hands dirty!

What an exciting time in our lives right now!

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Eventually I get around to posting some pictures from Thanksgiving but for right now all I can offer is a sneak peak...

Thanksgiving Break

I just painted my nails, so I am sure this is going to be a really slow post...
Last week I had two midterms, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end. Needless to say, it was a rough week. I know that it was completely my decision to take on two jobs on top of being at school full time, but sometimes I think that A really is right. I do take on too much sometimes.
Right now is a very exciting but stressful time. I applied for graduation last week so in March I will officially be done with my Undergraduate degree. I am immensely excited to start this new journey in my life. Everything seems to be going right for me right now and I am so happy. A has been interviewing for a job and for Graduate School and both have been going very well. He made it into the teaching program he applied for and he had his final interview for the job that he is pursuing. We will find out in a week or week and a half if he got it. Fingers crossed. Everything just seems to be falling into place.
I am really thankful for this week off. For some reason my professors decided to cancel classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (instead of just Thursday and Friday) for Thanksgiving and I have this weekend off from my job at the Studio. So Monday after rehearsal I packed everything up and hit the road back to my hometown to my parents. The highlight so far was seeing one of my best friends from high school last night.

 Us our Junior Year of high school. This was actually the day I got my driver's license. Weird!

A few years ago on her birthday.

This past summer... I think...

C and I met in high school but were not friends right away. Funnily enough we really met on myspace. I know right? It sounds so ridiculous, but it's actually true. We became friends on myspace and we haven't been able to get rid of each other ever since. I love her because no matter how long we go without seeing each other or talking to one another (we are both absurdly busy and live over an hour apart) the next time we see each other is like nothing ever happened. No awkwardness, no weirdness. Just us. I appreciate that so much in her because I lost a lot of my high school friends as a result of scheduling and unfortunate geography. It was a shock to me when I first started college that people would drift so easily and I quickly learned that it took a certain kind of relationship to survive separation. C was one of the few that made it through with me and that is something that I so appreciate.

It seems almost ridiculous that we are adults now. Thinking about graduating, getting real jobs, moving out permanently, getting married, having families. All of these things have been happening around us and it is finally our turn to partake in them. I love that we are in the same places in our lives and that we understand each other so well. I am truly thankful for her and it was really good to see her, especially since I hadn't seen her in about three months. I am exciting to see where our lives take us in the next couple of years. 

Tomorrow I am leaving before sun-up (yep, that's how my family rolls on road trips) for family vacation. We are going to visit my mom's family and I'm so stoked. I love Thanksgiving time, especially the ability to see my family. The holidays just have such a magical quality to them. I'm definitely a fan of this time of year. The only thing missing will be, of course, A. It makes me sad that I still haven't been able to share my holidays with him, despite how long we have been together. Our goal is that next year we will be together for the holidays. I can't wait. It's going to be a very exciting year.

Okay, well happy Thanksgiving everyone. Don't forget to be Thankful for what you have, despite the temptations of Black Friday :]