Pennsylvania

Robert and I had such a great time in Pennsylvania.  That's where my dad's side of the family lives.  He had met some of them when they visited MO in the summer of 2010.  He got to meet the rest of the family during this trip.  Highlights included:

• Seeing Grandma and Grandpa's new house for the first time
• Going to church with my grandparents
• The food: Thanksgiving feast, best pizza in the country, Polish feast
• Day in Benton - This is where my grandparents lived for about 33 years before moving to Berwick.  I got to show Robert all the places we used to go: the old house, fire station, post office, schools, park, dam, Tasty Freeze Ice Cream, Uncle Doug's apartment.  We even fed the ducks at the golf course and went on a good hike.
• Picked up Ryan from school and got to see Aunt Cathy's classroom.
• Made a gingerbread house with Ryan
• Countless games of Phase 10 Masters, Scrabble, and Pinnochle
• Penn State - Even though the school has gone through a lot lately it's still my dad's alma mater, and it's still a great place.  We pretty much saw everything: football statdium, art gallery, libraries, dorm, union, bookstore, Old Main, a new building being built, and so much more.  We had lunch at The Corner Room and ice cream at Berkey Creamery.
• Uncle Doug took us around one day, and we got to see a beautiful waterfall.   He also took us up a mountain where he and Dad had one of their first jobs.  They cut grapvines off of trees for their next doo neighbor, Otto Little, who owned a lumberyard. 

We had such a great time!  Robert loves my family, and they love him, too!  I enjoyed getting to learn more about my grandparents' lives and growing up years.  They're such a good example of faithful servants.  They've been through so much - humble beginnings, sickness, and setbacks - but they're still able to genuinely praise the Lord for His goodness.  I'm thankful for such great examples in my life.

3/4

It's crazy to think that I'm almost finished with another semester of grad school.  Three terms down.  One term to go.  This is crazy to think about.  Just about six months ago I was calling my parents and begging them if I could quit.  They were in Pennsylvania for my first day (and first week, for that matter) of grad school.  I felt alone.  Robert helped as much as humanly possible, but I had to do so much of it on my own.  Nobody else could read my textbooks for me.  Nobody could write my papers for me.  It seemed like such a daunting task.  I think I called my parents every day while they were in Pennsylvania.  I would talk to them on my drive home each evening.  The conversation usually went something like this:
Me: "I hate this program!"
Parents: "I'm sure it's not that bad."
Me: "It is.  I'm going to just go to the admin building tomorrow and drop out."
Parents: "Can you please just wait to make a decision until we get back?"
Me: "No.  Forget it.  I'm almost home.  I'll talk to you later."

Every single day I'd have visions of marching up to the admin building and withdrawing.  It wouldn't be that bad.  I wouldn't feel like too much of a loser.  It's not like anyone would even notice I wasn't there anymore.  I'm an adult, and I can make my own decisions.  It felt like such a lost cause, but then one night I talked to my brother.  He had gone through a similar experience when he made the transition from high school to college at a very prestigious college - Washington University in St. Louis.  It was a really difficult situation, and after one year he transferred to SBU, but he stuck it out for a whole year.  He talked about it being a real struggle.  He had some of the same feelings and thoughts I was experiencing, but then he talked about how good it felt to be able to say that he completed the school year and passed all of his classes.  He spent more time than ever reading the Word and praying to God.  I decided all I had to two was finish the first term which was only 19 days.  After that I would re-evaluate things.

Well, I started to do well.  I was getting papers and presentation scores back, and they all read "A."  I was so thrilled!  My hard work was paying off.  Sure, I studied from 6:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., and I even studied while I ate.  I didn't shave - there wasn't time!  I left for school at 4:30 and came home at 9:00.  I studied until midnight.  Went to sleep and did it all over again.  This time in my life felt like forever.  Looking back it seems rather pathetic when I realize it was a mere 19 days - not even three weeks.  God used this time to help me realize that it's okay to ask others for help.  Believe it or not, the people who love me are actually delighted to help.  My parents, grandparents, and Robert have proofread countless papers, listened to me practice presentations, driven me to and from class on days when I needed to nap in the car, quizzed me for tests, listened to my struggles, cheered me on every step of the day, and celebrated my succeses with me.  I get a little choked up just thinking about it to be honest.  I knew these people loved me, but the sacrifices they have made in order to help me succeed are astounding.  I don't know what to say other than thank you.  It means more than words can express.

So as I enter finals week I'll study hard, think about past successes, and remind myself that God has been with me every minute of my life, and He'll continue to do the same no matter how well I do on a test and how loudly the class claps after I present.

Thanksgiving

We're back!  Robert and I finished up our southern tour yesterday evening.  Highlights included catching up with family friends in Mississippi, touring Robert's hometown in Louisiana, and visiting family in Alabama.  I had been to all of these states before but not with Robert.  It was really neat for me to get to see where he grew up after hearing all about it for nearly two years.  I had met several of Robert's dad's side of the family when they came to Missouri for Labor Day and Kansas for Bethany's graduation and wedding, but I hadn't visited them in Alabama yet. 

Lousiana: Visited Robert's two houses, church, and five schools in Slidell.  Bought pralines at Bayou Country.  Toured New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, Musicians Village where I built Habitat for Humanity houses in 2007, Jackson Cathedral, Mr. B's Bistro.

Alabama: Fish fry (I didn't eat any. haha), Thanksgiving with about 80 relatives (My family usually includes about 12 of us), two trips to the beach, shopping, a trip to Bellingrath Gardens' Christmas light display, and meeting a ton of new people.  Bellingrath Gardens is where Robert's Mamaw worked for over 30 years. 

It took about 12 hours to drive each way.  Robert and I took turns, but he definitely drove the most.  It was a great time to chat, listen to music and audiotapes, nap, and play games, but 12 hours still felt like a very long time.  I don't know how my family made it through countless 20+ hour trips to Pennsylvania back in the day.

With this event checked off of my list, I have just 18 days until the next milestone: Organizational Change ends.  This class has quite possibly been my favorite so far.  I wish it could continue into next semester so I wouldn't have to start new classes that don't sound very appealing.

Birthdays and Workouts

We celebrated Pepaw's 81st birthday on Sunday, and his actual birthday was yesterday.

My favorite picture from the evening

Robert bought me a sunflower yesterday just because.  I sure do like him.

Ever since I graduated in May I've been trying to work out more and eat healthier.  It's definitely paying off.  I've lost 20 pounds as of this morning.  Robert and I run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  When we started out running 1/2 a mile was difficult for me.  Now I'm up to 2 miles.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays we lift weights.  It's nice to spend an extra 45 minutes together each day, and it's nice to do something good for my body.

Happy Fall

My life in pictures:

At the Saints/Rams game in STL

Wejust s happened to go to the zoo on the day when the zookeepers were feeding pumpkins to different animals.  So cool!

RCV + AEG.  Celebrating our first and last engaged Halloween

Robert's pumpkin was so impressive!

It was a complete coincidence that we all were gray, the guy wore Carinals shirts, and the girls wore SBU shirts.  Promise!

And of course I have to review "The List"

1. August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til... DONE
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...DONE
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til... JUST 4 MORE DAYS
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends...3 days til
14. December 18-December 23 - Pennsylvania trip...2 days til
15. December 25 - Christmas...8 days til
16. January 2- Winter project begins...15 days til
17. January 17 - Spring semester starts...10 days til
18. January 27- Winter project ends... 49 days til
19. May 16-26 - Spring break...11 days til...
20. April 6 - Good Friday off...1 day til
21. April 7 - Jim's birthday...1 day til
22. April 8 - Easter...29 days til
23. May 7-12 - Finals...3 days til
24. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal...1 day til
25. May 11 - School ends...1 day til
26. May 12 - My graduation...7 days til
27. May 19 - Robert's graduation...1 day til
28. May 20 - Our wedding!

Organizational Change

1. August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til... DONE
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...DONE
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til...  JUST 4 MORE DAYS
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends...3 days til
14. December 18-December 23 - Pennsylvania trip...2 days til
15. December 25 - Christmas...8 days til
    
16. January 2- Winter project begins...15 days til
17. January 17 - Spring semester starts...10 days til
18. January 27- Winter project ends... 49 days til
19. May 16-26 - Spring break...11 days til...
20. April 6 - Good Friday off...1 day til
21. April 7 - Jim's birthday...1 day til
22. April 8 - Easter...29 days til
23. May 7-12 - Finals...3 days til
24. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal...1 day til
25. May 11 - School ends...1 day til
26. May 12 - My graduation...7 days til
27. May 19 - Robert's graduation...1 day til
28. May 20 - Our wedding!

That's right, my friends.  Organizational change started tonight.  Amanda asked me how it went.  My response?  "It doesn't sound terrible, but it doesn't sound great.  You know, the usual."  When people talk about how much they loved school I wonder if they've forgotten about the whole reading til your eyes pop out and studying til your brain is fried part.

Prom Dress for Sale

I'm hoping to sell my prom dress to a good home. :)  It's only been worn once.  I bought it from Norman's Bridal in Lebanon, MO.  It's magenta and gold.  There have been no alterations, so it's still its original length and fit.  Message me if you're interested!

Fall Break

Fall break has been everything I had hoped it would be.  I've spent most days watching tv, sleeping in, hanging with Robert, and running errands at my leisure.  A few of the highlights included:

• Lunch at The Flying Tomato (I got sausage pizza) and dessert at AmyCakes (I got a chocolate caramel pretzel cupake!!!) with Dad
• Shopping with my bridesmaids: They all picked out dresses, and it only took 1 hour and 15 minutes.  It was even more fun and easier than I ever could have hoped.
• A trip to the zoo today with Robert and my parents.  There were Halloween decorations everywhere, and it was pumpkin day - we got to see elephants, deer, wolves, and a hippo eat pumpkins.  It was so cool!
• Dad and Pepaw have been building a kitchen table for Robert and me.  It's going to be amazing.  I'll post pictures of the final project.  It's a 42"x42" square table that seats 4, but then when you put in the two leaves and make it rectangular it can seat 8 people.  It's made of white pine.  The surface of the table is made of 8 slats.  The legs are rectangular.  It's going to look great!  And it'll be cool to be able to tell people that my dad and grandpa made the table for us.

On to my list:

1.  August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til... DONE
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...DONE
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til...  JUST 4 MORE DAYS
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends...3 days til
14. December 18-December 23 - Pennsylvania trip...2 days til
15. December 25 - Christmas...8 days til
    
16. January 2- Winter project begins...15 days til
17. January 17 - Spring semester starts...10 days til
18. January 27- Winter project ends... 49 days til
19. May 16-26 - Spring break...11 days til...
20. April 6 - Good Friday off...1 day til
21. April 7 - Jim's birthday...1 day til
22. April 8 - Easter...29 days til
23. May 7-12 - Finals...3 days til
24. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal...1 day til
25. May 11 - School ends...1 day til
26. May 12 - My graduation...7 days til
27. May 19 - Robert's graduation...1 day til
28. May 20 - Our wedding!

As you can tell, not only is fall break nearly over, but I also completed Seminar in Organizational Communication.  That means I'm 50% finished with my coursework.  Unfortunately, I'm not 50% finished as far as actual time goes.  Right now it's 4.5 months down, 6.5 months to go.  As far as time goes, I'll be 50% of the way finished around Thanksgiving.  Now I'm trying to get pumped up to go back to school.  I'll start a new class Monday - Organizational Change.  Hopefully it will be good!

Hometown Photo Album

Robert and I will be married at this time seven months from now.  It's crazy how quickly the time is flying by, but if it went even faster I wouldn't complain.  Since it's getting closer, I've been starting to think about how much I'll miss my wonderful hometown.  It's exciting and thrilling to think about moving far away and starting "our" life, but it's also nearly unfathomable to think about life outside of my hometown.  I've lived here since I was just a few months old.  Everything I've ever experienced has happened here - birthdays, graduations, friendships, holidays, meeting/dating Robert, church.  It's weird to think about missing out on those things.  I had this realization a few weeks ago: next year I will miss every single one of my family members' birthdays.  That's never happened before.  Other than missing Jim's birthday while he lived abroad I don't think I've ever missed a birthday.  We'll probably come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but other than that I'll miss out on every other holiday.  I won't get to go to the homecoming parade.  I won't automatically be here when other friends come home on vacation.  It's a really weird feeling.

All of this has prompted me to created a hometown photo album.  Before I move I want to take pictures of my favorite places in town.  That way I can flip through it whenever I want, and maybe I can occasionally show it to new friends.  Don't worry, I won't make people look at it the second they come over.  Anyway, I've started thinking of pictures to include:

1. First Baptist Church
2. Dunnegan Park
3. My house
4. Memaw and Pepaw's house
5. Jim's house
6. SBU
7. Leslie Hall and Landen Hall (Robert's and my dorms)
8. My friends' houses
9. El Rodeo
10. 3 G's
11. Our favorite sunset location

Do you have any suggestions for locations to add to the list?

Additions from friends and family:
13. The pavilion where Robert proposed/where we're getting married.
14. My high school
15. Mom's school
16. The town square
17. Wal-Mart (Where Robert and I spent many hours on free dates)

It's the Weekend

It's time to take a deep breath, clear my thoughts, and just BE.  It's the weekend.  It's time to catch up on sleep, spend time with family and friends, and re-charge.  Thank you, God, for weekends.  This, my friends, is the last weekend before fall break.  Yes, fall break starts in just six days.

So Robert and I made a "married life" budget last week.  We've estimated how much we expect to spend on things so we will know how much we need to earn in order to live life that way.  Planning stuff like that eases my mind, and I'm thankful that Robert has learned that doing things like this make me a happier person so he participates.  Do you all have a budget?  Do you stick to it strictly - keep receipts, keep the numbers in a spreadsheet, etc.?  Being on a limited budget may seem lame, but it's actually kind of fun to see how you can save money.  Robert and I were just talking about this very fact this morning while we worked out on the elliptical.  I told him I had just put gas in my car for $3.07/gallon.  He put gas in his car over the weekend for $3.13/gallon.  He was super jealous!  I know it may seem weird, but you've gotta make budgeting and money stuff as fun as possible otherwise you'll just argue over it and get upset.

Random memory: Sitting in the dining room in sixth grade, playing the bassoon while my friend Leigha played the baritone.  Man, those were the days.

Okay, so today might have been the best/funniest day of babysitting EVER.  Samuel and I went outside to "play" baseball.  Really, he just throws it around, but he's learned how to hike up his leg like he's pitching.  It's adorable.  Then we went on a walk to SBU.  Everybody can't help but stare at the cutest baby/coolest babysitter combo ever.  Robert taught him how to say supercalafragilisticexbealidoscious (spelling), and I taught him how to say, "I've got skills."  It's precious.  This week he started saying, "Yes or no," when I ask him something.  Example: "Samuel, do you want some apple slices?"  Samuel: "Yes or no."  Slightly confusing, but very cute.

What are your weekend plans?  Anything fun?  I don't really have any plans other than watching the Cards whoop up on the Phillies tonight!

VisualCV

Hello, blogosphere!  I'm starting to work on my resume and portfolio for when I apply for jobs in the spring.  I've started an online resume and portfolio.  It can be found at VisualCV.  I'd appreciate any feedback you can give me.  Thanks!

Learning

Oh, man.  Have I been learning a lot lately.  Things like:

• CEO letters should implement charts and graphics but stay away from jargon.
• Live in day-tight compartments. (Thanks, Shelley Harris.)
• No matter when I go to sleep, 6:00am will always be TOO early.
• Critical Theory and Michael Foucault are both very confusing.

Now, don't those sound like very interesting things? :)

I got my hair cut for the first time in months.  Things like that seem to go by the wayside when I'm focused on school and work.  I was starting to have terrible split ends and really couldn't stand it any more, so I broke down and devoted an hour to pampering.  It was nice. 

Robert and I went to Plaster's Orchard to pick apples last Monday.  We did this last year, too.  It's just $10 for a five-gallon bucket.  So far we have made apple butter, apple sauce, apple crisp, apple cake with cream cheese frosting, and apple pie.  We still have about 20 apples left.  Any suggestions for what we should make with them?

Fall break is so close I can feel it!  It starts in a mere eight days and seven hours.  Can you tell I'm anxious?  My goal is to not do anything over the glorious eleven-day break.  Hopefully I won't have much homework to do so I can achieve my goal of doing nothing.  Fingers crossed!

The List Continues

1. August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til... DONE
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...DONE
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til...  JUST 4 MORE DAYS
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends...18 days til
14. December 19  January 2- Winter project begins...15 days til
15. January 17 - Spring semester starts...10 days til
16. January 13 January 27- Winter project ends... 49 days til
17. Mary 16-26 - Pennsylvania for spring break...11 days til...
18. April 6 - Good Friday off...1 day til
19. April 7 - Jim's birthday...1 day til
20. April 8 - Easter...29 days til
21. May 7-12 - Finals...3 days til
22. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal...1 day til
23. May 11 - School ends...1 day til
24. May 12 - My graduation...7 days til
25. May 19 - Robert's graduation...1 day til
26. May 20 - Our wedding!

Since the last time I posted this list my birthday came and went.  Org comm is coming to an end - only 16 days to go.  It's honestly gone by rather quickly.  I know, it's crazy.  Once org comm ends I'll have fall break and start a new class: organizational change.  Should be a party. ;)

I stayed pretty busy with school, babysitting, and socializing last week.  It's been really hard to balance my social life the past four months.  I crave interaction with humans, but it's something that makes my schedule even more jam-packed.  This weekend I did A LOT of socializing.  I went to Springfield early before class on Thursday and went to the mall and Starbucks with my dear friend Kelsey.  On Friday I drove to AR to visit my friend Elise.  We got pizza, watched a movie ("Something Borrowed" - much better than I had expected), and caught up.  The next morning we ate breakfast at Rick's Bakery (I got a sausage roll, cheese danish, and fresh-squeezed orange juice) and perused the farmers' market.  Robert and I enjoyed watching two Cardinal wins on tv this weekend as well. 

Highlights for this week will be: Picking apples at Plaster's Orchard and class today - My group is leading class facilitation.  Eating dinner at Windermere with the Durbins tomorrow.  Meeting with my dear friend Carey and class on Wednesday.  Babysitting and class on Thursday.  Babysitting and my high school homecoming parade and football game Friday.  Gilmore Girls alum Melissa McCarthy hosting Saturday Night Live on Saturday.  And finally, church and a Sunday school picnic at the lake on Sunday.  Whew!  No wonder I'm tired.

Dating Robert Clark Varner

Dating Robert Clark Varner has been one of the greatest blessings, and I look forward to being married to him and all the fun and good times that are sure to accompany it.  Our summer was crazy (Robert worked full time to buy me some bling, and I went to summer school - how could we possibly forget about that?), and now the school year has hit full-force.  Sometimes when we're sitting on the couch watching tv and studying for the umpteenth night in a row, my heart cries out for a good date with undivided attention.  And that, my friends, is exactly what I got this weekend.
I got to pick our date for Friday: Dinner with my mama (Homemade chicken strips, garlic & cheese mashed potatoes, asparagus), Gilmore Girls (3 whole episodes), watching the Cards WIN, thrifting at ATC Downtown Flea Market (a classy establishment), and making heart garland for the wed wed.
Robert got to pick Saturday's date: Laura Ingalls Wilder's house in Mansfield, MO (Robert and I were working out one day last week, and he swears the news anchor's name was Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Doubt it.  Anyway, this prompted me to reminisce about Laura Ingalls Wilder Day in elementary school.  He thought this was ridiculous.  Does anybody else remember doing that?  We'd dress up like pioneers, make butter.  You know, pioneer stuff.  Anyway, this inspired him to take me to her house.)  It was perfect!  We just so happened to pick Wilder Day!!!  That meant: 1/2 price tickets, a medley of songs mentioned in Laura's books that were actually played on Pa's fiddle yesterday, and exclusive viewing of the upstairs bedroom. 

So pumped!

A few of Laura's books have been translated into Hebrew - Robert's favorite part. haha

We went out to dinner - Cieleto Lindo.  I would not recommend it...at all.  Then I surprised him by taking us to see The Lion King in 3D.  We purchased the tickets but had about 45 minutes to kill so we went into shops downtown.  We went to Andy's after that.  I got the Boot Daddy - Oreo, caramel, hot fudge concrete.  The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) were in town which inspired Andy's to create the Boot Daddy.  I'm not a fan of bull riding, but I am a fan of the boot daddy.

Anniversaries and Birthdays

Last Thursday Robert took me out to eat to celebrate my 21 birthday.  He drove me to class and ran errands for me while I sat in class.  He dropped off our rings to have them engraved.  Since my engagement ring is essentially three bands that are interwoven, I'm not getting a separate wedding band.  I bought Robert's wedding band the day we got my ring insured.  Anyway, Robert picked the inscription - chesid.  It's Hebrew, and of course we'll be using the actual Hebrew symbols.  The "c" is silent, and there's a gutteral sound at the beginning.  Anyway, it means covenant loyalty or lovingkindness.  The major bummer though is that it can take up to two weeks to get the rings back.  Seven days down.  Hopefully it'll be less than seven days before we get them back.  I know it might sound weird, but I'm kind of self-conscious that people think we broke up since I'm not wearing my ring.  Plus, my finger looks so plain now.  So after class, Robert took me to a surprise restaurant for dinner.  We ended up going to The Aviary.  It was delicious, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area.  It's in downtown Springfield.  Of course, we failed to take pictures, but the inside is absolutely adorable.  There is a gigantic fake tree in the middle of the room that reaches to the ceiling, antique bird cages, a fireplace, beautiful artwork, and you can even watch the cooks make your dinner.  The restaurant specializes in crepes, but it does have typical main dishes as well - steak, shrimp, etc.  Robert and I had only ever had dessert crepes before, so we decided to branch out and order savory crepes.  I order the Venetian - asparagus, spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms with mascarpone cheese on the side and three cheese mashed potatoes for my side dish.  I could pick from mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, salad, or fruit.  Robert got the salmon crepe and mashed potatoes as well.  We split an Aux Nuella crepe (chocolate mousse, Nutella, whipped cream, chocolate shavings) for dessert.  Our server was great, and we loved the atmosphere.  Right after we ordered, approximately thirty ladies who were 70+ years old showed up for dessert.  I'm guessing that isn't typical, but for a second I wondered if we were crashing their party.  After we ate we enjoyed a lovely stroll downtown.
Coincidentally, our 1 1/2 year anniversary was Tuesday so we got to do some more celebrating.  Robert had a mandatory fire drill at 9:00pm so we knew we couldn't go to Springfield or do anything super big. So we decided to make our own dinner - glazed pork chops grilled on the barbie, grilled asparagus, grilled mixed vegetables (zucchini, onions, green bell pepper, Mexi-corn) {are you noticing a theme yet? GRILLED} and pasta salad (spaghetti noodles, chopped up turkey, onion, feta cheese, parmesan cheese, and Italian dressing).  I made sweet tea too.  Since Robert is a grill master I try to take advantage of it by having him cook us dinner as much as possible.  :)  We packed up our food and took it to Playter Park.  It had been about 100 in the day, but by the time we ate it was about 80, the sun was setting, and there was a bit of a breeze so it was perfect.  After we ate, we strolled around the neighborhood (Lakewood Hills) and admired the houses we can't afford.  It's fun, really.  We'll say things like, "Ooo!  That one has a big yard.  That'd be perfect for kids," "I love the brick/rock combo!" "I want a yard with a weeping willow tree," "That looks like the house I grew up in."  I like dreaming with Robert.

Birthdays Galore

Since I last wrote, we've celebrated approximately ten family birthdays: Dad's, Robert's dad's, Amanda's, mine (although it isn't for a few more days), Robert's cousin Ian, Robert's Grandpa, Robert's uncle's, and my mom's birthday.  It's been CRAZY but super fun!  We combined Labor Day with birthday celebrations for Dad, Amanda, and me.  Robert barbecued steak and chicken, Jim made homemade ice cream, we ate outside in the perfect weather, played croquet, and shared fond memories from years past.  Side note: One of my presents included our FIRST wedding registry present: Our rolling pen.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Robert and I went to KC for Bethany's wedding this weekend.  I didn't snag any pictures of the ceremony because I wanted to actually soak in the moment without being obsessed about taking pictures, but here's one a lady offered to take of Robert and me at the reception:

I'm all about coordinating my ensemble with Robert's apparel.

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed having an extra day off from school yesterday.  Since I never have class on Fridays and Wednesdays, having Monday off gave me six days off in a row.

1. August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til... DONE
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...DONE
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til...  JUST 4 MORE DAYS
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends...18 days til
14. December 19  January 2- Winter project begins...15 days til
15. January 17 - Spring semester starts...10 days til
16. January 13 January 27- Winter project ends... 49 days til
17. Mary 16-26 - Pennsylvania for spring break...11 days til...
18. April 6 - Good Friday off...1 day til
19. April 7 - Jim's birthday...1 day til
20. April 8 - Easter...29 days til
21. May 7-12 - Finals...3 days til
22. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal...1 day til
23. May 11 - School ends...1 day til
24. May 12 - My graduation...7 days til
25. May 19 - Robert's graduation...1 day til
26. May 20 - Our wedding!

Update

Let's look at how the countdown is going.

1. August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til... DONE
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...DONE
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til...  JUST 4 MORE DAYS
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends...18 days til
14. December 19  January 2- Winter project begins...15 days til
15. January 17 - Spring semester starts...10 days til
16. January 13 January 27- Winter project ends... 49 days til
17. Mary 16-26 - Pennsylvania for spring break...11 days til...
18. April 6 - Good Friday off...1 day til
19. April 7 - Jim's birthday...1 day til
20. April 8 - Easter...29 days til
21. May 7-12 - Finals...3 days til
22. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal...1 day til
23. May 11 - School ends...1 day til
24. May 12 - My graduation...7 days til
25. May 19 - Robert's graduation...1 day til
26. May 20 - Our wedding!

So school has officially started.  In fact, I'm almost done with week two.  After tonight I'll be 1/4 of the way finished with seminar in organizational communication.  Yahoo!

We had a fun time celebrating Mom's birthday.  We had a delicious dinner with my grandparents.  Red velvet cake was included of course!

Robert was the RA on call over the weekend, so we had to stay in town.  He only has three more RA on call weekends EVER!  Let's celebrate with him. :D

I found out that the winter project is now January 2-27.  That's good news, folks.  That means I actually get about two weeks off for Christmas!  The bummer is that it overlaps with the spring semester for ten days, but I think it will be tolerable.

I had proposed a formal request to the Drury graduate council in hopes that I would be able to take an MBA class at SBU in the spring instead of an MBA class at Drury.  The classes sounded identical, and if I could take it at SBU it would mean:

1. Cheaper tuition
2. Less money spent on gas
3. Time saved by not driving 90 minutes each time I have class
4. It's online for eight weeks at SBU so it would be over faster, and I could work on it whenever I want

Anyway, the proposal was thirteen pages long, and I thought it was very impressive.  I found out on Monday that I was denied 4-0.  It was a major blow at first.  Thankfully, I have a very kind fiance and parents who keep telling me it happened for a reason.  Right now I can only see it as a negative and a let down.  On the bright side, my adviser said my proposal was impressive.  Whoop-di-do.

I read OurSpace by Christine Harold this week.  It wasn't exactly a fun read, but it was tolerable.  I'm almost finished with my book review for it.  Progress, baby!

Also, just in case you were wondering - 263 days til our wedding!

Engagement Pictures

Robert and I had our engagement pictures taken last night, and we had a great time!  Anna Brandenburgh took our pictures.  She did such a wonderful job!  She made us feel very comfortable during the session, and she had a proofs ready for us today.  I would definitely recommend her!  We took the pictures in Memaw's garden, sun room, and the road in front of my grandparents' house.

First day of school

Monday was the first day of the fall semester for Robert and me.  This semester I'll have Seminar in Organizational Communication on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:20-8:00 (August 22-October 12), and then it'll switch to Organizational Change on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:20-8:00 (October 24-December 14).  I'm also taking Corporate Writing and Public Relations on Thursdays from 5:20-8:00 (August 25-December 15).  That's nine hours total.  It's really weird being at home all day and then going to class all evening.  My entire schooling life I've gone to school in the day and studied in the evening.  It's nice and quiet at home since my parents are at work, but it's weird having Mom come home for the day before I've even left for school.  This week has been pretty chill so far.  I know after this week I will not be saying that, so I'm trying to take advantage of the calm before the storm.  My first big-ish assignment for org comm is a critical book review.  We had a list of 19 books from which to choose.  We passed around a sign-up sheet, and I got OurSpace.  It was my fourth choice.  It's supposed to come in the mail tomorrow.  Once it gets here I hope to read it and write my report by September 6.  That'll give me plenty of time to turn in a rough draft and get feedback before it's due September 19.  Tonight we're finding out about our assignment of leading class discussion over one journal article.  That shouldn't be too hard since I've done it in a few classes already.  Then the only other major thing in that class is a research proposal, but the professor really hasn't talked about it at all.  Another 100 points will come from class participation and a few small homework assignments like answering some questions over the night's reading.  It doesn't sound too terrible yet.  I'll let you know how PR goes tomorrow.  I have a feeling it won't sound too overwhelming since I have 15 weeks to finish the class instead of my usual 3 or 6 week classes.  15 weeks will feel like forever!

Robert's first day of his senior year at SBU

My first day of my second semester of grad school at Drury

Already ready for the school year to be over.  Is that bad?

Mom's first full week of school.  Keeping up the first day of school picture tradition.

 Wedding planning is going well.  Mom and I did some shopping last weekend and bought thank you notes from Target ($2 for 10 cards - steal!) and a truckload of items from Hobby Lobby - 2 small vases, a medium vase, tan sand, and brown sand for our sand pouring instead of unity candle; 10 yards of khaki tulle (On sale for $0.77 a yard instead of $0.97), 7 yards of dusty blue tulle (On sale for $0.77 a yard instead of $0.97), 25 yards of shiny ivory tulle (On sale for $0.97 a yard instead of $1.17), a few fabric samples (30%) to give to Aunt Pam for our centerpieces, 9 rolls of ribbon (50% off), and 13 stems of dusty blue silk flowers (50% off = $1 each).  Plus we had two coupons for 40% off a single regular priced item (2 of the vases).  The thriftiness prompted a surge of energy for both of us, trust me.  Mom and I stopped by Norman's to get a swatch of the fabric for my bridesmaids dresses.  While we were there Mom tried on four mother of the bride dresses.  She also tried on a few at David's Bridal.  Former mothers of the bride, where did you find your dress?  How did you find a dress that said, "I'm not trying to look like a 21 year old bridesmaid, but I'm also not a grandma?" 

Yesterday we met with our florist.  While I believe we've chosen the best deal in Bolivar, it's SHOCKING how expensive fresh flowers are.  Thankfully we're only buying bouquets for my five bridesmaids and me.  No fresh flowers anywhere else.

We picked up our invitations yesterday.  They turned out perfectly!  We did them at "Our Other Office."  Talk about a confusing name.  Robert and I designed them, and we decided to go postcard style.  We're hoping that this way people will look at the invite sooner since they won't have to spend time opening it up.  I know opening an envelop doesn't seem like much of a burden, but seriously, how many people have stacks of unopened mail?  Too many!  Also, this will reduce the cost of postage by 50%.  We printed in black and color on one side and just black on the other side.

We also met with our wonderful cake baker and discusses details.  I know Alana will do such a great job!  We're definitely on the same page which is very helpful.

Robert has picked his groomsmen which is very exciting.  We're wanting to guys to wear khaki pants with matching khaki vests.  Mom and I looked over the weekend only to find out khaki is seasonal.  All the stores have random leftover sizes of khaki items on sale now, and they won't have their new khaki items til March.  HELP!  Any ideas?  As you know, I would be totally on edge waiting til two months in advance to even start looking for their outfits.

Did I tell you I already have five ladies who have asked to help host my main shower?  Blessed!
Does anyone have photographer suggestions?  Robert and I are struggling between wanting nice photos but not being able to justify spending a large chunk of money on photos because, let's be real, after a few years of marriage most people only have a couple of nice wedding photos out on display.  What happened to the other 1000 photos they paid $3000?  I rest my case.

School Days

The public school district started the new year today.  My mom was out the door before I woke up.  I had planned to wake up at 7:00, but that didn't happen.  I did wake up at 7:30 though which is pretty impressive.  Amanda (Jim's girlfriend) also went back to teaching today.  I know people say this every year, but the summer sure flew by.  Don't even get me started on the concept of time. haha
The freshmen moved into SBU today.  It made me reflect a bit.  Three years ago I was move into the dorm for the very first time.  I didn't know what my major would be, I wasn't dating Robert, I didn't know my roommate, and I had just left all my friends.  Let's look back on my very first dorm room:

Flowers from Mom for my 18th birthday

Sitting at my desk after buying my first and last lottery ticket to celebrate being 18

The outside of my dorm

My roommate, Lindsay, and me

Wow.  It seems like so much has happened since then.  Probably because so much HAS happened.  In just three years I've graduated college, completed 40% of a graduate degree, gotten engaged, been an RA for two years, traveled to El Salvador/Ireland/England, worked away from home for the summer, babysat countless hours, made many new friends, and learned multitudinous lessons.  Although it is pretty much never easy, life is good.

Planning

The last 4 days have consisted of extreme planning.  As most of you know, I am a planner.  I enjoy: writing things down in my planner calendar, doing things efficiently, not procrastinating, marking things off my to do list, and working before playing.  That's exactly what I've done the past few days.  My goal was to get ahead of the game so I can take it easy with wedding planning once school starts.  We all know how overwhelmed with summer school I was.  I know the fall semester won't be as crazy since I'll take three classes in fifteen weeks instead of four classes in nine weeks, but I still can't imagine planning a wedding in my non-existent spare time.  Here's what I've done so far: book the wedding site and bride's room, booked the reception site, bought my wedding dress, bought my garter, bought the guest book and fancy pen, picked my bridesmaids (Leigha [MoH], Kelsey, Elise, Tiffani, and Tarah), booked a cake baker, determined my colors (dusty blue, khaki, and ivory), insured my ring, bought Robert's wedding band (simple 10k white gold band, 6mm wide), created a wedding website, booked a videographer, decided on a florist (Flower Patch and More) and flower type (blue hydrangeas), set up registry (Bed Bath & Beyond.  We'll register at Roweton's Home Center later, too.), asked Pepaw to be the officiant, booked Michael to play the piano, got Matt to run the sound, got FBC's outdoor sound system, decided on outfits for bridesmaids (dusty blue dresses by Forever Yours in chiffon), decided on guys' outfits (khaki pants, khaki vest, dusty blue shirt, ivory or blue tie, brown shoes, brown belt), ordered invitations, scheduled makeup for bridesmaids and me, and did lots of brainstorming.  Whew!  I need a nap.
Today I got a bad surprise:  I've been going along thinking school starts Thursday, August 25.  Well, apparently I wasn't the only person who thought this because we got an email today basically saying, "School starts August 22, not the 25th.  Sorry for the confusion."  It sure is nice to find out A WEEK IN ADVANCE.  What the heck, Drury?  Glad I'm not out of the country with a return flight August 24 or something.  Can you imagine how stressful that would be?  Holy cow!  So of course I got a pit in my stomach instantly.  With all the happiness of getting engaged I hadn't thought about school the past few days.  It was really nice, but all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Can I get some motivation and inspiration for a new school year, please?  This is me motivating myself: 4 classes down.  5 classes, a "project, and a "capstone" to go.  I'm definitely more than a third of the way done.  Also (since I'm a planner) I've written down the milestones that come along the way between now and THE BIG DAY:

1. August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til...
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til...
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends...4 days til
14. December 19 - Winter project begins...25 days til
15. January 13 - Winter project ends...4 days til
16. January 17 - Spring semester starts...59 days til
17. Mary 16-26 - Pennsylvania for spring break...11 days til...
18. April 6 - Good Friday off...1 day til
19. April 7 - Jim's birthday...1 day til
20. April 8 - Easter...29 days til
21. May 7-12 - Finals...3 days til
22. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal...1 day til
23. May 11 - School ends...1 day til
24. May 12 - My graduation...7 days til
25. May 19 - Robert's graduation...1 day til
26. May 20 - Our wedding!

Breaking it into milestones really helps me.  Sure, there will be little meetings, assignments, projects, and other things along the way, but I have these big, good things to look forward to.  Thinking about it in little increments like "11 days til..." really helps me.  We need to work on something fun and good during the 59 days between the spring semester starting and spring break.  I can handle the other increments, but 59 days is a long time!  Sometimes, May seems so far away, but then I try to remember what I was doing nine months ago.  That would have been November - I was going to the Chiefs game in KC with my parents, Robert, and his parents and sister.  I was enjoying Thanksgiving break and getting excited that I was almost finished with the semester.  It seems like that was only yesterday.  That encourages me that the next nine months will continue to fly by.  Sometimes each individual day drags on, but then you reflect, and nine months have flown by.  
On a side note, I'm almost finished with my summer babysitting gigs.  I have one loooong day next week (Thursday) where I'll babysit for a family from 8:00-5:00.  After that, babysitting will be drastically reduced.  In the fall I'll babysit about seven hours a week, and in the spring I'll be babysitting ZERO hours a week!!!  I've decided not earning money during that time frame (January-May) will be worth it.  I can always pick up some random jobs if needed, but I hope to use that extra time to study, plan the wedding, and keep my sanity.  Robert will be working 10-20 hours a week at church in the fall and spring so that will compensate for it.  Thought: Maybe Robert could be the Jan term RA so he could be close to me and work full-time at church in January.  A lot of times I can get very focused on earning money.  It's not so much that I'm have the mindset of "Gimme more money," but I want to feel as though I'm working as hard as possible.  I constantly have to remind myself that God will provide, and He also doesn't want me to take control of the situation.  Such a hard balance - working hard but not becoming controlling.

Website

We have a wedding website:
http://GrabowskiVarner.ourwedding.com

YAY!

Our Engagement Story

After dinner, but before the actual proposal.

Right after I said, "YES!"

Showing off the ice.

The incredible scrapbook Robert made me.

YAYYYY!

On Friday while I was in Olathe my good girl friends (Elise, Leigha, and Kelsey) texted me and asked me to join them for a girls' day in Springfield on Monday.  We left today around 11:30.  We ate lunch at Panera, hit up the mall, stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond, got feather hair extensions (wild! hehe), stopped by Andy's Frozen Custard, and then headed back to Bolivar.  Leigha kept insisting that we had to be back to town by 5:00 because her mom wanted to make dinner with her (lie).  I texted Robert to let him know I was on my way back, and he said we could make dinner at my house because my parents were going out to eat (as he had asked them to do).  I got to the house and helped him finish up dinner (grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes).  I teased Robert and said, "Should I dress up?"  He said, "Yes.  Go put on your long, blue dress."  I knew something was up then.  I'd been teasing Robert for several days because I knew it was happening sometime soon.  When I asked if I should dress up I was totally kidding, so when he said yes I knew.  I smiled really big, and then left to change.  Robert said we didn't need drinking glasses because we weren't eating at home anyway.  I got slightly confused for a minute, thinking that we had actually made dinner for other people.  We took the food with us to a pavilion in town.  Robert had a table, chairs, cloth napkins, and drinks awaiting us.  We ate our delicious dinner, and then Robert got out his guitar.  He played his guitar and sang a beautiful song he had written just for me.  During the song I went from tearing up a bit to smiling from ear to ear.  After that, he had me open a package which was a scrapbook he made all by himself.  He had been saving tickets from dates (movies, plays, sporting events, etc.) the whole time we've been dating, so the scrapbook consisted of tickets from dates, pictures, and notes we had given each other.  It chronicled our relationship and ended with a new note from him where he promised to love me and take care of me forever.  When I finished, he got down on one knee and proposed.  Of course I said, "YES!"  We snapped a few photos, and then headed back to the house where my parents were waiting for us.  Robert had asked their permission last week, and they are very happy for us.  Jim and Amanda came over to celebrate too.  We called Robert's parents and our grandparents to share the good news.  Then we went over to Elise's house to have an engagement party with about fifteen friends.  When we entered the house we saw a lovely hand-painted congratulations sign made by Elise, and it had twinkle lights around it.  Leigha had made a cake, and we toasted with sparkling grape juice.  It was a perfect day, and I am blessed.

I'm Melting

Today it's supposed to be 108 with a heat index of 115.  Can you say "sweltering?"  I cannot remember another summer in my life where it has been this hot for this long.  Can you?
This is the last week of summer school.  I'm getting so antsy for it to be over.  Only 53 hours to go to be precise.  I have to go to Drury for actual in-person class Today, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5:20-8:00.  Not too bad.  I've turned in everything for entrepreneurial communication, and now I'm just waiting for things to get graded.  I'm nearly finished with communication consulting.  I just have an oral presentation on Thursday and a paper to turn in with it.  Thankfully, all the work is done.
To celebrate the end of summer school Robert and I will be spending the weekend with his family.  The weekend will consist of going to a water park, sleeping, relaxing, watching movies, eating good food, and NOT thinking/talking about school.  It is greatly needed.
When we get back I'll still have about a week and a half sans class.  Next Wednesday Robert and I are taking the day off and escaping to St. Louis.  We plan to go to the zoo, have a picnic lunch in Forest Park, go back to the zoo, and eat dinner on The Hill.  It'll be the first real date we've had since before summer school started.  Sure, we've had meals together and wandered around Wal-Mart for cheap and easy dates, but it'll be nice to get away without feeling guilty or like I should be studying.  It'll also be nice for Robert because two days after our trip he starts RA training.  I guess it's our end of the summer last hurrah.
Yet another change: Jim (my brother) found a place to live.  This is a big deal and very exciting for everybody.  Things seem to be falling into place.  The satellite guy came today and got everything set up.  Water and electricity were set up yesterday.  Tomorrow the Internet/phone guy is coming.  We've gotten quite a bit of stuff moved over there.  It makes me feel old to know I have a brother who has a rental house.  Crazy!

Babysitting Queen

I watched Life as we Know it last night.  Have you seen it?  It won't be winning a ton of awards anytime soon, but it was cute.  There was a babysitter named Amy in it.  She was awesome with their daughter so they called her the baby whisperer.  That's kind of how I've felt this summer.  I've been babysitting for two families consistently this summer.  For one family I babysit 8-12 hours a week, and for the other I babysit 11 hours a week.  Sometimes it fluctuates a bit - I have a 9 hour day coming up for a family!  Sometimes I'll babysit for other families here and there.  It's no full-time job, but anybody who thinks babysitting is a piece of cake obviously hasn't done it before.  Thankfully, there are plenty of cute moments that make it worth it.  What are some funny/memorable babysitting experiences you've had?  I guess it's preparing me for when I have kids (in the VERY distant future).
Robert should be headed to the airport now.  Their trip back is about 30 hours.  It takes longer to come back because of the direction of the wind.  Also, their layovers are a bit longer on the way back.  I get to meet him at the airport tomorrow!  Yay!
I officially have 13 days til I'm done with summer school.  Thank heavens!  I made a narrated PowerPoint for the first time this week.  Now all that is left is to give a group project presentation and write a "brief" report.  Could the word "brief" be any more vague?  I will have 21 days off before the fall semester starts.  Any suggestions for how I should fill me time?  I need good relaxing/fun ideas!
There's a 30% chance of rain coming up soon.  Fingers crossed!

Jack of all Trades

I think the best way to describe my summer so far would be a blur.  The summer has been packed with classes, boring reading assignments, studying, writing papers, making presentations, babysitting, exercising, and babysitting some more.  Just call me the Jack (or Jane) of all trades.  I have had such a weird perception of time.  At some points it feels as though time is flying by (i.e. I'm about to complete twelve graduate hours in nine weeks!), but at other times it seems like time is standing still (i.e. Will summer school ever end?  It's been going on forever!)  Do you ever have weird perceptions of time?  I feel like I'm the only one.  I'll talk to people about how I'm in an eleven month masters program, and they'll say stuff like, "Oh, that'll just fly by!"  While I'm glad they don't say stuff like, "That'll feel  like forever," it leaves me feeling like a weirdo for thinking time is slowly ticking by.  Whenever I think about it like I've completed 15 years (skipped third grade, graduated college in three years) of formal education and have 1 year to go it feels cool, but when I think about it like I've only been enduring this torture for seven weeks but have about 36 weeks to go it feels like forever.  These four classes have been totally brutal.  I have six classes and my capstone left.  I go between thinking, "That's not bad.  I'm 40% of the way finished," and "I'm only 40% done?  I have to do this six more times?  I'm never going to making it."  I'm probably the only person who thinks about this kind of stuff.  Now you know what's going through my mind.
I was taught quite the lesson in patience this week.  I'm basically the perfect example of type A personality.  Wikipedia describes type A as: ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his/her status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound.  Yep, that's me in a nutshell.  I've always been the "work first, play later" type of gal.  Anyway, with these online classes I've been having to wait on the professors and students A TON.  Usually, with a class I try to get everything done ASAP.  The first few days/weeks are intense, but after that I can chill.  Well, with these classes I have only been getting on assignment at a time.  It's totally not the way I roll.  Needless to say, I have absolutely NO control over the situation.  I would never say, "Hey you - professor who is 20 years older than me who has a PhD - do things the way I want which is NOW."  Totally not socially acceptable.  So I've waited.  And guess what!  Everything is turning out okay.  Weird. ;)
Robert comes home in exactly three days!  Take a moment.  Let it soak in.  I've made it 80% of that way.  Only 20% more to wait.  When Robert comes home I'm never letting him leave again.  Just kidding, but he needs to stick around for a few weeks at least.  I've gotten several emails from the team and from Robert.  God is doing great things in SA.
My mom's middle sister (Dana) has been in town this week.  She was here to re-decorate Memaw's sunroom.  It looks beautiful now!  The color theme is yellow, green, red, and white.  Totally not Christmas-y though.  It's super cute!  Dana brought her adorable nine-year-old Corgy, Danny, as well.
I'm watching the Cardinals play  the Mets.  Right now it's 4-4 in the bottom of the 7th.  Let's get it, Cards!

Session 2

On Friday I will officially be finished with session two of summer school.  Yayyyy!  The lame thing is that my two online classes span session two AND three so the fact that session two is ending doesn't mean I'm finished with more classes.  However, it does mean that once this week is over (Friday) I just have three more weeks before I have officially made it through summer school.  August 4 = no more summer school for me ever...hopefully.  I'll get almost three weeks off (20 days to be precise), and I plan to live it up.  Starting off the break by spending a lovely weekend away with Robert's family which will include hitting up Schlitterbahn.  I've never been there, but I've heard it's pretty sweet!  Then when we get back Robert and I will hop in the car with my parents and venture to McKinney, Texas to visit Mom's middle sister, Dana.  I haven't been there in about a year and a half, and Robert has never met Dana or her husband so it will be great!  Plus there is soooooooo much to do in the Dallas area.  Once we get back I'll stick around home for a week and a half and spend my time babysitting, sleeping, and staring at the wall (I'm seriously looking forward to that bit).  Robert starts RA training August 12.  It'll be lame because he'll pretty much have about 2 seconds of free time each day so we can't hang much, but that means I'll have more time to stare at the wall!!!  Maybe I'll even go help him unpack and get ready for the year.  Two gold stars for being the girlfriend of the year! ;)

I've been learning a lot lately.  Of course, I've learned a lot in my classes, but God has been teaching me even more this summer.  These classes have revealed to me yet again that I CANNOT do everything (or anything for that matter) without Him.  When I started summer school I literally thought I was going to go insane and drop out.  I would repeat, "God, let your strength and peace flow through me," to myself and pray that it would be true dozens of times throughout the day.  When a situation arrived where I felt unsettled, overwhelmed, or frustrated I would repeat these words to remind myself that God is here.  He's here when I recognize Him, but He's even here when I don't recognize Him.  With God's help I've been able to learn that I don't have to do everything on my own.  I can always rely on Him, and I can even count of close friends and family to lighten my load.  Believe it or not, but they actually enjoy helping me.  With everyone's help I managed to get A's in my first two classes.  I am positive I couldn't have done this alone.

So now when I start to feel overwhelmed and get the jitters that were my close companion during session one, I remind myself that God was there then, and he's here now.

Ridin' Solo

It's been another busy summer week.  Last Saturday Robert, Grant, Kelsey, and I went to Pomme de Terre lake.  Super fun!  We grilled hotdogs, swam in the lake, and hit up 3 G's for some frozen custard once we got back into town.  Later that evening my parents came home from El Salvador.  It was great to hear their stories.  They finished the foundation and got about two rows of blocks laid for the walls.  They also met some wonderful people.  About three hours later my brother came home.  It was a bit strange for me to go from being queen of the house to sharing it with three other bodies.  I think we've all adjusted now though.
For fourth of July we kept up the Grabowski tradition of eating dinner at Memaw and Pepaw's house, shooting off fireworks, and then going to the town firework show.  It was good to see people and catch up for a bit, but it was also semi overwhelming to see so many people I know all at once.  You can only say, "Hey!  How's it going?" so many times before it gets old.  After the show we went swimming and called it a night.
I got a facial Tuesday. :)
After Robert finished work on Tuesday we drove to his house, ate dinner, went swimming, caught up with his friends, and spent the night.  Robert woke up early on Wednesday to get his 21 year old license.  He also got his mom's old car (2006 Toyota Camry) which is a nice upgrade from his 1999 Ford Ranger.  Here are some pictures to accompany the process.

It was nice to have a week of not having to drive to and from Springfield.  For the rest of the month my two classes are totally online.  I'll wrap things up by going in for face-to-face class three days in a row the first week of August.
Robert and I watched the first four parts of "Africa" a National Geographic special to get pumped up for his trip.
On Friday we went to Incredible Pizza with our family friend Carl.  Robert's dad was heading back home from Alabama and got to stop by to join us for dinner.
Robert and I had to say goodbye on Saturday.  I've known for months that this day would come, but as it grew closer it made me increasingly sad.  It's so tough because I can't beg him to stay.  After all, he's going on a mission trip to share God's love with others.  Can't blame him for wanting to join in on this cool adventure.  The trip is July 10-23, but they left Bolivar on the 9th, spent the night in KC, and drove to the airport today.  They get back super late on the 23rd so they'll spend the night in KC and drove home on the 24 which means he's officially gone July 9-24.  That's 15 days, about twice as long as we've ever been apart.  I'm trying not to be a pansy, but it seems like FOREVER.  I have some school work and babysitting to do which will occupy some of my time, but mostly it's just more fun to do things together.  We might just be studying, but at least we're doing it together.  We might just be eating dinner and watching the Cards play, but it's so much more fun to do it together instead of alone.
Oh and my one and only task from Robert while he was gone was to feed his fish every day and water his flowers every other day.  I went in for day one this morning.  The fish was dead.  I'm a bad girlfriend.

98 Degrees and Rising

Remember the band "98 Degrees."  Oh man.  Anyway, it was 100 degrees yesterday.  Hello, summer!
I finished week one of summer school session 2-3.  For the duration of sessions two and three (six weeks) I have two different classes going on.  One is totally online - entrepreneurial communication.  Each week I read about 150 pages of journal articles, listen to a narrated powerpoint lecture (10 minutes), answer 5-7 questions about the readings, most those answers on the discussion board, respond to two people's posts, do a case study (apply something I learned this week to an entrepreneur).  The final project is to conduct a phone interview with two social entrepreneurs and make a presentation with my findings.  For the other class (communication consulting) we met this week Tuesday-Thursday in person, then it'll be online for four weeks, and it'll wrap up with Tuesday-Thursday in person on the sixth week.  It's basically the same weekly concept.  The final project is consulting for a make believe company.
I don't know if anyone else feels this way (I realize I'm neurotic when it comes to school work and scheduling), but when I get a syllabus I want to get everything done right away.  I would rather have a couple of weeks of insanity and then several weeks of relaxation instead of a few months of a steady flow of relative insanity.  What about you?  Needless to say, the first free weeks of a new term are usually pretty chaotic for me.
My parents have been in El Salvador this week.  I'm so jealous!  They get home tomorrow.  Can't wait to hear all about it.  Also, Jim and Amanda get home from New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania tomorrow.  Is it wrong of me to have a bit of a pity party over the fact that I've been studying and going to school the whole time my family has been traveling the world?  My life is lame.  Guess I need to work at coming to terms with the fact that my life is going to be less than fun for the next 10.5 months.  I can do that for 10.5 months, right?

Fiesta

My car finally got here!  It was rather late - it was supposed to be where by May...it's the end of June.  Nevertheless, it's awesome!

Saying goodbye to the Sunfire

Yay!  Welcome, Lola!

I made it!

I made it through my first summer school session.  Let's take a moment to soak it in....ahhhh!  So nice!  I ended up with a straight up A for social media which is pretty sweet.  I took my introduction to graduate studied in communication (really long name) final on Thursday.  Some people aren't taking it til tomorrow, so I haven't found out my grade yet.  I studied more for that test than I have for any other test before.  I start two online classes on Tuesday, but don't let the word "start" lead you astray as it did me.  I actually have assignments due in both classes on Tuesday.  So I spent a decent chunk of the weekend doing my assignments.  I am finished with two classes and have nine to go.  That doesn't sound so bad, does it?

I think I can I think I can I think I can

In five days I will be finished with my first semester of grad school.  Crazy!  Just to give you a picture of what my life has looked like the past two weeks and what it will look like for the next week I decided to break down my weekly time commitments:
23 hours babysitting
29 hours in class
12 hours driving to and from class
20 hours studying
TOTAL: 84 hours of "stuff" each week.  That's more than two full-time jobs.  Now I know why I've been running on empty.  When I showed Robert my calculations he said, "That's why you freak out."  He knows me too well.  I am so stinking pumped to only have class in person six times from June 28-August 5.  The rest will be online.  I'll save 12 hours a week by not driving to and from class.  I'll also only spend 3 hours a week in "virtual class" instead of 29 hours a week in real class.  It's going to be amazing.  Then when I have class three days a week in the fall it'll feel like a cake walk.  Plus I'll only be babysitting 19 hours a week then instead of 23.  Talking this out with you helps me a lot.
My last day of class is Sunday.  How lame is it that I have class from 9am-6pm on Father's Day?  Here's hoping for an early out.
Robert's birthday is Wednesday.  The big 2-1!  He's going home for the weekend to go to a Cardinals game.  Good present, Ray and Serina!  We're celebrating Tuesday with a lunch party.  I'm so thankful for my handsome, smart, funny, caring, ambitious man.  He's such as blessing in my life.
I'm getting so antsy about my car.  If you'll recall, it was supposed to be here around May 20, then it got changed to July 4, then June 13, then June 15, then June 16.  It's June 17, and it isn't here.  Hello!?!
I had a group presentation for class on Thursday.  We made a guide to WordPress and presented it to Sister Victoria at McAuley Counseling.  I think it went well!  Today I had an individual presentation for Alpha House.  It feels good to be finished with that!  At this time tomorrow I will have finished my first 3 hours of graduate work.  30 to go!  By Thursday I'll have 6 hours done, 27 to go.  By August 5 I'll have 12 done, 21 to go.  That's right.  In 6 weeks I'll be over 1/3 of the way finished.  Crazy!

Robert singing at the First Friday Art Walk to raise money for his mission trip to South Africa.  He still needs about $500.  Let me know if you're interested in supporting his trip financially.

Summer project - before grad school!

Since my parents weren't around for my first week of school, this is the traditional "first day of school" picture...only it's the 7th day of school.  Robert sneaked in the picture.  This was taken one day after he had his wisdom teeth taken out.

Almost halfway

I've made it through nine days (eights days of class, one day off).  I have eleven days to go (one day off, ten days of class).  I finally feel like I've done the amount of work that needs to be done at this point.
I just got the syllabus for one of my two July online classes.  It doesn't look too bad.
How do you guys focus on today and what today requires?  How do you avoid thinking about that big _______ (meeting, appointment, assignment, etc.) that's next week or next month?
Let's focus on non-school stuff for a moment.  Robert got his wisdom teeth taken out on Thursday, and he's doing okay.  Still pretty swollen.  He's also tired because he's still on the prescription pain killer.  I think he might attempt to go back to work tomorrow.  We shall see.
Babysitting Cooper and Miles has allowed for a break in my classes and studying.  It's nice to think like a little kid for a bit.  I told the boys Robert was working.  They asked if he was saving up for a John Deere Gator like they are.  Oh man. haha On Friday Coop asked if Robert was blind.  I wonder what prompted this.  They've known each other for over a year.  Coop has seen Robert drive his car, read, and pick him up - all things that require being able to see.
Mom and Dad finally got home on Friday.  They had been gone for a week and a half.  It's nice to have my support system back.
My brother's basketball team won the Portuguese basketball national championship.  Very proud!  He'll be back in about two weeks which will be cool.
Robert's sister (Bethany) got engaged.  They're getting married at a country club in KC on September 3.  Congrats!
I've learned a ton about delegating and prioritizing in the past week and a half.  I CAN let others help me.  They want to because they love me.  I am blessed.
Lastly, I got a professional head shot done for class yesterday.  Enjoy. haha