Woo hoo!!

I am officially done with school. I turned in my final paperwork on Friday and I found out that I'll probably be getting a check in January for as much as $329!! My housing deposit should all be returned to me as I have never torn up a room or left it a crazy mess. Woo hoo! I spent most of last week moving out of my campus house. This wasn't hard for me, but it was quite a feat to move out my roommate, best friend, and maid of honor Jen. She and her daughter Makenzie have lived in that house since the end of our sophomore year (2006), and she is a pack rat. Oh, man. That was a lot of packing and a lot of late nights/early mornings trying to get her out of the house by our 4:30 deadline on Friday. She didn't make it. And then she found out that our RD isn't even there this weekend because of a family emergency. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? We stressed out about getting her out on Friday for NOTHING??? Grr... Oh, well. She moved back in with her mom, which means a lot of furniture is currently in storage to be moved into J's and my new townhouse. SHe needs somewhere inexpensive to store her stuff and we need our townhosue to not look freaking empty, so it's a win-win deal.

Now that school is over, Jen and I can actually sit down and start planning my bridal shower. She keeps asking me questions about what I want to do and a lot of my answers are, "I don't care." Ha ha. I'm pretty easy going. She's throwing me a recipe shower, where everyone prepares a dish and then brings it, the recipe, and something you need to make it (as the gift). I got the idea off of STLWed a few months back and I thought it was genius. J and I have an astonishing amount of those little gadgets on our registry, so people don't have to buy us our pots or whatever right off the bat. Like, if the recipe calls for a baster or whatever they can get us that. I'm getting real excited, though, especially because the color scheme is what I wanted for the wedding but didn't do 'cause that was one of the things J expressed an opinion on, so I caved. :-) I'm such a good fiancee, aren't I??

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. My school countdown is over, I have 3 days till moving day, and we get married in 2 months and 29 days. Ha. I only know that last one because yesterday was exactly 3 months. :-D

J and I drove down to Memphis this weekend to spend some time with my stepfamily. I haven't been down there in about 6 years and I can't believe how big my youngest cousin has gotten! SHe's 13 now. Holy moly. J and I went to a HUUUUUUGE church on Sunday morning and heard a nice sermon about slowing down and remembering time to reflect on Jesus and rememberring time to enjoy with our families. Slow down amidst all your planning and shopping and just enjoy everryone's company. He used the story of Mary and Martha to illustrate the point, and I loved that correlation. We heard our own pastor preach on Mary and Martha a few months back and I enjoyed hearing the story again from a different approach.

I guess that is all for now. I should post again before CHristmas, but just in case it isn't a substantial one, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Message Board

Most of you know that I'm on a local wedding board here in St. Louis. I love it and all of the girls on it.

Well, there are alwayss those posts after the wedding is over that are like, "What am I going to do now?" This woman dramatizes what those on HER board said. It's way too funny. Thanks to Trisha for digging this up!!

Ok, I lied... Sue Me

I promised a substantial entry a few days ago and haven't gotten to it. I could blame it on Thanksgiving. I could blame it on being out shopping all day Friday. I could blame it on finishing my notebook for students teaching. But, the fact is, I can't 'cause I didn't do any of those things (except maybe the Thanksgiving dinner thing). The reason I haven't written is simple.

Twilight.

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. It's sucked (haha... get it?) me into its clutches. I've finished the first book and am about 2/3 of the way finished with the second. Very well written, even if the 2nd one bored me till now.

Anyway, there isn't a whole lot to report on the front of my life. I applied for two teaching positions which I don't think I'll get, but I gotta start somewhere, right?? I've also started working at the local Christian bookstore. I'm enjoying it, surprisingly. I say surprisingly because A) I've worked retail one other time and I quit after two weeks and B) It's the CHristmas shopping season. But it's a great team. And today I caught up with two people I hadn't seen in a few years!

I'm excited for everything I'm counting down to in my last post. I'm also a little worred about the townhouse issue because I don't have a steady income right now, and while Jerome CAN afford to pay the rent on his own util I'm on my feet, that makes money REAL tight, so I need to find something -- soon!

A good friend of mine is pregnant! She and her husband have been trying for a while and had been having bad luck, so please keep her in your prayers!

It's Advent, which is one of my two favorite times of the year at church (along w/ Lent) because the church is BEAUTIFUL! I will post a picture tomorrow of what our genius worship arts director and decorator came up with. Breathtaking. Makes me jealous of the wedding that was there today -- too bad it couldn't have been mine!

J and I went to Kansas City last weekend to see if this job opportunity with Primerica was something he wanted to pursue. It wasn't, but I did get to see three really good friends of mine (one at the conference and 2 becaus they live and go to school in KC). That was real nice. One friend was a girl from high school whom I hadn't hung out with really since June 2004. I know, very sad. Anyway, she's recently engaged and I had met her fiance (then boyfriend) at her mom's funeral about a year ago and he seemed like a nice guy. He and J hit it off real well. But what cracks me up is how he has changed Katie. not in a bad way, necessarily. Let me put it into perspective. She always said she ould never get married. Their wedding date is May 2010. ha. AND she is a staunch liberal. Like, major Democrat. He's a Republican. It cracks me up, really. But they're good for each other and I can't wait to have more married friends.

I guess that is all for now. Bella, Jacob, and Edward are calling back to their world. See ya later!!

T-Minus

Just in case any of you were wondering...

5 school days left until I'm finished student teaching
17 days till I officially graduate from college
22 days until moving day
3 months, 18 days until the wedding

It's all very exciting!

I promise a substantial entry tomorrow.

And My IQ is...

OK, I take internet IQ tests with a grain of salt. Especially ones which makes me declines 20 pages worht of "free" offers. But this one told me I'm real smart, so I'm going to be an attention whore, LOL.



The URL is free-iqtest.net if you wanted to know. But, like I said, there's about 20 pagesof free offers which you can usually say no to, but there are a few which you have to say yes to at least one; then the next page you can change your answer to no and it's all good.

I'm movin' out!

Jerome and I found a place today. We're moving in on December 18. Woo hoo! If you can believe it, it's in West Pointe, which is the same complex he lived with his cousin David (the one who took his life in March). We scored a 2 bedroom, 1100sq. ft. townhome for $642/mo. yes, you read that right. I'm stoked. I can't wait to live with him. And very shortly after that, I'll be his WIFE!! yay!

Address will be given out to those who need it. (What, you really think I'm dumb enough to put it on the internet??)