Week in the Life | Second Semester Edition

The past five months have flown by at lightening speed. You blink and almost half a year has gone by! So what has happened since March? I'm a year older and a semester closer to graduation. Thomas had a successful emergency back surgery and has made the Dean's List each semester. We attended three weddings and countless other fun events. Life is good, really good. I'm going to do my best to become more active here, in posting and commenting, and I hope you stay along for the ride :)

Week in the Life | Grad School First Semester Edition

I've been in grad school for two+ months now and somehow they have been the quickest yet longest two months of my life. I have a feeling that's how I'm going to feel about the entire program. I don't know if I have posted this yet or not, but the Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Program at Grand Valley State is an one year accelerated program. That means that it's only four semesters long, from January 2015 to April 2016 for my cohort. The first three semesters are 16 credits each and the final semester is a full time internship. This type of program has both pros and cons. As you can imagine it is extremely intense, but you also get out into the field quicker and therefore can start making money quicker. It is a great fit for me since I took a year off after finishing my undergrad and then didn't get into any grad schools the first time around. There are still days that I can't believe that I'm actually in grad school and that in thirteen months I'll be an SLP.

Now that I've given some background I figure I'd write out the typical week for me during this first semester (and through out the rest of the program), similar to my DITL posts. Since everyday is different I figured a weekly view would work better.

Currently..

It's been quite a while since I opened up this Blogger page and to be honest I'm not really sure where to start. To say the least, life has been hectic since I started grad school in January and I'm still feeling a little off balance. It's hard going back to school after a substantial time off. I'm a week away from the half way point of the semester and I still haven't completely adjusted. That's not to say that I'm not loving it though,  because I am! I finally feel at peace with my life; that I'm where I belong and I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, which is such a relief. I'm learning so much and I'm actually enjoying it! It doesn't leave very much free time and I haven't really been the most efficient with the little free time that I do have. That's something that I'm really struggling with and need to work on. My free time is only going to get more limited as my program progresses, because starting next semester my workload doubles.

Life has been pretty mundane, which is another reason I haven't posted in a while. Thomas and I go  to school, work on homework, workout, make dinner, and repeat. We're beyond ready for these freezing temperatures to take a hike and for warm weather to head our way so that we can be outside for more than five minutes.

So that's what I've been up to lately. And since I'm in the mood here's a little currently for you, enjoy ;)

Review of 2014

Well hello there :) Before getting started let me wipe the dust off of this little ole blog of mine.... It's been quite a while since I posted here, but I told myself that I needed to do my year in review post. Years down the road I'll be so glad that I did.


2014 wasn't the best year, but it wasn't terrible either. Actually, as I was pulling pictures to post today I was pleasantly surprised at all we've done :)

January

 Duke attended his first day at puppy daycare.

If we Were on a Hot Coco Date....

 If we Were on a Hot Coco Date....

... I'd invite you over to my house so that we could use our new Keurig 2.0, because it's really cool and wayyyy cheaper than places like Starbucks. PS- I hate coffee/coffee shops. PSS- Bed Bath and Beyond came again and replaced our old Keurig with a 2.0 for free and we also got a $28 gift card. I love that store.

Lululemon Favorites & Care Tips

Unless you live under a rock I'm sure you've heard about Lululemon, the worlds most outrageously priced athletic wear. When I first discovered the brand I thought "who in the world can afford to spend that much money on workout clothes", but then I became a nanny. As a nanny my "uniform" was workout or lounge clothes. After a couple months I started to feel like I was still in college, not a mid-twenties married adult. Around that time my nanny family, so graciously, gifted me a mall gift card for Christmas and I knew exactly where I was going to spend it- Lululemon. I've been hooked ever since.

Some of my favorite Lululemon pieces:

1. Run Times Tank - My most recent purchase and the most supportive tank I've bought from Lululemon (& I'm rather large chested).
2. Wunder Under - Hands down the best leggings. The brushed (fleece lined) ones are God's gift to winter.
3. Speed Short 4-Way Stretch - Extremely flattering and comfortable shorts. I'm kicking myself for not snagging these up so that my tank and shorts would match ;)
4. Dance Studio Jacket - Love this waterproof jacket. Perfect for rainy days.

Like I said Lululemon isn't cheap so you want to take the best care possible of your pieces. Here's what I do and all of my pieces still look brand new-

1. I wash all of my Lululemon clothes separate in cold water and I only use gentle detergent.
2. Since I'm not a fan of the Ivory Snow scent I add a pinch of Downy Unstopables. This isn't a necessary step, but I enjoy it :)
3. I wash all of my tops in these wash bags from Bed Bath and Beyond. The bags prevent anything (zippers, ect) from snagging the fabric. These bags are awesome, because they're extremely large and they zip AND snap so there's no way it'll open up on it's own.
4. The most important thing is to NEVER put your Lululemon clothing in the dryer. Always hang dry.

So there you have my current favorite Lululemon pieces and how I care for mine.  Are you a fan of Lululemon or do their prices cause you to run away screaming? ;)

Our Time in the Military

With today being Veterans day I figured it'd be the perfect time to write about our time {mostly my husband's, but it was mine too darnit!} in the military, more specifically the Army. As of now Thomas has been a Veteran for two years, but let's back track to the beginning.

For those of you who don't know, we started dating while we were in high school- T was a Junior and I was a Sophomore. Talk of joining the military didn't happen until the spring after I had graduated, 2009. One day we were hanging out and he said he thought about joining, because college wasn't working out for him and he wasn't happy spending his days at Panera. Ten minutes later we were on a different subject and I didn't think about it again... until a few days later saying that he met up with a Recruiter and was moving forward with joining. At the time our relationship was a little rocky and I went into the whole thing thinking "if we're meant to be it'll work out and if not it'll be easier to get over him". That line of thinking really saved me. It took the pressure off and it made the time leading up to his ship out date a lot more enjoyable.

Here we are at the going away party.