So excited!

Find a place to live, CHECK! If anyone is still reading this...thought I'd write a new post. I plan to update very regularly once we are settled into our new life and I don't have school to worry about, but until them, I'm sorry ahead of time for my absence! You girls know by now that we found a place, but here's the details. It's the top left unit of a two story quadraplex and I love it. It's not perfect, but it's so homey already and I can't wait to make it our own. I know that I will want to do soooo much stuff to fix up the place as far as painting and all that, but I don't plan to do much since we plan not to be there for more than a year. It's a 2/2 with rather large closets so that's a good thing! One of my favorite features is the fireplace. I can picture David and I with our doggy keeping warm in front of it cozy in front of our first Christmas trees. I am truly excited about having our own place. I'm not saying it's going to be easy moving away from home by any means, but I'm just very excited to start this new chapter. The stress of finding a job, finishing school, and planning the wedding has definitely taken its toll on me, but with this new exciting thing going on, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I bought my first ever welcome mat yesterday and I can't wait to put it out:) It's officially ours August 1st but I won't move in until after the wedding. I will definitely be over there fixing it up though. The only thing that is going to be a temporary bummer is that we are letting the existing tenant store her furniture in the guest room until August 21st when she can move into her new place. SO for the first three weeks we have it there will be a roomful of stuff that's not ours because we're being helped out from the landlord and she is being helped out too. We have a little tiny back porch that overlooks the road, but hey, it's ours:) I can't wait to move in and put my touch on what I can. I wish I could go out and buy all new furniture and stock it from head to toe with pretty things, but I know that's not how it's gonna be, so we are excited to be taking old furniture off people's hands just because a)it's free and b)we'll have something! I plan to refurbish all the older items that we have inherited so that I somewhat like them, but I know one day I can get everything the way I would like it, whether it be in this house or the next! I can't WAIT for you guys to see it, we finally have a place of our own!!

Is it too early for a Christmas list??

Because I have one!

So I thought I was perfectly content with my camera, until Mrs. BeginningAgain got one that I am SO jealous of! I'm sure it will be eons before anyone wants to buy me a new camera, so if any of you are willing to drop some mula, you can spend it on me!

Something else that is on my wish list is the Sony Digital Reader Book. This baby has me drooling! I love love love to read, but I must admit, carrying the twilight series books around for two weeks was awkard and they were heavy. Which is why I need one of these bad boys:

This thing will hold up to 350 books...I think that could keep me satisfied for quite some time! I am pretty sure once you buy it too, you don't have to buy the E-books because you can download them for free from Google! (Don't quote me on it but this is my understanding). I really really really want one. Someone can buy this for me too! I'm gonna go pout over the things I want that I can't have. I will quote my Dad in closing, "Women are temporarily pleased, never satisfied"...I'll admit, this is TOTALLY me!

Yay for Memorial Day!

Today we are leaving for Cape San Blas for our annual neighborhood camping trip, redneck eh?? One of the most fun parts of the trip is the big fish fry we do one afternoon/evening that EVERYONE that is camping attends, plus some that come from out of town just to join in the festivites. I really look forward to these trips because it is just a bunch of fun with people of all ages. This year, we have a head count of 32 people! AND, I got a new bike two weeks ago, so I am super stoked to be able to ride and ride and ride...I even bought a big butt seat from Wally World so I would be extra comfy;) I sure do hope that in the future David and I continue to go on these trips because not only is it great time to spend with family and friends, it's a tradition! I can't wait to go and have our own little site with youngins of our own running around...how fun! Oh and also David's parents go on vacay there too but they are staying in a condo close by (city folk;) AND, Kim and Josh are gonna be staying with them so I'll get to see me some Kimbo! I hate not having her here in town anymore:( So looking forward to a fun-filled weekend, lets just hope the weather is somewhat kind to us. I don't need it to be perfect, but it would be nice if it wasn't monsooning all weekend, in which case I have my rainboots packed if needed;) So hope everyone else has a great weekend and take a sec to remember why we have a holiday in the first place, thank you to those who have fought and died for our country...God bless:)

Which makes me think of our trip to Washington DC for my cousins wedding, while we were there we visited Arlington National Cemetery...sure was breathtaking...here's some old pics, but worth looking at again!

And found this one too while I was hunting, always makes me laugh...Big Momma using the White House sprinklers to get a drink on a hot day...gotta love her:-D

It's official- 1 semester left!

Yay! I passed all of my classes this semester! My grades being A,B+,C+. It's sad that I'm so thrilled with a C, but you know what they say, "C's get degrees!". So I officially only have one semester left of college. I am pretty excited. This summer is going to be tough, but I am vowing to stay on top of things and not have to be so worried come finals week. I don't know what it is but I always make myself a pact and then somehow weasle my way out of it or get behind and then I am scrambling at the end. So I have to keep at it so that it will pay off in the end! If I can bring my GPA up to a 3.5 (3.15 now) then I can graduate with Cum Laude. I don't know if that's possible just because I don't know if even three A's would make it jump that high, and I don't want to do the math, but that's my goal! It's just so surreal that the end is finally in sight...what a great feeling:) I will actually be applying for summer graduation on May 11th, holy cow that's in 5 days! whoo hoo! i would LOVE LOVE LOVE for all my lovely ladies to be at graduation, but 1)I wouldn't torture ya'll by having to sit through it and 2) only 5 graduation tickets being offered doesn't leave any for anyone but my GMa, Fam, and David:( So I know I am jumping the gun on talking about graduation already, but I can't help it, I'm finally excited! Here's a pic of our awesome Biology building. I think I am liking school again now that i know the end is near!

Anywho, this is my week off in between classes and I am anxious about starting a new semester. AND bright futures doesn't cover summer classes so my parents ARE NOT TOO HAPPY about the $1900 tuition that comes with only THREE classes. Seems like a rip off huh? I am just so lucky that they roll their eyes (well my mom anyways), and says we'll do whatever we need to do. I could very easily be told to figure it out myself...so I am SO thankful for them and their willingness to keep paying for my mistakes (i.e. dropping classes and losing that money).

Oh and by the way, my Dad got a new truck! Well new to him anyways. He SO deserves it and I am so excited for him. I absolutely love it. It's a big man's truck and is fully loaded. I'm talking a sunroof and a flip down dvd player, what?! Not that he cares about any of that, just that it's 4x4 and some specific engine size, but I must say I am enjoying the plusses;) This is EXACTLY what it looks like as far as color and body and year, but his has a higher lift and bigger tires so it looks a lot different in that aspect. I don't have a real pic of it on my camera yet. You feel like the king of the road when you drive it!

Okay, sorry for the long post but I had making up to do!

Scared at first, now I'm TERRIFIED!

"Akeen Cromartie & Marcus Ivey." These are the names of the two men that tried to break into one of our good friends house, in our neighborhood today, WHILE she was home alone and in the shower. She is a great friend of my Mom's and a fellow Bunko girl. Not to mention one of the nicest ladies you will EVER meet. This incident is the SECOND time their home has been broken into, and their vehicle was broken into shortly after mine.

There has been a ton of criminal activity on the NW side of town recently including car breakins and home invasions, many of them happening in our neighborhood.

This morning, Mrs. M I'll call her had just said goodbye to her husband and kids for the day and was taking a shower when she heard her dog going crazy in the house. She said she knew it was a different kind of growl, one that only meant something serious was happening. As she was trying to figure out what the dog was growling at, she then heard someone trying to kick in the door leading into her house from her garage. Keep in mind the garage was open with her car in it...clearly they could tell someone was home. So she quickly threw on her bath robe, grabbed her tennis shoes and a big pipe that they kept under their bed for safety. As she was walking out of her room to still try and see what was going on, she saw the first guy, straight on and he saw her. He ran one way and she ran the other, to the phone to call 911. As she was running to the phone she noticed the other guy trying to break in to her sliding glass doors on the back of the house. She gets on the phone with 911, her dog's going crazy at the door, and the guy is STILL trying to break in. The 911 operator tells her to go and hide, lock herself up and stay put until the cops arrived because she had no way out, they were trying to get in both doors. She said she was BEYOND terrified, and trying to put on her tennies in her daughters closet in case she needed to RUN. As she's hiding in the closet, the guy was STILL trying to come in the back door. Somehow she got through it and the guy I guess gave up, and the cops arrived just as the getaway car was leaving. (one that i might add was a suspect car in a previous home invasion in our neighborhood.)

Sheriffs were already closed to our neighborhood because they had just been doing their usual patrolling that they had recently started. As the getaway car was coming to the neighborhood exit, the sheriff blocked the road and then the suspects went around them and got out of the neighborhood but another nearby sheriff was in quick pursuit. They ended up stopping the one car and arresting the guy, and the other was caught by a K9 unit not much long after. Mrs. M made a positive ID on one of them later in the afternoon.

I don't really know why I felt compelled to share this entire story, but just knowing that it could have been me, completely terrifies me. I absolutely cannot imagine what I would have done in her situation. It makes me shudder to think about it. But like Mrs. M said, for such a bad situation, it couldn't have turned out better. No one was hurt, and the bad guys were caught. Thankfully they were not minors, so hopefully they will remain in jail for a long, long time.

Please pray for Mrs. M and her family. She is such a strong woman and I hate that this happened to her. She is so much stronger than I am and would have been.

Please stay safe my friends.

PS- Here's the link to read the news report. They were both charged with armed burglary. http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/43818782.html

Don't mean to be neglectful

But I apologize for the lack of blogging, emailing, etc. In a week I'll be able to communicate again! Every time I sit down to check my inbox, I think again because I know I need to sort through the junk and the non junk and then I keep thinking I need to spend that time studying! So I am here, just trying to keep my nose in the books as much as possible. Can't wait for this week to be over, but I'm definite;y DREADING Friday's exam at 7:30 am. The hard one, MUST ACE IT.

Back to studying...

4.21.09

Not much to write about today, nothing too exciting going on. Going to a first ever Neighborhood Crime Watch meeting tonight with my parents at the Church across the street. I am hoping it will be an informative meeting to help ease me a little being at home alone. I'm just so scared all the time now! Not fun:( I used to love being home alone, ahh the freedom! But now I try my best to stay away from home when I know no one will be there but me...night or day. It's a pretty depressing way to live by the way! We got the alarm "re-activated" and I use it when I'm home, but it still makes me uneasy because I DO NOT want to hear it go off because that means somebody is coming in! I honestly would be scared witless! But other than that, it's the last week of school before finals. I am on the edge of my seat trying to make it through these last nervous weeks. So much is riding on ME. It's a very big weight on my shoulders but I am just praying for a positive outcome, I wouldn't mind any extra prayers either;)

I can hardly stay away from the Twilight series so I'm off to read. Onto book number two and can't put it down. :)

Dunno what it is...

But this movie is SO addicting. It's my new favorite. I didn't understand what the big deal was until I finally watched the movie, but now that I have, I am HOOKED. I watch it almost back to back because I just can't get enough of EDWARD CULLEN. Okay okay, so I know he's a fictional character in a movie, but GOSH just the way he is with Bella (other character) is SO...well I can't even think of a word but for those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. The movie itself wasn't all that super duper wonderful, but just watching him is enough for me! The movie is made from the Twilight series books by Stephenie Meyer. I am currently reading the first one that I rented from the library. I can't wait to read the rest (4 total). I also can't wait til November when NEW MOON (aka Twilight 2) comes out. I will be at the theater for sure that weekend! Anywho, I'm off to stalk Robert Pattinson online. (Guy who plays Edward). Although I must say I like Edward much better than Robert. Why can't Edward be real?!

PS- David is over Edward, lol. I tell him constantly that I love the character and repeat all his lines hahahhaa....

I'll leave you with my favorite scene of the movie. Won't tell you when or where or what for those who haven't seen it, but here it is. The song that goes with it is stuck in my head all the time because it's now on my ipod!

Terribly Long Tuesdays

Tonight is my last late lab, hooray! I've been here since 9:00...be here til 10. I can't believe how fast the semester has gone by...Finals are in like 3 weeks! I am very excited to only have one semester left. Please pray that this one finishes out strong and that I can get through all of my summer classes successfull, it's gonna take a lot of hard work so I apologize ahead of time for my business during the summer!

I am still looking all the time for Biology jobs available in Florida. It's so hard because when I graduate not only will I be competing with other graduates, but with GROWN/AGED/EXPERIENCED people who are job hunting as well. It's very scary! My bosses at Electronet lately have been "hinting" that it'd be A-Ok if I graduated and wanted to stay there...I work hard and they know that. They know that I am looking to find a career in biology but I have also made it clear to them that if that doesn't happen, I will be looking for full time work ANYWHERE, so who knows where I'll end up!

Anywho, I am L-O-V-I-N-G the any size drink for a dollar at Mcadees...Their sweet tea is delish!

I'm off to study...big test Thursday!

Two Posts in one day - Invitation delimma

I need votes people, the invitations I thought I had decided on have been put on the back burner since another set that I loved are BACK IN STOCK!

Let me know what you think...I think I am liking the curly black and green one best! (see links)

http://www.paperstyle.com/is-bin/Product/19-E163

-VS-

http://www.weddingpaperdivas.com/products/ProductView_1153.htm

Easter Party at the Dawkins and LCR!

Bunko last night was fun and it was at Mrs. Lenore's in our neighborhood who always provides a HUGE and DELICIOUS spread of food...yumm, I think I am still full from it! We played another quick dice game during one of our breaks and it is called LCR. It's super fun and the winner went home with $24!! Each player brings 3 one dollar bills and you roll dice that instruct you to place one of your bills left, center, or right and whoever is the last to have a dollar before giving them all away, wins the CENTER pot with everyone's dollars in there! It's definitely fun, and the winner, wins big. I can't wait to play again!

And I am SO excited to see everyone together at once! I had fun all morning decorating and baking cupcakes but I was good and didn't eat one yet so let's hope they taste as good as they look! I was gonna post pictures but figured ya'll will see them in a few short hours!

Commitment

Why is it so hard? I start the blog, stop the blog, start, stop, etc...I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I'm back, and I'm here to stay! I can't promise that I will write daily, but I do vow to stay updated! I get so much pleasure out of reading other people's blogs and learning from their daily experiences, that I really want to be able commit to something and keep up mine. They are such a great way to stay in touch with family and friends and I really do enjoy it. So *cheers* to my return, I'm back for good this time! (PROMISE!)