January is almost over

I can't believe that it is already the end of January. This month has flown by. Well, classes are off to a running start. I have already been busy reading, collecting articles, and studying. For my qualitative class, we met at the suicide and crisis center in the area because we are doing a project with them this semester. It was such a great non-profit organization. They have over 150 volunteers and and an excellent 24 hour/7 day a week crisis line. I worked at a non-profit for 3 years that I loved and I will say this place really impressed me as far as non-profits go. I guess there is funding out there for crisis centers. I always found that it was much more challenging to get funding for a rape crisis center. anyway, hopefully that will change someday.

In other news, Michael got into one of the programs he applied to. He was put on the alternate list for a Fort Worth clinical placement in the other program. It was a very bitter sweet acceptance. His clinical site is in Alexandria, Louisiana. So, what that means is that he will do his first 2 semesters of classes starting this August in Fort Worth, then he will have to move to Alexandria and work at the hospital there for the next 1.5 years for his clinical rotations. So, that means we will be in a long distance relationship for that 1.5 years. I would move out there also, but since i am in school and we have a house here, that is not an option. at first, i was pretty against this whole idea, but if this is what we really want for the future, this is the time to do it. So, we are still discussing it. We have until next week to make a decision, so any advice would be helpful.

in other great news, a few things at work are going well. First off, I will have a printer in my office by next month. YEAH!!! As of now, anytime i want to print something, I have to go upstairs to the big social service office or print it on one of my floors. Now, I will have my very own printer in my very own office. it doesn't get better than that. also, i met with the OB docs this week and through much persuasion, we have come to a great decision regarding drug screens on pregnant women. I cant go into too much here, but if you want to know more, email me. :) all that to say, things are not perfect at work, i still have a lot of adult patients, but there are some other things going well.

Well, I will write more soon. I am off.

Back to school, back to school

well, classes started this week. After attending my classes this week, I am actually looking forward to what is to come. One of my classes is a qualitative research course taught by a new professor who has had her phd for 3 years, so she is very motivated and energetic. the course seems very interesting and very hands on. we are going to be doing a qualitative research project as a class with a suicide crisis center in the area. i think it will be a great learning experience. I think i might even do some of my dissertation qualitatively. my other class is a social policy class. The professor is a seasoned professor, but policy seems to be her passion, so i am looking forward to learning a lot from her. I don't know as much about policy as i would like, so I am hoping to get a good knowledge base about how policy really affects my area of interest. all that to say, hopefully this semester will go well.

michael and I really enjoyed our 3 days off together. it was a nice mix of relaxation, fun times and some productivity. we slept in, watched a lot of movies, cooked some good food, bought a new board game, played the new board game, lounged around and spent a good deal of time organizing all the closets in our house. it seems that over this past year, we have just put stuff in closets when we didn't know where it should go. so, now we know what is in each closet and we have a ton of stuff we are ready to give away. :) we also organized and set up michael's new tool chest in the garage. it looks pretty great. so, new year's cleaning went very well.

michael had both his interviews for the CRNA programs over the past 2 weeks. he thinks they both went well, so keep your fingers crossed. we should find out in February sometime. I might also add he bought a TCU purple tie for his TCU interview and he looked quite smashing with his purple tie and black suit. Looking that good, I cant imagine they wont accept him. :) Good times.

Well, to continue to keep you posted on my weight loss, I worked out really hard this week and wrote down every single thing I ate and i lost 4.6 pounds. that is the most i have ever lost in one week. it was so exciting and fulfilling to know that if i just work at, i can really lose the weight. michael and i are planning a trip to visit his grandmother in Tennessee in march and then continue on to the smoky mountains national park for some backpacking fun. my goal is to have lost 20 more pounds by then so that i can keep up with my athletic, energetic husband. :)

well, overall life is good. i am sad to say the holidays are over, which means much less time with family and friends. but i am also glad to be in the swing of things again with a regular schedule. this friday, we are going to my parents for dinner after work since my brother and his wife will be in town. then, saturday, i am meeting up with jen to head to the texas sculpture garden in frisco. i really enjoy sculptures, so hopefully this exhibit will be good. anyway, hope you are all well and getting back into the swing of things yourselves.

Happy New Year!!

Ok, I know it has been way too long since my last post, but here I am now to tell you all about how the holidays went. Well, Christmas was tons of fun. Our new menu this year was delicious and we had a great time hanging out with my sis and parents. We did miss my brother and his wife, but my parents and sis got to go to austin this past weekend and celebrate with them. I got many wonderful gifts this year. Some examples are 2 beautiful dress watches (I didnt have any and now I have 2, yeah!!), a nice new coat (I only had one before that was too big and had been to morocco and back, so i am glad to have a nice new fashionable one now), The biggest loser workout dvd's (i started using them this week and I love them even more than the first one), and many more great things.

We got to see many good friends and family over the holidays. my good friend, will, who lives in germany stayed with us for a few days and we had a great time. also, michael's sister and her family stayed with us for a few days and we spent 2 full days playing some wonderful board games. we had a blast. Also, miriam and larry (a good friend and her husband from UTA) stayed with us one night. We went out to piranha for some killer sushi!! We also got to spend some good times with my sister and parents. Overall the holidays were great!!

We actually stayed in this new years eve. We had a very relaxing and perfect new years eve. I felt kind of boring for not going out, but neither one of us wanted to, so it was exactly right for us. We had some champagne, watched a movie, talked, and just had a nice relaxing evening to ring in the new year. Good times.

well, things are getting back to normal after the holidays. I gained a little under 3 pounds over the holidays, so I am back on track now. I am watching what i eat again and working out daily, so I can start losing again. I still have quite a bit of weight I want to lose. :)

Michael and I are both taking off monday for some R& R. We havent had 3 days off together in a very long time. We were going to take a short vacation, but we decided to stay home and just relax and take it easy for a few days. I am very excited.

Michael has his interviews at the 2 schools he applied at for the CRNA program this week and next. One was this past thursday and he thinks it went really well. I am not surprised at all. :) his next one is next thursday, so send good thoughts his way. my classes start back up on january 14, so i plan to enjoy my last few weeks with no classwork. well, i am off. i will try and post more often. hope you all had great holidays.