I'm Back!!!!

So I have been totally MIA for the entire summer, but for a very good reason. I have been taking a ridiculously hard course for grad school. It was supposed to be an intro to Homeland Security course, but I quickly learned that I was one of only two people in my course who did not have a government background. Therefore, I had a lot of ground to cover just to get to pace with the other students in my course. I had a minimum of 30o pages of reading a week. You may be thinking 300 isn't too terrible considering how fast I read. BUT I would like to respsectfully disagree. These were not 300 pages of a good book, or even a text book. These were 300 pages of dry repetative government reports. Not to mention, I didn't know the lingo and had to spent a lot of time googling acronyms. I am happy to say that it all paid of though! I found out yesterday that I got an A in my class. I was seriously wondering if I would be cut out to make a career change into this field once I finished my degree. The fact that this instructor rarely gives out A's really makes me feel like I can get a job in this field and I could be really good at it. It still have a long road ahead of me, but now I know it's not too late to try something new and if you work hard you can do just as well as anyone else even if they are a director of a governmenct security agancy!

One a totally different note I am going to start trying a few new things with this whole blogging hobby. In the past, I have made it more of a photo album, which I will continue with. Everyone likes to see pictures and it helps me when I go to scrapbook to remember the order of the events. However, I am also going to start including book reviews. Most people don't know I try to read one new book a week. (Yes, this is in addition to my schoolwork.) I am also going to begin a new tradition in September that I am totally stealing from my friends Krista. I turn 26 next month so am planning on spending the next year doing "12 Months to a Better Me." Each month I will try and make one lifestyle change then once I hit my 27th birthday I will re-evaluate how the mission went. My first order of business is to begin to track my diet. I have been doing weight watchers on and off for about 6 months. I have lost 10 pounds so far, but I will admit I have been wishy washy at best about it. So by tracking my weight loss monthly and putting myself out there hopefully this will motivate me to be more committed. So some months the changes I try to make will be physical, sometimes personal, and sometime spiritual. I really hope everyone starts leaving comments too with suggestions or personal experiences. I also start by catching myself up on my blog posting then we can start September fresh!

Lainey Vid

This video is from Valentine' Day Weekend so it's kinda old, but I thought it was cute and worthy of a belated posting.

Belated Tea Party Pics

Here are the pics from my Mom's tea party that I promised months ago.

Aaron and Andrea's Wedding

On the weekend of May 16 we went to Cinncinatti for Aaron and Andrea's wedding. We were able to fly into Columbus and rent a car and drive down. It was pretty cool to be back in Columbus. We drove around the campus and stopped at the Buckeye Corner. Most of our friends aren't there anymore, but we still really miss it. I doubt we will ever be able to move back, but it was our first home when we were married so we will always miss it.

Here are a few photos from the wedding. My camera died so we didn't get very many. All in all it was a really fun weekend and we got to spend time with a lot of people we don't get to see very much and even made some new friends at the wedding.

Delainey's Baptism

This past weekend John and I went to Ohio for Delainey's Baptism. Whenever we go to Ohio the visits are always so quick and we are exhausted the whole time. We still had a good time and made it back in one piece. John was also able to go help Jen and Brian move into their new house.

Delainey did suprisingly well at her baptism considering how hyperactive she is. She crawled all around and tried to run away a few times, but I was impressed that she was still for when the priest poured the water over her head. I'm also impressed Emily didn't drop her. You can see the pics below.

You MUST watch this!

I cannot contain my excitement! If you have not already read the Twilight series you NEED to do so. Normally, I don't enjoy these type of pop culture books. However, the story if just so good. Stephanie Meyer has creative ideas and I really appreciate her writing for that.

Check out the new trailer for New Moon!

Overdue Update

So I have totally slacked on the blogging lately which makes no sense since I am working less now. I really like my new job in case you were wondering. I was kinda sad though about having to work 11-8. Fortunately, by some miracle Dominique wanted to switch with me. Now I am working 830-5 and I am loving every minute of it. Besides the extra traffic, but even that isn't that bad. There are definitely aspects of my job that I don't LOVE, but after some of my previous experiences I have learned to appreciate a lack of suckiness when I see it.

We went home for my mom's birthday weekend which also happened to be Valentine's weekend. We had dinner with my parents and John got me a coach purse! Sunday my Aunt Rebecca threw a tea party for my mom. It was pretty fun and we even wore old lady hats. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I'll post some pictures later on.