Hectic Weekend

I suppose I should update. You might be wondering what happened to me. I'm still alive, believe you me.

I've been super busy with work. It's the same schedule every week (for once), but it's not any less hectic. I was trying to be done with my reception training >:p by this week, but it didn't happen. Mostly because the lady that has to sign off on it doesn't know that I know how to do most of the last few things. She tried to rearrange the schedule so I could work on the new stuff, but that didn't happen because she wasn't there to do make sure it happened. Ah well. Maybe I can shoot for this week.

I've had a lot of stress recently in a short period of time. I house/pet-sat for the Lane's on Saturday and Sunday. No big deal, right? Oh, the cats were fine, nothing out of the ordinary. It was the boredom. I get there after work, about 12:30 or so, feed the kitties, and thumb through their massive collection of DVDs to see if there are any that I've been wanting to see. I found a few, but settled on I Am Legend. Needless to say, for those who have seen it, it left me in a weird mood. I decided to play my video game, Tomb Raider Legend, to get me out of the odd feeling. I finished it in about 2 hours and messed around with it for another hour and a half before becoming bored. Then I put in a second movie, Tuck Everlasting. I think I had seen it before, but I couldn't remember, so I watched it. Good movie. A little more child-oriented than I remembered, but not bad at all.

Sunday morning, I packed up my Playstation 2 gaming system, my game, my pajamas, and my clothes from the previous day, all in about 10 minutes. It didn't take as long as I thought. My phone died and I forgot my phone charger, so I couldn't talk to my fiance. So I put in a movie, Evan Almighty. Not as good as Bruce, but still funny. I looked at the clock. I had to wait until noon before I could leave because the cats needed their lunch. I still had another two hours. So, surprisingly enough, I popped in another movie. This movie was called August Rush. By far one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It ended, I went home, I prepared to help Dad with dinner.

My Dad taught me how to make Butterflied broiled chicken with a reduction sauce. I did most of it while he talked me through it. It was AMAZING! I couldn't believe that I made most of the dinner. I was so proud of myself.

After dinner, I found myself again wandering through the land of boredom when Josh called me. We didn't really say much and were laying in silence when I asked a simple question that turned into an argument that lasted all the way to church and continued after church. A total of four hours was spent in this argument. What's weird is that Josh and I never fight, and rarely do we raise our voices with each other. The average level of volume of this fight was a heated discussion. Sometimes we talked, sometimes we yelled. But we fought and fought and didn't really get anywhere until the second half of the argument. We left the issue unresolved on good terms and agreed to bring it up again, without yelling, at a later date.

I was stressed about the argument when I got to church and then there was an incident at the Russia meeting that I do not want to say on here; it was small and insignificant, but hurtful, nonetheless. Josh sent a text saying that he was out to dinner so he'd call when he was done. I fumed the whole 15 minutes home and decided as I pulled into the driveway that I was going to take a walk. I went into the house, changed into a t-shirt, put tennis shoes on, put Emma on her leash, and left. I walked, with some jogging intermittently, for about four miles. I kept a decent pace through the entire walk, which was fueled solely by my anger, frustration, and hurt. By the time I got back to the house, I didn't feel those emotions anymore, which felt better, and I took a cold shower once I got home. Josh called just before I got in the shower, so I called him back when I got out. *insert second half of argument here* I was so stressed from the emotions that ran rampant all day and the physical distress that my body was in from overheating, that I couldn't eat dinner. I noticed when it got late that I hadn't eaten and forced myself to eat a 100 calorie snack bar. When my conversation with Josh ended, I went to sleep, crying.

Monday morning I wake up nauseated. I ran into the door on the way to the bathroom, I put my contacts in my eyes, and had to sit in front of the toilet for about 20 minutes because I was so dizzy and I thought I would toss my cookies. Silly me, thinking that since I hadn't eaten dinner the previous night that food would help, I ate three cocoa puffs. Boy, that was a mistake. More time was spent in front of the toilet as I texted a coworker. I asked her to let everyone know that I would not be in for work in the morning (I had to be at work at 7:30am - it was about 6:15am when I sent the message), but that I would try to be there at lunchtime. I went back to sleep and when I woke I felt loads better. I was careful with my movements and I ate a small quantity of a different type of cereal, packed a PBJ sandwich for later, and went to work.

I'm still feeling the effects of being sick yesterday morning. I can eat normal food and a normal portion, but my meal times are way screwed up. Anyway, that was my hectic weekend. I only hope that I will have your problem someday, MM, with not being able to remember the English words. I'm taking a German course right now, but I'm teaching myself and my teacher isn't very motivating. It's 9:23 - I need to eat dinner. Gute nacht.

I Haven't Written in a While

A ton has happened since I graduated. Just think...it's only been three weeks.

I bought my wedding dress on May 18. It is beautiful beyond comprehension and I look sublimely amazing in it (I can say sublimely - I looked it up). I won't post pictures on here because my fiancé has been known to visit here without warning. I don't want him to have to deal with the temptation of peeking. I will gladly show pictures to you in person - you only have to ask.

Josh left for North Carolina May 30 and he arrived this afternoon. He's there for an REU, Research Experience for Undergratuates. He's staying in a house provided by the school, UNCG (the University of North Carolina, Greensboro), and doesn't know how many roommates he'll have. He'll be there until the end of July. I'm going to try and fly over there a day or two before he leaves to see NC - I've never been there - and ride back with him. I ran this idea past my mother and she said that it sounded like a great idea, as long as I could afford the one-way ticket. Oh, another good thing about the NC thing is that all of Josh's travel expenses, gas, hotel, and food, will be reimbursed after his stay, in addition to his paycheck. His being gone will be difficult, but I bought a webcam with some of my graduation money so that we can see each other while chatting on the internet. We hope that it will make the time apart easier.

Josh and I have basically chosen Crossroads for our wedding venue. We haven't saved the date with the church yet, but it will be done before long. Mom still wants a certain seating arrangement for the wedding, but Josh and his mother don't like it at all. I wish I wasn't in the middle of it, as I don't really have a preference for the seating. A great thing about Crossroads is that there is no guest limit, which means we don't have to limit our guest list. Josh wants me to invite everyone I know. I'm not sure if I will or not.

I got a lot of ideas for my wedding when I was at the wedding of Jason and Sarah Aderholt this Saturday. I have a lot of do's and dont's that I picked up from talking with people, especially with Julie Zepp, who was the wedding coordinator. I'm hoping to have coffee with her sometime this month to talk over things.

I can't wait to start putting some of my ideas into action. I'm to the point where I don't want ideas anymore, I want things to happen. I want to say, this will happen, or we will have this or that in this place, etc. And I don't want to be the middle man in this planning thing. I want to have time with Josh to decide these things and I want them because we want them, not because Mother H or Mother G said so. Ideas and advice are fine, but if we don't want something and we tell you that, shut up about it.

John returned from Russia today and brought with him a lot of stories and some really cool presents. He gave William a wooden Morning Star, which for those of you who don't know, is what you would think of as a Mace. Apparently the two are different and John knows the differences, so if you're curious, just ask him. Anyway, Mom got a set of Babushka (sp?) dolls and they get REALLY tiny. Just when you think it can't get any smaller, the thing opens and reveals the tiniest little piece of carved and painted wood. It's amazing. He got me a beautiful knitted shawl, which changes shades from white to dark purple. It's thin, yet surprisingly warm. He got my dad the coolest thing ever. The base of the thing is basically a glass lens. What sits on the base is a glass orb with the solar system lasered into it, complete with all the planets, from the sun to Pluto. The details in this thing are incredible! Saturn has its rings, though Jupiter and Uranus don't. Earth looks like a globe and has the continents shaded in and even some longitudinal and latitudinal lines drawn on it. My favorite parts are that it shows the orbits of each planet, the sun is a flaming ball, and there are even stars scattered about. It's pretty much one of the top five coolest things I've seen.

Sorry I was so long to update. I have been busy with work and visiting venues and spending precious time with Joshua and I didn't have the time to sit down and write.

Lori, I need to get in touch with you and set up a time for coffee. I have a bunch of things I want to tell you and ask you.

To all, have a good night and a good Monday.