thankful

i never did get to blog about my incredible thanksgiving break, so i've decided to take a little break from studying to do so. i actually was able to start my break a little earlier than planned, and flew home the tuesday before thanksgiving. i spent the day with mom, and went Christmas decorations shopping, and spent WAY too much money at pier one. i am pretty sure they made one section of their store entirely for me. i then got to see my husband (and break to him the damage i did to our bank account at pier one), and go on a double date with him and my parents to the global grill, which has become one of my very most favorite restaurants. after eating so much food, we went to the saenger theatre and saw my all time favorite Christmas group perform, Mannheim Steamroller. they were incredible. every single sound that is in their songs is produced entirely by them, no computer synthesizing anything. such a perfect start to the Christmas season.

and that was just my first day back home! the next few days i had tons of family time and puppy time, and decorated our house for Christmas and baked lots of cookies. it was so good to be home, but jared and i cut my home time a little short, and came back to atlanta with brad and donna to see the green bay packers play the atlanta falcons. we ate so much good food, played in atlantic station, and watched an incredible football game.

although i recapped my thanksgiving break in a few short paragraphs, i can say it has been one of my best so far, and that i am so thankful and blessed to have such an incredible family. and now, i'm just three short days and three finals away from another break.

so, back to studying, but first, a few pictures :)

first married Christmas tree

global grill deliciousness

the damage from pier one :)

outside of the falcons stadium

and inside the stadium

silly men playing at atlantic station

my lovely cousin 

and more playing in atlantic station

:)



to-do's

within the next two weeks, i must:

-study for 4 tests
-write a report for my radar project (because i thankfully finished the project quickly)
-start and finish an image processing project (not going to be good, or quick)
-and do a few more homeworks

i literally do not see myself having enough hours or energy to complete all of this work. so here's where i go into 'work as hard as i can and pray way harder' mode.

sweet tooth

i am battling some serious munchies at the moment. thankfully, i just finished off the last of my delicious, made from scratch, sugar AND chocolate chip cookies. but i have leftover chocolate chips, and my sweet tooth is making me seriously contemplate just eating them out of the bag. yikes!

for just having had a fall break, it's amazing how exhausted i am tonight, and how badly i'm longing for another break. here at georgia tech, i'm in survival mode. i'm doing everything i can to do the best i can in my classes. so i'm just hoping that in the end, this hard work pays off, and i find favor with the teachers when they decide to curve the grades.

i have a full weeked of school, but it starts tomorrow. so tonight? time to reward myself! my recent addiction is real housewives of atlanta. oh my goodness. it's my mental break in the day, and i seriously, in an unhealthy way, love it. i want to hang out with these females. i go to atlantic station for starbucks and groceries all the time (a place i've heard they frequent), and every time i go, i secretly look for them, hoping i just might run into them and happen to have put on makeup that day. it's bad, i know. but i can't help it!

so that's my life as of right now. mostly school and wishing i could be a real housewife of atlanta, or at least friends with one of them :)

honeymoon dreaming

i'm surrounded by honeymoons, and it makes me long for mine again! when i'm stressed, my honeymoon with my wonderful husband is my happy place. it was incredible, and i wish we were rich so we could go on at least three a year.

heavenly, lake tahoe, combined with jared lee fair, have my heart.

fall break wooooo

so here's something i'm not used to - a school break in the fall! i will not have classes again until 3pm next wednesday. that is almost 6 whole days of no school, and i love it. granted, i plan to work hard this weekend on homework, projects, and studying, BUT i have no classes to get in the way - GLORIOUS!

recap time // this past weekend, i flew home to see one of my best friends, MRS. CONTE, get married! she was gorgeous, and her wedding was ridiculously perfect. i so enjoyed it. i also got to spend some quality time with a few of my other loves, my parents, my doggie, and my husband, while still squeezing in some studying and homework. i was less of a picture slacker this time, but unfortunately ran out of room in my suitcase to pack my camera. so those pictures are to come at a much later date, seeing as i won't make it home again till thanksgiving :( but here's a picture of my sweet pup that i did manage to take on my phone.

is he not the cutest?!

this week was crazy, but super productive. and good news: in completing this school week, i have finished my first tests for all of my classes, and i have finished one half of my first semester of grad school at georgia tech. YES! i can almost taste Christmas break. so ready!

new game plan

oh my, what a crazy two weeks it's been. it's hard to really explain the stress i feel here. it's basically so much that i can do nothing but cry, even in class, to the point that God gives me a fire alarm in the middle of that class so i can make it through the rest of it (which by the way, i've never been more in need or more thankful for a fire alarm, He is so good).

so as of now, i have spent my entire time here at georgia tech working hard, and doing homework most of the time i have outside of class. sounds good, right? but even this isn't cutting it. so it's time for a new game plan.

GAME PLAN:
one - stay on top of my classes. rather than just doing whatever is due next, i will actually review my lectures i just attended, work the "exercises" teachers suggest, read the supplemental material (textbooks ahh!), and go see the teachers with questions, whether they like it or not. oh, and also do homework. clearly, this will require a lot of discipline and motivation. that's where number two comes in.
two - find some sort of creative outlet. i need something in my life besides school. i am finding that by the end of the week, i've worked so hard that i cannot bring myself to even open a notebook. i'm thinking of taking pictures again (i mean, i am in this beautiful city with all sorts of architecture), cooking, and possibly working on some little home projects from afar. i also am going to start making time to watch my television shows. that may seem silly, but it's something a few evenings a week that i can use to take a mental break.

so anyway, that's my game plan, and it starts tomorrow.

home

i had my first trip home last weekend from georgia tech. it was so good to be with my loved ones, but it made me miss home so much more. and of course, georgia tech couldn't take it easy on me, so i was overloaded with homework, and spent most of my weekend working on all of that. but even so, it was terrific being in a place i love with who i love most. unfortunately i was a picture slacker (unlike i had initially planned), but here's what i took on my weekend home via phone:

my sweet pup missed me and did not like how much homework i had to do. but he made studying at home a million times better!

my incredibly understanding and loving husband took me out for a few coffee/study dates. we also had some amazing misspellings. always fun.

got my hair done and had a much needed manicure and pedicure with mom.

and i just love my JLF. he's so handsome. looking forward to seeing him again in 2 weeks!