I fell in love...

...with a car.

Yes folks, you read that right. I had to work today at school to get my classroom ready for summer session. Since I got done so early and still had to baby-sit in Milford, I decided to kill some time. I went to Wal-mart to look for a hair straightener since mine went on the fritz last weekend.

On my way back, I passed a car dealership and decided on a whim to stop in. I talked with one of the salesmen and a manager and they showed me a 2009 Chevy Aveo. For about $275 a month, I can own a brand new car. As the guy showed me various Aveos in my price range, I just fell in love with this particular color.

http://www.mikecastruccichevrolet.com/VehicleDetails/345768273

I'm going to keep shopping around but I'm pretty sure this is the car I want. I'm going to try and go to a couple of dealerships after church tomorrow but I have a feeling I'm sold on this car. We'll see though. I'm just excited that I'm finally going to have a new car, one that will be more reliable than the one I currently drive.

I'm so stinkin excited about this. I hope it all works out!

Thoughts to ponder

It always amazes me how, just as I feel like everything is falling into place, my mind goes into overload and I start to feel like something is missing. That something missing always comes back to one specific area of my life and then I just feel incomplete.

My mind is in overload right now. I haven't had a good long heart to heart with anyone in awhile and the one person I want to talk to had her cell phone shut off recently and I have no way of communicating with her. (Yes I could e-mail you or send you a facebook message but I need some best friend "face to face" time, aka I want to hear your voice. And yes she knows who she is).

I need some me time and I don't know when I'm going to get it. Because I'm broke, I keep taking on baby-sitting jobs, even as they pop up at the last minute. I feel like e-mailing our children's minister and telling her I can't do Sunday school this weekend so I can just "run away" for the weekend, which really means I just need some time to sleep and regroup and refocus away from the world. I want some one on one time with my Bible and God and I can't seem to find that time anymore.

My heart and my mind are in overload right now and I can't get them to settle down and everyone is too busy to have time to talk.

Ahh I need a vacation. At this point, I'd settle for a day of just "me" time. That's all I want.

Exciting changes!

Now that it is a week later, I'm finally getting around to sharing all of the details of my grad school acceptance with you all. This week has just been hectic and the weekend will be just as busy so I'm taking my chance to update now, even if I should be sleeping.

So my acceptance letter arrived last Thursday. As soon as I pulled it out of the mailbox, I knew I had gotten in just by the thickness of the envelope! I got back in the car, tore the envelope open, and proceeded to start shrieking as soon as I read the line "We are pleased to offer you..." I then threw the letter down, called Tym, shared the news with him, and then called my parents who were out. As soon as I heard my mom's voice I started crying and shrieking that I got in!

I have never been more proud of my accomplishments as I was at that particular moment. I never thought I would get in and I did! I got into one of the toughest programs at UC! A week later and it still hasn't sunk in yet!

Then, on Friday night when I got home from celebrating with my friends down at the river, I checked my e-mail and had received an e-mail from the financial aid office at UC. Imagine my surprise when I opened said e-mail and saw that they were offering me $20,000 in financial aid! I kept going, "Am I really seeing that many zeroes?!?" Even though the aid is in the form of loans, I was shocked to have been offered that much! Since I'm only going back part time, I won't be accepting all $20,000 because I don't want to have to pay that much back (especially with so many loans from undergrad) but I'm still excited that next year is going to be pretty much covered!

I have an appointment set up to meet with my academic adviser on Tuesday at 5:15 on campus. Before that, I arranged to leave early so I can meet with someone in the financial aid office to work the logistics of the cost for next year out, along with how to distribute some of that aid to cover this summer since I'm required to begin classes during summer quarter.

On top of all that exciting news, my mom and I have been discussing the fact that my car is not going to make it much longer. I bought my car in the winter of 2006 and have put almost 50,000 miles on it since then. How I've managed to do that I have no clue but it means my car is just about on it's last legs, as it should be since it's a 92. With that being said, we realize that between commuting to and from work everyday and now adding school into the mix, my car is not going to be able to handle it. My parents have come to an agreement that it's time for a new car and since so many dealerships are going out of business around here, they think now is the perfect time to go look for a new car.

Since I don't have a lot of credit built up, they're willing to co-sign for it as long as I make the payments on it, which I will. I'm thrilled and grateful that they're willing to do this for me! I was honestly worried about how much longer my car was going to last and if I'd be able to afford a new car myself.

What I've been reminded of through all of this this past week is how good and faithful God is. He didn't have to bless me with all of this but He did. Everything is falling into place and I'm loving every moment of watching His plan unfold before me. I couldn't be more grateful at this moment than I am for the opportunity to go back to school and to have amazing parents who are supporting me in all of the decisions I'm making. I truly am a blessed and lucky woman. I can't wait to see what the coming weeks have in store for me!

I got...

I got into the school counseling Master's program at UC!!!!! The letter finally came in the mail today and I am beyond thrilled! I have to figure out how I'm going to afford it, but it's official-I'm in!!

I need to get to bed because I just came from watching the Grey's finale at Amy's (can we say holy crap?!?) and I have to be at work in the morning so I'll be back with more logical thoughts and feelings after work.

But YAY!!! I got in!!!!! :-D

Picture highlights

Last night was a night full of laughs, cute clothes, and fun friends. I could go into details, but then, that spoils all the fun of the memories and most of them you had to be there for anyway. So I leave you with pictures of me in my new dress!

Dress shopping!

I am finally feeling better! I don't sound better but I feel 100% better than I have all week. I was sleep deprived today because last night was the first night all week I hadn't taken benadryl to help me sleep so I tossed and turned all night before finally passing out somewhere around 3 I think.

I went dress shopping with Megan after work tonight. She needs a dress for graduation and I needed one to wear to a couple of weddings this summer. We went to five different stores and I finally found the perfect dress at Kohl's. We went to Dress Barn first where I had a cute dress put on hold but after getting to Kohl's, I decided I didn't like it as much as this cute dress I found while wandering around Kohl's. So now I have a dress on hold until I get off of work tomorrow and get paid. I tried to find a link to post it but couldn't so you'll just have to wait until there are pictures of me wearing it. :-P Plus, the best part of it is that it's two sizes smaller than what I wore last summer!! YAY!!! I was thrilled when I put it on and it was a large and fit! I'm pretty sure my eyes got big and it was all I could do not to start dancing around the dressing room!

In other news, I got asked to move in with some friends. After doing some number crunching, I may be able to afford it. I'm still playing around with numbers and don't have to decide until the beginning of June so we'll see how it turns out. I've been at home for a year now and would really like to move out but we'll see. I've got to think logically about this and not just jump into it because it's something I want. I have to be able to afford it as well.

Alright, I'm off. I've been congested all day so I gave in and took some benadryl when I got home and I can feel it kicking in so I'm off to get some rest. Tomorrow is Kim's last day at work before maternity leave which makes me sad so I want to be able to enjoy it with her!

Night world!

Still sick

I'm still miserable. However, the vomiting has gone away and now I'm just left with being weak from not eating the last couple of days and a cough that is enough to almost make me sick. I called in again today because I was up and down all night getting sick and got sick this morning but I got a call from work at 11 asking if I could come in and work for a couple of hours this afternoon, so against my better judgement, I'm headed to work in about an hour.

I am so over being sick. I hate my immune system so much. It's like even the littlest of things can make me sick. I have no idea what brought this on at all. All I know is that I'm coming home from work, putting my pjs back on, and going back to bed. I have to go to work tomorrow. I can't afford to miss any more days. I didn't want to call off today but I knew puking at work also wasn't an option.

All I know is that this weekend I'm not doing anything except sleeping so this stupid illness will pass. *sigh*

Miserable

I am so stinkin miserable right now. I left work early yesterday because an hour after I got there I started throwing up. I had felt queasy as I was getting ready but I chalked it up to my normal every morning queasiness due to the meds I take right before bed. When it didn't ease up by the time I got to work, I knew I was in trouble.

I made it through half a day before they finally found someone to cover me at 1. I left work, came home, managed to drink a cup of juice and eat some toast, and then I passed out until about 7 last night. I took some benadryl around 8 and was right back in bed by 9, though I didn't sleep at all last night.

This morning I woke up and managed to make it through brushing my teeth and washing my face before I had to get sick. After getting sick three times, I called work and let them know I wasn't coming in.

I'm so miserable. It hurts to breathe in and I still feel queasy. I'm about to go back to bed after I find something I can take for this coughing. I am so sick of being sick. I hate my immune system. :-/

Weight loss journey

Megan and I were looking at pictures earlier from my trip to Athens (details to follow) and she commented on how much weight I've lost in the last couple of years. I've been meaning to do this entry for awhile so I figured why not go ahead and do it tonight? These pictures show the weight loss journey I've been on for the last couple of years.

This was taken in December of 2006 at Christmas time at Disney with my parents. I'm not sure how much I weigh here, but it definitely made me unhappy and uncomfortable.

This was taken in July or August 0f 2007 when I went to visit Megan in Baltimore. We had spent the day in D.C. and this is me sitting at Arlington Cemetary. This was my highest weight I've ever hit at 272, a weight I hope to never see again.

This is Mike and I during my graduation from OU in June of 2008. At this point I had lost about 25 pounds and weighed in around the 250ish mark.

This is Dave and I at my graduation party in June of 2008. This one is really just for Erica, since she says I talk about him a lot and she's never seen a picture of him. :-P

This is Vince and I on my birthday in October of 2008. I look like I've lost weight since graduation but I'm pretty sure my weight had stayed the same.

This was taken on New Year's Eve this year and was right after I had started working out at Fitworks. My starting weight for the gym at this point was 253.

This is Betsy and I last night at OU waiting in line for the OU version of Price is Right. My last official weigh in for March (I haven't done my April one yet...whoops) had me weighing in at 235 pounds, which is a total of 37 pounds lost since August of 2007 and a total of 18 pounds lost since joining the gym in December!

This picture was also taken last night at OU. We had decided on a whim to go out to the bars for a couple of drinks but I hadn't brought any dressy clothes with me. Monica kindly let me raid her closet even though I was convinced nothing would fit. Imagine my surprise when she brought out this cute pink tank top from Old Navy and made me try it on. To my shock and excitement, it fit! In the last two years I've gone from having to wear an XXL at Old Navy to wearing a large! In fact, just about everything I own in XL is too big so I'm slowly adding new clothes to my wardrobe. Last night was one of the first nights I've been able to go out on the town with the girls and actually feel pretty! We had such a great time!

And that, my friends, is my weight loss journey thus far in a nutshell. I'm sure I'll share more as I continue down this long, bumpy road towards a healthy me.