msndrent

Update

2009-06-10T05:37:59Z

So again its been a really long time since I have posted... I have completed my masters and have officially started studying for my prelim exams. No personal wedding planning has started, but I have been busy helping with Mel's which is rapidly approaching! My parents have decided to come out in August, and I am really looking forward to showing them where I have lived the last 3 years. Other than that, things are going well. We're going camping this weekend in Door County for Joe's birthday. July and August are going to be really busy with family stuff, so it will be nice for us to have some time alone. Overall, Its hard to believe that I am entering my fourth year of graduate school, but I am happy to be able to say that the end is finally in sight! Now just to take prelims, do my community placement, apply and get an internship, do my dissertation, get married and move! :-D Its going to be crazy but fun! Bring it on...

Almost there

2008-12-04T07:35:31Z

In two weeks from today I will propose my master's thesis and then be done for the semester! Hooray! And, I will be officially halfway through my time here in graduate school (not counting my internship).

Things are going well. I am on track to get my masters in March, finish my coursework in May, and be a dissertator by the Fall! I cannot wait for the break, it will be so nice to go home and see my family and just relax for a bit! It will be sad having Jeff gone this holiday, but Joe and I are preparing a pretty fun care package to send to Iraq and we hear from him pretty regularly so we know he is ok.

Over the holidays there will also be a lot of wedding planning for Mel which will be fun and I will hopefully have my first paper sent out for review!

Only 14 more days ...

msndrent @ 2008-08-19T00:51:00

2008-08-19T05:52:52Z

In only 2 weeks the semester will be beginning and I will start my third year of graduate school! In the upcoming year I will begin seeing clients, complete my masters, take my preliminary exams and finish my coursework!

Although this sounds quite daunting, I am getting excited to start all of this! My summer as been quite restful regardless of all the travel and three jobs. I have two new wonderful roommates and two great friends who were my previous roommates.

Mel is planning her wedding (7/31/09) and has asked me to be her maid of honor, and Joe and I have been dating for an incredible 6.5 years!

Overall, things are great and I am looking forward to a good year :)

Wow

2008-07-13T07:01:22Z

My sister got engaged today!! :-D

msndrent @ 2008-07-09T00:09:00

2008-07-09T05:18:18Z

Well, its been a long time since I have posted and overall the summer is going well. Joe and I went on our 2.5 week road trip and we had any amazing time. We went to 5 National Parks (Rocky Mountain, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Badlands) as well as the cities of Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Omaha, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We also experienced weather ranging from 30 degrees to 100 degrees! It was a completely incredible trip and we cannot wait to revisit these sites and explore each one in more depth.

Since getting back I am slowing getting into the swing of school work again and trying to jump headfirst into my master's thesis which I need to defend by March 10th of 2009. I am still working at Miller Park as a side job (now working in the Gehl Club and making much better money) and I just started babysitting for 2 beautiful little girls twice a week for a few hours.

We are also taking another week off (the first week in August) to go home for Chris and Pam's wedding (8/8/08!!) and to see our families. I definitely wicked excited to see everyone, and I am finally going to make it to our annual family beach party!

My two roommates are also moving out, which makes me really sad. They have been a lot of fun this year and I couldn't have asked for a better two people to live with! I have two new people coming in, including one first year in my program, and I think they too will be a lot of fun.

Well, thats all for the update. I will add a link to my pictures once I upload them somewhere and I will try to update this more regularly.

Hope this finds everyone doing well!

goodnight :)

31 days!

2008-04-24T14:32:56Z

Just three more weeks till classes and finals are done, then one more week till our trip! I am getting really excited, but its hitting me that we still need to figure out some pretty important details. Our lodging is all settled though and I got a tent and sleeping bag in the mail from Dad yesterday.

Date tomorrow with Joe (dinner and a movie) then working on my grant for research methods over the weekend.

On a side note- all of freshmen residents from my senior year at UConn are graduating this year ... I am feeling kind of old!

Spring finally!

2008-04-16T12:29:40Z

Here in Wisconsin it has finally become springtime! And to celebrate I went for a run this morning along Lake Michigan! It was still a bit chilly out but the run was great, and I did alright. I need to work on my breathing, any suggestions?

Hopefully I will be running now a few times a week until the end of the semester and then hopefully daily during the summer while continuing with my pilates classes too. I am also starting to use mapmyrun.com again which is a nice way to reinforce my exercising!

Anyway, happy to be outside again and ready for summer!

:)

an amazing video

2008-02-28T18:12:37Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tIyt8oSLVs

Dying professor, Dr. Randy Pausch knows he is dying. This video will leave you thinking when it's over.

contemplative

2008-02-28T17:32:59Z

Jeff is getting deployed to Iraq in September... its weird because we are terrified while also knowing that the military has provided the structure he needs more than anything else has and he isn't himself now that he is on reserves... is it bad to be somewhat glad that he will be active again?

wisconsin...

2008-02-09T20:58:03Z

High tomorrow? -3F

Some days I really hate Wisconsin ....

My life ...

2008-01-31T16:10:12Z

So true...

its started again

2008-01-27T16:49:25Z

Back to the grind with classes starting last week. Everything is going well though, I like my classes, my masters is hopefully underway, my assessments are getting done, and I get to TA for Amy again for the same class which makes things a lot easier. On more fun notes, Mel and Alton are coming out for the first half of Spring break, I have classmates with birthday bashes coming up, my 6 year anniversary is next week, we are seeing Bon Jovi on the 22nd of February, and our road trip planning for the summer is well under way.

Things are good :)

msndrent @ 2008-01-04T23:01:00

2008-01-05T04:02:56Z

So its been 10 years to the day since Mom died and I totally freakin forgot about it until just now ... is that bad of me? Ugh, didn't call my siblings, dad, or her sisters ... I just kinda feel lousy that I didn't remember ...

Ugh ... off to Niagara tomorrow morning, back in Milwaukee late on Sunday...

New Year's Survey

2008-01-03T04:45:11Z

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? Went somewhere on the west coast (Vancouver, Canada and Alaska!)
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Not sure if I did, and yes I have made a few this year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope but we have a few 08s coming up!
4. Did anyone close to you die? Nope, not this year
5. What countries did you visit? Canada
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? For Joe and I to spend more time with my parents
7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 2/4/07 was 5 years:-D
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Surviving my first year of graduate school
9. What was your biggest failure? I am disappointed I didn’t keep swimming at the gym
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope
11. What was the best thing you bought? My kitten Tyler!!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Mel moved to scary Baltimore and started pharmacy school and Joe passed his prelims!!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Not sure…
14. Where did most of your money go? Rent and my sickly cats
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Planning our Summer 08 Roadtrip!
16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Not sure… Joe finally got me into Kelly Clarkson… haha
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier I think cause family stuff is getting better
ii. thinner or fatter? About the same, but I want to exercise more
iii. richer or poorer? Perhaps a bit richer, or really just a bit less poor :-P
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Kept in touch with family/friends and exercised
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worried about little things
20. How will you be spending Christmas? in 2008? Spent this Christmas with Joe visiting one family on Xmas eve and the other Xmas, hopefully next year will be the same with more time together
22. Did you fall in love in 2007? Stayed in love (very much so)
23. How many one-night stands? Nope
24. What was your favorite TV program? House!
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope
26. What was the best book you read? My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Haha Rascal Flatts maybe
28. What did you want and get? A new kitten! And a mixer!!!!!
29. What did you want and not get? I want my friends to have babies I can play with 
30. What was your favorite film of this year? The Departed
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 24 and I got to celebrate it early with my family on a cruise boat in Alaska!!!
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Nice but comfortable, generally pretty casual
34. What kept you sane? Joe, Kristin, and my cats 
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Nobody that’s my roommates’ area of expertise 
36. What political issue stirred you the most? Nothing I live in a hole called graduate school
37. Who did you miss? My mom
38. Who was the best new person you met? Katie Simon 
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Just how important friends and family are and how much I miss them!
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Don’t really have one…. I just like “no day but today” as a general motto 

msndrent @ 2007-12-17T09:51:00

2007-12-17T15:54:27Z

My thoughts are with all of the Merrimack people and others who have Katie on the minds today ...

msndrent @ 2007-12-11T09:06:00

2007-12-11T15:11:18Z

Christmas break plans:

Friday Dec 21st - driving to Ohio
Saturday Dec 22nd - driving to Connecticut

Arriving in CT on the 22nd and staying at Joe's parents through Christmas morning (our first Christmas together!!). Then Christmas Day in NH with my family, and going to Aubin's Boxing Day party with Joe on the 26th. Then I will be around on my own through January 2nd. After the 2nd I will be back in Connecticut until the 5th. Leaving Saturday December 5th for Niagara Falls (Canadian side) and returning to Wisconsin on the 6th. Back to the grind January 7th.

Any Merrimack, UConn or Yale people who want to get together while I am home please let me know! There will definitely be a brunch with Sam and a dinner in New Haven while I am home!

Happy Holidays!! :)

Home

2007-11-21T15:02:46Z

Flying home tonight, seeing the relatives tomorrow for Thanksgiving and then Kristin's badass party on Friday! Hopefully a double date with Mel and Alton on Saturday and then back to WI early Sunday.

I am so excited to be going home!! Just hoping the weather holds out...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)

so cute!

2007-11-04T14:33:55Z

I got a new kitten yesterday!! After a lot of thinking I decided that Leo would really benefit from having another cat around so Joe and I went to the humane society yesterday and picked out a kitten! He is 2.5 months old and we named him Tyler :)

:)

2007-10-29T04:12:51Z

Yay, Red Sox!!!! I love New England :)

msndrent @ 2007-10-01T23:10:00

2007-10-02T04:11:10Z

I am coming home for Thanksgiving!! :-D

traveling adventures!

2007-09-24T01:21:47Z

So, this winter I think Joe and I are going to stop by the Canadian side of Niagara Falls on the way back from our Christmas trip home from New England! Joe has never been, and it doesn't add any driving time to our trip back.

And then, next summer (2008) we are going to finally do our Western United States tour including the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, and Yellowstone National Park! And, I think Kristin is going to meet us out there and travel with us for part of the trip!!

That's it for now, hope everyone is doing well!

Not too shabby,

2007-09-21T15:56:44Z

This was kind of hard!

HOORAY!

2007-09-21T15:20:00Z

My honors thesis has finally be resubmitted after sitting for a year and a half with a revise and resubmit verdict!! Now I just have to wait and hope it gets accepted! :)

msndrent @ 2007-09-17T23:38:00

2007-09-18T04:38:41Z

Mrs George is in the hospital right now, please keep her in your thoughts!!

Dilemma

2007-09-12T14:19:12Z

So, I want to get another cat but I am not totally sure it is a good idea.

The pros for getting a new cat would be that Leo would have a companion again. He has always had another cat around until Kelly moved in July and now that he is gone Leo has gained some weight because of the lack of exercise. I think it would be good to get another cat for him to play with.

The cons are that getting another cat would cost $$ - especially if he gets sick like Leo did this last year, which cost me quite a bit... although that is pretty rare, so I don't know how worried I should really be about it.

Then, within that, should I get a kitten or an older cat (12months or older). I love kittens, but they are more work, and at the Humane Society they cost $100 (which is good considering they come with all of their shots and neutered/spayed). An older cat, (I would want as close to one year as possible) would be free.

Has anyone gotten a second cat before and had better luck with a kitten or older cat? I am also trying to decide which one would adjust easier into the apartment and with Leo, any ideas?

Suggestions/advice would be great!