Home Again Home Again

Well the movers came and packed up most of our belongings- all of what we do not need (hopefully) between now and September. The rest came home (to my parent's house) with me. I will be living at home part time- Thursday night through Tuesday morning and staying with friends in Columbus Tuesday night through Thursday morning for the next 10 weeks. Then once I graduate in June I will be staying at home full time until moving to Colorado with my soon-to-be husband in September.

I have set up my schedule so that I only have to be in Columbus 3 days a week, minimizing my stay on assorted couches to only two nights a week- sometimes and hopefully at the most, three nights. I will have to leave at 6am on Tuesdays to make it in time for my 10-12 hour work day, will work another 10-12 hour day on Wednesday and then will attend all my remaining classes on Thursday- working in between- finishing with my last class of the week at 8:48pm on Thursday night and will then head home. It will be hectic and keep me busy but that's probably a good thing. Will help the months without Matthew pass by a little quicker.

In the meantime I will just be concentrating on finishing up grad school, spending time with family and friends, and working on wedding details. Not to mention all the moving around that's going on in the house- my room became Heather's, I took hers, Mom's office will be re-done to serve as Jessa's nursery, etc. I will also need to begin preparing (mentally) to move 24 hours away, I'll be looking for jobs- probably here (part-time) and there (full-time), and then doing whatever else comes up.

Chilly, Cloudy, Columbus

Chilly, Cloudy, Columbus- doesn't quite sound as nice as my past spring breaks in warm sunny locations but it's what I get this time around. Definitely not liking it so much but I guess its part of growing up. Although not going anywhere for spring break means getting to go to Georgia to visit Matthew Easter weekend!!! I'll take that over a sunny spring break any day- and for that he must know I love him a lot :)

"Sisters by Chance, Friends by Choice"

I couldn't ask for better when it comes to the family I have been blessed with. My sisters Heather and Brooke came to visit me this past week. We did a lot of hanging out and eating out, a little bit of shopping and a slight bit of cleaning (after all that is what I am supposed to be using this week for). I definitely appreciated the thought and enjoyed the company. Spending time with family is important to me- even more now that I know I will be living so far away come September.

During our short shopping trips (short because Heather can't walk too much for too long these days) we did some shopping for bridesmaids dresses and I did some make-up sampling. We may have found the dress which is quite exciting and I am am liking a make-up but still testing out my sample before choosing the kind that might last me on my big day.

We, or at least I, had a lot of fun with my sisters being up here- because not only are we sisters (by chance) but friends (by choice)!! Love them--and the rest of my family of course! :)

"Sweet" Deliveries for 2LT Strohman

It's funny how it's the little things in life that can mean the most. A box of cookies sounds rather ordinary for most but for Matthew it was that "sweet" delivery of homemade chocolate chip cookies that made his day and reminded him of how much I love him and that I am thinking of him always. Not to mention the other guys in the barrack were a bit jealous and now they all know just how much I love him ;) Matthew can be assured that his "sweet" deliveries won't end any time soon as I am always trying to think of new and fun ways to remind him that I love him with all my heart and think of him each and every day we are apart due to his training. I want him to always know that even though this time apart is difficult and that many more like this lie ahead, I never for a moment regret choosing the life I did- our love will always manage to get us through, and of that I am sure!!

constantly smiling

So it was about 2:15pm on March 20th, I had just gotten home from the dreaded comps I mentioned in my last entry and was standing at my counter going through the mail when there was a knock on my door--so I immediately took the 3 steps to the door, opened it, and no one was there...but...I looked down to find a box that read 1-800-flowers.com and a nice little smile crossed my face. I brought the box in and took out the message card sealed to the front to find that the contents of the box were sent to me from my one and only, Matthew!! It was then that the nice little smile grew a bit bigger. Then I opened the box to find a nice bouquet of beautiful yellow, peach, light pink, and dark pink roses and my bigger smile then brightened. I took out the bouquet and as I unwrapped my beautiful roses they just seemed to multiply- the bouquet just grew and grew (as did my smile)!! I spent the next hour arranging my 3 dozen beautiful roses- trying to find a vase that they might all fit in and trying to figure out where to place each and every rose...smiling all the while. Smiling because I love flowers and the flowers mean Matthew loves me- with each rose meaning that he loves me that much more! Him being in Georgia while I'm still here in Ohio won't stop him from showing me how much he loves me---he's always finding ways to keep me and my heart constantly smiling!!

That Dreaded Comprehensive Exam

My comprehensive exam was set for March 20, 2009 and I had been dreading it since the start of my graduate program back in June-- but just like finals week it has come and gone and to finish it was a huge weight off my shoulders! I survived comps!! And I even got a button from the College of Social Work saying "I survived comps!!" and then we were all treated to some free pizza from Donatos. So not too bad. Now I'm just waiting for the results, they should come in about 2-3 weeks. Obviously I'm hoping for the good news of a "pass" - but in the unfortunate event that I didn't pass I would have to retake the exam before I could graduate, so it's a pretty big deal and a little stress is still weighing on me during this waiting period.

Finals Week

So finals week has come and went and I managed to make it through. This particular finals week was a little more challenging than others in the past as it was a two week stretch and Matthew left right in the middle of it all. But like I said I made it through it and now it's over :) Out of my 5 classes this quarter 2 were just pass/fail classes and I of course passed both, of the other 3 I ended up with a B+ and 2 A's! This quarter my GPA was a 3.76 making my cumulative GPA for grad school a 3.85 out of 4.0- so I'd like to think I'm doing pretty well even if there is some slacking and procrastinating going on. Only 10 weeks left to go- whoo hoo!