Wow! We've had a great weekend so far! Last night (Saturday) we went with Erinn, Joey, Keri, and Nathan to an Irish pub called Celtic Crossings. We had a lot of fun just having some drinks and hanging out with some good friends of ours! Then, after we were done we decided to walk around a little bit. The bar is right in the University of Memphis area, so there are some interesting mom and pop shops around. Just down the street there was a cat shelter with cats running around. Keri and Erinn love cats, so they had a GREAT time looking in the window. All of them were adorable!
This morning, Tyler and I helped volunteer with fellow FCO (Fellowship of Christian Optometrist) members at St. Luke's United Methodist church, also by the U of M area. We served breakfast for the homeless working from 7:00-9:00am. It felt really good to serve the community and I think that's something I've been missing out on. I live for the joy in your heart you feel when you brighten someone else's day. It just keeps me going, and I was very thankful for the opportunity to serve this morning.
We came back and napped because I would say we only got 4.5 hours of sleep before having to wake up to serve. Then at 1:00pm, we went over to our neighbor's apartment (next door) to have a Memorial weekend cookout! We brought baked beans, Pringles, and our own drinks, while the neighbors took care of the meat, buns, and condiments. It was wonderful getting to know them. Also, since we are the only two apartments on the 3rd floor, we've made an agreement that the 3rd floor open area outside our apartments can be like a community place for plants or patio furniture, especially since the sunlight for the plants changes on our back patios. The plants can get more sunlight if we're able to put them in the right spot :) They had a couple of their friends over, too, who live at an apartment complex down the road. It was nice to actually "break the ice" and meet.
Finally, we went to Lowe's to get a ceiling fan and a nice plant for our back porch. We've been trying to make our porch somewhere we could go out and sit. We got a burgundy lilly plant. I'm excited because they're perennials and grow very tall with lots of blooms! I cannot wait to see them bloom (pictures to follow)
AND THE BEST NEWS OF THE WEEKEND! Tyler passed his praxis tests with flying colors! :-D He was worried because they were very difficult, but he did fantastic. Hopefully, this means he can get his TN teaching license soon! Yeah for a great weekend of fun and success!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Just a few updates
We are staying in Cordova!! We've spent way too much time looking at other places and NOTHING compares to the place we have now. Our kitchen is larger than anything I've seen and we have 1312 sq. ft for $850/mo. Everything closer to school would be a huge down grade in size for a higher price. Nothing we saw seemed worth the move. So we're staying :)
We met with Connie today, the lady who is in charge of managing the apartment complex, and she assured us that changes were going to be made. We gave her a list of things that we wanted done to our place, and things we noticed about the complex in general. She is going to send someone to fix our kitchen and bathroom floors at the beginning of June, and we're going to shop for some things to finish getting our apartment just the way we like it. We started decorating in the fall, but I didn't finish everything because (1) we weren't 100% sure of how our finances would look at the end of the school year, and (2) we didn't want to do too much to then have to move it all. But now that we know we're staying, we're finishing up our "bar" (to be called "Mitchell's Tavern... Hillsborough St. bar pun totally intended), going to paint the headboard to match the rest of the furniture that I painted back in November, get a free-standing pantry for the kitchen, get a light fixture for the living room, and finish hanging some wall decor.
Another thing we're excited about is Tyler's new way to spend his time in Memphis! Starting Tuesday, he will officially be a student in Southwest Tennessee Community College's Auto Mechanic Program :-D. I've NEVER seen him this excited about anything since we moved here. The classes will take up the entire summer, but, he will have a week off where we're hoping to travel home. However, please feel free to visit us in Memphis! His classes will be from 6-9pm at night. And as long as I can get to the end of June with my mini summer term, I will be able to get stuff done around the apartment for good!
Finally, with staying here, we're looking forward to really getting to know our neighbors. Our next door neighbors moved in relatively recently and we would like to spend more time with them. They seem really chill, so I'm sure maybe a few double dates or something would be fun. Also, there's a dental student who lives below us with his girlfriend. We're hoping to really get to know them. They have 2 big dogs and like to spend their time at the local parks, so maybe we could go enjoy a few days at the park with them :-D
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. I know God has his reason for keeping us in Cordova, I just haven't really figured out why yet. Maybe because the womens' bible study is run by Mrs. Newman at the Newman's home (Dr. Newman was the teacher for Theory and Methods; his wife runs the FCO bible study for women). They live in Cordova, so I love that she's only 7 minutes away on Saturday mornings for a home-away-from-home fix.
Well, I'm about to go study. First 2 tests of the summer term are next week! One on Wednesday and one on Friday. I also have a quiz tomorrow and 2 lab practicals the weeks after next!!! These classes are moving at the speed of light, so I better go!
We met with Connie today, the lady who is in charge of managing the apartment complex, and she assured us that changes were going to be made. We gave her a list of things that we wanted done to our place, and things we noticed about the complex in general. She is going to send someone to fix our kitchen and bathroom floors at the beginning of June, and we're going to shop for some things to finish getting our apartment just the way we like it. We started decorating in the fall, but I didn't finish everything because (1) we weren't 100% sure of how our finances would look at the end of the school year, and (2) we didn't want to do too much to then have to move it all. But now that we know we're staying, we're finishing up our "bar" (to be called "Mitchell's Tavern... Hillsborough St. bar pun totally intended), going to paint the headboard to match the rest of the furniture that I painted back in November, get a free-standing pantry for the kitchen, get a light fixture for the living room, and finish hanging some wall decor.
Another thing we're excited about is Tyler's new way to spend his time in Memphis! Starting Tuesday, he will officially be a student in Southwest Tennessee Community College's Auto Mechanic Program :-D. I've NEVER seen him this excited about anything since we moved here. The classes will take up the entire summer, but, he will have a week off where we're hoping to travel home. However, please feel free to visit us in Memphis! His classes will be from 6-9pm at night. And as long as I can get to the end of June with my mini summer term, I will be able to get stuff done around the apartment for good!
Finally, with staying here, we're looking forward to really getting to know our neighbors. Our next door neighbors moved in relatively recently and we would like to spend more time with them. They seem really chill, so I'm sure maybe a few double dates or something would be fun. Also, there's a dental student who lives below us with his girlfriend. We're hoping to really get to know them. They have 2 big dogs and like to spend their time at the local parks, so maybe we could go enjoy a few days at the park with them :-D
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. I know God has his reason for keeping us in Cordova, I just haven't really figured out why yet. Maybe because the womens' bible study is run by Mrs. Newman at the Newman's home (Dr. Newman was the teacher for Theory and Methods; his wife runs the FCO bible study for women). They live in Cordova, so I love that she's only 7 minutes away on Saturday mornings for a home-away-from-home fix.
Well, I'm about to go study. First 2 tests of the summer term are next week! One on Wednesday and one on Friday. I also have a quiz tomorrow and 2 lab practicals the weeks after next!!! These classes are moving at the speed of light, so I better go!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Promised Pictures
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| Tornado by Rhodes College! |
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| The promised picture of Mississippi River flooding |
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| SO HIGH! |
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| New Hair :) |
Starting again with second year classes
Second year classes began yesterday! We have a short mini-term over the summer where we take 3 classes and a lab. The 3 classes are Evidence-Based Medicine, Pathology, and Pharmacology. The lab is a Theory and Methods lab. Everything is condensed into about 6 weeks of classes! It will be an intense summer. I'm not quite ready for it.
Tomorrow (Friday) we don't have classes due to graduation! Tyler and I are going to drive to Southaven, MS and try to look at a couple of apartments down there, and maybe one or two by school. We have to let our apartment know by Wednesday whether or not we're moving. It's going to be a stretch with the few options we have, but if we decide to stay in Cordova, I will let you know. If we do decide to stay, I have many plans in the works to finish decorating and get to know our neighbors really well. However, if we don't, we have a TON of packing to do.
Yesterday was a good mail day! I got the lunch box I had been waiting for from Lean Cuisine and a new Macy's gift card to replace the one I got for Christmas that got hacked!! So exciting :)
We also took a trip to LA this past weekend to visit Tyler's brother, Andrew, before he goes off to Alaska in about a week. We had a great time! When we got there Friday, we got sushi and then went out to some clubs in Hollywood. Saturday we spent the day seeing some great sights in the area, then went out again that night. We got In-N-Out burger for dinner, which I had never had! It was wonderful. Sunday, we went to Ruyon where we were able to hike to a high point where you can look out and see all of LA, including the famous Hollywood sign on the mountain! It was a very cool site for sure! I also got to do a little scaling/rock climbing on some small rock walls along the trail - first time ever for this :) Monday, we had to fly home, but I'm glad we picked the flight that we did because James Marsden was on our plane!! I didn't get any pictures (because I didn't want to disturb him or be "that girl"), but it's still a pretty memorable moment for me!
Finally, I got my hair cut and colored on Tuesday. Right now it needs to grow out a little bit, but I'm in love with the color and the change!! I went to the Paul Mitchell School where students get to practice on customers what they've learned in the classroom. Obviously, it's a risk, but it's REALLY cheap. They were running a special that day for $5 cuts, so for everything I did, it was only $30! I've been highlighting my hair since senior year in high school. Then it was more blond and I just highlighted it for my senior portraits. I really liked how it gave my hair some definition and continued highlighting it. Well, when I started being able to tell a big difference when my roots began to grow out, I realized that I probably wasn't that blond anymore - my hair had gotten darker. So I figured, why not darken my hair? So I did. It's now a dark honey blond color. I don't want to take a picture yet because I got side bangs, and they're WAY too short right now. I want them to grow out a little, and then I will share :)
Until next time, it's time to hit the books... again!
Tomorrow (Friday) we don't have classes due to graduation! Tyler and I are going to drive to Southaven, MS and try to look at a couple of apartments down there, and maybe one or two by school. We have to let our apartment know by Wednesday whether or not we're moving. It's going to be a stretch with the few options we have, but if we decide to stay in Cordova, I will let you know. If we do decide to stay, I have many plans in the works to finish decorating and get to know our neighbors really well. However, if we don't, we have a TON of packing to do.
Yesterday was a good mail day! I got the lunch box I had been waiting for from Lean Cuisine and a new Macy's gift card to replace the one I got for Christmas that got hacked!! So exciting :)
We also took a trip to LA this past weekend to visit Tyler's brother, Andrew, before he goes off to Alaska in about a week. We had a great time! When we got there Friday, we got sushi and then went out to some clubs in Hollywood. Saturday we spent the day seeing some great sights in the area, then went out again that night. We got In-N-Out burger for dinner, which I had never had! It was wonderful. Sunday, we went to Ruyon where we were able to hike to a high point where you can look out and see all of LA, including the famous Hollywood sign on the mountain! It was a very cool site for sure! I also got to do a little scaling/rock climbing on some small rock walls along the trail - first time ever for this :) Monday, we had to fly home, but I'm glad we picked the flight that we did because James Marsden was on our plane!! I didn't get any pictures (because I didn't want to disturb him or be "that girl"), but it's still a pretty memorable moment for me!
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| Funny car parked while we were getting a tour of some famous places... had to take a picture |
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| Santa Monica Pier |
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| Out on Saturday Night |
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| Pretty flower design in the foam of my honey vanilla latte from Urth Cafe, an organic coffee shop Andrew took us to on Saturday morning. Andrew's coffee had a bird design in the foam! |
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| One of the views from our hike on Runyon |
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| Hollywood sign! :) |
Finally, I got my hair cut and colored on Tuesday. Right now it needs to grow out a little bit, but I'm in love with the color and the change!! I went to the Paul Mitchell School where students get to practice on customers what they've learned in the classroom. Obviously, it's a risk, but it's REALLY cheap. They were running a special that day for $5 cuts, so for everything I did, it was only $30! I've been highlighting my hair since senior year in high school. Then it was more blond and I just highlighted it for my senior portraits. I really liked how it gave my hair some definition and continued highlighting it. Well, when I started being able to tell a big difference when my roots began to grow out, I realized that I probably wasn't that blond anymore - my hair had gotten darker. So I figured, why not darken my hair? So I did. It's now a dark honey blond color. I don't want to take a picture yet because I got side bangs, and they're WAY too short right now. I want them to grow out a little, and then I will share :)
Until next time, it's time to hit the books... again!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Year One - check! :)
And it's official! My first year is complete! Second year courses begin May 18th. The year ended quite well. 4 A's, 1 A-, 1 B+, 1 B, and 1 C. And yes, if you added those together, that would be 8 classes! This finals week was the most difficult 8 days of my life! But I'm very, very happy to be done.
Saturday and Sunday I did almost nothing but sleep and eat! I'm assuming my body was on a combination of caffeine withdraw and sleep deprivation. Today we went looking at various apartments closer to school. We went to one pretty equidistant between where we live now and SCO. It's by the University of Memphis, and we would absolutely LOVE this place. We met some girls who were on the dance team at U of M and showed us their place. It was nice and very affordable. We're going back tomorrow at noon to see a couple of vacant apartments with the same leasing company. I will let you know how it goes.
Until we actually move though, we are potentially housing flood victims at our apartment. As the mighty Mississippi continues to rise, threats of evacuation have already come to many people. I just hope that the rising waters can be contained. I took some picture the other day. I will try to post them here soon.
We're going to LA this weekend to see Tyler's brother! I'm so excited. I've never visited California before and the last time we saw his brother was in October for Sandra and Bradford's wedding. It will also be our last opportunity to see him before he goes to Alaska.
Until next time - I will be relaxing, and it feels so good :)
Saturday and Sunday I did almost nothing but sleep and eat! I'm assuming my body was on a combination of caffeine withdraw and sleep deprivation. Today we went looking at various apartments closer to school. We went to one pretty equidistant between where we live now and SCO. It's by the University of Memphis, and we would absolutely LOVE this place. We met some girls who were on the dance team at U of M and showed us their place. It was nice and very affordable. We're going back tomorrow at noon to see a couple of vacant apartments with the same leasing company. I will let you know how it goes.
Until we actually move though, we are potentially housing flood victims at our apartment. As the mighty Mississippi continues to rise, threats of evacuation have already come to many people. I just hope that the rising waters can be contained. I took some picture the other day. I will try to post them here soon.
We're going to LA this weekend to see Tyler's brother! I'm so excited. I've never visited California before and the last time we saw his brother was in October for Sandra and Bradford's wedding. It will also be our last opportunity to see him before he goes to Alaska.
Until next time - I will be relaxing, and it feels so good :)
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