I just have to brag

Okay, so I'm not even sure that anyone reads this anymore, but hey, I can shout out stuff into cyberspace, right? That's my perogative as a blogger. :)

So, this morning, I had a little freak out about the wedding planning stuff. Nothing major - just feeling like I'm not getting my stuff done. We haven't settled on a photographer yet, and yeah, it is the big thing for this month. And we have to do guest lists and invitations and all this stuff...

Anyway, I snapped at my fiance, who was coming over later today. I didn't mean to, but yeah.

After apologizing, I then asked him to do a couple of errands for me. Random stuff - dry cleaning, picking up some random stuff at Home Depot for me, library...blah blah blah. Kevin agreed to do all of these things.

But then during the day, I got some random text messages. They said things like, "I finished the errands. Do you want me to vacuum?" "I cleaned the windows and vacuumed. Anything else you need me to do?"

I got home to a clean, beautiful house, where dinner was waiting for me by candlelight in the dining room. We had a full meal of yummy chicken, rice, broccoli, rolls, and dessert. Then, after dinner, he washed the dishes too!

I don't exactly know how to take all of this - except to be very very grateful.

Thanks, my love.

And the wedding planning screeches to a halt

So much success! It seems obvious that something would get hung up. After all, we've booked a church, a reception place, a DJ, I have a dress...that's a lot. But we went to interview with a photographer, and yeah, not so awesome. Now I have to figure out some other person to use.

Let me say that I do not like bargain or comparison shopping - I'm not good at it at all. :( I get frustrated and say, "That's fine, just give it to me, whatever!" Which is not the best way to go about planning a wedding.

Looks like I'll have to work on that trait.

Ha.

Of course, school starts tomorrow. And I, unlike people who have functional computers and sit at a desk all day, do not have time to do any planning at work. Nope, it's completely me on other hours. I think I'll ditch for a few weeks. :)

We'll see.

Recommendations are always appreciated! :)

Blogging...right...

So life is crazy right now. Obviously. I got engaged, I'm planning a wedding, and I go back to work in less than 2 weeks. Lots to do! But I did promise to keep blogging, so here's a few highlights.

I got a dress! It's beautiful, and lovely, and I feel like a princess in it. It makes me really happy. I want to go back to the store every day and try it on - or at least take a picture in it.

I am really proud of myself for getting back into eating healthy and not snacking as much. I've lost 2 pounds and 2 inches off my waist so far. Thanks to my trainer, I am super inspired! :)

I have great friends who help me. Thanks ladies.

There are so many people who I want to see, and not enough time to see them.

I miss Michigan - and my friends there. :(

It is incredible how much random tiffs you have while planning for a wedding.

Kevin is still looking for a job, but he's gone to a couple of interviews this week, which is good.

School? A little freaked about trying that Music Learning Theory stuff. But if I don't try things, I won't grow as a teacher.

Despite all my complaining, I have a great life - and I love my fiance!

Yes, it's true!

I am engaged! :)

I will have the story up tomorrow or Friday...finishing up grad school is intense. Almost done - 1 more essay, and revisions on a 26-page paper and 2 other essays. Phew!

I am happy, and I DEFINITELY don't want to work. :)

Liz

I'm almost done...

Phew. This has been an incredible summer. Lots of exciting things happening, lots of exciting still to happen...but the big news (as of right now) is that I have one more week left!

Insanity.

I do NOT want to leave. I love being surrounded by my musician friends who are just as intense as I am. I love talking about teaching music - a music educator is an even more specialized niche than a musician! I love walking around campus, or riding my bike - it is so green and beautiful. I can't wait to come back here. And yes, I am seriously considering moving here - someday.

But, I must return back to California. Thankfully, I will have four weeks to recuperate from the hecticness that was my life. I can relax, hang with friends, sunbathe...oh, and get ready for school. Yeah. Not so excited about that. But that's okay. I will make it.

This week, I still have a presentation, a curriculum, three essays...and of course, revising that really large paper (it's at 25 pages right now...crap!). But really, that's not too bad. Which is why I'm having some trouble getting motivated right now, to do anything.

But, Kevin's coming tomorrow! YES!

So, I should work. Guess I'll work. I'll work now. Right.

Enjoy CA, my friends - I'll be back very soon. Michiganders - I will miss you.

Yes, we did...

...talk about country music today. In class. I know, you're totally jealous, right?

I gotta admit, I like the older stuff. Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette (sp?), Johnny Cash. But man, the stuff out now...not a fan. Give me Sufjan Stevens any day.

In other news - finished another assignment for my curriculum class, which is great. Still working on the psych paper. But I did finish the OTHER curriculum paper, which is due tomorrow. Phew! That felt good. The psych paper is taking longer than I would like - but probably about as long as the research paper did last summer.

Only a week and a half left! I can't believe it. I am sad - California is not as pretty as Michigan. But I'll be back, and I'll get to see all my friends. So that will be nice. :)

Okay, working now...maybe...

The bicycle adventure

(Note: Over the next two weeks, I have three 10-15 page papers, three essays for a final, and a poster to make...not to mention the readings. I'm a little stressed out.)

I tend to react like most people to stress, I think. Or maybe I'm bizarre. Whatever. Basically, I can keep going under a lot of stress - I can keep things going fine, like something boiling on the stove. But at a certain point, if something adds on, I simply freak out, and everything explodes. Usually that "something" is small. I guess it speaks to the level of suppression I use in my life. Whatever. Anyway.

So I had noticed that my bike lock was acting a little funny. Sometimes it would take longer than normal to open it - wiggling the key back and forth, etc. But whatever, no biggie. Yesterday afternoon, after I had done a couple hours of work (and talked to Kevin on Skype - where I freaked out because I was sad to leave my friends here in Michigan...anyway...) I decided to go to the gym. "This will be great! It's 4:30 now, I can get there in 10 minutes, do 30 minutes of cardio, a couple of free weight things, cool-down, come back by 6, eat and shower, start working at 7. Maybe I can punch out that paper tonight! Awesome!"

But no.

I spent 15 minutes playing with my bike lock outside, trying to get it to open. Eventually, obviously, I did - although I locked it with hesitation outside of the gym. Worked out, fine, no problem. Came back out, and spent another 15 minutes working on this lock. Would not budge. At all. Tried someone else's key, wiggled my key forever. I even had one of the employees at the gym bring out some bolt cutters. The bolt cutters starting BENDING with my bike lock. (Bonus - my bike will not get stolen.) Eventually, I had to leave.

I got home at 6:30. Didn't get done eating and showering until 7:30. Called the police department, who said they wouldn't cut my bike lock until I registered my bike online. Fine. Tried to register it online. The site doesn't work - it keeps erasing my answers to the questions. (Remember that it did this last year too, when I decided to forget it.) Sat down, tried to start working, and called Kevin, bawling "I can't do this! I can't! Now I have to go register my stupid bike in order to get the stupid lock cut off! I wasted an hour dealing with this stupid thing and I wanted to get work done and I CAN'T DO THIS!"

Yeah, it was bad. Poor Kevin. He is being very kind, especially considering he got his tonsils out on Tuesday. :( Eventually I calmed down, and got reading done...but not what I wanted to do.

After class today, I called the bike place. I couldn't register it over the phone - I had to come in. I needed the bike serial number. So I walked to my bike. Couldn't find it. Called them again - "It's on the underneath part of the bike - if you turn it over, you can find it." Of course, I can't turn my bike over - it's locked to a bike rack. So I lie on the ground and look for it. I find it, but it's upside and kind of worn off, so I have to go to the other side of the bike and lie down again to write it down. Then I walked to the Student Store to buy a new bike lock. (I bought a cheaper one, because I do NOT want to deal with this again. No u-lock for me, no way.) Then I walked to the parking center to register my bike. Then I walked BACK to my bike and called the police. "Okay, we'll send a parking enforcer right now - they'll be there soon." (Parking enforcer. I wanna be a parking enforcer!) Wait by my bike, and about 15 minutes later, they showed up with these huge cutters that were pneumatic or something. Probably not, but they were very large and intense. He cuts the lock, and I go on my way. That took 1.5 hours today of walking and waiting.

Man.

Hopefully I can be productive this weekend. It's been a frustrating couple of days.

Please admire my picture of the remnants of my lock. This is after walking around in 80 degree weather for 90 minutes. Sweet.