I still remember graduation from College Park like it was yesterday. A few of us met at Mckeldin mall to take pictures with our parents. I had on my favorite bone colored shoes (which I've ruined since =( ) and the same dress that I wore to my high school graduation. As we got situated in Cole Field house and watched as the graduate students walked up to the stage, I thought to myself that I would be doing the same someday. I would be that person graduating for my master's degree.
Unfortunately, at around halfway through my program, I began to feel very cynical...almost thinking that my degree really wouldn't be worth anything. I started to regret signing up for it to begin with.... and I all of the sudden forgot that dream I had of walking at graduation. So, I didn't sign up for it. I didn't buy a cap and gown. I didn't get tickets. I had absolutely no plans of attending.
I would have been walking at graduation this Saturday had I taken care of my attitude a little sooner. Instead, the conclusion of my master's degree will be nothing but the day that I submit my final report. No celebrations to be had. No hats to throw in the air. No proud moments to remember years from now where I get to sift through old albums and see a picture of Joe and I perhaps toasting to the past two years of both of us being in school and working full time.
I suppose that the moral of this story is to never downplay an accomplishment. I know not everyone is into the whole celebration thing. I was foolish enough to think that I wasn't. But 'cmon...this is me...the girl who likes to have multiple birthday dinners every year... Why did I ever think that skipping graduation would be ok?
I still have that dress I wore to my high school and undergrad graduation. I think I may just wear it this Saturday...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Final Stretch
In so many facets of my life right now, I am in the final stretch mode.
School: Working on my capstone project with a team as we speak which is due this Saturday. Really, there's nothing more fun than writing a 30 page paper on a topic that you don't completely understand nor have you had any real-life experience on and then turning that 30 pages into a 15 minute presentation. It's so much fun. I recommend it to everyone.
Next week, I'll be working on my take-home final exam, some extra credit work since I failed the mid-term and hopefully by Thursday night next week, I'll be a free woman with a nice master's degree. Yays!
Biggest Loser: Only two and a half weeks remaining on this silly competition. Please tell me why I put up $50 for this knowing fully well that it would coincide with finals? To top it off, I'm basically already at my ideal weight and really don't feel like losing any more. I guess toning up might not be such a bad thing but being cranky 'cause I can't eat anything I like and having to do all this work is not such a great combination.
HGTV: Joe and I are at the "final rounds" (I think) of determining whether we're ready for tv. A producer's assistant is visiting us on Sunday to do a casting video and see if we're comfortable being in front of a camera. What do I wear??
Housing Situation: Joe and I are quickly approaching the end our current apartment lease. We had originally planned to resign a lease on a 2 bedroom with Joyce and Bernard but our apartment building is requiring that we sign a 14 month lease. ...not really a good idea if we want to get a piece of the "stimulus" package since the deadline for the First Time Homebuyer's credit is on Nov 30th. So goes our search for an apartment YET AGAIN that will allow us to do a 6 month lease instead for cheap. Looks like we're moving again! Anyone wanna help??? As usual, I will feed you! Promise! (Patrick??)
Is it Friday yet??
School: Working on my capstone project with a team as we speak which is due this Saturday. Really, there's nothing more fun than writing a 30 page paper on a topic that you don't completely understand nor have you had any real-life experience on and then turning that 30 pages into a 15 minute presentation. It's so much fun. I recommend it to everyone.
Next week, I'll be working on my take-home final exam, some extra credit work since I failed the mid-term and hopefully by Thursday night next week, I'll be a free woman with a nice master's degree. Yays!
Biggest Loser: Only two and a half weeks remaining on this silly competition. Please tell me why I put up $50 for this knowing fully well that it would coincide with finals? To top it off, I'm basically already at my ideal weight and really don't feel like losing any more. I guess toning up might not be such a bad thing but being cranky 'cause I can't eat anything I like and having to do all this work is not such a great combination.
HGTV: Joe and I are at the "final rounds" (I think) of determining whether we're ready for tv. A producer's assistant is visiting us on Sunday to do a casting video and see if we're comfortable being in front of a camera. What do I wear??
Housing Situation: Joe and I are quickly approaching the end our current apartment lease. We had originally planned to resign a lease on a 2 bedroom with Joyce and Bernard but our apartment building is requiring that we sign a 14 month lease. ...not really a good idea if we want to get a piece of the "stimulus" package since the deadline for the First Time Homebuyer's credit is on Nov 30th. So goes our search for an apartment YET AGAIN that will allow us to do a 6 month lease instead for cheap. Looks like we're moving again! Anyone wanna help??? As usual, I will feed you! Promise! (Patrick??)
Is it Friday yet??
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Are We TV Ready?
To our surprise and excitement, HGTV actually thought that our application was interesting enough to call us for a phone interview. Even more surprising was that they thought we were funny...funny enough to send someone to our apartment and film a casting video.
What started as something to do for fun ended up kicking our home search into high gear...and started making us seriously think if we'd be even comfortable being in front of the camera through this very stressful process.
Would we bicker worse than Jon and Kate??
Will Joe be able to reduce his average of 3 f-words per sentence to none?
Will I look FAT on TV??
Perhaps what concerns us the most is the pressure to buy. Joe and I were thinking minimum 6 months to find a home...more ideally 12 months. Although it wouldn't be impossible to buy sooner, Joe especially hates feeling rushed.
At least through this, we have started on a good path of doing some upfront research like what can we realistically afford. We spoke to a mortgage broker who analyzed our finances and credit report and assured us that our max budget was well below the absolute maximum amount of house we can afford. Our agent also gave us a run down of the process of buying a home and possible complications and stress that comes with it.
If anything...even if we batch the casting video and they decide we're not so funny and interesting after all...at least it opened up the conversation between the two of us...not only about purchasing a home but all the other important things that go along with signing a mortgage together. At least we now know that purchasing a home isn't completely out of our reach.
I hope this all works out for the best =)
What started as something to do for fun ended up kicking our home search into high gear...and started making us seriously think if we'd be even comfortable being in front of the camera through this very stressful process.
Would we bicker worse than Jon and Kate??
Will Joe be able to reduce his average of 3 f-words per sentence to none?
Will I look FAT on TV??
Perhaps what concerns us the most is the pressure to buy. Joe and I were thinking minimum 6 months to find a home...more ideally 12 months. Although it wouldn't be impossible to buy sooner, Joe especially hates feeling rushed.
At least through this, we have started on a good path of doing some upfront research like what can we realistically afford. We spoke to a mortgage broker who analyzed our finances and credit report and assured us that our max budget was well below the absolute maximum amount of house we can afford. Our agent also gave us a run down of the process of buying a home and possible complications and stress that comes with it.
If anything...even if we batch the casting video and they decide we're not so funny and interesting after all...at least it opened up the conversation between the two of us...not only about purchasing a home but all the other important things that go along with signing a mortgage together. At least we now know that purchasing a home isn't completely out of our reach.
I hope this all works out for the best =)
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Exciting things to come....
YAy! I finally got up early this morning to work out. I only got to do 30 min on the elliptical but hopefully tomorrow, I’ll be able to do more. My body really just doesn’t want to function early in the morning. Later tonight, more boot camp and abs after I get my homework done.
Some exciting news…I heard back from HGTV’s “My First Place”! They wanted more information from us and a couple of pictures. It would be so cool if they were to pick us to be on the show. Joe and I will definitely have to tone down the bickering. Lol.
Not much to write about today. Lots of things to do at work and LOTS of things to do for school. TWO MORE WEEKS!! …and I’ll finally be a “master” at something!
Some exciting news…I heard back from HGTV’s “My First Place”! They wanted more information from us and a couple of pictures. It would be so cool if they were to pick us to be on the show. Joe and I will definitely have to tone down the bickering. Lol.
Not much to write about today. Lots of things to do at work and LOTS of things to do for school. TWO MORE WEEKS!! …and I’ll finally be a “master” at something!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Body Image
There is an evolution that occurs in almost all facets of life. Values, goals, friendships, relationships, family dynamic, careers….and the list goes on..
Ok I lost my train of though. Back to more meaningless blogs….
It’s 3 and a half weeks away from our biggest loser weigh in and basically everyone but Joyce didn’t seriously start working out and watching what they eat until this past Monday. I think so far I’ve been doing well but certainly haven’t attacked this like the St. Thomas trip. Last night’s attempt to be healthy failed of course since it was Cinco de Mayo. I met up with friends for Noel’s bday and had sweet drinks and quesadillas. At least I didn’t have any chips! Thanks to Melis for remembering to slap my hand whenever I’d reach for one.
I at least got a good 3-mile run before going out so I hope that helped a little.
I’m still struggling to get up in the morning to work out. That was key during my last workout phase. Today I was soooooo close! I really did almost get up to work out as soon as my alarm went off. But my eyes felt so weighed down. Ugh. Tomorrow….. tomorrow is another day and I’ll try really hard to get up to run or do a boot camp workout with Bob.
This morning, I got a slight burst of motivation as I was trying to figure out what to wear to work. Back when I first started my internship at MDA, I bought my very first suit set from Ann Taylor. It was a really nice black pencil skirt suit that I still have today. Unfortunately, it’s a size 0 and I can’t fit into it anymore. Just for fun, I decided to try on the skirt today and lo and behold, it zipped all the way up! Still slightly tight especially since I still hadn’t eaten anything this morning yet so I decided to hang it back up and wear something else. But at least, I found my “goal” piece of clothing for this darn competition.
Ok I lost my train of though. Back to more meaningless blogs….
It’s 3 and a half weeks away from our biggest loser weigh in and basically everyone but Joyce didn’t seriously start working out and watching what they eat until this past Monday. I think so far I’ve been doing well but certainly haven’t attacked this like the St. Thomas trip. Last night’s attempt to be healthy failed of course since it was Cinco de Mayo. I met up with friends for Noel’s bday and had sweet drinks and quesadillas. At least I didn’t have any chips! Thanks to Melis for remembering to slap my hand whenever I’d reach for one.
I at least got a good 3-mile run before going out so I hope that helped a little.
I’m still struggling to get up in the morning to work out. That was key during my last workout phase. Today I was soooooo close! I really did almost get up to work out as soon as my alarm went off. But my eyes felt so weighed down. Ugh. Tomorrow….. tomorrow is another day and I’ll try really hard to get up to run or do a boot camp workout with Bob.
This morning, I got a slight burst of motivation as I was trying to figure out what to wear to work. Back when I first started my internship at MDA, I bought my very first suit set from Ann Taylor. It was a really nice black pencil skirt suit that I still have today. Unfortunately, it’s a size 0 and I can’t fit into it anymore. Just for fun, I decided to try on the skirt today and lo and behold, it zipped all the way up! Still slightly tight especially since I still hadn’t eaten anything this morning yet so I decided to hang it back up and wear something else. But at least, I found my “goal” piece of clothing for this darn competition.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
My Daily Commute
It's 7:30 am and I've been hitting snooze button since 6am. I always set it at 6 because of one of these days, I'll miraculously get up and go to the gym for a quick run and a full breakfast before getting ready for work. But that never happens.
It's 7:30 am and I'm suppose to be ready for the 7:45 shuttle to the Pentagon City stop. Sometimes I make it, somestimes (like today) I don't. On the days that I do make it, I usually realize by the time I get to work that I've somehow forgotten my laptop at home...which means I have to go back to get it. Doh! And mind you, getting to work doesn't just mean taking a shuttle. Once the shuttle drops me off Pentagon city i still have to go one stop over to Crystal City followed by a half-mile walk to work. I know, it's only half a mile. But that's half a mile in high heels. And No, I won't be that lady in a pencil skirt and sneakers. And to add to my blisters, I'm usually sweating profusely by the time I get to work so I have go to the bathroom to take my top off and flap it around so it dries a little. Ok, that was probably a little tmi....
However, going to work isn't always as bad as I made it seem. Sometimes when there's really bad traffic on 395, I'm happy because I get an extra 15 min nap in the shuttle. Sometimes, Joe is nice enough to drive me to work. Sometimes when I'm feeling energetic, I power walk to work and count how many suckers I've overtaken on my half-mile stretch. lol. It's my little morning amusement.
A cup of green tea with honey...
Fruits and a hard boiled egg...
and that's how I start my day.
It's 7:30 am and I'm suppose to be ready for the 7:45 shuttle to the Pentagon City stop. Sometimes I make it, somestimes (like today) I don't. On the days that I do make it, I usually realize by the time I get to work that I've somehow forgotten my laptop at home...which means I have to go back to get it. Doh! And mind you, getting to work doesn't just mean taking a shuttle. Once the shuttle drops me off Pentagon city i still have to go one stop over to Crystal City followed by a half-mile walk to work. I know, it's only half a mile. But that's half a mile in high heels. And No, I won't be that lady in a pencil skirt and sneakers. And to add to my blisters, I'm usually sweating profusely by the time I get to work so I have go to the bathroom to take my top off and flap it around so it dries a little. Ok, that was probably a little tmi....
However, going to work isn't always as bad as I made it seem. Sometimes when there's really bad traffic on 395, I'm happy because I get an extra 15 min nap in the shuttle. Sometimes, Joe is nice enough to drive me to work. Sometimes when I'm feeling energetic, I power walk to work and count how many suckers I've overtaken on my half-mile stretch. lol. It's my little morning amusement.
A cup of green tea with honey...
Fruits and a hard boiled egg...
and that's how I start my day.
Monday, May 4, 2009
I Think I'm Addicted to Blogging Again
Yikes! Two posts today already? For those that may wonder, I do work. I really do! It's just that I'm running this simulation at work and each one takes an hour and a half to finish...and I have to run multiple ones so I can gather data about its performance. Alright, i'll stop being a dork now.
Anyway, I've decided to join Raytheon's team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on June 6th. It's a 5k walk/run to benefit breast cancer research in the DC area (but about 25% of the proceeds go to breast cancer efforts in third world countries). My goal is to raise $125. If you would like to donate, you can go here: http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/GlobalRaceForTheCure/GlobalRace?px=5180150&pg=personal&fr_id=1140&et=dACiXoYpvXs1Od7kR3Ri2g..&s_tafId=19070
Oh and I think I have a real estate agent now! I told him I probably won't buy for another year but I still wanna look around and figure out what I want. After all, I need to save A TON of money first....and I have to do that by not dining out so much. I'm already looking forward to cooking each meal actually. Last night, I made hamburgers and potato wedges. Tonight, grilled chicken and salad. On Wednesday, I'm gonna try out the chicken cordon bleu recipe that Tien sent me. Then maybe on Thurs night (for Friday's dinner), I can try something on the slow cooker again. Gotta make use of all these kitchen appliances I've accumulated!
Anyway, I've decided to join Raytheon's team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on June 6th. It's a 5k walk/run to benefit breast cancer research in the DC area (but about 25% of the proceeds go to breast cancer efforts in third world countries). My goal is to raise $125. If you would like to donate, you can go here: http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/GlobalRaceForTheCure/GlobalRace?px=5180150&pg=personal&fr_id=1140&et=dACiXoYpvXs1Od7kR3Ri2g..&s_tafId=19070
Oh and I think I have a real estate agent now! I told him I probably won't buy for another year but I still wanna look around and figure out what I want. After all, I need to save A TON of money first....and I have to do that by not dining out so much. I'm already looking forward to cooking each meal actually. Last night, I made hamburgers and potato wedges. Tonight, grilled chicken and salad. On Wednesday, I'm gonna try out the chicken cordon bleu recipe that Tien sent me. Then maybe on Thurs night (for Friday's dinner), I can try something on the slow cooker again. Gotta make use of all these kitchen appliances I've accumulated!
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