As you know, I am working at St. Thomas. This has been a very weird experience for me because on paper it is so similar to Concordia. In reality, they don't have much in common. Almost every day I have a moment that makes me so thankful for my experience at Concordia. It prepared me so well for graduate school and life.
My supervisor is awesome. Her name is Vanessa and she has been my saving grace. I have learned so much from her in the last semester and she has really helped me grow. I also have some pretty cool co-workers, which makes going to work much better. Specifically Caitlin. She was my first St. Thomas friend. We met at visit day for the Leadership in Student Affairs program last year. We are the same age and both from the southwest suburbs. We are also about the same height, so we have a lot in common. Although there are 11 graduate students working at St. Thomas in all different areas, Caitlin works in the Anderson Student Center with me. Unfortunately she is moving to a residence hall next year, but it will just force me to work on my relationship skills.
Which brings me to something I have been struggling with. Life balance. I feel like I never see any friends. I feel like I never see any family. I feel like I never see Josh. Maybe it's because I am grounded to campus every three weeks for ASC duty. Maybe it's because I suck at staying in contact with people. Maybe it's because my car sucks and I don't trust it to drive more than 10 minutes away (I've been home a few times, but it is TERRIFYING driving on 35E... I'm that car in the right lane driving 55 in the 70 zone). Maybe I just suck at staying in contact. I think it's all of the above. Just know that I am trying. I know that I need to try harder, and I'm working on it. I promise I still love you.
This is my personal weakness, heightened by my attempt to balance working full time, going to school full time, planning a wedding, moving closer to home, and still having relationships. Believe me, the situation has caused a few breakdowns.
School. What can I say? I am my usual geeked-out self. I just love school, so much. It is even more fun now that I am studying things that I have a passion for. Last semester I took Introduction to Student Affairs (what is student affairs?), Learning Centered Practice (learning about developmental theory and creating my own theory based on my experiences), and Research Design, Analysis, and Critique (did a research project on the opening of the student center). Most first years do not take the research class. It was very challenging, but I'm glad I did it. It will give me a break next fall semester.
This semester I am taking Future Trends in Student Affairs (what's coming up), Administrative Leadership (how to run student affairs department), and my Internship course (talking about my experiences at the ASC). Things are going well but I really don't like my administrative course. The professor is new to the program and it is very clear. I'm not sure she will be coming back.
Not much more has been done with the wedding. We had met with Byerly's about the cake, but they ended up blowing us off. I recently learned of a friend's cousin (thanks REB!) who happens to be opening a bakery. We met with her and are very excited to work with her (Sunny Cakes, you can look her up on facebook). I am in the process of trying to figure out where I am going to get my hair and makeup done. These two things have been some of the most stressful things so far, which is just ridiculous.
Josh and I printed all of our invitations yesterday and I will be working all week to try to get them put together. Things have gone fairly smoothly so far. Not bad for recovering from the stomach flu last week (which was awful! First time!). Cal's birthday party was fun. He smashed all of his little cake without eating any of it, so cute. Unfortunately this was where I got the flu. Josh, both his parents, and his cousin's boyfriend also got it. Yikes.
On a more pleasant note, I had a surprise visit a few weeks ago (yay Lynpyg!). It was so nice to see a friend that I haven't seen for so long. It also sparked being able to see a few other friends, which was really nice.
Thursday is my birthday and our anniversary. The other day I actually had to count how old I was because I had forgotten. I'm not sure what this says about me, but it may explain the way things have been going for me lately :) Josh and I will have been together for 7 years on Thursday. Not sick of him yet! I have a fun dinner with decorations planned, so keep an eye out for pictures and an update.
In summary, life has been good but crazy, look for invitations soon, and please don't hate me for sucking at being a friend/cousin/sister/daughter/niece/girlfriend right now.
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