Life Update 2.0

Lauren, has requested another life update. Thanks for thinking of me lovely. :)

I have been on a bit of a break from blogging. Not because I don't love to put down my thoughts, events, etc., but because I have been way too stinkin busy.

Real Estate

For 12 days in September, I crammed 90 hours worth of education down my throat. In addition to my part time job? I was way busier then than most 2 week intervals in college.

Then I spent hours and hours between the end of my class, September 18th, and yesterday, cramming for the exams. 1 school exam (average of 3 attempts before someone passes- I did it on the first shot - woo hoo!), 1 national exam (pretty easy based off my previous studying) and 1 state exam (see national exam). I finished with my testing yesterday! woo hoo!

Thhhhheeeeennnn the 6 additional hours you have to take, finished that this last Saturday [awesome Saturday. sarcasm intended.]

I interviewed brokers. 3 to be exact. [If you don't know, interviewing brokers (the person who is, sort of, legally responsible for a real estate agent) is not like interviewing for any other job. Instead of them interviewing me, it's more like me interviewing them. So all in all, a pretty awesome experience.] I met with one good broker, 1 horrible one, and 1 absolutely fantastic one. Guess which one I went with. That's right, absolutely fantastic brokerage. More specifically,

I am absolutely extatic about choosing KW, and the Biltmore Partners seem to be a perfect fit for me.

Licensing

You don't just become a RE agent over night, too bad, hunh? but I have completed most of what I need done. In fact, I hope to be licensed tomorrow!!

Life

In spite of the fact that I have been crazy busy and absolutely overwhelmed, life is fantastic.
-This past Friday we celebrated Brandon, Dad and Grandfather's birthdays. It was really nice to have the family together.

-I spent this past Saturday evening with Cammie and Nicki, eating confusing pitas and seeing What's your number? Absolutely hilarious and it was wonderful to spend time with ma ladies.
-I was in Tucson just over a week ago, which was also fantastic. [see separate post when I'm blogging from home] and this upcoming weekend Nicki and I will be rendezvousing in California at Disneyland in celebration of her birthday! [believe me, there will be pictures]
-A pretty fantastic group of us are planning a half marathon at Disney next September [which my mom has started training for and I'm so proud of her].
-Dustin is fantabulous- and doing so stinkin well at his new job :)
-Nicki and I got to visit Kieren about a month ago, her little Clara is just so precious!!! Also, her new place has so much space! It's a pretty wonderful place.

looks like someone missed the stripes memo

Ma Face/Body

As you probably remember from these Frankenstein pictures, I was in a pretty gnarly accident. Well, I'm lookin a little bit better! I've finished 6 weeks of physical therapy, and finally was able to run my first mile this past Monday (and again with mom yesterday). Welcome back knee!!! Although, I would like to say when I was in Tucson, peeps felt it necessary to rub my scar without my offer/their asking. you're weird.

Ehhh, that's enough for now. How about I just become a little bit more regular on my posting? deal.

What does your life update look like?

Bet you didn't know

I'm a bit of a prankster.

Some of my most memorable pranks include peeing in a cup and making a faux olive out of a grape and placing it in a toilet filled with ice (circe 200and5ish? with Nicki and Sarah).

It would also include putting this sign on the adpi microwave. Please note that no one actually did this. But the reactions to the sign was probs the best thing in existence.

Today I had dinner with Kieren and Amanda. It was so great to catch up with them!

Pi love!

State Day

State Day is where the ADPi's in Arizona get together in Phoenix to celebrate the foundation of Alpha Delta Pi and to initiate the senior members into their Alumnae status.

The ADPi's from U of A (the delta gamma chapter)

Both the Delta Gamma chapter and the Gamma Rho chapter (ASU)

It was beautiful.

Then we decided to surprise Kieren at her house, but she wasn't there. So the package of post-its in my purse was the only option.

love you.

memories.

My Birthday

My actual birthday was wonderful, but I think all of the pictures are on my moms camera.

Dustin and I went home to visit my family, which was lovely, as per usual.

We all went out bowling and then had dinner at my house afterward. I love time with the family. I'm a very blessed girl.

Lastly, Dustin and I stopped by the Clarkson home for some pizookies. = yummy in a weird way.

It was a fabulous day.

birth. 

A little one on the way

Not mine, but little Mrs. Kieren's.

So Nicki and I decided to throw her an Alpha Delta Pi baby shower.

Diaper Cake 

Nicki's Cake

 Julie made the guess the jelly bean game

 pre punch

 gifts and prizes

 Kieren and the little one

 party guests

 more of the party ladies

 guess the circumference game

It turned out so nicely.

I am so excited to meet little Kieren

new life

Senior year, last semester

Thanks to a few people who make my life so absolutely fabulous. 


Especially over the past few weeks. 

makin' it count

:)

30 day photo challenge: Day 16

Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you

Kieren.

She is a wonderful friend, wife, follower of Christ, daughter, and person. I'm very lucky to call her a friend.

day sixteen.

Confession Wednesdays: 13

Okay, so it's Thursday, but I've been so bad at blogging that I get to post a little late.

I am so excited for Thanksgiving break.

To see family.
The Johnsons.
The Allens. and Weston!
Hopefully some Kieren time.
Food.
Hair cut.
A break from school.

Going out.

Staying in.

The whole 9 yards.

bring it on.

More birthday celebration

So, Nickis birthday was celebrated a few different times.

You've already seen it here, but this celebration included Dustin, Kier, and Anson as well!

We went to The Cheesecake Factory on Friday October 1 for some deliciousness.

Nicki- smiling/wish making

We talked about everything under the sun- and for the record I still love all the Twilight movies as well as the Saw series. :)

Happy birthday girl!

they're awesome. love you girls.

Great times with great people.

celebrations.

Wet n' Wild

The day after our birthday celebration extravaganza the family went with the Johnsons to Wet n' Wild. SO much fun!

B-randon and myself.

That night I got to spend some high quality time with Nicki and Kieren. :) We watched silly videos, talked about everything under the sun, and played around with the dark side of the zodiac. Love you girls!

friendships.

And most recently

I was in Phoenix for the past few days.

Tuesday night Brandon and I spent about 5 hours at Brennans(a pub by our house), playing pool. It was really nice to get to spend time with just the 2 of us- I think he may actually like me. :)

Wednesday was busy- as I feel the my times in Phoenix always are with so many people to see.

Lunch with Amanda was reeeaaalllllyyy nice. We absolutely never get time with just the 2 of us and it was a real treat. :) Im excited to get some time this year to come up and visit her at NAU! fun fun fun.

Then I went to Kierens for a few hours- we strolled around Fashion Square Mall and had a delicious caramel apple. YUM!

That night I spent with my family having dinner and watching SYTYCD (which is maybe the 2nd time Ive seen the show in 3 years- it makes me too sad). I also got some knit on, which has also been forever.

Thursday I had lunch with Nicki and Kieren- where we decided to start a book club. Awesome idea! I think it will give us another way to bond and to stay close. :)

Now I back in Tucson... for .5 seconds. Tomorrow morning I go back to Phoenix for the day, then Sunday Im leaving for a week with the Hendersons in Palm Springs! exciting!!!

catch up.

Fathers Day Weekend

Happy Fathers Day!

This weekend was awesome! Dustin and I went up to Phoenix Friday night and had a blast with the fam and friends on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday

Not fathers day, but our day to celebrate (Grandfather was busy on Sunday). The guys went out to play golf in the morning so mom and I hit the hair salon. yes!

Taken by Dustin, the guys on the green

After we all met at grandfathers and I made dinner. My inspiration, Kierens Tin Foil Chicken. Since I did not use tin foil Im just going to call it Chicken Marinara Bake. Tutorial later. :) But here it is!

I call this one, delicious.

That evening we went to Mark, Nicky, and Kaylas house for some grillin and swimmin. AWESOME. It was a ton of fun and I am so glad we have them as such wonderful friends.

Scuba Steve... er... Dustin

Grill Master Nicky

Worlds biggest lap dog, Bella

My brother :)

One of a million chicken fights, girls against guys!

Sunday

-Sleep in (much needed)

-Wash my car (which I think I have found a proper name- Chauncey, because the car looks like a fat man wearing a tuxedo)

Chauncey

-Watch US Open and some Fifa World Cup

-Relax some more

-Dinner with Kieren and Anson at their house! Always love spending time with her, especially when it's few and far in between

The ever fabulous Kieren

What an incredible weekend!

love life.

babies

In the movies there is always a girl who knows a million people who are getting married or having kids.... and feels left out... bam.

Me.

What is ironic is that I don't want to get married or have kids, right now. But it just gives you that yearning feeling.

Maybe that's the point. So when it is your turn it makes it that much better.

In the mean time, congratulations everyone. Specifically Kieren. :]

The most wonderful weekend ever. :]

So I just had the most wonderful weekend ever.

Friday-

Got ready for moms party, got our nails, toes, and eye brows done together, and had dinner with Jan, Chris, Dustin, and our family. :] We went to Los Olivos- we had such a great time. Our parents really hit it off. Plus I ordered a margarita. double coolness. After the party, I went home and worked on moms cake for a million years.

Saturday- Got ready for the party from 8 am until 7 pm. :] Then the party began. So many people came- Kirk, Nancy, Grandfather and Sally, Susan, Cammie, Cari, The Shermans, Tracy and Anna, Nicki and Cindy, Dustin, Jan and Chris, Kieren, Jules, Jane and Jerry Capadice, and Bee and Mike, Amanda, Tony and Melissa. It was absolutely fabulous! The food was great, the wine was a big hit, everyone loved the cake, and I got to spend some high quality time with my good friends and family. Here are some more pictures (I'll put more up when I get some from my mom- I didn't actually get to take a lot of pictures.

Then Julie, Cammie, and Dustin spent the night and we played six cups and a die, as well as kings cup with my wasted mom. :] it was hilarious. She opened her gifts, and then in the morning she had to re-open them all because she couldn't remember a thing.

Well that is a pretty good recap of my weekend. Oh! Dustin wrote something like this in my moms birthday card- Its been such a blessing getting to know your daughter and it means the world to Kelly and I that you met my parents this weekend. :] Precious.

Uncle Eric is still in the hospital- everyday is an up and down roller coaster.

memories.

wedding

Kieren is getting married in a month and a half.

I can hardly wait.

love.

Whats new?

So whats new?

Im doing the Panhellenic thing now... and I love it. It's so much easier than my last position at ADPi (MEVP), I get paid, have more free time, the prestige that comes along with the title, the chance to make a difference in the community, the opportunity to be a leader and positive role model for other sorority women, etc. Basically so far so good. I have already- had the deans list ad designed and printed in the daily wildcat and made a 27 page academic resource manual for all 4 councils (PHC, IFC, NPHC, and USFC). Starting next week I will be having one on one meetings with the scholarship chairs from Panhellenic and begin planning the 4.0 banquet with Graham from IFC. Its going to be awesome!

ADPi is... fabulous but I'm just having a few rough parts. I think once we get into the swing this semester I will be fine. Maybe it's because this is our first week of chapter and now we're finally all back together.

School is good. Im only taking 12 units, and they're all on tuesday and thursday. Fabulous. Nothing to special about the classes tho- I'm just trying to finish up some electives now that I am done with degree number one.

Friends are great. Still love living with Poolsie, and missing brunette number 1 a ton. But good news is that we will all be reunited next weekend at my moms big 50th birthday party!!! But back to Poolsie- it's nice to have a friend I know that I can count on in the good times and bad. :] and I am so glad I will get to live with her for another year and become even closer. Nic Nak is fabulous. We still don't spend as much time together as I would like (I guess that is what you can expect when 2 people who are as busy as we are, don't live together), but whenever we are together its like we never parted. She is such a good, old friend and I am glad Im still so close with her. 9 years... wow.

Family... not so good. UE has been in the ICU for 2 weeks now. His lung collapsed 2 weeks ago- that, plus a mixture of the phenomonia, and lung cancer they diagnosed today- is not good. They'll be discussing more surgery options tomorrow... so we'll see where that goes. I've been home both weekends, but won't be able to go back this weekend. What IS nice is that I will be going home next weekend for my moms birthday party- and will be there Friday-Monday.

Speaking of the party... its going to be INCREDIBLE. I am going to wait to be able to past pictures with the blog... so I'll let the suspense build.

As far as the boy goes... literally all of our friends are breaking up. Todd and Britt started dating 2 weeks before us and broke up a few days ago. So that has me a little on edge. And then today I realized- what if while Dustin is helping Todd recover, from what I can only imagine is sheer devastation, he starts to see the single life as something fabulous? I get that whatever happens, happens- and that God has a plan. BUT, losing Dustin is something I can't even begin to consider. But I guess that's what love is all about. Putting your faith in someone and taking the chance. :]

He is my person.

Well I am going to go for now.

faith.

Winter Break

So I am nearing the end of winter break. tear. BUT it's always exciting to start a new semester.

This winter break has been absolutely incredible. Let me pick up where I left off.

So after Dustin and I came back from Flagstaff we did Christmas gift exchange with my family (Dustin/my family gifts not my gifts for my family). Then Dustin, my mom, and I went to see Avatar (it was alright).

He left on Christmas eve and I spend the day with my family.

Christmas Day was wonderful, as always. This year we had Sarah, Brandons girl friend, joining us. For Christmas I got a Forever 21 giftcard, a new double breasted pea coat, a blow drier, fishing pole, scarf, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on DVD, cute ballet flats, an amazing robe, a bowling ball and bowling shoes from Uncle Eric, and much more. :]

My family all enjoyed the gifts I gave them which included Vans and a new Joe doll for my brother (to replace the one I ripped), "The Sprinkler Guy" stuff for my dad, workout shoes, a bunch of different things for the kitchen (including new glasses, flour canisters, dish drier, etc.), a workout DVD, and more. I got my uncle a NPR map and made him a picture frame, and my grandfather a grandparents journal where he can write down past memories of his childhood, marriage with nana, etc.- as well as give me advice for the future.

Uncle Eric came over around 11 and stayed until around 2. It is always nice to spend time with him. :]

Grandfather and Sally came over for dinner/lunch which was nice because we didn't think Grandfather was going to be able to make it over (he had gotten sick on his vacation). It was especially nice because I was able to actually have a conversation with Grandfather without Sally interrupting (Thanks to mom and dad for keeping her occupied).

The rest of the day was lovely. I got to see the Reeds before leaving for California which I did on the 28th.

San Diego-

Some of the big events included, New Years eve with Dustin and his friends at Dustins house(31st), snowboarding at Bear Mountain(29th), Playing games with Dustin and Jan, having lunch with Judge and Mrs. Harelson, the Holiday Bowl (30th), strolling around this fancy mall, and just spending time together.

Having small breaks from one another makes our time together that much more special and makes me realize how much I love him and what a huge part he is in my life.

When I got back from Cali I had lunch with Brunette 1 and 2. Most wonderful. We also did some math and figured out we have monthly visits planned for at least the rest of the semester. Wonderful. :] Love them.

I went shopping with my mom and her friend Susan, fun. And we saw Nine (the Chicago like movie- it was good but I like Chicago better). My mom and I got into a pretty bad fight about nothing (but then got over it and went to Church together). We bowled with Uncle Eric (I'm going again tomorrow :]).

My mom was in the hospital for the last 24 hours (we thought she was having a heart attack). They ran a bunch of tests on her and they concluded they think her arm being numb is just a flare-up of the arthritis in her neck. So thats good that there isn't anything going on with her heart.

I've been helping out around the house to get ready for moms birthday party... only 1 month from today! Which also, today would have been Nanas birthday. :]

Umm.. I think thats all that has been going on. But don't let that fool you- I have been just as busy as I am when I am in Tucson. Oh! I applied for a job at The Cheesecake Factory (I hate cheesecake. haha). So we'll see what happens with that. Shannon (Dustins 1/2 sister gave me a reference).

Alright well that is all for now.

new year.

Winter Break!

So Winter Break is here... and its been incredible so far...

Dustin and I started out by going to Winterhaven, which was awesome. Its a christmas light display in Tucson.

Alien Christmas house made from recycled goods.

On Friday we went to Phoenix and hung out with my family- its so good to be back around them again.



Saturday mom, Brandon, Dustin, and I went to hike Squaw Peak- wonderful. :] Mom did such an awesome job- she cut 50 minutes off her time from last winter break [this year we did it in 1:40 min.]

At the top with my love.

Saturday night Dustin and I went to the Nutcracker, which was fabulous. I was in it when I was 13, and the first time I went was with my nana when I was 5, so it was really great to be able to go again.

The 3 Muskateers

Mom with the Christmas tree at the top!

The NutcrackerSunday my mom, Dustin, and I attempted to go to church, but my tire blew out on the freeway on the way there. We got it fixed but not in time for church. So we went bowling with my brother and Uncle Eric, and then to the evening service that night.

Bowling with the family

Monday, yesterday, Dustin and I left for Flagstaff. We went to the Grand Canyon for the first time (that we can remember), had dinner at our hotel (Little America), and hang out in our room. We did our gift exchange and that was also terrific. - Oh, by the way, there were about 7 million Asians there, which was interesting because I feel like the asian population in Arizona is low.

Today we were supposed to go snowboarding but the snow was coming down pretty hard. We decided to drive up to the mountain anyway since it is so close, and on our way Dustins car said it was 29 out... what?! To get up the mountain we needed chains, which we didnt have so instead we stopped on the side of the road to play in the snow. :]

Tonight we are going to San Felipes Cantina for dinner, looking at the Christmas lights here at the hotel, playing the new New Moon game Dustin got for me, and just hanging out.

I miss Kieren and Julie like crazy. These last few months formed some of the greatest friends. :] Coming back to ADPi is going to be weird without Kieren there.... but maybe she'll come down and visit Jules and I soon. :]

Well that is all I am going to write for now...

tis the season.

Kierens Poem

I need love.

I am a depressed virgin christmas alien without love.

I hate things.

I am trapped in this room.

Finals suck.

Laundry sucks.

Tucson is gay.

I wish I had furnature.

"Body language"

Serial Killer.

I want to hit myself.

scream.

I like 12 year old boys.

I want to do a terrorist attack on Melissa.

Oh crap nugget.

Starbucks is 17 notches better.

I look like a tool.

1:20 am.

... to be continued...