I guess this is Happy Holidays

Amazon purchase:

- 2 books so I can start my 2nd semester reading over break (yes I realize I still have 4 papers to finish for this semester)

- 1 sufjan christmas album in attempts to enjoy my "holiday" reading.

I just love getting emails with assignments for January from my professor when I haven't written my paper for next week yet!

In the mean time, I did get to enjoy one lovely homework free day. I think I did a decent job of not even thinking about my homework much.

Yep, that's a veggie friendly Thanksgiving you see there. Except for the pig-in-a-blankets we had as appetizers :)

Thanks to Rob and Meg for hosting! This was the second year in a row of celebrating Thanksgiving with friends in the city. We're pretty much a family now with traditions (the pig-in-a-blankets) and rowdy games.

twilight with a british accent

So this is the only way I'll probably "read" these books. Not because I think I would hate them. The truth is I would probably love them. But a few years ago I gave into Harry Potter and that is enough of an addiction to youth-novels-turned-movies for me.

Anyways, I know just enough about Twilight to think this is hilarious. Plus I have a weakness for British accents.

Check out his youtube page, chapter 2 is available as well!

survival

In undergrad I survived off of naps. 20 minute naps, 4 hour naps, you name it...they happened several times a week (maybe even several times a day).

I made a conscious decision to not take naps in grad school.** So now I survive off of coffee, and boy do I love coffee! Until today, when even my coffee wasn't enough and I took my first grad school nap. It was just an hour, but when I woke up it was dark out (430 pm). Then I wondered if I could sleep all the way til morning if I tried. I'm not trying. I'm awake and about to do some reading.

Just three more papers, a take home, and lots of coffee until I'm done with my first full semester. I'm surviving.

**I also made the conscious decision to get up on time every day and do my school work like a job, 9-5. I haven't really gotten into that routine yet but am still trying.

I am a grad student.

I was having trouble owning that statement for awhile. I was getting discouraged by the amount of work I was doing and the little feedback. I also began to feel selfish, because all of my energy is getting focused on my classes and my degree. Then a couple of weeks ago I started missing my job. And yes, I hear you calling me crazy. But I miss working for people everyday and just being a student, for myself, was becoming unfulfilling. I was doubting myself- my interest and my abilities.

Well, this week I got the first round of feedback (grades) in all four of my classes. And it was good! I'm not bragging. It wasn't the best, and I have a lot to learn still. But it was the confidence boost I needed to keep going. So onward I go!

A lot of my classmates have to do rewrites of their papers. A fortunate situation because their old grade gets thrown out, but an extremely frustrating one as well. I am thinking about these classmates a lot as I begin to focus on my next round of papers, and they still have old ones to write.

good morning saturday

Target has always been a dangerous place for me. For every one thing I need I usually end up with 3 more. Well, this morning I went with the sole purpose of purchasing The Breakfast Club so I can write my paper. (would you believe Blockbuster didn't have it?) Well, on my way in to the store I remembered that I also needed band aids.

Needless to say I left Target a half hour later with:

The Breakfast Club

bandaids

milk (to make scrambled eggs)

t-shirt (it was on sale)

purse (it was on clearance)

Grande Starbucks Coffee

Best part? I got a coupon with my receipt for a buy-one, get-one latte. This will be used on my next Target date with Sarah F.