The universal balance

I have decided that the universe is balancing itself today...

Getting into Northwestern was a high point, and it put my future into motion. Mark and I are finally able to really think about moving in together. I am so excited to start an adult life with him. I even have dish towels from my Grandma! She's excited to get rid of all the stuff in her storage unit. I am ready to feel like a real adult and take on some more responsibility. The nice thing is that we are not in a rush to get a place. Good ol' LZ is a nice mid point for both of us, although access it 94 is not as easy as it could be. We have been together for over 7 and 1/2 years... it's about time for our "next step".
I have direction in my career as well. I know that I'll be (in three years). No more of this "well, I have this degree in linguistics... what can I get out of that?" I will be a Speech Pathologist and I will have a pretty high chance of getting a decent job after grad school. This is good, considering I will have debt coming out of my ass... but that's Northwestern.

All this good, there has to be some balancing... although all things considering the bad is not nearly as bad as it could be and I'm still coming out on the positive :-)

I happened to leave the windows cracked in my car yesterday. I thought I'd be out shopping and since it was incredibly hot yesterday, and I have a black car, I decided a little air movement in the car would be a good thing. Well, Mark ended up driving and I ended up forgetting about my little cracked windows.... Enter torrential downpour... all night. So to my car, Kit, I'm sorry I let you down... I have learned my lesson for now...
Secondly, I found out this morning that I was moved from one classroom with the teacher I've been working with for 3 years and itty bitty babies (3yr olds) to another 2nd grader classroom for summer school. I"m kinda pissed, but I'm going to try to take it as a new opportunity to learn about working with older kids. I'm pretty sure some of the kids are ones that I had my first year as an aid as well, and I know the teacher too, so that helps.
Like I said, the universal shifts still seem positive over all. I have camping this weekend to look forward to, as long as the rain stays mostly at bay :-)
With that being said, I'm off to do laundry and other last minute packing, etc!

A Cupcake Catalog

I figured I'd put a catalog of some of the cupcakes I've made in the past year. Apologies for the photo quality, all these pics come from my phone. I'll get the ones off of my camera eventually... I promise... maybe...

Turkey Dinner! Complete with peas & carrots, cranberries, and mashed potatoes!

Drunk Elves! Their hats are made of graham crackers!

 

 

Army of chocolate walruses!!

First attempt at cake balls. They were addictive. Like crack. Chocolate covered crack.

Valentine Cakeballs. I believe I made these out of chocolate cake and strawberry frosting. Yummy!

 

First attempt at cupcake shaped cakeballs. I don't know if I'll try them again...

Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting :-)

Cakepop frogs! The tall one is a prince, but you can't really see him... they were made from champagne cake and frosting!

Flowers, along with the frogs, made for a friend for her daughter's engagement party. The petals are marshmallows!

I hope you enjoyed! I know I did! More to come sometime soon.

Here I go again on my own?!

Long time no write. Long time no anything.... I have been super busy with both of my jobs and what's left of my social life. Prom season is finally almost over, so I won't be working a billion hours a week at Mr. Tux anymore, and the school year is coming to a close :-(

I am definitely going to miss all the kids and my co-workers at the school.... I will have to bring my box of tissues. I have learned so much from them and they have been so incredibly kind to me. It is because of them that I decided I wanted to be a speech pathologist when I grow up, because of them I applied to grad school, and because of them I was excepted to Northwestern.

I am so excited to start classes at Northwestern this fall. Going back to school will be interesting... I have been a working girl (oh that sounds bad...) for three years now... getting back into the swing of studying and reading all day is going to be tough. Especially grad school... they expect you to be smart and ready to go. I think I may have to teach myself to study again.

I finally feel like a door has opened to me. I have been waiting for so long to get my break and here it is! It's an expensive break, but it will all pay off in the end. I finally have a valid reason, besides keeping my sanity, to quit Mr. Tux, and Mark and I can start looking for apartments now that we know where I'll be for the next 3 years. The only downside is the insane debt I will amass by going to a top-rated private university, but, like I said, it will all be worth it in the end.

Now, on to cupcake making on this oh so hot day!

Short, sweet, and all my brain can muster for now!

Ciao Bellas!!

Book Nerd!

Yes I am a book nerd, and I've been even more so since I got my Nook :-) I found out that I could "borrow" ebooks from my library, which has been amazing. I have not forgotten my beautiful real books (I am currently reading one now!)
Lately, I have been knee deep in a variety of things...
I finished the Hunger Games series, and loved it. I really enjoyed the series, although I still think the first book was the best. 
I embarked on my first true erotica as well. If guys can watch porn, why can't I read my delicious novels about demon-possessed sexy warriors? The series by Gena Showalter has been dubbed Lords of the Underworld, and although it is teeming with sex, there actually is an intriguing plot based on a revised version of the Pandora's Box myth. I would definitely recommend the books to anyone who likes fantasy-esque novels (or sexy ripped men and Showalter's cheeky writing that makes any girl pant...)
Currently, I have been lent the entire Wicked Lovely series. This one is a  young adult series based on the secret world of faeries. I love the lore that is woven into the modern life of several female lead characters. Melissa Marr likes to play with love triangles and the balance of what we think of as good and evil.

I have also recently become obsessed with the site Goodreads.com. I love how it allows you to see what you've read and what you want to read all in one place. I have been looking for a way to list all those books people recommend me. It also has a great community and lots of ways to find new books to read. I'm a total nerd and I'm okay with that :-)

Well, well... Shame on me

So apparently blogging is not really my thing...
I really should set aside some time to do it more often. Especially since I have lots of adorable pictures of things that i have done recently.
A dear friend has inspired me to upkeep this little nugget of my life a little better.

And so I shall start with my current project list:

-Reading: Lots and lots of reading. Just finished The Hunger Games. What a book. In essence it's really messed up. But that's the point. It really makes you think about where life is headed. In the end of the book I definitely had a moment were I stepped back to look at myself and my life. And society in general. Although the book presents a dystopic society of the future it really has a lot of subliminal comment about the current status of our messed up society's idea of entertainment and the value of a life. Even though this book is marked as "Young Adult" it is definitely a read anyone can relate to. The strong and stubborn female character helps too :-)

-Quilting: Several unfinished projects... I've been a sewing bum after my intense week of costume making. I will eventually put up pictures of the sexiest Jolly Green Giant ever. (Did I ever mention how amazing my boyfriend is for offering to wear tights??) I suppose I have to get working on those projects... I will have several others soon. very soon.

-Cupcakes: my new crafty obsession! With the help of the best decorating books Hello, Cupcake! and What's new, Cupcake? I have become the talk of the town! I will soon hopefully take my new crafting skills and branch out to my own designs. Until then I will continue to replicate the fabulosity of these tasty art projects! Pictures to come!

-Grad School Apps: They are all in! And I'm just waiting for the acceptance (or rejection) letters. I thought doing them was stressful... but my future basically rests in the hands of those who say yea and nay. Le sigh...

Well that's a pretty decent recap for now. I should probably get some sleep... considering I will be the teacher in class tomorrow. It is Fun Friday though, so it should be a fun day!

It just doesn't make sense...

So a grim note to start up the blog again, but I need to get all the thoughts out of my head....

I got a call from the teacher I work with about an hour ago... she informed me that one of the other early childhood teachers had died this weekend. It's a bit of a shock. Something I definitely wasn't expecting to hear. She's so young... like late twenty's I'm guessing. I saw her Thursday at work. And she died of an asthma attack.... apparently only 4,000 people a year die from asthma.

I just can't wrap my head around it... there is no way it makes sense in my head. I'm sure it will hit me walking into work tomorrow morning... and there is a big chance I won't sleep at all tonight. It's just so creepy and wrong and weird.

I don't want to end up seeming inappropriately unemotional at work, which has happened to me in the past, but I suppose I don't know how I will feel. I kind of knew her. I interacted with her. We were supposed to have a room connected with her next year. I was supposed to see her tomorrow at summer school.... It just doesn't make sense, and I hope it does hit me... I think I need to feel something other than confusion right now... even though I know all too well that confusion and denial is supposed to happen it just adds all the more to extended senselessness....

Sew monkey sew!!

So It's been a while... quite a while.... since my last post. Probably due to job 2. I hate that I have no social life (aside from Quizzo every Wednesday) and the job pretty much sucks right now... It's prom season... But I keep telling myself, if I can just get through May all will be well and good. My mom keeps telling me to think of the money. I just keep thinking about how much I miss my pillow...

When I'm not working, I'm sewing. I finished my quilt for Kelly's wedding (left) and now I'm on to another one, as well as a billion other mini projects. I wanted to make my mom some wine glass coasters for mother's day... but I doubt I'll actually have the time to fiddle around to see if the design in my head will actually work.

In other news, my weekend at Purdue was... entertaining to say the least. I would also have to add the words "unexpected" and "ewwwe" to the description.... Lots of drinking... lots of shirtlessness (well, I wasn't shirtless) and a little bit of nasty flood water from the bathroom in the kitchen. The weather was beautiful, my friends' home brew was delicious, and the weekend was an all around winner. It was nice to have a weekend where I didn't actually have to work. But I will basically be bound to Mr. Tux for the rest of May. Okay, I lied a bit, I'm going to Florida for Memorial Day weekend with Mark :-) Hopefully we will go to the over-priced and probably-less-exciting-than-I'm-expecting Disney World.

And now I shall be off to iron and do other un-exciting prep work for my quilt!