Down for the count...

Sick. I am so, so sick. This one came completely out of nowhere. I literally woke up Thursday morning with a bit of a scratchy throat, which I dismissed because that happens often. Well, by lunchtime I could barely swallow and once 1:45 hit and I was done with class for the day, I asked The Boy if I could take his car to come home early. Yesterday added a stuffy head and a runny nose, and today piled on all kinds of congestion and a headache. I guess it's a good thing that it happened early (and right before a weekend), because if this was in the middle of the semester with tons of school work or starting on a Monday where I had to deal with this all week... things would not be good. The Boy has been taking wonderful care of me though-- he's been right there with lots of hugs and juice cups and soup deliveries. It's nicer than I could possibly say. For the past two years, whenever I got sick, I just had to kind of cope with things on my own. Now I have him here to take care of me... and that's a wonderful feeling.

Plus he can stomach looking at me, puffy eyes, Vicks smeared under the red nose, scraggly cough and all. That alone gets big points.

I've been super on top of the meals and such. I'm quite the nerd-- I sit in my Thursday class just beyond antsy, hardly being able to wait to leave. Why, you ask? The new grocery store ads come out on Thursdays. I hurry over to the library, snag a computer, and browse for new recipes for the week. This week's menu looks like this:

Southwest Chicken Caesar Salad
Turkey Jack Chimichangas
Chicken and Broccoli with Garlic Sauce
Eggplant Patrice

I'm trying to either completely cut-out or have very few carbs for dinner. Everything this week is completely healthy, which is exciting. We also brought over Brian's elliptical from his parents' house and set it up in our room. It's so nice to be able to come home, if I don't have time to make it to the gym, and just hop on the machine for an hour or so. I'm trying to turn things around and really get back into a healthy swing again. Having the boy for motivation is also super helpful.

My head's feeling pretty foggy now and I can't find my cord to upload pictures from the last couple of weeks, so I'm done for now. More to come later.

first day of school ever... a day too early.

Yesterday morning was my last first day of school EVER.

Well actually... I thought that Tuesday was. Literally. I got up, had my outfit picked out, packed The Boy's lunch, ate breakfast, and loaded myself into the car so he could drop me off at the train. I had my lovely red bag with me and kept thinking that I looked kinda cute. I mean, come on-- it was my LAST first day of school EVER.

So I get to campus, which is totally packed, and I'm thinking "Oh, exciting... all of the little freshmen are in their tour group!" (in the back of my mind I was thinking that I was pretty sure tour groups are finished by the first day of school, but I digress...). I had about an hour to waste before my "first class", so I figured I'd find my building and scope out my classrooms so I'd know where I was going. A tiny red flag (alright, really tiny, more light pinkish) went up when I walked into the quite empty building, which is usually super busy (thanks to a sandwich/coffee shop on the first floor). I headed to the second floor, trying to quiet my flip flops and their noise so that I didn't distract all of the classes going on around me. I then took the elevator to the fourth floor, only to have the doors slide open to reveal... two men laying tile. My first thought was "Now THAT'S going to be inconvenient when classes start in the next hour or so..." It was at this point that I tried to giggle and play off the fact that I was looking for a class that probably wasn't in session. I sweetly asked which way the classrooms were, tiptoed around the corner, and quickly Googled (thank God for the iPhone) "northeastern university first day of class." Sure enough, to my big surprise, it said "classes will begin on Wednesday, September 9, 2009." My jaw dropped.

I emailed The Boy. I called my Dad. I called my Mom. None were all that surprised with me. All laughed extremely hard. I texted my best friend Amanda, who informed me that this move quite possibly topped her setting her alarm for 8pm instead of 8am, resulting in her sleeping through her first college class ever (hahah I remember it and I heart it).

Needless to say, it made yesterday, the actual first day of class, quite anticlimactic.

Also, the biggest thought flashing through my head was of how big, in a fat red marker, I'm going to write "_____'s FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!" on my calendar when I have babies someday. Mama won't mess THEIR big day up, nosir.

So far I've been to my math class and my sixteenth century British literature class.

Math... hm. Math and I are on opposing teams. I quite literally have anxiety attacks when mathematical circumstances/issues/problems are put in front of me. Numbers just do not process in my mind. When The Boy was away at school and I would order takeout, I'd call him so he could figure out my tip. It's quite sad, but at this point I just accept it. It's also sad (and yes, I'm kicking myself now) for the fact that I waited until my last semester of college to take my math class. Mathematical Thinking-- applying logic and math to real world situations. I may just die. Seriously. Not only is it already confusing, after two days of class, but every other kid in there is a freshman. An 18 year old newbie. I'm a 24 year old "get me the hell outta here" veteran. When I saw one girl with "Class of 2013" on her sorority shirt, I thought "Psh, yea right. I just graduated in 2004 and that's like, 9 years from when she'll graduate." Then it sunk in-- I graduated FIVE years ago and 2013 is only FOUR years away. Holy goodness...

My British lit class is going to be challenging, no questions about it. My professor is head of the English department and stressed today during the orientation that she accepts nothing but the best from her students, meaning she gets only the best from her students. It's going to be a lot of writing and reading. I have my other two classes tomorrow, which I'm sort of/ not really looking towards. I'm just so over school and so ready to be getting on with things.

in other news...

I've cooked every night this week. Monday night was Creamy Pork Tenderloin which got fab reviews from The Boy, Tuesday night was Chicken Marsala, last night I used up leftover chicken from Tuesday night to make Chicken Stir-Fry Pitas, and tonight was a WW recipe-- Southwestern Skillet Macaroni and Cheese, which was really good. I promise, I'm going to start taking pictures of the cooking-ness going on. No bad recipes yet though... this is good.

It's really feeling like fall here, which makes me pret-ty excited and happy!! The weather is cooler and the humidity is gone. I was also at Walmart today and they had all of their fall/Halloween decorations out-- love it! I might have also had a PMS-fueled shopping spree before I left because somehow Halloween Oreos, Sour Patch Kids, Coconut M&MS, Goldfish, and a Diet Dr. Pepper made their way into my arms (didn't even have a basket, just freakin' scooped them up as I saw/passed/had to have them). I'd take a picture, but I might have busted into one or three of the items already.

Note to other SPK lovers-- Walmart sells a 30.4 oz bag. If you have tastebuds that can stand it, go for it.

We have fun fall stuff coming up, which also makes me excited. I want to go to a wine fest in Boston at the end of this month, but that plan is tentative. The Boy and I were also invited to our first wedding-related event from HIS side-- his best friend's sister is getting married and they're having an Oktoberfest engagement party for the couple. The invitation came today and I may or may not have already started thinking about cute fall-ish outfits. We're going apple/pumpkin picking once the leaves start to change with Candice and Ricky (and I'd imagine Bridget)... which I heart. Candice also turns 21 in ten days-- also exciting (although it did hit me today that while she's just now turning 21 and being able to drink, I'm turning 24 in December... old.) Nicole gets married on October 10, so we're flying home to Texas for that weekend, which I'm so looking forward to.

On that note, I'm off to look for plane tickets. A month from today I'll be home and I still have no ticket purchased. Ah, procrastination...

hook 'em horns... and TGIF \m/

Ah, it's Friday. Lovely, lovely Friday.

In all honesty, I've done nothing the last four days in this condo and am excited that it's now a three day weekend for the sole fact that I won't have to be alone for the next three days. Then classes start for me on Tuesday and hey!, I'm on my way to graduation.

As you can probably tell, I've had a very uneventful last few days.

This also means I have very little to talk about.

I have cooked dinner every night this week, which has gone quite well. Monday night I turned leftover steak into steak pitas (so good), Tuesday was chicken tenders with rice pilaf, Wednesday night was tacos with black beans and rice, and last night was crockpot macaroni and cheese. While I've enjoyed it and it feels so good to go to the grocery store once and have all of the week's meals planned out... I'm ready for a break. We're ordering in Thai tonight and I'm hoping for either a celebratory bottle of wine or a handful of lovely beers for surviving our first week. I'm really going to start taking pictures of supper... it's kind of the whole point of talking about what I'm cooking.

I can't figure out how to get into a good blog flow like so many of these other bloggers have. I think maybe I'm just not feeling the blogging today.

I'm done. No focus and this is going ab-so-lute-ly nowhere.

An Ikea trip is in store for tomorrow. I'm also making dip for college football kickoff weekend. Perhaps a more exciting blog post will result from that.

Hook 'Em!!

settling in... finally.

Hi y'all.

I figured it was about time that I came up with a blog that everyone can read. I've always written them and just set them to private, since they were more of a personal journal than anything. I kind of like the idea of feedback though, so I'm all for putting myself out there for y'all to get to know. Lots has happened in the last week or so, and is
going to continue happening, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to get started.

The biggest thing of the moment is probably that I moved in with The Boy. Finally, finally we (and his dad) moved me out of my apartment in Boston and over the next few days (seriously... all weekend long) unpacked.

I don't think that I will ever have to go shopping again, because after looking at the amount of clothes that I have... it's a little nauseating. Actually, unpacking all of the clothes was the nauseating part. I can now say that I unpacked six suitcases, two 2-foot high boxes, a duffle bag, and a laundry basket of clothes.

The unpacked suitcases waiting to be hauled off to his parent's house:

Just to give you an idea, this is our closet. What belongs to The Boy? The six or so shirts hanging on the left of the closet, the gray sneakers below them, and the baseball glove on the top shelf:

Left side- Bri. Right side, floor, and top shelf- Katie. Doesn't look too terrible, right?
Ah, let me give you a side view, down the closet, as well:

I know. It's bad. He has no clothes in there yet either.

I've worked so hard to get our room put together, and it's finally just about there. He still has to hang my mirrors, picture frames, his beloved autographed Jon Lester poster, shelves, etc., but other than that, we're just about done (thank goodness).

The view from the door (closet's to the left and behind me):

View from in front of the closet:

I've done laundry and made grocery lists all day, so I'm pumped to head to the store when he gets home from work and pick up everything for our dinners this week. Right now, since I have a lull before classes start, it kind of feels like I'm playing house every day. I wake up in the morning and make The Boy's lunch, then get up/straighten up/clean/do laundry, then just kind of wait for him to get home to start our evening.

Now that I read back on this, my last week or so sounds dreadfully boring. Still reading?

I head back to school a week from today (or tomorrow. Or possibly yesterday. I should probably check that out...), and I have to say that I'm pretty excited about that. I bought my new notebooks this weekend and have my new school bag... I'm ready to start this semester and finish up school forever!!

One thing that I'm really excited about for this blog is posting pictures of what I cook. I have SOO many recipes that I'm going to be trying, and I love reading cooking blogs and seeing the pictures that Bloggers post of their cooking adventures, so I figured what could be more fun than posting my own stuff? Plus, it's almost the fall and I have to admit that there are few things that make me happier than good, hearty, cold weather food.

I'm still training for my half marathon, but I'm going to be picking a spring date, as opposed to the October 4th date that I had previously been working towards. I've hurt my knee recently and it's taking a long time to get back into a rhythm. It's so frustrating, because I can have the best workout and run for 5 or 6 miles, then wake up the next day with absolutely horrible pains in my right knee.

My goal is to update at least every other day, since this is a big way for me to keep the family updated. I'm off to get ready and fold a load of laundry.

And P.S., for anyone who may be interested-- Delilah has adjusted very well and is loving her new home.


**update**
I just uploaded all of my pictures and boy, does it look plain (and a bit messy). Clothes on the bed, thigns on the floor, boxes still unpacked... Like I said though, I'm getting there. Pictures, for sure, when everything's done.