Monday Musings During Hoarders 8.0

Well technically I am watching the Bachelorette for about 11 more minutes then I'll start flipping back and forth between the two.

Currently I am in Richmond but lets back up over the last couple of days to catch up to the present.


So classes ended. And I got to the point where the stress had me crazy. Silly crazy. You know cabin fever crazy. And then the next day I drove 11 hours to Iowa. Which is beau


yall I am too tired to type. I owe you a better post very soon.
please forgive.

Second to Last Day of Our Masters

 

This may or may not have been the same girl that put a t-shirt over her nightgown and came to class.

One day away from being done with coursework. 

ONE DAY MORE!

-cue Les Mis soundtrack-

We're all starting to lose it. The crazy grad student laugh.

Des Monies in two days. Finally.

Remember when I used to blog during Hoarders?

I am avoiding working. I am avoiding my to-do list of school stuff. Just do not want to write anything, read anything, or study anything. Kinda a problem.
So I started watch Hoarders...
So I started cleaning...
So I started packing to take stuff to Iowa.

I have OCD. Period. Fortunately my OCD is a lot more manageable than other peoples-- I am by no means complaining.

I like packing. I really like packing. I like seeing things get organized and I like seeing things in piles. I like it when things are organized by size and type.  Especially books. Really like organized books.  It also feels really good to give stuff away. Things that are in good shape but just not useful to me anymore.

I'm really excited about the next steps in my life. Moving to Des Moines and oh you know Getting Married.

I really like looking out into my apartment and seeing how stuff is starting to disappear into the corner of things packed and ready to go to Des Moines.

All because I started watching Hoarders. Its the most motivating show on television. Now only if I could find a version that could get me to write my thesis.

Sleep No More- the show and the lifestyle

Good Morning!

As I wait for the TRBC livestream to start I am going to blog, drink a cup of coffee, and listen to Studio 360. The theme is - of course - The Book of Mormon [the musical] which is up for 14 Tony Awards tonight. It is everywhere! I wish I could see it live- even though its considered the raunchiest one on Broadway. It is sold out until September. I also want to see the show that is based upon Macbeth-- called Sleep No More.

Let me quote from the S360 website...

The London-based theater company Punchdrunk has transformed 100,000 square feet of New York City warehouse space into a meticulously detailed world — a kind of Macbeth theme park with no signage or maps or instructions.  The result is part art installation, part dance performance, part giant maze: audience members are free to wander through the space and encounter performers as they pass through 100 meticulously designed rooms.

Yes Yes Yes. I would really like to get back to NYC to see a lot of shows.

But instead I am here working on my thesis. Working is a word I use cautiously. I feel like its so huge and never going to be finished. Trying to do my classwork has me tired of working once it comes time to work on the thesis. So yes... I am hoping that once classes are over I can actually want to work on the thesis.

Oh and then wedding planning. Its not happening till August. Its too beyond my priority list right now. Isn't that crazy? That my wedding doesn't rank high priority on my to-do list. That is strange to me. I am so excited for the wedding, and I have problems being excited about the planning because I feel like I should be working on other things instead-- namely school work.

So my joke has become "Is it November 1st, Yet?" because then I will be married and beginning post-graduate school life. Its a super true statement. But sad to me. This is supposed to be an exciting time and school is kind of marring it for me. Working on this feeling. Working on it.

Today I'll watch some TRBC - the sermons might be lacking but the music is so amazing- on the webcast. I have a paper to finish, six or so articles to read, a reflection to write, another book to start and then spend what might be left of the day watching "I am a Mormon" videos and analyzing how they portray womenhood. This is chapter two. I have lots to do. And I worked 6 hours yesterday. :) The plight of a graduate student. None of this is unique to me. Graduate students I assume all have had these weekends. I signed up for this, I can't complain too much.

Well loves, I have to get started. :) I covet prayers and and thoughts and cookies from The Cookie Jar. Which is a local place that delivers still warm cookies.  Seriously. I would love cookies any time of day. Hahah.

Gotta call Chaser and wake him up -- he's working like crazy too. He's really impressive- his work ethic is amazing.

Dearest Reader,
Thanks for letting me vent. This whole process is hard, and yet I really love it. Crazy.
Lauren

Tuesday!

First I would like to start with this photo:

I love smooshed face animals. So that is a great dog...

And that is an awesome cat.

Okay now that the cheesy stuff is over back to real blogging. I'm going to be honest with my readers, all 30 of you (share with your friends!), I have been having a rough couple of weeks. I got spoiled being with my family and Chase for his graduation and I came back and it was cold, rainy, and lonely. Oh and I had/have a ton of homework to do.

I had always thought myself a "likes my alone time" person. I can only stand me for so long :) And lately I have been blessed to get to hang out with some amazing women (and their husbands!). Parties and cupcakes and tv watching - I just love being with people even if we're just watching tv and that's it... simple as that! 

School < classes themselves> aren't that bad. I really enjoy the professor for my 11-1230 class: Period, Style, and Form. Margaret is hilarious and I just enjoy talking to her and learning from her in general. Today I start my second intensive summer class. I don't really know what it will include but it is about Empathy and its a performance studies class. I'm interested in seeing what the plan will be for the course. That class meets for three hours a day for three weeks. Lots of studying performances. Hehe.

Thesis < the chapters > are planned and in process. Sometimes I find it so hard to work in my apartment because its so dimly lit. And there are so many surfaces I could just snuggle up and fall asleep upon instead of working. So I ventured over to the Wood County library - and was very pleased. It is a big open building with a big glass-ceiling'ed building with AIR CONDITIONING. Sometimes the BGSU library gets really hot and there are so many books I get distracted. Haha. So it looks like the Wood County Library and I are going to be come buddies. Plus they have a HUGE collection of books on tape! I love some books on tape.

The Wedding is getting closer. Save the Dates have been sent and as of yesterday invitations are designed and just waiting to be printed. It was a really stressful process for me to pick invites. First, THEY ARE CRAZY EXPENSIVE! Second, I wanted to make everyone happy. Third, I''m kind of a spaz. But Mom, Dad, and Chase empowered me to pick WHATEVER I wanted and with some help from of my friends I narrowed it down to four and then picked THE one. Whew.  We're basically at the point where most everything is planned. My mom has done an awesome job. I would not have been able to do any of it with out her. She's really good at finding vendors and things. And she's stylish. Plus, to be frank, its her/Dad's money that is getting spent so I like that she is in the middle of the decision process.  Oh! I found the perfect shoes for the wedding. They are just a little off-white so I will have to have them dyed but I love them. Um. thats all about weddings.

I am working on downsizing my "stuff" here in my apartment to make the move to Iowa. I was very thankful with a fellow BG student bought my bed, my bookcase, my sofa, and some other little things. The Big stuff is SOLD and only has to be moved across the street! Wooohooo. I took a bunch of clothes to the consignment store in town and will make a little money off of them. Not bad, I mean, I would have given them away anyway so why not earn a couple of trips to the DQ in the process. I think I have second set of stuff to take over this week. If youre in BG I suggest you go look at Mosaic (its next to Call of the Canyon) not only have I sold stuff there but I have found some great deals too. Like a beautiful new pair of Jcrew kitten heels.... yummy.  So if anyone needs a TV stand, a computer chair with its mat, or a dresser and lives in BG I can make you a great deal.... and you can save me from Craigslist!

I head back to the eye doctor today. Hope my eyes are going to cooperate so I can get some new contacts and new glasses. Lets keep our fingers crossed, It is supposed to rain today. Hurray! Blech is more like it.

Gotta make my lunch so I can make it through today's long day! Breaking out my little red cooler. Sometimes when I carry it to school people say it looks like I am transporting a kidney. :P

Thats all for now.

How I actually spent my Saturday

So this morning I provided my readers a schedule of what my day was supposed to include:
 

And what it actually looked like is as follows:

8:07- finish blogging
8:15-9:15ish try to read
9:15-10:30 happen to fall asleep
10:30- Go pick up books at the Library
12:00- come home.. read.... sleep
1:40 go to the eye doctor and have him tell me my eyes are being irritated by my contacts so I cannot wear anything on them until Tuesday when I will then go back
3:00 go home. make cupcakes
330 fall asleep
5:15 Go to friends house
830: Eat Cheeseburger
900: starting to get sleepy again and don't feel like blogging.


yep. I'm super exciting.

How to Spend a Saturday:

8:00am- 10:00am:
Work on the opting-out/radical homemaker/Mormon Womanhood section of Chapter 2.

10:00am:
Library Opens. Get in Car. Drive to School. Return Books/Pick up books.

10:30am-1:20pm:
Work/finish Period Style and Form Essay #3 which is due Monday. Begin working on PSF Essay #4.

1:40pm- 4:00pm:
Eye Appointment
Cupcake Making

4:00pm:
Cupcake Eating and Sharing with the Knoell Family.

6:00pm:
Write introduction to Chapter Two.
Keep working on Chapter Two's section on womanhood.

Isn't it exciting. So very very exciting. Hahah. I think I have picked the new glasses I want (I haven't had any in a long time).

This is going to have to count as a blog post. Life is a little crazy and most of the time I feel like I just don't have anything to say.

Except that my Mom is a great wedding planner. She's doing great work. The hardest part of the whole process is that we have soooo many friends from church and school and things like that... trying to limit the guest list is difficult. Plus on top of that, lots of people that are our friends we simply know wont be able to come because it is in the middle of October. I wish there was a way to let them know they'd be invited even if they can't come... Any ideas blog readers?

Okay... I'm eight minutes late. Gotta start reading.

New Blog Post....

coming soon.

Just been spending too much time writing for school-- it makes me not want to write for fun.
Please forgive.
Here's a cute photo to make it all better...

 

See... wasn't that worth it?