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Goodbye Manning

Manning has been my home for the past two years at Clemson. I have lived there, worked there, partied there etc... I did not have a big apartment but it was just right for one person. I felt very comfortable there and it was all mine! This was my first apartment since I had always lived in regular residence halls while at college (which the exception of two months one summer). I moved out two days ago even though I don't graduate till Friday since they are doing major construction and needed everyone out. Not only did I have to move early ... I don't have access to lots of things in my office which makes finishing up everything for the year EXTREMELY difficult! I am not going to lie def on the bitter bus with that one.

Because this is the first and only place that will ever be just mine naturally I was sad to leave. I didn't think I would be as sentimental as I was but I definitely almost cried leaving that apartment. I have such good memories there and the idea that now I will not live on campus anymore is scary. I have never once seen an electric or phone bill. I have never paid for cable or water or really cooked for that matter. I am used to being able to always walk to anything that is necessary AND being a hot second away from a friend when needed. Needless to say, living off campus is going to be a HUGE adjustment. I guess I have to grow up sometime!

Back to Blogging and update on my life!

Ok so I stopped blogging for a long while but I am BACK! I stopped for a combination of reasons mainly because my life has been going at 100 mph and I felt like I was so behind that I couldn't start again. However, I realized how much I love reading other people's blogs and getting to know their stories sooo I should share mine too! I am hoping to have a job soon enough so that I can blog at the office when there is down time (I have an interview tomorrow... prayers needed!!!)

So much has happened since my last post.

Kaylen's Bachlorette Party in NJ/NYC! My last post was all about how I lost my phone BUT the rest of the weekend was AWESOME! We stayed in a sweet hotel in NYC, got ready, had hotel security tell us we were too loud, went to dinner, took pics with NYC firefighters, found an Asian guy named Mike to drive us around in his SUV,went to a sweet club, and overall had a crazy good time. Kaylen was an awesome bachlorette and did almost everything on her scavenger hunt list :) The other miracle is that Tori and I found our way from Manhattan to LaGuardia airport via subway and buses... AND we made our flights!!



Kaylen's Wedding
To say this was an awesome wedding is definitely an understatement ... words cannot to describe! I felt so honored to be apart of her big day and support such an amazing couple. Their ceremony was beautiful and full of love for each other and for God. The reception was an unbelievable party that I will always remember. Daniel danced with me more than he ever has before!!



Three of us getting ready!



Bridal Shower

My bridal shower was such a beautiful display of love! I am so blessed to have such awesome women in my life. A family friend threw the shower for me and worked so hard to make every detail perfect including baking cupcakes that color coordinated with my wedding colors :) My mom surprised me with a limo ride so that we could arrive in style! This was the first time my Mom and Aunt had ever been in a limo :) I was soo excited that my Aunt from Washington State flew out here to come! Unfortunately, she can't come to the wedding but wanted to be apart of the celebrations in some way. I had so much fun getting to spend time with her the day before at Yorktown beach and the day of the shower.




Daniel and Stacey come to Clemson!!

I was so excited to see both of them in Clemson... especially happy that Stacey got to experience Clemson before I moved out. They got here Friday night and we went out downtown... It was a blast! Unfortunately, Stacey got sick :( I felt soooo bad but we went to a movie and played Wii on Saturday night. It was nice to just relax and chill. Sunday morning we went to church and drove to the car dealership to pick out a new car.. and they were closed :( I really should have known this since EVERYTHING is closed around here on Sundays. Honestly, I cannot wait to be somewhere where things are open on Sundays... bring on VA! They were so gracious and helped me move a good amount of stuff (I filled up Daniel's car completely). :) I can't wait to see both of them again!

Surprise Bachlorette Party

Last Thursday, my friends from Clemson and I had planned to have a girls night in Greenville to celebrate the end of the school year. I love going out in Greenville and have felt that we haven't done it enough so I was SOOO excited. We had our last class at a restaurant, went to our supervisor's house for dinner, and then got ready for a girl's night out. We got to the hotel and it was actually a surprise bachlorette party for me complete with the sash, fake ring, sangria, and a scavenger hunt list :) I was SOOO surprised - I had absolutely no idea. We went out and had an awesome time till 5 am! I completed almost everything on my scavenger hunt list EXCEPT for finding someone named Daniel (who would have thought that would be hard????) and getting a police officer to propose to me ... o well I guess I will have to save those things for my next bachlorette party :) I will post pictures as soon as I get them!


More of an update to come in a later post!

I lost my phone ... oooo

Sooo I made it safely to the LaGuardia airport and Kaylen's fiancee Sean picked me up! I was so excited to be here and get this weekend started (well I still am super excited and this weekend is starting in an hour YAYAYAYAY!!) We met Kaylen at this bar called The Office and I got to eat. It was so good to catch up on life, work, and of course our upcoming weddings :) We get into the car and I realize I don't have my phone. I run back into the restaurant and can't find it anywhere. I ask the staff and they are like We haven't seen an iphone all night ... blah blah. I am not too panicked at this point and figure it is probably in Sean's car and I will get it in the am. Sean checks his car and it isn't there... so I am like it has to be at the restaurant and figured I'd call them in the morning. I woke up this morning and called Daniel from Kay's house phone and he did was able to use feature on the phone that can locate it. It was last located at 3 am (probably before it died) on 7th Ave. of Patterson, NJ... I didn't know this but according to Sean that is a really bad area. My phone is officially gone :( I have no idea when or how it got stolen but it definitely did... the good news of the day is 1) I have the best fiancee in the world because he took care of wiping all the information from the phone so nothing got stolen 2)He called AT&T and got all the information needed for me to get a new phone 3)I am eligible for an upgrade so I am just going to get the iPhone3GS YAYAY! All in all its not a terrible situation BUT I will not have a phone for the rest of the weekend so my goal is to not get separated from the group in NYC! Epic stories to come.

Many Travels

This school year has definitely been the year of traveling :) Starting with the trip to Charleston with the love of my life, Tampa Bay for the ACC championship, Jacksonville for AFA conference, Charleston with the Clemson crew, Virginia Beach for Engaged Encounter, New Orleans with my Clemson favs, Greenville for Valentine's day, Williamsburg for SEAHO, and this weekend I am off to NJ/NYC one of my fav's bachlorette party!! YAY! This is definitely going to be an epic weekend. I leave tomorrow around 4 to go to Charlotte, NC then get into LaGuardia at 8 pm. Though she has to go to work on Friday, I am saving a ton of money by flying in a day early and so it is gonna be awesome! More info and of course exciting stories to come.

Shhhh... Don't Ask

So if you don't know, I LOVE politics... I am genuinely obsessed with the news. I watch election results like other people watch football. I read all sorts of online news sources such as USA Today, NY Times, CNN.com etc... I flip through Foxnews, CNN, and sometimes MSNBC every night so that I can get different perspectives. I can tell you every show on cable news from 3 pm on.. It is pretty ridiculous but that is just me. I love to talk about controversial issues and debate with all sorts of people but get frustrated because most people are ill informed. At this point in my life, I am thinking of going to law school and begin working on political campaigns. I am a huge conservative that leans to the libertarian side. I am passionate about conservative issues most of all about government intervention into peoples ordinary lives.

Here is the shocker: I do not understand why conservatives are against repealing "Don't Ask, Don't tell". There is NO good reason to not let gay people serve in the military. I do understand that in a large part this is a generational issue. People my parents age did not grow up around openly gay people and thus have limited exposure to them. They only think of the stereotypes. I keep hearing people say if we let gay people serve openly we might as well get ride of gender specific baracks and bathrooms. As someone who works in gender specific housing, let me tell you that is ridiculous. Gay people live with people of the same gender in university housing ALL over the country and use the same bathrooms. These people are generally accepted members of their communities. Though their roommate might have an initial problem, In two years I have not had ONE person request to move because of sexual orientation (and I know that I have lesbians living in my building). Not only have I not had anyone request, I haven't heard any of my fellow RDs friends having anyone either. Normally, it is the parents that are more upset about their son/daughter roommate being gay then the student is. The fact is is that these communities are not hurt by the sexual orientation of these members...The contrary is normally true. This is not just in housing but LGBT students are more and more frequently joining gender specific Greek letter organizations and I have NEVER heard these organizations complaining that their "unit cohesion" is damaged because of their membership. The only thing that matters is that these people give their time and energy to benefit the organization. Even more so in the military WHO CARES about their sexual orientation if these people are doing their job and keeping us safe?? The idea that people walk around being "scared" of being hit on by fellow soldiers is ridiculous in the light of the fact that men and women have been serving together in the military for a long time. Men and women also live in very tight quarters oversees when deployed. Though I am not a fan of the argument that other countries are doing it (especially in regards to health care), in this case all the military has to do is look at other countries and see how this works for them. I seriously doubt that any of the arguments will hold up.

Wedding Craziness

So the main reason I stayed in town after the conference was too do wedding appointments, on Saturday I met with the lady who is doing the invitations and the wedding planner. My parents came down from Fredericksburg, Daniel's parents were there, and two of my bridesmaids. It was so nice to have everyone in the same place at the same table going over important details. Finally the invitation drama has ended. I am still not happy with the process and will never recommend this lady HOWEVER I am happy with the final product. People should be getting their invitations in two weeks :) SOO excited for that! My coordinator brought everyone schedules of the wedding day broken up by 15 minute intervals. It was awesome to see that she had it together and knew exactly what we were supposed to do. She also went over details such as the cake, limo, timeline, musicians for the ceremony etc. Overall, everything is coming together and I CAN'T WAIT to stop planning my wedding and start living my marriage :)

Feels Like Home

On Tuesday night, I got into Williamsburg, checked into my hotel, and ran to Newport News to meet Daniel. It still amazes me how incredibly happy I am to see him after a few weeks of separation... I still get butterflies and a rush of joy :) We took a night to chill by ourselves, get some drinks, and talk since I knew I would be so busy the next couple days with everything. It is an amazing feeling to have a safe place within a life of uncertainty. I can't wait to have a home together and have that safe environment in one location.
Wednesday night, Daniel and I went over to my Big's house and hung out with her, her new man!, her roommate and her boyfriend. We had cheesecake and played this crazy card came called BANG! ... and yes the conversation did start to deteriorate quickly especially since you had to BANG! people to win. I had heard so much about her guy and her other roommate and so it was awesome to meet them. It was a good time to hang out with two other couples. It is rare that we get to be around other couples since most of the time we are the only one or one of two.
Thursday night, it was two beautiful Zeta ladies birthdays :) I was so excited to see them and a large number of sisters at once!! The second I walked in the door and started hugging everyone, I realized it really was home. I also got to meet a bunch of DT fam that I had never met before. YAY for our family being HUGE!! The birthday girls had a marvelous cake all themed with ZTA and it was great to see them so happy! I got to buy them the traditional birthday shot and take it with them (of course!!). All in all, it was a great night and a few of us stayed till Cheeseburger in Paradise closed.
The conference ended Friday afternoon and so I went to see my Big at her store in Williamsburg. Luckily, she was on her break so we got to talk about lots of good stuff. I then went to visit my best friend since middle school (yes we went to elementary, middle, high, and college together) at her work and see her new apartment. Her new place is soo adorable and I am definitely jealous of it. Maybe one day I will figure out how to keep a place clean and decorate?? I also met one of my fabulous littles at Brickhouse. Brickhouse is one of my favorite bars in Newport News so it was nice to hang out there. We watched the end of the Men's hockey game against Finland (USA! USA!) and got some food. Later that night, I met Daniel at one of our couple friends from his church. Right before I met him though, we got into a big fight mainly because I blew everything out of proportion. I was close to not going but I am glad we were able to put it past us quickly and have a great time. Our friends have been married three years, are super fun, young and one is Catholic and the other is not. They are a great couple to hang out with and talk about life. We had a great time drinking wine and talking about everything from the Olympics to religion.
Saturday during the day was a wedding planning day (I'll save that for another post) and Saturday night was a double date that I have been waiting for since... well honestly since middle school. My best friend and I always fantasized about how we found guys to settle down with we would do stuff as couples all the time. We even joked about having a joint wedding. We went to get drinks, ate Hibachi, and played the electronic version of life which was sooo much fun. All in all, I love her new man and am so happy that we can finally do all the things that we have talked about doing for FOREVER.
Sunday, Daniel and I went to church with a crew and then made brunch after. With all the teasing about how I don't know how to cook, I made the pancakes (yes... I made it with mix but I did all the pouring and flipping) After that, we went for a walk, relaxed until I had to leave.
It was an amazing five days and I was constantly reminded that this is my home and where my heart is!

SEAHO

I have so much to blog about since its been about a week. I'm going to do several different posts about things that happened last week.
I went to my conference in Williamsburg called SEAHO (South Eastern Association of Housing Officers). It was a hard conference to be at since the whole reason I was there was to interview and I didn't have any interviews. However, I was pleasantly surprised that some schools in the area had were anticipating openings in their housing departments. Though this isn't a guaranteed job opening, it gave me a lot of hope. I spent the conference making new connections hoping that they would remember me when a position opened up ... and renewing old relationships at CNU! I spent a long time talking to a Residence Hall Director at ODU. She and I had a great conversation about the position and even her own job search. She shared with me that she was in the exact same position as me just last year (her partner is in the Navy and got stationed at Norfolk Naval). This was beyond encouraging and talking to her was worth it even if I don't get a position. The encouragement allowed me to step back and breathe... I am not in panic mode yet. If it is graduation day and I have no prospects then I might start looking at Starbucks but right now there are possibilities!!!

Favorite Faces in my Favorite Places :)

I am soo excited to be going to SEAHO tomorrow. SEAHO is a regional housing conference for graduate students and professionals who work in the field. I went last year and it was in Birmingham, AL. It was a great time of bonding, learning, and seeing a new city. I participated in the Case Study competition with a great partner. Though we learned a lot, it was a RIDICULOUS amount of work and kind of disappointing because we got ripped apart by the judges. Needless to say, I will not be doing it again and I am sure Forest won't be either:
Here we are at the closing banquet.

We look sooo happy... j/k we were mad that we put so much work into our presentation and didn't get good marks.
This year I was going to do interviews with the schools in Hampton Roads. Unfortunately, no housing jobs are available in the area :( This is a mixed blessing because this year this conference is in Williamsburg :) YAYAYAYAY! Soo the fact that I don't have any interviews means I can spend more time with my wonderful fiance and fabulous friends in the area! I guess I am not completely disappointed especially since I had an interview today and it went really well... so we will see what comes of that. I get to meet my Big's new man, go a ZTA birthday extravaganza, hopefully go to Saddleridge, finish off marriage counseling with our Deacon and see my parents. It is going to be AWESOME. YAY for seeing the people I love!
The other benefit is that I have wedding appointments all day on Saturday. We are going to put in the final invitation order and solidify a lot of other details like menu cards, programs, dress fittings, dance lesson (sssshhh Daniel can't know about that), photobooth, and other stuff. That is going to be a good time especially since all the stress with the invitations is pretty much done and other with. Though I wouldn't recommend this vendor at ALL, I think I am going to be happy with them in the end. To top off the greatness of Saturday, I am going on a double date with my best friend and her new boyfriend. I have been waiting our whole lives to be able to go on dates as couples and now we finally can :)

God is great

I have had a really good weekend. Good times on Friday and Saturday night with great people. Downtown Clemson is always a good time except for the fact everything closes at midnight on Saturdays (I know LAME). I realized though that I have had a lot of fun these past two years and met some really awesome people to have that fun with :)

We are on our way somewhere... not sure where but apprently we are EXCITED!

I went shopping in Anderson yesterday and spent way too much money. But hey I bought a really cute suit, two dresses (one for the conference next week and the other for my bridal shower), and a super cute shirt. All in all its good sometimes to spend too much money on things you need. In my personal opinion, retail therapy ROCKS!

My new navy suit :)

I was really blessed by church this morning. The message was all about the purpose and meaning of Lent. In my youth, I never understood Lent and I'm pretty sure most adults around me didn't either. Most people would just say "I'm giving up ___" and that to me was what Lent was about. I learned today that the 40 days of lent mirrors Christ's 40 days in the desert where he fasted and prayed. Christ was preparing for his ministry and to do that He spent sacred time with his Father. In the same way, Lent is supposed to be 40 days of cleansing, prayer, and meditation to strengthen our relationship with God and prepare for Easter!! Giving up something for Lent is supposed to be cleansing and a way to concentrate more on God just like Christ fasted for 40 days to prepare his soul for his ministry. YAY for learning something new at church :)

St. Patrick's Cathedral in Ireland!

Manning Staff

I have been reminded this week and specifically this morning what a wonderful staff I am blessed to have. This is RA appreciation week and I feel bad that I have not done enough to appreciate the wonderful work that my 15 lovely ladies do everyday. All of these girls have huge hearts and ridiculously busy schedules. Through it all, they continue to be a blessing to me and to all the girls in the building. They do everything that I ask them to do and even act like they enjoy it (well maybe not things like fire inspections but who would enjoy that?) They represent me and the department SOO well that so many Manning residents wanted to be RAs next year. Not one person declined the position in Manning for next year.. Not ONE! This is amazing because being in a highrise isn't the most appealing place to live especially if you are going to be a sophomore.
Even during their week to be recognized, they put together along with hall council a party to recognize our custodial staff. They made food, gift baskets, and made signs for all the residents to sign (one for each of the custodians). Our custodial staff was so blessed by this sign of appreciation and I was proud to see their huge hearts in action. Though being at Clemson the past two years has not been the easiest thing, I can definitely say that I am blessed by the people I have met.

Above is our first staff picture... We are missing Janelle (who is in Italy right now) and Alexa (who came to us this semester)

Wedding Planning vs. Marriage Preparation

I have been thinking of the difference between these two things ever since Daniel and I went to Engaged Encounter. Everyone has been asking me at least once a day how wedding planning is going.. I have had a couple different responses to that normally I say "Its going great... almost done" lately with all the invitation drama I have been answering "sooo stressful to be 8 hours away and planning a wedding". All the little details such as menu cards, jewelry, flowers, place cards, invites, programs, favors, etc.. can be overwhelming especially since I am not a planner at ALL... the joke is I have never planned anything EVER ... (which isn't true btw I was an RA and planned things all the time)and now I am planning a wedding.
People rarely ask how marriage preparation is going and the more I think about it that is WAY more important. I am making a lifetime commitment to another person. I am committing to be there in the good and the bad times AND to give everything I am to this person; physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Married love is meant to be the closest thing to God's love on earth. Daniel and I are supposed to be agents of God's love and grace to each other WOW! That is awesome AND a lot of responsibility. I definitely want to be prepared to be the best wife I can and Daniel and I both want to be prepared have a successful, happy, God-centered marriage. So far we have done many good things to prepare and I am excited for the final preparations to come!
Society generally doesn't have a great message about marriage. You rarely ever see celebrities that stay together and every minute on the news someone has had an affair or having a baby with a staff worker. There are always the stories of domestic abuse and the reports of how high the divorce rate is.. even in my own life many of my friends have divorced parents or parents who are "together" but unhappy... But with all the negativity surrounding marriage ... the excitement over weddings has multiplied. There are a billion different wedding shows, websites, magazines etc. Society loves to talk about how important it is to have a beautiful and expensive wedding but who knows what happens to those couples after the big day??
All and all I think if people spent just half the time they spent wedding planning - planning and preparing for their marriage, marriages would be much stronger and the divorce rate would be lower.

Hott Mess

Pretty much this sums up my life right now. My brain is in a billion different places so I do things like leave my keys in another building (far away from mine) so I couldn't get into my room. Yesterday, we had a meeting across campus and I left two signs that I was supposed to bring back. Today, I grabbed a bottle of body wash thinking it was lotion. I put it all over my face. I had no idea that it was body wash until in the middle of class my face started burning. After class, I looked in the mirror and my face is bright red and peeling. I am completely broken out and I look like I have wind burn on my face :( I am definitely a Hott Mess!!

Anxiety

For some reason, I have been feeling extremely anxious about everything. The last two days I have woken up with intense anxiety about work, class, job, wedding ... pretty much everything. Its one of those things where I feel so anxious that I can't really get things done... I would really like to wake up without my heart racing and muscles tense :(
I have been having drama with some of the details with the wedding which is extremely frustrating. The whole reason you hire someone is so they have to do the work and you don't!!! AHHHH! I just don't understand why someone cannot do something right ... I am not asking for perfection just COMPETENCE.
Since, I have been away or unavailable the last two weekends I am getting super behind in school stuff. Not that it matters that much because all I need to do is pass my classes. But I generally always get good grades, so I would like to do a little more than pass. Its just hard to get motivated.
Job search is extremely stressful and it is for everyone. I feel bad about complaining about it because everyone in my program is going through the same type of thing. The only difference is instead of looking anywhere in the US like most people I am looking in such a specific area. I am still waiting to hear about my last phone interview with CNU and I have another one next week. But the fact that its been a week since my phone interview and I haven't heard makes me think I didn't get an on-campus. That may just be me being paranoid but it still is a cause for anxiety ...

Defense of Valentine's Day

I LOVE Valentine's Day :) Even when I didn't have a significant other, I would go out with girlfriends and give people that I cared about cards. On this day, I hear a lot of people say that it is a dumb holiday, only for card companies and that you should treat your significant other with affection all year around or you shouldn't be dating them... blah blah blah. Hear is my defense of Valentine's Day: The history of Valentine's Day is a really interesting one (I just looked it up). The short story is -Way back when, the emperor of Rome outlawed all marriages and a priest named Valentine performed secret marriages. He was found out and beheaded for his crime. I know that is morbid but the point is: LOVE is important in all its forms, it was so important that a priest was martyred because he believed in it. Marriage is an outward celebration of love to the world and so that is the easiest target. I do agree that you should treat your significant other with love every day but we all live busy lives and do not have the time or money to give gifts, go on dates, or spend an entire day concentrated only on the one we love. Life unfortunately just doesn't work like that (though I wish it did) Since we don't have the time or money to do that every day, it is awesome to have a day set aside as a symbol of love. The idea that Valentine's day is dumb because we should do it everyday is like saying we shouldn't celebrate Christmas because we should remember Christ everyday... well of course we should! We all know the daily struggles of our lives and how easy it is to get distracted. The reason we have holidays is to bring us back to remember what is truly important :)
Ok now since I am done with my soapbox, my Valentine's day was awesome :) Daniel came down on Friday night and we went out in Clemson. That is always a great time! Yesterday, we went to Greenville, spent the day there just enjoying each others company. Daniel got us a hotel for the night so we got ready and went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. Unfortunately, the meal wasn't good and we sent it back twice. That is really weird because we have been to this restaurant three times before and got the same thing ... Finally, we ordered something else and had an awesome time. We went to the movies and say Valentine's Day. It was a great movie (even Daniel liked it ... though not sure if he'd admit it). This morning we had room service breakfast which has become our new V-day tradition (last year we spent a weekend in DC and had breakfast). Today we have been hanging out and doing wedding stuff, right now he is working on the invitation wording and getting the correct addresses :) All in all great weekend spent with my favorite person :)

Fav Love Quote: "If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around."

Disappointment

Sadly, I got my first rejection email from a possible job. Though I know that I will get rejected from jobs, this one is particularly disappointing because it is the only job in Residence Life in the area that I need to be in. It is possible for other jobs to open up in the next two months so I am hopeful but definitely disappointed. I know in my head that if God shuts a door then it wasn't his will anyway ... but that doesn't change the fact that I wanted that job and didn't get it. That position was perfect in so many ways including continuing education, close to Daniel's work, and aligns perfectly with my experience. Time to focus and apply for more positions!

Victory!

My comp exam is done and turned in!! Though it wasn't difficult, I had such a hard time buckling down and getting it finished ... but now it is DONE!! I feel such a sense of relief. Now I can concentrate all my attention on job search and wedding planning :) To make this day even better, I got offered another phone interview this morning and Daniel is coming tonight. YAY! I am so excited to see him but am really nervous about him driving all this way when it is supposed to snow. I am praying hardcore for safe travels.

COMPS

For those who don't know generally in a Masters program you either have to do a comprehensive exam or a thesis, luckily I am in a comps program so no thesis for me!! YAY! However, my comprehensive exam is due tomorrow and I am struggling with the motivation to do it... I mean you would think that since it is the big wall standing between me and graduation I would be rushing to finish it. Sadly that is not the case and I am BLOGGING instead of doing my exam. It is funny how not a whole lot has changed since I was a high school student. I always thought that when I got to college I would be responsible and plan ahead for assignments - definitely didn't happen. Then I thought when I got to graduate school I would be responsible and plan ahead for assignments - also didn't happen... maybe it will happen when I get my Ph.D? or J.D.?

Wish me luck!

Life Changes

The blog name "growing pains" describes perfectly what I feel like right now. I am suddenly hit with stress (some good, some bad) of wedding planning, marriage planning, graduating with my Masters, finding a job, and really just figuring out what kind of friend, wife, daughter, sister, mother (not anytime soon!!!) professional, and person I want to be. I feel like with going into a new stage of life most things in life are uncertain... I have no idea where I am going to live or work, I don't know how my friendships and family relationships are going to change (I am hoping not too much...), and really I am not too sure what I want to do with my life. Most of these uncertainties are a normal part of life and so I am just trying to do the best I can navigating through them. I know that at the end of the day God has a much larger plan for me then I could ever have for myself and He knows whats going on ... I am just praying that sometime I might get a tiny glimpse of it too!