Success...finally!

Since I've been sitting on the edge of my seat awaiting the access code for my second masters class this semester, I decided to check my email quickly before starting work on my other class this evening. Suprise! I finally have an email from the professor indicating that he had sent me the accesscode yesterday to an email address that I didn't even know I had. It must be some email address that the school assigned to me back when I took summer classes in 2002. This bizarre address uses my maiden name...anyway, the important part is that he included the access code in his email and I now have successfully enrolled in both of my courses for this semester.

On a different note; I'm not sure that I've shared my new years resolutions for the year of 2007.

1. To be super serious about getting in shape. I am tired of looking into my closet and in my drawers and thinking that I have nothing to wear. I have plenty to wear, I am just not comfortable in my skin right now. My ultimate goal (no matter how unattainable) is to have the body I had when I lived in FL, but at this point I'd settle for the pre-preggo look.
2. To be super serious about saving money. I know that this sounds super dumb coming from someone who has to pay for the expenses of her twin daughters and her grad school education, but I'm going to be of the thought that making little changes will have a big pay off. Little change number one: a serious cut back on starbucks (i'm talking like cutback to once a month). Little change number two : a serious cutback on eating out (only eat lunch out when professionally necessary, save dinners out for occasions of friends being in town, etc).
3. Spend more time with o'hana. Obviously you need people in your life that you love and that love you back. Unfortunately, many of those people for me live out of town. Carl and I think its important for Delaney and Alison to grow up around happiness and non-drama, therefore making arrangements for gatherings with these friends and family members is of the utmost importance (even if it wears us out in the end).

Ok...I think that's enough blogging for today. Off to hop into bed and wait for Carl to come home from work :)

class registration debaucle

So here we are, 3 days into classes and I'm still not able to gain access into a class that I registered for. Had I realized this class would be such a pain in the ass, I would have kept my original schedule. To make matters worse, the professor is not returning my phone calls. It seems as though I need an access code to see anything pertaining to the class. Are there extensive pre-reqs for the class you ask? No! Just graduate school standing in my program, which I have. How long ago did I register for this course? Months!

Finally I get in contact with someone who might be able to help me, but she still directs me to the professor. Sheesh! are you kidding me? I didn't need an access code to register, why do I need an access code now? Am I the only student in the class that can't access the class? I have bought the books. I have paid the tuition. I am officially ticked off and nervous.

End of vent....hopefully this whole situation works itself out tomorrow.

the basement

I have mentioned before how I am definitely scared of stupid things. To add to the list, I am officially afraid of my basement. There is nothing scary in my basement that should make me afraid; the basement is the man-room. Doc and Peter Pan live down there. The laundry room and second bath are down there. The computer used to be down there...until last night. All evening I kept thinking about how I needed to get some work done, but that once the girls are in bed (or even when they are awake but it is dark outside), I am too afraid to go downstairs, even if its just to grab the computer. I should be old enough that this should not be a problem, but it is.

So, when Carl got home, I made him carry the desk, chair, and computer upstairs to our bedroom so that I can get some work done tonight.

first day of classes

It is the first day of my second semester of graduate school. I have located the syllabus for my research methods class, but can't print it. My other class, personnel selection, doesn't seem to be showing up online yet. It seems as though I'm off to a good start, not! I ordered my books from Amazon because there were not any used books in the bookstore. The books will not be arriving until Feb 12-15th. Hopefully Amazon over estimates the amount of time it takes to send books out.

On a better note, the gym is open in the morning again. I am disappointed with my lack of workouts while the gym was closed. This summer I plan to get up early to come to work and then work out at the gym during lunch so that I don't feel so yucky all summer long.

Today the open admissions position should be "officially" offered to Brian. I'm hoping that he takes it because it would be wonderful to work with him! Either decision that he makes I'm sure is for the best though!

Leadership retreats

Mid-January, six years ago, Gettysburg College shipped 4 members of each Greek organization into the woods for a retreat entitled IMPACT. IMPACT dealt with leadership issues and helped these select Greeks become better leaders of their organizations. I was one of the lucky few (lucky because I met my husband there) selected for this program. I spent my days watching Dean Murphy in his tight sweatpants encourage me to expand my thoughts from just my organization to Greek life as a whole. I spent my nights chatting with my sisters and then retreating to the cabin that we shared with 6 other women. Ultimately, what do I remember from this leadership learning experience? I remember having to hike through the snow from the cabin to a. go to the bathroom and b. get to the meeting room. I also remember getting off the bus and walking back to Stephens Hall with the boy that I had a HUGE crush on right behind me (that boy was Carl).
This past week/weekend I was at a professional leadership "institute". This program lasts about 6 months, but the program started off with a retreat to Maryland's eastern shore. Like my first experience at a leadership retreat, this one was also in a camp-like setting. This camp-like setting was owned by Marriott, and was much better in the accomodations department. I think that I will remember more about this retreat than a snow experience (although it did snow while I was there for the first time all year) and cute boys (I am married and a bit more mature now).

Weekend, what weekend?

This past weekend was a long one...Carl and I both had Monday off!!! Friday evening we visited Brooke, Ryan, Turner and Reese at their new home (in our neighborhood). Reese is of course beautiful and it was wonderful to sit and visit with them along with Barb and Kieran. The children all seem to get along and it was nice to see the girls play with people other than themselves. Turner was excellent at giving hugs, and it was nice to get out of the house. Saturday was disappointing. We won't even talk about it. Sunday we did some cleaning and had Dan and Mindy over for dinner. It was a nice time, so nice in fact that we then headed over to their place for the boys to play some video games. It was good to "catch-up" with Min (as if we hadn't chatted in a while). We made some decidedly girly plans for the upcoming spring and summer and discussed her decorating ideas for their new house. We headed back to the in-laws at around 1am, only to wake up at 6:15 to drop the car off at the mechanic and begin our drive to Philly to see Wen, Greg, Ciruc, and Brian. Breakfast was a whirlwind, but it was nice, as always to lay around for the afternoon with Ciruc and Bri (and watch the girls chase Jax). We decided to head home around 2, picked the car up at the mechanic, and then have dinner at the in-laws. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of not being home (eventhough it was under 24 hours) we went back to our house for the girls to have bathtime and bedtime.
This morning I decided that we were a little too busy this weekend....where did the weekend go?? This weekend will HAVE to be a bit more relaxing or I may never survive the upcoming weeks...

Ravens are in the Playoffs

My husband is a huge hometown sports fan. From what I can tell, the man has bled orange, black and purple his entire life. He is the sort of fan that cheers on his team when they are winning, just as much as when they are losing. He stands behind them, even when they have a crummy record. He curses "fair-weather fans" and I admire his allegiance to his teams. We have a room in our home devoted to Baltimore football and baseball, a room where my husband proudly displays old newspaper articles, Sports Illustrated covers, and other sports memorabilia. His fanaticism for Baltimore sports is contagous; and in the seven years we have been together, my love for the Ravens and especially the Orioles has grown leaps and bounds. For Carl, it is a family affair. He remembers his first trips to games with his father and his brother. Dan is the first person he calls when he needs to talk sports. Through my in-laws, I have discovered that it is fun to be a fan, to cheer on a team. I grew up in a "football family" and Carl has taught me about the world of O's baseball. We are now the family that shows up at games decked out in the team colors. My daughters received their first piece of Oriole's gear at 3 months old, and made an appearance at their fist game when they were 4 months old. They even have a commerative certificate framed in the "man-room".
Now that the Ravens have made the playoffs, the excitement in my home is running high. Carl has been planning his playoff celebration since the Ravens started posting a winning record. He has everything in the man-room perfectly organized, down the way that his Ravens throw- blanket is folded on the couch (although he would never admit that). His current level of excitement about the Ravens is one that I have not seen since early in our relationship, when the Ravens made an appearance in the Superbowl. Back then, Carl lived in Theta Chi and I was across the street in Steven's Hall. He watched the game with his brothers, but soon after the Ravens won, I received a drunken phone call, insisting that I come to the house to "celebrate". As I walked across the street that cold night, I found my boyfriend running around his house screaming that his team had won. My, how things have changed since then! My family wishes the Ravens the best for this playoff season, and we hope that you have the determination to make it all the way!!!!

Grrr....

This weekend was very fun. It is the first weekend I have had since I came back to work from Christmas break; and since last week felt like the longest week ever, it was much needed. Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to visit my grandmother. We spent a little over an hour chatting with her while Delaney and Alison showed her how big they were. Afterwards we checked out the baby consignment stores in the area in search of booster seats. We failed. We went home for lunch and naps. During my nap my aunt called and spoke with Carl about our visit to my grandmothers (clearly she still doesn't understand that my relationship with my grandmother does not include her). Sunday was lots of fun. We had a slow morning catching up on our DVRd shows and sipping coffee. Mid-morning we headed out to the aquarium and spent the next two hours checking out the fish. Delaney and Alison LOVE fish!!! The aquarium membership was a wonderful christmas present from my mother in law. After we went home and had lunch, I headed out to Wegman's for some grocery shopping. I hate Wegman's. I loved it in Scranton. It was never crowded and I could find everything that I needed. Not at this store, I can never seem to find anything and it takes hours. I only try to go once a month to stock up on chicken and ground beef (they have reasonably priced large packages that I break apart and freeze).
We're also trying to clean up the christmas stuff from our house. Carl took down the ornaments last night and plans to take the tree out this morning. I wonder how long the outside lights will remain up this year ;)

"helicopter" parents

My friend Inda is always commenting on the differences between genereation X-ers and generation y-ers, especially the roles that parents play with these two groups. As an admissions counselor, it seems as though increasingly I am interacting with parents, not students. I decided that college admissions was a career that I wanted to pursue because I enjoy working with students, but I'm not "teacher material". I have much more respect for a student when they call me to discuss their academic standing or their potential for admission rather than having their parent call. Certainly I believe that a parent knows their high school aged child fairly well, but how can parents have the audacity to "overlook" grades or sat scores as strong measures of evaluation when it comes to the college admissions process? Too often I hear "Sure, my kid has a 2.3 and an 800 on the SAT, but he's president of the green leaf club and he plays 3 varsity sports, and he volunteers for his church, etc, etc, etc". That's great, but your kid is a crummy student and we're an institution of higher learning. Shouldn't grades and standardized tests be the best way to determine admissions. We're not hiring for a job, we're making decisions about who would be a good fit for the college level curriculum that our school offers. Comments like "my child is a bad test-taker" or "my child had a rough time transitioning" are turning me off to the parent already. What is their student going to do when in the college atmosphere when their parent will no longer be able to make excuses for their poor performance?

I truly believe there is a college for everyone and that everyone deserves a college experience (my first professional experience helped me to see that), but that college for everyone isn't necessarily a competitive or highly competitive institution. Parents need to realize that if their children's grades are suffering, some of the extracurriculars have to go. A strong GPA is most important to every college admissions counselor that I've ever met.

so much and so little

Oftentimes you hear people remark (mostly parents) "I can't believe that something so smelly came out of something so little" or something to that effect. Last night at Outback I thought to myself, how could something so little consume so much?! As soon as the waiter placed the bread on the table, Alison went to town. She loves bread, and she ate almost the whole loaf (Carl, Laney and I each had one piece, Alie had about 4). I thought to myself, she must be filling up on bread...not so much. Soon her chicken nugget and french fry dinner came and she ate a whole chicken strip and at least15 french fries. To some this might not seem like a lot, but for someone who is as tiny as Alie, I'm not sure where it all went. Laney only ate 1/2 of her chicken strip and maybe 5 french fries, which I feel is a normal amount for a 12 month old. Maybe Alie is having some major growth aspirations and is stocking up. One things for sure, she loves Outback!

It's a new year

Its a brand new year and Alison started it off right yesterday. The past few days she's been practicing standing on her own and yesterday, she walked! Only a few very unsure steps, but they were steps!
We had Christmas part 2, "drama-free" on Dec. 30th at my inlaws and it was much more fun. Mindy and Dan opened their presents and we all went out back and played football. I think that Dan has sold me on the idea of playing on their team in the spring. Sue made lasagna for dinner and the girls LOVED it!!
New years eve was nice as well. Carl and I stayed in with the girls, grilled shrimp and scallops for dinner and watched Pirates 2! We ate chocolate cake and drank the raspberry dessert wine and it was wonderful :) Spending time with the fam is one of my favorite things to do.
We are working on planning for the summer and we seem to have a lot on our plate. We have decided against joining the pool due to the amount of travelling that we plan on. We're going to spend a week in southport nc, spend a couple of days in beafort, nc with Wen and visit Cirucci's beach house too :) We also need to do a bit of work to our house, painting mostly, and of course, we need to check out plenty of O's games. The new plan is to get the girls a little childrens pool for the backyard and a water table for them to play with outside.