on being a college admissions counselor

People are fascinated by the college admissions process. I remember thinking about the "power" that college admissions counselors had when I was going through the process. They really seemed to have my future in their hands. I think that's why I baked Daryl Jones rice crispies treats. I wanted him to like me, ultimately admitting me into G-burg.

And now, ten years later, I sit in his seat (except at Towson...and I'm still waiting for my rice crispies treats, although i'm not so sure I would eat them). I find the idea that I hold and intimidating or powerful position very funny. Yet the perception still remains. My primary care physician, Dr. Sibila brings my profession into conversation every time I see him. "Have you filled the class?" "Are you gearing up for another year?" "Your job must be very fulfilling..." Yes, I do find my job fulfilling, but I think that many think that I hold the key to some type of mystery, some sort of secret that they believe the college admissions process is. I have to laugh when my Tuesday night classmate Kim, asks me if I crushed anyones dreams that day (she asks this same question every class). I always respond with, "I hope not". Unfortunately, most of the decisions I make are not personal decisions at all. There are certainly students that I connect with on the road, during chats, or via email, but more often than not, their apps are read by someone else (or by me without even knowing it). I have developed a sense of skepticism when reading essays (something that I was warned as a rookie would come with age). Do students tell the truth? Did the student actually write the essay? How are we going to read 17000 applications this year?
The funniest part is, being an admissions counselor isn't a glamorous job at all. In my first few years, I spent weeks on the road and worked long hours. My former employer didn't even awarded comp time. Once we're winding down with travel, we're flooded with applications, THOUSANDS of applications. and open houses. and chats. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job! Just think of me this fall and winter, running everywhere, giving presentations in my sleep, and reading pages and pages about sports injuries, heros and after school jobs.

Five years

Yesterday, Carl and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. A lot has happened in the five years we have been married! We've moved twice (lived in two states). Carl graduated from college. We bought a house. We had twins. We've made new friends along the way and the list goes on....We really didn't do anything special to celebrate. Wen and Greg were "passing through" on their way back to NC, so we met them and Cirucci for lunch at Columbia mall. I tried out my first crock pot recipe, which turned out very well, I am looking forward to a quick bit of leftovers before class tonight). We drank skunked natty light, at leftover pumpkin swirl brownies and watched "Made of Honor" while we snuggled on the couch. It was nice.

On Saturday, we met the Ambrose fam at the aquarium in the morning. The kiddos really seemed to have a great time looking at the fish. I think the turtles and the sharks were the favorites by far! We left after the dolphin show, avoiding an aquarium meltdown. We had tix to the Towson football game in the afternoon, but ended up not going because of the rain and thunder. We also needed to recover from our cook-fest the night before (jalapeno poppers and red white and blue burgers..yum-o!).

Things I love

Last night, I came home to a wonderful husband with a nice cup of tea sitting next to my bed. My week has been crazy. Possibly crazier than crazy and I have another one coming up next week (at least next week its digital media classroom on Thurs and not a fair...although I am a bit nervous for webex) and I loved that he was waiting for me. Waiting for our time to watch our favorite show together. I love my husband.

I love coming home to my sweet girls. When they hear the back door open they run into the kitchen screaming "mommy is home!", hug my legs and give me kisses. Who wouldn't want to come home to that type of recepetion? I love curling up on the couch under a blanket with my girlies with a big bowl of popcorn to watch a movie. I love coloring. I love playing with little people. I LOVE my girls!

I love chilly weather. This morning I put on my cord skirt and a nice comfy white sweater (with a dress shirt of course). Alie is wearing cords too, and my little Laney has on a fall themed shirt. After getting dressed, we bee-lined downstairs to make bowls of oatmeal. The girls had plain oatmeal with cranberries and I had banana bread oatmeal. My mom came early and it was wonderful to sit at the table this morning and chat with my three favorite ladies.

I love relaxing with my girlfriends. I love cooking dessert with Brooke. I love enjoying a glass of wine (or maybe more) with Wen, Cirucci and Brooke. I love book club because I love all the wonderful women in my life and I love to read. Book club is an excuse to enjoy both.

I love my brother. I am so proud of everything that he has accomplished. I love when he calls and visits me. I love to watch him play with the girls. I love that he is so happy and enjoying his life in NY.

I love food. I love breakfast. I love lunch. I love dinner. I ADORE dessert. I love to cook. I love to bake. I love to share food with my family and friends. I love that food brings the people that I love together.

I love flip flops. They look great with everything!

I love my home. I love that it is the perfect size for my little family. I love the colors. I love its comfort. I love that it reflects Carl and I perfectly.

I love my family...my parents, my girls, Carl, my brother, the Kleins...I love them all!

Going green

Going green is "in". My bestest Wen has been interested in a green lifestyle (well and creating a sustainable environment due to her interests in the environment and the sea) as long as I can tell, and whenever I visit her, feel like I should be doing more. In fact, at her new home she has this giant composter. It looks like a giant trash can but its just for composting...go Wen!

During the past six months (maybe a little more) I have been dragging Carl down the green path with me. I'm not sure that we'll be converting to organics anytime soon, but I am proud to report that we are recyclers! Since we started recycling (in March maybe) I have noticed that our trash is easier to manage. Our recycling "bins" reside on our back porch and since we buy much of our food in bulk, we have lots of paper to recycle (along with all of the junk-circulars). We are probably able to recylce about 60% of our trash! Generally we only have a half of a can to put out on Monday nights, which is much better. Carl is on board because its less work for him. Less trash upstairs, fewer bags to collect and drag down to the alley.

We have been shopping with re-usable shopping bags on and off for about a year now, but really just re-committed to it in the last four months. My greatest discovery recently has been the re-usable bags at Sams. Going to Sams (we visit generally once a month) turns into a giant production when its time to bring all of the food into the house. It all comes in large, cumbersome boxes, making it difficult to bring inside in a reasonable amount of trips to the car. The re-usable bags are super helpful with this, as they are quite large and fit a number of products at once! To make things even better, while checking out at Giant Saturday morning, we discovered that you save 5 cents per re-usable bag you bring along with you...how awesome is that? So again, hubby on bored due to convience and cost-savings.

Finally, we converted to CFLs (is that the correct name for those energy-saving lightbulbs) last winter when our BGE bill started getting scary. This summer, we purchased blinds for the living room (to go underneath of the curtains) and energy-saving curtains for the dining room. We immediately noticed positive changes in the climate of our home and on our electric bill, woohoo!!!

So, in my quest to continue my strides to "go green" I started looking at some books and articles online. I feel like we have made the easy, relatively low-cost changes, but I would love to do more. Care to make a suggestion for our next small change?

Running, running

So I'm a couple weeks into the semester and the madness that is my fall through early winter. The good news is that my Mondays and Tuesdays seem to fly by since I have class in the evenings/afternoons. The bad news is that Mondays are REALLY long because I have class until 9:30, ugh! I had my first chat of the semester last night too, which leaves My Gym for tonight. Right now I just feel like I'm running everywhere, especially since I've started my high school visits. Next week, the fairs begin.

Yeterday afternoon was great though! When I got home, the girls wanted to ride the bicycles (that's what they call them) in the alley. We rode down the alley to the playground, played a little and then rode back. Then, when Carl got home, they convinced us to go again after dinner. The evening was so beautiful and we were having such a wonderful time out back with the girls, coloring with chalk, playing golf and blowing bubbles. The girls are really becoming quite the little talkers. They still pretend they don't know how to speak around some people, but around Carl and I, they have a constantly running commentary, and I think that's great!

Bedtime is becoming more of a challenge as my little ladies become more and more opinionated! We discuss what pjs to wear (even with only two choices), what books to read, how long to brush teeth, and bath-night only complicates things more! I think both girls are afraid to be in the dark on their own, so they both have night lights (the night lights that belonged to Travis and I when we were little) and they sleep with their doors open and the hall light on (man do I ever need to find energy efficient lightbulbs that look kind of like candles for my hall light).

This weekend is going to be pretty crazy (seems like I say that pretty often). Tomorrow evening we're headed to homecoming. I know, I said I wasn't going, but I couldn't resist. Plus, Cirucci needs a buddy ;) Saturday morning Nicole and Travis are coming over for brunch and I can't wait (I know, you're shocked that I can't wait to see my brother). Saturday afternoon/evening, we're headed to Becky's for an end of the summer cookout. Life keeps getting in the way of my plans with Becky, so I'm really looking forward to the cookout and spending time with the Wattenschaidt clan, and holding baby Ella again. Sunday afternoon we are going to try again for the Ravens game at the Ambroses.

last night

Sesame Street live was so much fun. Delaney loved it. She clapped and sang and danced and asked about all of the characters. Alison loved portions of it, she was easily distracted by other kids running up and down the aisles. It turned out to be a wonderful suprise for the girls and I was so proud of the way they behaved, staying in their seats and watching the show!

I think the excitement was great for me too as I was finally able to get a good nights sleep :) I have been a walking zombie these past few days, barely sleeping at night. Hopefully last night will help my zombie self since I'm planning on a haircut and a happy hour with some work people tonight. Carl is working tomorrow, and I have to run into the office for a quick presentation, and we're supposed to go to his aunts house, but i'm thinking we're not going. At some point, I need to fit in some schoolwork.

Sunday, we're watching football with the Ambrose clan! woohoo :)

Sesame Street Live tonight!

We're going to Sesame Street live tonight and I'm really excited. My girls love Sesame Street and it is a suprise for Delaney who asked to go a number of times. This will be their first "stage" show, so hopefully they will be able to see, be interested and really enjoy themselves. I will certainly update!

focusing on the positive

It seems again that we have a lot going on financially, but I am working to focus on the positive and look towards the future, towards solutions both immediate and more long term. It's going ok. I'm just going to mention that I hate Chase (and how they have now screwed up our taxes, so now we owe money that we are going to have to scrape for) and leave it at that. Well and mention that we still haven't received Carl's check, ugh! I think that's the hardest for me to swallow since we have items that check is (was) earmarked for. Hopefully this whole check debaucle works out someday, otherwise I have no idea what we will do when the explorers lease is up, among other problems that will arise. Maybe by December.

I am looking forward to the furniture delivery tomorrow. I think I have already mentioned how Carl's grandmother is giving us her bedroom furniture to use for one of the girls. Initially I thought it was going to Laney since Alie's dresser is bolted to the wall, but the furniture is a bit bigger than the furniture we already have, so since Alie has the bigger room, she will get the larger furniture. I had grand plans of painting all of the girls furniture, but I think I will wait on that. I'm so excited for the girls to each have their own completed bedroom set with a nightstand, dresser and chest! We received cute frames when the girls were born and again when they were baptized and I'm looking forward to decorating their rooms with them. So, that is my positive for the week:)

A really nice weekend

It was the weekend I had been waiting for, but somehow I forgot all about that! We had made plans to go with my parents to the baseball game on Friday night and plans to go to the TU football game on Saturday night (with out the kiddos Sat). We were caught up in the approaching rain, deciding whether or not to go to these events, and ended up totally lucking out! There was some misting at the Os game, and aside from the O's totally sucking and a limited viewing of the oriole bird (the girls favorite) we had a great time! The girls loved riding the lightrail (choo choo train), loved sitting in their own seats at the game (the stadium was relatively empty, people must have been afraid of the rain) waving to the O's and clapping along with everyone else. They especially loved the boardwalk fries Carl bought. Alie had a great time sitting on Pop-pops lap looking through his binoculars. It was really a great night.

Carl and I decided last minute Saturday night to head out to the Towson football game. Mike had given us his great seats and parking pass and we were really looking forward to a date night. Inda and Tommy came over to hang out with the kiddos, so we headed out. We shared a soda and some fries and cuddled up in our seats to watch the game. TU won! The Morgan marching band was awesome. The Towson dance team was awesome. It was great to relax with Carl and it was another great night.

Yesterday we layed low, running couple of errands, doing the laundry and watching the Ravens game. I'm loving the man room! I talked to my brother for a while yesterday. I miss him a ton. He and Nicole are probably coming to Baltimore in two weeks. I can't wait to see him! And of course, I'm sure he can't wait to see the girls ;( Oh well. They are lucky little girls to have aunts and uncles that love them so much and love being part of their lives.

get with the program

I have to get with the program! I am waking up late again, which makes the morning routine a big rushing mess. I need to eat breakfast at my dining room table with the kiddos in the morning...I want to eat breakfast with them in the morning. I need to work out again in the morning (this keeps going in spurts...ugh!). I need time to get everyone dressed, fed, organized for the day and out the door (suggestions on how to streamline that process welcome).

I also need some imput as to what to do with my hair. Long or short? I'm getting it cut next Friday. If I keep it long, it definitely needs a trim. Should i go back up to my chin line? Should I get that stacked look I had in college. Ugh! I don't want to make a bad decision....

changes changes

So I've got that itch again. That "I need a change itch". Maybe this time I really just want Carl to have a change in job (which is something he wants too). I thought about changing my hair. I have thought long and hard about it, but I think i'm going to keep it long (but I am getting trim next Friday, the ends look so ragged!) I did totally organize my house. It is just the way I want it, and that makes me so happy, and strangely relaxed. The basement/manroom is so clean and organized and I disposed of everything that we really didn't need anymore.

The girls and I had a nice weekend, just the three of us. We cleaned ;), played at the playground, ate, baked, cooked, played, slept, took walks, read and watched movies. Aside from the fact that we didn't see Carl, it was a lovely girl weekend. We even visited my parents for a yummy Monday-night labor day cookout. I had hoped the cooler weather would stick around, but oh well. It will be here before I know it.

I have made some more big decisions. Not sure if I updated about homecoming, but we're just going up for dinner. We're not staying the night. My biggest decision is about comps. I have decided to wait until the spring to take them. I have too much going on this fall and I really want to have plenty of time to enjoy it all. Sooo....I will organize my notes for comps over winter break and begin studying in January. They will be offered in April, so hopefully I will pass!

I had my first ISTC class of the semester last night, and that went well. I'm actually pretty excited about it. The other students seemed cool and the professor seems pretty laid back, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

I'm really excited because I just bought tickets for Sesame Street Live! Laney really wants to see it, so I can't wait to suprise her. We are also going to the Os game on Friday and the Towson football game on Saturday night! We are going to be busy bees! Now if the bus tickets to NY would go on sale so we can plan our trip to visit my brother, I'll be all set!