I know what I'm doing next year...

I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL YAY! So my tentative plans as of now are to attend the Master of Science in Human Resources and Industrial Relations (MSIR) program at WVU, potentially starting this summer. The link to the program is below, but I wanted to let you know a little bit about the program!

http://www.be.wvu.edu/msir/index.htm

The MSIR program at WVU is one of the earliest HR programs established in the United States and is among only 35 human resources/industrial relations full-time day programs in the country. Some of the courses I will be taking include:

• Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations
• Employment Law
• Arbitration
• Staffing and Selection
• Compensation
• Performance Management
• Organizational Change and Renewal
• HR Information Systems
• Strategic Management

I am so excited!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I finally have something to do next year! Plus I will graduate in Summer of 2012, which fits perfectly into Tommy and myself's wedding timeline!

He will graduate in Spring of '12 (hopefully with a job), I will look for jobs in the area he has a job and graduate in Summer of '12, and then we'll  be married in October of 2012!!!!!!!

And then we can move in together, get a puppy, and start the first of many years of domestic bliss!!!!!!!! As of right now, I have only three fool proof dinner recipes up my sleeve (homemade french onion soup, chicken enchiladas, and chicken bruschetta), but I can bake from scratch like no one's business, and Tommy is amazing at making eggs and pancakes! YAY!
I CAN'T GET OVER HOW EXCITED I AM FOR THE FUTURE!

And I almost forgot, my dad finally looked at our dream wedding venue, and he likes it!!!!!!!!!!!! It would be at the Bay Creek Resort in Cape Charles! The picture on the top is where our cocktail hour would be (right behind the photographer is the water).

 http://www.baycreekresort.com/

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

TOMMY IS COMING TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

The love of my life is coming to see me tomorrow! In fact he is driving from New Hampshire to Virginia just to visit me! If you can't tell, I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even write anything else because that is the only thing on my mind right now! I am also excited to go to a puppy farm and play with little golden retrievers with him!

That is all for tonight! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, I haven't been on duty since V-Day!

Roses are red... Violets are blue

Feb 14. Valentine's Day. The day that every single person hates and every couple loves. So I find myself in a funny spot. I'm in a relationship (the best one there is), but I was alone on V-Day... Of course, Tommy and I celebrated last weekend when I was in New Hampshire. We exchanged gifts, went out to a nice Italian dinner, drank a bottle of red wine, had some delicious dark chocolate mousse with Chambord soaked raspberries, slow danced in the living room to our songs... the usual romantic stuff, that Tommy is amazing at putting together. But today, the actual Valentine's Day I was by myself.

Even though I was without my valentine,  I had an AMAZING day. Let me chronicle it for you!

• 9:00am
• Wake up after a pretty good night of sleep
• 9:15am
• Check weather.com and see that it is going to be in the 50's and sunny today
• 9:30am
• Feeling super motivated and head to the gym
• 9:45am
• Arrive at gym and see indoor track is basically deserted... Perfect! Ran 2.5 miles (That's a lot for me)
• 10:30am
• Get in the shower and actually have the time to shave my legs!
• 10:45am
• Finish my dance essay in no time at all, so I have the time to blow dry my hair
• 12:00pm
• Meet Randa and Daniel for lunch at Dukes, good conversation all around
• 12:45pm
• Head to Carrier Library to print paper, am given free candy on the Commons
• 12:50pm
• I don't have to wait for a computer, so I am able to get Starbucks! In honor of the warm weather, I get a Grande Iced Skinny Caramel Macchiato
• 1:25pm
• Start my Modern Dance class. Today is all about the heart! We use our bodies to create heart shaped valentines! I always have so much fun in that class!
• 2:40pm
• Leave the Performing Arts Building and see two adorable puppies on the quad. Proceed to introduce myself to the owner and spend ten minutes talking and playing with the adorable puppies!
• 3:00pm
• Get back to my dorm and have time to take a wonderful nap.
• 4:00pm
• Wake up from nap in time to watch Say Yes to the Dress on TLC... Is it my turn to go to Kelinfeld's yet?
• 5:30pm
• Chat with Tommy the love of my life
• 6:00pm
• My friend Lauren Parnell picks me up so we can go to a nice Valentine's Day dinner at Kyoto, my dad's treat!



photo courtesy of bippity boppity boo

• Kinda felt like people thought we were gfs... But that's okay!
• 8:15pm
• Arrive back at dorm!

So pretty much one of the best nonTommy days I've had in a while. Obviously any day with Tommy would be a kajillion times better, but whatevs! So for all you lonely hearts, you can have a wonderful Valentine's Day without a boyfriend or girlfriend!

Hot Damn Delta Gam!

I am very proud to announce that the Epsilon Nu chapter of Delta Gamma was named Panhellenic Chapter of the Year at James Madison University! I am so proud of our sisters for all the hardwork we have put in this semester!

DELTA GAMMA! DG! WE'RE THE BEST SORORITY! ANCHOR HERE AND YOU WILL SEE, GO DG!

99page > Facebook

So as many of you know I am a huge fan of stalking everyone I know catching up with friends via Facebook when I am bored. But sometimes Facebook just isn't interesting. Sometimes nothing changes between 11:20 and noon on a Tuesday. People usually don't upload pictures or change their statuses.... So what am I supposed to do when I am bored of being on facebook? I head to Page99test.com, of course!

"Open the book to page ninety-nine, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you"

--Ford Maddox Ford

For decades, readers have used the Page 99 Test to judge the writing of a book before buying it. That's the idea here... but with a twist. At this site, published and unpublished writers share their page 99s with readers like me. And I get to rate their writing (without knowing if it's published or who the author is). Which is pretty freaking cool!

You just have to create an account (it's free and I haven't received an email yet) and you are set. Then you can choose the genre of book if you want or you can jump right in. You read page 99 of the book and then you can give feedback on whether you would turn the page or not. Then you "turn the page" to find out what book it is, who the author is, whether it is published or not, and how to purchase it.

It has to be the most addictive website ever! And the business side of me thinks it is beyond cool. Say a bunch of people review and love one of the pages of an unpublished book. The readers could actually use their buyer power to publish the book! So instead of the publishers bringing the book to the readers, the readers are dictating what books get published! It's like living in reverse! First it happened in music (think Bieber, Antoine Dodson, and other youtube sensations) and now literature. This is assuming, readers have taste unlike the people who made those complete hacks popstars famous.

I absolutely love going to Barnes and Noble to read, but sometimes it's really hard to find an interesting book when all you really have to go off is covers. I am really excited to look up some of the books I have discovered.

So if you are ever bored in class, the library, work, or even at home, skip facebook and catch up on some reading!

Page 99 Test

Dayquil is Orange, Nyquil is Green

 

Tommy and me in the Arboretum... Totally candid... He made me laugh!



After suffering through a particularly awful weekend, broken up into 4-6 hour chunks by medicine doses, am finally starting to feel better! (I honestly think I took a Nyquil this morning because I was falling asleep in my favorite class which never happens!) Which is good because in less than two days I will be flying up to New Hampshire to visit my beyond perfect, amazing, funny, sweet, caring, strong, supportive, romantic, silly, and handsome FIANCE! 

Because we won't be together on Valentine's Day this year, we are celebrating our V-Day a week early! We have a reservation at a restaurant, and we're taking a cab so we can share a bottle of red wine (flashback to Paris and Rome and Pisa and Florence and Barcelona and Madrid and Nice).

I'm so excited because I got Tommy the best gift in the world that I can't share since he now reads this :( I still need to find the perfect card though... preferably one that has puppies all over it! We had originally planned to take a cross country skiing class on Saturday, but it is supposed to be in the single digits all weekend and the negatives with windchill, so I think that plan is blown.... But we are going to go to the jeweler where Tommy designed my engagement ring to look at wedding bands. Because we're engaged. And we're getting married. Because we're madly in love.... Yep! Be jealous!

Of course all these plans depend on me actually getting up to New Hampshire... Which is still up in the air because of the crazy winter storm hitting the Northeast right now... Pray for good weather friends! I get to travel with all of my new Christmas stuff! I will be using my new duffel Tommy got me for Christmas, listening to my new ipod, and using my new purse to carry it all around! I'm so excited!

Cheer-tatorship

Wow! I am high on life right now! I just got back to JMU after an AMAZING girls weekend with my mother and her allstar cheer gym. My mother founded and is the head coach of RCA, Renegade Cheerleading Allstars. This is the eighth year the gym has been in existence, but my mother has been coaching me since I was 8 years old, so roughly she's been doing it for 13 years. It is really amazing to see how far things have come since we broke off of our Recreation Association and started our own gym.

My mother and I my sophomore year in college, when a boy on the
senior team injured himself the day before the competition and
through some crazy loophole, I was still eligible to compete
so I got out my old uniform and took his place!

What I love about my mother and RCA is that anyone can do it. It is a non-profit organization which allows kids who may not have the financial means  to participate in competitive cheerleading. Also, no child gets turned away. Whether you are brand new at cheerleading, or you 've been doing it your whole life, there is a place for you in our gym and as corny as it may sound, in our hearts. RCA now has four teams: the Jewels which are our Tiny Tot team,  the Gems that are Youth, Treasure is our Seniors, and the Shining Stars which was the first Special Needs Cheerleading team in our area.

With our Spirit of a Champion trophy
 (which is sitting on the ground and is taller than me)
and our $500 check!

This weekend was their first competition of the season. So all 65 families made the trip to Richmond to watch our teams do great. Our Tinies blew the judges away with and got 1st out of 5 teams. Youth dropped a stunt, but still got 3rd. The Seniors also got third in their division. It is so rewarding to see a group of girls who were complete dunderheads at the beginning of the season actually become a cohesive team that hit their routines pretty darn good. We haven't been this strong as a team in several years. Everything just seems to be clicking this year, we have great girls, parents, and coaches. Below are some pics of when I was on the team four years ago!

Celebrating with the seniors after we dominated at Champion Cup Nationals!