This American-Student Life

I AM DONE WITH FINALS. And with my first YEAR of graduate school. It seems like just yesterday that I started. I gotta tell you guys, it feels great. I have been slightly on top of the world. I really truly think this was a great move for me. I am going to LOVE the job when I get done with, and being a student has been an amazing experience (although hectic from time to time, you know I loved every minute of the cramming and paper-writing). So thanks to all of you for understanding my insanity this past year. I think the worst of it is over now. :) Summer classes start in June! I have all of May off, so call me and I promise I can hang out.

To celebrate, Jeremy and I have a date with Ira Glass of "This American Life" on NPR. I love, love, love that show. They're broadcasting a live show via satellite to theaters all over the place (isn't technology the coooooolest?).
Tomorrow: LIZA AND COBY'S WEDDING. Jeremy will be gone, so Kat/Karl/Kristen will be my date. ;)
Saturday: Baby Christy is graduating!!!!!! Can it be that long ago she came to visit Chandle at UCA? Um, yes it can, she was 15. Congrats to Christy!! Hooray!

Haaaaaaapyyy Birrrrrrthdaaaay to Broooooooke!

A big happy birthday to the lovely Miss Brooke today!!!!! This picture is a little grainy, but it sure is sweet. ;) Sending her happy birthday vibes while I'm locked away at work... and chained to several papers and tests. Love ya, Brooke!


PS, I have a bunch of photos today, so keep reading.

Get ready for a barrage of photos!

So I finally updated all my photos from the last month or so onto my computer so today (for your "entertainment"), I present "What I Used to Do Before Finals Week Approached."
This will probably be my last set(s) of updates because I intend to disappear for a bit whilst working on stuff. GOOD NEWS is, today I pretty much birthed a paper baby to consultation class, so THAT's done with (no final in there either... he said he'd average our last 2 test grades if we wanted, so I'm opting out of taking that one). Anyway, here we go...
MANY weeks ago, Jeremy and I went to Wye Mountain and visited the daffodils. I hadn't been since I was a kid, so it was a lot of fun. There were babies and kids in dresses getting plopped down in the middle of the flowers for photo shoots EVERYWHERE, and that was pretty amusing. That, in addition to the said babies in photo shoots proceeding to rip the flowers from the ground and eat them. ;)

We bought a bluebird house from an old man at the craft show that really wanted to talk about birds. For a while. He was very sweet so we couldn't resist.
No birds yet, but fingers crossed!







Scrollllll on for more pics...

A VERRRRRY belated update on Chandle and David's Little Rock wedding reception! Sorry, Chandle! ;)
It was beautiful and fun and everyone had a great time. The weather was really nice, and we sat outside at Drew's parents' house for many many hours. Congrats to those kids. I'm really so very excited for them.
PS, I am not sure why I ONLY took pictures at cake time. It seems I always take wedding pictures at cake time. What does that say about me, I wonder? ;)

Best $3.99 we've spent in a while. ;) I hadn't flown a kite since I had a She-Ra kite back in like 1987. I highly recommend it. It's very exciting when it gets up there. Ha ha.
Look at me go!

Gettin' Ready for Baby Hills!

What a gorrrrrgeous weekend we had for the shower for Baby Hills. It was great getting to see everybody and shower our good friends with baby stuff. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Get ready for this, I took a million pictures, and I intend to post half a million of them. Outdoor pics look so good after winter dreariness! ;)
First up: the KATerpillar cupcakes
The day was perfect for being outside alllllllllllllllll day (sunburns included for some of us!).

We played a guess-the-baby-picture game, which was a lot of fun. Miss Kat got a 100%!! She's got baby on the brain. ;)

This one might be my favorite picture of the whole day.

Thanks to everyone for coming! We had a great time! Love ya, Kat and Karl...!!

Now it's on to finals week for me!!!

This is pretty much me.

nataliedee.com

This is how I will look for the next two weeks. ONE week of class left!! Then I have alllllll of May off until I go back full-time (we don't speak of THAT yet). Here's what's coming up:
-Shower for the fabulous Kat and Karl (and baby!)
-Paper due Tuesday
-BIIIIIIIIIG paper due Wednesday
-Paper due Thursday
-FINALS week (which won't be too terrible, 2 tests and 2 papers- I can handle that!)

I took my 3rd psychopathology test today. Now I can recognize friends with: major depression, bipolar I and II, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive, somatization disorders, pain disorders, and a HOST of other anxiety and somatic disorders.
Sigh.
I can't believe the tremendous amount of pictures that I have NOT posted. I am terrible. My camera is sitting at home. I will get better. Niner.
Think of me...!

It's a twista!

Hey kids, sorry I have (ONCE AGAIN) been absent from here. Did I mention there is a mere 3 weeks left of class, but who's counting?? I am.

It has been a long, strange past couple of days, starting on Thursday. Jeremy and I were at White Water, watching Cory Branan, when the bottom of the sky basically fell out. We heard that sirens were going off, but we didn't think too much about it. Come on, guys. ANY of you who grew up in Arkansas knows that sirens do NOT equal tornadoes. They hit the interstate and the outside of town, but NOT Little Rock...

Well, not long after that we hear that a tornado has hit Mississippi and Evergreen... TOO close for comfort. Everything was fine, the fence was a little droopy, but everything seemed ok. Little did we know just how very close the tornado came! The next block up had trees in houses and cars, Mississippi and Leawood are wrecked, and Cammack looks just as bad! We drove around and went to Kristen and JR's house, where a tree branch had just gone through Kristen's windshield (she never posts, so I thought I'd update you...). Apparently they were very very close too.
We were out of power till Saturday night, and Kristen and JR were out till Sunday night. PIONEER DAYS, we call 'em. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice not having power, and playing Trivial Pursuit, and drinking wine with no power. However, there are many many houses that are devasted. Thoughts and prayers go to people who have holes in their roof. We are VERY grateful that everything turned out ok.

Lesson learned. Sirens... go.to.basement.

YUCKO!

My apologies for being such a terrible blogger lately. Busy, for realz!

*I have staph. Don't freak out, it's not that bad. But it's true. If you're squeamish, ignore the rest of this bullet.... Ok, so I had a hangnail which I promptly removed myself (whoops), and somehow got the staph as a result. She thinks maybe it's from yucko dishwater. SICK, SICK, SICK. Anyhow, I'm on antibiotics, and they had to drain it. Leah, you would have loved it. The drs. sure did- they were all like, "OOOOH that's a good one!" I'm a freak.

*There are like a million projects and papers coming up, so I might be a little quiet for a while here... I hope to catch at least a couple of you soon!

*I really do have (old) pics on my camera to share, but just haven't had the time. Boo. Gotta run, but just wanted to let you know I'm alive! Peace out! (from me and my staph)

HECK yeah

EIGHTY-NINE PERCENT on my psychopathology test! I almost peed in my pants, to tell ya the truth. I am so happy! The grad schools gods are smiling on Elizabeth this week! Thank goodness, because it was a doozy! On the upside..... I'm on Spring Break!

(Everyone put your hands up and say, "Spring Break '08! WHOOOOOOOO!"). This year, I shall spend my spring break:

1. Sleeping

2. Knitting

3. Watching Oprah and "What I Like About You," starring Amanda Bynes, everyday at 3:30 and 4.

4. Staying up later than 10 p.m. Um, maybe. Maybe not.

5. Going to Ben Nichols tomorrow night at the Tavern (who wants to go with me?).

6. Going to Chandle and David's shower.

7. Sleeping a little more.

8. Not doing homework a little more.

9. Feeling guilty about not doing homework by (let's say) Thursday, and finally kicking into gear. A little. Very little.

10. Yelling, "Spring Break, '08! Whooooooooo!" whenever I can. And whenever is socially acceptable. Or not.

PS, there's a poll (I'm so high tech now, Google/Blogger!) on the wedding bloggity. I needs some opinions! ;)

German-Scottish is ALMOST Irish, yes?

Hey kids-

I stole this picture from my darling Kat because I likes it mucho. Yay for Kat for actually taking photos. I don't know why I didn't... probably because I would have broken my camera with the day I was having (just to highlight a few of the kickers, I ripped my pants just moments after this photo was taken, and I got us lost on the way to Liza's shower because I can't read directions. Or choose not to. Whatever.). Anyway, the shower was great fun, and Kristen and JR's housewarming was great! Their house is a-dorable. Congrats to them for movin' into the 'hood! So glad to have them nearby!

Ummmmmm this week is TOUGH. I have a psychopathology test tomorrow (eek! remember, this is the KILLER multiple choice), so I am slowly giving myself a stroke over that. On the upside, I have SPRING BREAK '08 next week (whooooooooooo!). Counting down.

That's all I can think of now! Oh, be sure to visit this archive of the bloggity to watch a St. Patty's day classic video. It will make you happy, guaranteed. Congrats to Liza and Coby and to Kristen and JR! ;)

Here it is...!

Announcing the WEDDING BLOGGITY! ;)
Go visit.

I swear there was snow on the ground today.

Unfortunately, it's g-o-n-e now. But the doggies had lots o' playing time in it. It's Zoey's first real snow, and Pooty loved showing her the ropes:
This is how you run around in it.
Be sure to jump around a lot.
This is how you eat it.
This is how you make a snow beard.
This is how you runnnnnnnnn then sliiiiiide.
And, finally, this is how you sleep the rest of the day.

:)

VERY belated birthday wishes!

A very very very happy birthday to my Papa (it was on the 2nd)! I have been a bad blogger, but that doesn't mean birthday vibes weren't sent his way! ;) We have a birthday date tomorrow night. Pizza and American Idol. Yay. Here are some pics from his birthday celebration over the weekend at Petit Jean (an awesome birthday tradition, this is year #2). We had a great time- lots of good food, playing cards, and time with the fam. And it was GORGEOUS over the weekend. So HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Papa Bear. Love you muchly!!

More fun times...

After Petit Jean, Jeremy, Katie, Megan, Shane, and I went to see Lucero at the Village. I almost didn't go (gasp), but I'm glad I did. It was a great show (as always). They had the slide guitar guy from Glossary play along with them, and it was great.







.... And on Sunday we bid congratulations to all the marathon people. We drove around and tried to find them (to no avail), but it was a gorgeous day anyway, and we got to cheer others on. ;) Congrats to Karl for running the whole thing and Judith and Julie for walking the whole thing. AMAZING. Cody also ran the half marathon. IMPRESSIVE, guys. Congrats!!!