To appease the masses, I bring to you . . . an update.

Yes, I have been a very sucky blogger the past few months. Grad school + job = NO FREE TIME. Pity me, please?

OK, so last I spoke was when Nana passed away. I was in Georgia for about a week helping with funeral arrangements and the like, then I came back to North Carolina.

My kittens did great while I was gone (AJ watched them for me), and they also gained names! I named the one with more white on his face Oscar (for Oscar Peterson) and the other one is Miles (for Miles Davis). There will be more pictures to come, though they haven’t grown AT ALL since I got them (which, I shouldn’t say that too loud - they are precious and adorable, I like their size now, LOL). They love to cuddle with me and they are SO GOOD together - I can’t imagine ever seperating them. I feel bad because I am gone so much of the day, so I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with them as I want to, but since they have each other, I know that they’re doing just fine. They just really like to cuddle when I come home!

The next week was utter chaos because it was holiday at Starbucks, so crazy busy, and I also had one week to get ready for Christmas. AJ and I had a lovely Christmas on the 21st, and on the 22nd I had Christmas with his family. On the 23rd I drove to GA, had Christmas with MY family, and then drove back on the 26th.

On the . . . 29th? . . . I woke up at about 3:30AM with really intense pain in my lower right abdomen. I could barely stand up, and it made me throw up it hurt so bad. I was able to get to the computer, saw that the right side is the appendix side, and decided I didn’t want to risk it. I called AJ and woke him up and he got me to the ER. It turns out that I had a ruptured ovarian cyst, so the next week I was off my feet a bit and then taking it pretty easy. I feel much better now, but man that hurt!!!

Classes started back on January 4th, and it has been NONSTOP since then. At the moment my rotation is in the development office, and it’s very time intensive. My schedule most days is something like this:

Rotation: 8AM-9:30AM
Class: 10AM-2PM
Rotation: 2PM-4:30PM
Work: 5:45PM-11:45PM

Note that I get about 8 hours off . . . and those are the sleeping hours . . . try fitting homework and sanity time in there. I’m exhausted. Luckily, there are only about 4 more weeks of this rotation and then I switch to something a little more laid back, so if I can just hang in there.

I’m getting really tired of school. As I go through all my classes, I realize that I’m not really learning a ton. I don’t say this to be cocky, I just got a really great undergrad education, and my instincts are usually pretty good. If it weren’t for the darned three letters that I need to get a job (MFA), I probably would be just fine to have skipped all this. I just have to keep reminding myself that I’ve only got about a year and a half before my internship, and while that’s technically still school, it’s really a job too, and it will be in an office somewhere (or something . . .)

I have missed being able to be online. I feel like I’m losing a little bit of myself because of all the craziness. Summer will be a welcome time. How is everyone else doing (is anyone even reading my blog anymore)?

I enjoyed doing this last year, though I didn’t read as many books as I intended to (grad school will do that to ya)! Here’s a list of what I’ve read this year. Please feel free to share what you’ve been reading!

January

February

March

1. See Jane Date, Melissa Senate
2. The Tenth Circle, Jodi Picoult

April

3. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, A. J. Jacobs

May

4. Baby Proof, Emily Giffin
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
6. The Bitch Posse, Martha O’Connor
7. The Twentieth Wife, Indu Sundaresan
8. She’s Come Undone, Wally Lamb

June

9. Straight Up and Dirty: A Memoir, Stephanie Klein
10. Wolves in Chic Clothing, Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman
11. Yoga Mamas, Katherine Stewart
12.Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, Diablo Cody
13. Sweet Ruin, Cathi Hanauer

July

14. Slightly Single, Wendy Markham
15. Slightly Settled, Wendy Markham
16. Slightly Engaged, Wendy Markham
17. Slightly Married, Wendy Markham
18. Slightly Suburban, Wendy Markham

August

19. Stacked: A 32DDD Reports from the Front, Susan Seligson
20. The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway, William Goldman

In an effort to get a better handle on my finances, I’ve started to learn about credit . . . specifically, the magical credit score that determines all of your financial future. It influences your ability to obtain a credit card (and the card’s interest rate and credit limit), mortgage, loan, or any other number of things that I may or may not need to do in the future. Poor financial decisions will create bad credit which limits what you can and cannot do in the future.

One of the best things you can do for your personal financial health is to regularly check your credit report. It is now FREE to obtain a copy of your credit report once a year from each of the three credit reporting bureaus. Because of this, many financial advisers are now recommending that every four months you check your credit report.

What exactly is this credit report, and why do you need to check it so often? It is a listing of all the accounts that you have on record. Remember that credit card that you opened at the mall one day three years ago and only used once? It’s on your credit report, and every time an employer/lender/bank/etc. checks your credit, they see this card. You forgot to pay your cable bill when you moved to a new state? You’ve got a missed payment on your credit report that shows up and detracts from your credit! Or perhaps you thought you paid off that outstanding rent payment, but for some reason it’s still there . . . four years later, giving you bad credit. It’s important to keep tabs on your credit report so that you know what is happening in your life. This can also be VERY useful if you think you may have been a victim of identity theft, because if someone else has been doing things in your name that you don’t know of, this is where you can catch it.

However, there are scams out there trying to GET all your credit information by posing as “free credit report” websites. Don’t be fooled! THE website to go to is AnnualCreditReport.com. This one is not a scam and is safe to use. You can go to this site to get your report from Equifax, TransUnion, or Experian (the three reporting bureaus). They also make it available to get your actual credit score, but this costs a little money (I got mine from TransUnion for $7.95). From what I’ve researched, it’s recommended that you get your credit REPORT every four months (since it’s free) and your credit SCORE once a year, just so you know where you stand.

I was quite pleasantly surprised when I checked mine. I figured since I’ve only been building my credit for about 18 months that it would not be very good, and there wouldn’t be much information, but there was quite a bit on there, including an account that I had forgotten about. The report also gave me some thoughts as to why my score isn’t higher (accounts haven’t been open really long and I don’t have any involvement with real estate).

You can find way more information on credit by reading any good personal finance blog (check out the links in my sidebar). For more specific information about this topic, read How to Obtain Your Free Credit Report @ Get Rich Slowly.

Taking control of your financial situation by keeping tabs on your credit? Works for me!

(I meant to post this yesterday, but my mom was here in town, so things got away from me!)

It’s October, and that means that it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month! As many of you know, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2000 - she found the cancer through a self-exam, and it NEVER showed up on the mammogram (so do your self-exam!). She has been in remission since August 2000, and she is an incredible woman!

There are so many things that we can do to help prevent the risk of breast cancer - exercise, watching what we eat (somethings are good for us - others not so much), and maintaining a healthy lifestyle that includes breast self-exams (BSE) and mammograms. Throughout the month I’ll be posting things that will help us be more aware!

Here are some links to national sites about breast cancer: FitSugar

Don’t forget to stop by The Breast Cancer Site to click - this helps give free mammograms to underprivileged women, and it’s so easy to go click once a day: The Breast Cancer Site

Here are my other posts about breast cancer: Breast Cancer Posts

Here is one post that I want EVERYONE to read: Inflammatory Breast Cancer

If you have any questions about breast cancer or my family’s personal experience with it, I am VERY open about this topic, and will answer any questions you may have - please don’t take this subject lightly!

Breast Cancer Awarenss Ribbon Gifts originally uploaded by The Taif Healthy City Programme.