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)?

My mother’s mom had been sick for a very long time. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about 12 years ago, and had steadily (but slowly) declined since then. She lived in her own home all this time and was fortunate to be able to have around the clock nursing care in her own home.

The past year had been more difficult for her. While her mind had been gone for some time, her physical health hadn’t been too bad until recently. Her episodes of low blood pressure and breathing problems became more frequent, and we knew that her body was beginning to shut down.

This evening around 8:45pm, Nana passed away in her home. My mother and her sisters were there by her side. I will be leaving in about 4 hours to drive with my brother to Georgia to be with our family. While I am sad that she is gone, I am more relieved that she can finally be at rest. This is a difficult and awful disease, and I know that she tried her hardest as long as she could.

Please pray for my family as we travel to be together to honor her. She lived a very full and successful life, and I have great respect for all that she accomplished.

Well, I guess that I definitely needed a blogging break! I am so sorry it’s been forever since I posted - a few of you have been wondering where I am, but I really haven’t gone anywhere, I’ve just been busy!

Not too long after I stopped posting I started to hang out with a co-worker of mine a lot, and now we’re dating :-). His name is AJ, and he’s a really awesome guy. VERY different from anyone I’ve ever been interested in in the past, but it works somehow. We’ve been actually dating for about a week shy of 2 months now.

On top of that, I’ve also been hanging out with other new friends from work. It think I just needed a break from online life to adjust to my new life that is emerging here. Life in Winston-Salem is very different when you’re not encased in the little Wake Forest bubble, so I’m kind of discovering the city for the first time.

I did hear back from Florida State University about grad school - it was very frustrating because they said they’d get back to me in a week and a half to two weeks, and it actually took about SEVEN weeks, so by the time I got that email I almost didn’t care about what the answer was, I just wanted an answer at all! Which, unfortunately, was no. So that’s another thing I’ve been doing the past month or so . . . reevaluating where I want to go and what I want to do. At the moment I am intending to spend another year here in North Carolina. They got back to me so late about the theatre management program that it was too late for me to apply for any other graduate programs, so this coming year I will be taking another year off. But honestly, I don’t think it’s such a bad thing. I think a little more time to think things through would be good.

As far as jobs go, I LOVE working for Starbucks. It really is the awesome company to work for that everyone says it is. I thought that it had to be hype, but it’s not. I love this job - just had my 4 month anniversary with the company! And things have been going VERY WELL with working for E. Webscapes . . . I’ve just passed my 3 months with them! E. Webscapes is full of such awesome designers and staff members, they’ve really made me feel right at home!

I’ve traveled a little bit since I last posted - I went home at the beginning of April to join the Episcopal Church (#5 on my 101), and then I took AJ home with me in May to go to the TPC golf tournament. And this past weekend I went to Georgia to visit my mother’s mom (who is REALLY not doing well, so prayers that she finds comfort would be appreciated).

Also, I turned 23 this past Thursday (June 7), so I’m getting old, LOL!

A few little administrative things - I never marked of #46 on my 101, but I completed subscribing to and reading a newspaper, I closed down my Doodlebug website, so #74 is no longer an issue, and I forced AJ to sit down with me and watch all six episodes of Star Wars in a row, starting with Episode I. If you’re into Star Wars and haven’t done this, I HIGHLY recommend it. It’s a full day’s commitment, but my view of all the movies has changed, and I like the prequels more now. I think watching them like this allows you to see them the way that Lucas intended them to fit together. So yeah, nerdy moment over, #81 is completed.

What all have I missed with all of you? Hopefully I will be back to posting regularly now. I didn’t mean to leave everyone hanging high and dry! I’ve missed blogging!!! Please comment and let me know how all of you have been doing!