Out with the old.

I would like to note that tomorrow is the last day of January. We're already one month into 2010. Before we know it, it'll be the holidays again. Sheesh. How in the world does time fly by so fast?!

So a couple of entries ago, I mentioned that I was starting a new job in a couple of weeks. Well...trim that couple by one week. This past Monday, I started in the Honors College, and I've loved every freaking moment of it. I feel like I have my life back. I'm not worried about anything anymore. My travel schedule is down to zero. Don't get me wrong...I loved being a recruiter. It was so great to work with the students and parents. But being an academic counselor has been one of the things I've always wanted to do, and I really like where I am. My office is freaking sweet, too. :)

My last day at work ended up being on the same day as another co-worker's last day, and one of our tour guides made this freaking sweet cake so we could all wish us well on our new adventures elsewhere. The party was a blast:

Here's the cake. Three tiers...almost looks like a wedding cake. Bottom layer was white cake; middle was chocolate; top was strawberry. ALL delicious.

Shelby and I cutting into the cakes.

So I guess the party was also supposed to be a dance party, and one of our tour guides made himself a tailfeather. :P

I'm definitely going to miss our tour guides and everyone I worked with...but the great thing about still being on campus is that I still see them all the time. I saw them last week, matter of fact. Twice. :)

My first week there was cut short thanks to another storm that moved in. I'm so thrilled the weatherman was actually wrong about how bad it would hit Stillwater...my parents got hit pretty bad [didn't lose power for too long though, thank goodness], but we were totally safe here. I actually overprepared for once, and JJ and I weathered the storm just fine. I'm hoping we can get out of here tomorrow though, because we've been stuck inside since Thursday afternoon and are going a little stir crazy. There's only so many ways you can entertain a nearly 14-month-old active baby boy before you HAVE to get out. I wasn't brave enough to try the roads today, but I think we'll be OK tomorrow.

So, I'm really starting to get into this whole Vegas trip thing. I've booked dinners, am trying to figure out what kind of spa treatment I want, and I'm just throwing myself into this. I'm hoping that pre-planning will help us make the most of this trip and guarantee that we won't get bored. I also want to learn poker, so I'm trying to find casinos that have free poker lessons and working that into our schedule. I found TripIt.com, which is helping me plan our days out. Love.It.

I'm getting better at this whole cooking thing. Now that JJ can eat table food, I'm forcing myself to cook more and am more willing to experiment with things. I'm not that great at dinner planning yet, but I'm getting there. With February just around the corner, I've got to plan my meals out, figure out which recipes I want to try and stick with them. The main goal is to make meals that I can put together fast - JJ usually eats by 6:30, which leaves me less than an hour from the time we get home to have dinner ready. It's creating a unique challenge, but we're getting better at it.

Time for bed. Back to the list later.

Oh. Ending note. I FINALLY legally changed my last name. Only took nine months, but I did it. I finally feel married. Legally.

I love these shoes.

These shoes weren't expensive, so I'm not going to cross them off my list - unfortunately. But I bought these a little bit ago from HSN. I'm not a big fan of heels since I'm so tall already, but man are these things cute. I finally found a pair of orange and black heels! YAY!

I honestly haven't been working on the list because things have been a little crazy. I've kinda taken a break this month, but there are so many things that I have in progress already that next month will probably see four or five of them crossed off. I start my new job Monday and couldn't be more excited about it. I feel like I'm getting out of my old job just on time and moving into my new one just in time. I'm so excited for this new opportunity...this is exactly what I've wanted to do for quite some time now.

I've started re-planning our wedding but haven't gotten much into it. Third's time a charm, huh? I won't saying anything about it until we have deposits for our venue, photog and church booked...which I hope to solidify within the next two weeks. That's my goal. I think starting this process again will help me get the rest of my life organized. I've let so much go the past 18 months...time to get back on track and get my life back.

Guess that's all for now...I'll be back soon.

Man. Time for an update.

I've been MIA for a few days...mainly because my computer crashed [lovely], and the past week's been pretty crazy for me. So. Here's a recap.

After screaming that my child needs tubes since October, I finally convinced my doctor in December that he needs them. We made an appointment for tubes a couple of weeks ago, and his new specialist said that JJ needs tubes now. We got him scheduled for surgery this past week, and he got the tubes in. He was such a good little guy...he was cranky and sleepy after it was all over, but the whole thing took 10 minutes, and he did such a good job. He's already a different little boy...he's picking up on words and is already getting his balance back. I'm so thrilled that he has them in...maybe we can finally stop struggling with ear infections. I'll have to post some pics I took of him at the surgery clinic. He's adorable in a hospital gown. :)

And now, to some of the biggest news of all...I have a new job! Starting in a couple of weeks, I'll be an academic advisor for the Honors College. This whole thing came up super fast...I went from applicant to hired in the course of a week. Literally. I'm really sad to be leaving my old job behind, but I'm excited about this new opportunity and to be working for a part of campus that was so important to me during my undergraduate career. I'm still kinda taking it in...I didn't think this whole process would move so fast, and my mind's spinning right now. But, don't get me wrong - I'm super excited.

With the way the past couple of weeks have gone, I haven't actively been working on my list...but that'll come to an end this weekend. Now that I'll have more time to myself, I'll be able to take care of more things, read more books, start scrapbooking etc. I'm so excited about the future and what the rest of 2010 will bring! I'm hoping the rest of the year goes as well as the past two weeks have gone.

That's about all I've got. I'm gonna go back to playing Wii Fit Plus - J got it for me last week, and we've been playing it off and on all day. It's really fun! Yoga kicked my butt though...oh my gosh.

Add one to #6, #42 and #65! Oh. No. 75 completely done, too.

Opening note: I don't have a computer cord. Mine broke in the fall, and I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet...hence the sporadic journal entries. I'm gonna order it soon [i need to stop procrastinating and just dig around for one online], but for now, I'm borrowing my sister's. Thanks sis!

Anyway. Over Christmas Break, J, my sister and I went on a road trip to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl - which fulfills no. 75, which was to go on a road trip to an away OSU football game. We left on the 1st for Dallas and met a friend at Razzoo's, this Cajun restaurant in Arlington. I'd never been there before, so this adds restaurant no. 4 to no. 42, which is to eat at 10 new restaurants. Woo! Check out the menu:

This is both my and J's menus back to back, so the menu isn't the length of the whole table. It's still long though! I had the andouille sausage with red beans and rice, along with a Bud with lime. The andouille was way spicier than I had anticipated, but it was still absolutely delicious. Alicia and I got a little annoyed because they had a million birthdays there that night and sang loudly for all of them, but it was still a fun restaurant with a great atmosphere. I'd go back again! I want to try their dirty rice. :)

After dinner, my sister and our friend went to see Avatar, and J and I went to visit family he has in the area. Because of the stupid snowstorm, we didn't get to spend any time with J's family during Christmas break, so we wanted to see this set of family before we left. They have two little girls and were dying to get out [they had a babysitter in the form of the wife's parents], so we all decided to go see a movie. That starts no. 65 on my list - woo! We saw "It's Complicated," and it was so much funnier than I thought it would be. I loved that movie. The ending was disappointing to me, honestly, but the whole movie was really good. I hope to see Sherlock Holmes and finally see New Moon next weekend...three day weekend!

The following day, we made our way to the Cotton Bowl. The Cotton Bowl wasn't held at the actual Cotton Bowl for the first time in forever; it was actually held here:

Ah yes...The House That Jerry Built. The Cotton Bowl was played at the new Cowboys stadium, and that place is INSANE. I love it there. I've never been in a stadium where you walk in and pretty much see nothing but seats and field in front of you...all of the escalators and food places were on the sides of the bowl. It was so neat.

Before the game started, Samsung hosted this concert outside. I don't know who the group was, but they were a cover band, and they were fabulous.

We all had fun dancing around with other OSU fans - seems like they were the only ones around the stage. Anyhoo, after the show ended, we went inside and walked around for a bit. They had this special room set up on the 2nd floor that had the cool Cotton Bowl trophy in it...too bad we didn't take it home.

We made it to our seats, where I took in the view.

I don't care that I was sitting in the nosebleed section..that place was INCREDIBLE! I loved it in there! And, thanks to the jumbo HD screen that goes from the 20 to the 20, there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. I hope to go back for an NFL game next season. Check out the screen...absolutely sick.

That was during coin toss...I got a lot of pics of the screen that day. Ha.

So we sat through the game...it wasn't the prettiest game in the world. OK - overall, the game sucked. We didn't play offense, there were no plays being called, Gundy was too scared to let Zac really do anything, and Perrish Cox had been suspended the day before, so he didn't play. Zac threw like, three or four INTs, including this one on the last play of the game/his college career:

Ugh. It was insane. We lost, 21-7, and finished the season 9-4. I hope during the offseason, Gundy hires an offensive coordinator that can make us a force to be reckoned with and help us keep up with our defense. I had a blast at the Cotton Bowl and in Dallas [for the like, 24 hours we were there, literally] - I can't wait to go back down there! Oh. I discovered an outlet mall in Allen...we are SO going back.

I have more I could probably write, but I'm exhausted and need to go to bed. Another update later!

Happy 2010!

Happy 2010 everybody! Man...I can't believe we're in a new year and a new decade. Where has the time gone?!

In this decade, I will:
-- Turn 30 [2016] and watch J turn 30 [2015]
-- Celebrate my 10-year wedding anniversary [2019]
-- Go to my 10-year high school reunion [2014]
-- Go to my 10-year college reunion [2018]
-- Send JJ off to elementary school [2014]
-- Watch JJ turn 10 [2018]
-- Watch my parents turn 50 [2013]
-- Hopefully have our wedding and another baby...

Man. This decade's going to be awesome. I hope it is, at least.

We're heading to the Cotton Bowl later on today, so I'd better go grab something to eat and hit the road. Update on the bowl game - with pics - later! GO STATE!

Oh. And I finished Eclipse - finally. Breaking Dawn is next!