Just Keep Swimming…

Nothing kills free time like graduate school. Was it seriously only six weeks ago that my biggest concern after work was how much Judge Judy could I watch before I had to start dinner?

So far class hasn’t been terrible. Classes are supposed to go from 4:00pm-10:30pm but we haven’t stayed the entire time yet. I think the latest we’ve stayed was this past week and we were there until 9:30pm. But that still sucks when I’ve been awake since 7:00am and usually haven’t eaten anything since noon. I had to give a presentation during the last class and thankfully one of my classmates brought in some homemade sushi otherwise I may have passed out.

The bad thing about the classes is that there are a few people in the class who seem to like to hear the sound of their own voices. They cannot let a comment or question go by without offering their opinion or a lengthy story or chain of stories. Something what they contribute is relevant, but often it veers into irrelevancy and eats up a lot of time. By the time I get home and sit down to eat dinner I’m often exhausted and cranky. I don’t like not having time to unwind at night.

Wedding planning has kind of stalled. As you can see from my previous entry we have a lot of stuff accomplished. When I check my to-do list I’m reminded that there are still dozens of little things that I’d otherwise forget if I didn’t have said list. It’s a little overwhelming. Still, I just keep imagining the look on Bobby’s face when I come around the corner on my stepdad’s arm. I am marrying the best thing that has ever happened to me and that’s all that matters.

Earlier in the week I asked Bobby what he thought about writing our own vows. I thought he would immediately veto the idea and that would be one less thing I’d have to worry about. I mean, I wanted to write them, but I didn’t want him to feel pressured to come up with something personal to say. So I figured either outcome was a win-win. Either I get to exchange personally meaningful vows with my future husband or I get to skip part of the planning process. He seemed very interested in the idea. So I’m piecing together things I might want to say. How do I express the gratitude I have for him? How do I verbalized just how much he means to me? How I can’t imagine my life without him? How I can’t believe I almost settled for so much less before I met him? How do I tell him in front of our friends and family that I totally and completely give myself to him? Harder than it sounds…

So that’s what has been happening with me since my last update. Work, school, plan, rinse and repeat. Speaking of rinse and repeat, I’m participating in a market research study. I’ve tested lots of products in the past (pizza, Pringles, trash bags, cat food [Allie did that one], smoothies, and lotion). It’s usually pretty fun to get paid for trying products I’d use anyway. The cat food thing didn’t work out well because it made Allie sick, but other than that I’ve had good luck trying different products. Right now I’m using some shampoo and conditioner for a month, then doing a survey on them to get cash. I’ve only used the product one night, but my hair feels so much silkier and smells great!

233 days…