A Day in the Life of a Master(s) of Education

Looking back on the last year, I only accomplished half of what I set out to do yet I don't feel like I have failed. As a year of ups and downs, tears and laughter, joy and pain I've come to realize that it's been mostly positive. Looking forward to making moves in 2016, building bonds and reaffirming friendships. Until next post. Laters 2015

Of late many of my parents friends have been dying. People I knew growing up, people I saw every Thursday at bible study and Sunday for service. It's hard to handle, not necessarily for myself but for my parents. They aren't getting any younger and more and more their peers are leaving this earth. In the next few weeks my parents will come to visit and coinciding with that visit is my birthday. I really want to take the opportunity to celebrate my life with my parents and show them that there is still much to do and enjoy in the time left on this earth. When their time comes I will be heartbroken,  which to me mean even more reason to celebrate life with them now. Until next post...laters

So I have finally gotten to the heart of my recent funk. I've been feeling pretty aimless and because of that I haven't been enthused to much of anything. With a life dominated by work (even if it was to meet financial goals and is very enjoyable) and not much else, I had not decompressed in a while. This coupled with the fact that I don't really have a hobby led to a life that was repeative and mediocre. When I took a moment to really step back and analyze everything and everyone in my life, I came to see that I am VERY goal oriented and to date I'd accomplished most of the major goals I'd set out for myself. That being said, I needed a new goal for that really was the only way I would find steady happiness again. I think I have found it. I'm going to finally go to and complete grad school. For real this time. I've figured out what I want to do in grad school now the task at hand is to figue out where. I'm not ruling out any possibilities. I would love ...

I'm having an insane case of the blues right now. Which I know is ridiculous because there are so many joyful things in my life. I just got back from my very first solo vacation to Paris of all places and though I had a fantastic time worth repeating I am having a hard time dealing with an overwhelming feeling of sadness. I work hard to maintain a state of joy but for some reason everything I would normally do to cheer myself up from a funk isn't working. More and more I just want to find a dark hole and bury myself in there never to resurface. On the other I look at the things I have accomplished and I smile and feel pride. I am being split in two and I can't deal.  Hopefully I'll look back on this roller-coaster time and reflect positively. In the meantime here are a few photos from my trip that will make me smile.

So many great things have already happened this month. Next week I'll do a post about Dragon-con because it was fantastic and wonderful. This post is about my first solo vacation. I'm heading to Paris, France and I could not be any more excited.  I have worked multiple jobs since March to save for this trip and now it's finally here. As I sit here in the airport waiting for my flight I can't help shake with the anticipation of events yet to come. I feel like such a big girl :-) Until next post, laters.

Never in my life has September been an exciting month for me. Usually it has meant time to go back to school or ramping up for fall busy season at work or just blah in general.  Not this year! This year September means fun, friends & freedom! Starting with the very first weekend the largest sci-fi, anime & nerd convention in the SE, Dragon*Con will be taking place and for the first time I will be attending. I've already picked out my costumes and outfits, made my schedule of must attend events and found friends to nerd out with. Following Dragon*con will be a weekend at Lake Lanier and hanging on a boat. The following week brings concerts and Music Midtown featuring Drake, X Ambassador, Sir Elton John and so many more! In all honesty though as exciting and fun as the first half of the month will be the last week is really the big ticket. This year for my big trip I'm heading to Paris, France. Not only will I see all the major sights such as the Louver, the Eifel Tower ...

This post was on buzzfeed today and it was like reading my life story: 26 Signs You Were Raised By Caribb... http://www.buzzfeed.com/fionarutherford/signs-you-were-raised-by-caribbean-parent?utm_term=.cjP0L9O1jm

This year on July 17th Disneyland will be officially celebrating it's Diamond Anniversary. In conjuction with that since May they have added a new parade, merchandise, activities and much more to celebrate this momentous event. Since it was such a big event and I knew someone who loves theme parks and has never been to Disneyland before I took the opportunity to spend the long 4th of July weekend enjoying everything they had to offer. I loved the parade at Disneyland,  the World of Color at California Adventure and of course meeting all the characters in their outfits for the celebration.  Here are a few of my favorite photos.

I have found that when I get things down in writing that I am more likely to do them for the following reasons: 1) Written Record=Accountability 2) Reference point 3) Sense of accomplishment when completed 4) Trackable & quantifiable Therefore here are a few additional goals for 2015: Organize one group activity a month (game night, dinner, sporting event,  etc) Hang with Jim once a week (even if it's only an invite & he can't do it) Read 1 book a month Work out 3 times a week (30 minutes minimum) Be more fashionable (invest in decent/presentable clothing & find a stylemodel) Save $100 a month Take a multi vitamin every day Go to the grocery store and cook once a week (possibly combined with Jim related activities) Splurge on myself every 3 months (buy tixs to a play or concert, go to a really nice restaurant, spa day etc) Get more involved in the lives of my niece & nephew (details TBD) Post 2x a month on Blog (pictures count) ...

So I totally deleted the first version of  this list so I am redoing for a reference point.  I will still refrain from calling this a New Year's Resolution list and give it the name of goals/wishes instead. That way they are less daunting and I am more accountable, which in the end is just what I need, Accountability.  Organize one group activity a month (game night, dinner, sporting event,  etc) Hang with Jim once a week (even if it's only an invite & he can't do it) Read 1 book a month Work out 3 times a week (30 minutes minimum) Be more fashionable (invest in decent/presentable clothing & find a style model) Save $100 a month Take a multi vitamin every day Go to the grocery store and cook once a week (possibly combined with Jim related activities) Splurge on myself every 3 months (buy tixs to a play or concert, go to a really nice restaurant, spa day etc) Get more involved in the lives of my niece & nephew (details TBD)  Post 2x...

So it is June, time to do a check up on my goals for 2015. To refresh your memory  here are the goals and their associated updates: Organize one group activity a month (game night, dinner, sporting event,  etc) This goal has been going very well. Generally I plan the activity for later in the month so that people have time to plan and add it to their calendars. So far my favorite activities have been Whirlyball and Karaoke. Hang with Jim once a week (even if it's only an invite & he can't do it) This one has been a bit harder to accomplish mostly due to my work schedule,  however he has attended most group activities and is generally available to chill if and when I have free time...I will work more on this goal in the coming months Read 1 book a month This is probably  my most successful goal thus far. I have actually read 15 books thus far (I read 5 in April alone) Work out 3 times a week (30 minutes minimum) This is another goal th...

So my first camping trip was awesome! It was a group of 10 of us and 3 dogs. I have never really been camping before so I asked every friend I knew that had been or would enjoy it and turns out they all said yes! So we left yesterday morning and headed up to Gainesville, GA to meet 1/3 of the group. Next we packed up the cars (I proceeded to pass out, because if I am not driving long car rides do that to me) and drove up into the the Chattahoochee National Forest, Woody Gap on the Appalachian Trail. We hiked about 1.5 miles in, with a ton of food and all our gear and found the best site almost immediately. It's a good thing we went when we did. Once we set up camp we had about 4-5 groups follow us up. Soon we were passed by more hikers and campers and even a couple of people who were actually  walking the whole AT from South to North. On average it takes people about 6months to make the trek. Last year one of my college  professors took a sabatical to do so. Not something I pl...

As a part of my North GA exploration goal, I will be going on my very first official camping trip! Woody Gap , is a part of the Appalachian Trail and a common locale for campers. I have a group of about 8 experienced campers/hikers going with me and hopefully no bears will eat me. Though I am a bit weary of the actually sleeping outside and the lack of a shower part of the trip; I am excited for campfire songs, campfire food and seeing stars. Just wanted to share with my adoring fans out there the link to the website and maybe you will be interested in checking it out for yourself! Until next post...laters

8 years have passed and I will always remember April 16, 2007. I remember being exhausted from my drive up from a weekend spent in DC and super excited to have purchased my first car. I remember rushing out of my dorm at Cochrane for my 8am class across the street and passing an ambulance outside of West AJ. I remember sitting in my 200+ person lecture with few other students, having our professor comment on how empty the classroom was even though it was 8am Monday morning class and hearing a fellow student comment that West AJ was on lockdown. I remember walking  adjacent to the Drillfield to the Chem/Phys building for my chemistry lab and being passed by numerous campus, town and state police cars. I remember calling my father immediately and letting him know that something was happening on campus, that I didn't know what it was but that I was ok. I remember whispering with my lab partner and fellow classmates about what could be happening in Blacksburg also affec...

Had the chance to finally  attend Dapper Day  at WDW! What is Dapper Day? It's  a day when guest  dress up in their best and visit the parks! Inspiration  came  from some of the orginal renderings of Disneyland which included  guest walking around with suit & ties, sundresses and the like. We got a group of 6 together  and walked around Magic Kingdom taking photos, riding  rides and generally having a great  time. This was also  my first attempt at Disneybounding. For those  of you not familiar with  that term either, it's  when you draw inspiration in  your clothes from a Disney movie, show or character. It differs from cosplay in that  it isn't  an exact recreation of the character. In fact Disneybounding has even been done based off of attractions found in the park! Can you guess who I was bounding as? Hint: It definitely opened up "A whole new world" of fashion ideas for me and I  received...

So as you all know I am hard at work trying to stick to the goals I have set for myself in 2015. I am working on trying to refrain from calling them "resolutions" because even though they do require resolve to achieve, many "resolutions" tend to fall by the wayside half way through the year if not half way through the month of January. Nonetheless here I am yet again checking in and keeping accountable with those goals. For a refresher check out my post from January 6th. Soooo time for a status update: This came from my kitchen last night and I made it. I ate it and didn't die. I shared it with others, they also did not die. Cooking win!: Sweet Potato Mini Pies with Homemade Graham Cracker Crust Finished Product! As apart of my Georgia exploring goal went on a hike to Arabia Mountain, I was so proud of LJ! He did the entire 5 1/2 mile moderate hike without me having to carry him once. I'm only holding him in this picture because he is so tiny ...

It may be a bit premature to make notes on the progress of my 2015 goals but since one of them was to blog more regularly I figured I would kill two birds with one stone (hopefully the birds are chickens that I will then eat because otherwise this saying is unnecessarily violent,  but I digress) via this post. Here are a couple of things of note in regards to the goals: Went to the library and picked up a new book entiled "Nine Inches" or something close to that. Since we are already half way through the month I have got to get cracking.  The plus side to this is that I am a fast reader and the book in this case is only about 300 pages long.  Score! I have been hanging with various groups of friends recently and going on dates so I have made the utmost effort that if I am walking out of my house (and not going to work which doesn't count since I wear a uniform) I look great and put together. Originally the goal was to look decent but since joining instagram (@alwysmoe)...