I got some good news this week.  We finally know where we will be moving and where I will be attending law school beginning in the fall.  Unfortunately, I did not get into my top choice, but PLEASE do not comment and say “I am so sorry” because I am totally fine with it.  My top choice was a private school and although it would have been so nice to live back at home near my friends and family, it would have cost us SO much more.  With my school, I will be saving about $22,000 because of my scholarship.  Also, Tom and I will be able to start our marriage completely fresh and on our own; not that I wouldn’t prefer to have his family and mine closer for us to lean on when we need them, but I really think it will help our marriage to be away.  We’ve already told our families that our house will be the “vacation house” so they will have to come visit.  I am so incredibly excited (and proud of myself) because I am actually doing it - really and truly going to law school!!!

With finals and all that, I have seriously been slacking with working out, and my good eating habits have gone out the window.  This morning, I started up again.  The gym is going to be my last “errand” of the day and when I get back from that, I will be shredding.  I weighed myself this morning AND I GAINED A POUND FROM LAST WEEK.  UGH.  I was talking with a friend and she recommended that I should stop weighing myself and instead get a measuring tape to measure myself once a week.  With all the strength training I’m doing, it makes more sense to pay attention to the inches but not the pounds. 

And lastly, I was tagged by one of my favorite people to post a picture of myself that I JUST took.  I took three and couldn’t choose, so I’ll just post all of them:

Um yeah.  Still in my pajamas, hair unwashed, face unwashed, and … I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.  Why did you make me do this, Rachael?!

I am going to get a couple other people to do this, so consider yourself tagged Tiffany, Jessica, Katharina, and Lynn!  Here are the rules:  

• Take a picture of yourself right now.
• No primping or preparing.
• Just snap a picture.
• Load the picture onto your blog.
• Tag some people to play along.

Have fun! :)

Although I don’t feel like I am just starting my life, I am entering a new chapter.  After years and years and years of dreaming about law school, I am on my way!  I have literally dreamt about going to law school since I was in elementary school.  I’ll also be bringing with me to my new school a husband and a family (well, the dogs and cat are our family, too).  I am so excited about what the future holds for me.

Reflecting on the past four years really makes me feel proud and successful.  There have been many challenges along the way – three major changes, relationship troubles, friendship troubles, trying to balance school, work and play – but I’ve managed to do it all.  All the goals I set up for myself I have accomplished, and I am so very proud to say that.

This morning, I am going to be mailing my graduation announcements to friends and family.  It’s a way for me to say, “Hey, look, I did it!  I reached my goals!”  It’s one of the most rewarding feelings.

For those of you who are graduating – whether it be from college, high school, or even if you’re just experiencing a change in your life in the next few months – I wish you nothing but luck and success.  I can’t wait to hear all about your journies (hopefully, you’ll be sharing them).

Last week was my spring break and I spent it working fulltime at an attorney’s office.  I have been trying to find a job in an attorney’s office for the entire time I’ve been in college, and of course I found it right when I’m on my way out.  I had fun despite the fact that I just did office work for a week.  I filed, answered telephones, sent faxes, and made labels for letters to be mailed out.  It doesn’t matter though, it will look good on my resume.  At the end of the week, the attorney asked me to work every Friday, which will most likely turn into more work after I graduate!  Speaking of law, I haven’t heard back about law school, but I should start to hear back fairly soon.

What else has been going on… the weather!  It is absolutely GORGEOUS!  The azaleas, dog woods and wild plums are in full bloom and our little family is loving it.  Tom was lucky enough to go out on the boat a few times this past weekend, but I was busy doing wedding preparations, so I didn’t.  Hunter went out on the boat for the first time, and just like Remington he loved every minute of it.  We’ve got some great pictures on the hard drive, so I’ll have to get those and show them to you all.

Wedding plans are coming along nicely.  I slightly altered the color – instead of “Wild Orchid” on the David’s Bridal web site, we’re now going with “Lilac.”  The other color is called “Clover.”  The moms have their dresses, and the bridesmaids have at least started to look.  I am going to have three bridesmaids, because of a falling out with one of them.  It’s easier to have three because there won’t be as much drama, but my feelings are hurt because of the way it all went down.  Anyway.

This weekend, we also met with the priest that will be marrying us.  He gave us a book of readings to choose from and information that we will need to set all the music up for the mass.  It was really nice to talk with him.  He has been the monsignor at my church since before I was born, so I have completed all my sacraments under him.  He also married my mom and stepdad in 2003, so he knows the entire family.

Flowers are set.  My bouquet will consist of green and white hydrangeas and freesia, and a single green (very light … almost yellow) rose in the middle.  The rose is significant because my deceased paternal grandfather was a wholesale florist and absolutely loved yellow roses.  Since the yellow won’t match with our colors, we’re going with green.  It’s so beautiful!

We also went to two cake tastings and decided on a cake baker/decorator.  We’re doing a three tier with cornilly lace, and a sheet cake that will be decorated the same.  Very simple yet elegant, which is exactly what we wanted.

In other news … I planted an herb garden yesterday!  I only have four herbs in it because it’s just a small window box – basil, sage, flat leaf parsley and mint.

And, after a two week hiatus from the gym because of my sinus infection and working, I went back last night.  It was a little rough, but I’m going back tomorrow.  They actually demonstrated some safety equipment while I was there, which was kind of strange.  I should have pushed myself to go today, but I didn’t.  Tomorrow I’m going first thing in the morning and doing cardio and strength training.  I got some tips from my soon to be brother-in-law and that will also help jumpstart my weight loss again.

Off to finish the laundry and get ready for bed.  I have gotten back into the habit of reading right before bed again.  I really missed it!

The night before I was looking on Craigslist for jobs and came across an ad for a legal assistant for next week only.  If anything, I could use the extra money, even if it isn’t an ongoing job.  Anyway, I submitted my resume and got a call back!  I will be working Monday and Tuesday full time to help a local law firm get caught up while one of their adminstrative assistants is on vacation.  I spoke with the head attorney about possibly getting a more regular job and he said it is very possible.  So, please keep your fingers crossed that I dazzle this guy and he’ll want me to stay on!

Since I’ve been feeling better since yesterday, I’ve gone crazy with cleaning.  The apartment got so bad that I just buckled down and did some of the really necessary cleaning – like the bathrooms.  I even washed the shower liner!  On the agenda for today is laundry (I feel like I’m always doing laundry), finishing up cleaning, dusting, and then who knows what.  I’m hoping that Tom and I can go somewhere to use our camera (like the botanical gardens or something).  It’d be a neat date idea, too.

It has really warmed up the past couple days, and it feels SO GOOD.  Seriously, I love being able to have the windows open and enjoy the warmth.  It got a little too warm yesterday, but once I turned the fans on in the apartment it was much better.  Since it warmed up, I decided to get out my ice cream attachment for the mixer.  I just made vanilla ice cream using a recipe that came with the attachment, since I’ve never done it before.  It’s actually really easy!  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Other than the two days of work, I don’t have any plans for spring break.  I’m going to probably need to go home to do some wedding stuff.  I’m going to use the time to get ahead in my classes and take care of some impending assignments, and one of my goals is to do some work on this site.  I want to incorporate more weekly articles that you can expect on the same day every week.  What would you like to see more of on this web site?  Be honest, I’d like your ideas!

I need to get out of this room … Remy is stinking it up with his farts!

• Friday: Went out to breakfast with Kevin while we waited for Tom to finish up work.  When we got back (we were only gone for an hour) we noticed that the dogs had attacked our couch.  It was in the middle of the flour with the bottom cushion ripped out.  Tom came home so we went to lunch with Amy and had long island iced teas and a Washington Apple shot to celebrate our engagement.  Came back and kept drinking.  Tom’s brother and another friend arrived and our night of silly drinking began.  The night ended with me falling over the dog gate and now I have two huge bruises on my butt.
• Saturday: Woke up feeling ROUGH.  Went to breakfast (I barely made it) and got it free because there was hair in my eggs (ew).  Took a nap for a couple hours, got cleaned up and headed out to buy stuff for our engagement party.  Got over to Amy’s (where the party was at) at about 7:30 to begin grilling and to get everything set up.  Long story short, the night ended at 3:30am when Tom and I finally got to crash into bed.
• Sunday: Not feeling bad at all, surprisingly!  Hung out with everyone until Tom’s brother and friend left.  Kevin went to lunch with his parents and we cleaned up the apartment.  Kevin left around 6:15pm.

The only bad thing about the weekend was that it was NOT good for my diet!  Luckily though everyone around me is on detox because we did so much boozing this weekend.  I seriously considered looking into buying some Lipovox to at least get down to where I was last week, but it’s really not in my best interest.

Now I’m reading for my History of American Violence class, doing laundry, and getting caught up on other schoolwork.  It’s a pretty dreary day outside, too.  Good day to drink lots of water, elliptical it up, and relax!

On the Wedding Front, the reception site is booked for sure.  We have signed the contract and are now waiting to hear back from my priest.  Yay!  Tom and I are working on invitations now.  We have a general idea of what we want, but it’s difficult to find stationary with both of our colors.  We’re going to keep looking though.  Meanwhile, if you have any companies that you recommend for printing, please let me know!

Our engagement party (for our friends) is this Saturday.  We’ve got a few friends staying with us which will make it so much fun!  I’ve been running around like a mad woman today cleaning and preparing, since tomorrow I have class all day and one friend gets in tomorrow night.  I know no one will really care if our apartment is absolutely spotless or not, but I’m OCD like that.  And, I just hate having guests when the apartment is not immaculate!

Speaking of cleanliness … yesterday, Tom came home during lunch (like he normally does) to check on the dogs.  They had torn the foam cushion out of the chair we have (that matches the couch).  There was foam EVERYWHERE.  I came home right behind him and my jaw dropped to the floor.  What a site our living room was, seriously!  We got a few pictures that I’ll have to share when I unload the camera.  Needless to say, we are now running a doggy boot camp with Hunter and Remy.  I think they’ve figured it out, too, that they did something REALLY bad.

I always hate ending a post.  I never know what to say!

We did it!  We won the BCS National Championship!  Unfortunately, I managed to fall asleep before the end of the game, but I did watch most of it.  IT’S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR! I’m sure Steph is very excited, too!

I’m taking an impromptu trip home this weekend with both dogs.  Tom is going to the hunt camp, and since I don’t have class today or Monday, it’ll give me a chance to hang out with family and do some wedding stuff.  It’ll be interesting with Remy and Hunter all weekend; usually Tom takes one and I take the other to make it easier on our families (they aren’t used to such large animals).

I’m excited because it’ll be the first time since I left home that I’ll be able to celebrate my mom’s birthday with her on her ACTUAL birthday.  I’m going to get her some pretty flowers and take her out to brunch, I think.

OH!  I wanted to blog about something else, too.  I’m going to participate in another Shrinking Jeans challenge combined with Weight Watchers.  Yesterday I did very well and today I’m off to a good start, too.  I’m planning on using my mom’s elliptical a few times while I’m home, too.  The only thing is, I’m not sure what to make my goal.  I’d like to get back down to 130ish by the time I get married in August, but that’s about 50 lbs and that might be too much to lose between now and then.  Any advice?  I WILL do this.  I WILL be healthy and even more beautiful at my wedding.  When I saw pictures of my Hawaii trip (2004 – I was 135ish) I realized that this NEEDS TO HAPPEN.  Like NOW.

Off to clean out the car, shower and head out!  Have a wonderful weekend!  I’m sure I’ll be blogging – this time I am bringing my laptop!

I managed to get everything done that I wanted except cleaning up the bathroom.  I did get the towels into the washer early this morning before I left for class, but I’ve got to scrub down the tub and walls because they’re filled with mud.  I’m telling you, the boys were DISGUSTINGLY FILTHY!

I bought more wedding magazines last night and a wedding planner.  We also got half of our guest list down on paper.  Now we’ve got to do my side of the family and my friends.  We’re thinking we’ll have 150 maximum to invite, and I know that many people won’t come down for it (which is fine for me).  I just realized, I haven’t talked much about the proposal or anything!

Tom and I just got our Nikon D60 and we absolutely love taking pictures with it.  So, on December 30th, Tom told me to make sure I looked nice for his birthday dinner (which we had already planned) and that he wanted to take pictures of a nearby lake before we went.  We walked along the edge of the lake, both of us trying out the camera.  As the sun was going down, we got to a specific spot.  Tom set up the camera so that we could get a picture of us with the sunset in the background.  He took several of me and then set the self timer.  Next thing I know, he’s unzipping his jacket and getting down on one knee!  I don’t remember specifically how he asked me, but of course I said yes.  I cried, and then he said, “My pants are so dirty now!” because he had knelt down in mud (very close to the water’s edge).  We had dinner at a local restaurant that we both LOVE – right across from campus – after calling all of our family and friends to tell them the great news.

About the ring – it is a beautiful princess cut solitaire diamond on a very thin white gold band – exactly what I wanted!  It fit perfectly too.  I wear it at all times unless I’m showering, doing dishes, or cleaning.

The next day, we came home.  Tom’s parents and sister were there to toast us and congratulate us.  We went to dinner with my parents, where we got our drinks paid for by a guy at the bar (while we were waiting for our table to open up).  We also got another toast with them.  Unfortunately, we were both so exhausted that we fell asleep at about 11:55pm, making it the first time since I can remember that I’ve missed a New Year’s!

Wedding planning is already underway.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, we are aiming for August 1, 2009.  We’re getting married in the church I grew up in and having the reception in a banquet room attached to a hotel, so the guests won’t have to travel far after the reception.  Everything is right down the street from where I grew up, which is very convenient.  So far, I am thinking about lilac and a soft shade of green as my colors.  I don’t want anything too bright, but obviously not dark colors either.  I have my bridesmaids picked out and Tom knows who he is going to ask for his groomsmen also.  His sister is helping me out so much and it’s making me feel a lot better about all the overwhelming decisions I have to make.  Thank God for her!  I think I’m most excited about picking out our wedding invitations when we finally do settle on a date.  I can’t wait!

Alright, enough babbling about wedding stuff.  I have a class in about 45 minutes and then I’m home for the afternoon (until my 5:10pm class).  Have a great day and GO GATORS!

• Been engaged for a week and one day – awesome :)  We were originally thinking an August 1st wedding but there are some conflicts so we’re reconsidering.
• Went to Virginia for New Year’s and had a wonderful time with my brother, sister-in-law, and his children.
• School is back in.  Bleh.
• Wedding planning is so overwhelming!  I have my bridesmaids, flower girl and ring bearer so far.

Before I can get back on and write a REAL post, I’ve got so much to do.

• Clean bathroom from dog’s bath (they got into the mud this morning.  Not. Fun.)
• Clean up kitchen
• Start laundry
• Put away random crap around the apartment
• Shower
• Watch lecture
• Get everything together for class tomorrow

SO!  I’ll be back later today when my to do list is complete.

He finally came to get me (with the help of the dogs) at 8:00am because he was so excited that it was my birthday!  He brought me a birthday card about farting (boys…) and it was even signed by Hunter, Remington and Romeo (and Tom of course).  It was really cute.  I’ll have to take pictures of the written part from each animal because … well, the little sayings speak for themselves.

Tom was nice enough to make me french toast for breakfast, which he has never done before.  It turned out really great, and I was pleasantly surprised because he never tries to cook!  Next we lounged around watching Food Network and reading the newspaper (well, I was cutting coupons, my usual Sunday activity).  We ended up taking the dogs to the park for about an hour which was fun.  Hunter does this thing where he digs and flings the dirt to Remington, who stands directly behind him (and ends up laying down in the dirt).  Cute, but dirty!

After the dog park, we came home to pick up a friend so we could go to brunch.  I had the filet mignon and omelette with four(?) mimosas.  They were small, don’t worry!  But sooo delicious.  We were absolutely stuffed but still wanted to try and find a bookcase.  The one we had out in the living room was seriously about to collapse.  We didn’t find one, but I did find a couple books at the Homegoods store.  I always end up buying something from there, I love it so much!

We just vegged out after we got back and did a really easy shrimp dinner; nothing fancy.  And, we were in bed by 9:00pm because I had a headache and was exhausted from getting up at 8:00am (I know, sad)!

The best part about the day wasn’t actually my birthday, it was the day before.  We went to a jeweler in the mall to look at engagement rings.  Without either one of us knowing it, the conversation got pretty serious, and next thing we know, we’re in the diamond room looking at a diamond through a microscope.  We were at the jewelers for over an hour and the guy put the ring on hold for us.  We got home and talked and talked about everything engagement, and I found out that it is definitely going to be before January 1.  Now you know why the day before my birthday is a day I’ll never forget!

I thought about doing a video like Jordan did, but when I made one it looked retarded.  Maybe another time!  Instead, I’ll post some pictures fresh off my camera:

Starting from the top left moving to the right and then down,

1. Hunter looking out the window when we were driving back after Thanksgiving.
2. Me as we were driving back.  Bored much?
3. Remy sleeps like this on the chair.  Sometimes he looks out the window, too.
4. Romeo snuck into Hunter’s crate because apparently it looks extra comfy.
5. Gators are going to the BCS!
6. Tom and the dogs at the dog park
7. Me and some dirty pups that I call mine
8. A REALLY good picture of Tom!
9. Right before their dinner – can you tell they’re not very patient?
10. Remy while he’s waiting to be fed.  “PLEASE??”