The Home Stretch

Stats:

thesis: 100% complete!
pages: 64
words: 15,000
autobiography: 5,500 words
posts on my blog: 100!
mood: elated
reading: fluffy fiction!
highlights: soccer, THESIS, celebratory treats!

Weekly Update:

This morning, I turned in my thesis project that I've been working so hard on all semester!! I am so pleased with the overall result. It feels so good! The triumph is exhilarating. I celebrated with some good ole' Jamba Juice and a bagel. I still have a few assignments to finish in other classes before I can apply for graduation, but I am in the HOME STRETCH!!! I'm starting to feel really really excited, but I'll be so glad when it's all over.
(Coincidentally, this is also my 100th post on this blog! Does the excitement ever end???)

I love my job

I don't normally talk about my work, and I have reasons for that, but I think it'll be alright to forego that rule this once. One of the best tasks I get to do for work is search for images for use in course materials (think background slides, etc.) Sometimes, (on days like today) I feel like I am getting paid to fuel my wanderlust. Today I was introduced to several new websites for finding free stock-images! There were so many beautiful visuals. My favorite so far is called UnSplash and it is a serious load of eye candy (and not like attractive men or anything like that) for an artist/dreamer/creator like me.  

I am a Runner!

After playing soccer in the park last week, I suddenly possessed the urge to run... as in to start running. On a regular basis. Why? Have I ever run in my life? Do I enjoy long-distance running? Do I like torturing myself? Do I like feeling sore? Do I like ripping my lungs out of my chest? No. I want to run because I love soccer and I want to get better at it. Call me crazy; I won't be offended, because I am (crazy, not offended). My first interval run was a little pathetic as far as I was concerned. I did 5 intervals of 1 minute running with 3 minutes walking before I gave up and walked the rest of the way home from the park.

Jake's mom mentioned that they were all running a 5K in May because Joe's girlfriend Kaylee has never run one before (I haven't either, but I didn't mention it.) A 5K, huh? How much is a 5K? 3.1 miles. 3.1 miles? I could do that... So I put the worm in my dad's ear to see if he would do it with me; at first, he said no, but after a couple days of thinking about it, he caved. 

And now, me and my dad are training for a 5K together. Say whattt??? Even I am still pretty stoked about the whole thing. We've been using the Couch to 5K plan and the first week of interval-runs we've done has been great so far! I ain't even tired (yet)! Really though, it feels really great to get active again. I've spent the last couple years locked away in my room, chained to my desk slaving over academic drudgery (speaking of which, big update coming soon!). But I'm getting to a point where I can go out and play hard without feeling too guilty. It's pretty awesome!

Spring Break!

 As I'm sure you can imagine, my schedule usually gets a little messed up when Jake comes to town, but he's gone again, so I should be posting more regularly until summer. We had an AWESOME week together, talking over coffee, watching movies (and analyzing character development!), song-writing, walking, playing frisbee, and hanging out with our respective families. It was a good week, well-spent, but not nearly long enough. It never is.

Where the Magic Happens

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of seeing where the "magic" happens when Jake and Dave write music. They showed me their space, taught me some lingo, and I got to witness the creation of a song from beginning to mid-recording. (I didn't get to see the whole process due to the lateness of the hour and the long drive home, but that's okay.) And I even got to use some of my literary expertise with the lyrics. They used my suggestions!!!!!

Biggest takeaway: Jake is one hot musician. There's a lot more that goes into writing and recording a song than I thought there was!

Out and About

Stats:

time until Jake gets home: < 5 hours!
days Jake will be here: 10!
thesis: 90% complete!
walks with Mom this week: 5
nights away from home: 5
feeling: better
learning: not to worry about the future too much
highlights: tea party, watching Thumblina, soccer



Weekly Update:

Since the disappointment I was suffering on Monday, my week has gotten better (as I knew it would). Jake gets in tonight, which I am very excited about. He'll be here all week for spring break. And I've made a lot of progress on my Thesis! I am wrapping up the final chapter today and over the next two weeks, I'll be putting it all together in one document and editing it for consistency! I am so excited! The hard part is done and it's all coasting from here.

I also got out of the house a lot this week: walks with mom, college group frisbee, pick-up soccer in the park... It's great to be active again. Yesterday, I went to the park for a game of pick-up soccer--nothing too competitive, just for fun. We didn't have enough people for a full game, but we kicked the ball around and played the soccer version of "monkey in the middle." I found the group through meetups.com and at first I was a little worried that they might be creepy (since you never know with people you meet on the internet), but they were all really friendly and encouraging, even though they were clearly more experienced than I.

$5 to France

Lately, I've been really interested in visiting France, which may or may not have something to do with the fact that Jake is visiting the country this summer and I am so so jealous that he gets to have some big travel adventures before I do. But I am not going to just sit here and watch him have all the fun!

One thing I see pretty often on Pinterest (links to my homepage) is the $5 Jar Challenge: Every time a $5 bill comes into your possession, instead of spending it, put it in a jar until you have enough to buy whatever special thing you happen to be saving for.

As you've probably guessed by now, I am doing the $5 Jar to save up for a trip to France someday. (Perhaps this way, it will come a lot sooner than "someday"!) I've been working on it since Christmas and so far I've saved up about $200 Since my spending is primarily cash-based a lot of $5 bills come through my hands (meaning I save more!).

I am going to France, $5 at a time.