gale or peeta?

sadly, yes--i just reread the hunger games again. you would THINK i have enough going on, what with my schoolwork up to my ears and our impending move across the country for tommy's internship, but I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF! we went to see the movie on saturday night (last-minute, spur-of-the-moment, we-won't-be-able-to-do-this-after-the-baby kind of thing) and i thoroughly enjoyed it--enough that i couldn't stop thinking about it and had to pick up the books again. luckily, they only take me about three or four hours to finish, so i started the first one at 4:00 yesterday and just finished the last one a few minutes ago, AND went to my internship and taught class in the meantime.

but i thought i should just let everyone know which team i stand on. i know bethany's on team peeta--she's got josh hutcherson all over her room at home, thanks to the posters we bought her while we were in california. and i've got to agree with her--even though i'm not a josh hutcherson fan (sorry, bee). in my mind, peeta looks more like tommy, possibly because tommy IS peeta--everlastingly nice, unselfish, muscular. (his muscles were my roommates' favorite thing to tease me about when we were dating.) he even bakes. last night, he made our favorite chocolate chip banana bread, and i told him he WAS just like peeta. (he wasn't impressed.)

so even though i liked gale better the first time i read the first book, should katniss actually have ended up with someone like that? fiery, angry, really opinionated and wanting revenge? what an awful marriage that would make. no way--who wouldn't want to marry the nice, loyal guy who has ALWAYS loved you?

she made the right choice.

bee, take note--nice guys are the way to go. GO PEETA!

what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

oh, kelly, thank you for these words of wisdom. way to take a cliche and make it . . . still a cliche. you always know how to speak to my heart. (remember "since u been gone"?)

but she'd better be right--i'm going to be so strong soon!

but seriously, how much do you love that she included clips from her fans dancing in her music video? she apparently had sent out a call for flash mobs with a video teaching them the dance, and included the responses she got in her music video.

which KILLS ME THAT I ONLY JUST NOW FOUND OUT ABOUT IT. WE COULD HAVE DONE THAT!!!!

we've got some of everything for you!

last night, we lay awake for half an hour listening to the POUNDING thunderstorm going on apparently directly over our apartment and being blinded by the extremely huge flashes of thunder that happened every 3 seconds.

this afternoon, i took my class outside because it was about 75 degrees, sunny, and springy, and we did peer review sitting in the shade next to the caldwell building.

i LOVE north carolina. and i LOVE spring. (and i even love thunderstorms.)

since i've been pregnant...

i've vomited in public about five times now. always in a bathroom, but a public bathroom.

it's really gross--don't try it.

but at least tonight, at the restaurant we were eating dinner at, a nice lady told me she'd be praying for me as i washed my mouth out at the sink. it felt good to get some condolences, even from a stranger. i said thank you.

spring break in i-town

my parents went to london for their 25th anniversary, and they brought in two crack babysitters to keep the young'uns in line while they were gone. apparently they thought these three would be tough to handle. but seriously--it was the easiest babysitting job we've ever had, even though it DID last a week. the kids just did everything they normally did and tommy and i just worked, catching up on stuff that we needed to do and occasionally driving them to their practices and lessons. and it was FUN to hang out with them, since we rarely get to see them.

we didn't take very many pictures, though. we went to two of dallin's volleyball games--bethany and cole's favorite activity.

the champion after his game!

AND we went to DISNEYLAND! which turned out to be less fun than everyone remembered, for some reason--partly because it was crowded so the lines were long and partly because i couldn't go on half of the rides and just waited for them outside of space mountain and big thunder mountain railroad.

i did TOTALLY BEAT TOMMY in buzz lightyear though. (not--he doubled my score.)

bethany sure was proud of their silly faces they made on space mountain.

everyone enjoyed riding such classics as in fantasyland...

and i did go on splash mountain. i figured it couldn't be dangerous to any fetus.



we were at THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

and then tommy and i flew back to north carolina and got back to the grind. WE ARE AWESOME!

somebody call the wambulance--or not

i apologize for all of you who have suffered through reading my blog over the last year. because i KNOW it has been unnecessarily focused on my whining about and hating on school. i know i have complained constantly about it--i try my best to keep it just to tommy, but it slips out whenever anyone asks "how's school going?" or "what are your plans for when you graduate?" i can't help but tell them how much i hate it and how much i can't wait for it to be done. i don't want to be a debbie downer, so i always back it up with a "but it's great!", but by then the damage is done.

so, sorry about that.

but it seems to be all i can do right now to make it through this last year of school. i know so many people would love to have this opportunity--to go to graduate school, with funding, at the same time as their husband, blah blah blah. but i haven't been able to be as grateful as i should be because of how absolutely miserable i have been doing it.

i know that sounds like an exaggeration. MISERABLE. but that is really the only word for it. i enjoy spurts of it, but on the whole, i have spent the last seven months just making it through every day. every day is "just two more days till the weekend" or "one more week down, X more to go." i feel like crying every sunday night, knowing that i have to go back to school on monday morning. (seriously--just ask tommy.)

i have NEVER lived life like this--i have generally loved school, loved learning, loved having things to write and teachers to talk to and deep concepts to grapple with. but something snapped in me and has let me know that i reached the end of my rope--i am DONE with this whole full-time school thing and i NEED to get out, for my sanity and for my happiness. not that i want to stop learning, but i need to stop learning in this way.

it makes me feel for people who work at jobs they hate all the time, without an end in sight. the ONLY way i've done it is by knowing there's light at the end of the tunnel--and that end is now only two months away.

but hey! this post is NOT meant to be taken as a complaining post--just an explaining one. i have been whining a lot, and this is why, in case you've been wondering. yes, i have my trial of school, it's been hard, but it will be over SO soon and there are lots of things for me to look forward to and LOTS of things for me to be grateful for.

like:

• sarah-alec's wedding and austin's mission farewell (in may)
• graduating and doing NOTHING. nothing, i tell you! all summer long! it sounds like heaven!
• moving somewhere for tommy's internship this summer (STILL UNDECIDED! but STILL EXCITED!)

and

• a baby, coming september 2012.

i don't think there's room for anything more than just a smiley face to finish off this post. (as much as i hate emoticons . . .)

:)

monumental moment

i can't believe we didn't have them before, but we do now . . . we are officially and FINALLY owners of the complete HP book set.

i've waited so long for this day to come . . . but i was too cheap to buy an ACTUAL set (preferring to buy them individually) and too picky to allow just any book to be a part of my set. thank goodness for half.com, which allowed us to buy the remaining four books for less than $40, INCLUDING shipping! joy of joys!

also, speaking of harry potter, j.k. rowling has announced that she's writing an adult book. and I AM SO EXCITED!