Transition...again!

Why Hello beautiful people!!!

I am sharing with you a few lovely photos to begin today's excitement! :)

AJ and I received our engagement photos this weekend- and I love them!

(more to come on facebook)

Here you see me displaying my yoga-induced posture! AJ's amused, I'm sure!

My brother-in-law and sister (the photographers!) with my adorable niece Alexis (the subject of many photos!)...

AJ and I at Emily's wedding...looking fine, might I say!

The Emily's!!! Awe, she made a BEAUTIFUL bride, and so elegant!

Now, on to the text which will be muddled together because of the photos. If anyone has advice concerning this aforementioned issue, please contact me ASAP :) (or at least before I post photos again).

I will try to type using centered alignment. That oughta help, right? So... this week has been splendid- as you can tell from the photos, I thoroughly enjoyed my time back in SD with family, friends, and fiance! It was encouraging to go back, for sure, yet it made studying here more difficult than I expected the past three days. I feel as if I am in the transition period again, embracing the reality of being a student. For example, I am typing a blog right now instead of reading one of my 7 books for theology this week... (I smile).

Yet I have some exciting news to share with everyone, so how could I procrastinate from blogging, right? :) I HAVE A JOB!!!

That's right, yours truly, unemployed for over 3 months is back in the money baby! (and how could I not become rich quickly with the work study pay! Yeah! :) Okay, so the pay isn't super, but all I must do is remind myself that I worked for two years with less pay that I'm getting now- this is hardly a sacrifice! :) And I believe I will really enjoy the work...I am an assistant at the Institute for Youth Ministry...which is the coolest work study ever! Today was my first day of work, and in addition to emailing great leaders for the youth ministry forum, I called several cab and bus services at the Asheville airport! That's right, giving me the important tasks so soon. That's how I roll...

Speaking of rolling, I find it difficult to roll out of bed these mornings- could be catching up from the busy weekend, or could be that my brain is constantly on overload, so I require more rest. In fact, I've taken probably close to 1/2 dozen naps already this week- some in the library, some in my room, some in the cafeteria! (I'm joking about the caf...but it does bring to mind my hypothesis that perhaps I'm narcoleptic.) doctor, anyone?

It's fun being a student. My schedule is more free than I realized it might be, yet there's always that feeling of something (okay, papers and tests) looming in the near future....and I dislike that feeling. Mostly because it doesn't inspire me to work as much as it pesters me and prevents me from truly enjoying all that I'm learning. I do think I'm better about this now after 2 years off school, though- at least it seems easier to ignore that feeling every once in awhile!

Okay, fun story before I wrap this up. So today I had a conference to review the speech I had video-taped in class a few weeks ago. I wasn't nervous going in, but it does weird me out a bit to see myself on video. Thankfully I met with a nice woman TA instead of my nice (albeit intense) theatre professor. Anyway, the funny is coming, I promise- we spend the first few minutes reviewing my tape (and my first honest response was, "wow, I look muscular!"), she asks for my feedback regarding the speaking, not my physique (okay, so I didn't actually audible the muscles thing) and self-critique. I'm fairly used to this, from oral interpretation days and such, so it's no big deal...I tell her I could work on volume, etc... and she proceeds to tell me that perhaps I should try reducing my arm gestures (I'm a little flaily I guess) and smiling less! In fact, she challenged me to read an entire passage without smiling! :) Who knew my happy demeanor would get me in trouble during my 1 credit pass/fail speech class!

Okay, that's all for now, folks. I do enjoy reading other's of your blogs, so keep those lives coming! Thanks for tuning in, I wish I had more intriguing theological thoughts this week, but my heads not been in the game. Perhaps next week...

until then, I'm cordially yours,

Emily