Saturday, February 26, 2011

Oodles of thanks!

A big huge thank you to Jillian over at Iron & Sunshine for a lovely award! Seriously made my day girl :) Although I am not a MilSpouse (I prefer Military SO), I'm going to pass it around for sure!



Here are the lovely ladies I am passing this around to:

Another fellow grad student, balancing military life with school over at Head in the Game, Heart in the Sand

It's a Dog Tag Wife Life who is blogging daily about what she loves about her soldier- tres adorable!

Jessica, an acquaintance from college, who is currently surviving her first deployment and doing so well!

And LTarmywife over at Stetsons, Spurs and Stilettos, she is a Cav wife, and her blog is always so well decorated for the season.

So thank you again Jillian, really brightened my day!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Livin' On a Prayer!



That's right, we're half way there :)

I loved at the bottom my donut of misery said today, "Congratulations, you have made it over the hump!"

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Patience with Patients

It has been quite a week! Can you tell that school threw up on my life? These next few weeks are going to be very jam packed, but I am really developing my clinical skills.  I'm loving the hands on work with patients and getting to work with and counsel people about their hearing.  Right now I am seeing University employees as part of a noise conservation program, making sure people are protecting their hearing when working in noise.  I'm also seeing students who need to have their hearing tested as part of the Speech and Hearing Science program.  The students are so interesting, I love answering their questions and explaining what each test I am running is.  Maybe a PhD would be in order and maybe teaching??

Argh- the idea of 2-3 more years of school is daunting, this may just be a passing phase.... not getting too into it yet.  Let's get through the first 4 years of school first, ha!

I got to talk to the boy for about 30 minutes via google chat on Valentine's Day, it was wonderful and much needed!  If I had planned ahead, we may have been able to video chat, but I didn't have the program installed *pout*  At least next time I will be prepared!! Ok, so now hurry up and get on the computer haha.  Valentine's Day marked the 6 month mark since I'd seen LT.  It was also a little rough to see all my classmates have flowers delivered to the grad student office, and one girl complaining about   "only going out to dinner" with her boyfriend.... oh silly girls.  Don't worry, I didn't slap her ;)

As a pleasant surprise, my best friends sent me a surprise package!  They knew the day would be rough, so they wanted to brighten my day.  They managed to take my nerdy tendencies to the next level with.... GIANT MICROBES! They got me the earache and mono microbes, the earache for obvious reasons and the mono because it was Valentine's Day and cute.  Here is a photo of me with my lovely surprises! Ignore the looking like crap, after running around in heels and dress clothes all day, I run to my sweats and slippers.



Other exciting news, next week marks the 1/2 way through deployment mark!!! AHHH!!! In all seriousness, I never thought I would make it this far and still be sane.  I'm just trying to look at it as all downhill from here, the worst is over.  Now it will just be a waiting game, and there will be leave to break it up, and also my spring break :)  No major plans for either yet, just waiting on the LT to give me dates.  Any tips for making it go faster? Other than staying busy?

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Awards!?!

Ok, so thanks to J- for the lovely award! This is my first one, so I'm still rather unsure how this all goes down.... so I'm leaving it up for grabs for my followers if they haven't received it before to take it as a gift from me :)


I'm supposed to add 7 fun facts about me, but I'm in a sharing mood here are 10 fun facts about me that you didn't already know from reading my blog.

1) I hate hand washing dishes.  Seriously, next apartment I get, WILL have a dishwasher.  I don't mind most household chores, but dishes.... I'll pass.

2) I have an unhealthy obsession with WoodWick candles.  Since I cannot have the crackling sound of a wood burning fireplace, they are the next best thing.

3) My favorite store to shop at is a tie between Ann Taylor and Banana Republic.  Someday when I'm finally done with school and have some of my college loans paid off, I will shop there more regularly.  It also helps when you have best friends that work at each of them for their 50% off discounts :)

4) My 3 best friends and I have been besties since sophomore year of undergrad, we all lived together  my junior year and I really miss them!  We're talking about planning a road trip to Florida in the near future.... I'm hoping sooner rather than later!

5) I'm seriously a huge nerd. I spent some extra money from my loans on additional textbooks, such as The Dictionary of Otoscopy, and the Dictionary of Audiology.  I'll add a photo as proof of my nerdy tendencies later.

6) I love to read!  LT and I have a tradition, every valentine's day and birthday I get at least 1-2 new books. This year it isn't going to happen, but that is ok with me- I don't really have time to read for fun lately.

7) I was an RA (we called them SA at my school, but same thing) in undergrad.  Yes, I was one of those people that busted alcohol in the dorms and worked crazy hours for little to no pay, and I loved every minute of it.  I'm a people person, so working with freshman and helping them navigate college was so rewarding.

8) I'm actually a pretty tall girl, and all legs!  I'm 5' 10" tall and have an inseam of 35-36", so yes, my legs are actually 3 feet long.  Try shopping for jeans and dress pants for a tall girl.... the bane of my existence, especially if I want to wear heels with them.

9) Despite being tall, I do LOVE to wear heels, they make me feel cute and sassy.  I do have my limits however, I hate being over 6' in heels... so my heels are usually pretty short, which is hard to find, but yay Zappos!

10) I'm actually allergic to bacon, sausage, brats, pepperoni and most other pork products.  I can eat unprocessed pork (ie pork chops) but I don't eat any of the above.  People think it is weird, but every time I eat them I get really sick.  Even the smell makes me ill.  I haven't had any of them since I was like 7, so I've been "missing out" for quite awhile now.

So, if you haven't gotten the versatile blogger award, feel free to take it for yourself :) I know I am still getting started, so this blogging award stuff is all still pretty new to me.

Just for kicks, a photo of me in all my nerdy glory.  These were my 22nd birthday presents from my 3 best friends.  That poster is now framed and hanging in my apartment over my bookcase.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Lace is so Lovely

Maybe it is because it is V-day weekend, maybe it is because I am a hopeless romantic at heart, and maybe it's just my girly-girl tendencies... but I am OBSESSED with lace lately- on anything!  I found an adorable black dress at Banana Republic, sooo presh with lace, ugh why can't I have a big girl job already!?!

Then to top it off, I planned ahead for leave and bought some super cute new lacy things for when LT makes it home... they're having a HUGE sale at Forever 21 right now, just an FYI :)
I don't know why, but lace on anything (especially vintage lace *drool*) has this super demure feeling to it, and I'm addicted.  Hello, my name is Dani, and I'm addicted to lace and all things vintage.

Speaking of all things vintage, I'm so in love with this dress and this one as well from ModCloth... why do the dresses I always love sell out so fast?  Hopefully it's because I have good taste haha.  Next time I get the notification email they are restocked, I'm going for it!!  Maybe I'm just planning for LT's return, but I just think a vintage inspired dress with a lace cami and some amazing ballet flats would look adorable... but then again with the southern summer humidity, I may second guess my thoughts.  *sigh* Can it be leave time yet?  I need my soldier in my life, stat.

Speaking of the LT, heard from him on g-chat the other day. He didn't know google had chat... silly boy! It was a quick 5 minute convo, but good to chat for a bit.  His little brother also called me today, so that was very sweet.  He wanted to know how I was doing with school and ask some advice since he is applying to the Army DPT school at Baylor and has to have his app ready by the time he goes to LDAC, so I sent him some of my old apps and my old GRE book to look over.  Hopefully he gets in- he works so hard, it would just kill him not to.

So for my "anti-valentine's day" my classmates and I are ordering deep dish pizza (oh Chicago style pizza how I love you! SO worth the 45 minute wait) and having a study party complete with cheap wine and anatomy textbooks/notes.  Living the dream huh?  Well it's friday night, so I'm about to get all dolled up to go out with the girls for some drinks- yippee!  Avoiding all the undergrad bars tonight, keeping it classy downtown.  Have a great weekend!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Oy Vey.

So, anyone who knows me really well knows that my two favorite teams are Da Bears, and anyone playing the Packers.  Need I say more about the game? *sigh* At least starting tomorrow, everyone has the same record again.  I'm already counting the days to pre-season :)

Well this weekend has been a busy one of studying, reading, cleaning, and paperwork... blech!! Here is to hoping tomorrow I get everything done I need to, and maybe find some time for a good long workout.  My apartment hasn't been this clean in weeks, and man does it look good!! I just wish I had more people to show it off to haha.  I'm deciding whether or not I can put in enough time to possibly trek to STL to visit my BFFs, just depends on how far I get on an outline for my 30+ page paper.... which I still need to research more for, 30 articles just isn't cutting it.  Why did I sign up for grad school again? ;)

I do love everything I am learning, and starting this week I get to shadow a child being implanted with a cochlear implant and having it programmed for the first time... I may have found my calling in pediatric audiology.  I even may have secured/ spoken with my professor about a pediatric placement for this summer *cue the squeals*

Is it bad that I am already very over Valentine's Day?  I know my soldier loves me, and that one silly day isn't going to tell me that he loves me more than I already know.  I do love the new Hallmark commercials however, the ones about "appreciating us"- they make me tear up a little every time, I'm just such a sap.  The one thing I am missing however, is a date night with an excuse to get all dressed up.  I miss looking cute and doing my hair for that initial "you look great" (ok, maybe I'm just a compliment seeker).  All my friends here in CU are all in relationships so they've been gushing about their plans. It's hard, but I'm just trying hard to think about mid-tour and how special of a time that will be.  We will get to have our "date night" then.  Instead of moping about, I'm going to stay busy, lock myself in the library to study, and maybe eat my feelings in chocolate cheesecake :) (unless anyone has a better idea, ha!)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Snowmageddon 2011!!

Yep, that's right I lived through the great snowstorm! They called for up to 14 inches, and I think we got about 6, plus an inch of ice or so under the snow.  Thankfully I was prepared enough to have an ice scraper  in my apartment- so I was able to at least get my car doors open and windows mostly de-iced before the worst of the snow hit.  The worst part will be shoveling my car out, the plow trucks were so nice to push a wall of snow behind my car that came up over my back bumper *sigh*

At least I had a snow day yesterday and today.  The university officially closed today, but my professors all cancelled yesterday :)  So- no classes for me this week!! Unfortunately I'll have to make the hours up by adding an extra 30 minutes to all my classes these next few weeks... *sigh* Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm learning about, but it would be nice to have a little less material on my tests haha.

LT called the other day with some bad news, his mid-tour got pushed back... yet again.  So it's looking like R&R will not be a "mid-tour" but more like "2/3 done" break.  I'm trying to see the silver lining of once he has to go back he'll only have a few months left *hopefully*, but it's a little hard.  So it looks like no big trips or anything, we'll just some quality time camped out in my tiny apartment.  I'll take what I can get, it just would have been nice to be able to do something super fun and special.... yay school!  Guess I'll just save my pennies for his block leave when he's back state-side to do something awesome.  So now, the waiting game begins again, adding another 4 weeks to the countdown.

Well, my cookies are done baking, so time to rescue them! I did some digging on allrecipes.com (seriously my favorite website!) and thought I'd give these a try- Chocolate Truffle Cookies.  I rolled the cookies in a little powered sugar after I chilled the dough.... delish!!  Yes, I decided baking/experimenting with cookies was the best way to spend a day off.  Psssssh, who studies on a day off of school ;)