Please forgive me.

Okay, okay, it's pretty clear that this 30-day blogging challenge (which I initially pretty much forced everyone to do) was a big, fat, whopping failure on my part.  Seriously.
I went to Boston.  And I'm moving next week.  And I only have two weeks of class and one week of finals left in school.  Tonight I have to put together a presentation for my Women and Gender Studies class (which I have to give tomorrow), and I have a five-page interview paper to write for the same class due on Thursday.  And then I have a five-page research paper due in my Agronomy class next week.  And I'm not trying to excuse myself, but I just want to show everyone how busy I am.

I promise you'll get a Boston post.  I just have to get my memory card for my camera back when The Captain gets home because he stole it.

By the way, I've decided that my honey's new interwebs name shall be The Captain instead of The Boy.  I'm fairly certain he doesn't even read my blog, nor does he know that I've been calling him The Boy for the past several months, but I think he'd prefer his new name, mostly because it's more manly and he is, in fact, a captain.  Plus, who doesn't love a good How I Met Your Mother refrence?

Blame it on a rush of blood to the head.

I've been writing a lot of restaurant reviews lately on Trip Advisor.  Seems I fancy myself a food writer.  If I had the patience to become an english or journalism major, I think I'd like to do that for a living.  Every time I think about that, I immediately imagine myself as Julia Roberts in the opening scene of My Best Friend's Wedding.  Oh, that I could do it all over again.  Coulda, woulda, shoulda...

I tried giving blood today.  The Boy really wanted me to go donate with him, and I've always wanted to know my blood type.  I don't think anyone could understand how much giving blood terrifies me.  Seriously, I don't even want to do it when I have to have blood tests done.  I just hate that feeling of the needle in the middle of my arm.  Thinking about having to have it there sucking my blood away from my body for minutes at a time.....ugh.  I think it would feel like an eternity.  But I was going to give it a shot.  I don't know why I bothered because all the women in my family practically are anemic.  And what do you know, it turns out I am, as well.  I felt bad feeling so relieved when the nice woman told me that my iron count was too low.  "It's not turribly low."  But too low to donate.  Darn.  She was nice enough to type it for me, though.  Turns out I'm O+.  Just in case you guys needed to know.

I'm sucking on the bitter to get to the sweet part.

My phone is restoring right now in hopes that when it's done I'll actually be able to edit contacts again.  I'd be willing to bet, though, that it won't restore correctly and I'll just lose all my apps instead.  Seems like every time there's a big iPhone update, I lose all my apps.  Here's hoping I don't lose everything else, too.

Today I will do lots of studying.  I really like agronomy, but my teacher puts SO MUCH INFORMATION on the slides, and he really doesn't narrow it down for us come test time.  We have nine topics on our test Thursday, including probably 1,000 slides.  Eesh.

But I tell ya, boy, once that test rolls around Thursday, it'll be smooth sailing after that.  Hair party that night, slumber party the next night, Titanic and spending time with my mama the next day, then Easter, then mani/pedi, packing, and work on Monday, and THEN I fly off to Boston with my honey for seven beautiful days.

I'm having lunch with my dad tomorrow to discuss some stuff, which I'm equally excited and nervous about.  Wish me luck!

It is not said. I always know.

Welllllp, turns out weekends with TB home are almost impossible to blog on.  They. Are. So. Busy.  Until this morning (or last night, I suppose), I just almost hadn't stopped since Thursday morning.  So today is lazy Sunday at TB's house.  He's currently snoozing next to me while I catch up reading/writing blogs and watching Food Network.

Aside from the test I have Thursday (which I should be studying for right now instead of blogging), this week will be quite short.  Once TB goes back to the Mighty Mississippi, I'll get some visitation with all of my other favorite people for pretty much four days.  THEN, the Monday after Easter, I'll go have a pre-work mani/pedi and post-work crazy Boston packing, then head to Boston on Tuesday.  So I won't even have to wait until Thursday to see TB again since we're going on vacay together.  Pretty exciting stuff.

I wanna do right, but not right now.

...I sure hope I haven't used that line for a title already.  Eh.

I did too much today.  Woke up early to straighten my hair (since TB was coming home today), took Batman to the vet (not exactly on my way to school), went to ALL my classes (9-3, one of which was a test), picked Batty up from the vet (not exactly on my way home), went grocery shopping for two big meals, drove to Prairieville, cooked supper (not exactly an easy dish, either), cleaned the kitchen, and baked a cake for dessert tomorrow night.

So forgive me that this is a short post, but I'm about to go into a Chopped coma.

She's ahead of her time.

Well, it's another night of blogging from my phone in bed.

TB goes home tomorrow, which means I can look forward to another busy week. Sometimes I feel a bit like I have a double life. Around Tuesday before he gets off I sometimes feel like he's just a dream. But then he's back and it's like he never left. Blaaahhhh, sorry for going on about it.

Coombses are here, and all is well. Nothing like getting a run-and-jump hug from Bug this evening. And goodness, the oldest is just growing FAR too quickly. And Monkey told me I can't call him Monkey anymore because I called him that when he was "like, three," in his words. For the sake of the blog, though, he shall remain my Monkey. I can't wait to spend more time with them and their parents.

Through chaos as it swirls.

Whoa, almost forgot to blog again. Thank goodness I have an app that lets me blog on my phone from my bed, because my computer is kaput for the night.

Well, I did my scheduling today. Unfortunately, I'll need to talk to someone about two of my classes. Since I've already taken and passed them at another school, the system won't allow me to schedule them, even though LSU won't give me credit for them because they were taken at a community college. Stupid. It should be an easy fix, though. I got all the really specialized classes I wanted anyway, so it's good.

TB sent me a link to the house we're staying at in Tahoe in September with his family since it was booked today. He made sure there was a hot tub on the deck just for me. I sure am a lucky gal.

Today I went to all my classes AND swept the house AND put away all my laundry including redressing the bed, all while watching (and crying through) two episodes of One Tree Hill. I'm sucker for that show, I tell ya. Oh, and L came over for some much-needed Community and Vampire Diaries catch-up. Now I'll need to read some women's counseling material tomorrow for out writing assignment on Thursday. I swear, they should just give me a degree in being a college student by now. Oh well.

I've got my life in a suitcase. I'm ready to run, run, run away.

Y'all, I almost forgot to blog AGAIN today.  I'm failing pretty miserably at the blogging challenge.  I apologize.

I actually journaled twice this weekend.  Granted, I was on an airplane both times, but I'm kind of proud of myself.  I like blogging, and I like journaling.  Journaling allows me to be more specific since it's just for me to read.  I don't have to worry about whether or not I sound like a crazy person because deep down I know I actually am a crazy person.  And I can accept that.

Minnesota was so lovely.  I really miss being able to hang out with Charlie and Stephanie more often.  I know that once they're closer again, though, it'll get REAL fun.  And they'll have this wonderful experience to look back on.

I have an accounting test tomorrow.  I started studying at the beginning of last week.  I find that when it comes to accounting, like math, practice is really all you can do to make it stick.  So I've been doing lots of practice problems, and I really feel like I'll do well.  There are a couple of concepts that I need to drill into my head a little more, but I'll just review those sometime before the test tomorrow.  I have them written down, and it's literally only two things, so I should be fine.  I don't know why, but test-taking was never my strong suit.  Even when I feel confident, I can't shake the awful nervous feeling I get when I begin a test.  It's usually my downfall.

I also get to schedule tomorrow, which I've set two (count em, two) alarms for.  This semester is NOT ending up like the semester before last did.  I will not be scrambling for classes my last year of college, no sir.

And I go to Boston with The Boy in 15 days.  AAAAHHHHH!!!

Eyes can't look at you any other way.

Hey readers! Sorry bout yesterday. I just was too busy enjoying time up North to blog. Pretty busy today, too, but I guess since we're in the car, I can spare a paragraph or two.

Minnesota is lovely, and the weather couldn't be better. I enjoyed The Hunger Games, but not as much as I'd hoped to. Adrian won some money today, but I almost didn't get in to see it. By a stroke of luck, my fishing license had my DOB and signature on it, and my Sam's Club card had my picture on it. I kind of lucked out.

Aside from all that, I'm all around happy today. I might be seeing some big changes in the near future. And it's exciting!!

You're gonna save me from myself.

Welp, The Boy went back to the Mighty Mississippi for another week.  Yesterday, the weather was pretty bad.  He had gone out with his buddies the night before, so I was sure he was sleeping super late (his schedule at work sometimes runs over into his schedule at home).  When I heard there was a tornado is Geismar at about 9:30ish, I wasn't too worried because his house is a little bit from Geismar.  But then his best friend posted on facebook that his neighborhood had been hit by a separate tornado (within miles from TB's house), so I got a little worried.  We had a pretty big mid-day break at work, so I started to ride to his house to make sure there wasn't a tree through the roof or anything, but just before I turned onto the highway leading there, he called to tell me he was alive, and he was going to check on Best Friend's house.  When I told him I was headed to his house, he decided we'd meet up in a parking lot and I'd go on with them.  The roads were closed, but since we were with Best Friend who lived back there, they let us through.  I honestly felt like I was in a movie.  There were trees down everywhere, stumps halfway up the trunk that looked like they had been sawed clean through.  When we got to Best Friend's neighborhood, the first three or four houses were torn apart.  Roofs that were clearly in the path of the tornado made it look like the house was just ripped down the center.  Another home just outside of the neighborhood had the roof torn clean off, and all three cars in their driveway were demolished.  TB said Best Friend had (and excuse my--or rather his--language) "a horseshoe up his ass" because his house was the very first one in the neighborhood with no serious damage.  He had a small piece of siding from the edge of the roof torn off, but there were plenty of things from his neighbors' yards in his back yard and leaves splattered all over the back of his house.  He was, indeed, very fortunate.

Aside from that re-cap of my day yesterday, today I'm playing hooky (kind of) to do laundry and clean up and pack and study (for the three tests I have next week...ugh).  I am going to one class later, but until then I'll be a slave to my studies.  Sick day, schmick day.  I have things to do.

Come on in. I've gotta tell you what a state I'm in.

Okay, so I have to apologize for totally botching what the benefit we attended last night was for.  It was for a girl with Cystic Fibrosis.  It was actually pretty cool.  We bought a bunch of raffle tickets (20 for me, 20 for The Boy's mom, and 100 for The Boy), and The Boy actually won some stuff!  He won a baseball and photo of the baseball field signed by Paul Maineri (the LSU baseball coach) and a quail hunt in Mississippi, along with some little things won from playing games toward the end of the night.  I believe we walked out with some golf balls, a bottle of BBQ sauce, a $25 Advance Auto Parts gift card, a BMW travel coffee mug, and a vase with a Saints fleur de lis painted on it.  A successful night, I'd say.

I love O's idea about a warning label for our blogs, so I wanted to write mine!

"Upon reading this blog, here are a few things to be prepared to find:
1.  I often use nicknames or initials for friends and loved ones.
2.  I try to not talk about The Boy too much, but he will occasionally make an appearance.
3.  I 'm a little bit of an entertainment junkie.
4.  I'm definitely a travel junkie.
5.  I tend to post more often when I'm sad than when I'm happy (with the exception of the 30-day blogging challenge).
6.  At the moment, my personal life is going through extreme highs and extreme lows all at once.  I promise I'm not bipolar.
7.  My dogs are my children.
8.  I use song lyrics as titles.  They may or may not directly associate with what I'm blogging about."

Okay, that's all I can come up with for the time being.  That was fun!

P.S. Did anyone notice the song lyric I used as my title?  I kind of thought it was rather clever of me.

Her dignity shone so bright, like a light on a hill.

Well, hello, again.  I do believe that today's post will be much shorter than yesterday's.  Mostly because I'm just waiting on the boy to pick me up.

We're going to a benefit on campus.  It's pretty awful of me to say that I'm not sure what it's for, right?  I do know that it's for an individual battling cancer.  Beyond that, I suppose I'll find out soon.  I also know that there will be free food and drink and lots of fun things to buy raffle tickets for, so I've equipped myself with some cash.  Hopefully I won't spend too much, but if I do, oh well (it's for a good cause, right?).

Man, travel is expensive.  I've been trying to save a little of every pay check for spending money (for Boston, at the moment) for travel.  Thankfully, that trip is all paid for with the exception of food, tourism, and shopping money.  There's an H&M in Boston.  If I know anything, I know that I love H&M, and it will be a difficult task to limit myself in there.  Hopefully having the boy with me will make me want to get out of there quicker.  He's been well warned what that place does to me.

Okay, well, that's all for tonight, folks.  I'm off to support a good cause (and eat some food and stuff).  Until tomorrow...

The more boys I meet, the more I love my dogs.

Not really.  I just wanted to keep with the song lyric blog titles.  (That's a Carrie Underwood song, for all you who hate on country.)  Since the topic of this blog is Batman (my sweet little Pomeranian), I thought I'd go in that direction.

As most of you know, Batty's had some health issues for the past month and some days.  I wanted to take an opportunity to document everything that has happened.

It all started when I brought Batman and Cooper to the vet last December.  I knew Batman's teeth were pretty bad off.  You could tell by looking at them.  I had a feeling the vet was going to suggest I have his teeth cleaned.  I'd had Malibu's (my evil/sweet kitty who lives with my mom) teeth cleaned before, and I knew it was going to cost a bit of money, so I waited until I got my tax return check so that I could afford it without having to flex my budget.  So Friday, February 10th, Batman went back to the vet to have his teeth cleaned.  For those of you who aren't aware, when a pet has their teeth cleaned at the vet, they're put under anesthesia so that the dental hygienist can really get them clean.  I dropped him off in the morning and was going to pick him up that evening.  The vet called me that afternoon to let me know that Batty had woken up and I could come to pick him up in a couple of hours.

That evening when I picked him up, he was acting really funny, almost drunk, which was to be expected due to the anesthesia.  But what was strange was that when I tried to physically pick him up to take him to the car, he yelped.  Even the vet tech thought that was strange.  But I got him home and let him rest.  He was still acting very strange the next day and the following day, but everyone assured me that he would shake it.  His tail was down, he wasn't eating (unless I gave him a chicken strip), and he rarely wanted to go outside, choosing to instead pee on my bedroom floor (gross, and REALLY odd for him).  Monday I wasn't feeling all that well, so I stayed home.  I also wanted to continue to monitor him.  He was still acting strange.  It felt like I had brought home a different dog.  It was truly upsetting me.

The next day was Valentine's Day.  I had school that day and a date with my bestie that night eating carbs and watching Titanic.  I come home and did my cooking (which included penne alla vodka and a delicious chocolate cake, all homemade), and L came over to get down to Valentine's Day business (we have a standing V-Day date).  Just as we sat down to eat, she commented on how strange he was acting as well.  I went over to him and rubbed his sides very gently and I could feel very hard patches of skin on his torso.  I immediately called my vet (who also has an emergency clinic) and the emergency vet suggested I bring him in.  I intended to wait it out until the end of the movie, but under L's instruction, I went ahead and took him then.

We got to the vet, and they took him back to get a better look at it.  They called it a vasculitis, which is a swelling of the blood vessels.  They figured that the cause was an adverse reaction to the anesthesia.  They wanted to drain them, which would take about 45 minutes, and Grease was playing in the waiting room, so I just thought I'd wait it out.  Once they began to shave the spots, though, his skin was starting to flake off, so they suggested I leave him overnight.  Seeing him sedated with all those awful spots got to me.  I left the vet sobbing the whole drive home, not knowing if my Batty was going to even live through this whole ordeal.

He ended up staying at the vet until Saturday.  I visited him every day.  The team at his vet clinic was amazing.  He was being treated by a husband and wife team who kept me COMPLETELY informed with a lengthy call every day.  They decided that he would go through a series of laser treatments.  That meant, even after I took him home, he had to go back every day and undergo another treatment.  Eventually, his spots began to ooze, so he's been covered in tank-top-looking bandages since then.  As of right now, we go every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I drop him off in the morning and pick him up in the evening, and he LOVES being there.

Throughout this process, God has blessed me SO much.  I do not blame my vet that this happened.  They do this routine procedure all the time.  It was just an unfortunate reaction that Batman had.  As you can imagine, laser treatments, bandages, three-a-week vet visits, an emergency visit, a four-night stay and medication can get pricy.  Within the first week of this whole situation, Batman's doctor told me they would charge me nothing.  Not a penny.  And they are so dedicated to making him better, it almost brings me to tears.  It has brought me to tears.  I don't know how I could have done this without their kindness.

While we're still undergoing treatments, he is well on his way to being completely healthy again.  I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.  Sorry that this is the longest blog in the world, but I just wanted to let everyone know what we went through and how lucky I am to have an amazing vet for my pets.

Please forgive me.

I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday.  I'm terrible.  It's not even that I forgot, because I kept reminding myself that I needed to, but I was SO BUSY all day.  (...And then I drank too much last night to do anything but go to bed.  Please don't judge me.)

Yesterday was a wild and crazy day.  Lots of weird things happened.  Not necessarily bad weird things, but just oddities.  I do love when the boy is home, though.  It gives me the opportunity to hang out with "his" friends, who I really enjoy.  We pretty much spent tons of time with other couples all weekend.  His cousin's wife had a baby Friday night, so I'm hoping we go to meet him within the next couple of days.  We did get to hang out with a few of "my" favorites, too.  All in all, it was a nice weekend.

Aside from all that, I'm super excited about the coming weekend.  I've been looking forward to visiting Charlie and Stephanie since we first planned this trip, but now I'm actually getting REALLY excited just about seeing the Hunger Games movie.  I bought my China Glaze nail polish, the one for District 4 (I forget what it's called).  I saw a preview today, one that I had seen times before, but it gave me goosebumps this time.  I really just can't wait.

Baby, I'm a cop.

Meaning that I'm copping out tonight. But at least I'm writing SOMETHING, right? See you folks after the parade tomorrow. WOOHOO CAR BOMBS!

Here we are.

Beware the Ides of March, people.  It's 30-day blogging time!

Unfortunately, I always feel like the first blog is just sort of an intro, especially since I haven't blogged in several months again.  I've been a little busy.  I can't really complain about being busy these days, since for me busy means happy.

Today I met with an advisor about my schedule for next semester.  I schedule in two Tuesdays, but after my meeting, I've already nailed down my entire schedule.  Since I've been in college for 100 years, I'm among the first group to schedule, which means I'm pretty much a shoe-in for every class I want.  I'll be scheduling 15 hours (which is five classes), once again going to class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, only this time it will be from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm with two breaks in there.  Unfortunately, this is pretty much the only way it can be.  There will also be one online class.  The reason I had to meet with an advisor is because I only have TWO SEMESTERS LEFT.  Guys, I think I'm actually going to be a college graduate someday.

That's pretty much it for today's blog.  Oh, one more thing.  I'M GOING TO MINNESOTA IN A WEEK (and a few hours).

Don't you dare look out your window, darling. Everything's on fire.

If you haven't heard Taylor Swift's song "Safe and Sound" from The Hunger Games soundtrack, you should most definitely look into it.  It's not even very Taylor-Swift-y (if you aren't a fan of her).  It's just beautiful.  I can just picture Katniss singing it to Prim.
My heart is heavy.  I thought I'd be hanging out with two of my most favorite people this weekend, but as luck would have it, I won't be.  And that is stupid.  But, like everyone else, I just keep thinking there HAS to be a reason their car broke down so far away.  Something divine needed them to be in Minnessota or not in Louisiana/Arkansas this weekend.  The good news is I've just made my priorities list for my 2012 tax return, and a plane ticket to St. Paul is #1 on that list.  Now I just have to wait paitently for LSU to send me that slip of paper so I can file.  Steph and Charlie, I'm coming for you whether you like it or not!

In case you're wondering what else is on that list (which, obviously, you're on pins and needles waiting to hear), #2 is to have my fuzzy Batman's yucky teeth cleaned, #3 is a weekend pass to Jazz Fest to see John Mayer AND THE BEACH BOYS and Trombone Shorty all in one glorious place (that is, if I can get someone to go with me [ahem,Bethany]), and if by some miracle I have enough money left, I'll buy a ticket to The Hangout (once the lineup is released).

Tonight, I'll get together with my ladies and drink wine and watch Bridemaids and eat cauliflower-crusted pizza and cry about how Stephanie's not here.

I'm your girl, and you're my man.

I know I haven't blogged in about a million years, and I'm sorry (as usual).  Today I just cannot get into work.  I'm surfing Pinterest, Perez, Facebook, etc., all in an attempt to avoid this stack of paperwork.  (Don't tell my boss/mom.)  I think I'm simply too excited about tonight.  You see, tonight I have a date...with my boyfriend...who I haven't seen since driving halfway to Grand Isle to bring him something at work on Christmas night.  He's a good guy, and he didn't want a man with kids to have to work during the holidays when he could be spending time with his family.  Plus, he makes crazy good money for holidays/overtime.  But mostly, he's just a good guy.  And he made the committment before we were officially dating, so I'm not mad.  Heck, I wouldn't be either way.  Did I mention how good of a guy he is?

I promise I won't gush so much about him in the future.  I just thought I'd take one blog post to address the situation, since for so long it wasn't much of one.

It was really important for me to let him take his time.  I've learned from personal experiences as well as those of people I'm close to that convincing someone they want to be with you ALWAYS turns out poorly, even if it's 30 years down the road.  The point is, I'd been on dates with other guys, good guys, but none of them were him.  I wanted to be patient, so for once in my life I was.  And if I could remember all the things he told me while we were having "that" conversation (one he brought up all on his own, mind you), I would gush about those things because they were pretty much exactly the things I dreamt I'd never hear come out of his mouth.  I just kept wishing I had a recorder to capture it all.  Had it not been 6am after an all-nighter with friends, I probably would have cried.

I'm extremely happy to be in the position we are now.  Yes, he's gone a lot for work, but luckily for me, I like my alone time A LOT.  (Not quite a fan of him working two weeks in a row, though, I'm finding.)  It's important for me to let everyone know, however, that I'm still very scared.  I've learned to not expect anything to last forever, and I'm happy living in the moment.  If I could have any wish come true at this moment, I wouldn't be wishing for wedding gowns or babies, but happiness.  So if you guys love me (which I know you do), pleasepleaseplease don't ask me anything about any of that other stuff.  It makes me anxious and, frankly, freaks me out a little bit right now.  If that's in my future, I'll be happy to welcome it, but until the RIGHT time comes, I just want to be happy.

And I love you all SO much.  (And I really wish Stephanie were here so we could talk about all this mushy stuff in person.)

I don't see everything as wrong.

It's finals week!  That means next week I don't have school.  Since having dropped one class, I only had three classes to finish, one of which was an online class that I had a paper due for as our final.  I submitted that Sunday night.  My two other classes didn't seem too bad either.  I had a final today, and I have one tomorrow.  HERE'S THE PROBLEM:  I mixed those two classes up.  I thought my Family Sociology final was today at 12:30 and my Deviance Sociology final was tomorrow at 10.  I was SO prepared to take that Family final today, it's not even funny.  All the Deviance final was on was reading material, so it would be no problem for me to be studying that now after my Family final.  So I leave the library at 12:15 to head for my Family final only to recognize no one in the room.  I head to my teacher's office to find out where our final is located only to have him tell me our final is tomorrow.  Crap.  That means my Deviance final was today at 10, which I hadn't yet read the articles for.  All it is is three articles.  Really simple.  AND I MISSED IT.  Which means I'll fail the class if my teacher doesn't let me make it up.  So here I sit, blogging.  I just read the first article.  I'm trying to be prepared in case he does let me take it.  If not, looks like I'll have a nice big F on my transcript.  WELL, IF HE HAD JUST PUT THE DATE OF OUR FINAL ON THE SYLLABUS LIKE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO, NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE PREPARED.  In conclusion, please pray for me.  Pray that this teacher has grace with me and lets me take the final, hopefully tomorrow before or after my other final.  Pray for my health.  And pray for my parents.  I hate to be asking for so much prayer, but sometimes life is just hard and you have to ask for prayer.  I'd be more than willing to return the favor.

(It's kind of weird that all this bad stuff is happening because I'm actually happy.  I don't get it.  It's confusing.  That is all.)

But the fire is so delightful.

I love my dogs, and I love cloudy, rainy, chilly weather, and I love slipper socks, and I love coffee, and I love when the boy cooks a big pot of chili, and I love my dogs SO MUCH, and I love everyone reading this, and I love fish-loving little boys named Fox who turn two years old today.  I don't love schoolwork, but I love that it's not too hard for me to do.