Just Checking In

I know that my entries during the summer have been few and far between but I promise I haven't forgotten about this lovely blog. My days have included exploring and enjoying North Carolina, hanging out with Mom and Sam, and of course watching my favorite summer shows (Big Brother 8 and So You Think You Can Dance!). I've had a lot of time to discover things about myself - about what is important to me, about what I want out of my life, and about certain things that I need to change in order to make what I want happen. That's all I really want to say about that - I just want everyone to know that I've used my alone time for good :)

So I will be leaving North Carolina on Sunday and that comes with a lot of emotion. I'm anxious because I've gotten used to my lazy, relaxed way of life for the past couple of months and everything will change when I get back to Florida. I will be living on my own and I have to get ready to go back to school. It will be close to 9 months since I've been in school. I know that is not that long but I think it will take a bit of time to get back in my routine of studying and homework and blah blah blah. I'm excited because I will finally be in the same town as Eric - we've been waiting over 2 years for this. That will definitely be different - hopefully we don't kill each other ;) j/k! I'm sad because it is nice having my Mom so close when I need her. When I decided on Rollins I thought I would be moving to a place closer to my family. I will miss them more than I can explain. I'm scared because I'm still not convinced that I have chosen the right path to go to graduate school. I know it will be something that will only benefit me but I don't want to fail and I don't want to find out I made a mistake. I don't want to fail in the MBA program and I don't want to fail in my job. I know I will have a lot of responsibility which is something that I have always said that I want out of a job so I guess this is my time to prove to myself that I have what it takes to be successful. I've never been a quitter and don't plan on starting to be one now. Just pray for me that things will go smoothly - although, I have come to realize in life, nothing can go exactly the way that you want it to but in those situations are where a person grows and becomes stronger.

When the semester starts I plan on blogging more frequently and I know you all are waiting by your computers in anticipation for the next entry. Until then I will leave you with a few pictures from my adventures with my Mom, Eric and Sam in North Carolina.


He is such a character!


Beautiful North Carolina Sunset!


Kayaking on Lake Mackintosh


My view from the kayak :)


Stopped at a viewing area on the side of the highway - Do you see the mountain?! :) I was excited! lol


See? Excited! haha!


We saw that the state line was only 10 miles away so we just kept driving!


We stopped at Pilot Mountain on the way back (the mountain in the picture with my Mom) - gorgeous!


Eric tried to be an artistic photographer. I must say, I kinda like this picture :)


He is the King of the Mountain! :) He just liked scaring me by getting as close to the edge as possible.

OH! And the bugs are definitely interesting around here. Well interesting may not be the right word...but they are different. I have a Black Widow living outside of my window with an egg ready to hatch in a week or so. And to my surprise I woke up a couple days ago and realized she decided to lay another egg! Geez! She has been busy ;) Here she is with her first egg. And yes - she is as big as she looks...gross...



And here is a short video of a bug I have never encountered before. I think he was doing some kind of tail wagging mating call to the same kind of bug that was a little higher on my window :) Oh bug love - how cute haha. (Just disregard the TV commercial noise in the background lol)



Thats just a peek into my hiatus from blog writing. Talk to you soon!!

Coincidence

I'm sitting at Panera Bread because that is about the only place that I will get internet for a while. So forgive me if it takes me awhile to get back to you. I'm finally in Burlington and getting settled into my new house. I have made a friend which makes it not so boring. I've also been trying to find a new church to attend will I am up here. I went to a place called Integrity Church this past weekend. It was nice, nothing wrong with it at all, it just didn't fit with what I wanted.

So my mom gave me a newspaper article on a church called Pine Ridge Church. By the looks of the article, it seems like it will be a lot like Genesis Church which obviously makes me want to check it out. The church is so new that they are only having preview services right now. So I will only be able to go to one before I head back to Florida.

So anyways, the article gave a website so I had it down on my "things to look up" when I finally got internet again. So I'm in Panera (Like 20 minutes ago) and I remember to look up this church. I looked on the website and was just clicking around when a guy walked up to my table and says "I don't mean to look at your computer and what you are looking at, but that is my church - I am the lead pastor" I was shocked! So of course I shake his hand, introduce myself and tell him I'll be there on the 22nd for their next preview service.

Their leadership team was having their meeting at Panera at the same time I am there - coincidence? Maybe, but still pretty cool!!

Anyways, thats the most excited thing that has happened since I've been here - thought I would share :)

Road Trip!

We made it! :) The drive was longer (longer than needed but we'll talk about that later) but the scenary was beautiful. My parents moved to Burlington, North Carolina (about ten minutes from Greensboro). And I've decided the most entertaining way to describe the ride will be in pictures.

Disclaimer: Just click on the picture to see it more close up :)

My Mom and I woke up Wednesday morning at 5am to get ready to drive. Here my old house as we drive away:


Driving through Florida (flat lol):


Georgia:



South Carolina:



Then the ride got interesting. Just as a little background, the night before we left I programmed my Mom's navigation with the address to the hotel we are staying at until our house is ready. Well apparently I didn't pay attention to the fact that it gave me the shortest distance instead of fastest route. So we were very confused when it took us off of the interstate. We through a lot of small towns and areas with no cell phone reception (a bit scary haha). But it was a beautiful ride, even if it took us a bit longer than if we had stayed on the interstate for the whole ride.

Here are the corn fields that we were surrounded by when we didn't know where we were:


Although it was beautiful


I was a bit nervous :)


But we made it to my new home state!


And now a little album of pictures of my new neighborhood:
The Entrance


The Clubhouse

My House :)

Views from my house!


So this is the house to our left. Does it remind you of the house from The Notebook?? :)


Isn't it all amazing?? But here is the real question. I have to pick which bedroom I want by Monday. Here are the choices:

Bedroom 1:
Pros: A higher ceiling (called a dormer ceiling, amazing walk in closet, and attached to a bathroom that also has a door into the hallway
Cons: Not as good of a view. Here is a picture from the window:


Bedroom 2:
Pros: View of the Lake
Cons: Smaller Closet, No bathroom attached to the room
Here is the view:


So I have no idea what to do!

Comment please and let me know what you think!! I hope you enjoyed my picture story :)

I'm On My Way!

Well...i did it! Like promised, I submitted my application last night. My emotions have been up and down about graduate school for the past month when I finally decided that is what I want to do. On one hand, I'm so very excited to continue school and move down to Orlando. I am looking forward to learning more about myself and hopefully figuring out what it is exactly that I want to do. So many of my friends (and of course Eric) will be in Orlando, so that is definitely another plus.

On a side note: I think my parents are relocating to North Carolina. I'm really excited for them because I know all of the positives that will come from this move. But I am sad that they will be so far away, especially when I finally have the chance to move back to Orlando. But I know everything will turn out the way it was meant to. I am just not the best with change so it will definitely take some adapting but this is a life lesson that I am guaranteed to learn a lot from.

I'm hesitant about going to school because what if I go back to school and go through the two years of the program and at the end I still not know what I want to do. That is a big fear of mine. One of the essays I had to write for my application asked me to explain why I wanted to get my MBA now and how it fit into my ultimate career goals. Honestly, that was the hardest essay for me to write. So many people my age know exactly what they want to do and know the steps they have to take in order to get there. But! I also know a lot of people don't know exactly what they want to do - and that makes me feel better. I know that going to school will be a growing experience and I will be a stronger woman for going. But change is always scary, so there is that thought in the back of my mind of wondering if I'm doing the right thing.

I also found out yesterday that I am officially on the roster to play lacrosse for Rollins! There were a lot of hoops to jump through with NCAA but because of all the time the coach put into finding out if I could play, I am clear to definitely play my first year and hopefully my second year as well. I need to start practicing now - it has been over a year since I have even picked up my stick but I don't want to look like it when we start practice in the fall.

I also heard back from the interview I had for a job on campus as a Graduate Assistant (basically a Hall Director of one of the dorms). I have a second phone interview this week! Its for the other GAs to get to know me and let me know more in depth what they do. So I think thats a good thing! woo! :)

So like I said - I'm all applied so I decided to take this day and just do whatever I feel like doing, whenever I feel like doing it. Right now is 12:15 and I'm still in my PJs and I'm loving it! :)