Interviewing

If you don't enjoy college-I feel sorry for you.
Well, that was a bit blunt. But honestly, college has held some of the best times of my life so far.

One huge milestone that will be coming up for me in college is my interview into the School of Education. By interviewing and getting accepted, I will be able to do my practicum and student teaching. Both of which are necessary to get my teaching license and to graduate.

I got the all important email today.

I emailed back promptly, saying that I will be interviewing this semester.

As much as it excited me as I emailed her back, it now terrifies me.

For one, I have not finished any required human relations reports. I have one in progress, but it has a bit to go.

Also, I am no where near done with my eFolio!

I have so much to do!

I voiced my concerns to Trevor.

He is such a blessing.

I love this guy.

Lots of Thoughts

School always makes me look at things in a whole new way.
I guess I think about different things more philosophically perhaps.

Right now it feels like I have a lot thrown at me.
I want to be an adult. But at the same time, I wish being a little kid and being carefree.
Planning for the wedding has not been as tedious as it was earlier on while choosing date and location and whatnot.
Last night Trevor and I were grabbing sodas from the vending machine. He mentioned how the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra was starting their new set of symphonies they would be playing. He said that he would love to again. The Ordway is a beautiful place to listen to amazing, high class music. I said I would like that as well. Being at the Ordway and listening to such fine classical music really makes you feel like an adult. Not old, but sophisticated and like you have your lives together.
With everything Trevor and I are handling right now, I certainly do not feel like we have our lives together or figured out at all.
We don't have an apartment figured out for next year. We have no clue where we will live at all.
We have basically no furniture for next year. I am not staying with a twin bed for two people!
We are both still in school and neither of us have schedules figured out.
I will have the option to student teach wherever I will like, so potentially out of state if Trevor and I would like to move from Saint Paul earlier than me graduating. That is something that will need to get decided on sooner rather than later for budget reasons.
We both are unsure of what our job situations will be like next semester. We only have one car so we will need to get new jobs closer to our nonexistent apartment.

It just feels like everything is compounding quickly.

Don't get me wrong, I am beyond excited to get married to Trevor.
I do not want to push off the wedding or move in together before marriage or anything that may be suggested.
I am content with our decisions because I do feel they will be the best for us.

      | 196 days until we finally get married. |

Now to stop stressing and get some homework done!

Week One

Well the first week of second semester has come to an end.
Man did it ever drag!

I am taking six classes:
THL 270-Our Living Faith (m)
KHS 110- Dynamic Health and Human Movement (g)
BIO 100- Biology Today (g)
MUS 121- Listening to Life: Global and Popular Music (g)
ED 330- Human Diversity and Relations (M)
ECE 324- Language Development & Emergent Literacy (M)
    |m=minor|   |M=Major|   |g=gen ed|

I have a rather interesting mix of classes. Obviously I am still finishing up a few of my gen eds. I think next semester I will just have one and the rest will be for my major/minor!

Along with ED 330 and ECE 324 I am required to complete human relations hours. I need to do 15 hours for each class. ED 330 will have the focus of different cultural groups other than my own. ECE 324 will be focusing on English language learners. Some of these hours I will complete at work at PLUS Time, so I will not have to go out of my way for those. However, not all of my hours for all of my human relations reports can be done at the same location. I still have two more reports to do in addition to the two for these classes. One of the reports I have completed the hours for already.

It will certainly be a busy semester.

|In Wedding News|
Wedding plans had slowed down a bit last semester, but now they need to pick back up!
Exciting things to mark off the list: bridesmaids' dresses, officiant, possible catering services, ceremony musician, [invitations nearly finished, guest list almost completed]! Big things are happening! Only 198 days!

A Bit Frigid

Oh, Minnesota.
Your winter has finally come.
Yesterday, (when I finally did wake up) it looked like I was trapped in a snowglobe.

I also had to get to Noodles & Co for work. I took the Metro from Trevor's apartment and made it barely on time due to a slight delay.
We were so slow that I was sent home an hour and a half early. Due to the awful weather, we had super low sales.

This morning when I woke up I checked to weather.
A lovely -2 degrees. Felt like -24 degrees. wut.

It felt great to walk outside with Trevor to McNally where he had a studio session.
Ugh.

Well I knew the winter would eventually come. And let's face it-Midwest winters are never kind.

Christmas 2014

Now that we are almost a week into 2015, I should probably get my act together and fill you in on how my Christmas season went.
Let's just say it was quite interesting.

December 24
Christmas Eve has always been when my family cooks and celebrates our Christmas. It has just fit in well with my dad's schedule with preaching-thus convenience.
This year, Trevor and I went to church at OSLC for the 1:30 service. This left time to get some cooking done afterward. We also went to Celebration for their 7:00 service. After that we headed to his place so he could put on some more comfortable clothes. I'm a stickler for dressing up for Christmas church. This resulted in these adorable photos.

After my dad finished church we all sat around and watched "Elf" while opening gifts. I got my sister fuzzy slippers, lotion, and a huge mug. I got my mom a wine glass and wine rack. I got my dad a bacon bowl mold and beer flavored jelly beans. And I got Trevor two PacSun shirts.

December 25

Trevor's family always opens gifts Christmas morning. I have never had this tradition, so it was kind of cool to take part of and enjoy. It was fun to watch his younger sisters open their gifts-I miss being young. His family even so kindly gave me a Doctor Who puzzle!

December 26

On the 26th we travelled to La Valle to my mom's side of the family. Trevor was unable to come along because he was playing in a show that evening. The entire time at my grandma's was awkward and uncomfortable. With the exception of going exploring on the farm with my cousins, Ahren and Jake, to take photos.

Here are some of the shots I got.

Also a large portion of the time at my grandparents included my grandma throwing random junk at me to take for my "new home". Now realize, the wedding is in August. We are not living together yet, we won't be until we get married. I do not have room for random stuff for my new home. One, I have no idea what the size of our first place will be, but I expect it to be puny. This will leave no room for miscellaneous objects. Two, I do not want a bunch of outdated junk that has been sitting around their house forever. Three, Trevor was not along to see any of this stuff so it was purely up to my discretion to make the decisions of what to take.

The only good thing out of the day was that Trevor and I have cupcake stands to use at the wedding now.

December 29

Rice Lake is so beautiful in the winter. I finally was able to see my grandparents' (on my dad's side) new home. It is beautiful! Not that I expected otherwise. Trevor and I drove together and made a photo stop on the way by the Chippewa River.

It was a good time at my grandparents, like always. We even had competitions at who could get the highest and lowest blood pressure. I think it's going to be a new tradition. For the first time ever, we did not have a sit down Christmas meal. It was so weird! I love grandma's sit down dinners! Grandma and grandpa even sent us away with plenty of soda from their soda fridge (yes, they have a fridge for soda and beer in their garage).

Christmas 2014 was quite a hoot. I cannot wait until next Christmas! It will be my first Christmas as a Rodriguez and I cannot wait to spend it as a married woman. Who knows what type of Christmas traditions Trevor and I will implement in our home, but most likely it will not include taking our blood pressure.

2014 Recap

Wow! It's already New Years Eve!
I cannot believe 2014 has already come to a close.
It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming it in.

2014 had lots of events for me.
I got engaged, transferred schools, got a few different jobs, began taking a lot more photos, and started my H&M shopping addiction.

Amidst the big events, a lot of little stuff happened too.
Some I am not proud of, but others I am really proud of.
I am not going to go into specifics, but all in all--2014 treated me well.

I know 2015 will be even better and I cannot wait to see what is in store.
The key event on the radar: the wedding!
Lots of planning and decisions are to be accomplished over these next few months since the wedding is early August.

I wish you all the best in 2015.
Love from Elisebeth :)

(details about Christmas to come soon-i promise!)

Gift Giving

Tis the season to spend loads of money on people. Right?
Wrong!

Why do you buy people presents?
Because you have to?
Or because you want to.

I do it because I love making them happy.

Rethink why you give gifts...
You may realize it is for a different reason than you thought.

End of Classes

Today was the last of my classes for Fall Semester 2014!
I have exams starting Monday at 8 am. But nonetheless, I am done with all of the instructional material!
Now the fun part-studying.
Ugh.
Such a dread.

But the reward at the end will be worth it! I will be home from December 19th (late at night)-until December 29th! 10 whole days! I have not been home for that long since I left for school in August. It will be weird being home again though. I have become so accustomed to my Saint Paul ways after all.

Also if you haven't checked out my new photo website follow the link below!
www.elisebethannephotography.wordpress.com

Winter is Here

Last night it snowed.
A lot.
It still is.

Welcome to Minnesota, eh?

I had one class change from in person to online so that commuters did not have to try to get in.