time for an update

though not too much to say! basically, my life for the past 15 days has been grad school (imagine that)! now that classes are in full swing, i'm beginning to feel the full weight of my homework and research duties.

my research advisor (having ascertained that i am now settled and not constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown... we hope...) has started giving me additional work and duties, which is surprisingly nice! it feels good to know that i am helping him in some way. right now, we are working on a study examining how research methods are taught in an undergraduate class. it's pretty interesting, and it makes me realize that i received really great methods training while at whitworth (thanks, alan!). my professor is hoping to have me write and publish an article detailing the studies' findings, and i am okay with that! publications speak LOUDLY when it comes time to entering a doctorate program and finding a job in the real world. how great would it be for me to be second author on a paper in my first year as a grad student!? sign me up!

classes are going well. i hit a small bump in my methods class this monday, but i was able to recovery (verrrry fortunately...). other than that one hiccup, things are smooth. i had my first exam today and (fingers crossed) it went well. i can't believe that it's almost time for "midterms"--i use this term lightly as i don't actually have an midterm exams (which is pretty wonderful). within the next week or two, i'll start gearing up to register for winter quarter. crazy.

well, sorry this isn't more interesting and that i don't have any great stories for you... actually, WAIT! i did something funny today. while i was waiting for a bus, i watched as a poor squirrel ran around campus with its head stuck in a yogurt container! it was pretty funny watching it bump into trees and the sidewalk, but also kind of sad. i thought about trying to rescue it, but i wasn't sure i actually wanted to touch the squirrel or the yogurt container, so i refrained. yep, that's my interesting story...

what an enthralling life i lead.

a funny video to end things...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK9_DPYlve4

reading reading reading!

life in graduate school is officially in full swing! this week is my first full week of class, and i've made it halfway through. on mondays and wednesdays, i have my statistics class, which i actually think is going to be very interesting and challenging. on tuesdays and thursdays, i have an introductory course focused on communication theory. the beauty of my schedule (aside from having three day weekends every weekend--yes!) is that my two classes are so different! i think this will probably help me from getting bored... at least, i hope it will!

thus far, my graduate career has involved a LOT of reading! i'm reading for classes and for my research, which means i'm trying to squeeze in about 8 hours of reading a day--yikes! my research is pretty interesting so far. i'm studying salivary a-amylase, an enzyme released into saliva by the sympathetic nervous system in response to stressful situations. i know, who would have ever thought i'd be dedicating so many hours of my life to reading about spit? certainly not me! i'm hoping to begin working on a few other projects with my advisor as well, including one looking at different undergrad statistics classes and another examining facebook relationships (ahhh... i can relate all to well to these research subjects)! should be pretty good.

in the meantime, i have begun to explore my cute little neighborhood, and i have officially found the BEST donut shop EVER! it's called top pot donuts and they are featuring an amazing old-fashioned pumpkin donut. they are totally to DIE for! kailey (my roommate) and i are both big fans...

to wrap things up, here are a few pics of campus. i didn't take them (i'm not THAT good at photography), but i figured i'd let everyone see where i'm going to school. UW is incredibly beautiful--prettier than i think most people imagine. enjoy!

a look at the quad in fall... the weather in seattle has been pretty perfect this week. sunny and in the 60's--so wonderful! the trees haven't started turning yet, but i know it's just around the corner...

this is a picture of suzzallo library. it's an amazingly beautiful gothic building that was built during the 1930's (i think...) anyways, it is the social sciences library, meaning MY library! whenever i need to do research (which will come up a some point), this is where i get to go. yay!

Weekend in Seattle

My first weekend in Seattle has come and gone and I survived. No fiery crash on I-5. No crazy abduction at the Puyallup Fair (not that I was expecting one...) It was actually a pretty great weekend! I went to the Fair, out to dinner with Leigha and a few of her friends, bought a bunch of great books at the Friends of the Seattle Library Book Sale (TONS of books all for 50 cents a piece... Thanks to Camille), and churched at Mars Hill (a large, popular church here in Seattle). Great weekend!

Monday was my new student orientation... I finally got to meet everyone in my cohort (all nine of us... pretty small, really). They seem to be pretty nice. I also finally had my questions answered about what my classes are going to look like. I met all of the communications faculty over a catered lunch of tasty sandwiches--woo hoo! Great Monday!

So there's a little update, and here are pics from the outing to the fair :)

Cotton candy! I know it's kinda lame, but it is one of my all-time favorite fair/carnival treats! Nothing like purple spun sugar...

Enjoying our fair dinner--I had a Greek gyro, Natalie had a Krusty Pup... It was all very tasty!

BABY GOAT! Nothing more needs to be said!

Back to blogging

So, it seems that my life begs for blogging during the most tumultuous (and therefore probably most interesting) times. When I left for Spain, I blogged like mad because everything was so new and exciting and I just wanted to share my new world with everyone back home.

Grad school brings a similar opportunity.

Though I would never dare to assert that Seattle is as enchanting, charming, or exciting as Spain, I will say that it certainly IS different. Having never lived in a city larger than Boise, ID (except for Sevilla), Seattle seems totally strange and different. I made my official relocation on Monday, and, despite my endeavors to explore and learn the city, I still have zero sense of direction (leaving me very prone to disorientation and getting lost) and driving on I-5 induces audible verbal swearing every time.

In spite of all of this, I am remaining hopeful, excited for the challenges that this new life chapter brings. In order to cope with the stress, however, I will be blogging.

So, I take this moment to welcome myself back to the blogging world.

engaged

for all those people who want to know, here's the story:

well, saturday was the first day of kevin's spring break, so a few weeks back i suggested that we have a fun-day to celebrate. he agreed and then offered to plan the fun-day for us, much to my chagrin. i am the planner in the relationship, but i acquiesced. all throughout the week, whenever i asked him about our fun-day plans, he always laughed and said that he hadn't planned anything yet. of course, i believed him.

on saturday, kevin picked me up for lunch and we drove over to applebee's. ironically (in my mind... well-thought-out, according to kevin), this was where we had our first day more than two years ago. of course, i didn't know he was going to propose, so it didn't seem like anything special at the time... only in hindsight did i realize its significance.

after lunch, we drove over to this little massage parlor located in this weird spot. we were both a little sketched-out at first, but it turned out to be a really nice place inside! kevin didn't tell me what we were going to do (obviously something involving a spa). a lady came and whisked me away to an incredibly relaxing pedicure, and then kevin and i met up again and got a couple's massage--so nice. we both left the parlor feeling incredibly relaxed and happy.

we had a little bit of time to kill before our next stop, so we headed back to my apartment, where we cleaned up and got ready for a night on the town. kevin drove us out to coeur d'alene, where we had our first really special date. we went to this very nice asian food restaurant called the bonsai bistro. kevin had arranged for us to enjoy dinner in our own private room. he had also arranged for us to enjoy 10 courses of amazing food prepared for us specially by the chef, troy. troy flew in different food ingredients from all over the world! our ten course meal was as follows:

1. a seared ahi tuna on a cucumber rose along with kobe beef tartar (from japan) topped with salmon roe (fish eggs... surprisingly tasty).
2. the most AMAZING edamame ever!
3. frog legs... seriously. they were like tasty, tender chicken wings.
4. a sushi tray complete with a squid and seaweed salad and homemade wasabi.
5. scallops flown in from scotland.
6. a kobe beef steak with prawns (both flown in from japan) as well as foie gras (again, surprisingly tasty).
7. the TASTIEST mongolian beef EVER!
8. schezuan prawns on a spicy bed of rice--sooo good!
9. a dessert of coconut creme brulee and fried bananas.
10. a fortune cookie! my fortune warned me about a hard upcoming week (yuck) and kevin's said something much happier (he can't remember and neither can i! had i known we were going to get engaged, i would have saved the fortunes).

after a fabulous 2.5 hour-long dinner of the most amazing food i have ever had in my entire life, we decided to take a walk along the boardwalk the circles the coeur d'alene resort. after stashing our leftovers in the car, we started walking. the whole time, kevin seemed a little distracted, but i didn't really think anything of it. we reached the middle of the boardwalk where we were directly across from the resort. it was beautiful with all the lights sparkling on the water, and everything was so quiet and still... kevin paused during our walk and told me that troy (the chef) had told him a little coeur d'alene legend. troy had explained that, if you take a handful of dirt from one of the planters located on the dock, closed your eyes, counted to 5, and made a wish, your wish would come true! little did i know, kevin actually made the whole thing up just to get me to close my eyes! anyways, i totally bought his story and willing grabbed a handful of dirt to make a wish. when i opened my eyes, he was down on one knee. i immediately began to cry and, according to him, i said yes before he actually asked me the question! i'm not so sure about that, but i do know that he asked me to make him the happiest man in the world, and i agreed.

the ring fit perfectly and is the most beautiful ring i have ever seen (of course, i AM a little biased). in the car on our way back to spokane, kevin told me all about the planning and plotting he'd done in order to make our night super special. he told me a couple of reasons for why he proposed the way he did, and here are his insights:

1. he picked march 21 because it was the first day of spring and he thought it incredibly fitting for us to start this new chapter with a new season--pretty cute.
2. he picked everything from our casual lunch at applebee's (our first date) to the proposal on the dock because it all has connections with our past.
3. he chose coeur d'alene as the proposal spot because he wanted us to get engaged in my home state because i'm such n idaho girl.

really, everything was (and still is) absolutely perfect! i am the happiest girl alive and i could not ask for a better fiancee. we have a lot of planning ahead of us, and we're looking at getting hitched in june of 2010--so everyone mark your calendars!

collage of me

courtesy of a fun game on facebook, here's a collage of me!

DIRECTIONS:
- Go to Google image search.
- Type in your answer to each question.
- Choose a picture from the first 3 images.
- Use this website (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php) to make your collage.
- Save the image for use in this note.
- Post and tag your friends.

QUESTIONS:
1. What is your name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your hometown?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What is one word to describe yourself?
10. How are you feeling right now?
11. What do you love most in the world?
12. What do you want to be when you grow up?

the good news keeps coming!

so hey everybody! i hope that everyone had an excellent valentine's day! i know that a lot of people don't like valentine's day, but it's one of my personal favorite holidays, and (even though i'm a day late) i wish everyone a great day!

i had a wonderful valentine's day, and life has been so busy since my last post. i started working at my new job last monday. it's been quite the experience! mostly, i've been training and taking classes online. there is a lot of prep work that goes into being a teller at wells fargo. apparently, the banking industry is the most highly-regulated industry in the u.s., and i have to learn about a LOT of regulation before i'm allowed out on the teller floor. it's been crazy! i've spent eight hours a day the past week in the back room bonding with a computer... awesome. it's so much information, but i'm really excited to get out there and actually start working. hopefully, my training will wrap up towards the end of this coming week and i'll be out on the floor cashing checks after that! woo hoo!

in addition to starting my new job, i had a really awesome weekend! saturday, kevin made me breakfast (which was AMAZING) and we spent the day hanging out. then, we went out to dinner at a greek restaurant here called niko's. the food was pretty awesome. basically, we spent the day together, which is always a winner in my book :) additionally, i found out some really exciting news: i got accepted into the University of Washington's masters program! yay! not only did i get accepted, they also offered me a full research assistantship, which means i would basically get paid to go to graduate school and learn about things that i already love!!! how awesome is that? i'm still waiting to hear back from another school, but i feel such relief knowing that, no matter what, i have been accepted to graduate school and that door is open for me in the future.

so yay!

again, hope everyone had an awesome valentine's day and an amazing weekend :)