So many happenings!

I feel like all my posts lately have been "updates". This one is a long time coming (I can't tell you how many posts I've started over the last couple weeks, but then not managed to finish and get posted).

There's so much going on, I'm finding it hard to limit what I say without getting overwhelmed by all the details. I'll try to make this short (HA! Who am I kidding?!).

School

I finally got my official Acceptance Letter from SF State (after a Notice of Denial scare a couple weeks ago...). Technically I am "Conditionally Accepted", but they just need to get my final transcript for my current classes at SBCC (which I just took care of last night). *whew*

I had issues (big surprise) with the math placement test....they never got my registration form (I suspect it got lost in their offices or something because I faxed it to the right place), so I had to take a chance and try to walk-in to take the exam. Which meant I had to be there way before check-in at 8:30am (I was there at 7am). I did get in to take it, so that was good! And we stayed at Nathan's grandparents' house in Oxnard the night before so we wouldn't have to drive as far. It was so nice to see them and go out to dinner. We've never spent time with them without other family around. They are so cute and still in love after 40ish years of marriage!

Also, I found out that I'll need to go up to SF State for an orientation in mid-July for priority registration, advising, etc. Of course it smack dab between when we go up to finish up stuff for Nathan's school and when we're planning on moving AND in the middle of the week. I found a cheap flight out of LAX ($108.80 RT), though, so I'm just gonna fly up the night before, do the orientation thing, and fly back that night.

So, everything is on track. All I have to do is sort out financial aid, go to the orientation and register for classes! I'm in the home stretch...woot!

As far as SBCC is concerned, I'm nearly done! I turned in all my Work Experience assignments last night, now I just have choir rehearsals tonight and tomorrow night, then performances Saturday (7pm) and Sunday (3pm) at First United Methodist Church on Anapamu (in case you want to come *grin*)


Financial Aid

I'm waiting to hear if I have gotten a Cal Grant or not (should know next week), and I've got a couple music scholarship apps out. I'm auditioning for one later this month, and I'll hopefully hear back about the Santa Barbara Foundation music scholarship in a couple weeks.

I've also got to get back on Fastweb.com and apply for the miscellaneous scholarships they've got on there.

I'm a little nervous about managing the cost of both of us being in school. I'd like to live with as little debt as possible. I'm really (trying to) trust God to take care of us. I know He will, but I still can't help but be a little nervous about it at times. Hopefully I can find a flexible job (I really cannot figure out what type of job I should try to go for...I'm gonna have a relatively big commute, so I want to find a job either on campus, or close to home and it will need to be flexible due to school and performances etc).

If I get a Cal Grant, then we might be able to live off the federal student loans plus part-time work, and not have to take out more loans (at least for my school - Nathan's is much more expensive, though).


Fiber projects

The bag for my mom is complete! I haven't gotten around to taking pictures yet (the lighting has been bad by the time I get around to it), but it turned out well. I just need to figure out what to put in it. It may end up being gifted by itself cause I don't have time to shop before Saturday and we're probably going to celebrate early due to the crazy weekend (choir performances, sisters' work, etc).

I've also been working on the black tank-top I'm designing. I've started the waist decreases (I actually started a little early cause the yarn stretches more than I thought) and it looks like it's going to work out pretty well as long as I can get the short-row bust shaping done right. I've just been trying it on every once in a while as I go to check shaping.


Food!

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, here are some pictures and links:

Oatmeal Bread (Yummy recipe!)
I've made this a couple times now. It just needs to be given plenty of time to rise.



Easy and quick recipes that I use regularly:
Oven Baked Brown Rice
Oven-Baked Basic Polenta


(These are my bulk food purchases and a few Farmers Market veggies: organic flour for bread, brown rice for recipe above, and white rice that I used to rice pudding)

Oh, and I shelled peas for the first time a couple weeks ago - I felt very domestic *grin*. They are SO much better than frozen ones! I did it while my first batch of bread was baking.



Moving

It's only about 2 1/2 months now till we move. I keep saying that "once school is over I'll start working on [de-cluttering, packing, getting together with people, etc]". Well, school is over after Wednesday of next week! The reality of moving is going to be staring me in the face and I don't want to be rushed at the last minute.

But I'm getting REALLY excited about all the possibilities! We're going to go up to the East Bay area at the beginning of July to take care of some administrative stuff for Nathan's school, then hopefully find a place and put down a deposit (I really don't want to have to go up there again to look for a place). Later that month I'll be flying up for the orientation, and then we're gonna move up.

I'm gonna try to make June the big "push" month to get everything in order and start packing up the stuff we don't need till we get there.

So that's my big huge update! :-D

Snow in Santa Barbara!

This was taken at about 10:00am from my office downtown (1500 block of Anacapa). This picture isn't the greatest since it doesn't zoom very far, but there's quite a bit up there.



And to think I was wearing a tank top earlier this week! That's Santa Barbara for ya, haha!

Bad Day --> Good Day

(Warning: This is another "stream of consciousness" kind of post.)

Yesterday was not such a good day (if you couldn't tell by my somewhat depressing post), but today has been MUCH better! Last night I pretty much took it easy (I skipped out on choir! *Gasp*), even though I ended up staying up late to finish studying for my test today. But mostly I just chilled and "watched TV" (in our home, that means either watching TV shows off the network website or iTunes, or a Netflix DVD). Oh yeah, and I had fun texting Tracy back and forth for a little while...oddly it helped me focus on my homework (and made me feel better).

At work I've been kicking butt (nailed one account I've been trying to get, and nearly have another one for an airplane - first one of those! - that my dad's been pressuring me about. Hopefully tomorrow.) and I've got like 5 other clients that I need to quote new policies for. I might delegate a couple of those, though. If I can get all of them booked this month, I'll exceed my goal for March!

This coming Sunday Nathan's working, so I'm going to just take it easy, at least in the afternoon. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do Sunday AM. The current plan is to go to Christ Presbyterian with Chaun & Tracy, but I found out that the pastor at my parents' church (the one I grew up in) is leaving and his last Sunday is this coming Sunday. I'm not *super* close to him, but enough that I might feel kinda bad not going to my parent's church this week. *sigh*

But anyway, I'm gonna try to take the afternoon to just relax at home and do what I feel like doing...or not do anything at all. I might work on the crochet blanket I haven't worked on in forever. For some reason I thought about it today and thought it might be nice to do some crocheting since I haven't done any for quite some time now.

Hmmm...

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted till Tracy asked me what was up with the lack of posting. Oops.

I am SO tired of having so much to do. And being out of town two weekends in a row means all the stuff I normally do on the weekends has gotten smooshed into the rest of the week (mainly Monday night since Tues is Choir, Wed is Sociology, Thurs is Knit Group, and Friday is Date Night). So yeah. I've even been distracted at work since I've got so much on my mind ("Oh! Must print off this form for [insert school-related, scholarship-related, or bill/finance-related thing here]" "Got to call so and so for [insert school-related, scholarship-related, or bill/finance-related thing here]" "Must send email to [insert school-related, scholarship-related, or bill/finance-related person or entity here] ). You get the point.

On top of all that, I am behind in my homework (hello Sociology schoolbooks! Long time no see! Hello Work Experience paperwork! Nice to meet you!). Did I mention I have a sociology test next week? And a deadline Monday night for a bunch of Work Experience paperwork?

Can you tell I'm a little overwhelmed and overworked? Trying to work on scholarship stuff in between all this is really challenging too (ie: not really happening). But I NEED them! There should be a scholarship that just asks for your name, contact info and whether you are going from working fulltime, to being in school fulltime and then give you tons of money. That would be awesome. Instead, it's like another fulltime job! And of course it all has to be done during the time I'm in school too.

So, due to all this, not much knitting has been happening. The only thing I've been working on is a 3x4.25" cell phone case (my design). I started it last Saturday in San Diego and finished the body last knit at knit group. Now I just need to figure out how I want to do a pocket (for my bluetooth earpiece) and how I want to do the closure. For now, it is just a cell phone "sock". At least it's a little something!

(Oh yes, and it'd be nice if my co-worker would stop talking to me today. I am melancholic today and I really DON'T want to hear about random stuff right now....)

Woot!

Our professional wedding pics are up! If you'd like to see them, email me at "mariekeluvsjesus at hotmail dot com" and if I know you, I'll send you the info :-) They are so awesome!

My toe is feeling a bit better...it's just making my foot a little achey and it's still bruised and swollen, but I can walk on it easier, so that's good!

As far as the work stuff, Nathan didn't take the position. We both didn't feel at peace about it. I am hoping to meet with my dad (boss) this weekend about my future here, and I've sent my resume to a realtor for an assistant's position that sounds like a pretty cool job, and also possibly flexible enough that I can have more options for classes when we go back to school.

Finally, getting into the INTERESTING stuff ;) .... I'm working on a blanket for a friend of mine who is having a baby shower this weekend. It's small, but I just started it last night, so we'll see if I can actually finish it. It's 44 rows, plus a border, and I've already finished about 6 1/2 in about an hour or so. Thankfully the shower is Sunday evening, so I can work on it all Sunday if I need to. It's the Seija Set blanket from "Happy Hooker" (it's really cool cause it has a little hole built in for a car seat/stroller buckle, so the blanket won't fall out or anything). It's striped and I'm using a dark blue, lighter blue, and cream for the stripes. I'll post a picture after I get some more work done on it at Knit Group tonight (yippee!).