Happy Valentine's Day!

Remember how Patrick and I mentioned at the end of October that for our 5 year anniversary we were going to go somewhere fancy for dinner because we never had yet? Well, that never happened, so we thought we'd do it this Valentine's Day, and guess what- it still hasn't happened! haha!

We originally had reservations for a nice restaurant, but because of the fixed four course menu it was using today, we decided to cancel and opt for something cheaper but still romantic by having a tasty dinner at home on the floor in front of our first experimental fire in our fireplace. I decided to surprise Patrick with the firewood by dragging in a bunch of mangled branches fallen in our yard after the ice storm we had earlier this week. I was proud of myself, but it kinda shocked him when he got home and opened the office door. :)


After our lovely Chinese Barbecue Chicken Lettuce Wraps served by candlelight in front of a warm crackling fire, Patrick picked up the platter and dishes and took them to the kitchen, and when he came back and sat on the floor he brought something else back with him- a ring! And as you can assume, I said yes. :) So check out the picture of the gorgeous ring Patrick had made for me- a blue sapphire bordered by 2 white sapphires and set in white gold.


I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day, but to tell the truth, I am not so sure yours will top ours. All the same, lots of love to you all!

First Week of February

Not many noteworthy things happened this week- except, perhaps several beautiful days, including a 69 degree day- but the week and weekend flew by, nonetheless. Following a Friday movie night with friends, Patrick and I made some delicious vanilla-almond-crunch French toast out of a loaf of challah bread I baked, and went on a nice evening walk on Saturday. We cleaned the house up (finally) on Sunday- it looks really sharp!- and had a couple of friends over for brunch and the Red Wings game that was on in the afternoon. Patrick was super excited, despite their loss, because there's been a lack of broadcasted hockey down here. We already know what we're doing next week Sunday too, seeing as there will be another aired game. :)

As for the coming week, work and school for Patrick as usual, and my first day on the job on Tuesday for me. I'm a bit scared since I will be leaving the comforts of home behind, but I've already made a list of how all my paychecks over the next year will be spent- haha. :) I'll have to let you know how it all goes, so stay tuned.

I just became employed! (and guess, by who)

.....by the HR department at Missouri State University. Haha!

Kinda crazy after my interview didn't give me much feeling of hope, and not necessarily my dream job, but still a job. All I know right now is it's part-time in the mornings, $9/hr, and doing paperwork / ordering time cards / spreadsheets /etc, since I am waiting for the employment and training specialist to call me back to tell me more. However, Patrick and I just need some extra money, it's a job that'll look ok on my resume, and at least working at the university means I can walk to work and don't have to go in on weekends or holidays. So hopefully all shall work out well.

(Big sigh.) That's for relief and nervousness. :)

Atalie's first interview

Atalie had an interview this week at school with a woman in the HR Department and was treated like crap. The interviewer was condescending and rude. The job was doing clerical work and Atalie didn't think it took a rocket scientist to qualify for the job. This woman obviously felt otherwise. The only thing we can figure is that the woman felt threatened by her own inadequacies and Atalie's superior brain power. The job hunt continues...

First week is done and this semester isn't looking too bad. My class schedule is pretty light but work is another story. Apparently I'm good at getting things done because my supervisors keep giving me more assignments. :)

a new semester commences

Patrick and I are back in Springfield now, after an even longer drive through the Midwest than usual this past Wednesday. We started out in Grand Rapids, but we backtracked to Okemos to pick up and drop off a few things first, adding a couple of hours to an already long trek. Needless to say, we were pretty tired and spent a good portion of the last couple of days sleeping extra and just taking it easy before Patrick had to return to school/work this week. We hung out with our friends a couple of times and did a bit of shopping since we had a gift card to spend (we now have food in the house and a coffee table- yay!)

It's going to be difficult adjusting to our normal schedule again, but I think it will be nice too. For one thing, I feel like a total slug for not exercising the last month while we were in Michigan, and Patrick mentioned once that he was a little excited to return to work at the university. Of course, I think I might keel over and die when I revisit the aerobic kickboxing tape this next week or two, and Patrick went into work a couple hours later than he originally aimed for this morning, but I'm sure we can get the hang of it again soon! (hopefully) :)

Happy New Year!

As most of you know (or were there), Patrick and I spent New Year's Eve night with a bunch of friends from GVSU. The venue was at Jill's, where there was a Wii (that's a video game system for the technologically challenged adults in our family- you know who you are) and some snacks and a little champagne for the strike of 2008. The two of us were super-tired the next couple days because the time went by before we knew it and we didn't get back to my parents' house until 4 a.m.! It was wonderful to see everybody though, since we're all spread out a lot more and/or have sporadic schedules after graduating, and because it might be a long time since Patrick and I get to visit with them again. We hope everyone else had a great New Year's Eve too!

Merry (Belated) Christmas

We had a great Christmas with both our families this year. Our families were far too generous to us and we feel very spoiled! Atalie joined Patrick on the 26th to celebrate Christmas and both went back to GR the 27th to celebrate with her family. The little nephews are great fun to have around and were overwhelmed by the amount of presents for them.