Versatile blogger award

Tiffany tagged me for the Versatile Blogger award! Thank you! This award is perfect for my blog because it is very versatile... which, for my blog is a nice way to describe inconsistent! If you're looking for daily or weekly features ALPITC is not where you're gonna find it! ;)

The rules are to accept, link back and thank the blogger that awarded me, then tell 7 things about myself and tag 15 other lovely bloggers.

1. Like Tiffany, I am also a shorty and only 5'3. I love heels!

2. I love to read, and would much rather sit with a book then watch tv.

3. I just started grad school after being out of school for over 6 years.

4. I have an 1/8th of American Indian in me, but you would never know it looking at me. If you saw my dad it would make sense. Wish I got his dark(er) skin!

5. I love cheese. I could eat cheese everyday. It's seriously bad, I'm sure I would drop a ton of weight if I could just cut cheese out of my diet!

6. I love kids. Just, love them! I would almost rather spend my time with kids than adults. I love how I am naturally a kid at heart and hope I do not lose that when I begin working with them daily.

7. I have no problem dropping $60 at Target on a regular basis but will debate on a new pair of $60 shoes for days. If I could just budget myself a little better while shopping at Target or Walmrt I could have a lot more new clothes...

Here's who I tag!

Lesli

Amber

Jenny

Jamie

Lisa

Shoshanah

Jennifer

Molly

Shannon

Polly

Amber

Kara

Amber

Suz

Heather

(yes, those are three different Ambers!)

Life as a student!

Whew! Last week was jam paaaaaacked. Here is what happened, bullet point style...

• Kids went back to school mid-week, therefore traffic slowed down considerably in my store.
• I started grad school on Wednesday.
• One of my assistants decided to accept a new job and only gave me a 6 day notice. Nice.
• My boss decided to visit, which I welcomed with open arms and practically started bawling when I let all my stress come flying out. (I didn't though, don't worry.)
• I spent over $200 on books for TWO classes.
• Then returned one of them because one of my classmates let us know it's $50 cheaper on Amazon. Thank you!

That's pretty much it... doesn't sound like much when I put it like that, but the week literally flew by for me. Wednesday felt like Monday afternoon to me. Seriously.

Grad school is definitely intense so far. But, in a good way.

I'm taking two classes. Educational Psychology (holy, reading. Good lord) and Introduction to Special Education. So far I can tell I am going to love them both. Especially the Ed. Psych class. The prof is my advisor and I absolutely adore her. I met with her way back in March to go over the program and see if it was a good fit for me and she was so helpful. I can't wait to get to know her better.

The group projects are a little out of control, in fact the projects in general are a little out of control. All I have to compare to is my bachelors where many of my classes were lecture, test, lecture, test until about the last year and a half when I was deep into my major, which considering I was not a design major and more a business type major I had very few classes where projects determined the bulk of my grade.

The only thing I am actually disappointed in is the fact that my special education class has undergrads in it. It sounds like this is quite the norm at Drake and maybe it's the norm at every university but I do not remember having graduate students in any of my classes at Iowa State. Does anyone know if this is common? The class is about 50/50 and we cover the same content, but we have a different syllabus and do a few different things (in addition) to what they do.

Work is going okay, I had an assistant manager quit last week so I am on the hunt for a new one. I actually breathed a sigh of relief when she turned in her notice (if you can even call that a notice) because she was jam packed with drama. I don't do well with hurtful gossip, which seemed to be one of her favorite pastimes. Yeaaaaahhhhh.... No, thanks!

Anyway, that is the skinny with me. What's up with you?

Iowa State Fair 2010

Where can you find over 50 foods on a stick, a cow sculpted out of 600 pounds of butter and "non stop fun"?

The Iowa State Fair of course!

The ISF is one of the largest state fairs in the US and I am proud to say it is held every year in my hometown and even on the side of town I grew up on. Iowans are pretty proud of their state fair and although I don't get as excited about it as I did when I was a kid I still end up there at least a couple times during it's 10 day run.

We went last Friday for "East Side Night", which is the side of town the Fair is held on and the citizens of that side of town have proudly claimed this night as their own. The first Friday of the Fair is typically ESN and its always an interesting night... I grew up on the east side so I'm allowed to make fun. ;) Obviously this side of town is not the ritzy side, but they keep things interesting!

That night Nick and I rode this ride, the Skyscraper. I rode this rode almost 6 years ago at the Missouri state fair and I wasn't scared at all. This time... I was terrified. I had my eyes shut and covered with my hands pretty much the entire time.

During our second trip to the fair last night we rode the other thrill ride available, the Ejection Seat. Now this one I loved! I thought this would be worse than the Skyscraper, but it wasn't! I loved it!

After the Ejection Seat we just had to drag my best friend, Kristi on a ride... she never rides ANYTHING. Ever! She's always scared something is going to happen, but we somehow got her to ride the Crazy Mouse with us. This ride was a spinny rollar coaster type ride, that was pretty tame except it really swung you around and made us dizzy!

Before riding the Ejection Seat Kristi started hugging me and (drunkenly) saying how much she loved me and didn't want me to die.. it was pretty funny.

During all this we saw a great fireworks show! They ended the night right. :)

The Fair would not be the Fair without food... and lots of it. There are over 200 food vendors, from fried twinkies to corndogs to rice krispie treats on a stick. Every year I get a corndog (or two) and we always drink lots of beer. This year was absolutely no different. I had two corndogs and more beer than I care to share...

Like last year I also got to meet up with my good friend, Lesli! She's also a fellow Iowan and wouldn't miss the Fair either! :)

After sleeping in until after 10am this morning Nick and I headed out to Saylorville for a day on the boat. He looooves to fish and I love to be on the water so it was pretty perfect. Problem was I didn't plan on spending five hours on the water and didn't realize I was getting sunburnt so bad... I am in some serious pain. Hopefully it's not worse tomorrow.

I cannot believe I just posted a picture of me with NO makeup on. How liberating... ;)

Ten on Tuesday

1. Where did you go to college?

Iowa State University - Go Cyclones! :)

2. What did you study?

Apparel Merchandising and Design with an emphasis on Merchandising and Consumer Behavior

3. Was college really all that it was cracked up to be?

Oh yes! I loved all four years and only regret not trying to make it last longer! :)

4. How far were you from home?

Only about 30 minutes which was perfect for me!

5. Did you have the same roommate all four years?

Nope, I had several roommates! Two in the dorms my freshman year, then lived in a sorority house my sophomore and junior year (so I had a 52 roommates...), and lived in Des Moines and commuted my senior year.

6. Where did you order food from at 2am?

There were lots of options... Jimmy Johns or Gumby's pizza was my favorites!

7. Did you date in college or were you tied down?

I dated the same guy off and on throughout college until meeting a guy in Kansas City during my internship before my senior year and dated him throughout senior year.

8. Funniest drunk college moment?

Hmmm... probably my 21st birthday. I did a lot of shots... and it's documented. Below is a picture of a paddle that my friends made me. On the back is the list of shots I took, who gave it to me and my signature. It's interesting! My four best friends and I all have one. We were big on interesting, unique birthday gifts in our early 20s. (which is an entirely different blogpost that I may share sometime...)

9. Did you make it to class on time?

Most of the time! I hate being late so if I had to walk in late I probably didn't go... I rarely skipped though, so I made sure to be on time! ;)

10. What was your favorite class in college?
I loved all my merchandising classes and especially the retail math classes. We learned the math that buyers deal with (which was what I originally wanted to be) and I just adored the professor! She was the cutest, stylish little Asian lady!

What are some of your favorite college experiences?

Summer update!

(Me with three of my best friends at our favorite summer destination, Lake Okoboji.)

This summer has been crazy, I'm sorry for my absence! I'm really hoping things calm down for me soon, I'm ready to relax. I fear they won't though... in two more weeks school starts, which will make things slow down at work but I will stay busy trying to juggle my full-time job, two graduate classes, the nursing home job and.... a new boyfriend.

Yep. We made it offical. Honestly I think I could have continued going with the way things were for quite awhile but I think he wanted to make things "exclusive" which was really sweet to me. I spent the past four days at the lake and I really missed him! The day I left he sent me these flowers at work which I loooooved. I have never received flowers from a guy at work where all your co-workers get to oooh and ahhh over them. It was bliss. :)

I got back from the lake yesterday morning and had to go straight to work for about 4 hours. After work, he came over and cooked fish and corn on the cob and also brought this for me...

He said he remembered me saying I like the color blue so he bought me a blue rose! How did I get so lucky? He's seriously one of the most thoughtful people I have ever met!

I hope you guys are having a good week. I promise I will try to do better at keeping my little place on the internet up to date! In the meantime here is a picture... I need to come up with a better nickname for this cutie :)

Ten on Tuesday!

1. What is your current favourite television show?

Well, it was The Bachelorette but it just ended last night! I'm hoping that Chris is the new Bachelor! He is such a sweetheart - as far as I know anyway! I think my next favorite reality show will be The Bachelor Pad, it looks deliciously addictive!

2. Apple juice or orange juice?

I'm not much of a juice drinker... but if I had to choose I would pick orange juice. It has to be real though, no Sunny D for this gal!

3. It’s Shark Week on Discover Channel. Do you watch? Why or why not?

No, I haven't watched... but after hearing everyone fuss about it I might have to switch to the Discovery Channel this week to check it out!

4. What are the non-blog websites that you visit regularly?

Facebook, Twitter, my bank's website, Amazon, and the library's website.

5. What is your favourite way to prepare green beans? Asparagus? Potatoes? Carrots?

Green Beans: Steamed.
Asparagus: Grilled.
Potatoes: Baked!
Carrots: Boiled. I used to hate cooked carrots but now I love them!

6. What is your favourite flower?

Definitely daisies! I have always loved daisy, and especially love the name Daisy.

7. How do you feel about handkerchiefs?

Uhhh, kinda gross!

8. If you could only shop at 3 stores for the rest of your life, what would they be? (You probably should include a grocery store.)

Target, Borders and Von Maur.

9. If you could only use wine for one purpose for the rest of your life, which would you choose? To cook with or to drink?

Definitely to drink!

10. What’s your bedtime?

Usually between 11pm and 12am