Wordless

I'm working on a few posts, none of which I'm satisfied with! What's going on? I think my brain is made of scrambled eggs. With cheese and peppers.

Graduation

What a day. Last Friday Josh and I and Josh's parents made our way to the ceremony, and it flew by! So many names were called that I can barely remember the brisk walk across the stage. We then had dinner at Ted's (of course). After dinner, I went to Jack Quinn's with two close friends from highschool. Our time together was fun and meaningful.


After graduating, I now feel like I can travel a little lighter. No books to lug around. No papers to write. Yet, I feel strange when I think I can no longer disappear in my never-ending homework, lack of free time, my "student" status. Traveling a little lighter means leaving what I used to hide behind. I've never felt more adult. Turning 18, graduating highschool, starting college, turning 21, even getting married did not give me this kind of adult-y feeling.

It is a feeling that my life can be mundane if I allow it. It's now up to me to make something of myself. My free time won't be spent in class. I was successful by default then, and now I must decide what to do next. In the meantime, I will rest. I feel like I can breathe for the first time in a while!

Josh started his new job last week. It seems as if we have been in separate worlds these past few weeks. I can't wait for Christmas! We will enjoy a simpler holiday this year. Josh and I will be alone on Christmas Eve, and we'll spend most of Christmas Day with his parents eating gumbo and seafood chowder.

Weekend in Minnesota

Last weekend, I flew out to Minnesota. For the weekend. It was the quickest trip EVER but probably one of the funnest times I've had to date! Most of my family lives up there, including my mom and three sisters.

Here are the few of the adventures we had:

1) My cousin Andy played Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music at his highschool. He was AMAZING! He blew our socks off right away. From the whistle-blowing to the Edelweiss-serenading, he was right up there with Christopher Plummer. We brought air horns and plastic maracas to cheer Andy on as he made his final bow. I know he was proud to call us family at that very moment. :)
2) My aunt, mom, grandma, and I enjoyed a few short hours at the Mall of America. I think we hit two stores and one restaurant total, but we did a lot of damage and I came home with an extra suitcase!
3) Our entire family had some fun meals together. It was hard not getting to spend quality time with everyone one-on-one, but we had MANY laughs and emotional moments that I will always remember.
4) On Sunday afternoon, hours before my mom had to take me back to the airport to fly home, she had a fellow photographer come over and take some fun pictures of us. I can't wait to see how they turned out.

I had too much fun to take pictures. It took some willpower to NOT pick up my camera, but I didn't want to interrupt all the special moments. Thankfully, my mom had her camera with most of the weekend, and she got a few of the cousins after Andy's play. Here's one of my favorites:



Sometimes short and sweet makes for the best memories.

Thanksgiving

What a fun Thanksgiving!

Josh and I spent the day with good friends Jonathan and Joy. Josh's parents and Joy's dad were with us as well, and we enjoyed quite the dinner together. Joy and I spent most of the late morning and early afternoon in the kitchen, and we cooked up all sorts of goodies for our families.




Josh and I have spent a few holidays with Jonathan and Joy this year, and each one has been fun, laid back, and always accompanied with an adventure or two. We can't wait for holidays to come.

The Christmas season has begun!

Grandma Margie and Aunt Stefni

Josh's Grandma Margie and Aunt Stefni came to visit for a few days last week, and we had a fun couple of days with them. We enjoyed a few outings together and time at our house or Josh's parents house.

Grandma Margie and I have a few interesting similarities: We have the same Myers-Briggs personality type (which is supposedly one of the rarest of the types) and don't like weird textures (like chalk) on our hands. It's amazing what we can learn about each other in such a short time!

Peace about the future

I talked with my dad the other day on the phone. I told him: "The closer I get to graduating, the more unsure I am of what I want to do."

I started off as an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. It was so fun for a while, but I decided to switch to Applied Communication during my sophomore year. I can still practice writing skills, but it's a far more interactive major. For example, nearly every Comm class guarantees a group project; these are learning experiences whether one gets a "good" or "bad" group. Communication is a general major, and success is pretty attainable in these classes. I'll be honest and say the past few years haven't been too challenging--apart from the workload and time management, of course. The work ITSELF has been simple. (A friend told me I'm probably just ridiculously smart and my classes SEEM easy. Thanks, friend!)

Anyway, I'm two months away from putting on the cap and gown once again, and so many thoughts have crossed my mind:

I want to be a pastry chef
I want to be a speech pathologist
I want to teach ESL somewhere far away
I want to write and edit
I want to go to graduate school

I feel like a little kid again trying on different outfits and pretending to be different characters. It's hard to pick only one!

Right now my struggle is to invite peace and live in it. I'm very much a planner and want to KNOW what's to happen. My husband is very much the opposite. He's a NOW guy.

Speaking of NOW, Josh is currently in a job interview. He looked so handsome with his tie on this morning.

Oops. Tangent. More on this later.

Colorado Autumn

Here are pictures of some recent Green happenings.

A couple weekends ago, Josh, his parents, and I took a Sunday drive toward Cripple Creek and enjoyed the fall colors. I just love his mom's face in this picture.


Also, here's reason #46 why I shouldn't be a car model.


(Meet "Mabel" Green. We traded "Saabrina" in for her when we realized how fast the Saab was losing value.)

We carved our first pumpkins a few days ago. Josh used a flashlight to show off the intricate details of his superhero pumpkin man. His pumpkin did take more time and effort than mine! I have to say, though, carving a pumpkin is no easy or simple task! It took me forever just to get the stringy flesh out of the pumpkin, and I hadn't even starting carving yet. :)



Here's how Josh succeeded with his pumpkin:



Fall is here! I'm excited to bake something with pumpkin. So far I've just roasted some pumpkin seeds. :)