Amazing weekend

It was a super busy, yet super fun weekend! On Saturday, we got up and made some homemade waffles… we haven’t done that since we lived in the apartment! Then Jonathan attached the new bike rack that he got for his birthday (it was a joint effort by me, my parents, and his parents!). Verdict: he likes it!  While he was attaching that to the ET, we found a snake in our yard! Here’s a picture of the little guy:

Then we drove out to Ulta in Illinois (it took us 45 minutes) on a quest for nail polish and hot rollers.  While we were out that way, we biked along a trail that Jonathan frequently bikes with our friend, Daniel. They usually start on the MO side and bike all the way out there and then some. We just did about 6 miles on the trail out in Illinois. It was pretty and I hope we bike it again!

After that, we got a pizza and had a late lunch/early dinner, and watched a movie. Then, we went downtown to hear the Gin Blossoms play. That’s a link to my favorite song by them. You might notice that that song was copyrighted in 1992. Almost 20 years ago.  So they are pretty old now, but they played a good show!  Then Jonathan and I decided to play some penny slots since we were at a casino…. (mostly we wanted free sodas…) . We took ten dollars, and came out 7.54 ahead. Thats a 75.4% return on investment. Not too shabby.

On Sunday, we had a nice, relaxing, easy day. I spent the morning catching up on my couponing, and then I put that nail polish we bought on Saturday to good use:

Jonathan and I also made dum-dum ghosts! I used to make these with my grandfather when I lived in South Carolina:

Anyway, it was a nice weekend. Today starts our weight loss competition and a new, productive, less-tv-watching Magee family.  I hope!

On the job hunt

Today, I’m headed to Chicago for the Midwest MBA Career Fair. Our school chartered a bus, so Jonathan gets to skip this fun little trip.

Anyway, I’ve got two suits packed, 30 resumes, and I am ready to go convince people they should hire me!  Wish me luck!

 

Middle of the Night Pajama Party

I have a lot going on right now, between exams and recruitment. Frequently, when I have so much going on, I have trouble sleeping. And last night, at the last minute, Jonathan and I decided to change travel plans for Chicago this weekend… we figured out that I could, in fact, take the charter bus with my classmates and it would save us money if I did that versus him and I driving up separately. (We had originally thought that the bus departure would be earlier, and I have an exam that gets out at 1.) The bus is actually going to load at 1 and leave at 1:15. So, I spent a lot of time and energy last night trying to get last minute travel arrangements set. I still don’t have a hotel room, but I’m going to take care of that tonight!

Anyway, worrying about all of these details, and getting ready for the conference while studying for my exam tomorrow made me a very restless sleeper last night!  Around 3 am, I was tossing and turning and tossing and turning, and finally Jonathan suggested that we go to the living room with our pillows and blankets, turn on the tv, and have somewhat of a pajama party in the livingroom!

Unfortunately, we turned on a show that ended up being way more interesting than usual…. it was the Halloween episode of Chopped. So we didn’t fall asleep as fast as we thought we would. But, it was really fun!

Now I’m mondo tired and I’m going to have to down a five hour energy right before my exam!

It’s Been Six Months??

Oh geez! Where did the time go?

Here are the highlights:

April:

I went to Charlottesville for Mindy’s wedding and to hang out with the fabulous Jill Stephens.

Sasha and Jill at Mindy's wedding

May:

Jonathan got his wisdom teeth out, poor guy. His face was swollen for a long time. A lot of my friends graduated. Jonathan and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary in Nashville and Gatlinburg! I’ll write a separate post about that later.

Sasha and Jonathan at 808 Grille in Nashville, Tn

Jonathan standing on an outlook over Gatlinburg.

June:

Alysha graduated from OSU! I started my internship.

July:

We spent the 4th of July weekend in St. Joseph, MI with Ben and Laurel! It was great to see where they are living, and to go to a beach again!! I also won tickets to see Montgomery Gentry downtown so Jonathan and I saw them on the actual 4th of July and saw fireworks in St. Louis.

August:

I spent a week in Johnson City with my mom and dad! That was a lot of fun. We ate out a lot a lot!  And my mom bought me some kickin’ cowboy boots! I also spent a night in Columbus hanging out with Alysha, also a lot of fun!

September:

We spent Labor Day in Oklahoma! We got to see Jonathan’s sisters and their babies! Monika and I were awesome at charades, and the kids were adorable, as usual! I also started class, boo.  Jonathan’s birthday was the 30th of September, and we went on a birthday camping trip with our small group.  We did the same camping trip last year, and it was a joint celebration of Jonathan’s birthday and our friend, Ben’s birthday.

Jonathan and Ben next to their birthday sign!

Jonathan with his birthday pumpkin cupcakes that Laurel and I made!

October:

It’s been a busy month already! We were camping the first weekend. This past weekend was my fall break, so we drove to Atlanta for my friend, Betsy’s, wedding.  We stayed with my friend Emily, and a bunch of my friends who graduated in May were in town also. Basically, it was an epic reunion of people from several different phases of life!  The wedding was really beautiful, and Emily and Zack were really great hosts!

This coming weekend we’ll be in Chicago for a career fair.

 

Anyway, on an unrelated note, I was going through old livejournal posts, and it was so much fun to be reminded of all the things I did and thought back then! So, I am going to try to keep up better on blogging!

I also have tons more pictures, but they are all on facebook. So if you want to see more pictures, check them out there! I don’t have pictures from Betsy’s wedding yet, because I didn’t charge the camera battery, so I’m waiting on Melissa to upload some!

Oh, Technology.

In some ways, technology is amazing. I have been able to stay in touch with friends and family in ways that our parents never dreamt possible.

In some ways, technology holds us back from forming real relationships and connections. I get really discouraged when I hear big news from people I consider close to me via Facebook status. I get discouraged when wall posts replace emails and phone calls. I get discouraged when I don’t ever have individual communication anymore, everything is out there for everyone.

I know I’m guilty of this. I know I only told my family when we got engaged and then posted it on Facebook because it was easier. Back then, Facebook was new and exciting and I had no idea how it would change the way I look at relationships.

And, as if to add irony to my point, I miss getting personal emails. Forget snail mail or phone calls. I miss emails!

Anyway, I was just thinking about technology. I know its a part of my life (look, I’m blogging right now), and I appreciate a lot of things the fabulous internet has done for us (no more calling cranky reference librarians when I need to look something up for homework), and I do like keeping in touch with so many people so easily.

But, I also desire real relationships where people feel special and important to me, and I feel special and important to them. So I am going to make a conscious effort to do that!

 

 

Pancakes says hi!!

Can’t help it, my bun is so cute I have to post a pic!

 

Fun times in C-Bus!

I spent nine days in Ohio for my Spring Break, and I have a one thing to say… boy is it nice to spend time with my family!!!!

we spent a day in Centerville for my Dad’s birthday. I will just say he is 70, since it makes it easier… although we aren’t 100% sure. My dad is a bit wiley and won’t give us the real skinny on his age!  We went to a Chinese buffet, and boy, does Centerville kick StL’s behind when it comes to Chinese food!!!

The rest of the time, I spent in Columbus near Ohio State with Alysha. It was so relaxing! Staying up late, sleeping in, shopping! What a great time! We bought matching black Coach clutches! Hooray for Outlet malls! Alysha also cooked dinner for me, which was fun!

We also saw Lincoln Lawyer, which we both really enjoyed. (legal thriller… what’s not to love?)

We also had a private table at a place with dueling pianos for St. Patty’s Day. That was pretty darn awesome! And Alysha bought me the cutest St. Patrick’s day socks! Next time I wear them, I will have to take a picture! I took one, but it was really dark, so you can’t see them very clearly.

Alysha’s room in her apartment is huge, and she has a tiny room (more like a closet) connected to her room. The tiny room had enough space for a twin mattress and a desk, so I felt like I had a little dorm room while I was staying there! It was very cute!

Anyway, it was a fabulous time, and I got back to STL on Sunday with just enough time to frantically pound out 12 pages to complete my seminar draft.  Now life is back to normal!

 

 

 

 

Mid-Week Vacations Make the Week so Much Better!

The funny thing about time off of work, which I do not fully understand as I have never had a full time job, is that there is this precarious balance between wanting to use your days off in fun and exciting ways and wanting to save days in case something comes up.

We saved two days. Well, Jonathan saved two days. And as the “use it or lose it” day approached, he considered using those two days to bum around the house. As his wife, I thought this would be a tragic waste of time off!

So, last Wednesday, we took a mid-week vacay. I don’t have classes on Wednesdays, so we drove about an hour and a half out to Crown Valley Winery, spent the afternoon taste-testing and driving around a tiny town, and spent the night in a bed and breakfast. On the way back to town on Thursday, we ate lunch at a pretty neat restaurant downtown called Triumph Grille. It’s attached to a motorcycle museum, which was really interesting to wander through.

That evening, we went to the business school formal. It was held at the Chase Park Plaza, on the top floor, and was pretty darn fancy pants!  Here’s a pic from the event:

Then, on Friday, I had a make-up class, and it was back to the real world for me 😦 (Jonathan had training instead of work, so he didn’t really go back to the real world until today, and I hear he was swamped from being out of the office for three days in a row!)

More Toe Angst

Here is a recap of my (semi-recent) toe injuries.

Spring 2008: Ripped toenail off of big toe on left foot at an International Case Competition two days before we competed. Hobbled around in flip flops in Seattle in March. It was cold. Had to stand and give a 30 minute presentation in 4 inch stilletos… TWICE (since we made the final round.) Extremely painful, collapsed into my teammate’s arms in tears the minute we walked out. The presentation was put online, I think I held it together quite well.

Spring 2008: Big toe finally feeling better… so I can start working out to get ready for my wedding! (No real toenail on there, but atleast I could get gym shoes on!) Got the p90x series.. first work out, kicked a chair. Xrays showed a sprained and possibly slightly fractured toe. Crutches plus taped little toes on my right foot.

Spring 2011: Two weeks ago… After alot of traveling, finally ready to get running again! Kick gate that keeps Pancakes (our bunny) from getting out as im stepping over it, partially right big toe nail off of right big toe. Pretty painful. Have 3 hour job interview the next day, must wear 4 inch stilletos. Extremely painful.

Spring 2011: Today: Big toe finally healed! Decide to pack in paper-writing early and get a work out! Drop back pack on toe. Most pain I’ve ever experienced for about an hour. I am a big baby about it. Call my Dad, he tells me to heat a needle and stick it in to relieve pressure. This is also extremely painful… and gross! But, it seems to be working, the pain is bearable, although the multiple ibuprofens may also be helping with that. Likelihood of working out soon: low. I also stubbed the two middle toes later on a step stool as I was hobbling around the house. Yay. Me.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?? Why can’t my toes just not get hurt?????

I think subconsciously I prefer extreme pain to working out…. what is up with that??

Procrastination and Percolation.

Percolate isn’t a word that a lot of people use anymore. I like to use percolate in reference to how I write papers/think about schoolwork.
Let me explain. So, many coffee machines are percolators. The water passes through coffee and a coffee filter, drop by drop, and fills the coffee pot. With a coffee-enriched liquid. That is, hopefully, delicious.

I need to percolate to think. I need to run some nebulous brain energy through a giant filter full of all of my ideas and thoughts. And at the end, a delicious writing product appears. Usually in a frantic burst right before it’s due.

You can’t rush a percolator. A watched coffee machine never percolates!

I have a paper due on March 21. I am traveling from March 12-20. It is March 5th. This means I have exactly 1 week to write 25 pages. I am here, at the school, in the perfect environment to write.

But I only have about three drops in my coffee pot.

This does not bode well for me, needless to say.

Wise people might say that my concept of percolation is really just a much more eloquent way of saying that I procrastinate. I beg to differ. I am here. I have hours of time endlessly in front of me. I just do not have the ideas to put to the paper yet.

Of course, I may just be biased.