Christmas 2011 update before my life is taken from me ...

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was fabulous, I must say. The week off that I had after was amazing as well. Classes wrapped up for me on the 15th of December. I got a 109% on my Bio final and ended up with a 104.5% average in the class. I was super nervous about my Chem final though, because if I bombed it I wouldn't keep my A. The day before the final I studied from 10am-4pm, then went to work until 12:30am, then came home and studied until 3:00am, and got up at 7am to go take the final. (I then went to work right after until 8:00pm .. it was an insane week.) I felt really good about the exam once I was done but I had the same feeling on the exam before that and I ended up with a B. FINALLY, my instructor emailed me and let me know that I got a 100% on the final and my A in the class :) So I ended up with my 4th semester of 4.0 GPA since I've started at GTC. 

The week of Christmas I worked, and worked, and worked, and worked some more. It was so chaotic every single day, and by Friday I was so ready to get out of there. Luckily I had all of my gifts wrapped and ready by the 22nd, so there was no rushing around with any of that stuff. Christmas Eve was spent at my dad and stepmom's with my brothers, sister, Donaldo, and my brother's girlfriend. We had a lot of fun and the meal was just delicious!! I got a lot of nice things from them including my big gift .. a purple North Face Denali jacket. I also got some clothes and a Philosophy fragrance gift set. 

 my dad's tree :)

 my doggy<3

 playing cards.

 the table .. & iceberg wedges yummy.

 cheese :)

 nice, Daddy. LOL.

 Ryan and me.

 Laura, Carol, and me.

too bad my face is cut off. haha.

Christmas Day we all woke up and opened gifts and then went to mass at 10:30. Our main gift from our mom is our vacation to Florida in March (she's paying for where we're staying and also for our Hopper passes to the Disney parks), but we also each got a bunch of smaller gifts. My favorite was a Woodson jersey, which I had to wear Christmas Day because the Packers played. When we got home, Laura's boyfriend, Luke, came over and all of us opened our gifts to each other. Donaldo got me a matching necklace and ring with purple heart shaped stones. I was so surprised because he picked them out all on his own :) He also got me the Dolce and Gabbana - The One gift set that I asked for. We spent the rest of the day with extended family, and all watched the Packer game together.

 Donaldo and I on Christmas Day :)

 me with some of my cousins and siblings.

 sibs.

 I LOVE THIS PIC<3

my ring from Donaldo :)

Monday until yesterday we were up north at my stepmom's dad's cottage skiing. It was so so nice having a whole week off work and fun spending time with my dad and stepmom. Donaldo had such a fun time skiing and he was so good at it by the last day. Today I have one more day off and then tomorrow I start back at work for the whole weekend and most of next week. No plans for New Years, but my mom is having a Rose Bowl party on Monday.

I am buying my books for clinicals on January 4th. I'm getting super nervous/excited .. but my life as I know it will be gone for the next 2 years. Trying to enjoy my downtime as much as I can right now.

What I've been up to recently ...

I pretty much haven't done a real blog in forever, so I thought I'd post a few pictures of what I've been doing with my life recently.

On October 29, I was Maid of Honor in my best friend's wedding.

Melissa and me<3

both sides of my hair :)

Donaldo and me at the end of the night.

On November 17th, the OG crew went to go see Breaking Dawn together (& dinner before).

Jill and me.

My #1 favorite fellow To-Go Specialist, Laura.

The table (minus me bc I was taking the picture).

And, of course, Thanksgiving. I took way less pictures than I usually do :(

My aunt, cousins, sister, and me.

Madison and me.

Nicole and me at Alex's hockey game.

Michele and me! I love her!

My family (minus my brother lives in AZ)

I'm so sad I didn't take any with my dad's side :( Oh, well. Christmas is coming!! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Christmas season!

100 Day Challenge - Day 36

A picture of your pet.

Bailey and Strider :)

Pasted from my FB:

My favorite holiday is one day away :) I usually write this post on Thanksgiving Eve, but I work tomorrow and may not be home at night so I decided to type it up now. Every year I like to reflect on how extremely blessed I am in life. I try and remember every day regardless, but on Thanksgiving it seems even more special to me.

I'm so thankful for God, Jesus, and my Catholic faith. I'm so lucky to have been raised in a family in which religion was always taught. I look back on my childhood years and feel so grateful for having been taken to church every Sunday and to have gone to a Catholic school for 12 years. I feel like my relationiship with God has grown so much, and I am so thankful for that.

I love my parents so much. I'm so grateful that they have been there for me since day one, and they have never ever let me down. I'm not saying we didn't have our rough patches, but that's to be expected when you are growing up, and now they are everything to me. There is nothing I feel like I couldn't go to them with or depend on them for. They are such a huge part of my life, and I don't know what I'd do without them.

I just celebrated my first wedding anniversary with the best husband in the whole wide world. I'm so thankful for him everyday, and that he was brought into my life. He is so wonderful to me and he is such a strong, hard working person. He's my other half and I could not have found anyone better to spend the rest of my life with.

I'm so grateful to still have my Nana and Papa to celebrate this Thanksgiving with. I love them SO MUCH, and I'm so blessed to have had them in my life for this long, and I hope this continues for many many more years! I'm so happy that my Papa has felt and been better recently, and that God was watching over him through all of his hard times this year. I will cherish every second I spend with them

I miss my best friends, Bianca and Tracy, so much!! I get so sad missing them sometimes but I'm truly grateful that they are in my life even if they are far away. They bring so much joy and happiness into my life, I could never thank them enough. I cannot wait to be with them again this summer, they are so special to me!! They are honestly the kind of friends that are always just THERE unquestionably no matter what, and I can't explain how much that means to me!

To the other special angels in my life .. I'm so grateful you are a part of me and my life. You mean SO much to me.

I am also thankful to live in this country, to have a job, to be going to school, and for the rest of my amazing family, especially my brother and sister. Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

100 Day Challenge - Day 35

A picture of your home town.

There was like no pictures of my town. This is like downtown. There's so many different parts of my city, and they all look different LOL.

100 Day Challenge - Day 33

A picture of somewhere you went today.

a.k.a -- WORK.

100 Day Challenge - Day 32

A picture of what you did today.

Birthday celebration :) At El Beso in Milwaukee!

100 Day Challenge - Day 31

A picture of food you made.

Okay, so this is what I made for lunch today, but it's not a real picture of it. They're crispy green bean fries from TGI Fridays, and they're super yummy.

My October (so far) ...

The last month has been super busy for me. Working and school has kept me busy, but luckily I've also found some time in between to do some fun stuff too (don't ask me how though, I have no idea.)

Classes are going well. My Chemistry class was challenging for the first couple of weeks, but mostly because the basis of it was dealing with math. Now were into more general concepts, and its going a lot better. I've had 4 quizzes and 1 exam so far and I got A's on all of them but the first quiz (I got a C on that one), but we get to drop the two lowest, so it doesn't really count. My Biology class is super easy, I almost feel like it's not fair that I'm in it. It's general biology, and I've taken 4 more way more difficult science classes, but I didn't have any other class to take. I have a 107% average in it right now. 

Work is also going well, I'm working much more than I intended this fall. I usually pick up 1-2 shifts a week, but with my class load being a little lighter it's okay. Plus in January I'm hardly going to be working at all because of clinicals, so I need to make all the money I can while I can. 

World Gymnastics Championships were last week, and I had so much fun watching all the women's competitions live, even though I had to get up at 4:30am for the team final and 3:30am for the all around and those were both school days .. gahh. It was worth it though to see the USA win gold in the team final and Jordyn win the all-around! I'm so sad that this season is over (well, after Pan Ams), but Lindsay and I are already planning our trip to the Cover Girl next year :D

Last Monday Donaldo and I went to Holy Hill and the pumpkin farm. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day out and we had so much fun! I also bought the most delicious apples and apple cider ever. That night we also went out for my mom's birthday :)

Leaving you with some pictures ...

The beautiful tree our car was parked under.

Love this one of me in the leaves other than my hair blowing haha.

Donaldo and me <3

Holy Hill. Super gorgeous.

Team USA wins gold :)

Jordyn Wieber - USA's 6th All Around World Champion!

McKayla Moroney - Vault World Champion

Going to try and get back on track with my photo challenge as well :)

Life gets in the way ...

... of my blogging. Big, huge, super update soon with pictures, I promise! Also going to try and get back on track with my photo challenge. Let me just say for now that I am loving life, school, work, family, and enjoying every moment of my FABULOUS FALL<3

100 Day Challenge - Day 30

A picture of your favorite quote.

This is SO IMPOSSIBLE. I love so many quotes, I can't choose just one.

This could very well be my #1. It means so so so much for me for reasons that no one (with the exception of Bianca) could ever understand. It's so so special to me.

Probably one of my favorite bible verses ever<3

Wish people would just live by this, it's so annoying when people are fake.

I love love love this<3

Fall 2011 Television Schedule

I saw this on Corie's and since I'm obsessed with TV, I thought I'd do one of my own :)

Monday

The Sing-Off : NBC.

Love, love, love this show. Such amazing talent!

Hart of Dixie : The CW.

Oh my gosh seriously just let's start with two words. RACHEL. BILSON. I have missed her so much since the O.C. and obviously I'd watch any series she is a part of but this also looks like a fabulous show!

Tuesday

Glee : FOX. 

Obviously one of my favorite shows in the entire world. Cannot contain my excitement that Idina will be back this season and Beth possibly brought into the story lines. 

The Biggest Loser : NBC

Jillian's absence is definitely felt, but I like the new trainers so far this season. Always will love this show.

Parenthood : NBC

Season 3 is already starting out super amazingly! Love the cast and story lines and comedy of this show.

Wednesday

Survivor South Pacific : CBS

Another wonderful season of Survivor .. hope this show never ends.

The X Factor : FOX

Didn't really plan on watching this show but caught the premiere and really liked it! I love Paula<3

Revenge : ABC

AAAAHHHH!!!!! This was my show I was most excited about and it lived up to my expectations! Emily VanCamp is super amazing in it and I've adored her forever! The rest of the cast is intriguing too, even though the plot hasn't developed too much yet! I can tell it's going to get better and better, though!

Thursday

Charlie's Angels : ABC

Am actually behind, need to watch the premiere online still but I bet it's gonna be good!