Why is it ... ?

that when you finally get some parts of life in order others fall apart? You wouldn't know it from the above pic, huh? This was taken at a end of the semester party at a professor's house with some of my favorite classmates. They really do make me happy.

I'm just about to wrap up my 2nd semester back in school, and I've absolutely loved it. It's not been an easy road, but loving the work and having fantastic classmates have made it much easier than it would have been otherwise. It's difficult for me to believe I'm now half way through, though. This year has completely flown by. And, it's scary to think about the prospect of finding a job in this economy when, despite my best efforts, I've been unable to secure an internship in the field for this summer.

Unfortunately, with success seems to have come some lack of success too. Things have gotten worse between my husband and me. In my efforts to focus on school, I've let most other things go, and while school is very important, it's not the only thing in my life. And I know I need to be able to balance, even if not entirely evenly, all aspects of my life. I don't fear losing him in the same way I did before because I know I can do things on my own. But, I don't want to see our marriage fall apart nonetheless. We have so much together, he's such a big part of my life, and my life just wouldn't be the same without him.

Yeah, I'm still here ... for the most part.

As if anyone's still out there reading b/c it's been soooo damned long since I've posted, but anyhoo, w/out writing a book, I'll try to update ya'll. Last semester did end up being a really good one, academically that is, a 4.08. And, over winter break, I went to Hawai'i w/ my husband which was just phenomenal. Since getting back, it's just been non-stop. I'm taking six classes (as opposed to just 4 last semester), and things don't seem to be going quite as well as they did last semester. Not horrible, mind you, but not up to my standards.

One thing I didn't do so well last semester (ok, I did horribly actually) was manage my money, and the result of that is my husband not being too happy with me. And, I totally don't blame him. He's doing so much for me by paying for my living expenses while I'm in school, and I was disrespectful to him by not doing my best to save as much as I could, or rather, not spend so much. I basically lived as though I was still working full time, so by the end of November, I had just about nothing left. I hate money.

Weight wise, I'm still at about the same weight, and I'm still not exercising regularly. I am walking all over the place, but it's not the same. I'm trying to do better by not buying anything sweet b/c that seemed to be a weakness. I'd figured out what my sugar limit was and would wait just enough time and then eat more. Not good! Although, I do still find myself craving sweet stuff at night. Grrr.

That's about it for now. I've got to finish a site engineering project. And, I'll try not to wait almost 3 months before posting again. ;)

Hey, ya'll

Yeah, I'm still alive; I've just been incredibly, incredibly busy. But, save one project, my first semester back is complete. The semester has gone quite well. I don't know for sure (as there's still a good number of projects/exams out there yet to be graded), but I think there's a good chance I'll have a 4.0 this semester. And, for one of my classes we had a design competition for a courtyard on campus, and out of the 45 students in the class, my design got the most votes! And, while it doesn't necessarily mean that my design will be used as the top 5 designs are being presented to the committee overseeing the project; the dean of the College, the director of the library, the professors, etc.; and one of the designs will be chosen to be built by the class next semester. Although I've heard that what they may do is take portions of each of the top designs and implement them instead of just one total design. Either way, if any of my design is built it would be so awesome! It's one thing to have your designs in your portfolio, but it's quite another to have a built design in your portfolio. And, I'm going to be working on getting an internship for next summer this spring, so ... anyways, it'd be awesome.

Weight wise I'm doing ok, not really good mind you, but ok. I found myself mindlessly munching a bit too much while either studying or working on my studio projects. And, despite attempts at reviving it, exercising still isn't a regular thing. I really, really have to get back to it though. I've gained about 10 pounds since my lowest weight last October. Horrible, no. My surgeon is actually happier w/ me at this weight, but I'm not. And, I think exercising regularly again will help the problem areas I'm not happy with.

I hope you all are doing well and that you have a wonderful Chanukah or Christmas and New Year!

Woah

Well, yesterday was my first final critique in Landscape Architecture. It went relatively well; although, I knew there were some problems with my board (the thing that contains all of your design elements for review) going into it, and they were the things that were pointed out. But, I also had some good things too. So, overall, I'm pleased. I've also been doing very well on all of my quizzes and projects, so I've been pleased with that too. It's been a ton of work; I was at the studio until 2:15am Friday morning and ended up only getting 3 1/2 hours of sleep. But, I'm totally loving it. Below is my first board minus personal information. I'll continue working on it to complete the things I just didn't have enough time for (like adding more color), but I hope you'll like it anyway!

One down, fifteen to go ...

this semester! The first week went well; I had two papers due and one quiz this week, a project and another quiz next week and then another quiz and my first studio design project due the following week. It's hectic to say the least! But, I'm totally loving it! Below is my space in the studio and my faboo MacBook Pro.