What an interesting story....

We spoke about this topic in our Diagnosis class last week. It's such an interesting topic, I'd suggest that all women read it. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/magazine/29sex-t.html

Some of our wedding photos!

Happy Holidays, from the To-Do List Queen :)

Honestly? I can’t believe that there are only 28 days left in 2009!!! It’s really hard for me to remember all that happened this year – but I do know that it felt like it took forever to get through, but flew by as well. Let’s see, I began my counseling program – and a brand new career – I took 3 classes in the spring, went to Florida on vacation, had my 1 year dating anniversary, I took 4 classes in the summer, went on vacation to Canada, got engaged, went to some great friend’s weddings, had my bachelorette party in Port Clinton, went to our bridal shower, I took 3 classes in the fall, got married, went on our honeymoon in Cabo, and here I am… 7 weeks later finishing up my fall semester, thinking about the 130 thank you notes we’ve been procrastinating, and packing up the clutter for our NYE party!

You know, you can say in the least that this year was packed solid! But I’ve also grown so much this year, it’s crazy to believe that I started the year not knowing at all where I was going to be professionally – I just knew things weren’t working the way that they were. I am now 100% certain that I’ve found my calling in therapy – and am so excited about applying for a doctoral program (even though it means I have to take the GRE, no excuses)… I’ve made tons of new, amazing friends in through the program as well. I’m incredibly excited about all the possibilities this career has in store for me.

Personally, I met the man of my dreams, and it has been the easiest transition from boyfriend, to fiancé, to husband within 12 months. He’s always been my best friend, and always will be, and that’s why I was the ‘calmest bride’ my friends and family had ever seen! I’m so excited to start our lives together and all that has in store for us – buying a house, starting our family, etc. Also, my family is all healthy and happy, I’ve acquired another family as well – who have been very welcoming. I had the opportunity to travel to two countries (both I’ve been to multiple times, but exciting none-the-less), and got to see all of our friends/family at our wedding. Our puppy is finally feeling better, and he’s the best dog I’ve ever had, super cuddly and excited! Also, I’ve become reacquainted with friends from the past (via Facebook), and I’m happy to be able to catch up on their lives and graces they’ve had since we’ve last spoke.

I’m just truly grateful and blessed to have had this past year to open my eyes to all that is possible in this world. Next year I plan on volunteering through John Carroll more, locally and internationally (if possible). I want to give back to the planet and people less fortunate as I am which will fulfill a spiritual part of me that I was not able to carry out as much as I’d like this past year. I also want to get myself physically, nutritionally, and mentally back on track in 2010! I need a new routine in order to get through this cold and somewhat dark Ohio winter! And I want to cook and entertain for friends and family like I used to… way back when.

My only other dream is to capture all the new moments through photography, a passion I once had that was reignited in me once all my memories over the past seven years were taken away from me through my damaged hard drive… that’s grief that I don’t think I’ll ever get over!!! I hope to utilize this blog in 2010 to show all the goals I’m setting for myself come to fruition. I WANT TO THANK ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY for staying with me through my ups and downs (wedding planning) in 2009, and I plan to make it up to you as much as possible in these upcoming months.

Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!!

External Hard Drive Fiasco

So I just picked up my hard drive, that I dropped just over a month ago by accident, from Best Buy's Geek Squad. They said, even after I approved a $1,700 quote that they were "certain would be an excellent recovery", that my media disk was damaged and they couldn't recover anything. Really? Nothing?

So here I am re-grieving the loss of my music, photos, and school work. It's so hard to deal with! It's amazing.... like where do you begin to document all the work you've cherished enough to place it all on an external hard drive for safety? So I write a book about it? Or do I not give up hope yet and just wait for the day that they can recover data from a damaged media disk?

Stupid technology!

So, I'm Married!

Soooooo…. I now a married woman :) And to answer your question, no, it doesn't feel any different from before! I've been married for almost 2 1/2 weeks now - the honeymoon was amazing - but now I'm back into the swing of things, which means too much catch up on school work, writing thank you notes, and thinking once again about my future. This week has been kinda hard for me though. I asked my friends, “Can you absolutely love your personal life and absolutely hate everything else at the same time? Why do some people have to ruin your life because they hate their own and they just can? Can't everything just be as easy as they are at home?” Their responses - kill people with kindness and realize that not everyone has to like you…. I get to go home to people who love me and that’s all that matters. I hate that they’re true, so I’m trying to heed their advice.

What I’ve noticed about myself, now that the stress of wedding planning has subsided, is that I’m still interested in the same things that have always interested me – music, dancing, photography, cooking/entertaining, exercising, drawing, etc. When I take time to practice these things, I’m in a completely different state of mind. But I wonder why I can never take time to do these things? I hate that my life seems to take over and all I find myself having time to do is work, go to school, sleep, eat poorly, and clean. So my new thing is to FIND TIME FOR MYSELF, and enjoy my life while I’m living it.

That’s my new thing…. Let’s see how I’m going to accomplish balancing my life with these activities. See I KNOW, with ABSOLUTE certainty, that if I could find a way to make this my job - music, dancing, photography, cooking/entertaining, exercising, drawing, etc. – then I would be the happiest person in the world. That’s why I’m pushing myself for a career in therapy… because I can practice whole wellness Mind (therapy), Body (Dancing/Art/Cooking), and Spirit (Exercise/Music). I plan on opening my own business that will have these things available to my clients and me :)

So my current state of mind – overwhelmed but hopeful! I can’t wait until I have some time to go out and take photos of the fall leaves – they make me so happy!!!

16 Days To Go!!!! (Are you serious?)

So, I've checked my friendly TheKnot.com page and it stated that I'm getting married in 16 days. 16 days!?!?! Where the hell did all that time go? That's what I want to know! I just found out today that I have an ear infection, and I have a quiz tonight on the diagnostic criteria for Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type, have a couple dozen chapters to read over the weekend to be ahead of my homework before the wedding... so that I can truly enjoy the corona's & fattening food on the sunny beach in Mexico!!! Then a bunch more wedding stuff to do.

Also, Rick & I are on a mad search for a house to rent, or another apartment to move to just after the wedding, so if you know of a place that rents for under $1000 a month but has a LARGE amount of space, & is available to move into at the end of November, please let us know! We're in the process of boxing up miscellaneous things and placing them in storage so it's one less thing to worry about after the wedding.

So let's just wrap up this past month - pulled my back for a week, then my new wii broke but my fiance fixed it, started packing to move but stopped (paying for storage that's never been used), broke my external hard drive (awaiting cost to repair), get an ear infection, haven't worked out in two weeks (although I want to lose 5 lbs in now 16 days) and haven't been eating well, and I have homework out the ying yang. How is it that I'm supposed to get excited about getting married when I have all of this looming over my head!?!?!

Life sucks at the moment.... remaining positive so that positive things start coming my way!!!!

Keeping the faith,
Bridget

Just Another Week

So two days ago I was going to mine and my fiance's dance lesson, and when I got out of the card my external hard drive fell out of my car onto the cement. There wasn't any real physical damage to it, outside of a corner being scrapped, but it wasn't working. I took it to Staples and they said to "just trying tapping in on the counter when I got home" - which I did, and it didn't work. Then I took it to the geek squad who ran a bunch of tests on it and said that it "didn't look good" and it had to be sent out to data recovery which could cost upwards of $2000 to fix. Generally, it would be around $1300. I can't believe that people can charge that much because people really want there data. Ridiculous.

That being said, with my wedding in three weeks I clearly don't have $1300 just lying around, but I had it sent off anyways because I had seven years of photographs, all of my music, every school project I ever did and saved to file, and all my resumes on it. It's such a loss!!! I hope that it'll run closer to $700 to fix. :(

Then I went to dance class that night and she told me that I had bad posture, which I've been trying to fix but it's actually really uncomfortable for me to walk the way she stated that I should. Hopefully my shoulders will start loosening up soon because I'm not sure I can keep this up for much longer! Our dance lesson went well though and I'm excited to try again next week to see what the finished product will look like!

Let's see, what else.... I haven't lost any weight since I last blogged, but I'm getting serious now because I really have no excuse since the wedding is getting so close. Outside of that, I'm mentally exhausted. Let me just say that I never want to get married again!!!!!

Finally,

My Current Mental State

So today we are 25 days from the wedding. Holy crap! That’s less than a month, which is totally insane to me because I feel like I have so much left to do… including lose 5 ½ pounds! Planning a wedding is so incredibly stressful on its own, let alone while taking 9 credit hours and working full-time, and trying to maintain a clean house!

There are so many other things going through my mind right now too, like where my fiancé and I are going to live in less than 3 months… and when we’re going to find time to pack up our place. How I’m going to get all of this homework done in advance so that I can enjoy my wedding and honeymoon. When I’m going to find time to eat right and exercise each day so that I can lose the 5 ½ pounds that I want to in time for the wedding/honeymoon?

I also am stressed out that I’ve chosen the wrong career again… hopefully not. But working towards gaining a PhD in this career is stressful, because you only have two years to prep yourself and they want you to have one published report in an academic journal, a couple presentations at seminars, and have taken the GRE & GRE special topic in that time period! Yeah, like that’s not a lot to add to someone’s plate who is also concerned about keeping a high GPA too.

It feels as though I have too many balls in the air and I’m a planner. I want to know what will happen over the next two years, and I have NO idea… and that scares the hell out of me! I’m just trying to keep the faith and know whatever happens is supposed to happen, but I’m still scared. I hate trusting the unknown. My only goal for now is to enjoy the wedding and take it all in…. and get my homework done… and lose 5 ½ pounds :) Wish me luck!