Dear Future Self: WE did it!

Dear Future Self,

I want you to remember today. This moment. This last night. You have been working so hard to get this degree finished, and you are here. You have made it. You just have one presentation left, and you have your Master's degree...GO YOU!

Future Self, I want you to remember what this feels like. The excitement, the anticipation, the I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-I-MADE-IT feeling. It has been a hard couple years. There has been less sleep, more stress, lots of reading and writing, too much snacking (which in turn lead to gaining the grad school 15...yeah don't be fooled...it is not limited to college freshmen...UNFORTUNATELY!), and not enough exercising. But, it is worth it! You made it. You got through working full time, starting to date your now-husband, got married, had a mini-moon (our short honeymoon because of being in the middle of the semester), and many fun events having to be turned down because I had homework to do. No more turning down working out, or going out with friends, or watching a moving with the hubs. I get to be a normal adult! Well, let's be honest. Normal will never be a word that accurately describes me, but I can at least attempt to be normal:)

I can't believe I made it and I now need to do a round of thanks...picture it like at the grammy's or another award show, except I am sitting at home, in PJ's and the audience I currently have is my dog watching to see if I drop a morsel of a snack to him. But I really am grateful for all the support my friends and family have given me during this time. SO here it goes:

First.....KGK...well, you rock! You met me just a couple weeks before I started this graduate school journey and you have been with me through it all. You have only known me to be a grad student. I am excited to show you who I am without homework and other school stuff to do. I can't wait to have more time for us.  I am glad I can now pull my own weight when it comes to normal life stuff like cleaning and errands.  During this whole process, you would walk the dog, do errands or chores, or just sit there and tell me I could do it when I needed to hear it most. You are the most supportive person I have ever met, and I am so grateful for you. :)

And to my friends...thank you for not giving up on me with all my "I can't hang out" or cutting fun short because I had to do more homework. Thanks for still being my friend even though I was so busy and I didn't give you a lot of my time. Well now, I have more time! Let's celebrate! :) Beer? wings? let's make it happen.

And to my family, y'all have been awesome. Listening to my rants and raves, and ups and downs about my various classes, scheduling issues, and whatever else it was at the time. You listened. I talked. and talked. But you still listened. You had no idea what I was talking about, but you still listened. So thank you for that! :)

So future self, as life gets busy with other things, because we know it will, just remember this moment just before the finish. Remember how it feels to have 2+ years of late evenings, lots of papers and group projects, and all that hard work paying off. And remember that you didn't do it without the support of your family and friends. They made it happen as much as you did sitting doing those assignments....

So basically....

CONGRATS Y'ALL. We made it!

:)

I'm off to do my last presentation of grad school...here goes nothing EVERYTHING! :)

~AMK

Heartstrings

We humans are quite amazing. Very complex, yet very simple at the same time.  We are so uniquely woven into these intellectual beings that has reason, emotion, spirituality, humor...

I always find it interesting how we all can view situations, a conversation, or even a show on tv as so very different from the others point of view. I never understood how people could cry at a commercial or laugh at certain types of jokes. We are all so very unique in this way, and it is quite amazing, really. 

Well, for those of you that know me, or have been getting to know me through this blog, I am quirky and loud. I love to make people laugh and yes, many times it is at my own expense. :)  I am not a big crier. There are certain things (and certain times of the month, eh hem) that of course tug at my heartstrings more than others. I am not very sappy, but I do tear up at a good movie sometimes. But I am not one to just cry throughout my day over various things. I have known some that are like this, and I just don't understand. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate it, because I most certainly do, but my tear ducks just aren't connected in as many ways as others I guess. But there is one thing that always gets me...those stinkin' commercials about the puppy dogs that need homes, or the facebook posts about a dog that was left stranded and was found without food, water or shelter and needs a home. BREAK.MY.PUPPY-LOVIN.HEART.

So stop it. I mean, don't stop, but stop it. All those posts, those stories and commercials about these dogs that need a good home...don't stop because we definitely need to get the word out that these animals are being mistreated and they need help, but stop doing this to ME! KGK has to turn any commercial that has a sad puppy to another channel because I will FREAK the HECK OUT. We can't go into pet stores, and I have had to stop looking at the local rescue organizations for animals because I want to adopt every single one of them. I mean, come on, why on earth would anyone want to leave this poor little guy behind..?????

He is one of the best things in the world that has come into my life.

Love this little guy!


~AMK

Outdoor Adventures

This past weekend, my friend Heidi and I took the dogs to the bark park. Heidi, who does not have any dogs of her own, is a stand-in doggy parent to several different friends' dogs. One of which is Buddy too. And every dog, when her name is spoken or they see her, they immediately FREAK OUT because they know a hike or a walk or a fun adventure is about to happen.

So this past weekend, we loaded up our friends' 2 beagles and Buddy, and we set out for some outdoor fun, before it gets too cold, and we have to wait to do this until springtime.

Photo courtesy of Heidi! A great shot!

There was a WHOLE lot of doggy handshakes (aka. butt sniffing)...

...and lots of happy tails and smiles...

...one of which decided to crash while in the car on the ride home...

Needless to say, the pups had a BLAST!

...those were some sleepy pups after their outdoor adventures!

Until the next adventure,

~AMK

Dear Future Self: The Home Stretch

Dear Future Self,

So we are on the home stretch of wedding planning, KGK and I! We are putting all the final touches to all things pre-wedding and pre-family arriving into town! :) We are so unbelievably excited!! :)

almost there!

So here's a few things that I want to remember when I look back on the last days/week before our wedding:

***

~I am nervous. Not about getting hitched, but about all the details. We are planners so that helps, but man! It still makes ya nervous. :)

~I have been doing really well with working out and plan to keep that up for the last little while before the wedding. I really enjoy water aerobics, cycling classes, core/abs classes and walking Buddy. I know he likes it when I decide to stay home and walk him instead of hitting the gym!

~I'm getting all my homework done and some from the week of and after the wedding. Staying on top of homework is one thing, but getting ahead...UGH! But I am doing it! Trying to stay positive! :)

~Have a few last minute things to buy, but other than that, all my accessories and dress stuff is taken care of for the most part. PHEW! That's always a big relief!

~Gettin' my tan on! Trying to have a little color so I'm not the stark white chick in the stark white dress;) So just getting a little rays to give me a good ole fashion glow.

~One of my good friends gets married just before us!! We are very excited to see them get married too! :)

~In honor of cooler temps and fall, I have a crock pot full of homemade chili waiting for us for dinner tonight. YUM!

***

So there you have it. Just a few things going on the last stretch before the BIG DAY!  Buddy, you are gonna officially have a Daddy! ;)

Buddy lovin' a car ride!

Until next time...

~AMK

Sun-vantage & Puppy-Love

I have been trying to soak up every minute of these cooler temperatures the past week or so...aka it hasn't been in the upper 90's! We have actually had the lower 80's some days so that has been so nice!

Homeworking Outside

Because school is in session, I have tried to bring my readings outside onto the patio. Always more enjoyable reading textbooks outside rather than at your desk.

 

I also had the chance this past weekend to bring Buddy to the Bark Park with his girlfriend Abby (yes, they are in love). We also met up with another friend and her dog, Sadie.

Buddy checking out his ladies;)  I think he likes what he sees :)

The 3 had SO MUCH FUN! The chased each other, wrestled, and barked a whole lot. They definitely got a lot of energy out...Buddy has been sleeping for DAYS because of it. That makes this Momma happy:)

That's a happy pup right there!

Thanks Heidi for the great shot of the love-pups on the ride back home:) Tired puppies!

I also have been working at keeping our plants alive. And when I say working, I mean, it is a J-O-B! Whoever said that if you can keep a plant alive, then you can keep a pet alive had a SERIOUS green thumb because plants die so easily. At least a dog will "tell" you when he is ready to eat!

colorful water can

But, I have been faithfully watering our flowers on our patio. We transplanted them into larger pots, and  they are doing much better now. So we have some happy flowers to go with our little sunflower bird house (that has had a hummingbird scoping it out in the past couple weeks)!

The sunflower bird house we got from the garden center at our local farmer's market.

I hope the little guy makes that his permanent residence because they are such interesting creatures.

Until next time, enjoy some sunshine! :)

~AMK