two updates

1) i have now officially been accepted to clemson as non-degree student! i'm refraining from posting any more collegiate logos and, at chris' request, not calling myself a tiger. i'm just excited to know that my summer plans are secure. one step closer to being license-eligible!

2) chris and i have decided on an apt in greenville - yay! after some deliberation over another apt complex and renting a house, we're going with this location because it gives us a little more space for a comparable price. my favorite feature is the double vanity in our bathroom - no more sharing the sink!

happy easter!

this year is our first easter together - and away from our families. we decided we wanted to spend this weekend here at our own church. also, my parents stay busy easter weekend due to preaching/piano playing commitments at each of their churches. it occurred to me in the middle of last week that if we wanted easter dinner we'd have to prepare it ourselves! fortunately our sunday school class decided to have a brunch. after chris & i filled up on pigs in a blanket, monkey bread, hash brown casserole, fresh fruit, sausage/egg casserole, biscuits, etc. we weren't even hungry for lunch! that was the perfect precursor to a restful afternoon nap.

one challenge i took from today's sermon is DO put all your eggs in one basket if that basket is God. i'm really going to miss our church and the friends we've made when we move. i trust that God has a purpose for us in greenville - church-wise, career-wise, otherwise... one of my professors has said that nothing truly worth doing in life comes without anxiety/struggles beforehand. i find that i rely more on God when i'm uncertain of and have little control over my circumstances - in other words during times of transition like the one we're beginning.

as far as seeing our families, we will be going to augusta next weekend for a visit - the first time since christmas!

places we like to eat: jalisco

it's been a few days since i last posted, and i really don't have anything super exciting to post about right now. so i figured i would continue with a series that i started a while back (and by series i mean posted once and hoped to post on the topic again). so, sit back relax and get ready for installment two of places we like to eat.

this time we're focusing on my favorite mexican restaurant: jalisco. it is the mexican i long for on friday nights and was a staple of our friends' diet at tech. it's a buckhead family owned place that has plaques next to each of the tables and booths in honor of the regulars.

restaurant: jalisco

food: the food is great! who knows whether this is "real" mexican, but we think it tastes good. they pretty much have the best cheese dip, and the salsa is always excellent. my favorite entree is the golden enchiladas - deep fried chicken enchiladas with lots of the shredded white cheese and sour cream on top. the double order of chimichangas is also a great date night share meal. last thing - great sweet tea.

service: as at most mexican restaurants, the service is pretty quality. chips and salsa on the table as soon as you get there, and katy and i can often eat here in under 45 minutes. you can interpret that however you want - either i eat fast or they have fast service. the hostess is always the same lady - i think she owns the place.

price: typical mexican prices, $7-15.

dress: casual

address: 2337 peachtree rd ne, atlanta, ga 30305

master (almost)

after many hours of research and writing, i have finally finished and presented my graduate thesis work...almost. my complete thesis title is: analysis of form errors in rings of non-uniform cross section due to workholding and machining loads (how's that for a mouthful?!?, and katy almost has it memorized!). i presented it to my committee this morning, and after a long presentation, a lot of questions, and a little deliberation by the committee, they told me they were happy to approve my thesis work. of course, their approval is dependent on me doing a little more work and making a few changes to my thesis. i expect no less from a bunch of phd's who would still like to remind me that it's their world and i'm just livin' in it.

all joking aside, they really did have some good suggestions about how to clarify some of my research and strengthen my conclusions. hopefully the work ahead won't take too long, and i can get my thesis completely behind me. i haven't posted in a while because i've been working on my thesis, and i probably won't post now for another couple weeks.

i'm still enjoying my job, and we're starting to get to crunch time re: looking for a new place to live. we've got several nice prospects in greenville, and we're definitely looking forward to the move. hopefully we'll have more on this front by the next time i post.

in other news, i ordered my season football tickets this week. i was pretty excited to order them for the first time (since i've always been a student before). i know that to some of you ladies it might feel like football season just ended, but i'm already ready for another exciting season. as espn would say, here's to football (esp. when you're no longer a student).

valenversary pics

in the interest of catching my pictures up to my posts, here are the flowers chris gave me and the valenversary cake i made him!

a surprise holiday!

this week has been particularly rough at my internship. i think it's a combination of me not getting enough sleep and some pretty manipulative/intrusive patients that have come in lately. i have often heard the advice from my professors "don't work harder than your clients," but i feel like lately i've been having to do just that. sometimes i have to act outside of my personality, being pushy in order to get information we need to help the patients. anyway, yesterday i was very much dreading my 3-11pm shift. for one, the people that come in for psychiatric emergencies after regular business hours are usually pretty severe cases. second, it was valentine's day! i'd been contemplating taking some time off, just to ensure that i'm taking care of myself and not becoming totally burned out physically, mentally, and emotionally.

so around 2pm my supervisor from the inpatient rotation called me to say that my supervisor on this ER rotation was sick and they were having trouble finding a replacement. they didn't feel it was fair to put the interns through that (working with someone not qualified to supervise), so she told me to take the night off. YAY! praise the Lord! this was seriously an answered prayer!

chris and i didn't have anything planned last night, because we were planning to celebrate "valenversary" tonight: monday was our 6 month wedding semi-anniversary and of course valentine's day last night. despite not having planned anything ahead, we had a pretty great night. we enjoyed a candlelit dinner of leftovers, chris brought me home 2 dozen beautiful red roses, and we snuggled watching father of the bride. i am so thankful for the surprise blessing!

just so everyone knows...

katy's original post below was a plain picture of the clemson logo. i resisted the urge to delete it entirely; instead i chose to put a big fat "no" sign through it. that's right: no clemson on this blog!

this is the only 1-a team we allow: