Richie's Graduation Weekend

Everyone got here Friday night for graduation weekend and since it was late we had an easy dinner of Tacos/Nachos and then went out to Sweet Frog for dessert. Saturday morning we all got up really early and got ready for the ceremony, which was really nice, and then it was picture time!
 

 Andrew, Carman, Brian, Lauren, and Richie

 Brian and Richie

 All done!

 Richie and his parents

 Richie and his sister and his brother in law

 Brad

 The whole family

 Dave and Lauren

 Carman and Wes

 Richie with two of his professors, Dr. Schimmel and Dr. Jacobs

Richie with Dr. Daniels

After graduation we went back home to eat homemade stromboli which Richie's mom brought for lunch and then we all napped/relaxed for a little since it was such an early morning. After our mini break from the day we went for a walk along the river and through the arboretum and then it was time to get ready to go out and celebrate.

We went to the Thai restaurant downtown for dinner and then to the fondue factory for dessert. It was the perfect combination and so good.

Brad, Richie, and I stayed up a little after everyone else went to bed and hung out and before I knew it, it was Sunday. We got up, ate breakfast, got Richie and everyone packed up, loaded the cars, and then it was time for Richie and I to say goodbye. 

I have been dreading this day, and now it is almost over. Even though I know this year will be hard, I am trying to think positively and remember all of the many reasons for why we made this decision. It actually wasn't even a hard decision to make, because it makes so much sense and will be a lot better for us in the long run, but it will definitely still suck. This upcoming year will bring lots of challenges for me, like cooking, but I am trying to think of it as a learning experience and about how excited Richie and I will be to see each other on the weekends and breaks. 

I debated about whether or not I should blog about this at all or not, but decided to for several reasons.  It will become more and more obvious (or more and more confusing) as I continue to blog and talk about getting to see Richie or doing things individually without him and also because I follow a couple blogs who are so open and honest about all parts of their lives, good and bad, while up until now, I have only blogged about happy, big events in my life. I'm fine with that, and love looking back on all of the memories that I have saved on here, but maybe this will be the start of a change in my blog. Maybe, maybe not.

Tomorrow is my first day of summer school, our mini break flew by and I need to adjust back into being in school mode, but what will really get me through this week is that I get to go home on Thursday for the long weekend to celebrate my birthday, memorial day, and see my family, Richie's family, all of our friends, and of course, Richie!

Have a great week everyone! 

Happy MAY!

Happy MAY everyone! May is my favorite month of the year, not just because of my birthday, although that does have a lot to do with it, but it also has the best weather, school ends (at least for me), and it even sounds fun. May!

Monday Richie and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary and August will be 7 years together total. So crazy. These past two years have flown by, people do not lie. Our anniversary was pretty low key becasue he had to work all day and I had class until 7:00pm so we just went to dinner and then took dessert home. The weather cooperated so we got to eat outside which was nice and at dinner we looked at our goals we wrote down for this past year on our 1 year anniversary and then wrote our new goals for this upcoming year. That was a lot of fun and we both were pretty successful and the ones we did not complete got transfered to next year. Eventually I am going to make a scrapbook of all of them.

 The jar with our yearly goals



Yesterday, I had my last class for the semester which completed my first year of grad school! I can't believe I am a year into my program and after six weeks of summer school, I will be starting Practicum in the fall. I am really excited about my placement at an elementary school and cannot wait to start working with real clients!

Some of our upcoming plans:

• Richie's last day of internship is tomorrow, he has a final exam on Tuesday, and then he graduates on May 18th!
• I am going home this weekend to finally meet baby Leila and be reunited with Ashley, Kristen, and Myan! Even though I will be seeing them all separately, I do not remember the last time I saw all three of my best friends in one weekend!
• I have to work the first part of next week and then we are headed to Deep Creek, Maryland for a long weekend with our friends. I know I have talked about it before, but I am seriously obsessed with this place and would move there if I could.
• Richie is moving out after graduation to go home and work for the summer and my friend Kirsten from the program is moving in. We have 6 weeks of summer school and since she is an RA in the dorms she needed a place to stay and with our extra room and Richie being gone, it was a win win for both of us!
• Finally, I plan on going home for Memorial day weekend for the long weekend and mine and my dad's birthday!

Also, today is Myan's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYAN!

 This was actually taken at Ashley's 21st birthday. I can't believe we are all turning 26 this year!

Our song: Forever Young by Rod Stewart. I love you Myan!

These are just our plans for May, we are booked every weekend, but we will be making up for that in June by focusing on my summer school classes, Richie hopefully working, and not traveling.

Once school ends at the end of June I have a bachelorette party back in Deep Creek(!!), we will be celebrating the fourth of July housesitting for a house with a pool, and then we will have to travel back to West Virginia for a wedding. But check back for those posts and an update on our weekend in Deep Creek, Richie's graduation, and my birthday!

Lauren's Bridal Shower!

Saturday was Lauren's bridal shower. Her family and friends traveled from all over WV, PA, and even from GA to be there for her and it was a really nice party. Her maid of honor, Jessica, who had to plan everything from New York, did such an amazing job of planning everything and making sure everyone had fun. I am glad that we were all able to come together and celebrate with Lauren and that she (hopefully) had a really good time! Here are the pictures:

 Not even all of her gifts!

 Cute prizes and favors

 Lauren and her grandma

 All of the toilet paper brides

 Lauren and her momma

 Telling a story about Dave, such a cute picture!

 Carman!

 Lauren and her bouquet for the rehearsal

Her pretty cake

Congratulations Lauren! I love you and cannot wait for your wedding day!

Chi Sigma Iota (CSI)

Thursday night was Richie and all of the other graduating second years last night serving dinner at Rosenbaum Family House for CSI. We had a cookout and served cheeseburgers, hotdogs, macaroni salad, chips, and lemonade and kool aid.

This isn't a picture from that night, but this is all of us (or most of us) at one of the nights we served dinner at Rosenbaum

Friday we all went to a suicide workshop by two nationally recognized speakers, Dr. Paul Granello and Dr. Darcy Granello, that was sponsored by CSI on Clinical skills in Suicide: Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention. They gave a really great presentation and gave us a lot of great information and resources for the future.

Friday night we had our CSI Initiation Event and Dinner where all of the new officers and members were inducted for the 2013-2014 school year and all of the graduating second years completed their final act as the 2012-2013 CSI officers.

 Rob and I, aka the new President and Vice President!

 His presidential pose

 The graduating second years!

The newly inducted CSI officers and members!

Update: Life and Gluten Free

Spring break was busy, fun, and over way too fast. I cannot believe how fast it went, and this past week has flown by! It's scary but before I know it Richie will be graduating and the semester will be over. Speaking of Richie graduating, we had elections this past week to replace Richie and all of the graduating second years and I won Vice President of our program's honor society!

This next week is going to be one of the busiest weeks of the semester for me. On top of class, school work, work, and all of the other everyday/around the house/miscellanious things I have to do, I also have group, a doctor's appointment, an interview, observation hours in a school, am attending a training session and a talk on mindfullness and stress, am particpating in incoming graduate student interviews for next year's applicants into the program, and then have to get ready and go home for Myan's bridal shower and bachelorette party next weekend! You should see my planner, I honestly do not think I could fit anything else in.

Anyway, guess who is NOT Gluten Free? ME! The only downside to this is that I still do not know what is causing my issues. I might try a dairy free diet to test out that option, and if that still doesn't give me any answers then I could always try an elimination diet. But, right now with everything so crazy since it is the end of the semester, this is all being put on hold and I'll consider revisiting it over the summer. I'll keep you all updated, because I know how much you care, but it might be awhile so don't hold your breath!

Spring Break!

It is finally spring break! Even though I have one more day of work left, I am done with classes until after break and besides 2-3 small things, I have all of my school work done, too!

I really need this break away from Morgantown and school and cannot wait to see our family and friends and RELAX! I plan on:

• catching up on my shows
• watching movies
• working out
• spending quality time with all of our loved ones
• finally going to the doctor to get tested about being gluten free
• doing some necessary grooming:
• haircut
• wax
• manicure
• pedicure
• tan
• etcetera, since I have not been keeping up with all of that...yikes! Also, I am planning on doing all of those activities with my mom to get in some quality mother daughter time because it has been too long since we have ditched the boys and done something just us and I cannot wait!

I am also hoping Richie will feel like cooking a lot because we have been so busy lately and I miss homemade, not frozen, meals!

Additionally, we will be spending 3 days with my brothers while my parents are away celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary and I am so excited for 3 days straight with my brothers!

One Month Gluten Free

Today is ONE MONTH GLUTEN FREE! I am so excited and proud of myself. There have been low moments, specifically related to eating out, but I have remained strong and have successfully completed thirty days. Next goal: Easter.

My last post I said that I would give up all three of those for lent in addition to the two weeks for my assignment, but since then I have decided to only continue being gluten free through lent and I am now allowed to add salt to my food and drink anything other than just water. That being said, I am much better about my salt use and I have continued to drink more water. It's still a work in progress and I could drink more water and use less salt, but I am happy about the steps I have made and will just continue to work on it.

Anyway, I have noticed changes since going gluten free which has been really nice, however, I am going to make an appointment to get tested to see if I officially should be gluten free or not. If anything, I might just be sensitive to gluten products and need to remove them from my diet, but maybe it is more serious and I need to be more conscious of cross contamination and my food even being around wheat products.

So, I just wanted to update all of you and once I go to the doctor and get the diagnosis or not, I will let you all know then as well!