Okay, so this time I had a legitimate excuse for not posting sooner. I've been sick! It was probably one of the nastiest colds I've ever had. It kept me in bed for 3 days and I missed 4 days of school (what?!). Anyway, all better now! Onward to the post!
Wedding updates:
Not much has happened since last time. We are waiting to see the pictures from our engagement shoot which was on 2/7. Miss Amanda from Whitney Lee photography is taking care of us, and she's a lot of fun. Her comments during the shoot were definitely keeping me laughing! For anyone in the Austin area looking for a wedding or family photographer, these gals have some talent!
http://whitneyleephotography.com/
I will be going wedding dress shopping on Saturday with my mom, sister and soon-to-be mother in law. I can't wait! I've been anxiously looking at dresses online for weeks now. Pinterest has been consuming much of my wedding-trolling time. I've gotten some great inspiration from that site!
I feel like everything is getting more real now. Like the wedding is actually going to happen! Not that I didn't feel that way before, but I guess it just seems within reach. I'm excited!
PS- go to our wedding website!
http://www.weddingwire.com/whitneyhandjasonm
School updates:
Yes, still waiting on proposal approval. Yesterday my advisor told me that he had a student last year who didn't receive proposal approval until 3 days before the finals thesis was due. Talk about last minute! I guess it's good that I've started looking at the data! I'm freaking out a little bit because I feel like I won't be able to finish everything in time. My advisor doesn't seem concerned. He says he'll tell me when it's time to worry. I just feel like I can't keep up because I've had so much grading to do lately for my TA position. Midterms are upon us! A small set back in my potential road to PhD-land.. it seems like I needed to send a transcript from a community college back in Houston. I took one online summer course from them, but they need my transcript (even though it's already listed on my UT transcript as a transfer course). Since I forgot about it the first go-round, they sent my application back to me. Because in their delay in processing it and informing me about the missing transcript, I missed the deadline for scholarships. Thankfully the final deadline to apply isn't until March 1, but it would have been nice to get those scholarships. Hopefully the school gets the application in time. I've applied for about 30 jobs in the meantime.
Life updates:
Aside from being sick recently and planning a wedding not too much is going on in the life department. I'm still trying to get a bit more in shape before the wedding. I've been doing pretty well with my eating and I try to walk everyday. It's not much, and I'd love to be able to do more, but for where I am in life right now it doesn't seem plausible. Yeah, that's probably just an excuse. Since I started my crusade for weight loss back in October (I was put on a new migraine medicine that caused me to gain like 10 pounds in a month, yikes!), I've lost a grand total of 8 pounds. It's gone up and down some, but that's the net effect. To get to my goal for the wedding, I need to lose another 7. I think I mentioned this last time, but I've been trying a lot more new recipes lately; mostly those I've found on Pinterest. I will do my best to keep things fresh in the kitchen! We're getting really excited for our cruise. It's only a little more than 2 weeks away! Yippee!
Alright. That's all for now!
-Whitney
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Comfort in consistency...
I am very determined to maintain this blog. I'm trying to view it as an assignment for school. Seems I get things better accomplished when they have a grade attached to them ;-)
Wedding updates:
We officially booked our honeymoon and we will be going to Antigua. The resort looks absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to spend a week there! Plus all that yummy food! Our engagement picture session was postponed due to weather. It's kind of unfortunate how we can go nearly 100 days during the summer without rain, and then Austin decides to rain on the day of our photo shoot. I can't complain too much though, because we really do need the rain. The picture session will now be tomorrow. With any luck I can get the "save the dates" sent out ASAP! I spend half my life now on Pinterest looking for creative wedding ideas that won't break the bank. Aside from that, not too much more going on in wedding-land. Stay tuned!
School updates:
STILL waiting on approval for my thesis proposal. I started looking at some of the data to get a head start. My initial feedback was not too promising. It showed a complete opposite result from what I wanted. Hopefully I can write a good enough explanation that it won't matter that my results are kooky. It's my goal to have everything analyzed and written up by spring break. This will give my committee plenty of time to review everything so I can turn it in by D-Day. I applied for a few more jobs just in case I don't get into the PhD program. It amazes me how many job openings they have at the State Health Department. However, despite having a master's (nearly) I'm not eligible for too many of them. Let's just keep our fingers crossed for the PhD. Between being a TA and working on my thesis, school keeps me busy. Luckily, since I also work at the school, I'm able get things done while at work. That leaves my nights free to catch up on DVR and spending time with Jason and the puppies.
Life updates:
This weekend was full of excitement. Ana came down from Wisconsin! I hadn't seen her since October so it was lovely to have her for a visit. We had a bachelorette party for Michelle, another engaged friend. It was so nice to have a night with just the ladies! I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy those nights. Since a good portion of my friends no longer live here, it's nice to be reminded how important friendship is to me. Yesterday Ana and I had a nice lunch at Plucker's and Jason and I ended the night watching the Superbowl followed by some Criminal Minds. Lately I've been trying lots of new recipes that I've found on Pinterest. I am definitely trying to keep our palates interested! Other than the exciting weekend, not much more going on in the life department. We are creatures of habit, so much of our day to day activities are the same.
Well, this is a shorter post, but there isn't much to report.
Until next time,
Whitney
Wedding updates:
We officially booked our honeymoon and we will be going to Antigua. The resort looks absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to spend a week there! Plus all that yummy food! Our engagement picture session was postponed due to weather. It's kind of unfortunate how we can go nearly 100 days during the summer without rain, and then Austin decides to rain on the day of our photo shoot. I can't complain too much though, because we really do need the rain. The picture session will now be tomorrow. With any luck I can get the "save the dates" sent out ASAP! I spend half my life now on Pinterest looking for creative wedding ideas that won't break the bank. Aside from that, not too much more going on in wedding-land. Stay tuned!
School updates:
STILL waiting on approval for my thesis proposal. I started looking at some of the data to get a head start. My initial feedback was not too promising. It showed a complete opposite result from what I wanted. Hopefully I can write a good enough explanation that it won't matter that my results are kooky. It's my goal to have everything analyzed and written up by spring break. This will give my committee plenty of time to review everything so I can turn it in by D-Day. I applied for a few more jobs just in case I don't get into the PhD program. It amazes me how many job openings they have at the State Health Department. However, despite having a master's (nearly) I'm not eligible for too many of them. Let's just keep our fingers crossed for the PhD. Between being a TA and working on my thesis, school keeps me busy. Luckily, since I also work at the school, I'm able get things done while at work. That leaves my nights free to catch up on DVR and spending time with Jason and the puppies.
Life updates:
This weekend was full of excitement. Ana came down from Wisconsin! I hadn't seen her since October so it was lovely to have her for a visit. We had a bachelorette party for Michelle, another engaged friend. It was so nice to have a night with just the ladies! I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy those nights. Since a good portion of my friends no longer live here, it's nice to be reminded how important friendship is to me. Yesterday Ana and I had a nice lunch at Plucker's and Jason and I ended the night watching the Superbowl followed by some Criminal Minds. Lately I've been trying lots of new recipes that I've found on Pinterest. I am definitely trying to keep our palates interested! Other than the exciting weekend, not much more going on in the life department. We are creatures of habit, so much of our day to day activities are the same.
Well, this is a shorter post, but there isn't much to report.
Until next time,
Whitney
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
It's about the marriage...
Okay, fine, so I guess it's time for another post. Honestly the lack of posting has more to do with the lack of new developments as opposed to me just being lazy. Maybe.
Wedding developments:
Deposits have been paid for the photographer and videographer. We completed our registries this past weekend at Williams-Sonoma and Target. That was an adventure! I had a ton of fun but my feet were so sore! Thankfully I have a wonderful fiance who's willing to rub my feet. *Swoon*. Ahem. Anyway, check them out if you have some time! We are now in the process of narrowing down the honeymoon options. It's looking like we're going to Antigua. We found a pretty good deal at the Sandals there. Their resort was voted "most romantic place to spend your honeymoon". That sounds okay to me. Plus, a week in paradise? I think so.
Expenses are still keeping me a bit on edge. It's amazing to me how much the little things can really pile up. Sometimes I even forget about the every day expenses like rent, bills and groceries. I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it in the end. Now matter how much we spend, my prize will be standing at the end of the aisle. :-)
We also have our engagement photo session this weekend. I'm kind of excited about this. Also, I have no idea what we're wearing, so that should be an adventure!
School developments:
I am still waiting for approval on the proposal for my thesis. Last week I also got shouldered with some more paper work to fill out, but that's done. As soon as I get approval from the Institutional Review Board (for those that don't know, they approve any research involving human subjects to make sure it's safe and that no one gets injured) I should be good to go. I received the data last week and have begun the basic analysis on it. At least I'm moving forward instead of being stagnant! Classes are going alright, and as always I enjoy being a TA. Most of my school efforts are focused on the thesis, though. My application for the PhD program has been submitted and now I'm just waiting. More waiting. I wish I wasn't so impatient!
Life developments:
Our cruise is coming up at the beginning of March. I am so excited for this! Jason has never been on a cruise. I have been on several with my family and I'm looking forward to introducing Jason to the magical world of cruising. We've also started discussing where we plan to live after getting married. It's looking like we're staying in Austin (hooray!), but we're thinking about moving to a house. It would be nice to have a yard for the puppies and more space for us. The only down side (aside from the money issue naturally) is that our lease is up about 2 weeks before the wedding. Yes, let's please add a move on top of all of the craziness that will be that time of our lives!
I was reminded of something this past weekend that I'd like to share. On Fridays, Jason gets home from work a little earlier than other nights. This is nice because he can walk the dogs with me (I usually take them in the afternoon when I get home since it's usually dark by the time he does). I realized on this walk that even though we live together, it's still important for us to put our relationship first and continuously work to improve it. Because of that I suggested a date night for us. Before the wedding madness we had a date night every two weeks. Since before Christmas we've fallen out of the habit because we've been so busy. I hope to restart our old tradition. I think it's important to remember the reason for all of this wedding craziness. As my step-dad so perfectly put it "At the end of the day it's about the marriage, not the wedding".
I think that's a good note to end on :-)
Until next time,
-Whitney
Wedding developments:
Deposits have been paid for the photographer and videographer. We completed our registries this past weekend at Williams-Sonoma and Target. That was an adventure! I had a ton of fun but my feet were so sore! Thankfully I have a wonderful fiance who's willing to rub my feet. *Swoon*. Ahem. Anyway, check them out if you have some time! We are now in the process of narrowing down the honeymoon options. It's looking like we're going to Antigua. We found a pretty good deal at the Sandals there. Their resort was voted "most romantic place to spend your honeymoon". That sounds okay to me. Plus, a week in paradise? I think so.
Expenses are still keeping me a bit on edge. It's amazing to me how much the little things can really pile up. Sometimes I even forget about the every day expenses like rent, bills and groceries. I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it in the end. Now matter how much we spend, my prize will be standing at the end of the aisle. :-)
We also have our engagement photo session this weekend. I'm kind of excited about this. Also, I have no idea what we're wearing, so that should be an adventure!
School developments:
I am still waiting for approval on the proposal for my thesis. Last week I also got shouldered with some more paper work to fill out, but that's done. As soon as I get approval from the Institutional Review Board (for those that don't know, they approve any research involving human subjects to make sure it's safe and that no one gets injured) I should be good to go. I received the data last week and have begun the basic analysis on it. At least I'm moving forward instead of being stagnant! Classes are going alright, and as always I enjoy being a TA. Most of my school efforts are focused on the thesis, though. My application for the PhD program has been submitted and now I'm just waiting. More waiting. I wish I wasn't so impatient!
Life developments:
Our cruise is coming up at the beginning of March. I am so excited for this! Jason has never been on a cruise. I have been on several with my family and I'm looking forward to introducing Jason to the magical world of cruising. We've also started discussing where we plan to live after getting married. It's looking like we're staying in Austin (hooray!), but we're thinking about moving to a house. It would be nice to have a yard for the puppies and more space for us. The only down side (aside from the money issue naturally) is that our lease is up about 2 weeks before the wedding. Yes, let's please add a move on top of all of the craziness that will be that time of our lives!
I was reminded of something this past weekend that I'd like to share. On Fridays, Jason gets home from work a little earlier than other nights. This is nice because he can walk the dogs with me (I usually take them in the afternoon when I get home since it's usually dark by the time he does). I realized on this walk that even though we live together, it's still important for us to put our relationship first and continuously work to improve it. Because of that I suggested a date night for us. Before the wedding madness we had a date night every two weeks. Since before Christmas we've fallen out of the habit because we've been so busy. I hope to restart our old tradition. I think it's important to remember the reason for all of this wedding craziness. As my step-dad so perfectly put it "At the end of the day it's about the marriage, not the wedding".
I think that's a good note to end on :-)
Until next time,
-Whitney
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Being a Bride.. and a Grad student
I've never really been the blogging type. Sure, I enjoy reading things that others post on occasion, but never thought I'd do one myself. Wrong. Naturally it was suggested to me by a certain graduate advisor who will remain nameless that I begin blogging; both as a means of, shall we say, blowing off steam (apparently I'm a perfectionist.. who knew?), and as a way of improving my not-so-formal writing style that's sometimes required for those in public health. But wait, you say, I thought scientists were supposed to use fancy language and write articles no one understands? All too true, dear reader. However, in public health sometimes you have to actually communicate with... get ready for it... the public. Most of "the public" don't speak scientist. In fact, most of the time, neither do I.
So, since I'm such a great and obedient student, I've decided to detail this particular chapter in my life as I prepare to marry a wonderful man and to write a not too wonderful thesis. I can't promise how often I will update this, but I'll do my very best to keep your interest.
Bless you if you're still with me. And get comfortable.
Since anyone who's reading this knows all the basics about me, I'll skip over the boring parts and get right into wedding planning.
Jason and I got engaged Christmas day. It was, up to this point, one of the happiest moments of my life. Immediately I immersed myself in being a wedding planner. Of course, this was aided by the fact that not two days after our engagement people were already banging down the door to know "when the wedding would be." Not that I minded of course :-)
When we returned from all of our Christmas travels, my first goal was finding a venue. I figured if I did that, the rest would sort of fall into place.
I must have visited a hundred website trying to find the best place (read, price) to get married. All we knew was that we wanted an Austin wedding sometime in the summer. We had made a list of invites and had a number. Okay, step one, check. Then the emails started. Apparently the moment you ask places for a quote they assume you're ready to book and send you contracts and meeting attempts. It was a bit much to be completely honest. As much as I hate being mean, I had to start sending emails to places that were out of our price range and telling them so. If you're not explicit, they won't get it. You basically have to say "no thank you, I can't afford it." Rough. After countless emails, I had locked on two places which seemed reasonable and made arrangements to see both. Once I saw the Marriott in Round Rock I was sold. Voila, we have our venue and date, July 29th. Food is taken care of, wedding location and reception location taken care of, and they even throw in a honeymoon suite for us. Rock on.
My next concern was our budget. Despite the generosity of both of our families, we're a proud couple and want to pay for many things on our own. We drew up an estimated budget of how much we'd spend in the next few months and I about had a heart attack. Weddings are expensive. And don't tell me to elope. No bride wants to hear that when she's knee deep in wedding plans. We'll manage, but we may be eating Raman the first few months of our marriage :-)
I next found our photographer and videographer. They're both reasonably priced and have high quality work. Both important things. The videographer, Jennifer and I went to high school together. It will be so nice to have a familiar face in the slew of vendors. She and her husband Cody do great work. Check them out at www.weddingfanatics.com.
Thankfully Jennifer, my photographer and wedding planner at the Marriott all understand that this is a stressful time for any woman. Their emails have all been pleasant, and they've answered all my pesky questions without complaints. At least being a bride-to-be is a get out of jail free card to be a little irritating.
So, all in all, I feel like I have accomplished a lot in the (exactly!) 4 weeks that we've been engaged. Maybe I'm being naive, but I hope not!
Now let's move on to my graduate studies.
Classes started a few weeks back. I'm taking one class, working as a TA and working on my thesis. Okay, not really working on my thesis. For those who do not know, I received the okay from my advisor on my thesis proposal. It now hangs in limbo waiting for approval from the Associate Dean of Research before I can go on. Well, I could run some data in the mean time, but planning a wedding is so much more enjoyable than writing about child health. April 9th is D-Day in that my thesis has to be completely submitted and finished by then. You'd think that this was a piece of cake considering I only have two sections left to write. But not really. The approval process is long and bumpy. Two people have to approve every aspect of each part before anything is sent anywhere. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Wow, much more wedding stuff than school stuff. Or maybe wedding stuff is just more fun to write about. Yeah, we'll go with that.
All right. Stop reading. Enjoy what's left of your weekend. I'll try posting again soon once I have something worth reading!
-Whitney
So, since I'm such a great and obedient student, I've decided to detail this particular chapter in my life as I prepare to marry a wonderful man and to write a not too wonderful thesis. I can't promise how often I will update this, but I'll do my very best to keep your interest.
Bless you if you're still with me. And get comfortable.
Since anyone who's reading this knows all the basics about me, I'll skip over the boring parts and get right into wedding planning.
Jason and I got engaged Christmas day. It was, up to this point, one of the happiest moments of my life. Immediately I immersed myself in being a wedding planner. Of course, this was aided by the fact that not two days after our engagement people were already banging down the door to know "when the wedding would be." Not that I minded of course :-)
When we returned from all of our Christmas travels, my first goal was finding a venue. I figured if I did that, the rest would sort of fall into place.
I must have visited a hundred website trying to find the best place (read, price) to get married. All we knew was that we wanted an Austin wedding sometime in the summer. We had made a list of invites and had a number. Okay, step one, check. Then the emails started. Apparently the moment you ask places for a quote they assume you're ready to book and send you contracts and meeting attempts. It was a bit much to be completely honest. As much as I hate being mean, I had to start sending emails to places that were out of our price range and telling them so. If you're not explicit, they won't get it. You basically have to say "no thank you, I can't afford it." Rough. After countless emails, I had locked on two places which seemed reasonable and made arrangements to see both. Once I saw the Marriott in Round Rock I was sold. Voila, we have our venue and date, July 29th. Food is taken care of, wedding location and reception location taken care of, and they even throw in a honeymoon suite for us. Rock on.
My next concern was our budget. Despite the generosity of both of our families, we're a proud couple and want to pay for many things on our own. We drew up an estimated budget of how much we'd spend in the next few months and I about had a heart attack. Weddings are expensive. And don't tell me to elope. No bride wants to hear that when she's knee deep in wedding plans. We'll manage, but we may be eating Raman the first few months of our marriage :-)
I next found our photographer and videographer. They're both reasonably priced and have high quality work. Both important things. The videographer, Jennifer and I went to high school together. It will be so nice to have a familiar face in the slew of vendors. She and her husband Cody do great work. Check them out at www.weddingfanatics.com.
Thankfully Jennifer, my photographer and wedding planner at the Marriott all understand that this is a stressful time for any woman. Their emails have all been pleasant, and they've answered all my pesky questions without complaints. At least being a bride-to-be is a get out of jail free card to be a little irritating.
So, all in all, I feel like I have accomplished a lot in the (exactly!) 4 weeks that we've been engaged. Maybe I'm being naive, but I hope not!
Now let's move on to my graduate studies.
Classes started a few weeks back. I'm taking one class, working as a TA and working on my thesis. Okay, not really working on my thesis. For those who do not know, I received the okay from my advisor on my thesis proposal. It now hangs in limbo waiting for approval from the Associate Dean of Research before I can go on. Well, I could run some data in the mean time, but planning a wedding is so much more enjoyable than writing about child health. April 9th is D-Day in that my thesis has to be completely submitted and finished by then. You'd think that this was a piece of cake considering I only have two sections left to write. But not really. The approval process is long and bumpy. Two people have to approve every aspect of each part before anything is sent anywhere. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Wow, much more wedding stuff than school stuff. Or maybe wedding stuff is just more fun to write about. Yeah, we'll go with that.
All right. Stop reading. Enjoy what's left of your weekend. I'll try posting again soon once I have something worth reading!
-Whitney
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