Some might say,

when the hood of one's car is smoking, it's never a good thing.

I seriously need to take my car in to be looked at. Poor little Passat is leaking and in need of a new leg (tire). From when we had all the snow, I should probably look into getting a new front panel for the under carriage of little old Passat too. Looks like Tuesday evening is going to fun-filled and expensive!

p.s. I watched the Alamo last night. It was ridiculously boring. And I'm talking about the one with Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob.

just a variable aid to reason, and not a moment too soon

The opening titles from my first week back from a journey to the backwoods of N. W. Arkansas have proven to be both peaceful and not as so. A day to day process will be as follows;

Day 1:

I decided to write in my notebook a small reflection of the day before my class started that I was going to use as my journal entry. Only I ran into a small problem;

"What a perfect time to reflect. After a week's retreat with sunny skies and warm winds, I am here to report that I am back in cold skies and cold winds central Ohio. School has started back this morning and I am to return to work promptly at noon. My sleepy eyes feel like they're going to close ever so slightly and my body is telling me in more ways than one that I have not had enough sleep in the past few days. Not to dilute the topic at hand, but have you ever realized how much fun it can be to "people watch"? How everyone gathers in the hall before class, standing within the comfortable inch or so from one another and not making eye contact. I am not one to blame either for I am sitting here writing, one in the same as everyone else, but it's all very interesting to see. There is the girl leaning on the window with blue jeans, a university jacket, and sensible walking shoes. There is the girl with the brown tweed trench, blue jeans and ugg boots; which by the way I'm surprised haven't gone away... "

And just as my thoughts kicked in, my pen ran out of ink, swallowing my morning's thoughts into an abyss of physiology and stats.

Days two and three kind of ran together like a big sleepy blur although one of those nights I caught my dog blowing bubbles in his water bowl. He was fishing for swollen kibble for a tasty snack.

bad all around

Ever have those days where you can't concentrate? Me sitting here feels like a giant waste of time. Two exams, one day, equals 'kill me now'. I think it's a conspiracy - against me. Ugh.

p.s. my pear tastes like a potatoe; this is going to be a bad day. I can feel it in my bones.

Socks are warm on cold Feet

In the midst of studying I have had an epiphany of what my lunch should taste like. I have gotten into the habit of packing my lunch since having a half an hour in between leaving work, finding any kind of parking on campus that may or may not be half a mile away, and getting to class on time; generally leaves me zero room for stopping to get lunch, and I would rather not spend the money if at all possible anyway. With that said, that leads me to where I am currently. I have some "rice cake snacks" that are caramel corn packed into my menagerie of deliciousness. On a conscious note, a few weeks ago I decided to make an effort to cut high fructose corn syrup out of my diet because well, it's in everything plus I enjoy the challenge of finding stuff to eat. Much to my dismay, Friday at the grocery when I happened upon these death cakes I was so taken by the '60 calories per serving' memo on the front of the bag that it left me no time to survey the ingredients before I picked it up with my little fingers and chucked it into the basket. Unluckily for me, last night I had discovered its secret of containing my dreaded enemy, HFCS. But since I did spend a good $2.85 on the damn bag, I swallowed my pride and decided I would eat them anyway. Considering the facts I am a poor college student about to get married has left me with a giant hole in my pocket. Little did I know, while sitting outside my classroom enjoying my yummy tuna fish with cucumber sandwich, pear slices, and "rice cake snacks" that they were very very heinous! They are not only disgusting but they are making my tongue tingle, and not in a "rice crispy" sort of way, rather a "chemical, this is not supposed to happen" sort of way. While I would like to have had previous knowledge I figured that I would do you the courtesy of cautioning you before you spend $3.00 in chump change on some grosse ass snacks. Although, if you are reading my disclaimer and disagree, so be it. I gave you fair warning!

For some other interesting, "what the 'eff are you doing?!" news; after the catastrophic 20" of snow we got over the past weekend, I decided to wear my really cute, non-winterized, leopard print flats. I officially hate myself since my feet are now cold, wet and pruned. (Ick!)

Come Friday I will be on a plane, on my way to Arkansas and hopefully warmer climate. Awoo-hoo... the count down begins!

dresses and more dresses

Saturday started off with a bang. I got some delicious lime sugar cookies from this cute little bakery in the German Village and headed onward to Dayton for my 3 day 4 night retreat of wedding planning. Once I arrived home, we headed to Cincinnati to put deposits on the bridesmaids dresses so they could all be ordered. I knew from the get go that it was going to take a little while for the dresses to come in, but it is going to take close to 4 months! Also in the process of ordering, I learned that my 13 year old cousin who is going to be a junior bridesmaid is bigger than me now. Talk about sad and depressing.

The place that we are getting the bridesmaid dresses from is the same place where I found my dress. Granted we bought my wedding dress from a private seller far cheaper than retail, and we have been in about 3 times to try it on. It is only the sample dress so it is much bigger than the one I have, and I was helped by the same individual -- Cynthia. She is an older lady, and from my understanding they get a commission from the dresses they sell. Needless to say, she really wants me to get this gown (the one I already have) and the past few times we have gone in, she has been pressuring us to put a deposit on the dress. In my opinion that is very rude. We have already stated to her that we are still determining on whether or not that is the dress I want, and she still keeps pushing. (my small disclaimer is that we never committed to buying the dress from her) She even went as far as to try to make me the decision maker of money, when really I have no say in it. Well, Saturday when we went in she totally saw us. It was definitely awkward considering that she was walking around in the bridesmaid section rather than in the bridal section where she belonged. Long story short, my sister had to smuggle me out, and I'm sure that it's not going to be last time I see that I woman.

One of my best friends Kera, just got engaged about 2 weeks ago, so we are starting to talk about her plans and the types of dresses that she wants to try on. Luckily for me, the only place that carried "The Cotton Bride" label is the same place where Cynthia is lurking. That will be interesting, and I'm sure that you can sense the sarcasm.

Either way, the planning must go on and I have finally settled on the type of flowers I want for center pieces at the reception (white orchids) and yesterday after the planning of the rehearsal dinner at Pacchias, (which was fabulous!) we found a florist. We had been traveling back and forth to a few others in town, but this particular one had just the right ambiance. So in the heat of things, everything seems to be coming together!