Julia sent me a little "inspiration" this morning to help me get started...
Ok... So I've had a little bit of a rough start in the let's-get-some-serious-work-done department. I think that sometimes with grad school, you get stuck with only very long term goals and it makes the light at the end of the tunnel seem incredibly dim. And did I mention the tunnel is 8,000 miles long? Julia sent me a little "inspiration" this morning to help me get started... Maybe I just need to get my feet wet and then it will spiral from there? You know... like opening a box of Girl Scout cookies! You can't ever read just one journal article! (Yeah... because you can't even read ONE.... you die of bordom halfway through the abstract...)
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Sometimes, sisters are separated at birth.... Other times, best friends are separated by grad school... Tomato, tomäto! The point is! We were FAR overdue for this little reunion! No matter how brief it may have been... Tara and I haven't seen each other in roughly two and a half years. Her boyfriend is moving to Boston and they happened to be passing through Troy this afternoon on their drive and we were able to meet up for a little brunch! (And of course, cupcakes because let's face it... it wouldn't be "us" if there wasn't dessert...)
The best part? I had NO idea she was coming until I received a text message - "Sorry for the late notice: any chance you could get lunch in Troy in two hours?" UM, YES!!!!!!!! Now, let's analyze this... for those of you who have met my dear friend, you understand that MY response was completely appropriate. Notice the all capital letters, excessive exclamation marks... all indicating an overwhelming level of excitement. Let's continue this shall we? Me: Are you here??? Her: Not quite yet Hmm... why am I the only one overly pumped about this? Me: I would love to see you!!! Her: Sounds good. When we get in to Troy we'll call. What the hell???? Did she mellow out on me? Grow up and mature overnight?? Abandon the ridiculousness that we once were??? So I'm waiting at the restaurant to meet them, a little nervous (I can't lie...) and then all of a sudden a BURST of energy spastically leap and bound through the intersection toward me. It was same old Tara... :) The Case of the Excitement-less Texts? She was the one driving and was relaying messages to Leon to send to me. Ahhhhhhhhhh..... WHEW! Looks like a lot hasn't changed over the last six years. :) We aren't always the best about staying in touch but I think we both know it doesn't matter - we just work. Unfortunately, they had to get back on the road so we had to say goodbye. And later, when I got home, I received another text message: Her: It's me back texting!!!!! :) I'm soooooooo glad we could see you!!!!! Love you!!!!!!!!! That's my girl... :) I was never really big on resolutions, but I gave it a shot last year so I might as well give it ago this year, too. 2012 had some definite ups and downs but overall I am grateful for everything. I'm ready, 2013 - let's do this!
1. Be Happy. I know it sounds really straight-forward but frankly, it just needed to be said. This is really the big one. Any others I come up with are really just subcategories to this. I think I've gotten into a habit of fretting and worrying just a little too much. Trying to please everyone else a little more than myself. And sacrificing my own happiness (and sometimes my sanity) in the end. I think I lost a little bit of myself along the way (hey, it happens!) so now I'm ready to get back to me - no regrets, no hesitation, just my own little adventure. :) 2. Add to English. Italian has always been on my to do list. And I learned a little French in middle school and high school. I obviously don't have enough to do so I figured I'd add to it all by working on learning both (??) Italian and French this year. Krista found a website called Duolingo that I think will help nicely! I'm going to give it a shot anyway. A little bit each day, I think. 3. Selfless Acts of Kindness. I'm not entirely sure what this means exactly... I think it's open for interpretation as needed. But I think that at least once a week, I'd like to do something to make someone else happy. Someone who really needs it. 4. Work Hard, Play Hard. Yeah... I procrastinate. Let's try and have solid hours of work during the day so that at night I can just relax and not worry about it. And, GO! 5. Actually Play Hard. Time to get out of the apartment, away from Troy, outside of my comfort zone. I want to travel a little, visit friends, try new things... 6. Start a Thesis. Ok - so the qualifier has been assigned, I have until the end of January to finish it. So I guess Part A of this resolution is to pass the qualifier. From there, it's to actually start my thesis research. I want to get out of here by May 2014. (Is December 2013 possible?? That would be amazing....) Written: January 3, 2013 - I'm trying to catch up on a few things I let slip by... Ever since I took Trick to the horse rescue for the first time, he has been a little bit in love with them... I knew he wanted to ride one more than anything so I decided to work a little Christmas magic :) Krista and I picked him up in the afternoon - he had absolutely no clue what we were doing. We just told him to dress warm and be ready for anything! :) When we pulled into the driveway of the barn, I think he was in shock but Krista and I were loving every second of it! At first we thought he was going to ride Dustin so we brought him into be groomed, but he ended up switching to Brody at the last minute! (Brody is BEAUTIFUL...) He rode Western and did really well! He walked, trotted, worked on weaving in and out of some orange cones, and then even had a chance to ride bare back a little! (P.S. I'm sorry in advance for the quality of some of these photos... I didn't have the greatest camera with me and the lighting was super weird...) Here's a picture of Trick grooming Dustin! (Dustin has super light blue eyes... I promise he's not scared/angry/creepy!!) We got Brody all saddled up and Krista helped Trick get him into the arena! Brody was wearing his show tack so he was all blinged out for Trick! (Whooooo felt the need to ride in sunglasses?) :) Kelli was giving Trick the rundown of how this whole "getting on" thing was going to work... And he's up and ready to go!! Bareback cool down! Krista seems to have been a little skeptical of what Brody was thinking at this point... but he's pretty so we forgive him for being a little frisky :) After he finished riding, Trick wanted to spend a little time visiting Tiny... I think he was Trick's favorite :) (And as you can see, is definitely not very tiny!! And also didn't really want to stand still for a photo op..) (Tiny was apparently also feeling playful...)
Written: January 3, 2013 - I'm trying to catch up on a few things I let slip by... Long story short? I felt like cooking a big dinner for everyone... :) Krista and I made a completely homemade (right down to the pie and cranberry sauce!) traditional Thanksgiving dinner for everyone. It was absolutely wonderful :) I'm so glad we were able to get this little group together!!! After dinner? A good few hours of Just Dance, of course!
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Alison "Ali" RoseCurrently working on a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and all of the side projects that help get me through it! Categories
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My Life is an Adventure... by Alison Rose is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. |