1 Down, 2 To Go!

I am officially finished with one of my online summer classes. It's supposed to end at the end of the month, but my teacher allows us to work ahead. After our family reunion in Tucson this past weekend, I didn't really feel like doing much housework on Monday. So, to keep myself from feeling guilty about being lazy, I did my online class. Pretty much all of it, on Monday. Yesterday I finished up one thing I had left to do, and now I'm officially done!

Now I have more time to focus on my biology class, which is actually turning out to be kind of fun. This last week we talked about Chemistry and Physics stuff, which was nice since I took both of those in high school. Next week its back to Biology stuff, with Enzymes and Photosynthesis. I'm actually learning quite a bit since I never took Bio in high school. Just for fun, here's a picture of what I did this week:

This is what happens when Glucose and Fructose combine: Sucrose! Also known as sugar. Yum.

Right now I'm at work. My first appointment of the day just cancelled, so I have a half hour to myself. Should be pretty slow since it's a Friday. Who wants to get tutoring on a Friday during the summer? No one!

Well, there really isn't too much going on in my life right now. I made a skirt and matching purse last week, but I keep forgetting to take pictures. I'll try to remember to do that tonight. Monday I'm planning on my first attempt at making bread, hoping that will go well. Other than that, I mostly just feel like everyone I know is pregnant. It seems like every week or two I find out about another pregnant lady! I just have to keep reminding myself that my time will come, and that we made the right decision waiting to finish school before having kids. I really am glad that I'll be able to graduate. I think education is incredibly important, and this will show my future children just how much I value it.

Straight A's?!

For several weeks, I've been waiting on one grade to post. All of my other grades for the Spring semester posted ages ago, but apparently one teacher got sick, so he was unable to submit the grades by the due date. But this weekend, they finally posted! I was expecting a B or B+ (it was mainly just a class to get another 3 credits, I wasn't actually invested in it, so I slacked off a little. Or a lot. Whatever.), and was very surprised to see it post as an A! That means that out of my 5 classes, I got 3 A's and 2 A+'s, my best semester at ASU ever (better even than my first semester, where I got 4 A's and 1 A+)! I was quite pleased, and am still a little surprised!

Justin's internship has been going very well. He loves Avnet, and is very excited to continue working there over the summer. Last week was mainly training, he didn't even meet his managers at all last week. He met a lot of high up executives though, including the guy who will become the CEO in a month! The group of interns also did some community service on Thursday, and I was allowed to tag along. We went to St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix and worked on an assembly line for a few hours. It was fun, and really awesome to see how much Avnet cares about the community. They have five core values that all of their employees try to remember: Integrity, team work, customer service, accountability, and innovation. I think it's great that integrity and accountability (incidentally also two of the young women's values) are among their top five! 

This past weekend, my family had a Bag-Of-Crap-Opening Party! My dad won a Bag of Crap on Woot.com (it's a big deal), so we had a party to open it. We started at my house for appetizers:

I made these cute little ladybug crackers. They were REALLY good when I first made them, but the crackers got soggy after sitting in the fridge for a little while, so I was a big disappointed with how they turned out in the end. I also wish I could have found rounder tomatoes. Oh well, they were still pretty cute. 

After appetizers, we went to my parents' house for swimming, bbq, and fireworks! We also opened the box while there, and it was full of some pretty random stuff, including pet combs, a snuggie, and a batman helicopter. 

Monday, in addition to being Memorial Day, was mine and Justin's two year anniversary. I can't believe it's been two years! Sometimes it feels like we've been married forever, other times like it's hardly been any time at all. It's been a fantastic two years though, and I'm so glad to be blessed with Justin as a husband. He really takes care of me and is there for me when I need it, and I love doing things for him! It's so fun to pack him a lunch and hide some little surprise in there for him (today it was a yummy chocolate!). He truly is a good man, and I'm really proud of all he is trying to achieve. 

Today, summer ends for me. I start two online classes today, and they'll definitely keep me busy! One of them is five weeks, and should be fairly easy. The other is a science class, it's eight weeks, and will be quite a bit of work. At least I won't get bored! 

That's all my updates for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! 

Blueberry Pancakes!

I couldn't think of a clever title for today's blog post.

Today is Justin's first day at his internship! He is now officially a Supply Chain Analyst with Avnet. He was very excited to start, we even bought him some new dress clothes so he can look nice and sharp :) Here's where the title comes in - I asked him what he wanted for breakfast on his first day, and that was his request. I was expecting something like monkey bread, or something that's less common than pancakes (we had pancakes about a week ago), but that's what the man asked for.

With today being his first day at work, it is also my first day at home. Alone. All day. Without a car. Good thing I'm not too dependent on interactions with other humans. Give me a good book and I'm happy :) Although I am glad that I only have one week before my summer school starts and the writing center opens again.

What am I going to do with my first full day to myself? Hold on to your hats here, this is big...


Clean! That's right, clean. I already tackled the bedroom, and I didn't just put away clothes and make the bed. I cleaned off the dresser, I organized my nightstand, I even put all of my necklaces back into my jewelry box. Okay, so it's still not really that big of a deal, but when you're used to spending all your free time doing homework, it's stuff that doesn't happen very often.

I was going to tell you about all the other things I'll be cleaning today, but I was getting bored writing it, so I can't imagine you'd enjoy reading it. Instead, I'll share some pictures of desserts I plan to make at some point over summer:

Chocolate Pâté with Crème Chaud-Froid

This recipe intrigues me. Usually pâté is gross meat product, but this is apparently like a chocolate mousse that you can slice. 

Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Cheesecake

I've got quite a few cheesecakes I want to make (it IS my favorite dessert after all!), and this one definitely makes the list! Chocolate cake, layers of Cheesecake, peanut butter... how can you go wrong? 

Chocolate Mint Cheesecake

Another classic combination: chocolate and mint. In Cheesecake form! 

Chocolate Toffee Cheesecake

I warned you about the cheesecake. :) 

Eggplant Parmesan

They can't all be sweets. I've wanted to try my hand at eggplant parmesan for quite some time, and eggplant was on sale this week! I've got one sitting in my fridge waiting for me :)

Homemade Bread

Over spring break I really wanted to try making homemade bread, but just didn't get around to it. On my last post, Ruth suggested making bread, and it reminded me that I've wanted to for quite some time! 

Six-Layer Cake

Mine will be chocolate though. I've never made a successful layer cake (probably due to the fact that I've only tried once, and I was like, 14), so I want to try my hand at it again. And as long as I'm doing layers, why stop at two or three? 

Lasagna

Lasagna just tastes WAY better homemade, but I've never had the courage to try it. I'll probably make a few phone calls to my mother for help with this one. Her lasagna is SUPER yummy! 

Well, summer's just beginning, and as you can see I've got lots of new things I want to try. I'll keep you posted on how these turn out as I make them.

By the way, if you want to check out a dessert I've already made during my break, stop on by my crafting blog: www.creatingis.blogspot.com. Here's a little foreshadowing of what you'll find there: 

Thanks for stopping by! 

School's Out for the Summer!

Unfortunately, school's not out for ever. Not yet. Actually for me, it's not even out for the summer. It's out for three weeks of the summer, then back on.

But I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking about the fact that I am done with all my finals! Justin finished his last final Tuesday. So... we're done! WAHOO!!!

And even though I'll have three classes over summer, I will only be working a few hours, and frankly, I'll have a lot of free time. I've got quite a few items on my "to do" list, but I'm still worried about being bored. Any suggestions?

Here are my plans so far:
-Finish my work-in-progress and make a few revisions
-Work on sewing (I have the fabric and pattern already for a shirt and a dress)
-Organize my home library (I'd say three book cases is enough to call it a library)
-Organize my office
-Read all of Terry Pratchett's works (by the way Ruth, the book I referenced in my last post is one of his)
-Do some crafting with my sister

So, clearly I need some more things to do to occupy my time. I've considered trying to volunteer somewhere, but the hospitals I've looked into want a year-long commitment from you, and I know I won't have time once the fall semester starts up. So, in lieu of that, I'm thinking of trying to find at least one opportunity a week to make someone's day, whether that's randomly stopping by with a plate of cookies, or mowing the lawn for someone who's sick. We'll see how that turns out.

But seriously, I want your ideas. How can I keep myself from getting stir crazy when I'm locked up in the house all day every day, with Justin working full time? Also, if you give me an idea that I end up liking enough to use, you might receive some form of baked good. Just sayin'. (Because frankly, I have time to make offers like that!)

Oh yeah, this week I'll also possibly be buying a laptop. Mine has been braking where the screen meets the base, and now it won't close at all (which kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop). On top of that, it has randomly decided to not turn on. Bad plan. So, I'm taking it to a computer shop thing today, and depending on what they tell me, I'll either have them fix it, or buy a new one. I just hope if it's out of commission that I'll be able to get my files off of it! (I'm thinking about that work-in-progress novel that I've got almost 100 pages of)

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I look forward to your suggestions!

Breaking the Trend

For most of this year (maybe all, I don't know for sure and don't feel like double checking), I've had a pattern of blogging once a month. Well, I'm sitting at work, bored, so I'm going to break that trend and blog for the second time in April. Egats!
Why, you may ask, is a college student bored at work with only a week until finals? Because I may as well be done. I practically am. The last week has been killer, with tons of big projects all due in the same three days. But, that's over now, I'm finished with my last big paper, and it's on to easy street! All I have left is a small paper (2-3 pages; piece of cake!), a super small homework assignment, a presentation that I've already prepared for, and two finals, one of which is online, and the other is in a class that I've gotten over 100% on the first two tests. So basically, I'm no longer stressed. It's a wonderful feeling.
To celebrate my stress-free life, tonight I'm going to the library! There's a book I've been wanting to read ever since I read the first 46 pages on google books (blasted limited preview!), and tonight, I'll get it! I recently found out that Mesa, unlike Tempe, is not stupid, and will let anyone in Maricopa County get a library card (I still have bitter feelings toward the Tempe Public Library), so tonight I'll get a card and enjoy. It's great because the Mesa Public Library is all of 5 minutes from my house, but the Gilbert library is like 15-20, so even though I technically live in Gilbert, it's much more convenient to go to Mesa. Plus it's on the way from school to home.
Anyway, not really much to blog about seeing as how my life has been consumed with school for the past... semester. :) I'll probably blog quite a bit more over summer when I'm bored out of my mind!
Thanks for reading!

A is for Avnet!

Just wanted to let you guys know, we've chosen Avnet for Justin's summer internship. There are so many pluses that come with this decision:
-We won't have to move!
-We will have family close by, five to seven minutes away at any moment
-I can work at the Writing Center over summer. Not for a lot of hours, but it's definite work!
-Gas is way more affordable here than in CA
-Avnet is a company that Justin can see himself working at for many, many years, and it's a great opportunity to get his foot in the door for a long-term position
-Avnet often employs some of their interns that they want to offer a job after graduation during the school year. Justin would be able to keep working with them, so he wouldn't have to go back to his work with Guthrie, which quite often leaves his back in less-than-ideal shape. It also means we'd get their benefits a lot sooner, since you only have to work 20 hours there to qualify.
-Avnet might offer Justin employment after Graduation if they like him!
-We will be able to go on the Gibson family reunion in Tucson during the summer. Not so exciting about visiting Tucson, but very excited about spending time with family
-We will be able to attend various wedding receptions of some of my friends
-We will be able to attend the Drum and Bugle Corp performance at Dobson High that will be featuring The Academy (which Justin marched with for 4 years), Santa Clara Vanguard (my personal favorite, they've got some mad dance skills in their guard), among others

As you can see, there are lots of reasons we chose Avnet over Kohl's. Kohl's also had a list of positives and negatives (Avnet had negatives too, but not many), and it was a hard decision, but overall we just felt that Avnet is the more responsible decision, and will be very beneficial in preparing us for the future.

Interviews, interviews, and MORE interviews!

So, after LOTS and LOTS of interviews (seriously, last week between the two of us we had FOUR interviews! In ONE week!), we have some answers!
Justin has been looking for an internship for the summer. He's also in his very infrequent spare time been looking for a job better than his current one, that might give him more than six hours a week. No luck on that front.
However! On the internship front... He interviewed with Kohl's in Chicago (they flew him out there, paid for the hotel and everything) last Thursday and Friday. He interviewed with Avnet on Wednesday. Avnet is a local company, located right by the airport, and they make semiconductors and a whole bunch of other stuff. Kohl's is a clothing store, for those who don't know.
He got an offer from BOTH! He got two offers, and now we just have to decide! If we take Kohl's, we'd be living in San Bernardino (about an hour from Disneyland) for the summer. Avnet, obviously, would be here. Kohl's could also be a few other places, but it would be up to us, and that's the closest one. We're not sure which one we'll pick yet, we'll get more specific details early next week. Then we can make our decision!
I also interviewed last week for a campus position. I will be a student facilitator for incoming freshmen in the fall. What does that mean? Basically, I get to teach a class of freshmen who are all English majors about all sorts of English-major stuff. Like the different resources available, different options upon graduation, etc. I'm really excited for it, mostly just because I think it will be fun :) It will also look really great on a resume if I decide to apply for grad school down the road.
So, things have been very exciting in the Clement house.
School has been busy as ever, Justin and I both have something major every week from here on out, and several weeks with multiple major projects/tests/papers/etc. I'm looking forward to the summer, even though it means more school for me. I'm taking three classes over the summer through MCC so that I can graduate in  December with Justin. Biology 100, Psychology of Culture, and Food Nutrition. I needed a science, a culture, and then just three other random credits. It should be easy, but it just means more work. That's life, I suppose.
Other than that, we're mainly just trying to keep our heads above water. I've been crafting with Ashley more, which is a great stress reliever, and a great chance to spend more time with my sister. No time for any hobbies besides that.
Well, that about sums it up. Thanks for reading!