Thanksgiving Holiday

I am so very blessed and extremely greatful for all the amazing people and gifts I have in my life. It has been so wonderful to just have a week to relax and reenergize. I have definitely needed it after this semester.

Thanksgiving is such an awesome time to celebrate all that we have to be thankful for. My family is amazing and my friends are also incredibly supportive, thanks!! I am thankful for all the awesome food and great company I got this weekend!

I was able to go to Austin Monday afternoon and get some studying done before Casey got off work, then we went to watch his roommate play at Mother Egan's in Austin, so fun!! Tuesday Casey and I went to look at houses for him and his roommates to rent out and had a delicious dinner! I tried this white lasagna recipe (thanks Kim)! It was amazing!! And it made a ton of food. I took it to my family on Wednesday and we all had dinner and still managed to have some left over.

We had thanksgiving on Thursday, went shopping this morning (up at 3:30am!!) And it isn't over yet! One more thanksgiving tomorrow and maybe some dancing tomorrow night! I can't wait! Next week will be a wake up call though, back to the grind. Three more weeks of intensity then Christmas break! Not to mention I need to get back to the gym for sure after this craziness of intense eating!!

Wish me luck for the next few weeks!!! I hope everyone had a wonderfully relaxing thanksgiving!!

Sanitary Landfill

So this weekend I went with Casey to Ballinger, TX to have an early Thanksgiving with his parents!! Absolutely awesome. On the drive there (after my little nap in the back seat) I was looking out the window to see a sign: Sanitary Landfill. ???? How do you have a Sanitary Landfill? So, if you are ever headed to Ballinger, TX from Austin, you just might see that sign. I thought it was funny and wanted to share.

Anyway, last week was busy, studying, studying, and an anatomy test on Wednesday! Not so fun, but it is almost over for the semester, just 4 more weeks of actual class I believe. Yikes!! It has gone by so quickly.

Thursday I only had one class, which was amazing. I did some work for Splashway and managed to get a 6 mile run in!! I was so proud of myself, although my knees were not very happy with me after my run. I'm hoping that as I continue to train and get new shoes and stretch, etc, I will not be as sore after my long runs. After my run, i got myself ready to head out for the weekend.

So I headed to Austin on Friday after class and met up with my friend Jenna for dinner, amazing to catch up with her. Then Casey and I went to see "The Men Who Stare at Goats". It was so funny. We have not stopped quoting the movie.

I had a pretty awesome weekend. We had Thanksgiving lunch with his parents on Saturday. There was so much food I just did not know where to begin! Delicious!! Then we went for a walk so I don't have to feel too guilty for gorging myself all weekend and not really working out! That night we met up with some friends for dinner, got some Facebook Farmville pointers (it is absurd that we actually had a 20 minute conversation about Farmville strategy, we are such nerds :) After dinner Casey and I headed to San Angelo to do a little dancing and people watching at the Graham's Central Station. Good fun, but I'm so used to Austin's smoke-free environment that it is hard to get used to a bar that people can smoke in. We called it an early night and headed back to Ballinger to do a little star-gazing and then head to sleep. I woke up to a home cooked breakfast casserole and hash browns from scratch that his mom made. Once we loaded up leftovers at Casey's mother's insistance, we headed back to Austin. It was a great weekend and I was extremely exhausted, but loved every minute of the weekend!

I am ready to tackle this weeks since we really don't have any classes next week, which is amazing. I won't have that luxury for very long.

So... the Holiday rat race has begun!!! I love the holidays. I get to spend time with family and friends and celebrate all the amazing people and blessings that I have in my life!!

Well... I believe this is scattered enough for one post. Have an amazing week!!

Nicole

Five Miles!!!

So this was a pretty stressful week, but I have survived!! Monday I had to drive my mom's suburban to school and it was nerve racking because I am so used to my car and manuvering those corners in the parking garage was not easy. I survived and the car has no scratches on it!!

My parents were amazing and fixed my car and drove it all the way to Houston for me!! Apparently some creature crawled into my engine and chewed through a wire which is why my head light was not working and why my car wouldn't start. It is fixed now!!

I have been studying like crazy to prep for yet another Anatomy test! I feel pretty good about my studying thus far. The test is Wednesday, so wish me luck. We have a written exam and our lab practical, so... I'm hoping I prepped enough and learned the right material so that I do well on this test!!

On another note, I'm training for the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon in Dallas in March and this weekend, on Saturday, I successfully ran 5 miles without walking or stopping. I was so excited and extremely proud. Maybe I will actually be able to complete this half and run the entire thing!! Just got to stay motivated and buy some new running shoes so I don't mutilate my feet and knees in the training process.

Well, that's about it for this week, nothing overly exciting, just a taxing week.

Oh how life is funny!

I SURVIVED MIDTERMS!!! barely thought. I made it through all my tests, some more successfully than others which means that I will need to pick up the pace on the focusing and studying!

Since I worked hard and such to get through midterms, I decided that I would reward myself and head to Austin for the Halloween weekend. Yay!!!

Friday I drove in after class and hung out at Starbucks for a few hours to study then I went to Hula Hut with friends. It was so great to catch up with everyone!! I really miss my friends like crazy! I really miss Austin too!!

Saturday Casey and I got to hang out which was awesome. We headed down to San Marcos to meet up with friends and hang out. We watched UT win at Pluckers in San Marcos, so much fun!!! Then headed to Riley's in Hunter to meet up with friends. Then we headed to the square to meet up with more friends. I miss all the my friends and Austin. :( So, this weekend was bittersweet! I was upset that I had to leave, but school is great and I know that I am working towards something great.

So, among other things, Friday night we discovered that I had a headlight out, so we tried to change it (ok, Casey tried to change it) but the light wasn't working. The fuse was good, so we were stumped. Then, Sunday when I went to leave, my car wouldn't start! I was stranded in Austin, wondering how I was going to get back to Houston in time for class Monday morning. Luckily, I was with Casey and he worked on my car, tried to figure out what was wrong. Nothing seemed to be working :( He jumped my car and got it working, but I still have no idea what the problem is. According to Casey, my dad and Casey's dad, there is possibly a short somewhere that is slowly draining my battery. Not fun at all. So, instead of driving to Houston, I headed to Hallettsville so my dad can try to take my car to the dealership in the morning and I can get up at 4:30 am to drive to Houston in my mom's suburban. Yikes! Oh well, like my dad always says, if you didn't have anything, then it would never break and you'd be living under a bridge, so be thankful that you have things that break. I'm also thankful that I have such awesome peopel in my life who take care of me and spoil me rotten!!! Thanks! Let's hope that the rest of this week goes much better than today!