(no subject)
It's been so long since I've posted on here that I don't really know where to begin. Upon re-reading my most recent entry, the last the world of LJ heard from me was at the very beginning of my Master's program. I'm now just over 1/4 of the way through with the program, and luckily the first quarter is the hardest one. I managed to do fairly well in the first quarter- 1 A, 3 A-, and 2 B+. I'm quite glad to be rid of my assigned team from the first quarter... although it got better toward the end, there was a lot of argument over the fact that I have to commute an hour everyday & therefore can't meet as late as they could. It really got out of hand at some points. My team for the 2nd quarter has been really great so far... and I now only have one class a day, and 2 night classes a week (sometimes... they were canceled this week). So the living is pretty easy right now, at least academically. I registered for my spring semester courses on Monday, which unfortunately involves evening class every day (still no class on Fridays, of course)... meaning Shane & I won't see each other as much. But that's okay, we've dealt with a lot worse.
Living with Shane is still great, and now that we're used to each other it is effortless. I think we're the closest now that we've ever been, and I now have absolutely no doubts about marrying him. As I mentioned in my last entry, living under the same roof as the rest of his family was... difficult... and about a month ago it led to another knock-down-drag-out family blowout argument that resulted in us moving out that night & moving into my brother's old room at my parents' house (my old room is now my nephew's, and is also right next door to my parents' room). It was hard and very emotional for everyone (especially Shane & his mom, who are VERY close), but it has been for the best. There is a lot less drama now, and Shane & I are a lot happier here, despite being squished into one tiny bedroom after living in a fairly spacious studio apartment. We're both still very excited (and a little nervous, which I think is normal) about the big move to the D.C. area next year, and have already started looking at apartments in the area (Alexandria-ish, since it's cheaper than actually living in D.C and my job will pay for me to take the metro to work). I wish we could afford to buy a house, but there's just no way we'll be able to save up enough for a down payment in time. At least this way we'll be able to get used to the area & get a better idea of exactly where we would want to buy a home.
Speaking of family matters, Sheena (Shane's sister-in-law) had her baby a couple of weeks ago! They named him Robert John Pacheco Jr. and are calling him Bobby, since Shane's brother goes by Rob or Robbie. He's the cutest little thing... for Halloween they dressed him up in an adorable Tigger costume. After I talked Shane into holding him (he'd never held a baby before for fear of dropping one), Shane got "baby fever" and was talking about wanting a baby off & on for the rest of the day... LOL. I want one too, just not right now. We're poor, living with my parents, and unmarried... not the way I'd want to start my family. I know Shane feels the same way- it's just easy to get carried away in situations like that. Now I'm rambling about things I didn't intend to write about on here, so moving on...
Wedding plans are going well. Invitations, save-the-date magnets & favors have all been ordered. Tomorrow I'm ordering the napkins & disposable cameras. I have my mom & Shane's mom wrangling together addresses & phone numbers for the guest list I've compiled. I plan to send the save-the-dates sometime in January, and the actual invitations some time in March. Oh, I put together a nice little wedding website that, among other fun things, explains all the complicated details of having a wedding on a military base. The address is http://www.mywedding.com/laurashane/ in case you're dying to check it out, ha ha. Although I'd like to go ahead & apologize for something now: I know a lot of you on here know me very well, but I'm so sorry if you don't get invited to the wedding... It's so expensive to feed the 100+ people my mom is inviting (although I will admit that a LOT of them are family... Shane & I have big families) that I've been forced to only invite like 10 people. Ridiculous, I know, and it makes me sad that I can't invite more of my friends... but my mom is paying for it, so I can't really argue. And I think Shane is already pretty nervous about talking in front of so many people... I don't want to make it harder on him than it has to be. I promise I will take lots of pictures! Hence the disposable cameras. ;-)
In other news, one of my Phi Mu littles suffered a horrific tragedy on Sunday... her younger sister passed away in a car accident. She lives far away & I haven't been able to talk with her beyond some text messages, but she and her family have been on my mind all week long. I can't imagine what she must be going through. I've lost a lot of family in my life, but none in my immediate family... and none so young. It's really made me stop to think about how precious life is. I called & spoke with my brother today for the first time in months. Although it was ridiculously difficult & awkward to carry on a conversation with him (we have grown into very different people, and he hurt my feelings this summer by talking a lot of crap behind my back about how I don't deserve the life I've ended up with), I'm glad I did it. I don't know if he still harbors resentful feelings towards me or not, but if he does then he must still not be ready to talk about them with me. I plan to continue to try to repair that relationship as much as I can before I move next summer. As I said above, life is too short and family is too precious not to.
What else? Oh, I am among the many who are very happy about the election results. I hope Obama lives up to everything he's presented himself to be.... within a certain degree, understanding that behind the talk he is STILL a politician, after all. But it's very hard to be excited in this house, as both of my parents can't stand Obama and think Shane & I were crazy to vote for him. Oh well, I'm just keeping my excitement to myself. :-)
I think that's all for now. I'm sure I've forgotten some things, probably important things, but if they are that important I'll remember to write them in next time.... but who knows when that will be, right?
Living with Shane is still great, and now that we're used to each other it is effortless. I think we're the closest now that we've ever been, and I now have absolutely no doubts about marrying him. As I mentioned in my last entry, living under the same roof as the rest of his family was... difficult... and about a month ago it led to another knock-down-drag-out family blowout argument that resulted in us moving out that night & moving into my brother's old room at my parents' house (my old room is now my nephew's, and is also right next door to my parents' room). It was hard and very emotional for everyone (especially Shane & his mom, who are VERY close), but it has been for the best. There is a lot less drama now, and Shane & I are a lot happier here, despite being squished into one tiny bedroom after living in a fairly spacious studio apartment. We're both still very excited (and a little nervous, which I think is normal) about the big move to the D.C. area next year, and have already started looking at apartments in the area (Alexandria-ish, since it's cheaper than actually living in D.C and my job will pay for me to take the metro to work). I wish we could afford to buy a house, but there's just no way we'll be able to save up enough for a down payment in time. At least this way we'll be able to get used to the area & get a better idea of exactly where we would want to buy a home.
Speaking of family matters, Sheena (Shane's sister-in-law) had her baby a couple of weeks ago! They named him Robert John Pacheco Jr. and are calling him Bobby, since Shane's brother goes by Rob or Robbie. He's the cutest little thing... for Halloween they dressed him up in an adorable Tigger costume. After I talked Shane into holding him (he'd never held a baby before for fear of dropping one), Shane got "baby fever" and was talking about wanting a baby off & on for the rest of the day... LOL. I want one too, just not right now. We're poor, living with my parents, and unmarried... not the way I'd want to start my family. I know Shane feels the same way- it's just easy to get carried away in situations like that. Now I'm rambling about things I didn't intend to write about on here, so moving on...
Wedding plans are going well. Invitations, save-the-date magnets & favors have all been ordered. Tomorrow I'm ordering the napkins & disposable cameras. I have my mom & Shane's mom wrangling together addresses & phone numbers for the guest list I've compiled. I plan to send the save-the-dates sometime in January, and the actual invitations some time in March. Oh, I put together a nice little wedding website that, among other fun things, explains all the complicated details of having a wedding on a military base. The address is http://www.mywedding.com/laurashane/ in case you're dying to check it out, ha ha. Although I'd like to go ahead & apologize for something now: I know a lot of you on here know me very well, but I'm so sorry if you don't get invited to the wedding... It's so expensive to feed the 100+ people my mom is inviting (although I will admit that a LOT of them are family... Shane & I have big families) that I've been forced to only invite like 10 people. Ridiculous, I know, and it makes me sad that I can't invite more of my friends... but my mom is paying for it, so I can't really argue. And I think Shane is already pretty nervous about talking in front of so many people... I don't want to make it harder on him than it has to be. I promise I will take lots of pictures! Hence the disposable cameras. ;-)
In other news, one of my Phi Mu littles suffered a horrific tragedy on Sunday... her younger sister passed away in a car accident. She lives far away & I haven't been able to talk with her beyond some text messages, but she and her family have been on my mind all week long. I can't imagine what she must be going through. I've lost a lot of family in my life, but none in my immediate family... and none so young. It's really made me stop to think about how precious life is. I called & spoke with my brother today for the first time in months. Although it was ridiculously difficult & awkward to carry on a conversation with him (we have grown into very different people, and he hurt my feelings this summer by talking a lot of crap behind my back about how I don't deserve the life I've ended up with), I'm glad I did it. I don't know if he still harbors resentful feelings towards me or not, but if he does then he must still not be ready to talk about them with me. I plan to continue to try to repair that relationship as much as I can before I move next summer. As I said above, life is too short and family is too precious not to.
What else? Oh, I am among the many who are very happy about the election results. I hope Obama lives up to everything he's presented himself to be.... within a certain degree, understanding that behind the talk he is STILL a politician, after all. But it's very hard to be excited in this house, as both of my parents can't stand Obama and think Shane & I were crazy to vote for him. Oh well, I'm just keeping my excitement to myself. :-)
I think that's all for now. I'm sure I've forgotten some things, probably important things, but if they are that important I'll remember to write them in next time.... but who knows when that will be, right?