Me *LOVES* Flowers!!

I love getting flowers, don't you?  It's just such a fun thing and it ALWAYS makes me smile!!

First off, here I am at work, receiving my award for Outstanding Staff Member of 2011.  I was SO surprised when I found out that I had been nominated!!!  How AWESOME!!!  The monetary reward that came with it was pretty awesome, too! ;)

Shortly thereafter, I received this LOVELY boquet of flowers at work from my dad!!  The card said, "Congratulations on your Award! Love, yer papaw."  Didn't he do good? :)

Then a few days later, I was at home with my mom and the doorbell rang.  It about scared the liver right out of me because I sure wasn't expecting anyone!!  Well, lo-and-behold, the person at the door had this lovely gift for me!!  A gorgeous flower arrangement from Monique & Daren as a coongratulations for graduating from college.  The card read, "We're very proud of you! Love, Mosie & Daren."  Awww... :)

And the last surprise...I went to a small graduation party that was a combo party for a friend in town and myself and these gorgeous flowers (the roses!) and balloon were given to me by Shannon as a congrats on graduating.  Aren't they SO pretty?!?!  The tulips I had gotten that morning when I stopped at the local coffee hut for my usual coffee.  The owner said, "Want some tulips with your coffee?"  Well, DUH!!  Of course!  Mom stuck them in with the roses and it just all looked so pretty!! :) 

So, yes, I do love to get flowers and admire them for days after.  They're just so cheery and happy/springy/summery/wonderful. :)  I'm glad that you could enjoy them with me!! :)

What I'm up to...

Well, hello, there! I have been around and keeping busy, but just haven't taken time to post anything! I'm waiting on one final final grade for this semester and then they can officially post my degree and I will be done! Yahoo! My diploma should arrive about 8-10 weeks after that and I'll have the pretty little frame I bought all ready to go! Yay! :) The deadline for that last grade to be in is this Thursday, so hopefully the professor abides by that deadline.

Since I chose not to walk in my graduation ceremony because it was FOUR HOURS long, I did choose to go and get my photo taken in a cap & gown, instead, so that I'd have that little memento for myself.  I had to download a lower resolution thumbnail to place on here, but here's the final result (please don't laugh!!) --

Not too shabby, eh?  :)  And even though mom & dad (who are here RIGHT NOW!!!) didn't get to see me walk across the stage for MY graduation ceremony, they did get to see me participate in my work's graduation ceremony where I was recognized for being chosen as the Outstanding Staff Member for the College for this academic year.  I got to walk into the stadium with the processional and then sit on the stage with all of the professors.  It was quite an honor!!  So, mom and dad got to be there for that and I think they were pretty happy about that. :)

What else have we done since mom & dad arrived?  Well, we've gone shopping, gone out to eat, relaxed, and...bought new furniture!!!!  Yes, I finally decided that enough was enough and that I wanted to seem more mature by having nice, matching furniture. :)  So, I bought a couch and a chair and someday I think I'll add a rocker-recliner to the set, as well, but I had to stop with a couch and chair because I ran out of money.  :)

The couch is a chocolate color and is very soft...almost velvety!  It's cushiony, but at the same time firm enough so that you don't feel like you're drowning in it.  One thing I learned about myself during this shopping trip...I like more firm furniture.  Not rock hard, just firm.  I thought that was kind of interesting. :)

Anyway....here's a pic of the couch in all its soft glory!!  If you click once on each picture, it will enlarge the pic.

Now, as for the chair...my Auntie Margie has some chairs that don't rock, but they recline and I LOVED THEM so much that I decided that I wanted something like that.  So, THANKS AUNTIE MARGIE for influencing me!! :)  (Aunt Berdie...you'd better show her that I wrote about her on my blog!!! :)

The chair has a pattern to it and it's got gold, red, brown and tan all mixed into it.  I hesistate to even post these pictures because these pictures do NOT give it justice as to how pretty it looks!!!!! :(  When I take a picture without a flash, it looks more orange...like this...

But when I take a picture WITH the flash, it looks more red...like this...

So, it's hard to get a really good picture of it and I PROMISE that it does not look as gross as it does in these pictures.   IN FACT....if you click on this link (see where at the end of the sentence), it will take you to the manufacturer's webpage where you can see what it really looks like in person :  CLICK HERE  (and NO, I did not pay that much!! ha!)

And so that's the new furniture that's adorning my lovely apartment!!  They really do look very nice together and I'm so glad that I had mom & dad here for their input, too.  Even still, I've had buyer's remorse about a thousand times today, but I've had excitement over the purchases just as much, too, so all-in-all, I think I did good. :)

There's a not-so-short update for you!  Hope that YOU are doing well and I'll try to update again before my folks leave town on Monday.  Take care! :)

I am DONE!!

Dad told me, again, that I needed to update my blog, so I'll quickly update with this:

I'm done with college!!!!!!!!!!

Just five minutes ago, I submitted my very last final exam for the semester and now I am officially done with the semester and done with what I need to do to get my college degree!!  If I pass these classes (which I'm about 99% confident that I will), I will be given a bachelor of arts degree in communication.  YAHOO!!!!!!  What will I do with that, you ask?  Well, I'll keep working at my current job, take at least a year off of school and then contemplate grad school.  : )  I'm just SO excited about this particular moment, though, that I wanted to share.  I'm done with school!!!!!!  Yahoo!!!!! :o)

Whew...I think they like me.

Well, I'm going to brag a little bit tonight because I'm super excited right now. :)  I've been given two awards this month.  One award was being recognized by the students through their association called "Mortar Board" and it's just a group that strives for good things with their academics.  Anyway, each year they hand out "Tip of the Cap" awards to "honor UW staff who exceptionally contribute to both the University and the students."  This is the second year that they've nominated me for that and it's just SO cool!  I really do appreciate when the students recognize how much work I do for them.  (Really, I do!)  Most of the time they're so caught up in their world of studying and exams that I wonder if they even recognize when I help them, but this reaffirms that some of them definitely do!!  So, I was feeling quite proud of that little award and satisfied with the recognition of my efforts when I received an e-mail from a professor outside of the department.  In this e-mail she indicated that I had been nominated for an award for my College that our department is a part of.  What?!?!

Well, it turns out that my professors nominated me for the "Outstanding Staff Member of 2011" and guess what?  Out of everyone nominated, I was the one who was chosen!!  So, today I went to a big College meeting where professors and staff recognized me for receiving this award and then there was a little reception that followed.  It was so cool!  I received a certificate and then was told that I would get an e-mail that allowed me to see what comments had been written on my behalf by the faculty and students throughout the department.  Wow.  I was floored.  The icing on the cake?  A monetary reward is also involved!!!  Can you believe it?!?!  WOW.  I just feel kind of speechless about ALL of it.  Don't get me wrong...I work hard and I know I work hard, but when students and professors actually publicly recognize you for your hard work...it's just nice.  And a little humbling.  Yett quite encouraging.  It's just really special. :)

So, I wanted to brag a little bit and share a little of the excitement with you!  And boy, oh, boy am I gonna sleep good tonight now, just knowing that they really DO like me at my job!!! :o)

How my mum rolls.

So...my mom decided not to come visit me. She decided that she wanted to buy a new car instead and because she can't afford both...well, I'm the one who loses. :(

JUST KIDDING!!! :o) Well, she DID buy the new car, but she didn't cancel her trip. Instead, she's still going to fly out on the 22nd, BUT she's also going to let my dad take the first long trip in HER new car when he drives out at the beginning of May to come get her (and to see ME!). But that's how strong my parents' marriage is...that mom will let him have the first long trip in HER new car. They're tight like that.

So...this is currently what I'm jealous over...my mom's new wheels. I love my car and all, but someday, I will own a bigger vehicle like this (if you click once on each picture, it will make the image bigger on your screen). For now, though, I'll just be jealous of my mom in her zippy new car. :) Drive careful, mom!! :)

P.S. -- In the second-to-last picture, you can see Buddy (the mostest-specialist-dog-EVAH) running over to our friend Jerry.  I miss Buddy.  Just sayin'.

P.P.S -- Don't mind the bright white spot on the back of her car.  I have to protect her identity, you know, so I had to white out her license plate number. :)

Doing well!

Hi there!  Not much is new since this time last week.  I've been keeping super busy at work and I'm almost finished with school!  Yahoo! :)  I set out this weekend to finish all of my homework for the rest of the semester so that I can just sail on through to the end and I might have accomplished that task had I not started feeling bad.  I'm not sure if I'm fighting a cold or allergies or what, but I know that I'm going to take some medicine and head to bed EARLY tonight!

Remember in the last post that I talked about the eagle's nest?  Well, apparently the whole world picked up on it after that because I saw links to it everywhere!!  What a riot! :)  The third egg finally hatched but it seems like maybe they'll keep the cameras going for awhile.  Who knows.

Dad also pointed out this webcam, too.  It's www.bear.org/ and if you click on the "Ted & Lucky Den Cam" (in the middle of the page), that apparently has the most action.  Every time I check in, the little darlings seem to be sleeping, but dad says that when the two of them are awake, they act like their main mission in life is to clobber each other!  ha! :)  Hope you have fun with that one! :)

So...back to work tomorrow and THREE WEEKS left of the semester!  Yahoo!  Even though I didn't get all my homework done this weekend, I think that if I set my mind to it, I can finish it up tomorrow after work and then be done.  Wish me luck!! :)  Have a great week!

Fun

• Dad shared a website link with me today that I think some of you (or your kiddos!) might enjoy.  If you go to www.raptorresource.org and click on "Bird Cams," on the website that comes up, just push the "play" button and it will give you a live feed of an eagle's nest and the momma with her two (almost three!) babies.  It's kind of neat to watch!  I think some of you and/or your kids might enjoy it, too.  The third baby hasn't hatched yet, but the estimated hatch date was April 1, so...any day now???  Time will tell! :)

• This was shared with me the other day and I thought it was SO cute and wanted to share it on my blog, too.  I just giggle every time I see it.  I love this little girl's effort!!! :)