Our "Back to Reality"

It's hard keeping up with this thing, these days. First of all, life is B-U-S-Y. I tought the first few days back after the honeymoon we're busy and then things just got that much busier. And I'm not complaining, because no matter how busy it is I'm still finding ways to stay sane and enjoy the day - whether it's calling my family on the way to or home from work, exchanging e-mails with a friend throughout the day, making new friends at work, or just coming home to Cliff.

That, in itself, is so cool. I was talking one of my co-workers the other day about "being a newlywed" and how neat it is to start moving from the surreal where all of a sudden you're living with a person of the opposite sex who happens to be your spouse and you feel like you're just playing house like you did when you were 10... to a place where you're settling into a routine and really just enjoying the comforts of being at home with each other.

Speaking of our "home," our apartment is awesome. Small and one-bedroomy, but exactly what we need and when we started running out of space, we found exactly what we needed to make more space. And man, our kitchen is STOCKED! I mean, I have almost everything I could ever want as a fledgling cook. I'm even baking more, too!

Besides cooking and setting up the apartment (we put up curtains!), I've been getting back into the swing of things at Vandy and also started my practicum with SIFE at Belmont. This is going to be a busy semester... essentially working full time with the two jobs combined and taking three classes. But again, I'm not complaining. With a frontloaded fall, my spring should be fairly simple. I say that now, though, having no certainty that will be the case. All I know is that 30-40 hours of work a week, plus 3 hours of class a week, and then 6 weekends of class will turn into 30-40 hours of work a week and (hopefully) just 3 weekends of class. Either way, I only have to take one class next semester but getting ready for comps and looking for a job will keep me plenty busy (along with my assitantship and practicum).

My assistantship at Vandy is now with Student Campus Events as opposed to New Student and First Year Programs seeing as NSFYP is now the "artist formerly known as NSFYP". All of the operations out of that office will essentially be folded into what's taking place in The Commons and seeing as I wanted a new experience and had the option of going one way or the other, I took the less-travelled (in my journey) path. So far, it looks like I will be (after, of course, I finish out this season of orientation which we are all still participating in) working on a variety of things which include some things with athletics (Vandy Fanatics/CHAMPS/Life Skills), Vanderbilt Programming Board (Special Activities, Speakers Committee), and maybe even Vanderbilt Student Government.

So we'll see... but it's going to be a whole new experience, one I'm really looking forward to. My workspace is now in Sarrat Student Center which is like student-central when it comes to places on campus so there'll be a lot more access and interation. Also, there are two new Graduate Assistants that I'll be working with who are both awesome and one of my second-year classmates who will be staying on with us as an intern of sorts to work on Homecoming. So instead of working on an island, I'll actually be in community with my peers, co-workers, and undergrads. It's not as quiet of a space to get work done, but when the main reason I do this is for the relationships, who cares, right?

And so far, SIFE stuff is going well. We've mainly been meeting with community partners (Campus for Human Development, Thistle Farms, Catholic Charities, World Relief, Second 2 None, The Nations Ministry Center) and a few new students who are joining the team. At this point, we have 32 on the roster (which is sure to dwindle a bit), 5 of which are signed up for the course, and about 12 running projects. I'm essentially a project manager and co-advisor to the students, as well as helping facilitate the course portion which is service-learning and totally up my alley. All in all, it's going to be another new path in my professional development, seeing as I'm on a side of the picture I've never experienced before. But it's great!

Ah, well, I guess that's enough of an update for now. We've got plans with Casey and Sara this evening and a weekend to enjoy, and I plan to do it well! Hope you all have a good one!

By the way, today's my dad's birthday and he just might read this so Happy Birthday again, dad! Hope your game of golf was a good one and that you didn't beat all the guys too bad :)

p.s. class starts in a week. AHHHH!