I found this picture of me as a baby and could'nt help but cracking up so I decided to add it. Obviously I was inspired by Elvis as a baby. Randommm but cute if i do say so myself!
(via http://wildmanmac.tumblr.com/) feeling a little bit better after the coffee.... but still feel a bit like this guy, thinking to myself, "But i need more! Is that it??"
I always find it so hard to wake up on Mondays. No fun, especially when only getting roughly 4 hours of sleep the night before. I am picking up some extra hours at the language resource center so I had to come in at 8 today which is wayyy too early for me. I slept at my parents' house last night so I had to wake up even earlier so I could make it back to Clifton and find a spot to park and walk to work. The good news is I had enough time to stop by Starbucks on the way to work and I picked up a delightful vanilla latte (with an extra shot of espresso for an extra tired Morgan haha.) I have classes and work today. After class ends at 630 I think I am going to go work out... I have been wanting to recently but have had no motivation... I am going to MAKE myself go because it is such an amazing feeling once you get there and after you are done working out when your endorphins are kicking in. Also, on a side note, I bought a camera yesterday and I am sooo excited! It is a Nixon coolpix, pretty basic but I cant wait to get around to just taking pictures of every little thing. That way I can add my own pictures on here in addition to the lovely ones I find elsewhere. It should be coming in the mail within the next couple days or so. I plan on doing a series called "A day in the life of..." and just taking pictures of a typical day for me, walking to class, work, and everything in between. This is not to sound pretentious or anything... my life really isn't that exciting or thrilling but I still make every day count and I really try and see the beauty in everything, so I am going to try and show that through some pictures.
Booo for Sundays. I love the weekend but its so bittersweet because tomorrow is Monday and that means school and work. blahhh. Today I went to my cousin's dad's funeral. It really made me appreciate life and want to live every moment. It makes me appreciate everyone around me and love them with all that I have. Life is so precious and can be gone in a flash, that is what makes life so beautiful. Because our lives can end in a heart beat, literally, it makes every moment that we live a blessing and truly amazing. That's it for now. Hope everyone had a good weekend.
I am planning on signing up to take some belly dancing!!! I am so excited. I think it will be so much fun and great exercise as well as a nice break from classes and everything else going on. I can't wait to get started. I am going to go some time next week to check the place out. It is called Habeeba's and its on Vine street downtown. Here's the website:
http://habeebas.com/cincinnati/index.htm
In other news, today I went with Vanya and took a volunteer training class at the SPCA. I am going to be socializing dogs and taking them for walks at the shelter as well as possibly working with the mobile adoption unit taking dogs and cats to different events to get them adopted out. I can't wait to get started. It is going to be so hard for me to not want to take every dog home with me but I have to remember to do my job and just help as many dogs and cats get adopted out as possible. It will be so amazing to see animals going out to good homes. Vanya has been getting me into the volunteering mood and it feels good to be helping others. For me it just seems natura to be helping animals because I am such an animal lover. So I will keep everyone updated with that as it goes on. That's it for now. Off to bed in a bit. Coffee, yummy breakfast and church in the morning with the family. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!
I walked to class this morning with just a little cardigan to keep me warm and by the time I walked the 20 minutes back to my apartment the temperature had dropped pretty dramatically and I was frozen through. So i made myself a whole pot of coffee and a warm bowl of oatmeal. It was so nice to just sit down and warm up, feeling the coffee warming me from the inside out. I'm on my fifth cup though so I'm feeling pretty energized! I have a five hour break before my big presentation tonight so that gives me plenty of time to prepare and to take a shower (finally.... the caulking has dried.) Then I plan on curling up under some blankets and practicing my presentation. After the presentation I am heading down to Newport to see New Moon with the girls so that should be fun (minus the screaming tweens and long waits... but its tradition!) Anywayssss I'm so excited tomorrow is Friday because then it is the weekend!
rainy day (not so bad unless you had no umbrella... like me haha. showed up drenched by the time i made it back to my apartment.) tired...glad to be relaxing. listened to some John Lennon today, will probably fall asleep to Jose Gonzalez (if you haven't yet discovered him check him out asap! Sooooo relaxing, takes me to another place...) yummy homemade apple crisp pie desert with the roomies sleep making myself get up in the morning to make a nice breakfast and start the day off right. Tomorrow will be slightly stressful with a big presentation but I should have plenty of time to prepare. Then heading out to the new moon premiere. (not looking forward to the screaming tweens but i feel like it's tradition to go to premieres at midnight, plus it will be a nice treat after a stressful day.)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
the most beautiful puppy ever that I would give an arm and a leg to adopt. <3333 Her name is Gilmore and she's at a rescue here in Cincinnati. I MUST find a way to get her!
Overslept but made it to work in time. classes homework shopping maybe?? Tuesdays are sooo long. I am determined to wake up early tomorrow and have a nice morning to myself with coffee and a yummy breakfast (as it was my intention this morning but that was a fail.) I have been telling myself that all quarter, but I am determined!
Oh and on a side note... I found this adorable dog that I would die to be able to adopt. It's just not the right time right now I suppose, being in school and all but I want her soooo bad!
Classes this morning, then an interview for working with and tutoring Cincinnati Public School kids, then working on this major project for one of my classes, then my grandparents are coming to check out the new apartment and are treating me to dinner (yummmm). The spending time with Vanya, which should be pretty awesome, since we've been so busy recently we havent seen each other much. All in all I am guessing a pretty fantastic day. On a side note I am so excited about this job interview. I will be working, like i siad, with CPS kids, tutoring them in Math and English. They pay is pretty awesome and more importantly It will look awesome on a future resume when applying to teach at schools, and I just can't wait to help out these kids! Ill keep everyone updated on how it goes!
I don't know what has come over me but suddenly I have become interested in watching football. I caught the end of the Ohio State game and now watching the UC game. Loving it.
On a side note, my family and I just saw the strangest thing. Now sometimes I can be a skeptic of the whole UFO thing but I was out on the porch with my family and we saw what looked like a meteor shower, or rather one comet looking thing coming through the sky. It was so scary I was afraid it was going to hit the earth. Then it broke into three and then four pieces and formed a triangle formation. A plane or helicopter was off to the side and went to check it out and the weird thing is it stayed in that formation and didn't seem to fall for a while. Then it went below tree line. It was so eerie. My mom called channel 5 news and they said they had already had 100 people call in to report it but that we were the first to report a plane by it. Now i know what you are thinking, that it was probably a military operation but it looked like objects on fire. They were orange and really really bright. The news channel said they had called the NORAD to check for any reported meteor showers and they said that none had been registered and they were getting ready to call the FAA to check if it was military. I don't know what to think but it was definitely weird and pretty cool to see.
As for the rest of the day it was so nice. My grandma and cousin fixed an amazing homemade breakfast this morning and I chowed down. I haven't had good food like that in a while. The whole family was there and all 10 of us crowed around the tiny table bumping elbows and enjoying the meal while the kids sat in the other room and ate. It was so perfect and I love just being around my family and enjoying time together. Then i played with my little cousins in the back yard, pushing them on the tire swing and then jumping on the trampoline. I rarely see them and it was the most activity I have had since the flu and it was exhausting but I loved spending time with them. Then I came home and took a fantastic nap.
all in all a fantastic day.
oh and p.s. I found this band, they are actually quite old but I am in love. They are called Portishead and come out of Bristol, England and they sort of rock my world. Enjoy their video below, it called glory box!
Its finally Friday and I am pretty happy about that. I woke up this morning and although I over slept I still managed to have time to make myself some amazing chai and grab a croissant on the way out the door. After classes I'm thinking of heading back to the apartment and baking some cupcakes (because there is nothing like cupcakes to make your day) and then enjoying an evening to myself. Maybe getting some homework done, watch some movies and some where in between all of that there will probably be a lot of coffee involved. No definite plans for the night though so we'll see what comes. On a side note I am doing a project on Frida Kahlo and I am super excited and motivated to make it really good and to do her some justice by it. I rented the movie with Salma Hayek in it last night (I've already seen it once) and I was amazed once again by her beauty and grace even though she dealt with constant pain and tragedy throughout her entire life. Did you know she had 32 surgeries in 29 years (from polio as a child and a terrible bus accident at age 18 that shattered her back and leg)?! She also suffered a terrible miscarriage and a husband (famed muralist Diego Rivera) who constantly cheated on her. Yet she remained strong and independent until her final days. Some of her quotes are simply breathtaking and tragic at the same time. Her artwork is so amazing and I admire her more than any artist.
Okay I am finally back. I apologize for such a large gap in between posts but unfortunately the H1N1 flu caught up with me and I've been feeling kind of swine-ey. I have missed about a week of school but surprisingly I'm doing okay on my school work. I really feel like i jinxed myself with the whole flu thing because all last week I was talking about how people are freaking out over the swine flu for nothing and how I seriously doubt that I would get it..... then I'm not even kidding when I say this.... I got the swine flu the next day. It hit me within a matter of 4 hours and let me tell you when you have it you know you have it. By the next morning I woke up and could barely move but I had to muster the strength and go in to class to present a recorded teaching lesson (shoot me). This task was stressful enough but to top it off with swine flu just about put me over the edge. I presented and left right away to go to the doctor. My mom ended up having to drive me because at this point my back, kidneys and neck were hurting so bad that I couldn't even think about driving. We show up at the doctor's office and they quarantine me and make me put on a mask. Everyone who comes into the room wears gloves, a face mask and goggles and they test me. (this involves sticking a cotton swab on a stick about 3 inches down into your nasal cavity and then twisting it around and leaving it in there for thirty seconds. Let me remind you this goes past your nose and is actually down in the cavity... it hurts like hell). The test came back negative but the doctor said that 50% of the tests that come back negative are actually positive (what kind of efficient test is that?!) and that I presented all of the signs so he diagnosed me with the swine flu and put me on Tamiflu. At this point I was running a fever of almost 102, and i never ever run fevers. We went back home and at this point my mom had to help me lay down and sit up because the strain on my neck and back was too much. I felt like my brains were seeping out of the back of my skull and my throat was so swollen I thought it was going to close. It may seem like I am exaggerating but I promise you this is no exaggeration, so when I tell you you know when you have the swine flu this is what I mean. Over the next few days i slowly started recovering and somehow Vanya didn't get sick at all even though he insisted on cuddling with me. He seems to think it's because he's Australian. So as I am getting better I then develop a cough and the doctors told me to keep a close eye on my breathing because I have exercise induced asthma which can develop into pneumonia. All of the severe cases of swine flu you hear about on the news are from people who have asthma and have developed pneumonia. My aunt actually works at University Hospital downtown as a nurse and said that she has had a few patients die from pneumonia related complications from swine flu and if she is worried then that means we should really be attentive. SO needless to say I was a bit worried. I was out of breath from doing the smallest activities like walking up the stairs. Not to mention I woke up that morning and my eye was sealed shut from gook (ewww) and it was all pink. SO i head over to the doctors office once again and they diagnose me with bronchitis and pink eye. AT this point I can only laugh and ask myself if I am being Punked... where's Ashton??! They presrbibe me Azythormycine and these terrible drops for the pink eye which feel like you are dropping concentrated salt water into your eyes. SO it took be about 3 days to recover and I still have the bronchitis and pink eye but I am finally back to feeling some what functional and able to make it to classes. Although I'm sure I am going to be exhausted at the end of the day. All I can say is thank God for family and friends and people who really care about you to take care of you when you are down because I for sure could not take care of myself. There is nothing like a mother's touch to make everything better and after this terribly difficult week I am grateful I have people who love me to take care of me.
Well thats it for now. More to come soon and I promise it won't be so long in between posts from now on. <3
I found this picture of me as a baby and could'nt help but cracking up so I decided to add it. Obviously I was inspired by Elvis as a baby. Randommm but cute if i do say so myself!
(via http://loveyourchaos.tumblr.com/page/25)
(via http://wildmanmac.tumblr.com/)
(via http://www.flickr.com/photos/meeshelle/3315362056/)
(via http://alejka.deviantart.com/art/lifeless-144025457)
