The End of an Era and the Beginning of Another

Wow - once again I have completely failed at maintaining constant blog posts. But alas, I have be exceptionally busy these last few weeks. Probably not busy enough to back out on posting a few blogs or two, but we all know that blogging entails needing to have an idea of what to blog as well as pictures to accompany it, and lately I have just been too lazy to come up with either. But for once, I figure I ought to get back into this, so here goes nothing.

As my previous blog posts mentioned I am officially finished with grad school for my Masters of Engineering degree. This past weekend, May 14th to be exact, I walked in the school wide commencement for UofL to complete my Masters degree once and for all. It was short, sweet, and very packed, but finished. My parents, grandparents, sister, boyfriend, and sister/s friend came to support me at graduation and I couldn't have been happier to have them around to bask in the enjoyment of the day since as my family kept pointing out, its a damn big achievement! We spent the morning at the new UofL arena for commencement, then headed back towards our apartment to do lunch to celebrate. Everything that I had been anticipating was over within just a few short hours. The end of an era. A five year era, of studying, cramming, testing, writing, homework, late nights, early mornings, stress, friends, and fun. The end. It is so bittersweet. You despise school the entire time you're in it, because lets be honest, who ever enjoys a test, homework, writing papers, etc. No one. But the second it's all over, you realize instantly that you'll never get those years back. Ever. That era is complete, finished, past. It's not that I am sad, because I am extremely anxious to begin the next part of my life, but I know that I will always look back and feel a slight longing to go back there again.

My Family (-Joey)

The Grandparents with Alex and Me

Marty and Me

Crazy Masters Hood

Brittany, Annie, and Me

Anthony and Me

Post Graduation Lunch

Post Graduation Lunch

I've had last week off of work and this week as well, and begin once again, full time at GE as of Monday. part of me is excited and looking forward to it (you know, the part of me ready to make some serious cash and begin saving for a house/wedding/new car, etc.) and part of me is completely and utterly dreading it. No more spring break, Christmas vacations, fall break, summer vacations... no more. I will officially be a slave to the "two weeks of paid vacation per year" rule. And for that, I am most depressed. Yes, I know, most of America deals with these vacation rules, but seriously. 10 days out of 365. That's it? Are you joking me? For me, since I'm beginning half way through the year, I believe I only get 5 days until 2012. 5 days. There goes any hopes of a SINGLE random vacation day for myself. Not going to happen. Alex is going on a nice family vacation in June with his family and asked me to join with him - but I informed him that if I took that vacation time in June, that would mean zero days off around Thanksgiving or Christmas to go see his family in Buffalo for the holidays. Obviously we want to be able to travel for the holidays, so no June vacation for Jen. I'm not mad, I'm just let down by the realization that this is what my life is coming to - no time off. And thus the real world commences.

But with the depressing realization of lack of time off also comes the realization that I am finally going to be able to fully financially support myself. And although it sucks that Mom and Dad aren't going to be paying my bills anymore, it is good to know that I've reached the point of my life where I can do it on my own. Aw - all grown up! I know that I may sound like I'm bitching and complaining about having this full time big girl job now, but lets be honest here. I am so very fortunate for being offered a job before I even finished grad school, knowing the entire time I was slaving away at school that I already had a job waiting for me at the end. So many people in the U.S. right now are without jobs. So many college graduates are struggling to find job opportunities, and here I am, having been blessed with a stable job with great income. For that, I am truly thankful.

This past weekend truly marked the end of an era and beginning of another, not only for myself with school and work, but also for my cousin Amanda who was married this past Saturday evening. (Yes, we did rush from commencement in Louisville back up to NKY to make the wedding in time!) She married Tom, with whom she's been engaged for quite some time now. I remember the first time she ever brought Tom around the family - years ago to a birthday dinner for my grandpa at my aunt's house. I remember this so very well, because we all knew that we weren't allowed to make any comments regarding Tom's line of work - he was a male nurse! :)   Tom's been a part of our family for many years now and I am just glad that it is finally official that he is a member now. We couldn't be happier for Tom and Amanda - so congrats again!

Another era that is beginning is the new era of me being back in NKY for good. I have lived in Louisville for the past five years, going back and forth between Louisville and NKY for quite some time now. But finally, I am going to be in one city for good. Alex and I are both living at my parents now (for the time being to save money) and it is such a fun time. We get to be together a lot, obviously, and go out and do things whenever we'd like (at least when work allows us the time), and it is something I have been looking forward to for a long, long time. We can finally start to get into our routines and go out in the evenings with our friends together and go to baseball games together and all of the fun things that couples in this area do all summer long. Very exciting! :)

I'm going to do my best to write more frequently - since people are always asking me to (why, I'm not sure because I know these blogs are a dreadful bore!) - but none the less, I'll try.

Untrustworthy #17:
Drinking all but the last gulp of a beverage and putting the container back in the fridge.

Last Day!

This is going to be an epically short post - but I just wanted to shout out to the blogging world that today is my official last day of college classes ever! :) Woo! Finals for grad school - for me - are through Thursday of this week and then I'm officially done with grad school! Masters Degree <3 yay!

I'll be sure to post more stuff once finals are over!


Untrustworthy #16:
Giving up when you know you can succeed.

Disappearing Act

Wow - I cannot believe it has been what... a month+ since I have written a blog? So many people have mentioned to me the fact that they have been missing my posts - who knew people even read this damn thing? lol I suppose I better post something!

This probably will be brief compared to some of my other blogs - and potentially photoless. We shall see.

Basically, the last time we spoke on here, I was starting spring break with Alex and JWall in Orlando... Spring break was awesome. Such a fun time spent with Alex at Universal Studios, Downtown Disney, and Sea World - not to mention relaxation around the pool. It was our first real vacation just the two of us, without family, so it was nice. I'm definitely looking forward to many more with him! :)

Alex and Myself at Downtown Disney!

At Downtown Disney - Again!

Alex and Myself outside of Hogwarts at Universal!

Universal!

Going out on "the town" in Orlando

Alex excited to feed/pet the dolphins at Sea World!

Stinky fish!

His "favorite" part of the whole trip!

Okay, so much for a photoless blog!

After Spring Break, my life at school got extremely chaotic! And has been ever since - and still is! Hence why the blogging has stopped and why this blog will be relatively short. Today starts the last week of my graduate degree and I couldn't be more excited about this! Although this week will be stressful and crazy busy, I am super excited that starting next week (after a few finals) I will no longer be a college student, but a college grad! (Masters grad at that! Woo!)

I never thought that this would come - the time at which my life would truly transition from student to grown up. But, it appears it is right around the corner ... and by that I mean only a few more weeks away! I start working full-time for GE on May 23rd... so I have right around a month until I am officially entering "the real world". Although its kind of scary and going to suck responsibility wise, I am extremely excited to start the next stage in my life! I get to make a full-time grown up salary, move back to Northern Kentucky where my friends and family all are, move in with Alex :), etc. It's going to be a change, but a definite change in a  positive direction.

I apologize for my lack of blogs - but hopefully once school ends and my evenings and weekends become mine again, I will be able to post more often.



Untrustworthy #15
Professors who assign last minute busy work the week before finals.

Spring Break Begins!

So this blog is being written on my iPhone for once and thus it'll be pretty short... Basically I just figured I'd tell my blogger buddies that spring break has indeed begun for me! :)

Alex and I flew to Orlando today and will be here through Thursday. JWall picked us up from the airport and then we checked into our hotel. We are staying at a hotel right next to Downtown Disney We lounged around the pool all afternoon and had some cocktails. The Mango mojito was amazingggg! Afterwards we went to Downtown Disney and did some shopping, drinking, and dining. Oh and a lot of walking. Alex and I didn't rent a car so we will be walking a lot or paying for shuttle service. Kind of sucks but oh well.















Tonight we just hung out in the hot tub once we got back to the hotel. But it started to get swamped with little cheerleaders here for competition so we have now returned to our room for the night. JWall is working in Orlando tomorrow and Alex and I are going to Universal for the day. I am super pumped because we are going to see the Harry Potter world :) woo! So excited! Haha

I'll be sure to give some updates throughout the week with some pics as I find time. Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Oh and PS- Alex sold his jeep last night and I got to have some awesome skinny mojitos with Cara last night while waiting to take Alex home from work :) awesome times!


Untrustworthy #14
Stopping right in the middle of a crowd of walking people.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Anson Manor Ct,Orlando,United States

Give up chocolate for lent? Yea... right.

I don't even know if I should begin another blog post after my last one - I had so many views on it compared to any of my other posts, that this one will just be a big freaking let down. But, alas, I must continue on regardless.

This past weekend was our visit from the Miosi's.. Alex's parents came in town to spend a little quality time with Alex, my family, and me. We spent the first day of their visit in Louisville venturing around town. This was Joey's anniversary day, btw. But anyway - we went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for lunch since Norm had seen it on the Food Network on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and thought it'd be fun to eat there. Afterwards, we went to see Churchill Downs and my campus since they are right next to each other. We got some funny photos and I'll be sure to post them here in a minute. Next, we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, where we saw how wooden bats were made. Norm and Alex are big baseball fans, so of course they just ATE this up! :)  Took a quick detour to 21C after the slugger museum and then finished our evening off with dinner at the BBC (Bluegrass Brewing Co.) with some beer and sandwiches/pizza. All in all a very fun, very tourist-ish, but awesome day. It was nice to kind of keep my mind occupied with good company and good food on Friday since it was bound to be a difficult day for me.

Saturday was rainy and dreary, as have been most of the days around here lately, so we pretty much just went to lunch then hung out at my parents for the afternoon playing pool and having a few drinks. We went to Montgomery Inn - Boathouse for dinner with the Miosi's and had an awesome time. Lots of laughs, great food, and enjoyable times. Alex and I took his parents downtown for a few beers after dinner and spent some more time just catching up and chatting. Our visit came to an end on Sunday afternoon when Sandy and Norm headed back to Buffalo. Alex and I are supposed to be heading up that way in early April (Baseball Fantasy Draft) so we will be seeing them again in a few weeks! And hopefully we will get to finally see Sammy then too! We miss that girl! :)

This week has been a little less chaotic school wise, thank goodness, because it has been a little more chaotic work wise. The lovely Christina is on maternity leave, so I'm getting a lot of work tossed my way... which is nice, because then I have stuff to do, but its hard because I am trying to go to school at the same time... but I won't rant much about that, because a lot of people probably know what that is like. lol

Today started Lent - which, by the way is 46 days this year, not 40 - and I have no idea what to give up. Cara and Annie said I should give up Chocolate - but that's like giving up air. It just isn't physically possible without killiing yourself. I'm kind of teetering on the thought of giving up any/all sodas. I am a sucker for fountain Coke... but who knows. Any ideas? Annie gave up ice cream, and Cara gave up all of our amazing Easter candies we have lying around the apartment (you know... Cadbury mini eggs, Reese eggs... etc) ... But what should I give up?

I am looking forward to this upcoming week so much. It's my very last ever spring break... I start the "real world" in May. Yuck. Alex and I were hoping to travel out West for spring break, but financially it just wasn't feasible... We instead are going to Orlando and spending a few days doing the parks. (i.e. Disney, Universal, Sea World, etc.) It was cheaper to book our flights, hotel, and part of the parks than it was just for our plane tickets out west. Totally sucks for a Cali trip! I was determined to do SOMETHING for spring break, since it is my last and all... I started tanning tonight, not that it'll even do me any good since I'm a natural born redhead... fair skin, freckles, and all. But hopefully I will get SOME color while down there.

Alex and I are really looking forward to the trip, not only because we get to enjoy the parks and warm weather, but also because we get to see some awesome people. Sunday Alex's room mate from West Palm Beach, JWall (Jared) is coming up to Orlando and picking us up from the airport. We are going to spend the afternoon and evening hanging out with him and grabbing dinner. It'll be nice to see him. I know another friend of Alex's was thinking of coming up to see us as well. If so, that'll be awesome! We are also hoping one evening, perhaps Tuesday, to see Jeremy and Abby and their new bundle of joy Jayden since they will be in town visiting Jeremy's parents. Wednesday evening we will be grabbing dinner with my cousins Clark and Tracey who also live in Orlando... it's like an entire trip of little get togethers with awesome people on top of awesome parks and warm sunshine! What could be better :)

It's going to be awesome, but I know it is going to go quick... BOO!

This weekend I am doing a family photo shoot for Lisa and Rob - looking forward to that! Haven't seen either of them in quite some time, so it'll be nice! The whole family this time, too, since Rob and Lisa are getting hitched in November! :) YAY! Speaking of photos... I went over to the Britton's on Sunday and finally got to see baby Siena Joline! :) She is adorable... and tiny! I helped Derek out by taking some photos... well... I mean, I wanted to take them anyway haha. She was NOT a happy camper - she didn't want to get her photo taken what so ever. She cried and cried when she was a)cold b)unwrapped c)not in someone's arms... poor little lamb! I did manage to capture a few awesome  moments though... and my favorite of those pics are right here:

I was craving chocolate chip cookies SO badly tonight, so I went to Kroger and got cookie dough and made cookies. Made 48 cookies. yikes... And this wouldn't be so bad, because they are pretty small, but Annie and Cara are refusing to help me eat them. Those bitches. Seriously. UGH! So if you want a chocolate chip cookie, come get some. I have plenty!

Alright, enough rambling. I know I left some thoughts out but oh well - I'll include them next time. Enjoy your evening....!


Untrustworthy #13:
People who wear fannie packs - especially to amusement parks.

Cannot Believe It Has Been 3 Years...

I am not even sure how to approach this day's blog. All I know, as of right now, is that its going to contain a LOT of pictures of my brother. [And don't judge - some of these pics are old, and from some not very flattering times! lol] So if you aren't okay with that, then don't even bother reading on from this point.

Tomorrow (March 4th) marks the official 3 year anniversary from the day of Joey's accident. Part of me cannot believe how fast these past three years have gone... and the other part of me feels like it has literally been an eternity since I have gotten to have an awesome conversation with my brother, hug my brother, or just even see my brother. There is always that part in me that also just hates coming to terms with the fact that the world doesn't stop spinning when someone you love passes away. It just keeps going... time keeps ticking and life goes on. No one stops because you are in pain, no one postpones their life to mourn with you. Life just continues going on. It sucks. Point blank, no better way to put it, it sucks.

For those of you who knew Joey, you know that he was a heartfelt, fun, enjoyable, crazy, life-living, amazing person. He was full of personality... Always smiling and laughing. Always having fun and going on adventures. Always there for you, no matter what the situation. He was a truly giving person, one of my very best and dearest friends, my older brother, and a confidant of mine. I miss him terribly. But there aren't enough words in the dictionary to describe that.

Tomorrow I will have so many individuals in my heart, thoughts, and prayers. First and foremost I will be thinking of my two amazing parents who lost their oldest child and only son on this day three years ago. They have endured so much, so much more than anyone could ever fathom or try to understand (unless of course they, too, have lost a child), and I have so much respect and compassion for them.

I will also be thinking of my little sister, who has, too, lost her big brother. She has endured the pain with my family and myself over the last three years and has been there every moment any of us have needed anything.

I will also be holding Andy (Fat Brady) in my heart and thoughts on this day as he was one of Joey's very best and closest friends. He was with Joey when the accident happened and sat there by his side holding him throughout the entire process. He saw more and endured more upfront pain than anyone else and he has to live with those memories each and every day. I spoke with him this evening for a few and we had a nice little chat. I know tomorrow will be exceptionally rough for him, so for those of you who pray, say a prayer for him.

I, of course, will also be keeping all the rest of Joey's friends and family in my thoughts as it affects each and every one of us in a different way. I know that there isn't a day that goes by that we don't think of Joey or remember his funny smirk or the way he was constantly there to help anyone in need. The memories of Joey are vast and happy. I've asked a lot of his friends to compile a list of awesome memories they have of Joey, and once we get that list, I'll post it as a bonus to this blog. [If you have a memory of him that you'd be willing to share with us... email it to me at lonnemanjm@Gmail.com!] That way those of you who read this and knew Joey can have a few good laughs and feel warm in your heart. And for those of you who didn't know Joey, I hope that those memories help you to understand the love we had for him and still have for him.

There is no way to fully describe the feeling of loss that comes with this day, with the death of a loved one, the death of a brother/son/best friend. It is an awful deep gut wrenching feeling that never actually goes away. So many people try to offer the advice "it will get easier with time", but those people who offer that advice, I truly feel, have never endured such pain. Living your daily routine might get easier with time, but the pain and loss one feels never goes away, not even by an exceptionally small margin. In fact, I feel as though the more time that passes the more sickening the feeling is, that it has seriously been this long since we last saw/spoke with/hugged/smiled at my brother.

I want to leave you all with a quote I heard once... "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal." I feel as though it is a perfect quote to sum up this post, this day in my family's life.

I could write for literally hours about the accident itself, how I felt then, how I feel now, how I have grown, how I have healed, how I haven't healed, how my family is coping, etc. But this post would literally drag on for... well, for forever. And I'm sure many of you have zero interest in actually knowing any of that information. But please know, I am open to conversation about my brother, about his life, about his death. So if you ever think you would like to know any of those answers, do not hesitate to ask. It's always nice to have an ear to speak to.

Please keep my family and our friends in your thoughts and prayers today, and tomorrow especially, since it will be an incredibly difficult day for us. We know that Joey is smiling down on us, pushing us through this day, and each and every day at that. I miss you and love you, Joey. Forever.

Untrustworthy #12
People who don't thoroughly enjoy a good time jetskiing.