So..1 Year Out!

Hey guys!  I haven't written a post on here in a little over a year.  A TON has happened since I last updated everyone about my life, so here are the highlights:

-Once I returned home from Cape Cod, I had a month and a half of FULL TIME job searching.  It sucked.  I was stressed, depressed, and all around just not feeling great about myself.
-Eventually, I was hired by a local social service agency dedicated to helping seniors in the community.  I work as a Case Manager which is PERFECT, because that's exactly what I went to school for.  :)  It feels great being able to put my degree to work for me and get a little ROI (return on investment).
-Oct. 15, 2012 is when I started this incredible new job.  I'm almost coming up on my 1 yr anniversary here, so life has been wonderful.  I've learned a ton and absolutely love the work I'm doing.  Perfect fit!
-Ryan and I are no longer a couple.  But it's okay, I promise!  We're still extremely close and went back to being besties.
-In Feb. I had to get a new car.  Space needed new roters, brakes, brake pads, etc., etc., and it just wasn't worth it to keep throwing money into a '99 vehicle.  I ended up getting myself a silver 2010 Dodge Journey which is a large SUV.  The only 2 drawbacks are that (1) it is an automatic (I prefer 5 speeds), and (2) it is only FWD.  Since my job requires me to do home visits to many (most) of my clients, I am often traveling up back roads and up mountains, even in the middle of winter.  I wish I had advocated more for getting a 4WD vehicle.  Oh well, next time.  I am proud to say that I was able to get the loan for my vehicle all on my own (didn't need a co-signer!) so now I am truly able to say 'my' car and mean it! :)
-I've been to Washington, D.C. with Ryan last year for my birthday (my first time there)!  We stayed in a hostel for 7 days which ended up not having running water for 3 of those days, so we ended up having to get a hotel room about 2.5-3 days into that madness.  I think we almost reached our breaking point in seeing how long we could go without showering.  It was bad.  BUT we were able to see all of the main highlights and tourist attractions, so it felt great to cross all of the main monuments and museums off my bucket list.
-I've been paying HARDCORE on my student loans.  I crunched the numbers last night and by the end of this year if all goes well [I'll explain in my next bullet point], I'll have resolved $11,430 in my student loan debt.
-"If all goes well...."  Okay, here we go.  I have 3 different lenders for my student loans.  My federal ones through the US Dept of Education, some through VSAC, and one through this other loan mgmt company on behalf of my college called MyCampusLoan.  They are managing my Perkin's loan (instead of Champlain having to hire staff to work directly on managing every student's account).  Here's the deal.  There are certain circumstances in which you may be able to get your Perkin's loan forgiven.  You also have to have worked at your job for a minimum of 1 year.  I applied for deferment a couple months ago (because I only just found out that this might even be a possibility for me), and was approved--so right my now loan with them is not accruing interest.  YAY!  Before applying for deferment, my Perkin's loan was my first smaller loan I was really going after.  I wanted to get that totally paid off so I could snowball my payments and put the rest of the money that was going to my Perkin's payment toward VSAC or my federal loans.  But, since my Perkin's is in deferment and is not accruing interest, I'm working hard on my VSAC loans since they are still accruing interest.  Anyway, once I meet my 1 year anniversary at this fantastic job, I can send in a Request for Cancellation form.  I don't know if I will be approved, but I really hope so.  My other hope is that they will refund me the $1800 or so I've already invested in that loan.  Because I can put that towards another one of my loans.  So, if all of this goes my way, I'll be $11,430 out of student loan debt by the end of Dec. 2013.  GET IT.
-Ryan moved to E. Boston to continue his studies and get his Master's in Community Theater at Emerson College, so that's exciting!  I can't wait until I can go down to visit and spend a few nights with him.  I don't know Boston that well, but I imagine I'll be learning over the course of the next few years.
-Lastly, I'm trying once again to lose weight.  Now that I have health insurance through my employer (although I'm not sure how that's going to change once the Health Care Exchange takes over Jan 1), I have successfully lost about 30 lbs since mid January of 2013.  I went to Physical Therapy to have them train me in how to push myself, how to do which exercises with my body, and how to execute proper form with many of the different exercises they gave me to work on.  Besides exercising and trying to be more active in general, I have almost completely done a 180 on my diet.  I'm trying to stay away from processed food as much as possible, and focus more on fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, protein, etc.  There are still the days when I need to stop at McD's for a breakfast or lunch, because my job often has lots of time constraints, but I'm not making that the foundation of my diet any longer.  I can't wait to continue with this journey now that I have support from my PCP (primary care physician), and other local community agencies to help me reach my goals.  :)

Annd...that's really about it.  I'm sure I'm forgetting a few different highlights, but that's most of what has happened to me since August of 2012.

I hope I didn't bore you with all the minute details of my life for the past 13 months.  There's lots of exciting stuff going on, and I love being able to share all this with you.  :)

What are some of the main highlights of your life in the past year.  In what ways have you grown?  What can you do this year that you couldn't last year?

Happy September, everyone!  Here comes the next holiday season!!

x.o.x.o.
Megan

It's Been A While

Hello, everyone!

So, with my laptop finally back in my possession, life is good again.  As of Friday I will be totally ALL caught up on my homework, and I'll be in a good place.

Speaking of Friday, our beloved Eden is coming from 4 hours away at PSU to stay here in Burlington with Ryan and I for the weekend!  This is the first time she'll have been able to see the UVM/Champlain campuses (campii?) from the Meg Ryan point of view.  It is going to be spectacular.  :)

In other news, I've been very gluttonous the past few days.  It sucks.  I need to kick it up a notch.  I was treated by Res Life to an amazing dinner at the Olive Garden last night, and I ate soooo much.  And Ryan got me a bag of Lindor Milk Chocolate truffles....which are mostly gone.  So...needless to say...I should maybe do some crunches tonight?!  I need to lose this weight!!! Even if I have to find a way to shake and shimmy every night for an hour or so!

Another factoid of my life: I may or may not be able to get a car over Spring Break.  So, here's the deal.  My 21st birthday falls on Spring Break from college.  This year (along with receiving the legal right to drink alcohol,) my mother was planning to get me my first car EVER!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!  BUT-this is all dependant on when she gets her Federal Tax Refund back.  She sent her forms out about 2 weeks ago, and they JUST got there the day before last.  Um...what?  Post office fail or federal government fail?  Maybe both.  They're the same thing, really. 

Soooo...here's my deal.  I thought I would finally have the chance to feel like I'm on equal footing (or tires?) with everyone else my age.  I've been driving my mothers car since I was 15.  It's really hard to hear other kids saying "Oh, let's just take my car" as if it's no big deal for 6 years.  It gets old after a while.  It shouldn't be such a touchy subject, but for those who don't have something that everyone else takes for granted...it's frustrating. 

Having a car is something that Vermont kids (especially) place a lot of value on.  Having your first car means you can finally have freedom.  Because it takes at LEAST a 15 minute drive to get anywhere worthwhile in VT, if you don't have a car, you're pretty much stuck.  I'm so sick of having to depend on other people's schedules and moods to determine whether or not I get to go somewhere.  I've dealt with it for 21 years of my life, the past 6 of which have felt extremely long.  I want to be a normal person with a car!  I would like to not have to depend on stupid bus schedules or mooch off friends for rides to the grocery store!  I would like to not have to barter with my mother during my breaks from school about if she has to work tomorrow, and if I can borrow her car. 

Long story short...this has been a long time coming.  I feel like a donkey with a carrot being dangled in my face.  The federal government better get their $H!T together and hurry up with my mother's refund so I can stop feeling like an inadequate college student.  Please and thank you.

(One vehicle my mom told me about was for sale in W. Rutland or somesuchplace.  It's a black Saturn Vue.  My mom currently has a blue one, but black works for me too!  We're looking into getting a standard because I have so much fun driving a stick shift.  Here's what one will potentially look like:)

Cute, right?  :)

I'm going to do my best to be patient.  I mean, even if I don't get the vehicle (which I really hope I do...otherwise some other plans of mine might be a little screwed...) I can still do this:

FYI...my mother has plans to get me drunk.  It's been a plan in motion since I was 9.  :)

SO-I hope this catches you up to where I'm at in life.  I have missed Blogger!  It feels good to write this out of my system.  <3

Until next time...
May the road rise to meet you (but not too quickly...)
XOXO
-Megan

The Power of Resistance

The Power of Resistance

First Monday Off

Hello, everyone!  So, today was my first Monday off.  It began (and still continues) with me feeling like something isn't quite right.  I feel like I'm forgetting to do something...and if I don't figure it out....it's not going to end well.  However, I got through it.  Tomorrow I'll probably realize what I missed, and then I will be in deep doo-doo.

But for now, I'll share with you what I did today.  This morning I woke up at 11, and took a shower.  Mmm, exciting, right?  (Yeah, I didn't think so either.)  I waited for Velvet to wake up so that we could go to the gym.  (That never actually happened, but stick with me for a moment while I continue to write about my day.)  Around 12:30, we were both finally up and decent enough to go get lunch.  Mmmmmmm...Mac n' cheese (that actually needed a lot of work), and a grilled cheese sandwich. 

After consuming sustinance, Velvet and I go to her dorm to grab her gym clothes.  At 1:40 we go to meet Ryan out of his Spanish class.  Mmmm....Ryan.  We hang out in his room for a while at UVM and then guess who shows up?  Thats right!  Josef! AHHH!!! Actually, no, I love Joe.  We chat and make small talk for about 10-15 mins, and then its time for Ryan to go to his Theatre lab.  Mmmm painting!  This worked out fine because it meant that we were finally able to go to the gym (after stopping by the library to do some printing, that is.) 

Lab fail.  Gym fail.  On the way back to Champlain, I get a text from Ryan.  Basically, his class all showed up, and the teacher showed up and cancelled the lab.  "Well, fine!"  This sparked an idea in my head. 

"Hey, Velvet.  Instead of going to the gym, want to do a walk around Burlington with Ryan?  His lab is cancelled."  Mmmm...Velvet.  The answer was toes, and so after doing a few errands, we both stopped by 308 and dropped off gym clothes and decided to wait for Ryan.  Eventually, this trip progressed.

Instead of spending 2 hours at the gym as originally planned, we spent 2-3 hours walking around Burlington.  Specifically we spent time at the waterfront, and took a bunch of random pictures all together.  Awwwww!!!!

Yes, today was amazing.  Oh! And for your amusement...here are some b-day pictures that were FINALLY rescued from my camera.  Enjoy!

Love,

Megan

Motivation...Or Lack Thereof

Good Mornin' Blogosphere!

Or, afternoon really, seeing as how it's 12:12 here.  How are all of you wonderful people this fine afternoon?  Oh, how am I you ask?  Well.........I am SICK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  Yes, unfortunately, I have had a random 4-5 day cold that just HAPPENED to come down on me around the same time as my birthday..which was Sunday for those of you who didn't know.

So, unfortunately I do not have my PictBridge cable here to transfer pictures taken from my birthday weekend onto this fabulous blog post, so you'll have to pretend we're on a Disney Safari.  I'll be your tour guide.  You may not be able to see everything, but you can imagine it in your mind's eye.  Ready? Here we go...

Ryan and I woke up at 8am on Saturday morning to get ready for the day.  The night before, my mom and gram and I had all spoken, and said that we would be leaving at 9am.  Cool!  After hanging up, I spent the rest of the evening with 308 (Ashley, Velvet, and Ryan,) and had a few epic good times.  Of course, Ashley and Ryan locked themselves in our bedroom to finish the surprise for our hotel room the following night so I didn't really see much of them, but Velvet and I had a good time for a little while anyway.

After waking up at 8 and starting to get ready.  I looked at my phone sitting on my desk and realized that I had 4 new voice messages.  FOUR.  WHAT IS THIS?!  I called my voice mail, and after listening to the annoying Verizon woman speak for 30 seconds I finally got to the first one.  "Hey Megan, it's Mom.  So, we had a change of plans (again...*sigh*) and so we're going to be there at 7am to pick you and Ryan up.  We're going to try to catch a noon showing of Avatar on the way down to Mass, so make sure you're ready, ok? Bye!" Crap.  So, the last hour we'd been sleeping, they've been sitting out in the parking lot waiting for us.  CRAP! 

Meanwhile, Ryan is blow drying his hair in the bathroom.  *Knock Knock Knock* 
"Yeah?"
"Hey, so....my mom and gram have been sitting in the parking lot for about an hour waiting for us to get going.  They called me last night and apparently changed plans so that we could get on the road a little earlier....just FYI..."
".............................................."
"Yeah, that's what I said too."


CRAP AGAIN!  Beyond this point, I don't even KNOW what happened.  There was a lot of running, jumping over one another like it was a bloody obstacle course in 308, and also a lot of "Shoot! Where is (insert random item's noun here.)?"

AFTER running around looking like lunatics, Ryan and I finally have everything together.  Feeling bad about leaving such a mess all over the place, we book it for the car.  We have a great time getting things packed in, and then we're on our way, after a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts that is.

We finally make it JUSTINTIME to see Avatar.  Which was amazing...again.  I had seen it 2 weeks prior to this trip with my mom.  It is FABULOUS!!!!  And after the movie, we started to book it for the hotel.  Ok, so getting to this hotel is like trying to get to Pettico Junction.  It's a whole 'nother dimension unto itself.  There's a random side street you have to take, and once you're over the bridge and through the woods, voila! DING DING DING! You win!  Seriously, if I was an FBI agent or something, that would be the hotel I would choose to stay at.  NOBODY knows its there.  Oh and guess what?  The indicator for the road you need to take to get there?  Yeah, its right in front of a Dunkin' Donuts.  I mean, obviously....where else would the road be?

Hahahaha!

So, this weekend sounds fun so far, right?  Yeah, well we're not done yet.

For supper we all decided that we would go to the Rainforest Cafe for supper...part of my birthday weekend and all.  After getting to the Burlington Mall, we walk up and talk to the hostess at the podium in front of the gift shop. 
"Yeah, so there's going to be a two-and-a-half hour wait for the next table.  We'll call you when it's ready."  CRAP.

Mind you, by this time at night (around 6ish) we were all starving.  It had been a long ride, and we just wanted to eat something.  Two and a half hour wait was not sounding very good at this point in time.  So, we went to the food court and each got a slice of pizza to tide us over.  Meanwhile, Ryan is freaking out because of all the people in such a small space.  Of course, it could have just been partly because we'd had such a long ride, and partly because the height of the ceiling was only about 7.5 feet in the food court...but either way I can attest to it feeling a little crowded myself.  (And the whole me having dealt with a sore throat this entire day wasn't helping either.)

SO, after eating our snack, we walked the mall.  Mostly designer things that are pretty to look at, not so pretty to actually buy.  Seriously, who fits in a size -1?  Your intestines must be like the size of spaghetti or something...sheesh.   Eventually we found a Mac store and I was able to buy a cover for the iTouch my mom got me for Christmas. (I love that woman!)

iTouch protected, we leave and go find a place to sit for the next hour.  People watching is so much fun, especially when you're in a place with a lot more diversity, and around people of different ethnicities.  Vermont is sooooo white.  I grew up with white people everywhere.  Walking around and seeing Latinos, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Asians, Vietnamese, EVERYTHING is such an eye-opener.  I love it when I get to be exposed to diversity.  Unfortunately, living in Vermont, it doesn't happen all that often.

FINALLY the time to eat supper arrives.  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.  That's all I have to say on that matter.

Getting back to the hotel, Ryan is getting anxious because he wants to decorate the room while I am gone.  So, upon returning to the hotel, we find that the pool is open until 11.  THANK GOD!  I get changed and go down to start swimming, and the plan is that Ryan would join me shortly.  Hmm....mysterious.  Hahahaha.  After waiting for an entire HOUR, he finally comes down.  (Side note: We got back to the hotel at 9.  Meaning we had two hours to swim.  Meaning that now he had wasted an hour, WE only had 1 hour to swim TOGETHER.)  FML.  Hahaha.  So we did that, it was a pretty good time!  Bob and Mary came to chill (our invisible acquatic friends) and we played WTF DINO all over the pool.  It was certainly an excellent adventure.

After getting back to the room, there are pictures of me and me with random friends all over the place.  All together now...."AWWWWWWWW!!!!"   They were lined up in order from me as a child up until this year at 308. SOOO CUTE!!!!  Also attached to the walls were WTF Dino, and a WTF collage.  I LOVE IT!!!!  Hehehehehe.  Oh, and there was also a balloon party and random picture taking....which was some $hit.

After staying up until 2 am and watching P.S. I Love You, I decided that it was time for bed.  My sickness was draining me.  AHHHHH, NOOOO YOU BASTARDS!!!  Apparently by the time Ryan got back to bed from doing his nightly ritual, I was already snoring...which is weird because I remember him climbing back into bed...idk, maybe I was partially awake?  (A note on this: in honor and reverence to SCE and their trips all over the country, Ryan and I pushed the two beds together to make a huge bed.  It was AWESOME.)

......................................................................Silence................................................................................

8am the next morning, Ryan and I wake up.  I realize that I can't breathe.  Mucus is all up in my lungs, and I don't have a voice.  Awesome, I mean, I love when mucus is like, dripping from your vocal chords.  That's my fave.  Also, today is WATERPARK day...so this is going to work out fabulously.

After getting to Coco Keys Water Resort, things get AWESOME.  (Not in my snarky, sarcastic-al tone either...)  THERE'S WATER EVERYWHERE!!! AHHHHH!!!! From the 4 "big kid" water slides-2 of which require innertubes, 2 of which don't, the 2 pre-teen slides, and the 5 or 6 little kid ones, to the out-of-order wave pool (big surprise), to the lazy river thingy-mer-bob all in all it was a great time.  Ryan and I discovered the secrets of the water coming out of the ground in bursts, took some unexpected showers, and got dumped all over about 4 or 5 times from the huge bucket on top of everything.  :D  TOES FUN!

We were only able to amuse ourselves for about 2 hours.  There apparently was a river/innertube thing somewhere where you could float and watch a full-length movie while floating around, but we never found that.  I don't know if there was a whole 'nother section in there somewhere, but we had fun with what we were actually able to find. 

After the water park, things get fuzzy.  I got some medication to start combating the mucus with Mucinex and Vicks Cough Syrup.  This works...kind of...  Hahaha. We get to have lunch at about 2:30-3 at a 99 somewhere on the way home, and then Ryan and I both pass out until we get to Franconia Notch.  His parents had called, so he woke up then I woke up shortly after.  Of course, we all also had to pee, so we found a random Irving station and took care of that situation.

After that, there isn't much to tell.  We got Ryan home, I went home.  We both slept forever.  The end.

That was my birthday weekend.  Nice, huh?  Overcoming random obstacles and constantly changing plans of action was fun.  Hahahahhahhahahaha!!!!

Ok, now that I've written a book I feel that I should go.  Enjoy.  Disney Safari is now over.  Please watch your step when exiting the vehicle.  Thank you, and have a WONDERFUL day!

Much Love!
-Megan

P.S. The title of this blog actually has to do with me getting in touch with Ryan's UVM library.  I have books out that are due back today, and I haven't had the motivation to do with them what I need to be doing so I can just return them and be done with it.....Yeah, I'm useless.

I'm Drowwwwning....

....in homework.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  There is SO MUCH to get done this weekend! 

Mostly I'm stressing about this one project that is going to be due for one of my SWK classes.  It was supposed to be due on Friday, but we were able to get an extention until Wednesday.  Even with this extention, I'm not sure how this project is going to turn out. 

I still cannot wait until my birthday!  Only 7 days left of my teenage years.  Argh.  Oh well, I'll always be a teenager at heart, I know it. :)

Ok, now that I've vented a bit, I'm going to get going and actually work on this project.

Love you all!
-Megan

Why Do I Have Nothing To Do?

Ok, so my assignment book EVERY WEEK looks something like this:

Someone tell me that isn't crazy.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  I'm so ready for a break.  This three-day weekend was good while it lasted, but I want more.  My birthday is coming up!!!! March is going to be amaaaayyyyzzzzziiiinnnnggggggg!!!! 

My family is THE BEST...ever!  Ryan and I are taking a little road trip to Glenn's Falls to party up in the Great Escape Lodge.  There's a water park in there....it's awesome. 

And this is only until lunch. 

After lunch, we're driving to Burlington, MA to check into our hotel.  SO EXCITED!  There's going to be swimming, extra in-the-room activities, and chocolate-covered strawberries.  Ok, so after lunch, there will be (more) swimming.  When suppertime arrives, we're going to the RAINFOREST CAFE for supper.  OMG LAVA VOLCANO CAKE!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

After this FANTASTIC adventure, it's back to the hotel to chill for an hour or two to start on digestion of that amazing meal, [insert Ryan preparing the room in a special way for my b-day here,] and back to the pool/fitness center to work off some of the food. 

After this, it's baby oil massage time.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Oh, IT'S ZEN TIME, WHAT?!  Yeah, basically.  We're making a fort in the room, there's going to just be b-day stuff ALL over the place, and a very happy Megan. 

After staying up all night (or more than likely passing out from exhaustion from all the swimming at about 10:30 pm,) Day 2 arrives.  Spending the morning in the pool (big surprise,) BREAKFAST, and then going to see a movie of my choice.  Hmmmmm...yeah, I'm toes pumped for this. 

3 more weeks until this glorious phenomenon occurs. 

Until then....

adieu!

Love,

Megan