Cue the Processional!

Holy cow!  It's been almost two weeks!  Well....school started and life has been crazy.  I've finally figured out the whole graduating/Ephraim being gone thing, so I will make the official announcement here.

Here's the back story: Ephraim was gone during spring semester on his internship, and he impressed the company so much that they offered him a job!  Problem was, he wasn't set to graduate until April.  So he talked to his advisor and was able to work everything out so he could graduate in December and his remaining nine credits online from January to April.  But I still had to stay here until July and then do my student teaching (in Vegas) from September to December....so we were going to have to be apart for a year.

So, I started looking into possibly taking 21 credits during fall semester and winter semester, graduating in April, being with Ephraim from April to August, and then doing student teaching from September to December.  But then I found out I still had to take three classes, sequentially....no exceptions...so it wasn't possible.  

Then, a stroke of genius (because of a suggestion from a close friend).  I tried to figure out what I had to do to finish online.  Well, by changing my major to University Studies (which is basically General Studies), I'd be able to finish the Business minor online and use classes I already had to create two clusters (American Government and History Education....which is pretty much the same so I've been just saying I'm minoring in Business and American Government).  SO!  By taking 19 credits on campus this semester and 20 credits online next semester, I'll be able to walk in December and officially finish in April....and be with my husband!

So far, it's been super busy.  We haven't been able to go to the store (plus our financial aid didn't get transferred fast enough for us to go before we really got busy), so we have not been eating well.  (My menu from last week is still all set, just never used unfortunately.)  I haven't had time to go to the gym.  And our house is fairly messy....mainly the kitchen.  It's just been homework, homework, homework....and of course, class and work.  AH!

Also, I always planned to get involved in some of the Honor Societies or clubs on campus, but now I'm so busy that I'm trying to figure out how that could even work.  I'd love to have some sort of office or committee job, but I just don't know if I'll have time.  Of course, all the main positions are already taken.  Also, I'm missing just one political science class in order to be part of the National Honor Society for political science....which is kinda sucky!  I can only be in the BYUI Chapter.  =(  But I think I can be in the National History Honor Society, so at least that's something!

Anyway, I'm really excited about this new plan.  It's different than I thought it would be, but it feels right and it feels good.

And HELLO!!  I'M FREAKING GRADUATING!!!  =D

Anyone care for some dinner?

I tried something new this week.  (Well, we did it once at the beginning of our marriage, but then never did it again.)  And it was successful!  What is this successful new thing, you ask?  Planning a weekly menu at the beginning of the week, buying all the food on Monday, and then making the food according to schedule with the recipes handy.

It went off without a sitch!  It was so easy!  Usually, I come home and think, "What the heck am I gonna make for dinner?  I don't want to make dinner.  I'm too tired to think of something, and I don't really know what we have, and I'm missing something for a certain recipe, and I don't want to go to the store.  Let's just go get something."  And then we end up eating something that is not healthy and that drains our bank account.  Seriously.  With this way of living, we spend about $400/month on food.  And we're only two people.  It's ridiculous.

So, with the help of Pinterest, I came up with a meal plan filled with healthy dinners (feel free to browse my pinboard).  Here is what we ate:

Monday: We celebrated my 25th birthday and ate out this day.  But we split a salad, a meal, and a dessert.  It was the perfect size.  We were full, but not stuffed, and still had room for dessert!  And since neither one of us is a huge fan of leftovers, there's no food left in our fridge to stink it up.

Tuesday: Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
How is alfredo healthy?  Using Greek yogurt, of course!  One cup (which is actually quite filling) is about 450 calories.  And you don't need anything else with it.  So that could be your whole meal!  It was mine.  =)

Wednesday: Chicken & Veggie Stir-fry...kind of
So I made this one up a couple months ago, and it's amazing.  Brown two cloves garlic in olive oil.  Add one chicken breast (unless you really want chicken) and a healthy amount of lemon pepper.  When it's almost cooked through, add red onions, red cabbage, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, snap peas, and a lot more lemon pepper!  Mix it around and then add about a fourth cup of water and put on a lid to let it simmer for a few minutes.  The broccoli should be bright green and the potatoes should be semi-soft.  Take the lid off, turn the heat up, and keep mixing it around so the water evaporates.  You can eat it just like that or with white or brown rice.  A large serving of that WITH white rice is just 347 calories!

Thursday: Oriental Chicken Salad
Ephraim LOVES salads for dinner.  I, on the other hand, believe that salads are a pre-dinner course, or a side.  So I've made a deal with him: I will make one salad for dinner a week.  This one was pretty good.  I did less soy sauce because I'm not a huge fan.  Ephraim loved it!

Friday: We had dinner at one of Ephraim's mission companions' house.  I didn't have to worry about it, but it was NOT healthy.  The next morning, I got up and worked by butt off!  Literally!  At least that's what if feels like...




Saturday: Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili

This was yummy.  I decided we'll do one crockpot meal a week, also.  I think I'll probably end up doing it on Sundays in the long run, but it worked out well for this Saturday because we were busy!  This made a lot!  We ended up giving some to friends because there's no way we'd finish it.

Sunday: Skillet Lasagna
Interesting.  In the future, it needs something else.  Maybe more sauce, or more ricotta, maybe even some good meat.  It's low on calories, so I don't think adding some meat will ruin it's health value. 

So, hopefully this will keep working as school begins.  We're both taking 19 credits, so we shall see!  Wish me luck!

We are. A 25-year-old's reflection.

So.  I've officially been 25 years old for almost two days now.  It's a milestone.  Quarter of a century.  Halfway to fifty.  However you think of it, I can officially rent a car all by myself and my car insurance will go down.  That's pretty big.  When I was a young girl, I always imagined that I'd be married around 22 or 23 (I got married at 22.5 years old) with at least one baby (or maybe on the way) by 25.  Well, I can officially announce that I do not have a child, nor am I expecting one in the near future.  So one out of two ain't bad.

I'm on my way to a degree, which I wasn't sure I'd ever do.  I was going to be famous.  And really, I was still going to be famous up until I was 22 when I realized that my dreams and goals had changed.  I wanted a different life.  So I went to school.  It was weird to be the 23-year-old freshman with a bunch of 18-year-old girls and guys.  Some guys were 21 because they'd just gotten back from their missions, but still....I felt so old!  And I was only 23!  But it's okay.  I've really enjoyed it.  In many ways, I think it was good for me to come back to school five years after I'd graduated.  I was ready for it.  I wasn't sick of school.  I wasn't itching to be done.  I wasn't confused about my life plan or trying to live on my own for the first time.  I was older and had a completely different outlook.  I was excited.  I loved learning.  It helped that I was married and didn't have to worry about dating anyone new or going to social gatherings (it's really hard for me to say no to those).  I worked really hard.  And I've gotten straight A's since I've been here.  Five semesters.  For a girl who gave up on her senior year and barely graduated (which was just stupid because I was in Honors and AP classes all four years of high school), that's really good.  I'm proud of myself.  Proud that I've been able to buckle down, concentrate, show up to class, do the work, study for the tests, and do well.

Funny how that works.

I've studied harder than I ever have in my life...especially this last semester...which was killer!  But how much more satisfied was I to see all of those A's??  I was shocked.  In tears!  I aced my finals after studying for HOURS!  And gosh, that semester was hard for more than just the hard classes.  I had an awful run-in with my boss (seriously...horrible), quit my job as an apartment manager, found a new place for us to live, moved, got my old job on campus back, fell behind in school, and caught back up....ALL without my husband!!  He was gone the whole semester on his internship!  Well, he did come back the weekend we moved, but he had a bum knee and was recovering from having his appendix removed.

As I think back on these 25 years, I think this last semester is the perfect culmination of my life so far.  I've struggled, like everyone has really.  I've been down.  I've been up.  I've had support from family.  I've had friends that have lifted me up.  I've worked hard to get here.  I don't have all the answers and I make a lot of mistakes, but I think I'm doing an ok job.  I'm a much better person now than I was five years ago.  I'm not that little innocent girl that I was ten years ago.  I'm not that little girl who feels like she has to make up lies to get people to like or accept her that I was fifteen years ago.  And I'm not a five-year-old.  Ok, I tried but couldn't think of anything neat to say.  I don't really remember me as a five-year-old....except that my best friend, Justine, was probably the coolest girl ever to me...so cool that I wanted to cut my hair off like she did.  When I look at pictures of that time, I see a happy girl.  I hope that I can become most like that girl, if I had to judge from pictures.  After all, didn't Christ say to become as little children to enter the kingdom of Heaven?

So, here's my little 25-year-old speck of wisdom: Life is a journey.  It takes us to many different places, and at some point, we are able to take our lives where we want them to go.  We are able to make our own decisions and decide our own destiny.  We decide what is important to us, we make it a priority, and we go where we want with it.  Along the way, things happen that maybe we didn't expect, but we still have control.  We still call the shots in our lives.  We decide how to react to each situation.  We decide how to handle it.  We decide who we want to be.  And in the end, "we are what we believe we are."  (C.S. Lewis)

(This entry was actually supposed to be about planning a weekly menu, if you can believe it.)