Currently | Monday Check-up.

Awesome picture I took on the way home the other day

Obsessing over: Health and fitness. I am so pumped with this workout calendar I'm doing with Nicol. I've also mean-planned for the next couple of weeks. Being conscious on how I work my body and what I put into it is a process. But I really really like it. It's all about balance. But the most important part is that it makes me feel good.

Working on: Not obsessing over the future. It's difficult when you are constantly bombarded with friends and peers getting or applying to jobs. It's intimidating. And I'm not one to be comfortable with not having a "plan." I like having a plan.

Drinking: I have been craving sweet tea for weeks and finally stopped at McDonalds on the way back from my tutoring job tonight. Heavenly. Maybe I'll be just fine living in the South afterall. At least in that aspect.

Waiting for: Now that I've been talking about eating healthy and previously mentioned sugar-filled iced tea, I guess I should admit that I have Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread from Trader Joe's in the oven for the next half hour. It's a mix and it's heavenly. Good gosh.

Excited for: Finally seeing some lovely ladies towards the end of this month, finally starting the semester and getting the next four months rolling. I have been craving routine so badly after the previous few weeks have been a little scattered. It's nice to have a steady job and regular hours, but after teaching full-time and being occupied 7am-5pm, I am going nutso not being so busy!

Listening to: Okay okay, I confess. I'm watching The Bachelor. 

Currently | Monday Check-up.

Reading: I have a list of books I would like to conquer during the time I have off from my classes in the month of January. I have Timothy Keller's, "The Meaning of Marriage" sitting on my nightstand, but I am currently reading, "Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire." I'm hoping I can work my way through both of these. However, I just got a bunch of free Beth Moore Kindle edition books through an Amazon promotion. I'm thinking these will be perfect for my time at the gym, as I (used to) love bringing my Kindle with me on the elliptical! So I definitely have more than enough of something to satisfy me for a bit. At least before my part-time semester kicks in!

Doing: About to bake some delicious muffins for a girl's night/Bachelor party at my house. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal muffins, yes please! I just came from the flower shop and ordered my wedding flowers. I am overwhelmed, grateful and excited. Wedding planning is nuts!!

A little sneak peak of my inspiration for the wedding flowers

Drinking: My trademark carmel Dunkin black iced coffee, of course. And yes, I am aware it is the winter. But yes, I am a Northern Girl through and through! I don't think you know how excited I was to find out that my future home finally acquired a Dunkin not too far from the complex we'll be in. Hallelujah! I need that stuff flowing through my bloodstream at all times...{No, no addict here.} 

Thinking about: The ambitious email I just pressed send on. My professor had shared that she wanted to look into publishing a piece of writing that I'd sent to her to read. I was leery of it at first, as I'm not generally 'public' with the personal pieces I write. However, she insisted I send it to an education journal and I shied away from doing so. Recently, I've been convicted of sharing my writing a little bit more and messaged her this morning asking about how I would go about doing this. I'm intrigued, but still a little nervous. So stay tuned.

I guess I'm also thinking about the wedding of course! After just being at the flower shop for nearly two hours, I guess it's cliche to say that I can finally "envision what my wedding is going to look like." I am constantly bombarded (in both a very emotional good and scary way) of the reality that is my next five or six months. Scary for sure, but also very very exciting and fun and...life changing!

Loving: My patient fiance. 

I'm having a little bit of a hard time during this transition period. Leaving what I know and love, but being so very excited to go where I'm going and be where I'll be is truly terrifying and exciting at the same time. I also really hope to continue my mentality of trying to stay fixed in the present, no matter how much I am chomping at the bit to go ahead to all the new points of life I'll be in. But that's becoming increasingly difficult as I'm looking forward to crossing the finish line after four years of distance to start a whole new chapter with this guy. I want to enjoy my last semester of school, be fully present in the moments with friends and family that I have left, and enjoy the anticipation of the events that are to come before they actually come; all the planning and preparations. I want to enjoy the details without stressing over them, I guess you could say.

Which is all very difficult, let me tell you. 

Regardless, currently I am enjoying my last few days of break at home before I trek back to school to begin a (classless) work-filled January term of the semester. 

Organizational mode - activated

Spending time with my munchkin baby

And then finally begin my final part-time Spring semester. 

I am constantly reminding myself to slow down. 

(unknown source)

Happy 2014!

{I'm getting married this year. Ah!}