Mademoiselle de Paris (or Boston, DC, Chicago?)

Currently listening to my "Best of France" cd - cheesy, simple, dated, but very entertaining. It's Sunday morning, again, and this time around there are a few things on my to-do list. Can't really consider this a Lazy Sunday - not to say I have had a boring weekend by any means. I did the usual Ninfa's trip (without the parents - they went to Houston), but had a delicioso meal with Ann and her in-town friend, Stephanie. Drinks followed at Austin's on the Ave...delightful evening! Yesterday, well, I procrastinated and did not do any school work, but produced a scrumptious Ratatoutelle Pasta dish with a yummy salad and a Malbec glass of wine!

I did start researching internship destinations this weekend and have "narrowed" them down to Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Dallas/FortWorth, and Austin areas. HA! Hardly a narrowed list....I am very interested in leaving the state, despite my anxieties about leaving family, friends, and spending a year away from my comfort zone. If God places it within my reach and provides for this to happen - I might just have to accept the opportunity. Here are the candidates...I have also posted Winter pictures because, well, it's not like Winter in Texas.

Chicago, IL

Washington D.C.

Boston, MA

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

~No winter pictures - looks the same!

Austin, TX

Yay for new beginnings. Yay for stepping out into a new world. Yay for opportunies, and yay for change.

C'est magnifique! (Best of France still playing....)

Sunday Mornings

sunday mornings are my favorite ~ quiet and still enough to let your mind rest, reminisce on the past week and look forward to the week ahead. it truly is the turning point of the week, because we can easily take in what we have experienced, put it in perspective and decide how we would like move forward. it's a beautiful day: perhaps my most favorite. i will always remember something my dad told me once ~ 'the mornings are the best time of the day, always wake up to enjoy the morning'. so true dad, so true.

so here i sit with Winston in my lap, contemplating directions to take in my life. in about a month, i will start my 2nd year as a graduate student - a mere year left in my program and faced with the decision about would i like to intern during my 3rd year. i have set up an appointment with a professor to discuss my destination possibilities and hope that i can have some options to look at. of course, there are requirements for my licensure to that i will have to adhere to but i would also like a cultural experience ~ one that will allow me to learn not only about school psychology but also grow as a person of this world. i have the travel bug. the full blown travel bug...

Beginnings...

i usually tend to be a follower, not so much a leader. so after family and friends started creating blogs, i was encouraged to put my thoughts and experiences on paper. i think this is a great way to communicate with people and communicate with yourself. i am in the middle of young adulthood - this will be good for me and help me transition however many times. i have to admit, i was concerned with starting my own blog - i have always found it hard communicating my own, unique thoughts, so i'm hoping this will help me improve on that. excuse any mispellings, odd choice of words, or confusing thought processes. it's my blog and i'll blog how i want to....so without any further adeu...

so, i've spent the majority of my day studying for my human development test #2. well, let me rephrase that - i've spent the majority of my day preparing to study - which includes typing up several learning objectives from 7 chapters covered, creating notecards 3 inches deep, and suffering from a hand cramp (yet again!). grad school is so exciting... i enjoy reading the physical/cognitive/social/emotional developments of early/middle childhood - and the infamous adolescence periods of our lives. no wonder there is so much to study - i remember adolescence and it was complicated. we've discussed everything from puberty (lord help the little souls) to self esteem (don't make me go there) to identity (am i even there yet?).

...my brain hurts, therefore i have learned.

i did leave the house for happy hour at sonic - vanilla dr. pepper is my drink of choice - but i should not have endulged in a route 44...

winston has taken many naps while his master has been buried beneath the books. occasionally, he has ventured up on top of several desks, tables, chairs (winston is part cat), and he has attempted to get my attention by sitting to the right of my computer screen with the stereotypical 'sad puppy dog face' - which he is presently doing right now. my favorite winston behavior - when he jumps on a chair that is pushed in to the table and squeezes his head up to rest on the ledge of the table. i've got to get a picture of this to post...

so, for the remainder of the night - it's movie time. i rarely turn on the tv and get really excited when i can curl up on the couch and let my mind rest. winston will appreciate the attention, as well - he looks so upset in that picture...