Meg's Blog

New Blog!!

2008-04-22T11:20:00.002-04:00

Hey there,
Tom and I decided we would have a joint blog now that we are married. We will be using this site to post blog entries and to put up pictures. If you would like to get the login info for the pictures, please email me at meghanmcfarlin@gmail.com.
Love,
Meghan

Pictures from our wedding!

2008-04-16T12:08:00.002-04:00

Tom and I had a WONDERFUL wedding and honeymoon, and now we are back in Georgia. He's working at careerbuilder again, and I'm working on our apartment. But I just wanted to put a couple of links in for some pictures that Chrissy (Christine Hall), our photographer, took during our wedding day. Here are a few of the kids that she took as well. =)
Love,
Meghan

Less than 100 hours! WOOOHOOO

2008-04-02T00:02:00.003-04:00

Mr. Tommy keeps sending me and Tom countdown updates for the wedding. OH MY GOODNESS it's so close! YAY! YAAAYYYY!!! I'm getting the bridesmaids presents and the readers/greeters presents together with Harry Potter on in the background. Imelda Staunton is just too good as Dolores Umbridge. I can't stand her. haha YAY the wedding is getting closer. I still can't eat dairy, and my allergies are pretty bad, but I'm feeling much better than I was. And I'm praying for good weather on Saturday. And running tons of errands tomorrow, just as I did today and the day before. And Kristen comes in tomorrow night! YAY! And ...whew, I'm tired. Back to work.
~Meghan

uuuuuuuuuughhh

2008-03-30T11:30:00.002-04:00

It is NOT FUN to get sick, especially when you have a big, most-important-day-of-your-life-to-date event coming up, but somehow, Mom and I have both managed to get some kind of bug that has us under house arrest. Or bathroom/bucket arrest since you never know when food is going to try to escape your body. Enough said. Gotta go. I can feel it coming on again.
~Meghan

I spoke too soon

2008-03-28T00:03:00.002-04:00

I always seem to be eating my words when I post about things getting better or slowing down on my blog. Not two days after my last post, I pretty much had a meltdown. I had a lot of stuff I wanted to do in Alpharetta, but I ended up having to do a TON of stuff in Covington/Conyers instead, so I never got to Alpharetta until that evening about 10 minutes before Tom got home from work. Also, some of the wedding work I had been doing in Covington ended up going down the tubes, and we had somewhere to be in two hours, so I had basically no time to do what I had come to Alpharetta to do. And there's more, but I won't go into it. It was VERY frustrating to say the least, and Tom was being really sweet and listening to me vent while we carried in some stuff from my car. As I bent to set it down (still talking and looking to my left at Tom), I smacked the bone above my eyeball on the corner of our glass dining room table. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

I lost it. Just sat down and burst into tears. My eye region REALLY hurt, and I was pretty much convinced I was going to get an ugly bruise from it and it would ruin our wedding pictures. I get bruises all the time, and it still hurts to make any expression with my eyes on the right side of my face, so that's a valid fear, but I've been praying to be wrong. I don't want it to finally blossom out all purple and brown two days before the wedding, as sometimes it takes my bruises a week to show up. Anyway, Tom finally got me to feel like things couldn't get worse, so they had to get better, and we had a good night at Robert Lee's junior recital and eating afterwards with Daniel and Jessica.

Then I had to drive back. I got to bed around 3AM, and I got up (overslept, to be honest) and went to my last Precept Bible Study at church since I'm moving after the wedding and can't go next week. Then I did some wedding stuff at home, and then I babysat from 5-10.

Tomorrow, I have to check in on rehearsal dinner and wedding rsvps, have a tanning bed appointment at 9:15 am, then I have the 7-day meeting to attend with mom at the reception site. Then she and I are headed over to the florists to talk with her about the cake and other stuff. Then it's back to Covington, where I need to pack and get gas in my car, renew stuff at the library, fax the church rules on pictures to the photographer, and meet Tom to get our marriage license. Which we probably shouldn't have waited until now to do, but it's hard being long distance and doing all this stuff before 4:30. Which reminds me that I need to get cash so that we can pay for the license.

After that, we will be heading out to Augusta to see my niece in her first ballet recital, with a little party afterwards. Saturday, it's back to Covington to try out the Lancome people for bridal make up.

WHEW. I'm tired just thinking about it. I don't really know why anyone would want to read all I'm doing...it's more of a documentation of it so I can look back and remember....this was the week before I got married. hahaha

Bed time.

~M

The light at the end of the tunnel....

2008-03-25T00:24:00.003-04:00

I'm feeling pretty good because it seems like the list is FINALLY starting to get smaller for planning the wedding. I've emailed everyone in the wedding party about most things and will be fielding answers up to the wedding day, but I would rather be asked than have someone be confused, so that's no big deal. Mom and I have gotten the program typed up and will be going tomorrow to get that settled at the printers. I need to go to Michael's for some stuff for the wedding day. I have to drop off my veil and jewelry to Christy Lassiter so it's with my dress. I need to type up the church rules and email it to my photographer. I need to mail a cd to our band. I need to get my engagement ring fixed up at the Shane Co. Etc, etc, but these things just seem so small and few compared to how much other stuff we've had going on, and it just feels good to know that I will be married, whether or not any of these plans work out, in less than two weeks! =) And I'm really excited to get to see a bunch of my friends and family that I haven't seen lately (and those that I have) when they all start coming into town! =) YAY!
Love,
Meghan

Sooo........Tired.......

2008-03-20T00:50:00.002-04:00

It's been nonstop wedding work this entire week and will continue to be this way until the wedding, I'm sure. I'm convinced because the list of things to do never ends. Something always crops up, and I have more to do. Last night I couldn't sleep because it was all on my mind. Now I am tired as all get out but need to stay up to work on some stuff. I don't know if I'll finish it all tonight. SO tired.
~M

Stormy Weather and a Wedding

2008-03-17T01:25:00.003-04:00

Well, Atlanta got it's first tornado in about 50 years on Friday night, and it was pretty bad. It is said that it killed at least 3 people and injured several, but it could have been worse. It did destroy some homes and buildings as well as the roofs and exteriors of several buildings, like the Georgia Dome (during the SEC Basketball championship, which UGA ended up winning) and several of the glass windows of The Westin. The Omni was evacuated, and several people fled to the CNN Center for cover. The St. Patrick's Day Parade was cancelled. It was a mess all over downtown, and they were cleaning it up all weekend.

The storm blew out to Covington, where it rained cats and dogs and threw hail bigger than golf balls down. Our yard was torn up pretty badly, and my car and dads are both dinged and dented. My car has a cracked windshield and a hole where the windshield wipers are as well. The insurance guy is coming out tomorrow to look at it all. You can see pictures that dad took of the hail everywhere and that I took when I got home here.

The reason I wasn't home is that I went with the McFarlins to Charleston, S.C. for a wedding this weekend. While we were there, we got to see Claire Peters, which was really fun. The storm headed up from Georgia to find us in Charleston by Saturday night. We ended up taking a taxi home to avoid being drowned in the rain, but by Sunday morning, it was beautiful and sunny again in both states. When we headed out to leave, we got stuck on a 10-mile stretch of road for 2 hours on I-26 because a tornado had touched down out there the night before, snapping pine trees or uprooting them and strewing them all over the road. They were cleaning them up, and it slowed everyone down. It took us about 7 hours to get home (to Ben's house, since he drove) because of it. You can see some pictures of our trip to Charleston here.

The wedding definitely made me think about the fact that ours was 3 weeks from Saturday, and I about had a panic attack when we all stood up to watch the bride come down the aisle. Knowing how clumsy I am and how emotional that day will be for me, I'm more nervous than I can explain to have those doors open wide and have all those people stand up to look at me. It's a good thing I have my dad to lean on for support! I'd probably pass out or throw up or just get flustered and trip...which might happen anyway, but like I said, Dad will be there to catch me. =) Anyway, once I could breathe again, I felt a little more calm and could enjoy Bo and Tapley's wedding, which was very nice.

I'm so ready to be married! =)

Love,
Meghan

Today

2008-03-12T21:59:00.003-04:00

Today was VERY BUSY, but I wanted to update on what happened.

First of all, I had my final gown fitting, and it went well. My dress fits and it's not too long, which is what she mainly had to adjust. She even had to make the petite crinoline she owned that goes under the dress shorter because it was dragging the ground on me. THAT is how short I am. haha I tried it on with my hair done up, and my veil and jewelry on, so that was fun. We took pictures, but obviously I can't post them.

Then we went to Loganville (we=Me and Mom) to meet with Rob and the two Holy Cross Anglican Church wedding coordinators at the church. Basically, after that last phone call and then talking to Rob, we decided this was the best thing to do. It went A LOT better than I think it would have gone without all the prayer that we have put into it and others have put into it. God blessed our meeting. We all got along well, and I think it's going to be a beautiful ceremony. I feel a lot better about it now. We are pretty much just going along with their new rules, but they did explain a lot more, which is what I wanted in the first place. And we are going to be able to use Tyler and Madeline even though she won't be five, since we are going to have them walk up the aisle then sit right down with their cousin Rachel, who is my age.

After that, we came home, and I made the list for the bridesmaids luncheon with everyone's addresses and sent that to a couple of my aunts, who are throwing it with a couple more of my aunts. I'm really looking forward to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th days of April. By then I can relax and have fun. I am going to get my nails done, get lingerie, hang out with girlfriends, get to go to two meals hosted in my honor or in honor of me and Tom, and get married and get to go to a party (or reception, but ya know...it's a party) for us too! YAY! So fun. Then I get to go on VACATION! TO JAMAICA! WITH MY HUSBAND! YAY YAY YAY! Yes, April is definitely what I am looking forward to right now. And we get to have fabulous photos taken on the 4th and 5th by Christine Hall, who is just the best photographer in the world. Everyone I have spoken to (and I have spoken to everyone) at her studio is just AWESOME and so nice. I am pumped. =)

Alright, I'm feeling much better. The contract for the band is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Good stuff.

Love,
M

March Madness

2008-03-10T17:03:00.004-04:00

This has nothing to do with sports...more to do with me and my state of mind. haha The closer the wedding gets the more my brain wants to dissolve into mush with all there is to do.

A week after that phone call from the band I called the church to inquire about Tom and I figuring out where everyone in the wedding party would stand so that we could have that all sorted out by the time the rehearsal came around. The lady on the other end of the line...I don't know if I caught her on a bad day or if she doesn't like that I'm not a member of their church, but she was MEAN to me. Seriously, I got off the phone and cried because I was so surprised at being treated the way she was towards me. I had to make Tom promise not to call and talk to her because she was so nasty to me.

But everyone has pointed out to me that I keep running into obstacles while planning the wedding because I'm in a bible study on James, and Satan wants to see if I've learned anything or am going to not count it all joy when encountering various trials. I'm determined to not give in and to continue giving God the glory, so it's been a constant source of prayer for me, Mom, Tom, and my bible study members. I'd be lying though if I didn't tell you this: I am ready to be done planning, to be married, and to go to Jamaica! =) I keep telling myself that if I can just get through this, I get to go to the beach with Tom as his wife. That's the light at the end of the tunnel.

As for the band, we've pretty much switched. The contract should arrive this week for the new band, and Will from Pseudo is going to pay the difference because his bandmates refuse to pay it but insist on playing for the sorority. I feel bad for him and respect him paying it all, but I also need the money because we budgeted only a certain amount for the band and shouldn't have to pay more because of a mistake they made. So anyway, instead of pseudo, we are planning to have The Tony Howard Show play. They sound AWESOME, and I'm really excited to have them.

I've also been going to the tanning bed, or (as Ben calls it) the fake'n'bake, because I am as white as my dress, and I need to have a little color to look better. Also, I'd like to have a little bit of a base tan for the honeymoon so I don't burn as easily when I'm on the beach. YAY I can't wait to go the beach. I hope and pray it's beautiful weather for the wedding day/night since it's a 6PM wedding with pictures beforehand and that it's beautiful weather for the honeymoon! =)

I got my wedding day jewelry last week with mom as well as most of the bridesmaids presents. I am still waiting on part of their presents to come in. My final dress fitting is this week on Wednesday at 1pm, and my hair and makeup trial run is next week on Wednesday. I'm so excited to have all this done, because when I put on the dress and it fits me (read:doesn't drag the ground since I'm not tall), and when I try out my hair and jewelry, it just feels like the wedding is close. Actually, it feels like I'm 5 and playing dress up with Esther again, only this time I get to be the bride. =) But it's really fun and exciting.

Ok, well I have tons of thank you notes to write for people at my church, Tom's church, and for some of our college friends! We've really been blessed with showers, and it's been so fun to get to have an excuse to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while. =)

~M

It's too late to ditch me!

2008-02-20T15:19:00.003-05:00

I thought being six weeks away from the wedding was stressful. But I was in for an unpleasant surprise. Being six weeks away from the wedding and getting a call from your band telling you that they accidentally double booked your wedding night and want to break the contract with you is much MORE stressful.

Tom and I went to a date night for Gamma Phi Beta on Feb 23, 2007, at which we heard Psuedo (also sometimes playing as Parrothead Paradise), a band that can play a wide variety of music. Everyone had a great time, they played a variety of music, they are talented, and we loved it. So we booked them by June. Since then I've been going through their song lists to pick the best songs, sending them burned cds with the songs we need them to know, emailing back and forth, etc. It's been fine; I've been in touch with Will, a band member, and he's a nice guy who has been really helpful. He felt awful calling and telling me that. Not nearly as bad as it felt to me to hear it, but still, pretty bad.

Apparently their band leader wrote down 5-04 instead of 4-05 for our wedding night and thought they were free that night. So their talent agency, Crescent Moon Talent, booked them for that night with a repeat customer two months ago. When I asked who this customer was that they were given preferential treatment, I found out it was a sorority. A Sorority.

Now I have nothing against sororities as I was in one for the last four years, but I think that gives me license to say that to them, this is just another party, formal, or datenight. But for me and Tom, this is our wedding. We will remember this and how good our musicians were. To let them out of the contract, we are going to have to have another band that is just as good or better. There are few bands I have heard at Crescent Moon I am willing to switch for, and of them only one is available for that night, and that's if something they have in the works doesn't happen. And then, they are $700 more than what Psuedo was. We shouldn't have to pay $700 more just to be happy with our band when we already had one booked, so basically what I've told Chip, who works at cmtalent and has been trying to do damage control, is that someone other than us (read: Psuedo or CMTalent) is going to have to absorb the difference. Either that or Psuedo will have to honor their contract to us.

I just don't know what else to do. I mean the wedding is 6 weeks away, and I should NOT have to deal with this right now. I don't want them to be playing for our wedding all angry and disgruntled, but we booked them first and shouldn't even have to feel worried about that. Tom was pretty upset too, though his reaction was more to get angry when I told him, whereas I burst into tears when Will called me. Ahhh guys and girls. His opinion on the whole thing is that they should have just called the sorority, apologized, canceled, and we should never have been any the wiser. Of course, that didn't happen, so we are trying to regroup and go from there.

I also had to make calls about it because other friends have booked Psuedo for their wedding based on my recommendation, and I want to make sure that this doesn't happen to them. I would hate for anyone else to deal with this stress. I just am glad we have a contract.

Please pray that this will work out for the best and that our wedding reception will have a good band that everyone enjoys!

~Meghan

I literally don't know what I'm doing.

2008-02-17T23:58:00.003-05:00

Ok, well maybe that should be in past tense and a little more specific. I literally didn't know what my body was doing. Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night in horrible pain. My upper abs were completely clenched, kind of the way if you curl your toes really tightly they get stuck that way because the muscle cramps up and sticks and it really hurts. My abs were doing that. And it was SEVERELY painful. I was dreaming about how much it hurt then woke up from the pain. It was basically so bad I thought I would throw up. After about 5-10 minutes of this, my muscles just kind of relaxed and I was able to lay back down. Today I was talking to dad about it (I'm still sore), and we figured out that it was due to working on chairs.

Saturday afternoon, Tom and I were hanging out at my house trying to strip the paint off of some old chairs we bought at a good price but need to repaint. It took a lot more time and work than I expected. And the paint stipper was so strong that it dissolved the plastic container I had poured it into, it melted the laytex gloves I was wearing, and it burned my skin when I came into contact with it. Yeah. And even with that stuff on the chairs, we couldn't get all the paint off the thing. I was scraping it forever, and somehow being bent over a chair and working that physically hard did something to my muscles that caused my body to freak out in the middle of sleep. Not cool. We have 5 more chairs to go.

Other than that, this weekend was very busy and very wedding based. I attended a bridal brunch/ladies' shower that was thrown for me at the Whitworth's house and hosted by some ladies in my church: Kara Sugg, Kathy and Natalie Whitworth, Cheryl Kurz, Margaret Mitchell, and Beth Milikin. Most of these women have known me since I was a little girl or since early high school, and four of them are also in my bible study at church. It was such a nice shower, and it was great to see so many ladies from church and Tom's family and people I had grown up knowing from the area. Everyone there seemed to enjoy getting the chance to get to catch up and also to meet Tom's mom, grandmother, aunt, and great-aunt. =)

After the shower, Tom and I had our 3rd Pre-marital counseling session with Rob (which takes about 2 hours each time), and then we went to my house to work on the chair. Then we went to Tom's house to eat with his family.

Today, after church and lunch, Mom, Tom, Mrs. Patti, Mr. Tommy, and I all went to The Vines for a Bridal Showcase. There were a bunch of vendors there, but mainly we wanted to go to taste the different foods provided by Chef Eric, who caters for them and so that Mr. Tommy could see the place for the first time. I am praying it won't rain or be cold on our wedding day. It would be great if everyone could enjoy being outside for dancing, eating, and seeing the gardens.

After that, Tom headed back to Alpharetta, and the rest of us went by the church. We showed Mr. Tommy the sanctuary and counted up where extra chairs could be added. We would be able to add enough chairs to have about 365 seated if we add on 4 more rows, which is good since we have such big families that our guest list is limited as it is and we are already going to be stuffing people in that church. Hopefully that will work out.

Alright, I'm tired and have typed myself into another day. I need to get into bed.
Love,
Meghan

Tricky T lives up to his name.

2008-02-14T15:38:00.002-05:00

Hahaha, ok, for those of you who don't know what I'm referring to, a bunch of guys at Piedmont had made up silly "rap" nicknames in our freshman year. We called Tom "Tricky T" and it kind of stuck and got brought up again over the years. Well....last year for Valentines Day, we had decided not to do anything. So I got him a card. And then when I got to Atlanta, he made me a steak dinner, gave me a gorgeous double-stranded pearl bracelet, and took me to Cafe Intermezzo for dessert. Ummm....yeah, I didn't expect that.

Again this year, I said "Let's not do anything for Valentines Day." This time around I'm thinking he surely won't say "ok" and then do more than a card AGAIN. But he did. The doorbell rang this afternoon, and when I went to get the door, only a box from ProFlowers was there. To my (genuine) surprise, it was to me, and when I opened it the note said (please don't be embarrassed Tom, I loved it), "Roses are red, and these are for you, in a month and a half, I'll be married to you! I love you! -Tom." How sweet is that?? I melted. And then I counted out a dozen beautiful red roses and saw a cute little box of chocolates too! =)

Now, to be honest, I was trying to be tricky this year. I have a plan for his present but it won't be delivered to the apt till next week. He knows already since I confessed when I got the flowers, but I didn't tell him what the present will be, so I am not posting it here (at least till later).

That's all!
Happy Valentines Day (or as some of my friends say: Happy Singles Awareness Day)~
Meghan

HA.

2008-02-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

"Tomorrow should be nice," I said. RIGHT. Well that's what I thought. And then I was miserable all night and day with nausea. Apparently Levaquin, the very strong antibiotic I was on for my throat being stupid, is interacting with my birth control in a way that is making me feel like a pregnant woman in her first trimester. I've had bad experiences with Levaquin before, but it was not when I was on birth control. Back then, I was on Spring Break with Mom and Kristen on a cruise. It caused me to react horribly in the sun-my skin was painful and itchy all over my body. I spent half the cruise in the room under a towel, slathered in aloe. Cruises were not made for avoiding the sun. And Levaquin is not my friend. Neither is Cefzil, another antibiotic. These just affect me badly when I try to come off of taking them, and I'm not the only person I know who has experienced this.

I didn't leave the house today, but tomorrow, I have an appointment with our organist for the wedding in the morning, so I am praying to be better by then-no upset stomach or nausea making me gag and grossed out. I also rescheduled my hair cut, so hopefully I won't have to cancel again.

I really really really want to be better.
~Meghan

Negative on the Vocal Chords.

2008-02-11T18:38:00.000-05:00

Tom and I had our first big wedding shower on Saturday night-it was at the Little's house and hosted by them, the St. Clairs, and the Parks. We had a great turn-out, WAY more than I expected, actually. It was great to have all those people there, I just wish I could have gotten to talk to more of them and to have talked more to the ones I did get to speak with. We were truly showered with gifts, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone coming and blessing us with so much beautiful stuff. We really are starting from nothing and building it all up, so we are registered for everything under the sun, it seems, and we were very blessed by all we received.

I woke up at 4:30 Saturday morning because I wasn't able to breathe hardly at all. I basically was in the middle of croup and an asthma attack, which has happened about twice before, and I can tell you, it is NO fun at all. I would rather have this than the flu or something where my whole body is messed up, but not being able to breathe...it's just scary. The first time that happened to me, I was in high school and it was before they knew I had asthma. I was completely panicked. The next time it wasn't as severe, but this time it was bad. I couldn't find my inhaler, which was stupid on my part for not keeping up with it. I stumbled through my closet, pretty dizzily, and searched through old purses until I found one. I puffed it twice then went and used a nasal spray in the bathroom. This did basically nothing, so I turned on the hot water as hot as I could and closed myself in the bathroom. Sometimes steam helps. After 40 minutes of this, I realized it wasn't helping me do much more than sweat. So then I decided to wake up Dad.

When I got to Mom and Dad's room, I woke Dad up and tried to tell him what was wrong, but could barely speak and my throat was so raw I could barely be understood. After he realized what was going on, he listened to my lungs and said they weren't really blocked, but then he listened to my throat and said air was having a hard time getting through. I think I took about 6 pills he gave me plus advair, then we both went to the basement. I had to sleep on the couch sitting up, and he wanted to sleep in the same room as me to make sure I didn't quit breathing. (We didn't want to wake up mom.) In the morning, after my alarm had gone off upstairs for 15 minutes, mom turned it off and wondered where I was. She found us downstairs and left us to sleep while she went to get ready for church. I woke up again around 12. Right now I sound like I have laryngitis.

I haven't left home since all this happened, just staying here to recover, but it's annoying because I can't talk hardly at all, and when I do, people have a very hard time understanding me or any inflection in my voice, especially over the phone. Tom is better at it than most people because (poor thing) he has probably spent what amounts to weeks of his life hearing me yak on the phone. But even he has had trouble with it, and we've narrowly escaped arguments yesterday and today caused by him thinking I was getting mad or saying something I wasn't saying due to my voice being messed up. Not his fault, but it's frustrating for both of us that I am so hard to understand.

Tomorrow should be nice though. I have another gown fitting at ten, followed by mom and I getting haircuts (I am SO happy about that) and then hopefully picking up my car. It's been in the shop since Thursday getting repairs. What a nice gift from mom and dad-I could NOT afford to get my car fixed up on my own money, and it needs a LOT of work-a new headlight (not the bulb, the actual plastic light fixture was TAPED onto my car-how embarrassing), new brakes, new tires, new hoses and belts, a tune-up, etc. My car needed some TLC.

That's all for now. Everything I can't say out-loud, typed here to update you. =)
~Megs

In Augusta

2008-02-07T22:42:00.001-05:00

Just thought I would put in a quick update. Mom and I are in Augusta. We headed up after bible study ended and we had lunch/packed. It is so fun (and so tiring) to babysit all three, so I understand why mom wanted to tag team them! haha

We have a "fun day" planned for tomorrow. Fun for them, anyway, haha. Basically, we are going to get up early (for me, not for them), have breakfast, get ready, let them watch cartoons while WE get ready, and then we are going to Monkey Joes to let them jump all their energy out. After that, we will eat out for lunch, and then it's back here for the girls' naptimes and Tyler's activities/nintendo time. Once the girls are down, I'll be leaving everyone with mom while I go to the store. I have to pick up some food and some cookie dough and sprinkles. When I get back, we will make sugar cookies with the dinosaur cookie cutters that we brought, and then they will all get to play outside until dinner time. Then they get the cookies, and then it's bath-time, followed by a movie, followed by bedtime. Now tell me that doesn't sound like a fun day to little kids? Of course, Maddie just keeps talking about going to 6 Flags. lol Lisa says she talks about it all the time.

Alrighty I better get to bed soon if I want to not be totally dead halfway through the day tomorrow!

Love,
Meghan

ps-Tom and I have our first shower on Saturday night, and I am SO excited about it!!! =)

Entertainment Center

2008-02-04T23:50:00.001-05:00

Yay, our entertainment center is FINALLY in our apartment. After months of searching, we have a great entertainment center at a great price. And it's now in our apartment, allowing Tom and I to feel like our living room looks more grown up and home-like. =) I'm very happy with that.

I went up there today to be there when Billy and Justin (from Storefront) picked it up and brought it by for us (thanks a million for them). They even hauled our old one back to Covington. While I was there, I did laundry, did dishes, cleaned the living room, swept and mopped, and cleaned the bathroom. I also polished the entertainment center and got stuff on a few of the shelves. And I made a little calla lily arrangement for the nook near the entrance to the apt and put together a pear and apple arrangement for a dining room table centerpiece. It looks kind of silly without chairs or a tablecloth (it's a glass table), but I still like the centerpiece. I also visited with Tom. Then I drove home, and now I'm here and TIRED!

My next home improvement project is to strip, prime, and paint our dining room chairs, as well as to pad and re-cover the seats of them. I have everything but the foam and the time. And good weather. Every day that it's nice outside where I could strip the chairs, I am not around to do it. I am really excited to see how they come out. I'm a little nervous because I have an idea in my head of what I would like them to turn out to be, and I feel worried that I won't reach that goal. We'll see.

This week, I will be babysitting in Covington on Wed night, then heading to Augusta with Mom to babysit Tyler, Maddie, and Anna Kate Thurs-Sat morning. I am sure we will be really tired when we leave Augusta, but I am pretty excited to spend time with them. I haven't seen them really since Christmas time. It's Lisa's birthday on the 10th, and she and Jonathan are taking a well-earned trip to Hilton Head.

Okay, I am way too tired to type anymore. Goodnight!
~Meghan

Battle of the Buldge!

2008-02-01T12:19:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to slim down some for the wedding...and just for me in general, since I want to get back to a weight I am happy with. On December 31st I started doing Weight Watchers, and it's pretty great. It was annoying at first to get into the routine of it, but it really really makes you aware of exactly what you are putting in your body. You start looking at things you have loved eating and start thinking...that's a lot of fat. haha Sometimes it's still annoying, but I'm sticking to it, and I try to exercise, though I admit I am not consistent the way I should be. I'm not actually a part of the weight watchers class or going to a gym. I just know the general guidelines from when mom joined, and I follow them the best I can. Despite that, so far I've lost 7 lbs! I'm pretty excited about that. Hopefully I can keep that off and lose some more. I really want to slim down and tone my body. My biggest thing I want to lose before the wedding is from the waist up. I would LOVE to lose everywhere, but my arms and waist & back and face are going to be the most obvious body parts on the wedding day. The bottom half of me I've been trying to slim down for ages, so I know it will take a while for it.

Tonight is Ben's 21st bday party, however, so I am giving myself a night off. I will be good today, but come tonight, I am going to let myself have cake, chips, cookies, and a few drinks. I mean, if you can't ever enjoy food...seriously, life just isn't the same. So tonight I indulge. Tomorrow, I start being good again. =)

~Meghan

It's been a while...

2008-01-30T20:18:00.000-05:00

...over a month actually. I mean, wow. I talked to Alejandra the other day, and she has shamed me into updating, haha.

Basically, Christmas was great. New Years Eve was a lot of fun. And the rest of the new year has been proof that weddings consume a lot of your time. I've been planning the wedding nonstop and preparing for it by doing premarital counseling with Tom and my preacher, going to bridal gown fittings, and now, getting ready to meet with the church wedding coordinator, the florist, and figure out stuff for our cake. I also have to get my jewelry and the bridesmaids' jewelry for the day of the wedding, and I need to do a million other things.

We've also been trying to bargain hunt for furniture for our apartment. Craigslist.com has been great for that, but it means that you have to drive out to wherever the person is located and pickup the furniture. We were able to get great deals on a coffee table, 6 dining room chairs, and an entertainment center though, so that's pretty exciting. The coffee table is in the apt already, and the entertainment center will be by next week! YAY! We got some help paying for the entertainment center, so we only had to pay about a 3rd of the cost, since I talked him down to a doable price, and we also got help with our washer and dryer, so we are seeing the place start to come together! haha I don't know how we would have gotten all we needed without that help, and we're really grateful. It's hard on us that I don't have an income besides babysitting right now, but I am trusting that God has a job in Alpharetta for me since His answer to my prayers for one in Covington seemed to be "no." Tom is working so hard, and I want to relieve some of the pressure for finances.

This week I need to work on chairs for the dining room. I'll have to post before and after pictures, because right now they are looking a bit on the rough side. The ad I found for them said they used to belong to a diner that had been around forever in the Alpharetta area and is now closed. So they need a fresh coat of paint, some cushioning in the seat and new fabric. I'm hoping to get that all done by Sunday so they can be in the apartment, and hopefully I can go up and get the entertainment center and chairs set up for me and Tom on Monday. =)

So, you see, this is my life right now. What fabric should I get? What flowers should I use? What jewelry goes with my dress? What appointment should I be at? And on and on and on. I'm really excited about getting it all planned, but I'm REALLY excited about the wedding and the trip to Jamaica afterwards. A Jamaican vacation is JUST what we both need. =) And it'll be all that much nicer to go on a trip as Mr. and Mrs. McFarlin. 65 days and counting...

~Meghan

Jingle All the Way

2007-12-20T15:08:00.000-05:00

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

My sister is coming into town today (with my brother in law, of course), the first of many people in my family to start coming into town for the holidays. I'm so excited! It's not really like Christmas until you have a house full of family members around, making noise, baking, catching up, attending holiday parties, stressing out over presents at the last minute, and enjoying every minute. I know some people don't feel like that, but growing up in a big family, I really thrive on having people around me-especially at a time of year when you think about them the most.

I've been pretty busy. I babysat this morning-starting before 8 AM. Then I came back, had lunch, finished a book, am about to clean my room, then they are arriving. I need to go to the store for some last minute shopping as well. Tomorrow I will probably do that, then I have Tom and his dad coming over to load up some stuff for our apt in a huge truck to move it to our Alpharetta apartment. Saturday morning, I have to be at the church at 8:30 AM to get warmed up for practice then choir practice starts at 9. I have to leave early at 10 to leave for Northpoint Mall for Madeline's 3rd birthday party at the American Girl Boutique and Bistro, which I have a feeling I am going to LOVE because I love love loved those dolls growing up. After all of that, they are going to come over to see my and Tom's apartment. Then Tom and his dad will be moving stuff into our apt, so I might be helping with that. That night we have the annual Patton, Park, Little party. Then Sunday is church with the big Christmas program I am singing in this year (no solos, thank goodness or I would pass out and/or cry) which everyone in my family (minus Sarah and Jordan) are planning to attend along with Lisa's parents, Tom, his parents, and Ben. Then everyone is coming over for lunch. Then it's Christmas Eve, then Christmas. Good Gracious, this is a busy, wonderful time of year!

Missing it.

2007-12-18T00:48:00.000-05:00

I was just thinking about the zoo...and wishing that I could work there and have weekends off. I miss the animals and some of the people. Every time I see orangutans and elephants on tv, in the paper, online, and especially when I read about them on zoo atl's updates, it just makes my heart break a little that I'm not there to be a part of it. And it made me think over my feelings on animals a little. I've decided that dogs are my favorite pets, orangutans are my favorite (nonhuman) primates, and elephants are my favorite large mammals with which to work. And all of this is based in experience. It's not that uncommon to have worked at a zoo, but then, it's not that common either. And I wish I could have it all-the job I wanted and weekends off. I mean, it's not that much to ask. It's not like it's glamorous or pays much. But it's such a rewarding investment of your time. It gives you job satisfaction. I just wish they let their keepers have the stupid weekends off.

We're Getting There

2007-12-17T18:08:00.001-05:00

Tom and I spent a lot of time last week working on our apartment. We painted 3 rooms in two days and then spent the third day fixing stuff up and straightening a little. We have moved some stuff from his apt to ours and have a LOT of stuff to move yet.

That in and of itself would have been an exhausting week, but what Tom didn't know is that I had been planning a surprise party for his birthday since August. On Friday night, he thought I was babysitting and couldn't come up to eat with his family and would only be able to hang out later. In reality, I missed out on a dinner at the Sundial to set up for his party at his apartment. I made him a Star Wars Cake that was a scene from Episode III, and it even fogged up because there was a little space for dry ice in it. I liked that particular feature, and so did the guests-especially his fraternity brothers who attended and made me feel like I was pastry chef with all of their flattering compliments. I know they were exaggerating, but it made me laugh when they said they would propose if a girl made them a cake like that. Tom already did that, so I guess it was due him, huh?

We also had drinks, chips, and other snack foods out for people to munch and sip. Davey and Kristen made the apartment 1 roommates and girlfriends t-shirts about Tom to wear during the party, and the guests seemed to get a kick out of it. Everyone arrived around 8 and helped me blow up the balloons, then we blasted some party music and hung out until around 9 when Tom arrived, when we yelled "surprise!!!", took some pictures, and turned the music up again to resume the party. I was so impressed by all the guests-they meshed really well and were great about intermingling and so patient while we waited on Tom to arrive with Ben from dinner.

When Tom walked through the door, he was so shocked-or else he is a great actor. It was really fun, and he got a chance to hang out with everyone, eat, drink, and be merry. The downside was that a lot of us only got 3 hours of sleep because after the party ended late at night (or, rather, early in the morning), Tom's graduation required we get right back up and get ready in the morning. He graduated at 9AM with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science focusing on software engineering. I was so SO proud of him. He is such a hard worker, and he had been looking forward to graduation for a while. Now it's all behind him, and we're both officially college graduates. It's kind of surreal that we've grown up so much together and reached another major milestone, but I'm so happy that we did.

Later that night, his family (minus Mandy, Jim, and E) all gathered at his parent's house with my parents, me, and Jordan and Sarah to celebrate his graduation. It was his actual birthday as well, but we were celebrating that the next day, after church. All in all, it was an exhausting week and weekend, but a lot got done. It's a relief to have that behind us so we can now have a week before Christmas to shop like mad for presents, wrap until our fingers hurt, and visit with friends and family as much as possible. I love this time of year-it's a little crazy because it's so busy, but I love being busy with fun things to do. Tom and I are going shopping for presents tomorrow, and I'm so excited. It's such an awesome tradition-he's my best friend, and he makes everything more fun.

Be safe out there in the holiday traffic!

Love,
Meghan

ps-here's a link to pictures from the party that I put up on facebook.

My room is clean....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-12-14T02:20:00.000-05:00

I cleaned my room for the first time in a while on Monday, and then I went to Atlanta. Tom and I spent 2 days painting 3 rooms in our new apartment (yay!) which he will move into in January and I will move into in April when we get married. We did green walls in the guest bedroom, red in the kitchen, light blue in the master bedroom. And the rest of the apt is beige for now. All of it has white crown molding/trim/baseboard molding/doorways. We're happy with it, but we've also moved some of Tom's stuff there from his apartment, so every time he goes back to his room in Apt 1, he gets kind of sad about moving away from his roommates. I keep telling him that the silver lining of him not having roommates for a while is that he'll be so eager to have company again that he'll think living with me is awesome. hahaha Hopefully he won't have to be roommate deprived for 3 months to think that married life is awesome, but I still say it. Anyway, so we pulled the last bit of tape today, put up our paint supplies, he set up our modem, and I came back to Covington. And walked into my gloriously clean room. I love walking into my room and it being all neat and clean. Once I've checked to make sure I'm in the right room, it's a really nice feeling. =)

Nevermind

2007-12-03T10:57:00.000-05:00

A couple posts back I mentioned that I had a possible part time job lined up to be a nanny for a family. They ended up not want to pay what I charge for babysitting, so it didn't work out. They pretty much wanted to pay me minimum wage, and I think that child care and my time should be worth more than that.

I also mentioned that I might register to take the teacher certification tests for GA. I talked to Melissa, one of my roommates (for 2 years) and best friends from UGA. She is a teacher, and it was really good to talk to her about it. I really don't have a passion for it, and was only going to do it because it was a job. She encouraged me to pursue things I want to do more, but she also said that she would help me prepare for the tests if I decided to do that. After we talked I thought about it for a few weeks, and as far as teaching goes, I decided to pass on that one. I love kids, but I really have never thought I was cut out for teaching. I think I could probably do it, but I really think you need to desire to do that job, and I just don't. Melissa is an amazing teacher, and it's something she has wanted to do ever since I've known her. That's the kind of teachers that we need in our schools, not the ones who are only there because it's a job.

Anyway, nevermind what I wrote in that post a while back. None of it ended up happening. If something else does happen, I'll be sure to post it.

Love,
Meghan

Mix It Up

2007-11-21T01:57:00.000-05:00

Every now and then, I get bored with my blog being the same way, and I change the template and/or the font and colors. I decided to go from green to pink with green accents. I just finished it, and I like it, but it didn't occur to me until I looked at the final product how it's A)Very Lilly Pulitzer-esque in color scheme, and B) the accent colors I am using in my wedding because it will be spring. I also thought about using pink and brown and using blue and brown (on my blog). I really like those color combinations as well.

Today my phone rang, and it was Mara again, the lady who is interested in having me be a part time nanny. I'm really interested in this job because after the new year, I am going to have to devote a lot more time to wedding planning, and this would allow me to do that and still make some money, so that's exciting. I've also thought about getting into HR and considered teaching. I love little kids, but I still don't find the idea of teaching as exciting as working with animals, so I think I need to make that my last option. For a while I got myself pretty excited over it, but I know myself, and I know I've always said I would rather starve than teach, haha. Turns out, I don't want to starve, and I think I would be a pretty good teacher, but I've had too many teachers who were just in the profession because it was a job and not a passion. I think the best teachers have a desire to be in that job, and I don't want to be a mediocre person when it comes to passion for those kids. They deserve the best, so I am going to look around. In the meantime, I don't think being a nanny is such a bad idea. =) And I still want to know if human resources has any appeal to me. Paper pushing is not appealing to me at all, so I really want to talk to someone or shadow someone or do an internship (paid) that lets me see what it's really all about.

Ok, I meant to be asleep by now...gotta go!
Love,
Meghan

Nanny Meghan?

2007-11-12T11:36:00.000-05:00

Well, God has put something part time in the future for me, at least maybe He has. A doctor in Covington's wife called me the other day to see if I would be interested in a part time job as a nanny to her son starting in January. He is three months old right now, so I'm think it wouldn't be extremely exciting work, but that's just fine with me. She wants to go back to work part time and needs me while she is working. I'm supposed to hear from her to figure out when I can come over and spend a day with them so that they can get to know me and vice versa. After that, I guess I'll know for sure. I'm excited though! It's great to have something in the wings!
~Meghan

ps-I'm thinking about taking a teacher's certification test for the state of Ga. We'll see what happens with that.

Is it really November?

2007-11-01T00:08:00.000-04:00

Well, today was a less than spooky Halloween, which I am just fine with. Spooky things aren't at the top of my list, as those of you who have ever tried to get me to watch scary movies know.

I just can't believe we are officially in November. This year has FLOWN by, and it's so funny (funny-interesting, not funny-haha) that I am where I am. God has taught me so much this year about trusting Him, and I'm still learning. I just really never would have guessed that I would be where I am right now, even 6 months ago. I had a plan, and that just seems like the dumbest idea now. It's a fine line you have to walk...you need direction, goals, something to strive for, but at the same time, when you put all your sights on your plan, it's wrong. Because you can't count on man-made plans. Only God can lead you down the path that's best for you.

That's not a novel idea. All my life it seems I've heard that if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. I don't really like that phrase because I don't think of God as sitting up in Heaven holding the blueprint of our lives out of reach and laughing at us as we grasp at straws trying to figure out what path to take. I look at it more as us walking with a lantern through a maze at night. We can only see just right ahead of us, so we have to trust God-the one who created the maze, and no one else, even ourselves, to help us follow it correctly. All too often, I find myself forgetting to ask Him which way to go and just continually running into the dead end, head first.

I'm still job searching, and I think that has been one of the hardest things He could ask me to do right now. It's very humbling to have been out of school for this length of time and not have a steady source of income. I guess technically, I could get a job at a restaurant or retail store, but I'd like to do a job that I couldn't have done while in high school since I worked so hard to get a B.S. I'm not too embarrassed that I didn't get a job right away since I was working at the zoo, and that was to get my foot in the door. Problem with that is that when I did finally get my foot in the door, I realized it was the wrong door for me, and now I'm in the same place I was then.

I've applied to a little after school teaching position that opened in Conyers, but I haven't heard from them yet, so I am going to look around some more this week/weekend/coming week. I'm interested in working with animals still, and with kids, so we'll see where that takes me. As of now, I'm just praying that God will help me to know what He wants me to do and to open that door to me. I'm also very blessed that He has provided me with everything that I need. Because I'm living at home right now, I have no rent, food, bills, etc. to pay. After December, I will have to pay for insurance, which might wipe me out, so I'm hoping God will see fit to give me job before then. But I have been able to babysit at least once a week, which helps a little bit with things that come up every now and then.

If anyone is reading this, I could use some prayer. The time is flying by, and I have still got more wedding planning to do as well as the job search. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, but I'm really hoping and praying I can be less stressed out by securing some financial status by then.

Much love,
Meghan

ps-Tom and I went to Halloween party the other day. Pictures are up on my moblog.

Take Your Best Shot

2007-10-06T11:12:00.000-04:00

Tom and I got our engagement proofs to view online, and here are a some of my favorite ones.

Love,
Meghan

Home Depot Gift Cards Accepted Here

2007-09-30T00:50:00.000-04:00

I'm dead tired, so I won't type much, but basically, Tom and I went to a couple of different AMLI apartments in Atlanta today, outside the perimeter. We were really impressed with the Milton Apartment Complex through AMLI, and we're thinking that is where we are going to end up. I'm SO excited that we are getting this all figured out. We'll be able to decide what furniture we need and colors we are painting everything when we know where we will actually be, which is probably my favorite thing about it. I can't wait to just go ahead and get it all taken care of, painting and moving things as much as possible before Tom moves in.

He'll live there (in the guest bedroom) while he works in Norcross before we are married, so we need to try to have it ready for him to live in by January 2nd when he starts. Now, if I can just find a job....

~Meghan

Personal Paparazzi

2007-09-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

This weekend, Tom and I went to Savannah to have our engagement pictures taken. It was so laid back and comfortable, I never thought I could feel so at ease posing for a photographer I had only met one other time. Christine Hall is amazing-I am so grateful that she is our photographer. I have to say that photography is one of the most important components of the wedding, for me personally, and I feel so good about leaving it in her hands.

We met up with her in Forsyth Park to take a few shots, then we walked through downtown Savannah, posing in front of pretty gates, walls, and doorways on streets and in allies. She took some shots of us just walking and talking or laughing. Tom said that the pictures are more focused on me because sometimes we would be walking, and she would say for him to look at me and me to look at the camera, haha. He has a good sense of humor about it though, and we trust her direction for photos-I mean, if you look at some of the pictures she has done that are in her office or online, you can see she is an artist. She actually went to SCAD, and she definitely knows what she is doing. I can't wait to get the pictures back so we can see how they turned out, and so we can pick one to FINALLY announce our engagement in the paper.

After downtown pictures, we went to Tybee Island. On the way there, we stopped in the marshes at Cafe Loco. There is a picture of my dad's parents, Mema and Papa, from when they were 20 and lived in California while he was in the Army. They were sitting on a plank sidewalk with her in his lap, and it just sticks out in my mind for some reason. So, I borrowed it from Mema, and I showed it to Christine, and she thought of Cafe Loco. Behind it, there is a dock that people can go down to pay for dolphin tours or charter boats to fish. We posed out there doing a similar one to Mema and Papa. I can't wait to see them and to get a scan of Mema's picture. I plan to put them in a side-by-side frame, just because I think it would be cool. I wish we could have done one for each of our sets of grandparents, but we didn't have photos of all of them when they were young like that, at least not with us. We had just run by Mema's and picked it up on Friday night when we got there. Hopefully it will turn out well.

After that, we went to Tybee, at the north end of the beach, and we had to hurry because it was starting to rain on us. It was a little strange downtown, at Cafe Loco, and at the beach to have a professional photographer snapping pictures of us while people looked on curiously, and I told Tom it was as if we had paparazzi...just not much of it. haha We did some poses by the dunes, some by the water, some on a swing, some on fallen trees, some in front of a WWII fort in the grass, and some with the lighthouse behind us (that last one was my request). Also, when we were walking back towards the parking lot, over the little bridge over the dunes, she had us run while holding hands and looking back at her. After about 5 steps running while looking at the camera, I definitely plowed into the rail. I'm just so graceful. haha

Overall, she seemed pleased with the shots she got, so I am sure we will have some nice pictures. The hardest part is now-waiting 2 weeks to get the proofs back! I can hardly wait.

We had a really nice time visiting with Mema, Nana, Jessica and Peyton while we were there, but it's always nice to return home, to your familiar bed and everything. We ate lunch with Jordan and Sarah (and mom and dad) today since Jordan's 25th bday was this week, then Tom and they all had to take off for Atl again. I went outside for a few minutes after to play with Lucy, and I ended up just laying in the grass looking at the clouds. (Lucy wasn't feeling playful.) It was something I hadn't done in a long time, and I felt almost like a kid again...and then something bit my leg, and I remembered why I so rarely do that. haha Oh well, that's life.

Love,
Meghan

One of the coolest videos I've seen lately

2007-09-17T00:30:00.000-04:00

Here's what Gmail had to say: "We asked you to help us imagine how an email message travels around the world. All it took was a video camera, the Gmail M-velope ( ), and some creativity — and, wow, did you get creative!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKAInP_tmHk

And I thought my name meant "Pearl"

2007-09-11T01:38:00.000-04:00

A while back, Claire, one of my best friends from UGA and one of my bridesmaids, cracked up at the meaning of my name. Not the literal meaning...the Urban Dictionary meaning. wow. I had kind of forgotten about it until I saw on facebook that another friend had looked up his name and the names of some friends on Urban Dictionary and suggested others do the same. It's pretty hilarious...and in some ways, pathetically accurate. I don't know how.

Meghan:
That girl you see with the pee bag that is constantly falling over something.
Used to describe people who have strange peeing behavior and/or stumble.

Ex. 1: "Dude totally Meghaned the toilet seat!"
Ex. 2: "Aw, that girl just Meghaned down the slope"

Somewhere on the internet, this is a definition of my name.

Oh my gosh.

Well, ....At least I've got something I can frame.

2007-08-24T00:48:00.001-04:00

If you have a college degree you can be absolutely sure of one thing... you have a college degree. ~Author Unknown

I spent the last 4 years working at school....pulling all-nighters, working in groups, working alone, making and studying flash-cards, reviewing tests and quizzes to correct mistakes, doing homework, writing papers, being a research assistant to grad student research assistant, studying in another country to learn another language, volunteering at a local zoo in my spare time, ....all of this and more to obtain a degree and experiences that would lead me to having a career. I have a B.S. but I don't have a J.O.B.

I've usually had an idea of what is right for me and have been confidant that I could attain it with enough work. I wanted to be a cheerleader when I was little, and I was from 7th grade -12th, captain for the last two years. I wanted to be a straight-A student (partially because my parents wanted me to be) and I usually was, until college anyway, where it was more A's, B's, and every now and again a C. I only wanted to go to UGA, I only applied to UGA, and I went to UGA. I wanted a minor in Spanish, and along the way, I lived with a family in Costa Rica for the better part of a study abroad trip. I'm even engaged to the guy that I fell for in 9th grade (Granted that has a lot more to do with BOTH of us being in love,wanting it to work and working for it).

And since I can remember, all I've wanted to do is work with animals. When I was little, I wanted to be a vet. When I got older, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer. (Still do, kind of). Then, in college, that turned to zoo keeper so that I could stay in Georgia. And when I graduated, I got a position as keeper intern at Zoo Atlanta. And I was pathetically naive about the length of time I would need to be an intern when I first started there. After a few weeks, it was more than evident that you don't get hired into a keeper position after a few months of interning. Some of those keepers interned for a year or more before getting a keeper position. And interns aren't paid at the zoo. Keepers are barely paid at the zoo.

So....here's the thing: Were I to continue towards that, I would have to work at another job in the meantime to make some money. Yes, I'm getting married soon to someone who will make way more money than I could even try to make, but I'd like to contribute-we aren't going to start off with a lot. And we need something in savings. And then, after I worked and interned for a year or two, I might get a keeper position. Where I would be doing physical labor all day, coming home completely exhausted, with a low salary and my "weekend" would be in the middle of the week whenever they told me it would be upon being hired-so I'd never get to hang out with Tom and just relax.

Now, there are some REALLY awesome things about being a keeper, and being an intern, I've gotten to experience some of those things. I really like the people that I've worked with, and I really love the animals. They have so much personality, and there is not much other way you get to really interact with those kind of unique animals. But, I have to weigh the good against the bad, and honestly, the idea of having no weekends with Tom and family/friends, of being tired and smelly all the time, and of having so little pay for all of that-it just isn't outweighed by the fact that I love these animals. And that's only if I ever get hired as a keeper.

So, this is where I'm at. I'm a college graduate with a B.S. in psychology and a minor in Spanish. I love animals, and I worked for four years towards getting a degree to let me work with them, only to find out that it's not right for me-at least not at the zoo. And now I need to make money and to hopefully find a job I'm not embarrassed to do with a college degree and that I will enjoy. WOW. This is not the time to find this out, huh?

So here are my thoughts so far-Kristen mentioned that she had a friend who worked at a hotel and was eventually made manager, so I've looked into applying to some hotels. Then, there's the idea of working as a wedding planner...only I don't know how to get into that business, other than looking up local wedding planners/event planners online at yellowpages.com. And finally, I've picked up some business cards of obedience trainers for dogs, and I need to call them. That might be something I would enjoy. Other than that, I'm still searching.

It's probably one of the most humbling experiences of my life to date, to know that I don't have a CLUE what to do with myself and that college is over. I just always had this idea of myself working with animals...and maybe I still will. I'm just trying to trust God in this because He knows exactly where I'm headed, even if I don't, and I know He will only lead me well, but I need not to fight his will. I'm just praying for illumination and direction through this, and I could definitely use some extra prayers. It's times when I DON'T know how to go after something that make it hard. It's like I'm chomping at the bit to go after something, but don't have any sense of where to go get it. So I need the prayer.

~Meghan

Psalm 16:11-- Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.

Underway

2007-08-21T10:47:00.000-04:00

It's safe to say that a lot of the key ingredients of Tom and my wedding is taken care of. I have my dress, shoes, and veil picked out as well as the bridesmaids dresses. Tom and I have gone with our moms to look at churches, reception sites, and rehearsal dinner locations, all of which have been decided upon. Tom's even working on making us a more personalized wedding website based on what we both want it to be. Right now, we're using this one. We've settled on a band as well, a band we danced to and were impressed by at a Great Gatsby Datenight thrown by Gamma Phi Beta my last semester.

We also have our photographer picked out, and I couldn't be more excited to have her. Her name is Christine Hall, and she is AMAZING in her profession. Her work has been in several magazines, and she's actually doing the cover photography for Paula Deen's magazine in December. Based out of Savannah, she's going to be traveling to our area to do our wedding. But we'll be going to her for our engagement photos. We'll be having them taken in Savannah on September 22nd-downtown and out at Tybee. I'm so excited! Now Tom and I need to figure out what to wear...

Here are some links to the different venues and services we'll be using, so far:

The Church: Holy Cross Anglican Church
The Reception: Vines Botanical Garden
The Rehearsal Dinner: Evergreen Marriott Conference Resort, Rotunda Room
The Music: Psuedo/Parrothead Paradise
The Photography: Christine Hall Photography

I love quotes

2007-08-02T23:33:00.000-04:00

I heard about a movie called Becoming Jane today-it's starring Anne Hathaway and based on how Jane Austin became who she was. Anyway, I was looking at stuff about the movie online, and I saw this quote from it.

"What value will there ever be in life, if we aren't together?"

I really liked that quote, probably because I'm the type of girl who has a romantic heart-always wanted someone to fall in love in a movie or book. I think the idea of someone being so in love that their life wouldn't have the same worth without the other person is pretty much summed up in that quote, and it got me curious about the movie. I've read a little about Jane Austin's personal life, and I'm interested to see how they portray it now that I've read some of the quotes from the movie. That was one of my favorites from what was listed online. It's just a good line, even if it's not perfectly accurate. =)
~Megs

Busy as a Bee!!

2007-07-26T00:39:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated my blog for a VERY long time, and that used to really annoy me about blogs, so I'm trying to not be a hypocrite, and to fix it now! =) I feel like a lifetime of stuff has gone on this summer.

Besides being in every wedding or attending every wedding or wedding related event under the sun, or rain, or whatever, from May-June, I've been working at the zoo each Monday and Tuesday from 9AM-whenever I am told to leave (usually around 5 or 6:30 depending on where I am working and what keeper I am with). That means I get up at 7AM, get ready, drive to work, work hard, eat lunch, work hard some more, drive to Tom's apartment, change, try to talk myself into working out, eat dinner and visit a little, drive home. Sleep, shower, repeat. (and depending on the day, there is also a shower between work and other stuff)

Since my last post, I've begun working with Large Mammals on Tuesdays but sticking with Primates on Mondays. I've worked Orangs and Gorillas, Elephants, Tigers, Lions, and Otters. The otters at Zoo Atl are much cuter than the ones at Bear Hollow simply because they are Asian Small Clawed rather than River Otters. They're smaller and cute, and there are a ton of them! We have 9, and they are all family and very group-oriented.

With the elephants, we have three girls. They are all 24 years old right now, and have different personalities, which is fun to see. Each one was born in Africa and came to the zoo as a little, young elephant. Dottie, Tara, and Kelly are really well trained and very food motivated. They make big messes, but I'd rather clean up after them than orangs or gorillas, to be honest.

Tara

(L-R): Dottie, Tara, and Kelly (with hay stuck under her tusk)

I still love working with the primates though, just because they are so unique. I prefer orangs to gorillas, probably because they are more interactive and let you see their personality more easily. Chantek is my favorite orang. He's a big male, currently without any roommates (Hati, who was living in his area, had to be put down because of renal failure one of the days that I was working there. He seemed as upset about it as the keepers; it was heartbreaking). He can do 150 words in American Sign Language, most of them referring to food (typical guy). haha He's obviously really smart, and he does some really funny things, like crawl up in his hammock and pull a blanket over his body (tucking himself in) when he wants to sleep, and showing you his "hurt" (a scar on his airbag) that he wants you to touch all the time (I have to get permission to do that, but he loves it when you touch his hurt). Chantek let me feed him and everything my first day working with orangs, and because he didn't seem to have a problem with me, the keepers will let me give him his food and juice and stuff whenever it's feeding time. He'll sign to me the food he wants. I didn't really get it at first, but it makes me feel kind of special now to know that he doesn't have a problem with me. They said that he really hates some people (I've seen this first hand-usually taller men) and spits at them immediately and constantly when he sees them. He also doesn't normally take to interns, and one of the gorilla keepers said he hasn't ever signed to her. So anyway, I liked Chantek right away, but finding out he liked me back (or didn't seem to mind me anyway) made me really happy.

We also got a new orang this month, Dumadi (Do-Maa-Dee), who is from Fort Wayne. He is only 8.5 months old! Dumadi's mom died when he was only a few hours old, and he needed a surrogate mother. Madu, one of our female orangs, had experience as a surrogate, so we got the baby! He is absolutely adorable-he looks like a muppet baby puppet or something. I've gotten to give him his bottle and hand feed him pieces of carrot and sweet potato, which is awesome. Madu will try to grab you or get you to give her his food, so you have to distract her or get him in a part of the cage she can't reach. Then, if she gets mad, she'll spit at you, but you just have to ignore her so she'll stop, like a little kid...or high school boys or something. haha

Dumadi

With tigers and lions, I've really only helped as far as cleaning goes...I've watched them shift, but I haven't helped prepare diets for them yet (which is fine with me-carnivore diets like that=ground up nasty meat and/or a frozen rabbit, yuck). I have chopped (the fruit and veggies) for all primates (including lemurs, drills, monas, glts, etc.) and for elephants. And the other day, I got to help feed some of the otters, who eat small fish and balls of wet cat food, and they like to eat crickets too (as a treat, I think). I've only helped with them once so far, but they're pretty cute.

In the gorilla area, it's funny to see how they posture and hit their chests, push each other, bang on doors and mesh, and make noises. They definitely have territory issues with some people, and there is always a dominant male, but that doesn't mean the girls won't gang up on him at times if he is beating them up. This isn't at our zoo, but here is an example of it. Anyway, it's also fun to see how the mothering styles vary. There is one mom that has twin babies, and she never lets them get more than 4 feet from her before pulling them back. One of the other moms, Kudzoo, was Willy B.'s first child, and she got a lot of special treatment, so she thinks she is royalty, and her daughter, Macy B., thinks she is a little princess too. She's really cute, though. And then there is another mom who has a son, Gunther, who she quit letting ride on her back before the age of one (usually they'll catch a ride on mom's back for at least 2 years, getting down, but still allowed to ride if they want to). Gunther is said to be pretty chill about whatever situation, probably as a result of this less babying/sweet parenting style.

Outside of the zoo, plans are coming along for the wedding. We've decided on Christine Hall Photography because she is amazing, and I'm SO excited about that! For music, we are going for a band that has several names, including Pseudo and Parrothead Paradise, but they will be playing more traditional songs for a wedding reception for us. We heard them when Gamma Phi had a Great Gatsby datenight, and they played music from the 40's through today. We loved dancing to their music, and we were pretty impressed at how they adapted so well to so many different styles. So we talked, I called, and now they should be sending me a contract! =)

I tried on my wedding dress today with the veil and my shoes for that day, and it was really fun. I had had a dream last week that I was too fat to fit into my dress, so I felt the need to make sure it would still fit me ok...it does! =) good news. I still want to lose some weight before the wedding though. I want to lose weight before our engagement pictures in Savannah on September 22nd so that I look better for those pictures. Tom works out every day pretty much, and he looks really great. Of course, Tom has ALWAYS looked really great! =) I just need to get back to senior year of high school size.

I'm exhausted because I spent HOURS today packing up my apartment. I had already packed some and brought it home last week, but this time, I went and finished packing everything I owned that I wasn't throwing out, and then I moved it to near the door, brought down enough to pack my car, and drove that home. I need to go back with Dad's truck to get some of the bigger things, but a few more car/truck-fulls, and I should officially be moved out of Athens....and not going back. It's a weird feeling...like I'm not old enough for that reality. Yet, when I think of tests, homework, papers, projects, meetings, and all-nighters, it makes me happy all over again that I am officially done being a student! =)

I need to get some sleep....hopefully this blog has been sufficient in catching up on my last month or two!
Love,
Meghan

Monkey Business....

2007-06-05T00:32:00.000-04:00

I had the interview, it went well, and I got the internship! I started today (June 4th), and worked from 9:15-6:45....a long and tiring day! It was great, and I spent most of the day working with orangutans, which was so cool. I am SO tired and have to be out there at 9 in the morning, driving in from Covington, so I want to go to bed right now, but I'll try to update later! =) Basically, I just wanted to say that I'm enjoying being an intern at Zoo Atlanta and that God is good to provide this position for me! =)
Love,
Meghan

Entrevista....

2007-05-09T18:39:00.000-04:00

Soooooo...I got a call today from Charles Horton, curator of primates at Zoo Atlanta...and he said that I could come in for an interview! It's all set up for next Wednesday at 1pm, and I'm getting really nervous, because I REALLY want this job! Hopefully, I'll get it and can start June 1st. I told him about my brother's wedding in Scotland, so hopefully he'll see that as upfront honesty and not a problem. I really hope he doesn't need me on Saturdays since he said I "might" get the internship if I'm available "on the days I need you" which means I need to work with his schedule...but I have a MILLION weddings going on every weekend until June 30th.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!
~Meghan

Fin.

2007-05-04T10:36:00.000-04:00

Well, I did it. This morning, I filled in the last answer to the last exam for my undergraduate degree!!! =) I had the strangest feeling filling in the "A" bubble on the 100th question and turning in my Psychology final, walking to my teacher, and handing it in....it's the last time. Wow.

Just Call Me Steven Spielberg

2007-05-02T03:23:00.000-04:00

...Riiiiiiiiiight. I finished what I will be showing as my project on Thursday. It's frustrating because I'm not fully satisfied with it. I had every intention of having a song I heard in class play during the credits, of having clips of asking random people to try to identify Che Guevara, and of having 5 people's opinions in the movie.

What I am doing, basically, is something called Mi Propio Che, or "my own Che." My Spanish class this semester revolved around Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Argentinian doctor, leader of the Cuban revolution, Communist to the point of fanatic murderer, and icon of revolution. An edited version of the picture shown on this page is one of the most famous pictures ever taken in the last century. His face is now plastered on posters, t-shirts, bags, stickers, etc....irony to the extreme for a man who died fighting Capitalism. For Span4080, we had to do a final project that our teacher named Mi Propio Che, with the guidelines that it was to be a creative project, no limits, and surprise him. That actually makes it harder than easier because we had no parameters within which to work. When the sky's the limit, you have a pretty high standard to achieve. What made this more intimidating is that last week, he pushed back our due date and decided to make this count as the final in addition to the original weight of the project.....so it HAS to be good. I mean, really good. He said he pushed it back so that we could have extra time to make something really great. No pressure, huh? In addition to the project, we have to type up a short paper explaining the project in relation to the class and the literature we've read this semester (doing that tomorrow), and we have to give a 5 minute explanation of our project to the class. Hopefully I won't have to talk much further than explaining the general idea, since it pretty much speaks for itself....

What I decided to do was make a video of people answering different questions about Che. I would ask all the people the same question and have the video show the differences in opinion and level of knowledge about this man (he is a very controversial person). Well, I got in touch with about 10-15 facebook groups devoted to loving, hating, or having some knowledge about Che, and asked if anyone was interested. About 25 people told me they wanted to do it. About 3 did. And one of those 3 said that he would get a couple of his friends to do it as well. This is why I was freaking out a couple posts back. I needed more involvement.

Well, I started work on the project, and it just wasn't coming along....my computer memory was too full, windows movie maker is picky, the videos themselves were too large...it was always something. Finally, today, I packed it in and went to the SLC to use a UGA computer. I knew it would have more memory and be faster and have a person I could ask if I needed help....ends up the poor guy had to help me with computer problems a million times because that computer and that program were both dodgy. It ended up that I got there around 4:00, and I left at midnight and went home for supper. I ended up using one of the first three videos I got, Alejandra's video, and the two videos of friends (Ben and Ange) that were promised to me by one of the original three helpers (Alvin). Although I received 5 peoples' videos total, I had problems with a couple, so I had to cut them out, which is really sad since one is Zac from England and would have added a lot of diversity, and the other is from Alvin, the guy who has given me SO much help...even going as far as to get me his two friend's videos.

Also, since Windows Movie Maker is so picky about having you not remove anything once you start, I had to email myself the song I wanted to use on the credits (and I bought it on Itunes just for this)...then when I opened it on the school computer, it wouldn't let me use it without proof of purchase. Of course, that meant I had to download ITunes and a newer version of Quicktime, and when I had all of that....it wanted me to restart the computer if I was going to finish the installation. Well, I couldn't do that because the school computers automatically wipe off all your work everytime you log out or shut down or restart. Even if I saved the project to disk or thumbdrive, all the original videos would be wiped off the computer, and since windows movie maker has to work with the original source, I would lose ALL of my work. So, basically, I did all of that work and couldn't put in the final touches that would have made it somewhat cool and help me suck up to my teacher. ha. I also didn't have Tom's camera with me, so I couldn't include the guerrilla interviewing I did about Che...I'm thinking about showing it as a separate video though, since I think it could be cool.

I did finish and save the project though, and THAT is a huge weight lifted. Even though editing and cutting clips on Windows Movie Maker makes some of the frames freeze while the audio plays, I'm letting it be that way. There is nothing I can do about it, and I'm over it. I've worked long and hard and done all I can...and I've never done anything like this before, so I'm proud of the work I put into it. You can watch the video on YouTube.

And now I need to go to bed....
~Meghan

WOW.

2007-04-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

So, after my frantic post last night and begging for prayers about the Zoo Atl position....I get this email when I wake up.

Meghan

I received your resume and application and will pass it along to the curators in large mammals. Your experience and background may be helpful in their department.

Thanks for your interest in Zoo Atlanta and the keeper internship program.

L.Charles Horton

Curator of Primates

Zoo Atlanta

Now, I know that it doesn't promise me a position, but it's better than a rejection, and at least I know that he thinks it's worth sending on. Ps, did I mention that in my cover letter I said that my ultimate goal is to work with large mammals at the zoo? Yeah, this guy must have read that and decided to let me have a shot at my favorite position. Thank you, Lord!! Now, I need to keep praying that they will have a position for me!! And that if it's God's will that they don't have that position for me, that I can accept that without being a brat.

Love,
Megs

Boiling Point....whatever the temperature is where I am.

2007-04-26T00:50:00.000-04:00

I feel like I'm on that MTV show Boiling Points. Basically, (I don't even know if this show is on anymore) they would purposely harass someone to see how long they would take it. They would have a timer for the person, and it would be different amounts of time depending on what the harassment was. If the person could put up with it without cussing, leaving, yelling or some other thing like that, the person harassing them would reveal that they were on MTV and hand the harassed person $100 in cash. My life is harassing me, and I'm not getting paid for it. I know it could be worse, but this is my blog, so I can vent.

I have a very important Spanish project due (it was originally due the 26th...yeah, today), and it got pushed back one week. That sounds like a good thing. In my case it is. But, like everything, there are strings attached. My professor (did I mention he's also the advisor for the whole Spanish department? Yeah-pressure.) decided that this project is so important that he wanted us to have it count not only as the original percentage that the project was but also as our final. It's great not to have a final, especially after taking a grueling midterm with him, but this puts SUPER HUGE amounts of pressure on my project. I also have to discuss my project for 5-8 minutes in front of the class and write up a paper explaining how my project relates to the readings we did in class this semester. Total times crying tonight? Three. So far. Basically, for what I am doing, I need a lot of people to participate, so I started working on it weeks ago, trying to round up help. Then I got a lot of responses-lots of willing and helpful people. Then I sent them the questions I needed them to answer for me (8 simple, 30-seconds-per-answer-or-less-questions!!!) and people either don't get back to me or say they are no longer interested in helping out. Thanks a friggin lot. I need to mention that I have one friend and one stranger who have both already answered my questions, which is awesome. But no one else has, friends have even told me that they "just don't want to do it" and I am trying to remember that God is in control and that He will either get me the videos of these people answering my questions or He will give me another awesome project idea. I was really excited about this project; it has so much potential. I know no one has to participate in someone else's project, but there is no way I can do it without participation. Right now, I'm trying not to be nervous. If I do get this project done, I will explain more about it and put it or a link to it on here so that it can be seen.

I also have a Psych test on Friday, and I have a lot of reading to do for it, and I have to study the notes, and I really need to make about a 250 out of 100 on this. (I know it's impossible, that's the point.)

And then, the next week, I have one day of class, one day presenting and turning in the project, and one day taking my last cumulative final ever.....then I have to just wait and make sure I make at least a C in both classes, then I am DONE until Graduation, which is May 12th. SUPER OVERWHELMING.

In addition to all of the academic life stuff, I have a million things going on so that I can try to spend time with people before graduation. Senior Celebration for Gamma Phi was on Sunday, Monday was my last chapter ever + letters written by our parents read to us by our lil sis's, Tuesday I had class and got all my minor completion stuff turned in, today I worked at Bear Hollow then went to dinner with my Gamma Phi family then went to the ice cream party that was the reveal of our senior buddies (each freshman Gamma Phi Beta secretly gets a senior presents all year, and today we found out who they are-ps, mine is Jillian Farr, and she got me awesome presents), tomorrow I have class and studying and dinner with my pledge class, Friday I have an exam and then have to drive to Atlanta for Sarah's lingerie shower/bachelorette party and for Tom's fraternity's Broomball, Saturday Tom and I will be back in Athens for a dinner/shower at the Armstrong's house, and Sunday, I have GOT to get all of the videos so that I can put my project together. Then on Monday, I have my last day of class and pledge class dinner and senior willing, then Tuesday I have lunch with Melissa (and maybe Abbey, Lee, and Kyle) and dinner with my small group and more work on my project, then Wednesday I will study and finish my project, then Thursday the project+paper+presentation is due and that night I have dinner with Claire and our senior buddies, then Friday is my last exam. I am going into overdrive.

I still haven't heard back from Zoo Atlanta about this internship I applied for, and I'm fighting the fear that they won't want me. I know I am qualified for this position and that I would do a great job. I would work hard, and I would love it, even though it's nonstipened. I just need to get it first.

Everytime I look at all of that stuff, I feel like I am going to drown in everything I have going on, but then I try to concentrate on some of the verses I have been really leaning on lately...and I pray, but usually I do that after I panic, which is wrong.

I need prayers....PLEASE pray for my nerves and for God's will in this stuff I have going on and in the internship. And please pray that I will accept His will, no matter what it is.

Love,
Meghan

Psalm 16:11-- Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.

Proverbs 19:21--Many are the plans of a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.

Luke 12:6-7--Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Matthew 6:34-- Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

365 Days....

2007-04-06T00:35:00.000-04:00

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

How about love?

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?

How about love? Seasons of love...

So....it's really 365 days now until Tom and I say I Do...I can't believe we've been engaged for half a year already! 2008 is a leap year, so it's 366 days from April 5th of this year to April 5th of that year, but that's ok, because it's 365 days from today! WOW. So much is going to change in my life from today until this same day next year. It's overwhelming, but in a good way. =)
~Megs

ENFJ

2007-03-26T01:10:00.000-04:00

I just did the personality type test, and this is the link to my results, in case you are interested...and I guess if you don't know me.... since those of you who do know me know my personality: http://typelogic.com/enfj.html.

I'm: Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging

Love,
Megs

Peace that passes all understanding....

2007-03-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

So, I was flipping through my calendar trying to see when I can fit in extra volunteer time, when my next test is, when I can do my psych project, when I have formal, when I have philanthropies, when I have my last day of class, when I will graduate, when I can finish my resume...and wondering how I will do it all and more and if I will even have a job or internship for this summer....when I saw the verse that is painted as decoration for the month of May, the month I graduate. It says this:

You have made known to me the path of life, you fill me with joy in your presence.
~Psalm 16:11

Can you imagine the weight that lifted off of me upon reading that?? I just read it over and over, smiling because I knew that God wanted me to think about that, especially for that month, when I will forever cease to be the thing I have been since I was 4 years old-a student. It just puts my life into perspective to remember that it's in His hands. What a relief.
~Meghan

Sunny with a high of 75

2007-03-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

79, actually. It's 78 degrees right now, and I am LOVING this weather. It makes me so happy when I can put on a tanktop, flip-flops, and a skirt and remain comfortable all day. LOVE IT.

The cruise was a lot of fun...God definately looked out for me. I think my ipod is being silly but that there is no permanent damage yet. It's still frustrating and not working correctly, but I think it might be fixable....? I hope so anyway. There was beautiful, sunny weather during the cruise, and we all managed to "get a bit of color" as my nana would say. I was pretty sick the first day or two, and I went on some strong anitbiotics to fix it...which made me sensative to the sun. I found that out after laying in the sun all day and itching all evening and night. Other than being itchy and sun-sensative, the sickness went away quickly, and the trip was fun. We went to Key West, Cozumel, and Belize City, and of the three, I had only been to Cozumel before. I had a great time. And while I was gone, Theta Xi won first place in Greeksing for the second year in a row, receiving the second ever standing ovation of Greeksing (having receieved the first one last year), as I knew they would. (See previous post) I am still really proud of them, and especially of Tom, who had about a million other things going on that week with almost no sleep, and he still gave 200% effort.

Now I'm back at school (boooo) and have lots on my plate. My room is still massively messy after returning from SB, and I have a midterm in Spanish on Thursday, a one on one cumulative oral exam with the professor or TA, and that is nerve-racking. At least it's not in front of the whole class like other oral exams have been in classes I've taken in the past. Anyway, I also have to meet with my professor tomorrow because he is the Spanish advisor, and he has to clear me to get my minor in Spanish. So far I have an A or A- in his class, but today he asked me if this was the only Spanish class I am taking, and I don't really know what he was thinking when I said yes or when he asked me in the first place. Hopefully he doesn't think I'm slacking off, it's just that I can't handle more than one Spanish class at a time...well, I did this summer, but it was very difficult to juggle all the work plus living with a family in Costa Rica.

I'm also going to be working on my resume and cover letter and application....all of which I plan to mail to Zoo Atlanta for an internship I want this summer. I am hoping to get a position training how to be a large mammal keeper, but we'll see what happens. In the mean time, I've taken all of that stuff to the Career Center on campus, and Kenneth Linsley, who helps psych students at UGA with their career info, helped me sort through it all and gave me some tips on how to edit my resume. Now, I'm just trying to get back into working at Bear Hollow and doing classes and homework until I have time to send off my resume.

In addition to that stuff, I have to do a project and several papers and 2 exams for my Developmental Psych class before it ends, as well as another project or two for Spanish and the final in there come May. I also need to get invitations for my graduation, and this weekend, Tom and I are going to look at some possible wedding sites and a reception site.

I can't believe I graduate on May 12th!!!! It's wild to think that this could really be the end of formal education for me....forever! I'm really torn because I feel like I need to keep taking Spanish classes on the side to keep up with it, but I don't want to. Mainly, I just hate Spanish classes, I hate the pressure and grades....but I want to keep my Spanish growing....what I really want is to be able to have a Spanish-speaking community that I can hang out with regularly and improve my Spanish with but without getting graded. I don't know what to do...there just isn't anything I can think of like that in Covington.

Also, to be perfectly honest, I'm kind of embarrassed....I almost don't want to have anyone attend my graduation...most of all, not my family. It's just...humiliating because I won't be graduating with honors. I mean, my GPA isn't bad, in fact, it's above 3.0 and all that, but I just feel so dumb compared to the rest of my family. All my siblings graduated with honors, as far as I know my parents did too. And I won't. And no one thinks that UGA is a tough school unless they've been here in the last few years, so I know I'm going to look like a moron being the only one who graduates in my family without honors. No one can say, "yeah but it's _____" fill in the blank with Tech, or UVA, or Harvard for crying out loud. I mean, I chose UGA. I only wanted to come here, I applied, I got in early decision, and that was all there was to it-I didn't even apply to those other schools they went to because I didn't want to be anywhere but here. But I still can't shake this feeling. It's almost stupid...I am so happy to graduate, I want to be done, and yet, I dread it. I feel so dumb, I don't want them to look at me with my plain robes and nothing on them. I never thought I would graduate with more distinction from high school than I would from college. And I don't want to think about it...how they all will say that graduating from college is a huge feat in itself, especially in four years these days, because all of them did it, Kristen did it in 3 years, and all of them had honors doing it. It's been on my mind for the entire school year. I feel like a jerk even typing this because I don't look at other people who don't graduate with honors and think they're stupid. I don't look at my friends who decided that college wasn't for them and think they're stupid. I know that different things are different ways for different people. I just wish that I wasn't always the one in our family who was at the bottom of everything when it came to booksmarts...every single time. I'm not stupid, but I don't fit in with them completely, and I never have. I just don't want to hit graduation and be ashamed instead of happy. But whatever. I'll graduate and get it over with and hope I never have to think about it again. I just need to keep repeating 1 Peter 5:7 to myself: Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

But at least it's a beautiful day, and this entire week is supposed to follow suit. I can enjoy the weather, even if the thought of graduation is a mixture of excitement and fear and embarrassment. So I'm gonna go do that. Latah!
~Meghan

Driftin' away again....

2007-03-12T02:35:00.000-04:00

Hey yall,
I am supposed to get up in about 4 hours to get ready to go to the airport...and yet, here I am, awake...but about to get in bed. I have all my bags packed up and ready to go. I've been looking forward to this cruise all semester....and now, my Ipod won't work, and the weather channel says that it's going to rain in every place we are going this week. It's hard not to get frustrated at times like this because I feel like after all this excitement and preparation...I have to pack an umbrella and not have any music at all for a week...a week that was supposed to include laying out in the sun????? I'm also leaving my engagement ring in Georgia since I don't want to risk having someone force me to give it to them during Spring Break. I know that's the best idea, but I just don't want to take it off...and I can't talk to Tom all week.
The sermon at church today asked if you get frustrated with yourself or your situation sometimes. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't get frustrated with their situations at times. Even though I get to go on a cruise and spend a week with my sister and mom, it's hard for me to think that it will be half as much fun without sunshine and music. Two of my favorite things. I knew I would miss Tom, but I was expecting that, even if I don't like it. Not the other two so much. But I want to have a good attitude, so I am hoping that God will help me to bring sunshine with me whether or not the weather provides any. I know that was really cheesy, but it's true! My lil sis has always like the quote that says "No matter where you go or what the weather, bring your own sunshine." or something like that...and that is the kind of person I think God wants me to be, and that is the kind of person that people enjoy, so that is the kind of person I am going to try to be, even if it's raining and my ipod stays home in Georgia with my ring and fiance and ....I'm getting to Debby Downer mode again, so I am going to end that list.

Anyway. I had an AWESOME weekend to start off my Spring Break! I went to Atlanta on Friday and met up with Tom, and we went to Ikea. We were intending to register, but they don't allow you to do that there, so we just walked all over the store and got ideas of different things each other does/doesn't like in a house. And Tom was being really goofy and cracking me up to the point that I was doubled over laughing and couldn't walk for a minute, so that made it that much more fun. Then we went back to his apartment to eat with Robert Lee, and Heather, a friend we met through Bob Lee. That was fun, and then we went to Atlantic Station with them, Jose, Alejandra, Justin, Jennifer, Blake Wood, Devin and Dustin Hipp, Michael Schneider, and some more guys I don't know to watch the movie 300. AMAZING. AMAZING. That movie just makes you want to be awesome. You just want to be beautiful and tough and witty and capable of stabbing a person in a really cool way all at once. It was pretty much what I've been waiting to see in movies about historic figures in wars from that culture and time period. SO excited.
Ok, moving on, the next day I got up and walked to the CRC...kind of got lost part way there, but I made it, and I got to watch Tom and some other Theta Xis practicing for Greek Sing, which will be on Tuesday, and I am missing it. SAD! But they are going to win first place (again), because they are so awesome. And I really mean it, when I watch 20 guys able to dance in sync, sing, stunt, and act without losing their manliness, I am so impressed. Anyway, they should win first place, and I know they will, and I have to wait until Saturday to hear all about it and watch the video online!! Afterwards, Tom and I went to our cars and drove to Stonecrest, where Dana happened to be shopping, so the three of us met up for some yummy ChicFilA lunch and visited, which was fun. Then Tom and I registered at Target, Linens 'n Things, and Bed Bath & Beyond. You have to be careful about that Beyond part. Don't buy any remote controls there. (yes, that was a cheesy joke based on a movie. Moving right along....) I had a really good time picking stuff out with Tom. We were both really tired from our long weeks at school, so by the time we were done, we were about to fall asleep in the store. haha We drove back to Covington, and I stayed with his family that night since Mom and Dad were out of town, and it's creepy to stay in houses alone at night. Especially now that our house has started making noises that even mom and dad say sounds like a person is moving stuff around. It's SO scary, so I skipped the personal freak out session and went to the McFarlin abode, since they were sweet enough to let me stay.
Will, Henry, and Dana came over, and we all watched Borat. It was pretty hilarious, but it was so crude, so I was laughing about stuff today, and then I didn't want to tell mom and dad what it was because it would just be awkward. I tried to explain some of it to them, but it was hard to make someone understand how funny it was without getting into the "bad" stuff. Anyway, Borat was funny. And I went to church at Bethany this morning, then lunch at Tom's Nana's house, which is always fun since I get to see so much of Tom's family there. =)
Tom tried to fix my Ipod when we got back to the McFarlin house, and he did, (restored it and all that), but then I got home, and plugged it into my computer, and it didn't work again. I tried to restore it, and halfway through, it told me it couldn't be restored. Which is annoying since I get up to leave in less than 4 hours now. AUGH. I am so TIRED. I am SO TIRED. I have got to get in bed. I could sleep for days, and I've been sleepy for weeks. I am going to regret being awake right now when I get up in the morning. yeesh.
Anyway, yall, if you think about it, pray that Tom does really well on Tuesday, and if you think about it, please pray that I get a sunny and safe cruise and that we all 3 (me, Mom, and Kristen) get along the whole week, and that my Ipod isn't permanently damaged.
Have a good week!
~Ciao!
~Meghan

YIKES

2007-03-08T00:30:00.000-05:00

I have a HUGE quiz tomorrow in Spanish...it counts for two quizzes, and it's going to be HORRIBLE. I met with a group tonight, and we spent 5+ hours just going over our notes to try to make sense of it all. I AM TERRIFIED and tired. I can hardly wait for Spring Break. And what's more, when I get back from Spring break, I have my stupid CUMULATIVE Spanish midterm-AN ORAL EXAM (ONE ON ONE WITH THE PROFESSOR OR TA)- that Thursday. And they can ask us about anything from the last semester, focusing on things we got wrong on our previous quizzes. Super.
~Meghan

Bitter(ball)sweet Week

2007-02-19T23:14:00.000-05:00

Soooo...last week was definately not normal! Bitter Ball '07 was a smash- about 20 girls all gathered together to watch Grey's Anatomy, eat awesome food, and have pomegranate martinis. I am still waiting to get pictures from some of the girls there, but I took a few, so will go ahead and post them.
Friday, Tom and I had planned to go to the circus with Jennifer and Justin, but they ended up surprising us by having a surprise engagement party for us instead! Tom and I thought we were going to eat with them beforehand, but when we arrived at Loca Luna (a restaurant I have been DYING to go to for YEARS now) we saw one of my roommates, Kendra, sitting with one of my old roommates, Melissa, and her boyfriend, Lee, one of my close friends since freshman year. Tom and I were totally confused until they explained their trick on us, and then appeared Claire, Nate, Jason, Rex, Jose, and Alejandra! I was totally thrown off-guard! If I had known we were going to have an engagement party, I would have invited some more people, so I am sorry if you were not invited and knew nothing about it...it wasn't personal, and I didn't make the guest list. Some of the people that Jennifer invited but didn't know personally were invited because she had written down names of people that I had mentioned for a wedding shower later, so it was a really random guest list. And some of the people that were invited and I thought would be there and could have been just didn't come, which was kind of weird. But it was REALLY fun, and I had such a good time. We went back to Justin's apartment with some of those people afterwards and had food and a drink and hung out. They had cleaned it up and decorated it for us, and it was really so thoughtful!!
On Saturday, Tom and I had planned to eat together, his treat, for Valentine's Day. We had talked earlier about how we didn't really need to do gifts, so I was thinking that since he was doing dinner, I would give him a small present. I got him a picture frame, and I printed out some of our best recent pictures together so he could pick one for the frame, but the one I put in the frame was more of a joke...it's his current facebook picture. Tom always photoshops pictures for his facebook profile, so I took the one he had done of us making goofy faces that were glued on Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, and I put that one in the frame so that when he pulled it out of the gift bag, that is what he would see! hahaha He thought it was pretty funny, so I was happy with that.
But I was in for a big surprise. Tom made a great steak dinner, but that wasn't all...he handed me a card that read "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Pearls are white, and these are for You." I was so confused...I mean, that's not how the rhyme goes, and he wasn't supposed to get me anything...then I looked at him and he was grinning...he placed a box on the table, and when I opened it, there was a beautiful pearl bracelet inside. It's double strands with tiny silver beads between the pearls. It's only the second thing I've ever owned of real pearls, so I am so excited to have it. I also LOVE surprises, so I thought it was so sweet of him to pull off something like that. I kind of felt bad that I hadn't gotten him a better present, but he said that he didn't want me to, so that's why the bracelet had been such a surprise. He then took me to Café Intermezzo for dessert and coffee, but we were both so full that we both just had coffee (really, really, amazingly good specialty coffee!) and talked. Then we came back to the apartment and played Texas Hold 'Em with Robert Lee, Daniel, and Jessica. It was really fun, and it lasted for hours. Jessica got a straight flush at one point, which was pretty cool, and Tom ended up winning overall!
The next day, I got to play Super Mario World on Tom's Nintendo Wii. He bought it from the Wii Shop online, and I can't put into words how excited I am. He let me be the Mario B player, mainly because he had already started to play on the first one and didn't want me to mess it up, haha, and so I am working my way through the game...independently. Which means I won't let anyone help me, so it's going to take me ages to defeat it because I was definately better at video games when I was a little kid than I am now. And it's also kind of making me wish I had a Nintendo Wii. Seriously, I kind of want one now. I mean...Tom and I won't be married for over a year, and I don't want wait that long to be able to play all those games...especially when I graduate...I'll get home from work, and I'll want to play it and won't be able to. boooooooo
Ok, well that is basically it....I just wanted to update. Enjoy the pictures!
Love,
Megs

Happy Virulence Day!!

2007-02-14T13:43:00.000-05:00

See definitions 2 and 3 below....
vir·u·lent (vîr'yə-lənt, vîr'ə-) Pronunciation Key
adj.

1. Extremely infectious, malignant, or poisonous. Used of a disease or toxin.
2. Capable of causing disease by breaking down protective mechanisms of the host. Used of a pathogen.
Bitterly hostile or antagonistic; hateful: virulent criticism. See Synonyms at poisonous.
Intensely irritating, obnoxious, or harsh.

OK. So last year, I wrote a blog basically saying that I think people overreact to valentines day and that they should chill out and do something fun with the people in their lives they love/have fun with/appreciate rather than whine about not having a girlfriend or boyfriend. That's what I do since I can't ever see Tom on Valentines Day. And I was thoroughly chewed out for posting my opinion on my blog, since I have a significant other. SO, this year, I decided to go the opposite direction...even though I kind of still feel the same way, I can see how a day dedicated to cupid can make someone a little queasy...I mean it is probably the cheesiest holiday of the year.

Anyway, you will be pleased (you people know who you are) to know that my roommates and I are holding a party tomorrow and have named it "Bitter Ball." We are having a bunch of girls over tomorrow to watch Grey's Anatomy...we do that every week...of course I can't do that usually because I am babysitting most Thursdays, but when I'm not, I join in and watch with all these girls. Well, we've invited a few extra people, and we are having a heart shaped red velvet cake, decorated with an icing crack down the middle, we are having pink martinis, lots of yummy food, and are decorating with black streamers and dead roses. We are also giving away twisty straws with hearts on them as favors, and we are using valentines themed candles, chocolates, tins to hold the chocolates, and valentine day themed plates and napkins. All of this as a joke to make fun of the holiday. Just thought yall would find that amusing.

Ok...so for the people that don't gag upon hearing the "v" word, on Friday, Tom and Justin are taking Jennifer and me to the circus in Atlanta for valentines day! I'm really excited. And since that is a double date, Tom and I are also going to go out to eat, just the two of us, the next night. I don't know where, and he won't tell me, but I am pretty excited about it....because it involves to of my favorite things-Tom and Food. Love it. I love to hang out with him, and I love to eat. I'm set.

Yeah....well, I'll try to take some Bitter Ball '07 Pictures and post them online to give yall a feel of what it's like to have 20 college girls hanging out to watch Grey's Anatomy and make fun of Valentine's Day.

Happy Virulence Day!
Love,
Meghan

The Fruits of Labor....Hopefully Aren't Rotten.

2007-02-09T11:03:00.000-05:00

Soooo. I got my test grade for my Psych Exam, and I made a 90, so that's good...but I haven't gotten back my grades on my Spanish Quiz yet.

Basically, my Spanish class is a week or a week and a half behind because my teacher miscalculated how long it would take to lecture certain topics....or I should say subtopics, because Che Guevara is THE topic of this course. Anyway, so my quiz got pushed from Thursday to Tuesday. Then it got pushed from Tuesday to Thursday. Then it was a snow day that Thursday, so we took it this Tuesday, and it was AWFUL! It was a page, front and back and then the front of another page. It was confusing and incredibly detailed on some parts and only skimmed the stuff that I really knew that I could have written a ton about. I really thought I had studied EVERYTHING for that quiz, but apparently he found it really fun to pick quotes out from the 200 or so pages of reading we've already had, and he wanted us to identify what author wrote it, why it was important, even to fill in the blanks on some quotes. IN SPANISH.

On Thursday, we were supposed to get the quizzes back, but only half the class did, and the rest of us get ours back on Tuesday. From the expressions, sighs, and groans of the class....plus the tons of red ink going down the page with -10, -2, -5, -3, etc per page, I'm thinking that it didn't go so well, so I probably didn't do well either. ugh. I heard someone say that they don't think anyone passed, which I hope isn't true, but at least if I fail, I won't be the only one, right? This is awful.

Ok, well on to better things. I'm currently planning to go to Charleston, SC. I'm SO EXCITED!!! It's the Theta Xi Formal Weekend up there, and it's going to be a blast, I'm sure. My amazing girlfriend Alejandra is going to be a blind formal date for one of Tom's brothers, Nate, and we're all riding up this evening. Tomorrow is the Formal, then we head home on Sunday. I'm going to have to bring my books though, because I have yet another Spanish quiz on Tuesday over The Motorcylce Diaries...or Diarios de Motocicleta. Yay.

Yall have a great weekend...
Love,
Meghan

P is for Procrastination

2007-01-31T12:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I have a Spanish Quiz tomorrow and a Developmental Psych exam on Friday, but I noticed recently that I haven't updated this site in a while, and so here I am. Updating. Actually, my Span quiz was supposed to be yesterday, so I had already studied for it for about 3 hours and will review again tonight and tomorrow, and I studied some for my exam yesterday. (And will do more of that today)

Anyway, what's new with me? Well, I've been at school for several weeks now, but my schedule keeps changing up. Basically, I do 6 hours of Psych research a week (last semester I did 9 per week), and I receive an hour's worth of credit for every 3 hours of work I do. So, with that and my classes, I am in 9 hours credit of class...just under full-time status for my last semester, but still getting HOPE-yay! haha But I am doing 13 hours of class/lab/research combined each week-they just don't give out credit that way. Anyway, I didn't start my psych research until this week since there were some tech problems with the computer program we are using this time around. Now it's all set, and I run on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays for two hours a day. I'm running my last group of the week right now, actually. The Psych research is a lot better this time around since I get a computer and they get computers-thank goodness! It's a lot less busy work this way.

My classes this semester are few but not easy. I have a Spanish class that focuses entirely on Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and it's cumulative, so that's tough. Also, the teacher for it happens to be the Spanish department advisor. YIKES! And my psych class is GREAT. I love it-it's Developmental Psychology, focusing on how children develop cognitively (and somewhat on how they develop physically) from conception to adulthood. I found my psychology of parenting class very interesting, and this class is just as interesting so far. I have a lab for it that covers controversial issues, and we have to read Taking Sides (this version focused on development) and do lots of writeups and have lots of discussions for it. It's really interesting to hear what my classmates think, but sometimes I wonder if certain people aren't talking just to hear themselves. I mean, some of the stuff that is said makes no sense. But that happens everywhere, so oh well.

Outside of school, I will also be starting some volunteer work at Bear Hollow Wildlife Trail soon. I'm going to be part of their new operant conditioning program, and I am SO excited about it. It will be awesome experience to have for working at Zoo Atlanta, and I can't wait to start. Only, I have to wait because we need a behaviorist to come out to help start the program by training us, and it's been hard to get one of them to make the time. I'll be working with a doe named Ginger, a bobcat, and some otters! I'm soooo excited...more about the otters and bobcat than Ginger, though. Deer just aren't as exciting to me, but I bet we'll start off working with her. Anyway, when that kicks in, I'll be doing that for a few hours 4 or 5 days a week.

I've been spending a lot of my weekends in Covington due to birthdays and wedding showers that have been going on in the last month, and it's been great to get some extra time in with friends and family at home, but I am also really excited about spending some time in Athens and in Atlanta in the next month so I can catch up with friends there. Tom's formal is going to be in South Carolina Feb 9-11, and I am SO excited to go on that trip and to spend time with friends in Theta Xi-I love those guys. And I also have a Great Gatsby themed datenight on February 23rd, and that should be A LOT of fun-dressing up in 1920's attire should be really amusing. Also, I'm going to spend various other weekends in Athens or Atlanta just visiting and chilling out a little bit, so that will give me a chance to catch up with friends I haven't seen in a while. =)

Ok, my research is done for the week, and I am ready to get out of the psych building, so I will update later!
Love,
Meghan

Well...Ok.

2007-01-23T23:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I got on the facebook, and I saw an advertisement that said:

"The average person has 604,000 thoughts a day. Your natural gas shouldn't be one of them."

I know I'm not the only one who's mind did not immediately jump to heating a home upon reading that.

The last chapter...

2007-01-07T23:16:00.000-05:00

I'm heading back to school tomorrow (instead of tonight, thanks to thick fog and heavy downpour) for my LAST semester of college. I can't believe that I am at this point...It's just so surreal. This year I'm facing graduation, finding a job (* prays for position at Zoo Atlanta*), moving back to Covington to save on rent, planning a wedding, figuring out what I need to register for, looking at a home for Tom and myself to buy for our married life, and being in or attending weddings for what feels like half the people I know between 20 and 25.....It's overwhelming. At this point next year, I'll be less than six months from my wedding and probably just as overwhelmed, if not more so. Life has a way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it.

The good thing is that I can trust that life has good things in store for me. Come what may, God knows where my life will be and what I'll be doing. So that's one less thing I have to worry about. It's not always that easy to let go of the worry and realize that God is the only one who can control my life, but when I do, I have a peace that I can't even describe, so I try to remember to trust in him when I go about talking about my "plans" for the future. I know what I would like to do, but I don't know that I won't be flippin' burgers at McDonalds when I graduate, so I just have to trust that God will put me where I should be.

This break was really wonderful-I was so ready to get out of Athens to just breathe free from classes. I needed a chance to spend some time without that constant dread of the next paper, exam, lab report, group project, or homework. I spent a lot of time with my family, friends, and Tom, which was great. I got to sleep late, go shopping, watch tv, see movies, read books, and look at lots of wedding location and reception possibilities online. The last part was not really relaxing so much as it was necessary. I've looked at places from Athens to Atlanta to Lagrange to South Carolina, and let me tell you-planning this stuff isn't as easy as it should be. There is A LOT of stuff to consider, and I am in awe of my friends who can pull together in mere months (Seth and Rachel, Henry and Dana, and now Esther and Ben, to name a few who planned it under 6 months!!). Anyway, I really would rather keep it within an hour or so of Covington so that it's not so difficult to plan or for people to attend. I would LOVE to have it at The Vines Botanical Gardens in Loganville because it would be perfect, or in Athens because there are so many beautiful picture opportunities, but it kind of depends on budget stuff and location size and church availability and a million other factors that make it stressful to figure out. Atlanta isn't out of the picture, but I haven't had a chance to research it as much for places that I would actually enjoy having a reception at that we could also afford. It's just a lot to think about.

Tom and I did get our wedding bands in Atlanta towards the end of the semester (and I love them), and over the break I got my wedding dress. I wasn't thinking I would get a dress until this spring, but I had to go to David's Bridal anyway to pick up a bridesmaid dress for a wedding I'm going to be in this June, so I made an appointment to try on dresses while I was there. I was expecting to go in, try on dresses and veils/headpieces, and to take pictures in them, then to leave and look at the pictures later and continue to just think about what I like. But after trying on about a dozen dresses, I had found one that fit PERFECTLY and that I loved. We were still not sure about buying it that day, but when entered into the computer, the lady found that is was discontinued, meaning there was a slim chance I could get it anywhere if I didn't buy what was available and someone else got it. It also meant that other girls wouldn't be likely to wind up with my dress since it won't be made anymore, and it meant that we were getting a huge discount. All signs pointed to buying the dress, so we got it along with my favorite veil!! =) I am so happy that that is taken care of.

I also got to go to the Georgia Aquarium (FINALLY =) on the 4th of January. It was SO fun. Tom took me-he bought us a pair of annual passes for my Christmas present so that I could go whenever I want, and so that I could have him come with me so I wouldn't be alone. =) I saw some MASSIVE fish there, and I touched some cool stuff. In the touch pools, there were sea anemones, starfish, sea biscuits (or something similar to it in texture but purple and spiky-it might have just been a different version of an anemone), horseshoe crabs (I've touched one before), stingrays (touched and swam with them before), and sharks......I ACTUALLY TOUCHED A SHARK. I know-I'm a freak who loves animals and sea mammals and touches sea anemones and swims with sting rays (that don't have stingers) but am TERRIFIED of sharks and don't like to touch fish (unless feeding them to dolphins or some other creature like that). But I touched it. I think once is enough for me-they don't feel nice. They feel like they look. And they're scary, even if they are only 3-4 ft long.

I also heard from my Costa Rican family today! =) Wilfreddy called to tell me Happy New Years, and to catch up some. Their dog, which had 3 puppies a few weeks before I arrived, has had 5 more puppies since. Someone should spay Pella, but she does make the CUTEST puppies ever. Of course, Freysal is so rough with them that they probably think all little boys are the scariest thing in the world and will grow up emotionally scarred, so maybe they should spay her anyway. They have too many strays in Costa Rica anyway. =)

I better run! I have class at 10:10AM and I have to drive from Covington to Athens beforehand in this yucky weather.
Here goes everything,
Meghan

Love Is All Around Us....And So the Feeling Grows...

2006-12-20T01:53:00.000-05:00

Esther Little, who I have grown up with and consider to be another sister, basically, got engaged tonight! Ben Bratton is the most blessed guy in the world to be able to call her his fiance! I am so happy for both of them, because they are a really great couple, and they are truly awesome together-I can see how God placed them together.

He was so sweet in making her proposal special-from showing her the house he is building for their life together to flying in her family to help celebrate the special day, he had it covered. No wonder she was in tears all night-she was so happy! And, it doesn't hurt to have your prince charming ask for your hand in marriage by adorning it with a beautiful engagement ring, which is what she said he has done. =) YAY!

I could not be any happier for her-it is such an exciting feeling to think that someone has taken that huge step in asking you to be the person they can love for the rest of their time on this earth. It makes you feel so special-knowing they planned it out and made a big deal in making you have a memorable and unique moment that is just for the two of you. But more importantly, it is really amazing to realize that you have a strong foundation in your relationship through God, and it is wonderful when He has led you to that point. I am SO happy that they are engaged, and they want to get married in MAY! Whew!

Gotta go to bed now...just wanted to make sure it got documented- December 19, 2006-Esther got engaged!
Love,
Meghan

ps-Also, Roxi Veal found out that she and her husband are pregnant! how exciting has today turned out to be!!?? YAY!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!!!!!!!!

2006-12-14T18:24:00.000-05:00

YAY!! I am THROUGH with Finals! Thank goodness! Now I can enjoy Christmas Break!

oooohhh...exámenes finales....

2006-12-11T20:57:00.000-05:00

Este tiempo, próximo año, no necesitaré a estudiar para los exámenes finales. Yo puedo tener un trabajo y ganaré dinero en lugar de mis exámenes. Para ahora, tengo un examen de literatura española en la mañana. No quiero a estudiar. Por eso, estoy aquí…con blogger y sin mis libros-(¡muy malo, Meghan!) Está tiempo a volver a mis notas y libros otra vez. ¡Hasta luego!

¿No comprende? Está bien....

This time, next year, I won't need to study for final exams. I can have a job and earn money instead of exams. For now, I have an Spanish Literature exam in the morning. I don't want to study. Therefore, I'm here...with blogger, and without my books-(very bad, Meghan!) It's time to return to my notes and books again. Until Later!

[I didn't wanna write anything toooo long...just enough to get the point across. Meghan+Finals+Foreign Language= Procrastination]

angry, annoyed, bent out of shape, boiling, burned up.....

2006-12-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sometimes people make me "teed off." At least that was one alternative for angry that I found when I went to thesaurus.com. I was ANGRY tonight, but that didn't seem like a strong enough word. I couldn't find a strong enough one on that page either, but it made me less angry to laugh at some of the alternative words they chose.

Check it out.

It might be deadly...

2006-12-06T00:12:00.000-05:00

I am a firm believer that I have had senioritus since I was about a junior or so in high school, but it has NEVER tested me before as much as it has this semester. It's AWFUL. I just want to be done. At the same time, I realize that I am never going to attend another football game as a student, I will never be a part of another rush as an active sorority sister, I will never try out for a Rho Chi position again, and I will never have another "Thanksgiving Break," "Christmas Break," or "Spring/Fall Breaks" like I have had (or will have).

For some reason, none of that seems that sad to me right now, and I think it's because I am still here. When next year comes around and I need to call to find out the code to get into the Gamma Phi Beta house, or I am working instead of rushing girls, or I am working instead of having a break, or I am attending GT football games with Tom and wishing we were at UGA (haha), I think it is really going to hit me that it's all gone and never coming back.

But right now, so help me, I can't WAIT for finals to end, for Christmas Break, for hanging out, and for my last semester of college. Even though that means the career search-hopefully at Zoo Atlanta- and even though it means paying my own way in the world, I will NEVER have to take a test again or write another paper...at least not like I do now. And THAT is awesome.

Last night I was up till 5:30AM working on a Spanish Lit paper that I started researching to write about 5 days ago. I had met with my teacher, I had gone to the library, I had looked up sources online...and used an online translator a little to understand some of it. And I was still up trying to write it. I got up at 9 to finish it, and I finally got it done and turned in. Hallelujah! I am SO ready to never have nights like that again. Next semester I am taking Spanish Culture and Literature, which is my the only thing standing in between me and my minor at the moment. (there is a small problem with positioning of one of the Spanish courses I took this summer, but I plan to have that fixed pronto). I can't say that Spanish Lit was one of my favorite courses to take for my minor, but the good thing about it is that it's pretty much over. I have the final, which is going to be horrible, but then I'm out like a light...unless I get a C- or below in the class, which shouldn't happen. I am not sure what I have right now in there, but I am pretty sure it's a B or more.

Tomorrow we have a paper due in my Social Psych class, and I have to say that I am REALLY grateful that I had an awesome group for that lab. I don't usually have a high opinion of group work, but in this case, it was awesome! I also have an extra credit paper due in my drama class as well as a million journal entrys due. Other than that kind of stuff, this is the best elective I've ever taken at UGA. It's awesome.

Next semester I plan to take a 4-hour Psych course (as of now: Developmental Psychology Lecutre+Lab) as well as the 3-hour Spanish Culture and Literature course. I will also continue to do Psychology research (Psych4800)- this time for 6 hours a week instead of 9- for 2 hours of credit. That will total to 9 hours, which is what I need to graduate. I hope to spend my extra time (because that is WAY less hours than I normally have for school) volunteering with different groups in the area that help animals. I also want to get the ball rolling for wedding planning, which has pretty much been at a standstill thanks to school.

I am VERY tired, so I need to go to sleep now. Just think-Wednesday, December 6, 2006-I am going to my last classes of the second to last semester of any education that I will ever receive. YAY!!!! In my acting class, we get to do fun improv games and to eat and drink if we bring stuff in. AWESOME. Acting is the best elective at UGA-so fun. Hands down--the best.

Alright, sleeping for real now. G'night!!
Love,
Megs

Books, TV, Movies....All types of entertainment!

2006-11-06T23:08:00.000-05:00

Hey Yall,
I just felt like writing a bit (I guess "typing" is more correct...), so here I am. Lately, I've picked up The Inheritance Trilogy. That's the one that starts off with Eragon, in case any of you didn't know that book is only the first third of a long story. I saw a commercial for the movie on tv while I was on fall break, and it reminded me that I had wanted to read Eragon but never gotten around to it. I mentioned it to Dad, and he told me he had the book and that I could borrow it. So I started reading it last Monday and finished it by Thursday. I thought it was pretty good, so I bought Eldest, the next in the trilogy. So far, I'm pretty satisfied with the second book. In fact, it's a lot more fun to read than my textbooks, which has been a constant frustration lately, as I'm forced to quit reading what I want to read in order to pick up my notes or books and study. I sometimes wonder if I would enjoy the books I read as much if I didn't compare the excitement of reading them to the boredom of studying. This semester I also read 1-12 of the Stephanie Plum Novels by Janet Evanovich, as well as some other books she wrote. Her books aren't really deep and they're definately very secular, but they're fun to read when you want to take a break from studying or deeper thoughts. It always makes me sad to reach the end of a stack of books because it's like taking a journey with a friend, then realizing that when it's over, you can't go anywhere you haven't already been. That was how I felt at the end of LOTR, Stephanie Plum, and other novels or series and how I will definately feel at the end of the Harry Potter series and The Inheritance Trilogy.

Tom said this weekend, "You probably love reading as much as I love music." For those of you who don't know-that's a LOT. I think he said that after I mentioned that sometimes I get frustrated when I am tired and reading a book because I want to sleep but also continue the story, and how great would it be if I could just close my eyes and keep reading in my dreams-like...have a selective dream sequence...so that I wouldn't have to take a break in the story. I know-I'm a book nerd and a major geek. That's ok with me. =)

This weekend, I also got caught up on some studying for Psych 4200, in which I have a test in less than 24 hours. Then I got caught up on some quality tv. I watched 4 episodes of Smallville so that I would be up-to-date, and I am really loving where the show is headed. It's so great. =) I also watched every episode of Heroes that had come out from the beginning until last week so that I could watch it tonight (which I did). I am really impressed with this show, and I really enjoy it. Hayden whatshername from Remember the Titans and Ice Princess and Neutrogena commercials is in this show, and I think she is really talented and pretty. This show made me realize how much TV I have seen in my life because I found myself pointing out to Tom every character on the show's acting background that I was aware of. "This dude is from Alias." "This one is from Gilmore Girls." "She was in Final Destination." "She was the lil kid from Remember the Titans." "She was on Everwood." "I've seen that one before on My Wife and Kids. He played Piano." Yeah. I know these ppl from everything.

And then there was Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Wow. After having read the entire series of Hitchhiker's Guide..., I just have to say the movie did NOT measure up. I was really disappointed with it, because I had heard that it was hilarious. I think parts of it were funny, but the book was just amazing-it was so funny that I would literally laugh out loud at it...in public sometimes, which was embarrassing at times.

Also this weekend, I got to meet (finally) Jose, Tom's "little brother" in Theta Xi. He was so much fun to be with, and so was his friend Callie, who went on the datenight with all of us to Dixieland Fun Park. It was...different. We had fun, but I think that this website had pictures and discriptions that would lead a person to believe the place contained a lot more exhilarating experiences in store than it actually does. But no worries, it was fun anyway because of the company. =) Also, if you clicked that link, I am laughing at you right now, because you are having to look at that awful website. =)

Alrighty, it's almost midnight, and I still have more studying to do. Yay.

Love,
Meghan

Fall Break

2006-10-30T09:05:00.000-05:00

I reallllly needed that fall break, and I wish it wasn't over....back to reality. *sigh* That means for this week that I have meetings and psych research and a cog psych test, a drama quiz, and a Spanish presentation-and it's only Monday. I should be on a bus right now, but instead, I'm in my apartment because I have what might be a stomach virus from playing with my niece Madeline yesterday, who had the same oh-so-lovely symptoms.

Over the break, Mom and I looked at reception sites online, and we visited the Vines Botanical Gardens in Logansville. It was beautiful, but expensive, so we'll have to see. I have a lot more places I want to look before I'll pick a place. It would be awesome to know already, though. I plan to wait on picking a dress for myself until next semester...I don't know what new styles will be coming out with the spring, and I don't want to pick something out now only to regret it later. But I need to get it early enough to have it altered since nothing is ever the perfect length on my short body. I also signed up with the wedding channel (.com) and made a website for Tom and myself: http://pattonandmcfarlin.weddings.com so feel free to check it out! As we know more, we will add info-where things will be held, hotel info for out-of-towners, registry info, wedding party info and pictures, and more. For now, it mostly has a welcome page, a how we met/how we got engaged page, and a page with pictures of our matron of honor and best man (Kristen and Ben). Anyway, it's all underway, and the more I think about it, the more I realize how many decisions I have to make. There are a ton of details!

I went to the PAC homecoming game with Tom, Ben, Henry, and Dana on Friday night, and it was fun to see some of our old teachers and to finally talk about being engaged as excited instead of correcting people to tell them that we aren't. Now we don't have to worry about the rumor mill stirring up engagement stories for the two of us!

On Saturday I had the "joy" of watching GT pull a win out of their behinds over Miami and of hearing Tech fans talk about UGA being beaten in Jacksonville. yay. I also got to see Jim and Mandy and Elizabeth-she is such a cute little girl! She's teething, so she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth to chew on it-not least of her favorites to eat when I held her was my hair. haha At least she didn't spit up on me.

Sunday, we had sherry chicken, rice, green bean casserole, corn off the cob, crescent rolls, jello, and brownies with ice cream for dessert. YUM! One of my VERY favorite meals! You can bet I brought those leftovers back to Athens with me. Tom came over for lunch, and we had fun playing with Tyler and Madeline. Anna Kate didn't get up until after Tom left, but she is SO cute, and she was actually smiling every now and then at Lisa. It was so sweet. I got a half grin out of her when I was talking to her. =) She is a beautiful baby, and she seems to favor the Jackson looks more than Patton looks, which is different than Tyler and Madeline.

And now it's Monday; I'm back at school, sitting at my computer in bathrobe and looking awful. lol I don't think I'm going to make it past my apartment doors today since I don't want to deal with this virus or bug or whatever in public. Oh the joys of going back to school. hah
Love,
Meghan

Isn't it ironic...dontcha think?

2006-10-26T09:38:00.000-04:00

I just think it's weird that the last two posts are back to back. I mean...I dunno. From breakups and downers to engagement and uppers. Irony.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the act you've been waiting for...

2006-10-19T23:42:00.000-04:00

I'm engaged! I'M ENGAGED! I'M REALLLLLLLLY ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels so crazy that I am at this point in life. I'm SO excited. It was almost a week ago, and it still hasn't completely sunk in. I told my sorority sisters tonight, and it was so overwhelming-3 years ago I was 18 and listening to seniors tell their engagement stories, thinking-wow, I wonder if I'll get to do that!? And I just did. Right after initiation, I told about 185 girls (some weren't there) that I was engaged, that I have a sparkling diamond ring on my finger and a promise from my perfect guy in my heart. I'm so happy, I could burst. =) To read Tom's side of it or see pictures, you can visit his blog. To hear my side of the story, from an email I sent out earlier, you can read below!

Most of you know that Tom and I got engaged on Friday, Oct. 13!! But I just wanted to send out the story as well as a picture so yall could see how beautiful the day was and what an amazing job Tom did!! =)

Tom told me that we had dinner reservations for 5:00pm on Friday at a restaurant that we hadn't been to before, so I was excited about trying somewhere new. He said he wanted it to be a surprise, so he didn't tell me where it would be. After I drove to Atlanta (that took a couple hours due to traffic), I got changed at his apartment to go out to a nice restaurant. Then we drove to some random paylot, and he told me we had to walk the rest of the way. I was just trying to figure out where we were going, and before I know it, we were in Centennial Park. I had never been there before, but always wanted to go, so I was pretty excited to walk through it.

It was really pretty-about 5, and the sun wasn't set but was getting there-kind of a golden color. And we walked over to the fountains and then Tom stopped walking (so I did too). He asked me if I ever read over the emails that we sent back and forth when I was in Costa Rica this summer, and I said that I hadn't. He said there was something in them he wanted me to see, and then out of no where appear these papers. They ended up being some of our emails. He had blurred out the words from the emails except in the paragraphs that were important for me to read, and in those paragraphs, he had circled the important words. The first email had lyrics from a song that we both love that came out in high school:

Those notes you wrote me
I've kept them all
I've given a lot of thought of how to write you back this fall
With every single letter in every single word
There will be a hidden message about a boy that
loves a girl

He circled "this fall" and "hidden message." Then there was only one word circled per email after that, making up: "I" + "wanna" + "get" + "engaged" (about here I stopped reading and he had to tell me to keep going) + "tonight." I think I quit breathing for a minute or two, but Tom didn't-he proposed! =) With the light shining through the fountain, you should have seen the way that ring looked!! It's so beautiful!!!

Then a random guy from Maryland who is in town of a convention told us that he was taking pictures of the fountain when it happened, and would we like him to email them to us? And of course we said yes, and he took some more "staged" engagement photos too. So, I am really looking forward to getting those. Then Tom told me that we were going to eat at The Sundial, a restaurant that revolves at the top of The Westin, giving an amazing view of the city. We had gone there for his 16th birthday, again at 18 for his brother's (Ben's) 16th birthday, and again when we were sophomores in college. We both love that restaurant, so it was perfect! And we could even see where he proposed from our seats!! I was still shaking, even after we ate. =)

He told me then that the night wasn't over and that I had to follow him in my car to another surprise. We went back to his apartment for my car, and then I followed him back to my parents' house-where my mom and dad, and his, and Ben, were all waiting for us with chocolate cake and champagne!! It was so nice to get to share the night with family! And then I noticed a picture (the one attached) of us in front of the fountains, sitting in a frame on the table. I was so confused as to how they got it, and I asked if the Maryland guy really was a plant. He wasn't, but Tom had gotten one of his fraternity brothers to hide in the park with a hat and glasses so I wouldn't see him, and he took our picture from a distance. He had lab, so he didn't get out there until we were doing the "staged engagement" for the Maryland guy, but it is a GREAT picture-it shows off how awesome the location Tom chose was.

Overall, Tom made such a big deal of it, and I felt SOOO special! It was perfect for us, and I am so happy, and I know that I am SOOO blessed to get to marry such an amazing guy. God definately has blessed us.

I hope all is well with all of yall, and let me know how yall are doing!
Love,
Meghan

And that is about the whole shebang! I'm really excited, and I am so glad I can finally share it with everyone!
Love,
Megs

My Dear, We're Slow Dancing in a Burning Room...

2006-10-04T12:16:00.000-04:00

I officially love the new John Mayer CD, Continuum, and that title is the name of one of his songs from that album. I thought I would have to listen to the cd several times to like it since I knew he was switching up his style again, but I was wrong-I like this new type of music for him, and I enjoyed the cd right away. I bet I just didn't like Vultures as much on the music video because there is nothing more in the video than them playing the song.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. The point actually ties into the title, which is about a couple that is hanging on to a love that is going to burn out-and they both know it. I kind of feel like that is what is happening all around me. When I was a senior in high school, everyone told me and Tom that we would never make it through college-especially since we were going to be at separate schools for 4 years, but we were determined. Our freshman year wasn't easy-more like an uphill fight to keep our relationship going, but once we realized we were willing to fight that hard to make it work (and realized God was really behind this relationship-because we never would have made it if it hadn't been His will), it got easier. We made it through, and it's been easier since then.

But it still freaks me out a little bit when other couples don't make it. I know that sounds weird. It's not like I am judging other couples-I don't know everything about other people's relationships, and I think that if they break up, it's probably because that is what they should have done. It's just that it sucks to see people that wanted the same thing that Tom and I wanted ending up going down the way people always say couples will. Whether it's couples that started dating in high school or at the beginning of college, it seems like a ton of my friends have broken up lately, both at UGA and at other schools. I feel so bad, because I want to make them feel better and be there for them, but I don't even know what to say-I just imagine how much it would hurt if Tom and I broke up. And I realize that this must be somewhat what if feels like to people my parents age when their friends end up getting divorced. The statistics are against you all, but it still shakes you when one of your friends ends up on the receiving end of that negative statistic-they're hurt, and it shakes you because you know that no one goes into a relationship expecting it to end. But relationships do end. They seem great, they go on for years, and then someone changes-usually both someones change, but they don't necessarily change together. And then the chemistry is different...it's too hard, or it's just not what they signed up for or who they thought they would be, and it's over. It's freaking me out.

Not that I think it will happen to me and Tom, just that...I don't know...It changes things for everyone. Robert Lee said to me and Tom the other day that if we broke up that we wouldn't have to get over it because the universe would have exploded and no one would be around to sympathize. It made us laugh, but it also made me think, because for the people going through that, their "world" did change. And it changes for the people around them. You have to adjust to your friends as they see themselves in a newfound light. They are going through pain, and you have to feel their pain a little bit if you want to be able to support them. And you have to be able to understand a little bit of their surprise at the end of it all, even if everyone knew it was coming-even if they knew it was coming. And you have to try to balance the relationships so that no one feels an alliance of friends to one of those individuals and not the other. It's hard, and it's awkward, and it's sad for them, and so it's a little bit of all of that for their friends. And it's even more awkward and hard to adjust when those individuals finally start to move on-or date other people. You want them to be happy, but it's hard to adjust to the idea of them with anyone other than that person they've always been with. And it's especially hard if one person gets over it or moves on more quickly than the other person.

I didn't intend for this post to be so down, it's just that I was listening to that song in the car, and I realized I had a list of close friends that have had to call it quits on their long-term relationship in the last year. That song is realistic in the way that couples have fights, so it really has always stood out to me as just kind of raw and honest. These situations are kind of sad, and I just had to write it out because when I keep it to myself, it makes me all uncomfortable inside. I get over my nervousness by talking it out. That's how I do things.

Love,
Meghan

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, by John Mayer

It's not a silly little moment,
It's not the storm before the calm;
This is the deep and dyin breath of
this love we've been workin on
Can't seem to hold you like I want to
so I can feel you in my arms
Nobody's gonna come and save you
we pulled too many false alarms

We're goin down
and you can see it too
We're goin down
and you know that we're doomed
my dear
we're slow dancing in a burnin room

I was the one you always dreamed of
you were the one i tried to draw
how dare you say it's nothin to me
baby, you're the only light I ever saw

I make the most of all the sadness
you'll be a b**** because you can
you try to hit me just to hurt me
so you leave me feelin dirty 'cause you can't understand

We're goin down
and you can see it too
We're goin down
and you know that we're doomed
my dear
we're slow dancing in a burnin room

Go cry about it why don't you
Go cry about it why don't you
Go cry about it why don't you
my dear, we're slow dancin in a burnin room
don't you think we oughta know by now
don't you think we shoulda learned somehow
don't you think we oughta know by now
don't you think we shoulda learned somehow

I need a nap

2006-10-03T13:14:00.000-04:00

I have been passing out on my bed totally wiped out often lately, and when I wake up in the morning, I feel like I don't have any energy. I don't go out and party at night...so I've come to this conclusion: I keep putting off studying every weekend until I am back at school, then I am up to hours that are just not decent in an attempt to catch up. This goes on all week, I am committed to too many other things throughout the week meaning I do my homework when I should be sleeping and do group things when normal people do homework, and by the weekend, I am so sick of school I just want a few days to not think about it. And the vicious cycle continues. So I need to get over the not wanting to think about it on the weekends thing so I can have a normal sleeping pattern.

I just finished a lab practical for Cognitive Psych, and I have a paper due tomorrow for that class and I also have to do part of a paper for my Social Psych group, and I have a test in Social Psych on Thursday. Before doing the lab practical, I was at Mary Caroline and Anne Marie Armstrong's school, Prince Avenue Christian School, because Mary Caroline is the Star Student this week, and Jennie has a "surprise guest" coming to eat with her every day for lunch. Today was my day, but I was (surprise, surprise) late to get out there, so I grabbed my food and went outside to the playground to eat while she and her classmates had recess. I talked to her teachers and classmates and got to know some of the people that she sees every day, so that was interesting. She showed me the classroom and wanted me to stay through class, but I had work to do, so I had to leave. You should have seen their faces when I told them I would be in class until 6:15 pm today. It was hilarious. They are in 2nd grade, so for most of them that is me being in class until about 2 hours before they go to bed. haha I was definately feeling like a grown up since they all called me a "guest," got me a chair to sit in with the teachers, let me walk ahead of them, and whatever else. It was kind of weird, but kind of like being "the cool kid" so I found it amusing. =)

I feel as if this semester is FLYING by. It's crazy...I mean, I just got back from Costa Rica, and all of a sudden, it's almost Halloween. It's halfway through my second to last semester of college, and I can't believe I'm at this point in life. I feel again such an uncertain feeling in my life...like I KNOW I don't have any control...about my future after graduation. Even when I was a senior in High School, I knew that logically I had options, but I only wanted one. Thankfully, that is what God wanted for me too, so I went to UGA. But now, I feel like I only want one type of job, and what if I don't get it? I don't know what else I would really enjoy doing. I am praying for God to be over it, but it still weighs on me. A lot of people (believe it or not) want to work with exotic animals, and only a few jobs are open to them. I don't have a 4.0...I mean, my GPA is ok, but it's not amazing, so I feel like God is going to have to just really open the doors for me if I am going to get a job at Zoo Atlanta. I know I have the determination, desire, and attitude that would do well there, but I have to get past the interviews to prove it. And I have to get an interview first. One step at a time, I guess. I just guess it's strange to feel like my world is changing again, into something I've never done before, into something that will change my life. That's huge. But God is bigger, so I guess I have nothing to worry about. What a relief. =)
I have to go to Spanish Lit,....then Social Psych, then Cog Psych Lab. Then Pref Singers. Then spend hours doing papers and studying. This work entails: Acting Journal due with 24 entries, Paper due for Cognitive Psych, Intro part of paper due for Social Psych, Quiz for Acting, Quiz for Spanish, meeting with two teachers to talk about different paper topics, Social Psych Exam. And that's just the academic part. I am so tired.
Please, pray for me!
Love,
Meghan
ps- I got a new picture from a friend who went to Costa Rica with me. It was taken on a mountain when we were on a taxi ride from town to our homestays and had him pull over for picture. It's at the top of the page.=)

As of today...

2006-09-20T02:33:00.000-04:00

*I got 2/3s of my test grades back from last week and did way better than I thought I had.
*I got gas for $2.29/gallon.
*I saw the people I babysit for for the first time since April.
*I finished the season finale of Grey's Anatomy Season II, meaning I am totally caught up for Thursday.
*I got stuff for Jennifer and Justin's engagement party on Friday-I'm in charge of decorations.
*I have gotten way too little sleep.
*My room is messy, and I need to do laundry. And take out the trash.
*I have been asked about getting engaged every week this semester at some point at least once.
*Jordan (my older brother) is 24!!!! Happy Birthday, Jordan!
*The dawgs have shut-out against teams the last 2 weekends, and I am hoping they do it again against Colorado on Saturday-my final parents weekend with Gamma Phi.
*I had a decent conversation with my Spanish teacher, finally.
*People finally changed stuff up on my facebook page, and I'm not bored to tears with is anymore. .....I have never really cried over the facebook. Just to be clear.

I need sleep. Goodnight.
~Meghan

I'm done.

2006-09-15T00:35:00.000-04:00

Or at least, I feel like I should be. I am so worn out. I've had assignments up the wazoo since school started back, and I had 3 very long and difficult tests this week. It's funny because the one that I had today, I felt the most prepared for and didn't even finish-not because I didn't know what to put down, but because it is on Spanish Lit, causing me to have to write (in Spanish) forever. I had 1.25 hours to take that test, and it wasn't enough time. Therefore, I will earn a grade lower than I should in that class because I couldn't write a good (or complete) essay before it was taken from me. Caca. There's some Spanish for you.

I guess this shouldn't kick in 'til next semester, but I have BAD senioritus. I just want to be done. I mean, not with college life. I like living with friends in a fun town with no job, a free gym, and fun activities provided by my sorority, with my parents paying for everything. That's awesome. It's the classes that follow you home part that's murder. I hate that when I am "done" with classes for the day, I have papers to write, tests to study for, homework to do, participants to run in psych studies for 9 hrs a week, and so on and so on with no sleep and tests that display (what feels like) nothing of my ACTUAL capacity to learn the material taught in class since they are so ambiguous or so long that they are impossible to do well on. That I can do without. At least when you have a job you get paid more to work overtime.

In other news, I am working a little at a time to add to my room in my apartment, and so far I am pretty happy with the results. I bought some frames and hung them in my room. They are all matching frames with some of my favorite pictures from the Costa Rica trip I had this summer on display. I also bought a little lamp for the bookshelf/bedside table/thing next to my bed, and I think it looks really good there. And I replaced my 2yr old shower caddy with suction cups that wouldn't work with a new shower caddy that I assembled the other day and is using tension between the floor and ceiling to stand. I basically was hanging from it to pull down the post far enough to make go in initially, but now that it's in, it's great. I was tired of bending down to pick up everything off the floor where it had fallen. Spare me the jokes about how bad that would be in a co-ed prison. That's gross.

I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday. I will have gotten through another week of classes, Tom will come visit me in Athens, we will go to the UAB game on Saturday, and fun will be had by all. =) At least, that's the plan. Tom and I were trying to go through our calendars and make them mesh a little bit, and we were kind of exhausted by looking at how every weekend is dedicated to one game or group or something, but I know that this won't last forever, and I am really happy that we are able to be packed out with plans for our spare time-we can actually GO to the games and have dances and groups we belong to are having get togethers we can attend, and it's just great to have that many good options. Sometimes, we were saying, you just wanna relax and have nowhere to be. But it's nice to have the problem of too many fun things than nothing ever at all.

Tonight was big sis/lil sis for my sorority, and we brought another girl into my "family" within Gamma Phi. My lil sis(Jessica P)'s lil sis(Sophe) now has a lil sis(Jessica B) of her own. That Means- I am a Great Grand Big Sis. JP is a Grand Big Sis. Sophe is a Big Sis. And Jessica B is a Lil Sis. I feel SOOOOOOOOOOOO Old. Both Jessicas are blonde, and they are the only blondes we have ever had in our family since before I was in college, so that's kind of funny. I told Jessica B that she had to adopt a brunette lil sis next year; can't lose those traditions. We only make exceptions for exceptional blondes! haha =) Anyway, I know that sounds very sorority and very girly, but I do LOVE my "family", and Claire and I had them all over as well as some girls in a different "family" that we decided to mush into one big family, and we had Claire's family too...so there were 11 of us over here. It was so much fun-lasagna, salad, sweet tea, garlic bread, and dessert-YUM!! Plus, Grey's Anatomy was on tonight, and let me say that I blame Claire for this, but I am pretty much hooked on this show. It pretty much is a somewhat medically related soap opera/WB drama-ish type show as far as the morals/lack thereof goes for the storylines, but it's SO fun to watch. Probably because about 9 of the authors for the show are women, so they write what we want to watch. There is no way any of that stuff could go on in a real hospital without people losing their jobs. Anyway, I have the first season dvds done with and want to watch the second season now. The third season starts next Thursday, and Claire drops whatever she is doing and practically drools everytime the commercials for it come on tv. I didn't get it before. Now I am starting to do the same thing.

I must go to bed...have to be in class at 9am. boo.
~Meghan

Welcome to the planet....

2006-09-08T00:10:00.000-04:00

My niece, Anna Kate, was born Tuesday at 2:17pm, and she weighed 7lbs, 9oz. She is precious, and although I saw her the day she was born, I am going back to Augusta to see her again on Saturday. This time Tom will be coming with me, and I am really excited. It's so fun to watch Madeline and Tyler react to Anna Kate. Tyler loved looking at her nose, of all things, commenting on how hers is little and his is "big." haha And Madeline was asking to hold her, telling Jonathan to wrap her up, and demanding to have her buddy. ("buddy" is the official Patton name for kids' blankets for those of you who don't get that part. My siblings and I all had one, and Tyler and Maddie have one. Now Anna Kate does too, though it would appear she'll have to be a scrappy fighter if she wants to hold onto it and not let her sister take it away.)
I love her already, and if you want to see pictures from that day, check out my moblog!! (The link is also on the righthand side of this page, for future reference.)
Friday, Tom is coming into Athens for Gamma Phi's field party, my last one(!!!) with my sorority. I LOVE our field parties. They are so much fun...live band, big bonfire, food/drinks, dressed out in comfy clothes...which for me will entail a cowboy hat and boots, haha, and sitting on blankets under the stars with your sisters and boyfriend. It's so fun! I can't believe I'm a senior. I feel like I was JUST a freshman. This is weird.
xoxo,
Meghan

YAY!!!

2006-08-26T12:37:00.000-04:00

On the last day of rush, my phone decided it would quit working. This was really odd since it was less than two weeks old. (Basically, when I returned from CR, my phone had corroded, so Asurion-my insurance company- sent me a new one. Then that one quit working.) Needless to say, I was upset since I was in Athens and had no way of communicating with anyone. I couldn't talk to Tom or get in touch with friends well at all for about 3 days, then Mom brought me dad's phone to borrow, which was great, except that I only have about 4 numbers in my phone memorized-Tom's Cell, Mom's cell, Dad's cell (which I was using), and Home. I have mom&Dad's down because they are exactly the same except for the last number. Anyway, I have been accidentally rude by taking no calls on my cell phone because it hasn't been working, and I am sorry if you left me a message and got no return calls because I haven't gotten the messages for the last week and a half or two. But I finally got ANOTHER phone from Asurion yesterday evening, and it's a different model, so maybe it won't crap out on me. I'll try to return calls and stuff this coming week! I still have to get this phone to have all my old numbers and then activate and program it.
BUT YAY FOR MY NEW PHONE!!!!!!!
Love,
Meghan

The beginning of the end...

2006-08-21T23:48:00.000-04:00

Last week, I went back to school for the last year of college...and as far as I am concerned right now, for the last year of any school in which I will be enrolled. I am in a new apartment with new roommates, just because I wanted a change for my senior year, and so far it's been great. It has taken quite some time for my things to get put away in any type of order, but it's getting there. It's overwhelming to move out of a place with two years worth of stuff into a smaller room and bathroom and to find a place to put everything. But it's getting there. I definately got a lot of help from Claire, one of my roommates and best friends.
I was a rho chi again for my senior year rush, and I had a fantastic group of girls. I am so proud of them for trying it out; rush is so hard-you are emotional and stressed and tired all the time. But of my 19 girls in my group, 15 went Greek, and I am really excited! ALL of my girls are great and I hope they love being at UGA. There were 1300 girls coming through rush this year; that's the most UGA has ever had rush! =)
My classes and outside life is going to keep me very busy this semester, as usual. I kind of think that when I graduate, I'm not going to know what to do with myself. Work, obviously, but I've always lived with friends in college, and I've been a student since I was 3 or 4 years old, so to not be going back to that will be a really foreign experience, and I kind of think I might freak out a little bit. It weirds me out just to think of it.
Well, I'm going to work on my room some more, then I'll get ready for bed-I'm exhausted!! I miss everyone at home!
Love,
Meghan

Week 4 Email

2006-08-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

Welll....I'm not really sure I sent one. Can't find one anyway for week 4. I'll try to update on the end of my trip at another time. =)

Week 3 Email

2006-08-17T11:08:00.000-04:00

Hi yall!
Let me say, first off, that I miss home so much! I really am loving my experience, but there is just no place like home. And that means people, food, my house and bed and pets, my car, stores, and easy contact with others....It's funny how I haven't lost weight with all the walking I have to do. I think it's all this rice...
Around July 3rd, I started getting an upset stomach, and it continued for 5 or 6 days, which was no fun. Other people were getting sick too, and not just in our group, but also my "dad" and one of my "cousins" here. My mom here made me tea with a bush that grows outside their house, and it helped at least as much, if not more, and any drugs I was taking to help my poor stomach. And my lil sister here, Kimberly, gave me a foot massage. It was about as good as a 6 year old could do, and I told her that it was my favorite part of the day. She is such a cutie.
My family is getting very comfortable around me. The parents talk to me a lot, and so does the oldest son, Wilfreddy. He is 14, and really nice. I was on the back of the family motorcycle (actually, it's a dirtbike) the other day where he was dropping me off at a house for a cousin's (10 year old that another girl in our group has in her homestay) birthday party, and he forgot to tell me the muffler wasn't covered, and I burned my leg. Lucky for me, I had cortizone with aloe, neosporin, and a prescription creme from dad, not to mention 3 boxes of bandaids packed. Let's just say I am a doctor's kid and I am also very accident prone, so i know to be prepared. lol I've been keeping it clean and taken care of, but Wilfreddy felt really bad for forgetting to tell me; apparently that muffler is infamous for scarring burns. We'll see, i guess. Everyone at the ecolodge was worried, especially my teachers, who suddenly remembered a policy that we can't ride on our families' dirtbikes, even if that is how they get to areas 2 miles up a mountain. Needless to say, they were worried about what mom and dad would say and wanted me to call mom and dad about my leg, and I told them that my parents wouldn't be too surprised about my hurting something. Mom and dad laughed when they heard that, and mom said "I guess they don't know that you fall down just walking out your apartment door, huh?" lol It was nice to talk to people who know that it wasn't worth getting all worked up over.

Friday, my group got a break to go to Manuel Antonio, four hours away. It's a beach town, and we all couldn't wait to get there. We swam in the beach, went out to eat, did some shopping (my bargaining skills have improved), ate snowcones on the beach, got a lil sun (Nothing next to what I would normally have in Georgia by now), and went to dance areas every night. It was only after we finished our stay that someone told us how sharks are rampant at the beaches there, and I am glad I didn't know. I didn't get attacked, and I didn't feel anything swim up against me. I did get bowled over by the waves though. There is a BEAUTIFUL national park there that we went to, and we saw even more moneys there than the rest of the city (though they are everywhere there) and more iguanas too (also common). The beaches are gorgeous, and it was fun to lay out and swim there. That is where I got knocked over, and it was kind of funny. Basically, everyone was laying out except for myself and two other girls, Katie and Suzie. The waves were not overly strong, but getting stronger, and since there are rip tides frequently drowning ppl in Costa Rica, we were getting out. I was in about to my midthighs (I'm short, so not that deep), and walking out when all in a sudden I got pulled back VERY STRONGLY. I looked over and saw that everyone in the water was like me. Katie and Suzie and I were fighting it but it sucked us back. I was bending forward as hard as I could since I was still standing, when suddenly a huge wave came behind me and pushed me (and the others) over, and it was HUGE. It washed up all the way to where people were laying out. It did is so quickly that it washed over half of our stuff before we could even react. Not that I could do anything from my place on the ocean floor. We kept trying to get up and getting knocked over. Water was pouring out my face, and my swimming suit was on sideways and full of sand before I could get up. I finally got straightened out, washed the sand out of my towel, hung it on a tree, and once again thanked God that I had bought a waterproof hiking bookbag before the trip to hold my stuff (ipod, camera, books, etc) when going around. It was funny looking back to see suzie and katie and myself getting pushed over every two seconds, but it was really out of no where, and a lil scary because of that. Asha, another girl in our group, lost an earring because it was so strong, and pulled it out, and other people were chasing down coverups and shoes that the ocean had stolen. Last night, my roommates and I were eaten alive in our sleep by bugs, and woke up from itchiness. I guess somethings are standard across all of Costa Rica.

As far as the dancing every night, I went with the group but I didn't actually dance. I started to one time because I thought it would be the meringue (sp??) with all this twirling and stuff, like all the other people on the dance floor. But the dude kept trying to talk to me and figure out where I was staying and not doing twirly dancing even when I said I wanted to. He wanted to dance with his hands on my waist even after I told him I wanted to dance like the other ppl, so I just left him on the dance floor. He ended up not being gay like the other good dancers that night. He followed me off the dance floor and I told him "I have a boyfriend, it's not like that. I don't want to dance. I'm tired. NO" (in spanish) so he finally left. That was SKETCHY, so I ended up leaving not much later. I didn't want him to try to talk to me again. That night, some of the kids in my group had a lot to drink and thought it would be a great idea to jump into the ocean at 3am. And to leave all of their things unattended on the beach while they did so. They came home without their wallets and cameras, their purses, and one of the guys had on field pants that were zipped down to shorts, so they stole only one of his pants extensions. Not sure how to explain that last part except that their are a lot of weed lovers in Costa Rica. Anyway, that was the dumbest idea they had during that trip, and they definately paid for it. Oh well.
Tonight, we are back at the Ecolodge, and tomorrow we go back to our homestays. We will be there for 6 more days, I think, and then we are done with classes and going to travel then it's home to the good ole US of A!! I hope to hear back from you all and to hear what is going on in your lives!! I miss you all!
Love,
Meghan

Week 2 Email

2006-08-17T11:03:00.000-04:00

Hey there yall!! I don't have long to type... I need to get back home before it is dark. And it's a bit of a walk.

I have now moved in with my homestay family, and they are very nice. The parents are SO sweet, and they have 3 kids. The oldest is 14, and he speaks perfect English. The other two are an 8 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. They are fun, but tiring (what kids aren't)? And the 14 year old is so helpful. I mean...I don't know...I already am struggling to cover all the language barrier plus keep up with class and not be rude. So, his help is a blessing from God. But yall remember, I still need prayers.

Speaking of God, I wanted to let yall hear about something cool that happened at my homestay right after I moved in. I actually am pasting this from and email I wrote April earlier...last night I just was struck with how much comfort the Lord can give me. I opened my bag at my homestay house (I moved in yesterday) and was looking for something, so I took out my big bible and the dad asked me what it was. I told him it was my bible, and this look of awe came over his face. He asked if he could hold it, so i said of course, and gave it to him. I wanted to cry at the look of wonder on his face. He held it with such reverence...and he touched it as if it was more precious than gold...which it is, actually. And he looked all over at it, but he couldn't read it since it's in English. So he showed it to his wife. Then his oldest son, who is 14, looked all over at it as well. They all told me that they thought it was beautiful by saying "Que Linda!!" as they turned the pages, which means "How beautiful"/"That's beautiful!" It was so humbling to realize that I often ignore my bible when it is maybe the most important thing I own.

Then that night, oh my gosh, the bugs are ATROCIOUS. (sp?) Anyway, they are awful. And they were all in my room, and you would have laughed at me freaking out (silently so as not to wake the family) and batting them away. But I felt so alone, even though the family is just great. And I didn't want to read anything long because the light from my flashlight kept attracting bugs. So, I put aside my book and my journal, and I read in my bible. I looked for and read the passage by Paul about learning to be content in every circumstance. I was so grateful for it, and I was finally even able to fall asleep despite the bugs...until one bit me on the neck at 4:30AM. But we won't go into that. lol. Suffice it to say I am really learning to appreciate my relationship with the Lord more than ever...being removed from all that is comfortable will do that to you, won't it?

I have NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER had more appreciation for all the blessings I have in my life in Georgia. I knew I was blessed, and even spoiled, but I never knew what it was like to live in any other way. Well...now I do. There are bugs in the house all the time, and actually, they get into every place in Costa Rica...the UGA Ecolodge, the hotels...everywere. There are rice and beans with every meal. And I mean-EVERY-meal, even breakfast. And they are the staple. The house I am in is smaller than half my basement, and none of the walls are thick or even go all the way to the ceiling (maybe are 9 ft tall), so everyone can hear into every room in the house.... I have never had my mom talk to me while she cooked and i took a shower, but that happened with the mom this morning. Speaking of showers, I have found the cure for long shower takers. It's called: Cold Water. I guess, to this family, the water is hot compared to the water some families have, which comes from a mountain waterfall. (no joke). The roads here are the most rocky I have ever ridden on, and no gravel driveway is worse in GA. I would say April's driveway is comprable to the roads here. I am also going to eat everything (yes, I swallowed zuchinni last night), including fish if need be, except crab meat since I am allergic. I feel that I should since I am in their house.

That being said, I feel like I am exactly where I should be. The family is nice and was so excited to have me. They actually think my Spanish is alright (it's pretty bad), because the people that have lived with them before barely tried to speak Spanish. Besides the 14 year old, no one speaks English, so it's helping me to learn. I have the little girls' room to myself. And the first thing they did when I put my bags down was take me outside to see their dog's 4-week old puppies!! There are 3, and they are PRECIOUS!! They have also got a pretty cat, 2 horses, and some cows and chickens. I don't want any jokes about how it's no different than UGA from you people, because it IS. It's a lot more like Covington than Athens. =) And of course, the fact they love God made me sure He was over this trip. Yall don't know how much I appreciate your prayers.

Amazingly, I haven't gotten sick so far. I assume that is due to prayers as well, because I am normally SO sick. Everyone else here seems to have awful allergies and fevers and all kinds of stuff, stuff I normally get at home. It should be even worse here, but so far I have been fine...I've only even had ONE upset stomach, which is nothing compared to what I expected.

This weekend was very full. Friday night, we all went to Santa Alana. We all did salsa dancing (our teachers want us FULLY emerged in the culture), and I was very pleased at the tastefullness of it all. I only danced 3 times, no worries, Tom!! just teasing! =) It was fine, we were like...a foot apart. Lots of spinning and stuff, and our teachers went and did the same stuff we did. In fact, they were really good dancers. I stepped on feet a lot and turned the wrong ways, but it was fun. Saturday morning we all got up and went to a mountain to walk a suspended bridges hike through the cloud forest, and I saw my first Costa Rican monkey!!! It was really cute, and I don't think he liked us very much. That afternoon we repacked then took off with most of our stuff to move in to our homestays. The rest of our stuff is locked up here. This morning I woke up early, showered, ate, and came back to the Ecolodge because we all went on a zipline tour of the same mountain, and it was SO awesome. We were SUPER high up (maybe 436 ft on one of them) and sometimes came down at speeds up to 40mph. You could slow yourself down, but I always made myself go as fast as I could until they made me slow down! I was also waving at people and looking behind me and flapping like a bird at times...I got a lot of "Girl, you're crazy!" and at the end, one teacher asked if I was the bionic woman. hahaha I am grateful not to have a fear of heights. Now my fear of sharks...that might keep me on the sand at the beach. We go in 2 weeks to the beach, I think. I also rode to get groceries on the 14yr old's dirtt bike with him. (see previous comment on roads) That was my first time on any motorcyle-ish thing, and it was rather scary, but he was really good and slow.

Ok, if I don't leave now, then I will get stuck walking those roads in the dark, and I don't want that since they have a good amount of snakes here.
Much love,
Megs

The first week in Costa Rica...

2006-08-17T11:01:00.000-04:00

Hey yall! I know I said I would post to this from Costa Rica, and that didn't happen...long story short, the internet there is iffy at best, and it was easier to just email. So here are the emails I sent out from there each week... (ignore the ">"s because they just showed up when I copied the email. I will try to fix it later when I have more time.)

Howdy yall!> I'm in Costa Rica right now at the Hotel La Amistad, and although it has> only been a few days, I feel like it's been a week already. San Jose is an> interesting city, and it could not be more obvious that all of us are from> the US. I feel like we walk around with signs on our foreheads that say "I'm> foreign, please stare. And hitting on my is acceptable." If you ask someone> something in Spanish, they tend to reply in English. And my first day in the> city, I had a bunch of teenage boys asking the guys we are with for my name> and telling them to have me call them. They said "Hey!! Beauuutiful! Bonita,> hey, Bonita!" Which was kind of weird, considering in Athens there are> so many girls, that when we walk into a room, it's no big deal. I guess San> Jose is more like Tech in that sense, haha.> The city itself is such a mix of everything. There are McDonalds> everywhere and some other places like Pizza Hut, Church's, Burger King, and> stuff, but if you are from the US, it's strange. Also, there are so many run> down looking buildings and poor people, tons of markets and people selling> lottery tickets EVERYWHERE, but then there will be a beautiful and well kept> building in the middle of it all. One such building is the Teatro Nacional,> where we did a tour yesterday afternoon (In Spanish) and then returned that> night to hear an orchestra perform. It was beautiful, and it was fun to> hear. After the intermission, there was a baby that would NOT quit making> noise, and the mom didn't take it out. The music in that part was supposed> to be dramatic and very serious, with a lot of solos, and after about 1> minute the director stopped the music, turned around, and asked Very> Politely (again, in Spanish) for the lady to take out her child. He said> that he loves children but that it is very hard for the soloists to> concentrate with that going on and for the audience to pay attention, and> for the respect of his performers and the audience, could the baby please be> taken out. Almost everyone there started clapping, and it made me think of> how people feel when someone is told to shut up in a theater when they> continue to talk on their phones during a movie.> Today, about half of our group went somewhere in San Jose-very early in> the morning- to run a 10K race. That's 6 miles through the city. Not for me.> But, we were all really proud of the ones who did it; they all finished, and> I was really impressed. They all got medals and t-shirts for participating,> and that is just a cool story anyway. I slept late and told them good job> when they got back. haha. We all went to eat at a pizza place-I felt bad for> the waiter who took our order in Spanish, haha- and then we returned to the> hotel, where I got on the internet.> Tomorrow we will go to the SLRS-the San Luis Research Station- which is> owned by UGA. It has an ecolodge that we will stay at, and one of the girls> informed me that she read that it is Jessica Alba's favorite vacation spot.> That doesn't really mean anything to me except that it should be beautiful> there...not really a Jessica Alba fan. But, I am excited to be in the> mountains and to see the classrooms and stuff. It costs $5 an hour to use> the internet there, and we have to walk to a pay phone to call, where as> here it is $2 an hour for the internet and we have phones in our hotel> rooms. The downside of moving there is that we have to start class....a> necessary evil of STUDY abroad, right? ha. Oh well, maybe then I can get> some more practice in. While everyone here speaks to us in English, our> teachers only speak to us in Spanish. In about a week I will be moved in> with my family, and I am sure that is when the real Spanish help will kick> in, though I do pity them for their time trying to figure out what I am> saying. I hope I get a family with kids, but it seems like everyone here> wants to have a family with kids as well. There are a couple of couples with> no kids that want us, so we will see who ends up with them. Whatever> happens, I am sure it will be great to be there at last.> Alrighty, I have to run.> Much love,> Meghan>

Adios Amigos

2006-06-15T21:58:00.000-04:00

Howdy!
I am currently taking a break from packing-but only to say that I am about to take off for Costa Rica at 4AM!! Can you believe that? well...actually, the plane leaves at 7, but I have to be at the airport at 4:50 AM. (Thanks Mom, for taking me at that horrible hour).
I am excited and SUPER nervous. Mainly about my Spanish, but also about being away from/missing people (especially Timmy) for 5 weeks, possibly having my stuff stolen, offending someone (especially my host familia), and how I am going to get along with everyone. I feel like the group that is going has a lot of nice people (12 girls, 3 guys. Eat your heart out, Techies), but I also feel like people can get to each other under stress and that I am older than a lot of the people going but they are all better than me at Spanish. EEk. I need to quit worrying. If God didn't want me to go, I wouldn't be going. The end.
I'm out of here. I hope that you all have a spectacular 5 weeks, and I'll try to update every now and then from the internet hole that is the rainforest of Costa Rica.
Much love,
Megs

ps-I can't believe I forgot this!- Disney was so much fun, my 21st bday was so much fun, and watching my nephew and niece react to Disney World was hilarious. I'll try to add pics later.

Hey there, strangers!

2006-06-07T00:57:00.000-04:00

Hey yall,
SO...it's been a while...because it has been a very busy summer. I have been redecorating my room in C-town. It's been a slow but steady process, and I am pleased thusfar with the results. The walls are now blue, with white trim and doors (and display thingy and bookshelf and window seat). The bedding is brown and white-very simple, and still waiting to get a big "M" monogrammed onto one of the display pillows. My search for the loveseat is over, and after a dramatic delivery day, it has finally found a home in my room. And I am sitting on it right now! =) I still need window treatments. I have display shelves (dark wood) on the floor awaiting their arrangement on the wall above the loveseat. Baskets are in some of the shelves of the display case-thing...I don't really know it's real name, and it really helps out with organizing my stuff and making it look great (think pottery barn look...but I paid less $$). My bookshelves that rise from the window seat are starting to look good, though 3 shelves are still empty. I have one of my Aunt Donna's side tables now since she passed on, and it is next to my loveseat. TONS of my stuff was thrown out, some stuff was saved for my future kids or current niece and nephew, and some stuff is being sold.
Tomorrow, I am planning to go to Stone Mountain (that night) to watch the laser show with the Covington crew, and then on Thursday morning, my fam (that's for you Tom) is going to start the Looooooooong drive to Orlando, Fla. We are staying here. I am really excited because it looks like a fun place to stay, and we can thank my Aunt Annita and Uncle Carl for the awesome price we got (for the total of 11 ppl that will be there) since they are timeshare holders at Orange Lake. We are going to Disney World, and I will turn 21 on Friday!! YAY! I am so excited. Not really like "I want to go get wasted" excited, but more like "I can finally have a drink with my friends if I feel like it" excited. =)>
On Tuesday I return, and I plan to do A LOT of laundry that night because I have to PACK PACK PACK Wednesday, as well as go to Athens to get my books for summer classes and my ipod...maybe I should go tomorrow instead...but anyway, I have to pack really well because I have to be ready to be at the airport at 4:30 AM Friday morning. Fun times, right? I should prolly just get dropped off Thursday night and sleep in the airport. We'll see. I plan to use the Alejandra packing method, since she has a lot of experience with packing a lot in a little space and under 50 lbs (rules of the plane). That means, bust out the plastic baggies, roll up your clothes, and cram it in!! =)
I will then be gone for FIVE WEEKS. In COSTA RICA. For 3 weeks, I will live with a local family, and I will walk up the mountain to class. haha I better get toned legs. I will be traveling throughout Costa Rica with the group (all 15 of us-12 girls, 3 guys... there are teachers but they are not included in that 15), and we will get to do a lot of cool stuff like a zip-line tour of the rainforest, horseback riding tour, hikes to waterfalls and other cool places, visiting an active volcano, going to beaches...though very rarely, visiting cities...I am super pumped about that. Less excited about the availability...or lack thereof, to the outside world. I will prolly get to call Mom and Dad and Tom once a week. That will stink. I hope to journal while I am over there. I have a thumb-drive, so I am thinking about blogging and saving it to that and then uploading it when I get to internet cafes or when I get home. I also have to see what I can do about pictures...I might have to buy an extra memory card because I am NOT bringing my laptop with me, and I can't just install my camera's software onto a computer there. We'll see I guess. I am the most nervous about my Spanish communication...it's pretty weak, despite the classes I have taken and done pretty well in. I am also taking a Latin American Film class...a class that I haven't even got all the prereqs for yet, so that is making me nervous. Not to mention that I am one of the oldest students on the trip as far as I know, and I don't seem to know as much Spanish as the other ppl. I am just going to have to study hard and pray harder. Getting better in Spanish is what this trip is all about.
Alrighty, until I type again...adios!
Love,
Meghan
ps-the rumors about engagement were squashed when Tom and I went to PAC for Mrs. Crawley's retirement party and made it clear to ppl that asked that they had received incorrect information-that it was JORDAN who is engaged, and not me. =)

Hi, I'm not engaged. And how are you?

2006-05-21T02:28:00.000-04:00

Hey there folks,
It's been an interesting weekend. First of all, Tom and I both forgot that Friday was our six-year anniversary, which was pretty amusing to both of us. It would have been less amusing if one of us had remembered, I'm sure, but since I remembered at about 2AM Thursday morning, I reminded Tom, and we had a good laugh. He was still sweet enough to go out and buy me a dozen beautiful red roses on Friday, and that made me happy. We had already made plans for the entire day, so there was no lovey-dovey dinner or anything, which is fine. We went out to eat lunch with my mom, then worked in my bedroom, throwing junk out and looking at old notes that I had saved from 8th grade up. Some were so funny-notes that Tom and I had written as friends about ex's and about wanting to know "who 'the one'" is (!!!lol!!!), notes between me and other girls, notes from when Tom and I were dating but in high school still, even some from when I was going out with other boys, but I would only allow us to read about...2...of those before insisting on throwing that stuff out. lol No ex-boyfriend memory lane for me, thank you very much. Especially not with Tom. Now that stuff is residing in the dump, and I feel no loss. I kept all of the notes that were between me and Tom, because those are hilarious (and kinda cute) considering that we are still together. We also found some stuff that I drew and wrote when I was really young...from 6 years to about 3rd grade...and it's reallllllly funny. Tom had fun reading my handwriting...which hasn't changed much...and trying to sound out what I was trying to spell. Let's just say that yu shld be gld tat I cn spl betr now. It mks rding ezer. (that was from when I was 5 or 6. I promise I could spell fairly well once I was actually learning that stuff in school!) hahaha!! =)

Anyway, after cleaning out most of the stuff in my room, I went to Tom's house to hang out with people there, and there was a pretty good turn-out. We ate and hung out...intentions were to swim, but it was chilly (that didn't stop Henry or Tom...and it wouldn't have stopped Ben, but he hurt his hand at work that day), then we were going to watch a movie, but we all talked for so long that it would have been too late to start one. Most of us ended up hanging out in Ben's room listening and singing along to music and talking...and Dana was sleeping half the time. lol.

That night, April spent the night with me, which was AWESOME because I don't get to see her nearly enough. Darn other states. Taking almost all of my hometown girlfriends away. Anyway, she and I hung out, and as is the trend, I had a lot of work in my room to do, so I did that while she kept me company. And it is for that reason that I found out at 2AM that my entire high school...which isn't that big, but still....thinks that I am engaged. And I'm not. Jordan is, to Sarah Cormack. And I'm not. And they shouldn't think that. GRRRR. This is the SECOND TIME that a rumor has gone around that Tom and I are engaged, the first time being our FRESHMAN year of college. People in small towns, and especially in small schools, LOVE to talk about other people. And while engagement rumors aren't exactly hurtful gossip, it's annoying because by the time Tom and I are actually engaged, it will be old news. It will be the third time that they have heard we are engaged to each other, so no one will be excited. They might not even believe it. I haven't even been to Piedmont in a year (and that was only one time that year for Ben's graduation), and I haven't spoken to any teachers since that time either.

So how did it happen? Apparently when Anne St. Clair (family friend) was talking to Judy (my old cheerleading coach and lady in charge of admissions at PAC) about Jordan, it wasn't clear that it was him that was engaged and NOT me. Judy told April that I was engaged when they talked on the phone, which led to a back and forth of "no, she's not," "Yes, she is".... And she said, "I haven't put an announcement in the paper yet because I haven't heard from her or her mom yet." That would be because I am not engaged.That was on Thursday. Then the next day, Vicki Mills (works at PAC) was helping April and her mom decorate for a party when April brought me up. And Vicki said, "So you heard, right?" And she said that Judy had made an announcement to the teachers in the teachers' lounge that Tom and I are engaged. And again, she and April's mom tried to convince April I was engaged. So by the time that April tells me this on Friday night, I am freaking out.

Why? Because one of our (AWESOME-one of the best ever, no lie) teachers from Piedmont, Mrs. Crawley, is having a retirement party on Sunday...today, actually....and I am planning to go. So is Tom. And now we are going to have half the people coming up and not believing us when we say we aren't engaged. And it's supposed to be Mrs. Crawley's thing, so this is really annoying. Saturday, April left, and Tom came over to help me get some stuff set up on Ebay. Mom and Dad and I all painted my room blue (Yesssss!), and tomorrow, I plan to work on repainting the trim white after Mrs. Crawley's party. But before the painting began, Tom and I decided it would be best if I set the record straight about our so-called engagement. I called the Nelson house, Ivey answered and told me that she had heard about me getting a ring, I asked for her mom....who was at PAC getting it ready for the party. So I called her cell phone and let her know I am in fact, NOT engaged. And I told her I had heard she had announced it to the teachers, so I didn't want them thinking that anymore. And she told me that she had not said anything to anyone but April...which is curious since Vicki Mills said something to April and Ivey said something to me, but nevermind. The point is....in case you missed it....I AM NOT ENGAGED YET. And when I am engaged, I would like for people from home to pretend that they care and that they are hearing it for the first time. Thank goodness I can surprise my sorority sisters with it, or I might not have anyone to be surprised for me. lol

Ok, it's 3AM and I have to be at church at 10:50. After that it's off to face the hand-grabbing, "where is your ring??" asking people who still think whatever about me and Tom, but mostly, it's off to celebrate years of wonderful teaching and giving from Mrs. Crawley. She is really going to leave huge shoes to fill.

Love,
Meghan

Ready for the END

2006-05-03T23:30:00.000-04:00

Hey there,
I am in the midst of exams and counting the days until I am OUTTA HERE!!! I turned in a project yesterday, had two finals today, and am worn slap out. Ends up that the Span 3030 class I needed for the Maymester isn't being offered, so I am going to be at home and stuff for the month. But I'll be busy-as usual! Plans as of now?
Thursday-Study for Film final and meet my friend Ashley for lunch. Take dresses to UPS to ship them out to my aunt. Babysit that night.
Friday- Film Final at 8:00AM. Pack up and head to Atl. Study for Psych final (that final is gonna hurt me) at Tom's apartment and then go TO LOOK AT RINGS with him. sorry. did I mention that? hehehehehehehe I have never been able to do that with Tom before, and I am soooo excited. We aren't picking out ANYTHING, and I don't want to even know when he does. I just want to go look at stuff, get my ring size, make sure that what I've always said I wanted is what I definately like, and to show Tom what kind of stuff I am into. Poor guy isn't gonna know what hit 'im. LOL ok...back to Friday. After studying and "shopping" I am going to Mission Impossible III with Tom and friends, and then to Taco Mac for a friend (Nate, one of Tom's fraternity brothers) 21st birthday.
Saturday- STUDY SOME MORE. Then go to Conyers at 4 for Jennifer's appointment at David's Bridal for all the bridesmaids to get fitted. Everyone is going to meet there then eat afterwards, but I am going to have to head back around 6:30 or so to go to Tom's apartment for a party for everyone from home and some from school (meaning...Tech and State since it's in Altanta) at Apartment 1 (it really earned it's name with those guys living there! =)
Sunday-Go to church in Covington, then STUDY AGAIN. Then head back to school.
Monday-Psych Final and then meeting at 5 for Spanish study abroad in Costa Rica. Then packing and BACK to Covington.
Tuesday-Go to Fla with Tom and his family!
Thursday-Come back from Fla then pick up Alejandra from Emory
Friday- Go to Jonathan's graduation from MCG (yayuh!!)
Saturday-Take Alejandra to the Airport

After that my plans before leaving for Costa Rica are to go on vacation with my family-I'll turn 21 at Disney World haha, redecorate my bedroom at mom and dad's house, go on a trip with Mom and Kristen, visit Tom during his summer semester in ATL, hang out with friends from home, keep up with my Spanish, and babysit. Then leave for Costa Rica on June 16th. July 23rd I return. Then it's visit with friends, move my stuff to my new apartment in Athens, Rho Chi stuff during rush, and then MY SENIOR YEAR!!!!!!!!! AMAZING!! Sooooooo yeah. Always busy.

Ok. I'm out.
Love,
Meghan

ps-After this summer, I can add Costa Rica to the map at the top!! Fun times!! =)

Hey there, Sweet Thang

2006-04-27T00:17:00.000-04:00

Check out this ADORABLE picture of Mandy's precious lil girl sleeping! Her name is Elizabeth Pearl Fill, and she was born at 5:30pm on April 24th. She was 6lbs, 8oz. And everything about her is cute as can be. I can't wait to go meet her myself, but in the meantime, I just enjoy the pictures. Tom is so happy to be an uncle, and I am sure Ben is excited too. I keep laughing though that they are Uncle Tom (cabin) and Uncle Ben (rice). It just throws a wrench into my thoughts about them as uncles because of their names. But anyway,...cute, no? =)
Love,
Megs

YAY Weekend

2006-04-23T22:51:00.000-04:00

That's the kind of weekend I had-FUN. It was so nice to be tired because I was having so much fun that I was up late instead of because I was doing SO much work that I couldn't go to bed until late and had to get up early.

Friday I went to Atlanta. I FINALLY got to meet Alejandra's boyfriend, James, and he is so nice. He and Tom are very much alike, and we all got along really well. After eating and hanging out at Alejandra's place, we all four went to meet Justin and Jennifer and Justin's roommie Lance at the theater to watch Silent Hill. That was a waste of 2 hours of my life. WHAT A STUPID MOVIE. By the end we were all making fun of it. After that, Tom and I returned Alejandra and James to her place then went to Theta Xi, where we picked up some guys and went out to Malibu Grand Prix-a racetrack, arcade, and putt-putt place. It was SOOO fun. I raced against 6 guys and got SOAKED because it was raining and there were puddles all over the track. But I held my own....I was going too fast on some turns and spun around a lil and I also nailed the edges of the track a few times, but it was fun. We got back around 5 AM, and we were all SO tired.

After waking up around 2:00pm on Saturday, I did laundry at Tom's, and watched Y Tu Mama Tambien for Spanish so I could write a review on it. That movie....way to sexual for my liking. That's all I have to say about that on here. Tom took me to Marble Slab bc I was CRAVING like CRAZY some ice cream, and then we were stuck in our parking place for a while because the ppl who came in behind us were too close. Then that night Zach Harris and Liz and Chris-Jessica's roommate and her boyfriend, came over to hang out. Daniel's brother Zach also came over, and so did Justin and Jennifer. We all had pizza and hung out till about 3AM. It was SO fun, and the guys were cracking us up all night. Get them all together, and they are hilarious! =)

I had to come back to Athens earlier than usual today because we had Gamma Phi Beta's Senior Celebration at 6:30. It was at East West and only cost $7 (free for seniors). When it was finished, Claire and I went down to Cold Stone because we were both craving something sweet. I think I have had in this weekend all the ice cream I am ever allowed to have again-Marble Slab AND Cold Stone. What a fattie!! haha.

Oh yeah! I got my hair cut Thursday, and I am so happy with it! It was so long and heavy, very unattractive in my opinion. I was just tired of it. So I got it cut and now it is SO much lighter! =) I took a before and after picture that I will post on here, but I think it is funny because I happened to look AWFUL in the before picture-not just my hair, but also my face. And then in the after picture, I am so much happier that I just look better, so it's like I had a makeover though all I did is change my hair. lol =) Pics at the top....

Also at the top is a pic of some of the girls that performed in Beta Choral Cup and me at Chilis the other night after Beta Choral Cup. We didn't place, but we did a good job, and I am SO HAPPY that it is OVER!!!!!!!!!! Oh happy day! It totally consumed my life, and I am so happy that it is done! I was SO sick and tired of those practices and ALLLL of the other stuff that it entailed that I had to do. Thank goodness it is over! =)

In other news, Mandy is supposed to have a baby by tomorrow, and no later than by Tuesday! I CAN'T WAIT to see pictures and finally find out what they are going to name her! =) I won't have to call her "baby Fill" or "Gwyndolen" as Ben refers to her, anymore! =) I wanted to go with Tom this coming Saturday to see her, but it turns out that I had already said I would babysit that night and couldn't find a replacement. Stinks for me, but what can I do-Can't break a promised babysitting job.

It's supposed to be in the 90s tomorrow!! YAYUH!!!
Love,
Meghan

Blurb

2006-04-19T00:36:00.000-04:00

Things in my life:
1. Beta Choral Cup was tonight, meaning I no longer have to dedicate outrageous amounts of my life to it. IT IS OVER. YAY!
2. Study abroad is testing me right now....as is my lack of control over registration for the fall. I REALLY hate not having control over my life, and I guess God is telling me to get over it.
3. Exams are coming. FAST.
4. Mandy is going to have a birth by this time next week. YAY!
5. I turned in my paper and did my Spanish Oral Presentation on Monday, and now must do extra credit and study for a test in Psychology Research and Analysis (statistics applied through psychology) booooooo.
6. I'm still tired all the time. I want to go to sleep RIGHT NOW, but I have hw to do. Last night, I fell asleep at Claire's apartment and had to wake up long enough to drive to my own apartment and go back to sleep.
7. I can't find Esther's address, so I never mailed her the birthday card I got her. And I was late mailing James's birthday card.
8. It needs to stay nice and warm/hot outside. I love it.
9. I no longer have to go to Rho Chi meetings....until August anyway. YAY! Remind me to take my sorority letters off of my car by May 1st and to make myself invisible on the Facebook to ppl I don't know by May 1st too.
10. I have to dress up for class tomorrow to get extra credit for my careers in psychology class, but I don't want to because I have to get up even earlier to do that, and I have class from 9-4:30 tomorrow. I don't even want to go to class(but I must-boo).
11. I bought Transporter 2 but haven't had a chance to see it yet. Hopefully it'll be as good as the first one.
12. I have a problem being on the internet when I should be doing other things. Like homework. Like right now.
Peace-Out playas.
~Meghan

Calling all angels...

2006-04-07T01:53:00.000-04:00

Hey yall....
I am SO stressed about life right now. I need any and all prayers yall have time to offer on my behalf because I am going to need patience, mercy, love, and diligence to deal with some situations that will/might occur this coming week. Plus I have a lot to do with school...speaking of which...it's almost 2AM and I have a lot of Spanish to do. A LOT. So I am going to do that and then go to bed. My body is tired, and it's also sick (go away pollen! allergies are ruining me!), so I think that is adding to the stress.
Goodnight!
Love,
Meghan

Zelda

2006-03-28T22:21:00.000-05:00

Hey there friends!
For those of yall who grew up loving Zelda, as most of us did, you should see this trailer.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB89-9X6YS0.

Tom sent the link to me in a gmail, and I was so excited at first...but he didn't sound super excited about it, which should have told me something. I haven't talked to him about it yet, but basically it looked to me like the original Chronicles of Narnia movies....just low budget and stuff. But still, I know I will see it because...well because I love the Zelda games, even if I am just watching ppl play them instead of playing them myself. Plus, Link has always been the cutest fictional character in my opinion. WOW that sounded wrong because: A) he is fictional, and B) I have a boyfriend, yet am talking about a character in a game. Ok. Go check out the link to see....Link. OMG I am cheesy.
Love,
Meghan

As Promised

2006-03-23T19:00:00.000-05:00

...an Update!
Alrighty, the week before spring break was such a stressful week that going to Savannah was just what the doctor ordered. Claire and I took off on Monday to the oldest city in Georgia...and also probably Georgia's most beautiful city, and we had the most chilled out week. Every night we went out to eat with Nana, my mom's mom, and then Claire and I watched a movie at Nana's house and read magazines and hung out. No going out for crazy nights....We're not crazy….welll….not THAT kind of crazy-we are goofy-crazy, and I'm not old enough to even set foot in any bar anyway. I couldn't even go into Wet Willie's downtown in the middle of the afternoon because of a new city ordinance, so Claire had to get me a Weak Willie (the only virgin drink in the place). It was right before St. Patrick’s Day, and the water was dyed green in all the fountains around Savannah. We went all over the city, went to River St., went to Forsyth Park, went to eat at Sweet Potatoes, Carey Hilliard's, and Jalapeños. We went to Tybee Island but only stayed for about an hour on the beach, and we went to Wilmington Island to see Mema and to visit with Payton and Jessica. Well, we went to see everyone, but those were the three we saw, and it was a lot of fun. =) Payton kept saying he was going to 'fire' everyone. At any moment he might say, "SCRAM! You're fired! Pack your bags! I'm calling a cab!" And later when I told him that I was around first so I was higher on Mema's list, he said "No you aren't! I'm erasing you off the list!" I told him he couldn't and he said, "Yeah I can! I work with God!" It cracked us all up-I couldn't even respond to him because I was laughing so hard. He is about 5 yrs old, and he is so funny.

When I returned home, I was busy non-stop, right down to the time I left. I babysat, went to Mandy's baby shower, visited with Tom's family, hung out with friends, and visited with April. It was good to do all of those things, but I was worn out when I returned to school, and felt like I needed a week long nap. lol Then my car broke down this week, and people have been so phenomenal taking me around, but I hate bumming rides all the time. The dealer couldn't get it to screw-up for them the way it did for me, so they couldn't fix it, and I got it back today free of charge, but not fixed. I'm really happy that tomorrow is Friday! I am going to go home so that I can take care of the animals while mom and dad are in Savannah for Dad's medical conference. While there, I am going to have some Covington ppl over to hang out. Saturday evening I am headed back to Athens because I have to go to a Rho Chi meeting at 9AM on Sunday, and I have to babysit at 5:30 on Sunday....I really don't ever leave a lot of time unscheduled, do I?
Alrighty...Spanish Homework!
Love,
Meghan

Ps-there are pics from all of Spring Break below, from babysitting (Yes, I did wear a crown with Abby-I was the “queen”) to the park with Tyler and Madeline to Tom and Tyler at the lake to Savannah with Claire! We have some goofy pictures in there. =) And, no, it’s not an engagement ring on my finger-it’s a promise ring Tom gave me!

I will update...

2006-03-22T12:06:00.000-05:00

...one of these days, but I am too busy and stressed to give a good life summary right now. Savannah was fun. Now it's back to reality. In the meantime, let's all have a gander at a quote from my oh so obviously at Tech boyfriend, "Obviously, progress is slow (if I remember correctly, Rome wasn't built in a day and I often compare my website to that city - just ask around)." I cracked up when I read that. =) If you aren't laughing, maybe you just don't know Tom. He updates once every month and a half or so, and his updates are about technical updates he wants to make. And he's funny anyway. Just laugh.
Alright, gotta go to class.
Love,
Meghan
ps-thanks to Melissa, Jessica, Lee, Claire, and whoever else ends up giving me a ride while my car is in the shop. And to all the ppl who have tried to chill me out on the stress level lately. Yall are life-savers!

Once Upon a Time...

2006-03-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

There was a girl named Meghan. She got into her first choice University, joined her favorite sorority, and joined a million other things as well. She chose psychology as her major, which is highly ironic because she went psycho on the eve of the last day of classes before spring break when she had a total brain meltdown from having TOO FREAKING MUCH going on in her life in and outside of classes. Meghan was utterly useless to the world after that because her brain went on a permanent vacation when it refused to keep up with her schedule anymore. The only cure was to remove her entirely from her usual schedule by sending her away with a girlfriend to another city for several days on Spring Break. So she went to Savannah in hopes that she would recover. The result? Only time will tell. The end.

This is based on a true story. (unfortunately)

Savannah, Spring Break, Savannah again?

2006-03-06T09:45:00.000-05:00

Howdy yall!
Formal with Theta Xi was SUPER fun!! I don't have long to type about it because I have to go to a Spanish Oral Exam, but I had to let yall know that I loved it. Any weekend that Theta Xi wants to sweep me off to some gorgeous location, pay for everything, and have a dance is fine with me! =) After the formal on Saturday night, a group of us went downtown to River Street to hang out. We decided to get a picture and as a joke from our posed position on the fake toyboat(intended for little kids), we all yelled "Real World-Savannah!" when the picture was taken. So, Tom photoshopped it as a joke, and I wanted yall to see it. =) In that picture are Kami, Me, Blake, Jennifer, Tom, Michael, Justin, Sophe. That comprised two rooms at the hotel-Jennifer, Sophe, and I were all UGA Gamma Phi's rooming with Kami, and Alpha Z Delta at GT. She was super fun; we called her "Kamilicious." And all the guys were our dates and roomed together.

On Friday I will be done with classes for a while because Spring Break will FINALLY be here. I cannot wait! Claire Peters and I are thinking of heading to Savannah for that week because Tom will be in class for me, and she has no other plans. =) Hopefully it will be a great week! I think it is bound to be great simply because we aren't in class, but we will see.

Ok, off to take my Spanish Oral Exam. PLEASE pray for me!
Love,
Meghan

ps. Max, Jordan's cat that we got when I was two, had to be put down over the weekend because he has been barely hanging on for the last few months. It's super hard to think about him dying, but he was a member of the family, so I thought he deserved some recognition. I had been taking care of him for a long time, and it's really tough to think about never seeing him again.

YAY-Costa Rica

2006-02-28T01:36:00.000-05:00

Hola!
I received an email today before I got home from class that said that my second reference to study abroad in Costa Rica could not be found, and I was freaking out.....

Hello Miss Patton, Thank you for your patience as the application process comes to a close. I believe that we had briefly spoken in Gilbert Hall about your application. You have presented a strong application and it was on that basis that I spoke to you about your position in the program. While that is still the case, upon review of your files there is 1 reference that I do not have and therefore must delay my decision until that is clarified. Can you tell me the names of the 2 references that you submitted and if they were enclosed with the full application or mailed separately. I apologize for the delay and this misunderstanding but I believe that the second reference is an important way of rounding out the assessment of the applicant. I await your response, Lesley Ferachook, so that was scary. But before I replied, I read a second email that she had sent before I got home from class as well...

Hello Meghan,
  The misunderstanding on my part has been
cleared up and your file is complete.  I would
like to offer you congratulations on your acceptance to the
program in Costa Rica for the summer of 2006.
You will shortly receive an acceptance letter in the mail.
This will later be followed up by an information
packet and the date of the first meeting which will be
in approximately 1 1/2 weeks since the official acceptace
process has  now ended.
  I look forward to meeting you and to our trip
this summer which promises to be an exciting time.
Lesley Feracho

YAYUH!! Talk about excited. But when I think about it,...I just feel apprehensive(?)....I don't know if that is really an accurate way to describe it. It's just tough to think of being away for that long with SO LITTLE contact. I don't see my nephew or niece often besides in the summer and at Christmas, so I am giving that up this summer. I also don't go to school with Tom, and that's hard enough just seeing him on the weekends. But doing a Maymester and study abroad....I'll basically not see him but a few days from May 15-July 23 or so. That stinks. And it's hard to think about. And I also don't see my family or other friends from home or Tom's family or anyone as much during the year because of the same reasons-they don't go to school here. It's just not easy to think about not seeing them. BUT I don't think it would be easy to be at home thinking, "I just gave up my chance to travel to a Spanish speaking country and take advantage of that. I just gave up my last chance to study abroad. I just secured myself an extra month at least of school till I graduate because of not getting classes done this summer." All of my relationships are going to survive the distance. I know that, and I am trusting God to handle it all. Así , estoy muy feliz estudiar en Costa Rica!

Ok. So this week....I have a Spanish midterm on Friday, and Theta Xi has their formal in Savannah this weekend. =) I am really excited about it (NOT the midterm, but the formal)! The midterm is going to be HARD for me, and though I am excited about the formal, I am disappointed because I have a Spanish Oral exam on Monday...and it's in front of the whole class over really detailed stuff and with randomly assigned partners. AAAAAUUUGH!!! I hope I don't fail. I am going to be SO nervous. Please pray for me! A good thing is that Sophe, my grand lil sis is going to go to formal also, and I don't get to spend enough time with her so this is great. Another awesome thing about it is that she is a Spanish major who happens to be taking the same professor for the same course this semester so we can practice over the trip for the oral exam. Tom needs to get better before the formal trip too....pray for him. He has bronchitus and a sinus infection-NOT fun. Sophe was sick too, so...ya know-prayers all around.

If you are looking for a mission for God to support right now, I have one. My lil sis, Jessica, is actually my small group leader for Campus Outreach. Every year, CO does Cross Cultural Project-they go to a foreign country and work at a campus to spread the gospel and to train Christians of that country to witness to their countrymen. Well, you have to be asked to go on this trip, you can't just do it. And Jessica was selected. She's been praying about it and decided to do it. Now she is raising money to support her trip-it's $5,000. Not cheap, but can you put a price on spreading salvation to others??? So, if you can support her, please contact me at mcp@uga.edu or call me if you have my # because God is going to have to work in a big way through others to make this trip a reality. She can't just dish out the money herself because she doesn't have that much and can't make it by May. But if God has blessed you, pray to see if He is leading you to give some of that back to Him in this way. It would be so wonderful!

Ok...I gotta go to bed. I have to drive to Covington tomorrow to pick up my car and give mom hers back because she let me borrow it. Mine wasn't starting, so it had to be fixed.
Love,
Meghan

Ok Ladies. Your Turn.

2006-02-16T17:46:00.000-05:00

Henry wanted me to be fair, so he sent me this.
__________________________________

Summer Classes for Women at the Learning Center For
Adults

Registration Begins May 15 and ends May 22. Schedules
will be awarded on
a first come first serve basis. Maximum class size
this summer has been
lowered to 15 from 20 due to recurring problems of
talking during
lessons.Classes begin the 29th of May and each class
session will last
approximately one hour. The following classes will be
offered:

Class 1

Sports - A Full Discussion of Sports and The
Implications of Interruptions
Meets Mondays at 6PM for 4 weeks.

Class 2

A Step By Step Guide to Car Care - Includes Washing,
Changing Tires, AND
Checking the Oil
Meets Mondays at 2PM for 4 weeks. Bring grubby
clothes. Yep, you'll get
dirty.

Class 3

The Lost Practice of Female Punctuality - Brief
History Lessons Followed
by SBOT (Strategies for Being On Time)
Meets Tuesdays for 4 weeks at 5:42PM - Every class
begins with a test.

Class 4

_Managing_ YOUR Money - A CounterClass to the common
theme of Spending
Your Man's Money. Class will cover many topics ranging
from how to cut
up credit cards, to balancing a check book, and even
how to conceptually
understand that if you purchase something on sale, you
didn't save any
money at all like you thought! You actually spent
money!
Meets Tuesdays at 8PM for 8 weeks. Be prompt in your
arrival as their is
much material to cover.

Class 5

WDW (Whiner's Don't Win) - A linguistics class that
clearly explains how
to improve reception of requests simply by how you say
it. Studies show
it makes a huge difference!
Meets Wednesdays at 6PM for 4 weeks

Class 6

Guy Time - It's Not a Request...It Just Is
A classroom guide not to understanding what Guy Time
means, but merely
how to understand that it is going to happen on
occasion whether you
like it or not, and you can be OK with it and work it
into your schedule.
Meets Wednesdays at 8PM for 6 weeks

Class 7

How to Cure Chronic Headaches - We know you get them
every other hour of
every day and you can't seem to help it. We'll teach
you how to get rid
of them by a simply practice known as Ignoring the
Pain. Class will
include anatomical pictures of females head, showing
the Headache
Generator section of the brain.
Meets Thursdays at 9AM for 4 weeks

Class 8

Master Safe Driving Skills - Despite passing the
driver's license exam,
we all know you can't drive. We'll begin with the
basics ranging from
how and when to use your indicator, what all those
mirrors are for, and
also what it means when you see the red lights on the
car in front of
you. As the class progresses, skills will become more
advanced,
including topics such as merging onto the highway
without fatalities,
navigating one-way streets, and even learning who goes
first at a 4-way
stop!
Meets Thursdays in the Parking Lot at 10AM for 6 weeks

Class 9

How to Parallel Park (Class 8 required previously or
in conjunction with
this class as a prerequisite) -  We know you passed
the driver's license
road test, but getting one and a quarter wheels into
the spot does not
constitute parallel parking. After the class, you can
impress your man
with REAL, SAFE driving skills.
Meets Thursdays in the Parking Lot at 10 AM for 6
weeks (immediately
follows Class 8)

Class 10

Workshop Class - Learning to use everyday tools such
as a screwdriver, a
hammer, and if there's time; we might discuss the
functions and proper
use of a tape measure.
Meets Thursdays at 2PM for 4 weeks

Class 11

When to Talk and When to Shut Up - Yes, there's a time
for both.
Although most women think its always Time to Talk;
we'll teach you the
telltale signs from your man to realize what "Time" it
is. We promise it
will impress your man, and make you a happier, more
concise person.
Meets Fridays at 6PM for 6 weeks

Class 12

Club G.R.O.S.S. - What is it and how to avoid being
labeled a "Slimy Girl."
Before beginning the class, those interested will be
required to read
several Calvin and Hobbes comics showing the
origination, purpose, and
relevance of Club G.R.O.S.S.
Meets Fridays at 8PM for 5 weeks


Due to last year's difficulty in keeping students
attention and making
them not talk during class, we will not be offering
the usual 15
courses. However, we have decided that we will extend
the required
summers of attendance from 4 to 5, so that graduates
will still have the
necessary knowledge that should be gained from these
courses. Our
congratulations to all 3 of the graduates from last
year. May their
success be inspiration to you new-comers. We look
forward to seeing you
in May!

If I Pay, Will You Go? Please, Guys?

2006-02-16T12:50:00.000-05:00

HAHA-Kristen(my sister, Kristen) sent
this to me and it made me laugh.
Tom actually doesn't need to take these
classes...for the most part, haha, but they
were too funny to keep to myself! =) Enjoy!
Love,
Meghan
_________________________________________

WINTER CLASSES FOR MEN AT THE LEARNING CENTER FOR ADULTS

REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED BY February 21, 2006

NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.

Class 1
How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays --- Step by Step,! with Slide Presentation. Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Class 2
The Toilet Paper Roll --- Does It Change Itself?
Round Table Discussion.
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.

Class 3
Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub? --- Group Practice.
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor --- Pictures and Explanatory Graphics. Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.

Class 5
After Dinner Dishes --- Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink?

Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM

Class 6
Loss Of Identity --- Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other. Help Line Support and Support Groups. Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM

Class 7
Learning How To Find Things --- Starting With Looking In The Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming.
Open Forum .
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.

Class 8
Health Watch --- Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health. Graphics and Audio Tapes. Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 9
Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost --- Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.

Class 10
Learning to Live --- Basic Differences Between Mother and Wife. Online Classes and role-playing. Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined

Class 11
How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Class 12 Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks? Driving Simulations 4 weeks, Saturday's noon, 2 hours.

Class 13
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy --- Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling When You're Going To Be Late.
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered. Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 14
The Stove/Oven --- What It Is and How It Is Used.
Live Demonstration.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.

Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

"Singles Awareness Day" my foot.

2006-02-14T23:48:00.000-05:00

A lot of ppl, including some married ppl I know (AHEM Henry) consider Valentines Day a hallmark holiday and a singles' awareness day. Let's just get real for a second-1. What holiday does hallmark (and any other business) NOT use to their advantage? 2. If you are single, and you and the outside world are not aware of it the other 364.25 days a year, then that's when you REALLY have something to worry about.
I'm not saying it doesn't stink for ppl to be without significant others on days set up to make ppl appreciate the people they are dating or romantically involved with in some other way. But cry me a river ppl. I go to school over an hour away from my boyfriend and have not seen him on one valentines day or one of his birthdays since I started college. Yeah, yeah "You have a boyfriend, what are you complaining about?" That's the point. I'm not. I love seeing Tom, and it stinks not seeing him all the time, but you know what-it's "you don't go to school with your significant other awareness day" for me 5 days a week and 9 months a year. I see couples holding hands, girls leaving to go hang out at their boyfriends, sorority sisters attending datenights in the middle of the week....you get the idea. I don't do those things outside of Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays until around 5. And I'm still alive.
I consider myself blessed to be happy where I am in school. In fact, I am realllly grateful that Tom is ONLY a little over an hour away and that I DO get to see him every weekend and that he WANTS to call me during the week and see me on the weekends. I'm not saying I am perfect, I've never complained, I don't miss Tom, or that you should aspire to being just like me. I'm just saying that if your life stinks right now because you are single, it's most likely because you aren't content with something in your life. And you need to figure out what that is and fix it before you get someone else involved in your life. And if you are single on Valentines Day, use it as an excuse to get free candy and hang out with other single friends. Or if you are dating someone who isn't close by, celebrate your relationships with OTHER ppl you appreciate on that day that aren't far away. For example, I am having the best Valentines Day (week, really) of my life because I am finally taking advantage of it. This week I have gotten to enjoy candy sent to Gamma Phi for VDay, exchanged VDay cards and presents with Lauren because we decided to be each other's UGA valentines (And we did that during class, so that made it much funnier-it totally made me think back to elem school, only we were the only ppl in the Statistics in Psychology class who got presents), and I had dinner with my roommates tonight, plus an awesome cake that I made-sorry, I'm proud of it. hehe My roomies gave me Valentines (I made the meal), and my mom got me a present that I get this weekend and she and dad sent me a card. My sister sent me VDay stuff to my house-so I get it this weekend too, and Tom and I are celebrating VDay on Friday-dinner and presents. I also sent out Valentines to all my siblings+Ben+April, and Esther and I talked today on the phone to tell each other Happy Valentines Day, and that was a great present because I miss her so much. I don't see her often since she is at FSU. So there ya go-Hallmark isn't the only thing that can profit from Valentines Day-it's all in the attitude and the plans you make. So next year, loves, make sure you have some fun.
Love,
Megs

This weekend...

2006-02-12T22:44:00.000-05:00

...was awesome!! I had such a great time. Don't worry Mrs. Patti, Tom didn't need to be nursed back to health or anything, he was just fine. He even helped me watch Jack on Saturday night! haha (Although he spent most of the time watching a movie. I can't complain though since it's not your ideal way to spend a Saturday night-babysitting-when you only see each other 3 days a week for 9 months of the year.)
Ok, so Tom and Phillip were tearin' up the dance floor Saturday night, which was a sight to behold-it was really fun, and Claire and I had a great time. We all hung out for a while after that, and the next night after babysitting we all hung out again. Today I found out that there is a satellite church in Athens for Northpoint, so I want to check that out.
That's all for now. Another week is here already...and Valentine's Day is upon us as of Tuesday. Tom's got his present waiting to be opened. I get mine Friday night-dinner and something that he said is nothing big but he won't tell me about. I love surprises!! =)
Love,
Meghan

Español, por favor.

2006-02-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Howdy yall...
Many of you know that I have been looking up study abroad opportunities over the last year in order to know what my options are for possibly studying abroad with UGA for Spanish. I have to turn in the application and the app. fee tomorrow. I am excited and nervous about this chance to go to Costa Rica. For those of you who think I am looking into getting my parents to fund a 5-week school sponsored trip to the beach with a few Spanish lessons thrown in, you should be made aware that we would be spending 4 of 5 weeks on a mountain. We would also be going during the rainy season. And I was informed that I would need long sleeves and boots. I would also be attending class for hours every day. The last week would be spent traveling to various cities, landmarks, museums, and yes-a beach or two. =) I was fully prepared to work every day, but I was kind of hoping that the beach would be a more common part of the experience. Yall know that I L-O-V-E tropical, beachy settings and weather. Well, tonight I had to get all of my application ready for being turned in tomorrow, and I was asked to write a one-page essay to "express why you want to study abroad, what about the host country's culture interests you most, and why the qualities of this particular program support your personal, academic, and career goals." Basically, why are you applying and what does it mean to you?
I thought, I bet there are people I know who are wondering the same thing about why I want to do that instead of study in Athens. Maybe you don't care. Either way, here is my answer....

Studying abroad with the University of Georgia in Costa Rica would provide me with an experience that I would not otherwise be able to have. I am currently working towards a minor in Spanish, and I feel that the best way to experience that culture and develop comfortable conversational Spanish is to immerse myself in a Spanish-speaking country.

It is true that I could visit many countries in order to study Spanish, but I prefer to visit a country for the length of time that this trip offers, and the location that the University of Georgia has chosen seems ideal. Costa Rica is a beautiful area, and this trip would allow me to see much that it has to offer. From the mountains to the beaches, and from various cities and landmarks to the history in the museums, Costa Rica provides a vast amount of beauty and information that will be brand new to me.

I also am excited about the possibility of studying on this trip because I look forward to spending time living with a local family. That is the most interesting area of culture in Costa Rica to me. I feel that it will be a totally different situation than what I am accustomed to in Georgia, and I am interested to see how that experience will shape me. I believe that it will help me learn about the daily lives of native Costa Ricans as well help me improve my Spanish speaking and listening abilities. Outside of improving my appreciation of that culture and the language, I hope to gain new friends on this trip, both in the families that house students and in the teachers and students attending the trip. When I was six years old, my parents decided to put me into a different school that was an hour away from the one I had been in for two years. My mother said she remembered that I said to her, “But all my friends are at this school. What will I do?” She said I thought for a minute, and then I answered myself with, “That’s ok-I’ll make new friends!” And that was the end of my worries. I have taken that attitude with me as I have grown up, switching schools again in middle school, then deciding to attend the University of Georgia, a huge college where I knew only two people and saw neither of those two often. I intend to take that same attitude with me on this trip.

I have always been open to meeting new people and learning about them, and I truly feel that that is the main difference between taking Spanish in Costa Rica and taking those same courses at UGA this summer. I could stay in Athens and learn the same Spanish words or grammar, but I wouldn’t learn about the people and the culture in the same way that I would from spending over a month in a Spanish-speaking country. I know that studying abroad would help me appreciate the culture because I would appreciate the people that I would meet, and they are living examples of why that culture is what it is. I would also appreciate the Spanish language as more than an extra degree or help in my future work; I would appreciate it as a tool to help me communicate with those that I would be living with daily.

Because I will be a senior next year, this is my last opportunity to really spend a month studying a language where it is prominent in the culture in which I would be living. Not only would I be able to study abroad, but the classes offered on this trip would allow me to graduate on time. I currently need four more Spanish classes to complete my minor, and I am in the second semester of my junior year. By taking a Spanish class in May at UGA, I could take two Spanish courses in Costa Rica, leaving me with one Spanish course to complete my senior year. I have worked very hard to achieve my minor, and I am willing to continue working hard for the opportunity to study in Costa Rica.

This program would also be beneficial in my future because it would help me attain a better grasp of conversational Spanish, which might be important to my career. I plan to be an animal trainer at a place such as Zoo Atlanta or Sea World, and people of various cultures as well as local residents of the United States tend to come to such attractions. In the Southern states of the USA, there tend to be many Spanish speaking people, and the ability to communicate with them while in a performance with the animals would help them to be included in what my work would have to offer. I feel that by studying in Costa Rica, my ability to comprehend Spanish when it is spoken to me will be advanced as well as my ability to converse clearly and correctly with Spanish-speaking individuals.

Submerging myself in a foreign culture is something that I have been carefully considering and researching over the last year, and I have been eagerly talking about to several people for the last few months. I am looking forward to the opportunity to be in a new situation that I believe will help me grow as a person as well as a student. I understand that this program is designed to challenge you in your seriousness as a student in order to help you appreciate the culture of the country as well as the language, and I am ready to meet that challenge. I look forward to the opportunity to enrich my college education by learning more about other countries and their residents, meeting new people, studying in a different setting, and improving my understanding and abilities in Spanish.

That's enough about that. I am excited because tomorrow Tom is coming to Athens, and he, Phillip, Claire, and I are going to eat at Outback, then we are going to Gamma Phi's Cocktail Datenight-where I am excited about being dressed up and seeing my girls, and Tom and Phillip are excited about being 21 during a power hour. LOL Seriously, the first hour of the datenight the drinks are only $1 each, but these guys have more sense and respect than to get all they can shoved into their bodies in an hour, so no drunk boyfriends for me and Claire. haha But they can still be excited about being 21 together while Claire and I are lagging behind. Sigh...I don't really care about drinking, it's just that I feel like I've been 20 forever since everyone on earth is turning 21 this year...and it seems like everyone else (in Athens) never really cared about their age anyway so being under 21 is not a problem to them. Being the girl scout that I am-seriously, I feel like a nun-haha, I'm not breaking any laws, so I feel like I've been 20 for half of my life. And since I will probably be doing a maymester (May 15-June 7), I will miss my family vacation (June 3-June 9) and am not going to drive to Hilton Head on the 8th just to turn around and drive back. So I am going to be in Covington alone on my 21st (June 9th)-my hometown hoes better be around to keep me company. It's a Friday, so it shouldn't be a problem to hang out like we did for Tom. And I mean, seriously. I can't be all alone on my 21st bday. That has to be against the rules. I've already given up half the other big days in my life, I'm not giving up that one too. As Tom continues to say-after 21, there aren't that many more exciting birthdays. I actually don't know if I totally agree since I just love having my birthday every year. But still. You know what I mean.
Ok, I am tired and only halfway through my Spanish hw and haven't even started my Geology hw yet, so I am gonna go.
Adios!
~Meghan

ps-I wrote this on Thursday night, but couldn't post it till today, so that is why I am referring to today as "tomorrow."

ChuckECheese...

2006-02-02T18:57:00.000-05:00

...Wore me out. It was Mary Caroline's bday party-there were 37 kids, and also, I watched Jack the whole time...her very busy 1&1/2 year old brother. I got there at 2:45 to help set up and I left at 6:30 or so when it was over. Whew. Not to mention that the Chucky mannequin thing is freaky. Yay that tomorrow is Friday!
~Meghan

Zombie...

2006-01-27T15:51:00.000-05:00

I am SO tired. Last night, I was about to go out to eat with Alicia, Jess, and Sophe at 7:30. Then I was going to come back and finish my hw and get a shower and go to bed. But at 7:05, I got a phone call from Jennie Armstrong telling me that she needed me to babysit because it was an emergency. My first thought was that Mary Caroline was having another asthma attack and had to go to the hospital, but it was nothing like that. Scot had been visiting with his parents (who live in another state) and his keys fell out before they took him to the airport. Jennie had to get to the airport by 9pm so that she could bring him his keys when his plane landed. So I canceled with the girls and went to babysit. MC was hard to work with because I couldn't get her in bed until about 8:30, and she kept getting up until like...10 something. I tried to do my hw, but I only got a little bit of my Spanish done, and they didn't get back till about 11:35. I went back to the apartment and watched my required 30 min of Spanish TV that they didn't have at their house, and tried to finish my hw, but ended up falling asleep w/ my contacts in and no shower. I had to get up earlier than usual to shower and had to wear glasses since I wore my contacts in my sleep. I know yall prolly aren't interested in a total rundown of my life, but that, plus having quizzes in 3 of my 4 classes today, should explain why I am SO TIRED!!!!!!!!!!
~Meghan

Sadness.

2006-01-23T23:07:00.000-05:00

I hit a bird the other day with my car. It flew out and swooped down as I was picking up speed on the on ramp. There was nothing I could do. It bumped my bumper...and then I looked in the rearview and...this is sad. There was this big poof of feathers blowing up into the breeze. Ugh. It was so sick-I just gasped, clapped my hand over my mouth, and tore my eyes back to the road. It was not good.

Then...this freshman boy died of alcohol related problems last weekend in Russell Hall-the dorm I was in as a freshman. He was a 19 year old Sigma Alpha Epsilon guy, and apparently he had a friend in from out of town. They were drinking in the dorm, and he got drunk and passed out. In that state he threw up and choked on it to death. That was the story in the news. How HORRIBLE is that? I won't say that he didn't cause it to happen, but it's one of those things that you hope someone will learn from and stop doing, not DIE from. It makes me SO angry bc the officials at UGA are saying that their worst fears have been realized because of the underage drinking at UGA and the drinking in the dorms. As if they don't know it's happening. YEAH RIGHT. That makes me so mad. They know it happens, and they shouldn't act like they are surprised someone got hurt. If they didn't think drugs, alcohol, etc were going around the dorms, they wouldn't have police officers walk with the RAs who are on call every single night down every single hall of every single floor of the dorms.

Alright then. That's enough of bad news for now.

Just Trust Me, Kid

2006-01-19T01:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it's funny how you think you are doing all the right things as a Christian, then you find out that you are failing miserably in some areas. God has really opened my eyes to my lack of trust in some areas through giving me the position of song chair for my sorority. Getting this position that I didn't ask for was fairly unexpected, and I wasn't prepared, even though I had prayed that He only give it to me if He wanted me to have it and without me pursuing it. Then he did, and I doubted and I was so scared. But I took it, then I worried about the first meeting. It went fine. Then I worried about Beta Choral Cup. Then Jen (who was in charge until now) emailed me to see about talking to me about any concerns while we ate. So we talked. Then I worried about having enough girls to sing the national anthem for the Gym Dawgs meet this Friday on short notice. Then I decided to take to heart all the messages I had heard at Church and Crossroads about involvement with out gifts, glorifying God, and doing your part fully because you trust that God gave you your role because through you He can accomplish much. Then I prayed and gave it to God. And then at least 10 girls told me that not only would they be there Friday, but they were excited about it. Our God is an awesome God. And I know I have a long way to go...

Thanks Jess, for reminding me of this passage at Small Group....
Matthew 6:25-34
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This song was randomly playing on the cd in my car when I got in it tonight too....here is part of it. It's "Brave" by Nichole Nordeman.

I am small
And I speak when I'm spoken to
But I am willing to risk it all
I say Your name
Just Your name and I'm ready to jump
Even ready to fall...

Why did I take this vow of compromise?
Why did I try to keep it all inside?

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

I've never known a fire that didn't begin with a flame
Every storm will start with just a drop of rain
But if you believe in me
That changes everything

PS- Funny Story.... So today I am walking back from lunch with Jen, and I was walking alone downtown on the sidewalk to the bus stop. These two men (old enough to have fathered me) that were true Necks and were in a big camouflage truck started hollering at me and telling me to turn around and talk to them. I ignored them and kept walking, when suddenly I heard a funny noise. I glanced over my shoulder and had to laugh when I saw that they had stalled out in the middle of the road. God has a great sense of humor. That's what they get for acting like that. (and by the way, I was in jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt, a poofy vest, had a huge Vera Bradley bag blocking my butt from view, and had my hair in a pony-tail. There is NO WAY I provoked those comments by dressing provocatively.)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

2006-01-18T01:03:00.000-05:00

If you didn't read that title and think of Darth Vadar finding out that he killed his wife, go back and read it again.
Why "nooooo?" Because it's 1:04AM and I am in a bathrobe (still wet from the shower) about to make a sandwich for tomorrow then do what is left of two subjects of hw that is due tomorrow that I should have finished this weekend. I still have to brush my teeth and dry my hair too. Grrr. I am a moron for not making it possible to get a decent night's sleep. I have classes tomorrow at 9:05AM sharp. Technically, that is THIS morning.

Good news though:
1. First meeting of pref singers with me in charge went fairly well.
2. I went to Crossroads with Melissa tonight and had a great time.
3. I found my charger for my cell phone-turns out is wasn't left in Atl, but in the deep pocket of one of my bags.
^This is good bc I use my phone as a second alarm. Yes, I need more than one in the morning. No, I am not a morning person.

Bad news-I am going to be very busy from 9:05AM till at least 9:15PM tomorrow. UGH. Wednesdays are ROUGH. Other bad news-I am still on the internet instead of doing what needs to be done. Not for long though.
Goodnight!
~Meghan

Three Day Weekends Make Me Smile!

2006-01-17T01:58:00.000-05:00

Hello all!
I will just give a quick rundown of the weekend. Friday, Tom came to Athens, and we went out to eat and watched X-files and hung out and then went to Covington on Saturday. Saturday, upon arriving home, I realized I had left all my work out clothes in Athens, which stunk since I wanted to work out with Tom on Monday. I got home and said hello to the cats (they were in the laundry room bc it was FREEZING outside) and played with Lucy. Then I made green bean casserole and ate it all by myself for supper-YUM! (It was not a huge one though.) Then Mom and Dad got home from shopping for new kitchen appliances-Dad started to pull out our old stuff and I freaked out because he found my Cocomotion-only the best hot chocolate machine EVER! Not to mention it was my graduation present from high school from Mr. Tommy and Mrs. Patti, so it was a relief to have it back. After freshman year, it was apparently put behind some other things in a corner, and I haven' t been able to find it since. So thanks dad. =)
Let's see... Still on Saturday. I got a call from Tom that his family was going out to eat, so I joined them, but I only had dessert since I had already eaten supper-I had Key Lime goblet from Up the Creek-basically a huge goblet of keylime pie and graham crackers. Amazing. I couldn't eat all of it. YUM. Sunday, I went to church with Tom's family and ate lunch with them at their cousin's house because it was his birthday. Eli was turning 16, and that is a big birthday, so that is why Tom and I had gone back to Covington in the first place. Alrighty....Tom couldn't find his BuzzCard (school id), so we drove back to Athens to look for it, but it wasn't there. That was ok, because then I was able to get my workout clothes. We drove back to Atl because that was our intended destination for Sunday night originally, and we met with Zach at Emory. From his dorm, we went to pick up a friend, Beth, and then all four of us went to the Brick Store Pub for supper and to hang out. It was really fun, and I liked the pub a lot. It was very relaxed, and just...had a cool atmosphere-even the menus were cool. Ok...then Tom and I went back to his place to hang out some more with the roomies and Jessica.
...Monday-Tom, Davey, and I walked to the CRC-the GT workout center- and worked out for about an hour. I was on a treadmill for 30 minutes, and I jogged for the first 10 minutes straight!!! Ok, that might be laughworthy to some of yall, but I DETEST running, so that is big for me. Then I walked for exactly 4 minutes, then I ran some more. Then I walked some more. It ended up being a total of 30 min on the treadmill and only about 10 min of walking. That's huge for me! =) Ok, then I did some weights on my arms and some crunches, then we walked back to the guys' apartment where Daniel, Robert Lee, and Jessica were all hanging out. I made lunch-yummy cheeseburgers-for me and Tom. (Thanks for those beef patties, Mrs. Patti!) And then I stayed to hang out till about 10 or 10:30pm. I got back to Athens around 11:30-45. And then I hung out with Melissa while I unpacked, and we ended up talking for about an hour or two just catching up on the weekend and talking. That may seem like a random thing to write about in a blog...prolly no more random than writing what I had to eat....but still-the reason is because last semester I was busy all the time, and she was too, and we never hung out anymore. It was really sad because we had been close ever since our first week of school freshman year. And I felt like I didn't know a THING about her last semester, but this semester we have been spending more time together, and I appreciate it more now than ever, so it's cool! =)
Sadly, I didn't get to see Alejandra or any of the other OC ppl besides Zach while in Atl this weekend, but there is another year and a half to make up for that. =) Also, one of the best things about this week is that Monday was not spent in class, and Tuesdays I don't have class. So I have classes Wed-Friday this week. The bad thing is I have a ton of homework to do-thank you procrastination, and I have to organize some stuff for Pref Singers for Gamma Phi because we have our first meeting tomorrow at 6:30! EEK! I am scared about this position, but I just have to trust God to guide me. Also, tomorrow, I am planning to go to Crossroads (a Christian Fellowship type thing), and I am excited about it. I haven't been to Crossroads in over 2 years, but I think it will be a nice addition to the week when I can make it-esp on weeks I can't get to Campus Outreach.
Alright, it's 2:20 AM and I am tired. Thanks for reading that really random blog! =)
Toodles!
~Meghan
ps- check out my moblog and facebook pictures for pics from this weekend.

Flashback. Awesome.

2006-01-15T23:59:00.000-05:00

I LOVE THE '90'S!

You know you're a 90's kid if...

You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCHE!"

You can sing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air"

You've worn skorts and felt stylish

You yearned to be part of the Baby-Sitters club

You use to love playing with your MY Little Pet Shop

You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom" and that "How Rude!" comes from Stephanie from "Full House"

You remember when it was actually worth getting up early
on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

You wore a ponytail on the side of your head and had fluffed bangs

You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in kindergarten

You remember reading "Goosebumps"

You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"

You have pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

You took plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.

You remember the craze then the banning of slap bracelets and slam books.

You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...

You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green Ranger were meant to be together.

You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"

You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates

You ever got injured on a Slip 'n' Slide

You wore socks over leggings scrunched down

" Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black, with silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back" SHE ASKED HER MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER FOR FIFTY CENTS CENTS CENTS TO SEE THE ELEPHANTS ELEPHANTS ELEPHANTS JUMP OVER THE FENCE THE FENCE THE FENCE"
They jumped so high high high they touched the sky sky sky and they didnt come back back back til the forth of july ly ly they jumped so low ow ow he stumbed he's toe oe oe and thats the end end end of the elephants show ow ow

You remember boom boxes vs. cd players

You knew what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare"

You remember Alf, the little brown alien from Melmac and Vicki the Robot from "MY Little Wonder"

You remember New Kids on The Block when they were cool

You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"

You played and or collected "Pogs"

You used to pretend to be a MIGHTY MORPHIN Power Ranger and you owned a Skip It

You had at least one GigaPet or Nano and brought it everywhere

You watched the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles

All your school supplies were "Lisa Frank" brand.(pencils.notebooks.binders.etc.)

Yikes pencils and erasers were the stuff.

You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.

You used to wear those stick on earings, not only on your ears, but at the corners of your eyes.

You remember a time before the WB.

You've gotten creeped out by "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"

You thought it would be so cool to be Alex Mack.

You know the Macarena by heart.. LOL

" Talk to the hand" ... enough said

You thought Brain woud finally take over the world

You always said, "Then why don't you marry it!"

Repost this if you were a 90's kid and can relate to any of these!
-------------------------

Ok, you don't have to repost it, but you KNOW you want to. =) Thanks, Jess for letting me copy your blog. I heart this one! =)