Oh the Places You Will Go...

I can officially cross one more thing off of my 30 before 30 Bucket List.

That's right ladies and gentlemen of the world...I am officially.... A COLLEGE GRADUATE!

As of May 14, 2013 I have an Associate's of Applied Science degree in Paralegal Studies!

This week has been amazing and overwhelming at the same time. In addition to graduating, there have been several other exciting developments, about which you can expect to hear in later posts. Suffice it to say, my life has taken on several changes in the space of a few days. It's exciting and scary at the same time!

The graduation ceremony was looooong and drawn out. Of course, since my degree falls within the School of Public and Social Services, we were the second to the last school to get to walk across the stage. Aaaand...because my last name begins with "T", I was the last person to walk across the stage from the School of Public and Social Services. LOL. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll marry someone who's last name is at the beginning of the alphabet, or at least, more towards the middle. Ha.

Anyway, it was a surreal moment. What was going through my mind as I took my walk of fame? " Heel, toe, heel, toe...don't fall girl." And as I reached the Chancellor to take my  diploma, "Smile girlfriend. Shake with your right, take with your left....keep smiling".

 Haha. And in a moment, it was over. The years of hard work, culminated in a single event that lasted for about 15 seconds. But wow...probably THE proudest 15 seconds of my life. My family was there. My 3 best friends were there. It was perfect.

Now, today...we celebrate!

My mom has been in town since Tuesday and today is my official graduation party. It's going to be a fairly small affair. So don't feel rained on if you didn't get an invite. Lol. I'm not one for big "to do's". My step-dad is going to do what he does best...grill! And that will be that.

And so...on to the next phase of my life....

Can't wait to tell you all about it!

Stay tuned!

Petulant Poodle

Even though it's a day late, I hope that all the mothers out there in Blog Land had a very happy and relaxing Mother's Day! 

Yesterday afternoon, after my family was stuffed from the brunch my sister, cousins, and I had made, one of my cousins decided that she wanted to come over and raid my sister's closet. Somehow this raid quickly turned into a plan for a sleepover. Fine by me. 

So as the evening wore on, we transferred from my aunt's house back to our apartment. The girls brought their bags with their PJs and clothes for the next day. It was decided that I would take them back home today on my way to work. 

The fun thing about cousins is that you don't have to do much of anything to have a good time. We sat on the couch for over an hour just talking and giggling, and listening enraptured as my sister, a master storyteller, updated us on the latest twists and turns on our favorite show, Once Upon a Time. Since she had to be at work early this morning, after a while, she decided to call it a night, and threw extra pillows and blankets out into the living room, before closing her door on the rest of us. 

There weren't enough blankets, so I headed into my bedroom to get to get a few more. Just as I opened the door, my phone started to ring. It was my aunt, the girl's mom. I answered and she said, " Uh, could you all go back to the house and get Daisy?". "Uh what?" I replied. " Well", she explained. "Jordan just called me and said that he couldn't find her. I asked him if he let the dogs outside and he said yeah, and then I asked him if she ever came back in and he said no. So. She's out there and refuses to come back in." 

This little poodle is the most stubborn, diva-ish dog I have ever seen. Once before, when my aunt and the girls were out of town on a cruise, Daisy went outside and stayed out there until they came home. Even though she's most decidedly a lap dog. Even though it was cold. 

I rolled my eyes. There was a frost advisory tonight.  

"You know she'll stay out there until she turns into a little ice cube", my aunt pressed. 

"Ok, ok" I relented. " I tell the girls and see what they wanna do. We'll let you know."

So, I went back out to the living room and explained to the girls Daisy's latest rebellion and they immediately decided to go and rescue the petulant poodle. 

"If we go", Maya said, " I'm not coming back." 

Yeah. That wouldn't really make a whole lot of sense, since the main reason they had decided to spend the night was so we wouldn't have to make a trip back to the house once Khala had the clothes she wanted from my sister.  

So. We trooped back down the stairs and into my car. As they piled their bags back into the car, we all paused a second and just looked at each other...and started giggling. 

"Well" I said, " I think we just set a new world record for the shortest sleepover ever." We dissolved into laughter. 

Five minutes later we were back at their house. 

Ten minutes later I was back at my apartment. As I was pulling into a parking spot, my phone rang. It was Jordan. 

"Well"  he said. " We found Daisy. She was hiding behind a tree. She came running into the house when she heard Maya call her name." 

Wow. That dog. I guess we know who runs that house!

P.S.  Graduation is tomorrow! 

*Photo Credit: dogbreedinfo.com

Jubilation and 6 Days

It's late. I'm tired. I'm jubilant!

Yes, you read that right.

Jubilant!

I just completed the last of my finals...so...that means....I'm DONE WITH SCHOOL!

I mean like Done Done. As in "I'll take my degree now, thanks very much".

Not much of a post, but hey... I just needed to express my excitement!

6 days till GRADUATION!

A little sentimental....a little mushy...but I don't care...I love this song and I love Celine.

No apologies :p

Ladies and Gentlemen...a new day has come!

13 Days & The Waiting Room

Happy May Blog Land!

It's only 9 something in the morning and it's already a balmy 63 degrees! The windows are open in our apartment and I can literally hear the birds chirping. The chow wagon is in full gear down on the river front, and signs on the interstate are pointing the way to Churchill Downs. It's starting to look a lot like Derby time and feel a lot like summer. Love it!

Since it's May 1st that means.....only 13 more days until I graduate! It will be here before I realize it. This is my last normal week of classes with next week being Finals week. I can honestly say I have no worries about them.

My interview with the LBA went really well and the guy I met with has already sent my resume to 2 different law firms. Unfortunately, they are for receptionist positions, not paralegal positions. However, since I'm lacking in experience, I have to be willing to take what is available to get my foot in the door. Beggars can't be choosers.

In other Wonderland news...

Have you ever noticed that some of the most difficult times in your life are not when things are going wrong, but when you're waiting for something to happen? It's like you're in this huge waiting room and the only person who can move you through the room is God. And there is no rushing Him.

I have been waiting on something for a very long time. I've fought with myself, fought with God, bargained with Him, gotten angry, tried to fix and redeem situations, worn myself out trying to fix them, and finally surrendered to God's timing. I've gone through this same scenario not once, not twice, but probably at least 100 times. And I'm going through it again. The hardest thing when you've received a promise from God is waiting for it happen. And so often we try to "help" Him out by trying to manipulate events and people. Only to be rudely reminded that God absolutely cannot be manipulated.

I think that one of the most difficult things to do is to place God's Will ABOVE my human emotions. In a word...Restraint. Our pastor taught a wonderful lesson about Joseph and the restraint he practiced when his brothers came down to Egypt. In essence, he placed God's Will above his desire to immediately reveal himself to his brothers because they still had a lesson to learn.

Even though God's waiting room is a difficult and often frustrating place to be, I know that when I receive what He has promised it will have been well worth the wait.

Food for thought, eh?

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.         -Ecclesiastes 3:11

20 Days...and Good News

EEEEEK!

I'm SO excited that I just have to write a little blurb about all the good news I received today!

Soooo....

I have an interview with the Louisville Bar Association scheduled for Monday morning! To the great advantage of paralegals in the Louisville and Southern Indiana area, the LBA has a placement service, in which it takes the information of qualified legal professionals, interviews them, and then matches them with a law firm that is looking for someone to fill a certain position. So, even though this interview won't guarantee me a job immediately it's definitely putting me a few steps ahead of the game.

Next...

And this may not seem like a big deal to ya'll...buuuut it was to me. Since I'm lacking in real world experience, many potential employers may be a little hesitant to hire me. As this is the case, many people (myself included) thought it would be beneficial for me to obtain a recommendation from one of my professors. I knew that this was a good idea, but I have been a little scared to ask my Litigation professor for one due to the fact that I feel kind of weird about asking someone to compliment me (LoL) and on top of that, not only is she a professor, but she is also an attorney with an active practice and quite busy.

Well...with the news of my interview and a requirement to provide three professional references, I went ahead and asked for the recommendation. The reply e-mail and the attached recommendation letter absolutely blew me away. I won't go into details, but it was high praise indeed, especially coming from an attorney. It was humbling to see that my hard work had not gone unnoticed and that it might actually aid me in finding a job.

I know that I am only at the beginning of my career journey, but even in little things like this, the LORD is already blessing me!

These are HIS wonderful works and they're marvelous in my eyes!

Good Night BLog Land!

22 Days

I cannot believe that it has been a month since my last post!

To my faithful readers and followers, my sincerest apologies and thank you for your patience during my unexpected blogging sabbatical. As you may have already guessed, the reason behind my absence has been due mostly to school work.

Ladies and Gentlemen! This is it! There are officially only 3 weeks left until I graduate.

Teehee.

This morning I pulled my cap and gown out of their bag and tried them on for the first time. As I looked at myself in the mirror, my heart skipped a beat. I twirled around. Yep, I sure did twirl. Ha. Then I ran to my closet to figure out which shoes I was going to wear.

Black. Pointy toe. Patent Leather. 3 inch heel.

In case you were wondering.

Then I started rummaging around trying to figure out what I'm going to wear underneath the gown. I just happened to find a pink silk blouse from NY&C with the tag still on it. I had totally forgotten I had bought that shirt! So, of course I had to try on the shirt along with the shoes and my go-to black skirt. As I pranced in front of the mirror, I tucked the shirt in, untucked the shirt, added a scarf, took the scarf off, added a necklace, removed the necklace....and finally I decided that I need a thick black belt to go around the blouse if I leave it untucked.

So, my ensemble for Graduation Day is complete, I just need to go shopping for a belt.

Teehee.

My excitement is literally growing by the day. I have waited for this for SOOOOO long! And it's here! EEEEEEEKKK!!!!

What's more exciting is that this past Friday, I was able to work on my resume with a family friend, who's also the director of career development at IUS. So now my resume is complete and absolutely phenomenal! I've been contacting acquaintances who are lawyers and even submitted an application with the Louisville Bar Association Placement Department. Networking, networking, networking is what it's all about.

This is such an exciting yet scary time. I'm closing the door on one part of my life and stepping into a completely new and different world. On the one side it would be so easy to stay where I am and continue to work as a nanny indefinitely because it's comfortable. But that would be the easy and the safe thing to do. As I always say, 'Nothing risked is nothing gained'.

So Blog Land, I covet your prayers as I move out of one sphere and into a new one. I know that with your prayers and mine, that the LORD will lead and guide me to the right people and the right places!

22 days and counting...!

Could it Be? Is it Spring?!

This is a morning that dreams are made of! Our patio door is open, the balmy breeze is blowing in, the sunshine is filtering softly through the clouds, the birds are singing, and the frogs are just going crazy in the pond next to our building!

Ah. Spring time at last.

I hope.

For all I know we could have a few inches of snow again tomorrow. This weather has been anything but predictable of late. But, whatever the forecast is for tomorrow or even later in the day, I'm determined to enjoy this little interlude of divine spring time.

As it happens, this week was my spring break from school. I did still have to work, but it was quite nice to be able to sleep in a few mornings and to spend my evenings reading for fun instead of poring over the intricacies of Excel and Litigation. I could have worked ahead but I decided that I needed a break. In that vein, I haven't popped open a school book or even logged into BlackBoard to check my grades. I've absolutely refused.

Excitingly, I received my letter from school this week, confirming that my application for graduation has been accepted and that the date for the ceremony will be May 14! I can't remember if I've said this before, but I had not originally planned on walking in the ceremony. However, as the date draws nearer, I've decided that I am going to participate in the ceremony. This is quite possibly one of the biggest and longest time coming accomplishments of my life. I want to savor every single moment of it because I have worked SO hard for it.

In other randomness, my cousin turned me on to a group called 2Cellos. As my faithful readers, ya'll should know by now that I LOVE cello music. Add to that the fact that these guys are playing one of my absolute favorite Michael Jackson songs...and well...Epic-ness  has been achieved and I can die a happy woman. Teehee.

Anywho. Enjoy this awesome rendition of this song and then get outside and enjoy this beautiful spring day!