Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Mario Brothers

Some people may know that I am a big fan of the ol' school classic video game archive... in addition to the old arcade magazine of games, I love the original Nintendo games! Last year, I bought a GameBoy Advance SP-- a smaller mimic of the original game boy that folds and plays games in full color. The first game I bought was Super Mario Brothers 3, a game that I have been playing through the eight levels ever since. Finally, as of today, I was able to beat the game, which I can proudly say I haven't done since I was ten years old!

Thanks to earning a little for helping Jim dog-sit for our pastor's dog, Buddy, the newest addition to my GameBoy game collection is Bubble Bobble-- an arcade-style game that involves little dragons and mazes and blowing bubbles to trap bad guys and then popping them to collect fruit and candy. I don't know, it's fun and very additicting!

Psssst.... the wedding's in 17 days! :)

Friday, May 25, 2007

Game Night

Last night we had our fourth game of the season and are now 3 and 1 thanks to a one-run lead at the bottom of the 7th. For me, it was a difficult game. First, the weather was terrible and rained off and on the entire game. Secondly, a fly ball came right to me at center and I caught it only to have it fall out of my glove because my glove slipped off in mid air. I did manage to help the team by catching a fly again (I really caught that one) and by driving in a run my first time up to bat, but that was only after injuring myself while running to first base. As hard as I run, I should have known to stretch before, but I didn't and it resulted in pulling both muscles in my upper quads on both legs. I was a liability after that and even requested a runner. My left leg wasn't too bad, but my right leg was and is still sore today. But thanks to Jim who took care of me last night after the rain-soaked game, I should be healed up and ready to go for the next game!

This weekend Jim and I will be doing lots of things! Beginning tonight, Jim will start house-sitting Buddy--our pastor's dog. I will be going home to pick up my wedding dress and look for a list of things to buy for the wedding. Tomorrow, I will be picking up our rings and driving back up to Oshkosh to help Jim house sit and relieve him for a while as well. Sunday morning Jim is leading our 9:30 church service since our pastor will be out of town! I've seen him lead services before, but I always get so excited to hear him and see him up there! He always looks like he's enjoying himself and really seems to fit what he does because the other people love to hear and see him lead services too... I think Jim is a terrific puplic speaker who can capture people's attention and interest in the subject and project it in a way that allows the viewer to feel that it relates to them personally some how. I know, I know... I'm slightly biased... but he's just good at what he does! :)

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Updates...

Well, as my dad would say, "School's out, school's out... teacher let all the fools out!" 'Tis true, school is finally done! Yippy! Actually, many of us in a particular educational methods course still had papers to turn in the Monday after the semester was officially over. Grades were posted the following Wednesday and, for the first time ever, I earned a 4.0! I'm not sure if it was the structure of the semester with the wedding and NACURH and everything else that did it, but it's really SWEET! :)

As for wedding plans, Jim and I finalized our honeymoon, which is going to be a blast and a half! We are planning on flying out to Vegas the Monday night after the wedding and then renting a car and driving through Wyomming, Utah, South Dakota, etc. to get back to Wisconsin where we will return the car somewhere in Milwaukee. Both Jim and I have been to the western states, but he has never been to Vegas and I was there--but I was too little to remember anything about it now. It's going to be a great time and I'm really looking forward to the fun and relaxation that Jim and I will be able to experience! :)

Otherwise, lots of little things are being tied up for the wedding. As of today, there are 23 days before the wedding!!! Eek! Well, actually, it's not that bad--we just have a few little things that need to be done. We were able to pick up a few minor things like a pen and sign-in book and the isle runner. Now, we need to finalize the table center pieces and seating... which shouldn't be too difficult ;)D Otherwise, I get to pick up my newly-altered dress tomorrow and pick up some sandals for the girls to wear after the ceremony. Our meetings with the pastor have been very fullfilling on many levels. Jim and are having wonderful discussions with him and we are both starting to get to know Steve a little more since he's a fairly new member of our community.

NACURH (a national residence hall conference) is coming a week from tomorrow. Actually, some early birds will begin moving in as soon as this Tuesday! People are definitely getting at each other and tensions are really running high. All I've heard from anyone, including Jim, is how much they all just want it done and over with! Jim and I had lunch with a man named Rob (last name escapes me) and our department co-director Jacque Bollinger. After talking a while with them about NACURH, she expressed to us how she has no real worries about the conference because, unlike other schools that have hosted in the past, many of the students working on the conference are CAs and PAs and so are actually still on contract to work but are using their work time for the conference instead. I have no reason to believe that the conference will be a great success... there are so many top leaders and thorough people working on the project that I don't see how even the largest of glitches could shake them. :)

As of now, this will be our schedule for the next month:
June 1st: Oshkosh students move out for summer and NACURH delegates move in for the conference.
June 3: NACURH is over and delegates move out.
June 4-6: Christa does hall key inventory and checks out RHDs/ARHDs
June 6-11: Jim and Christa pack for trip and to move to Webster.
June 12-14: Christa is at home wrapping up final wedding ends.
June 15: Jim and Christa have a day with their wedding peeps, rehearsal at 4p at FUMC, and rehearsal dinner at 5p at Players.
June 16: WEDDING!!! :) YAY! (I can't wait to show Jim my dress... and see him in a tux!)
June 17: Gift opening and hang out with remaining guests and family. RELAXING and complete packing for trip. (And, Jim made this AWESOME wedding honeymoon binder that has every step of the trip in it for us to follow!)
June 18-25: Honeymoon! :) The WEST or BUST!
June 26-July 1st: Jim (mostly) and I will be packing up and moving over to our new hall: Webster. I will be back at work during the day time so Jim will most likely be doing most of the packing up and then I will join him after work. :)

Wow. :)

One step at a time...