Prayer Request

A quick prayer request...please say some prayers for my Mom. She has a job interview tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10 AM. I know that God has a plan for her and if this company will be her next employer, I pray that the transition be a smooth one for her. If this is not the next step in her life, I ask that she be encouraged by the interview and feel prepared to face whatever comes her way next. Either way, I'm super excited for her and thankful for her to have this opportunity!

Dear SIUE,

I don't like you right now. I don't care that you are having budget issues. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but I've paid my dues over the last 8 1/2 years. You see, one of your people called my house the other day and informed me that the hooding ceremony (for those of us who have completed our masters degrees this fall) has been cancelled. WTF?!?! Her excuse included that part of the reason was because of the budget crisis. You have let me down. I was looking forward to celebrating my accomplishment with some of my fellow graduates. I was looking forward to a nice evening and dinner with my husband. I was looking forward to enjoying what every other semester before me has done to celebrate. I know that to some graduates, the hooding ceremony didn't mean anything or they didn't care to attend. I, however, was looking forward to it.

Luckily, since we had already arranged for someone to care for our daughter, my gracious husband has agreed to take me out that night to celebrate.

Also, could you kindly remove the $25 parking fine that you have put on my account FOR A DAY THAT I WASN'T EVEN ON CAMPUS?? Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely your infuriated graduate,
Julie

Ideas needed

Well, I'm certainly not good with coming up with ideas of things to do. I've always been a "go with the flow" kind of girl. That is why I'm turning to the blog world for help.

I need suggestions for something fun to do when you combine the following: two moms, an (almost) 4 year old, an (almost) 2 year old, and a 7 month old.

My friend Jamie and I would like to plan something to do with our daughters but we aren't coming up with any ideas. Help!?!?!?!

Da Bears!

A few months ago, I decided to surprise Rob with tickets to a Bears game in Chicago for Christmas. Despite being a Bears fan for quite a long time now, he had never been to a home game. After searching high and low for tickets which can be rather hard to come by, I found some on Ebay and managed to win the auction. My surprise was almost ruined as Rob walked into our laundry room (which also is home to my desktop computer) just as the auction was finishing up and I was watching it to make sure I was the winner. Luckily, I was able to cover up what I was really up to. When the tickets arrived in the mail, I couldn't keep it a surprise any longer. I also wanted Rob to be able to share in my excitement as the game drew closer. The expression on his face when I gave him the tickets was priceless.

So, this past Sunday we left Alton first thing in the morning after dropping Ella and Payton off at Rob's parent's house. We stopped in Springfield at the Hen House for breakfast and then continued on to Rob's cousin Holly's house in Batavia. After some yummy pizza and time to visit with them, we finished our trek to downtown Chicago. We booked a hotel room for downtown Chicago in hopes that we could walk to Soldier Field and enjoy just being downtown. It was a bit of a hike to get to the stadium, but little did we know that the true exercise was yet to come. Our seats were in section 436 (right on the 40 yard line), row 32. Translation - about 8 rows from the top of the stadium. I think we had to climb the Stairway to Heaven to get to our seats. We found our seats with over an hour until gametime, but decided that we'd had our fill of exercise for the night and enjoyed people-watching for the next hour.

The game didn't turn out as we hoped since they lost to the Eagles 24-20, but we still had a GREAT time.

Here's a few pictures from our trip...

Uppercase Living

I just wanted to send another Thank You to those who placed orders from my Uppercase Living party. I plan to close the party out tomorrow. Sorry for the delay in closing out the party. There are several people who I have been waiting on to see if they wanted/needed anything. I will let you all know when the products come in! Thanks again for the orders and I hope you enjoy the products!

Christmas List

So, apparently my Mom needs our Christmas lists by Wednesday. I have no idea what to put on my list. Any ideas?

Goodbye, SIUE

This past Monday was my LAST CLASS of my Master's Degree. That's right, I'm done....finally done. After four and a half LONG years, I have met my goal of completing my Master's Degree. Sure, I had a couple semesters off along the way, but they were for good reasons. I had to drop my class one semester because of the car accident I was in. For that prof, apparently being in surgery wasn't a good enough excuse to miss class. Dropping that class seemed like the logical decision. I also took two semesters off when Ella was born. My due date was around the time of finals for the first semester and I didn't want to leave my two week old baby to go back to class.

Now it seems odd to know that I don't have a mountain of homework waiting for me at home. I don't have to spend my lunch hour working on homework. I don't have to tote a book bag with me everywhere I go. I'm done being away from Ella and Rob on Monday nights. I'm done asking people to help watch Ella so I can work on homework or go to class. I'm done writing checks for thousands of dollars for the purpose of a piece of paper to hang on the wall and three small letters to go behind my name. No more papers. No more books. (Wait, that seems like a song...)

One of the main reasons behind getting this degree was so I would have enough hours to sit for the CPA exam. So, even though I'm done studying temporarily, that study time is going to come back with a vengeance very, very soon as I prepare for the exam. I've been told that studying for the CPA exam will be the most intense studying I've ever done in my life. Frankly, right now, it scares the crap out of me. I don't want to be away from my family more than I already have been! I don't want to have to spend hours every day studying to pass the exam. But, given my profession, passing the CPA exam is a necessary evil. I just hope that I pass it quickly. I have several friends who have taken and passed the exam and numerous co-workers to encourage me and sympathize with me during this next step.

But, enough of the depressing CPA-exam-study-talk...for now, I will celebrate this accomplishment in my life. To each of you who have encouraged and supported me during this time, thank you. To those who helped with Ella during this last year and a half while I was at school or studying, thank you. To those of you who I will rely on while I study for and take the CPA exam, thank you, in advance.

Stay tuned for graduation pictures, coming December 19th (or a few days after)...