Accomplishment

Well, it's been a couple of weeks now, but I have officially graduated from college. I am the proud new owner of a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree, and a whopping student loan bill!

Graduation day was a little surreal. I was in the gymnasium at school (for perhaps the first time) waiting in line with other classmates for the ceremony to begin, only a few of which I knew. Shortly before the ceremony began they told us all to form lines, in no particular order. This was nice, even though disorganized, because if someone had another person they wanted to stand next to they were able to do so. I just stood next to the people around me, not having any close friends to celebrate this with that were graduating with me that day.

We filed out onto the athletic field on the campus, and it was a surprisingly grand backdrop. I was surprised that downtown Denver could appear this way to me, but maybe it was just how excited I was feeling that day. Several times while walking onto the field and waiting in line my eyes welled up. I have worked for so long for this day, for this achievement. Much longer, I'm sure than most of my fellow graduates that day. 9 years to be exact. 9 years filled with unexpected life events that delayed my education; car accidents, financial problems, my Mom's struggle and death to cancer, and many other relationships that came and went. I was very sad that my parents were not physically there to see their first, and youngest child graduate. Only my Aunts and my boyfriend and his parents were in the audience that day, but their support and excitement for me was phenomenal.

When my name was actually called and I was able to walk across that stage I was so unbelievably thrilled. It was a shock to hear my name be announced! I had really done it! The empty diploma holder that I was handed on stage was lovely... I'm still waiting to receive the real thing.

The ceremony moved quickly, especially considering that over 1,100 students graduated that day. There were no special speakers, which was initially disappointing, but did keep the ceremony moving which I was grateful for in the end.

After the ceremony, it took FOREVER to find my guests to take a few photos with before rushing off to return my gown. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had a nice reception for the students and their guests after the ceremony.

The day following the graduation I had the official graduation party! My boyfriends parents hosted it at their home and my Aunt threw the party as a gift to me.

The party was fun, but a little exhausting. Trying to make the rounds to chat with everyone who came for a few minutes left me little quality time for anyone, but I guess that's to be expected. A friend who makes cakes made a fantastic cake with the CU buffalo, Ralphie, on it wearing a graduation cap with Tiffany Blue details (as this is my signature color). I think my guests enjoyed themselves, and I was happy to see so many friends in one place at one time.

Overall, I am so relieved to have this chapter of my life behind me. I certainly didn't enjoy college to it's full potential. I have never been a party animal or a social butterfly; and to some extent, I regret not having been a little more wild and crazy, but I guess that's just a part of who I am. Though I'm certainly not done with school I finally feel like I've finished something. I've seen one major part through from beginning to end.

This is a huge step for me.

I am so thankful for the family and friends who have helped and supported me through this. I could not have survived these last few semesters without my boyfriend, his help has been invaluable. He has seen me at some of my craziest and most stressed moments and quietly and lovingly has helped me, instead of running as fast as possible in the other direction like a sane person would.

I literally yelled OUT LOUD and cheered when I saw my final grade for my Microbiology class~ I PASSED!!! It was truly uncertain whether I would survive that class and seeing that grade was nearly as exciting for me as the graduation itself! I was also so extremely relieved to have passed my other three courses. One of my professors even emailed me to tell me that my term paper was the best out of the entire class! That was a very flattering little confidence boost!

I have never been so anxious to pass all of my classes in any other semester! I guess knowing that so much depended on my success was a little intimidating! I had officially told everyone that this event was finally taking place, sent out the announcements, it was all very real and a little terrifying.

But I did it! I am a college graduate! It's official!

Now, I just hope that they send me the piece of paper to prove it...

So Close I Can Taste It...

Alright, I'm done with tests for the semester! I took my last final exam (hopefully) this morning at 11:30!

I'm EXHAUSTED. And I'm THRILLED to be so close (only 2 days away!) to graduation! I pick up my cap and gown tomorrow! I've got my graduation and party outfit purchased and ready to go!

I can't wait for the ceremony and party to follow. I've earned it!

I'm also working on an as yet undisclosed project, I'll update as the situation develops. But I will hopefully have some good news after today or tomorrow...

Even though my life will not change overnight just because I have a college degree, I am so hopeful for what this signifies for me. Yes, I definitely have more school in my future, but I'm done with this huge first step.

Torture

Yes, I am officially 14 days away from my college graduation! It's amazing and terrifying and exciting! I also have so much work to do in the next 14 days that I crapped the proverbial brick. Not. Kidding.

Let me run it down for you so that you can share in my stress, terror, and brick crapping. In the next 2 weeks I have to do:

1) 10 page research paper on domestic violence in pregnancy (not yet started, naturally)
2) A whole semester's worth of online history class to do (minus 1 1/2 assignments), which includes reading almost 2 entire books and writing the equivalent of another book
3) 14 microbiology lab write-ups to write
4) A zoo research assignment to go do and write up
5) 2 animal behavior exams to take (before the final exam)
6) My microbiology lab exam
7) A domestic violence exam
8) And last, but not least, the real final exam week's exams! (Which should only be a couple of exams, but are still A LOT of work)

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about this mess! Yes, I know, I shouldn't have procrastinated on some of these things so long. But that's kind of my thing. I procrastinate really well, much better in fact, than I do homework (or anything else that is considered *not* fun). And some of these things are just all due at the same time, which I think is a cruel plan devised by college professors to torture us all simultaneously. Oh, and I've had a crummy semester, that has been monopolized by trying to survive my all-consuming microbiology class. And working a couple of jobs at the same time, that probably hasn't helped either...

So now the announcements have been sent out and I need to make the rest of this happen (you know, the GRADUATING part). I honestly don't know how I can get all of this done, but I know that this is going to be what I spend almost every waking moment of the next 14 days doing. It's a good goal, one that has taken 9 interrupted and imperfect years to accomplish. But I'm so close now that I will do whatever I can to pull this off! Wish me luck! And postings until then will probably be light to non-existent.

Hiatus

Yes, unfortunately, the 30 Day Shred is currently on hiatus due to my injured knee! I'm very disappointed by this, I was doing really well and starting to see results. By the 5th day I was already down 1.5 lbs! And the soreness was gone! I was ready to increase my weights!

Now, I hope I don't have to start all over again. But I will if I have to!

I will keep at it though. I'm hoping that I will be well enough Sunday or Monday to resume. When the pain, swelling, and need to wear a knee brace subsides...

Ow!

I just finished Day 5 of the Shred! For some reason, I was really tired and lagged during the first circuit. Maybe because I just got home from work?

My soreness was greatly improved today! This is a relief, but now I'm wondering if I should increase my weights since I started with little baby weights :0) I also have somehow hurt my knee during one of the circuits. I'm not really sure when, but during the cardio and squat moves my left knee started having a sharp pain whenever I put any weight on it. I'm hoping that I just stepped down funny and that this will resolve itself before tomorrow.

Not too much to say today. I'm glad I've come back to this for 5 days in a row!

None of my slacker coworkers have started the Shred yet. I'm going to have to get their motivation going again!

Day 5 of Level 1 done! Day 5 of 30 done! 25 to go...

Day 4 Down

My muscles are still quivering from Day 4 of the Shred. It took me a long time today to work up the energy to do the video. I sat twittering (tweet me @ Snippet) in my workout clothes for over an hour. Before starting the dvd I was thinking, "I know it's only 4 days into this, but I'm bored with this same workout already."

And then, I started the workout...and I was wrong!

This still totally kicks my butt, and I'm not even close to perfecting anything! I'm huffing and puffing shortly after the warm up is over. Today: I didn't have to stop and take a real 1+ minute break! This is a victory! I did, however, take several little 5 second breathers like Jillian allows.

I am not as sore as I was a few days ago. I can see definition in my quads! And (I cheated) I've lost 1/2 a pound so far!

I'm getting curious about what Level 2 has to offer. I'm also beginning to worry that if I haven't perfected Level 1 at the end of 10 days, how will I manage Level 2?!

I wonder how many times I will need to do the Shred before I am able to complete the workout without breaking a sweat like Jillian and The Girls?

Day 4 of Level 1 done! Day 4 of 30 done! 26 to go...

Panting

Just. Completed. Day. 3. *heavy breathing*

My first thought when I rolled out of bed this morning and wandered into the bathroom was, "Hey, it didn't just cause me excruciating pain to sit on the toilet!" I consider this a vast improvement personally. Yay! Day 3 started with soreness, but not the same degree of pain, I must be getting somewhere with this. No ibuprofen today!

I will admit, I was a little more sluggish this morning. I just couldn't put the same "oomph" into the cardio during the first circuit. And I had a really hard time with push-ups today. I'm having a difficult time gauging if I'm in the correct form, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not. So, most of my push-up time was spent playing with arm and knee spacing. But, a new first, I managed to stay all the way with "the girls" through the bicycle crunches at the very end! Granted, I'm sure that what I was doing in no way visually resembled the beautiful, graceful movements that they were making, but hey, I did it!

I really love how much time and emphasis Jillian puts into reinforcing good form for the exercises. Naturally, I tend to get a little lazy with my form (hence, the need for a 30 Day Shred, haha). The constant reminder is very helpful for me.

My boyfriend tried this out yesterday for the first time, and seemed surprised when he too found it to be a tough workout! Today, during my Shred, he sent a text message saying, "I hurt." While I feel bad for him, I'm also happy. This means I'm not alone and I'm not a *total* wimp. Muah ha ha! I wonder how my coworkers are faring? I will have to see tomorrow if they are following through with their end of our little bargain!

Day 3 of Level 1 done! Day 3 of 30 done! 27 to go...