I'm not a Master loser anymore!

I often joke that I'm a Master loser: I have my Masters... but for almost a year haven't been able to procure a full time year using my Masters degree (which, if you have no idea, is FRENCH--very marketable--yeah.....) For the last year I've taught at American University in DC, which I LOOOOOOOVE but at the same time-- one class a semester a) isn't a lot of money and b) isn't enough FRENCH! plus c) I feel like a bum. so I've been hunting and hunting, getting very discouraged, and wondering when I should give up trying to use my degree and do something lame just to have a job. well.... in case you can't tell where I'm going with this I GOT A FULL TIME JOB! I'll be teaching at Nysmith School for the gifted in Herndon, VA! HOORAY! I am so excited! About this excited:
Wow folks, that is excited!!! And the best part about it is I don't start until the week before Labor day... that means I can be a bum all summer! okay, I'll be teaching one class, but now I don't have to feel bad about it! I will also continue to teach at AU because I LOVE it, so life is good!

In other news: we still have cockroaches and may have to move. They are just too gross and we've had the apartment exterminate and put down boric acid everywhere! Neal says there are less now, and the ones that he does see are "sluggish, like they're dying" so we'll see..... GROSS!

I guess I'm the only one who knows how to look disgusted--Neal just looks blurry... interesting.

Our aforementioned "cute" apartment...

Well... most of you know about this-- but I'd thought I'd put up some pics too. After we committed ourselves until September on this "cute" little apartment, I went over to bask in it's cuteness. As I was starting to move things around a little bit (the previous tenant left her couch and a few furniture items in the apt.) I discovered three horrifying things. The first was this:

That's right.... she "re-finished" the wood floor in the living room... AROUND (and sloppily at that) HER FURNITURE!!!!! If this isn't the definition of half@$$ed, I don't know what is! SERIOUSLY?!?!? I was truly shocked. I didn't know this was even remotely possible. Next I found this... EVERYWHERE!
That's right... cat hair. And Neal and I are both VERY ALLERGIC!!!! We didn't think to ask if she had a cat, as we saw no evidence of one.. but GROSS! (sorry to all you cat lovers are there). Since she didn't even pretend to clean the place-- the cat hair was EVERYWHERE--in the fridge, etc. yuck.

So after Neal and I spend a solid 2 hours cleaning, scrubbing, vacuuming, disinfecting (Neal mostly did the last two while I was in Utah, he's the best!), we were quite demoralized about our new place. But it started looking and smelling a lot better. Then we discovered these.


Lovely. Now our place has been exterminated and we see less cockroaches, but I still have a hard time spending more than 15 minutes at our new place. Poor Neal-- he's already living there, with a lot better attitude, I should add.

The bottom line is this: maybe you shouldn't try to find the cheapest place in all of Northern Virginia.. we're just lucky we only have to stay until September 1st! That being said it might clean up quite nicely be amazing and homey and we'll decided to stay for another year. I just kind of doubt it.

In other news-- less than three weeks! :) I was about to say I wouldn't mind living with cockroaches as long as I'm living with Neal... but I'm not sure that's entirely true..... I do love him a lot though! ;)

How amazing is this?!?

I really wish I could've been there to participate! :)

To everyone who thinks I'm the most photogenic person in the world and it's not fair....

DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER?!?!?

ha ha--there you have it.. one of the most unphotogenic pictures of me in existence....and during a photo shoot no less! Actually, Cinda has the most unphotogenic picture of me.... and she scapbooked it!!! oh the horrors.

In other news--as many of you know, Neal and I decided to move in together (wink wink nudge nudge) and he is moving into our cute little place this weekend. We have the keys and contract and everything-- WOOT!

I'm coming to Utah this weekend for a plethora of reasons, namely Dad's birthday, to see my family, to get my dress hemmed, to get my bridal pictures taken, to be bridal showered by my moms side of the family AND to go through the temple. (the latter is the most important, I think!) I CANNOT WAIT! I've been a little nervous, but now I just feel ready and excited! HOORAY!!!!!!

Hopefully everyone's been receiving their invites... this is an exciting time for us! I'm grateful that Neal is the most patient, loving man who ever walked the face of the earth because, as everyone who knows me well can attest, I do not always handle transitions and stress very well... I'm working on it babe, I promise! ;) I hope everyone is well.

Cherry Blossom photos!

So Neal and I really wanted to get some pictures taken with the GORGEOUS Cherry Blossoms, so we did. It looks like a warm spring day, but I assure you, it was about 35 degrees and I was FREEZING! It took me all day to get warm again! I wanted to wear that brown dress, and for one of the first times in my life, I definitely suffered for my fashion! But our photographer Tiana was great and we had fun. Some of these are just too adorable not to post!


In other news... we found a place to live... HOORAY! I'm so glad we got that taken care of! Everything out here is expensive so we (meaning myself.. Neal is pretty laid back. annoying laid back sometimes... love you babe!) were pretty worried about it! But, we found a teeny cute hardwood floor 1 bedroom apartment for 875/month including all utilities, so although it is small, we took it. We like each other, and frankly, I might be sad if Neal could disappear from my view in our home! ;)

Here are some more pics and you all should be getting your invites soon. ish. be excited!!!!