September is almost over already. I can't believe that we are a few weeks away from midterms. Time flies by so fast! School is going good so far. It has it's ups and downs, like just about everything in life, but mostly it is good. I am so grateful that I am doing an internship, even though life gets a little hectic sometimes. Being able to apply the concepts that I am learning in class in the real world is proving to be quite useful. It also helps that I work in the cost accounting department, and I am taking cost accounting this semester.

Rusty and I are doing great! We try to squeeze in as much time together as possible in between classes and work. Rusty just got his own apartment, and I am so excited for him. It is very nice, and located much closer to campus. He does not have to drive nearly as far in order to get to class now.

I am going to be moving in with my aunt Amy at the end of November. I have some mixed emotions about it, but I feel like it is the right thing to do. It will probably only be for one semester, so that I can concentrate more on school and be able to save up some money for when I get my own place. Living on your own is much more expensive than living with a roommate, and I don't want to have to be stressed out all of the time while I'm trying to study. I am excited to be able to spend more time with the kids, and to have more of that family connection that I don't get very often. Sometimes it's really hard to be so far away from home all the time, and its nice to have some family around. On the other side, it is hard not to feel like I'm being somewhat of an imposition, as well as giving up a certain amount of my independence. I think it will all work out in the end though. I'm in the homestretch. In about a year I will finally have a bachelor's degree!

Summer is Over.....

Well, school starts tomorrow, so I guess the summer is officially over. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I am excited to start the new semester. I always like the start of the semester, the anticipation of meeting new professors and getting books and all that jazz. But, it never fails that by the end of the semester, I can hardly wait for it to be over! I guess that's just part of being in school I guess. This semester is shaping up to be somewhat difficult, as I have already received email from one of my professors and the semester hasn't even started yet!!! Aaaahhh. Oh well, such is school.

Rusty comes home in a few days, so, along with school starting, I get to see him again, and I am totally excited. Hooray! He will be starting his first semester at UNT this fall, and I am really excited for him. It will be so great to have him back here in Texas though. It's just not the same here without him.

The shifter in my car broke this week. On my birthday no less. It was a pretty stressful day. Jenny and I were driving back from Frisco, and some guy almost hit me, so I slammed on the breaks and swerved to miss him, and the stuff that I had in my car slammed the shifter into reverse....while I was still driving!!! Talk about not good for the transmission. Anyways, after that, I had to take it to the dealership because I couldn't get the key out of the transmission, and it turns out the the shifter is busted.

Well, that's about all that's gone on lately. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to post once school starts!

Perspective

Summer is in full swing, and it keeps getting hotter and hotter here in Texas! Even though autumn is my favorite time of year, I have to admit that there is something special about the summer time. Like the Christmas season, which possesses a unique feeling of love, goodwill, and peace that is almost tangible, the summer season brings its own air of lightheartedness and adventure. Summer is the perfect season for going on adventures, being outdoors, and gaining perspective that we sometimes lose in the madness of day to day life. Or, maybe that is just what it seems like this year, because summer has brought me some unique perspective this time around.

In a relief society lessons a couple of weeks ago, I was reading the Joseph Smith manual, and I came across a one-line paragraph that said, "God judges men according to the use they make of the light which He gives them." (Pg. 405) There are moments when certain words or phrases embed themselves into our brains and make a significant effect on the way that we see things, and this was definitely one of those times for me. I realized that my constant comparing myself to those around me is destructive, and, more than that, not what Heavenly Father would have me do. I constantly criticize myself for my imperfections.

I can remember distinctly a time when I envied a friend of mine for being able to eat whatever she wanted and to not work out, and still remain impeccably thin, while I, on the other hand, struggled to just be overweight. It wasn't until I discovered that she had a serious, potentially fatal illness, that has limited so many different parts of her life, that I saw the flaw in my comparison. I see my thin friend, and want to be thin. I see my successful friend, and want to be successful. I see my confident friend and want to be confident. I see my married friend, my friend with kids, my friend with money, my friend who can sing, my friend who owns a business, my friend with a 4.0..... It never ends. The thing is, I was comparing only one aspect of my life to one aspect of theirs. I wasn't accounting for all of the variables. So what do I have to offer, when there are apparently so many perfect people around me? Well, the answer is in the question. You see, the question itself is flawed, so the answer isn't apparent. The fact is, there aren't perfect people around me. I am surrounded by people just like me. People who have imperfections and insecurities, but nonetheless, have something unique to offer the world, many of whom have no idea how special they really are. I have a light that is entirely, uniquely mine. Heavenly Father has given me this light, and He expects me to do something unique with it. I am successful, happy, and beautiful in my own way, as are all of us. And, at the end of the day, what I have chosen to do with my own light is what I am going to be accountable for. I won't be asked why I didn't earn as much money as my neighbor, or why I didn't ever get as thin as my friend, or why I didn't earn as good of grades as my classmates. He will simply ask me whether I have accomplished what he sent me here to do: what have I done with His light?

So, as I finish my summer, and prepare to start another semester at school, I intend to stop punishing myself for being flawed. Life is too short to put off until another day. I will not put off doing the things that I enjoy, or spending time with the people that I love because I feel like I don't deserve to. Satan would have each one of us believe that we don't deserve to be happy--that we can never be good enough or strong enough or rich enough or good looking enough to be worthwhile. But the truth is, the only thing that can hinder our light from shining is ourselves. He would have us believe that we can only be happy when we have it all or do it all or be it all. But, truthfully, God has already given us the things that we need to be happy. We need to be more accepting, more forgiving, and more willing to share our light with others. We already have it, we just need to let it shine.

I have been offered the job that I have been waiting for.  Last Monday, I received a call from XTO, and they have offered me a position as an accounting intern, which I immediately accepted!  I am so excited, and totally blessed to be able to work in a place that is flexible with school, and gives me experience in the field that I am going into at the same time.

This has definitely been a lesson on faith for me.  When I was laid off from Metro Code, I had been preparing before hand, and kind of had an idea that when it came time to do lay offs, I would be the first to go.  It only made sense...sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn't get greased, it gets replaced.  When you stand up for yourself, and for others, people don't always listen or care, sometimes they just replace you with someone who is less vocal.  That being said, I had a feeling that I was going to be jobless, so I saved up my money.  But, after about three months of job searching, I was still jobless, and, by this point, nearly penniless as well.  I had used up nearly all of my savings, and, although I had turned in countless applications and resumes, I still had not been offered a job.  Then, one day, I was offered a job at a company I had interviewed at several times.  It wasn't the best fit for me, but it was a job nonetheless.  So, I considered it, but when it came right down to it, I just couldn't accept it.   Taking the job wasn't the right decision for me.  So, though I had no idea where my rent was going to come from, or how I was going to pay  my bills, I turned the offer down.  Thanks to some lengthy discussions with my mom and Rusty, I was able to see the silver lining in the situation, although it didn't seem like there was really any hope.  I just had to put my faith in God that the right job for me would come when the time was right, as long as I was doing my part.  Then, about a week after I turned the first job down, I received the call from XTO, and I start on the 18th!  What a lesson in faith.  Even when we have no idea how things are going to work out, as long as we trust in God, things can happen that we could never have accomplished on our own.

School is Almost out for the Summer!

I have almost made it through another semester!  I won't actually get to start my official summer vacation until the end of May, but it will still be nice to feel like I have another semester of classes under my belt.  I am taking a three week mini-mester class, Spanish in the Workplace.  I'm a little worried about how I'm going to cram an entire semester's worth of information into three weeks, but I am up to the challenge!

The job search is going well.  I have had three interviews in the last couple of weeks, and they all went pretty well, so I'm hoping that something will come of them pretty soon.  They would all be great places to work, and right now, it would be great to have a job.  It might be nice to not have to go to work everyday, but the stress of working is just replaced by the stress of not working.

That's about all the updates I have for right now!

Business School

I got into the business school!!!  When I was checking my email this morning and I was excited to find an email from the assistant dean at the Neeley School of Business welcoming me to the business school and congratulating me for being accepted as a business major at TCU.  I am so excited! There's no stopping me now.  I have about three more semesters left, all upper division courses, mostly accounting and finance, and then I will be graduating.  I am shooting for a December 2010 graduation!  What a great blessing it is to be able to go to school and get a degree from such a good school.  I know that I am truly being looked after, and that all my hard work will pay off. 

Well, it seems like I haven't been very good about posting updates yet!  I'll see if I can do better in the future.

Things are going pretty good here in Texas.  I am working extra hours at the valet to make up for the other job.  It should be a two-fold blessing to work at the valet.  I get tips, and I get to run, so it's like getting paid to work out!  Plus, I get to drive a lot of different cars, so someday in the future, when I decide it's time for a new car, I will have a lot of ones to choose from.

School is going good.  I have had so many exams this semester that I'm starting to wonder if I am ever going to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Spring break is in a couple of weeks though, and I'm hoping that I can use the time to study a little and catch up, so that I can finish the semester with a bang.  My Neeley school interview was last week.  TCU requires that business majors apply to the business school, so, it's like applying twice.  You have to apply to get into TCU, and then, once you meet all of the requirements, you have to apply to the business school.  The interview results should be out after spring break, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I feel good about the interview; I think it went really well, and the people that I interviewed with were very nice.  

I purchased a dSLR camera, a Nikon d90.  I am going to be starting my own photography business on the side as well.  I am going to be doing the photos for some of my friends engagement pics, as well as some family pics, so I'm off to a pretty good start.  If anybody wants to be my guinea pig, I will take your pics for free as long as you let me add them to my portfolio.

I'm off to bed now.  I have a test tomorrow that I haven't really studied for, but I think it will help if I get some good sleep and wake up early to review the material.