I have internet!

So I finally have internet so I can finally update y'all on what's going on!!!

So I moved down to Oxford, MS this past Monday. I got up at like 7 am and headed out the door half an hour later with my car packed. Got here around 9 - 9:30, got unpacked, and waited around for Comcast to come out and see if they can service my house for internet. Now I was back in my room unpacking all morning, and I didn't see them in the afternoon, so I assumed they had come that morning. Being in a new house was weird that first day. I was trying to read and do some of the homework I had already gotten, but I could not concentrate! When Lori, my roommate, got home from work, it was a little better, because at least there was someone else in the house, and that night when I went to bed, I slept great (my bed, is like sleeping on a cloud! I love it! Best investment ever)!!!

Tuesday, I went out and did all my errands... grocery shopping, getting the lay of the town and campus, etc... I also called Comcast, and they had no clue what I was talking about, someone coming out to service my house, mostly because they had no clue where Oxford, MS was. This really made me mad because I had been jerked around by them for like 2 days last week about this same thing. So I called dad, and was like, I'm done with Comcast, and he said before we did that, to let him call and see if he could figure it out. About a half hour later he called to tell me that Comcast didn't service Oxford, but gave me the name of a company that did, the phone number, and the person he had been speaking to. I called them up, and made an appt. to get my internet installed Friday! I was super happy! Another big thing of the day, is while I was getting the lay of the land, I got into a fender bender. Go figure. Basically, this guy and myself were both backing out at the same time and we backed into each other. So, that was pleasant.

Wednesday and Thursday was taken up with orientation (see next blog for synopsis on those days).

Then today, Friday, I went to go get my Mississippi driver's license because I HAVE to establish residency after this year, it cuts my tuition by more than half! In order to do that, I have to have a MS driver's license, MS voter's registration card, and MS tags on my car. So I got the first two done, and found out that in order to get the tags I needed the car title and an odometer reading. Dad is coming into town tomorrow to help me finish putting things together, and he is going to bring the title then, so sometime next week, I'll be able to go to get that done. The only other thing I have to do is stay in MS for a year (that includes the summer), and then I'll be set. I also had the Metrocast people come out and give me internet today. They left about 1 and said the internet will take about a half hour to get to the modem, but then I should be good to go. About 5:30 I called them saying that I still wasn't getting internet, and after about 45 minutes of waiting, they informed me that they had the wrong Mac Address... go figure, but they got the problem fixed, and now I have internet!!!!

Tonight I'm going out to dinner with Lori, her boyfriend, and one of her friends. Tomorrow, Dad is coming in, in the afternoon, to finish helping me set up some things (like I said above), and then that evening, I'm going to a potluck dinner with some new friends that I met at orientation. :) I am kind of excited. Then on Sunday I have to finish the reading for classes. Then, on Monday... I start classes!!! Definitely ready to get going. I know that on Thursday, the LSSB is having a Back to School Party (btw, one good thing about law school, is that everyone is legal to drink here, so parties, can have alcohol with not a ton of rules), and then the next week are elections (and I think I'm going to run for something, either LSSB or Honor Council, not sure yet), and then Sept. 4 is the first home game, and I am beyond excited about that!!!

pics of my new place

My new house in Oxford, MS (the washer and dryer usually aren't on the porch)

My bedroom 1

My bedroom 2

Kitchen

Living room

Dining room/Breakfast bar

Bathroom

Backyard

These are pics of my new place in Oxford, MS. I'll be officially moved in this Sunday. Woot!

finances

So I have worked for over a year now. I made about $12,000 for the whole year (not too bad I think). So to help myself out, I put $6000 into investments and have made a pledge not to touch it until I graduate (unless it drops below my stop point. Hopefully, it won't do that). At the point, I put about $1000 in my checking and everything else in my Savings. So here's the thing... I've been saving most of this to help me out with things I would want/need to buy for school, like furniture (I did find that great deal on the bed), and that was hard seeing my account drop like that, then there was the bathroom stuff, then there were the storage boxes I got for when I was cleaning out my room, then I had to buy a desk and chair, then I had to move money over to my new account to cover my first month's rent, then I had to buy my books! I mean, I will reimburse myself for the rent and books once I get my loans, but, I don't get that for another month! And I'm slowly seeing my bank account go down, down, down, and did I mention down???
I still, kinda have income, because I've been working two days a week in the kitchen, but I'd forgotten how hard it was not to have cash at the ready. It's been a long time since I've worked something other than serving. I am by no means broke, and of course my parents would help me if it's really something I needed, but it's more a matter of pride. I worked so hard for that money! I dealt with people! (and for anyone who's ever done that, you know what I mean.) So here I am, a month left, and I think I've bought everything that I will need until the loan money comes in (except maybe a pre-stainer for when I stain my chest). I got out some cash today and have limited myself to that. That's all I get until my loans come in (for fun stuff that is, ie going out to dinner with friends, or going out period, shopping, random things I see that I want to buy). Hopefully, this will work, because I've had my fun... now it's time to live on a budget! I know how, I just don't like to (i'm sure many people have the same feelings).

They say it's my birthday....

Well yesterday was at least. I had an awesome day. Tuesday night I got my present from my parents... a TomTom so I will never be without a way to find out where the heck I am and how to get where I'm going (I'm a little directionally challenged, so I totally wanted/needed this one). Then yesterday, I attempted to sleep in, but woke up at my normal time, 9:30 (yes I do realize this is sleeping in for most people, however when I see my little sister sleep til noon easily everyday she is allowed, I get a little jealous). My plan for the day was to sit around and do as little as possible before work, but I ended up having to do my laundry and run a few errands. However, I did get out of cleaning for a day. :) I also treated myself to a small shopping spree. I took the money I got from the English side of my family (about $125) and added $75 of my own money that I got from selling a TV a few weeks ago, and headed to Old Navy (yay deals!!!!). I got some awesome new clothes, and I still have enough leftover for a pair of shoes, so I'm going to go out (probably this weekend) and get some new shoes (because everyone knows I need ANOTHER pair of shoes, the girl who brought 5 or 6 pairs for a 4 day trip to Austin). Then I came home, finished my laundry, and went and laid out in the pool for an hour or so. Last night I did have to work (I only work two days a week so I felt bad asking off), however, I totally got one of the kitchen guys to make me chocolate chip cookies! It totally pays to be nice to those guys... they totally take care of me.

Yesterday was definitely one of the best birthdays I have had in a while. It wasn't a huge celebration or anything, but I just got to chill, and I was wished happy birthday over a hundred times (maybe that has something to do with it). I got like 10 texts, countless facebook posts, many well wishes at work, and a call from my grandparents. It definitely reminds you that you are loved, and people care about you. So thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday!

It's weird, because my birthday (to me) signals the end of summer being near. When I was in high school and stuff, after my birthday it was about 2 - 2.5 weeks until school started again. I have about a month left before classes start at school, and all summer, I have been begging time to go faster, and now that it is, I'm like wait, no, slow down. I'm starting to get a little nervous, but overall I am excited. I just can't believe, after months and months of waiting, that it's almost time! The whole cleaning my room process has helped to speed up this process I think. Speaking of cleaning... that's what I need to get back to... today (and possibly tomorrow) is my closet (eeek!).

Really bad at this

I am really bad at this blog thing. I was looking at my blog from when I was in Harlaxton, and I was much better at keeping up with that one. Oh well. So let's see... in the past month.... Wow...

The main event of the last month was the two weeks my family spent in England. We left on my mom's birthday (a nice birthday present for her) and came back two weeks later. We spent the first week in the Lakes with my grandparents and uncles. It was a ton of fun. We went shopping and some short hikes, ate at pubs almost everyday (my favorite kind of food), and went on a ropes course. The weather was amazing while we were there sunny and high 60s/low 70s. We left after a week of being there and headed to Wales. We saw an awesome castle along the way and spent the night in Holyhead. The next morning we caught the ferry across to Dublin. We spent the next 3 days in Ireland. The first day we were there we drove down to Cork, and the hotel we stayed in was absolutely amazing, good job dad. If you want details on the hotel, you can ask Chelsea. The next day we went to Blarney Castle, and then headed back to Dublin. The next day was spent exploring Dublin. We went to the Guinness Factory, Trinity College, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. There was this really cool bridge there in the shape of the Irish Harp, it was pretty sweet. The next day we got back on the ferry and headed back to England. We drove to Coventry and had dinner with Uncle Stephen and Lynne, and then on Friday we got up and all of us, and Uncle Stephen headed to London. We spent the morning at Hampton Court and then grabbed some lunch. We said our goodbyes and headed into London. We dropped off the car, went and checked into our hotel, and then went to go see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater. Now, I own the movie, so I knew the plot, but seeing it live was absolutely amazing! Two weeks on and I'm still reeling!!!! The next day, Saturday, Chels and I went to the Tate Modern Art Museum, an interesting adventure in itself, and then we went shopping down Oxford St. We had been given pretty much 200 pounds for our visit over there, and we had spent very little up to that point, so we got quite a few nice things. That night we went to the Medieval Banquet. It was a ton of fun! The food was good, and the people next to us had the World Cup playing on their phone, so we got to Watch the England v. USA game. :) The next day we headed home.

That's obviously the shortened version, and if you follow me on Facebook, you know most of this already. This trip was awesome, and definitely opened my eyes. I have decided that I would really like to live over there, and work. I don't know how/if this will happen, and obviously it won't happen for at least 3 years, but I think it's possible. If anything, I'll at least own a house over there, and it will be my vacation destination. Who knows, maybe one day I'll have a job where I can work from home and live over there, but work in the US.

After I got back, I went back to work, but I've decided I don't want to spend my last summer vacation working (during law school I get summer vacations, but I'll have to have internships during those). So I will serve until July 1, and after that I will only expo Mondays and Wednesdays through the month of July. It'll give me an extra $200, and if for some reason, I see I'm running low on cash, I can just pick up an extra shift. Father's Day was insane for me. I worked 12.5 hours without a break, but I made $227 on the day. Not too shabby in my opinion.

I've also decided I'm addicted to Barnes & Nobles. I go there for one book and come out with 5. Oh well, I'm trying to get as much pleasure reading in now, since I don't know how much pleasure reading i'll do during school. Speaking of school. I start August 18 with orientation. I'll be officially moving down there August 14, but I'll probably be making some trips all through August moving stuff down and such. My new address will be: 1313 Ashley's Dr. Oxford, MS 38655

Anyways, that's all for now!

The insane weekend that was Mother's Weekend

On another note... I worked all weekend. Made good money doing so, but it made for a long weekend. Friday I subbed at Saint Benedict, and spent the evening relaxing for a long/busy weekend. Saturday everyone in my family was up and dressed by 8:30, a rare occurrence for us. Chelsea had her first life guarding class, dad was brewing his summer ale, and I was heading off to work my (hopefully) last double. I needed to be at work by 9. I bartended that morning, and it takes me at least an hour to open the bar, usually more like 2. We open at 11, but we had a dance class at 9:30. That's right, those line dances we do at Texas Roadhouse... we actually have classes to learn those. So I spent the morning/early afternoon at the bar, took a 30 minute break, and then served the rest of day. I ended up clocking out around 11:30. So for those counting, that's 14 hours (w/o the 30 minute break). However, I made the money to reflect such a long shift, $159. Of course Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for the restaurant industry, so that makes the weekend, one of the busiest. The first people didn't get cut until 10pm, we close at 11. Of course our MP spent the majority of the shift freaking out and fighting with the kitchen staff and just being very insecure all around.

On Sunday, I got up and went to church and then headed off to work at 3. I knew it was Mother's Day, but it is also Sunday, and I think having that mindset made things a lot easier for me. Plus, I didn't have to deal with groups over 5. A real plus in my book because parties can be bad, but parties on Sunday... forget about it. I don't want it. That's the fastest way to crush a server's spirit. I was very proud of myself. I stayed in a good mood pretty much the whole day (except when i started getting hungry before the pizza came). Our MP stayed fairly calm (at least calm for him) the whole afternoon shift too! I was very proud of him.

At church, the sermon was about sacrificing, the story was about Hannah and Samuel. And although I know that the pastor was actually talking about sacrificing money for our building campaign to expand our church, I took it in a different light. We had 6 doubles yesterday, and man do I feel sorry for them. Some made good money, some, not so good (it's those parties again). However, we also had 3 food runners yesterday. One in the morning, and two at night. Now on top of tipshare that we pay the hosts, SAs, and bartenders (3% of our sales) we also have to tip out the food runners out of our own tips. I usually tip $5 - $7 to the one food runner who works on Saturday nights, but I haven't had two food runners since I worked at the Evansville TRH. When the food runners were cut, tipping them $5 a piece (instead of say $3 a piece) meant the difference between making over $100 and not for me, so it was difficult for me to decide to stick with the $5 a piece thing. However, the food runners were cut about 9 when the first people were cut, and about 10 min later the next set of people were cut, and so the late nighters who came into eat got sat in my section. So I had three more tables before the night was up at 10. And their tips put me back over $100 in tips. $102 to be more specific. So whether it really is or not, I saw that as my reward for not being stingy with my tip out. :)

For the week I'm at 34 hours, after tonight I'll be at 38 hours and $284... not bad for a busy weekend. Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

So this past weekend was Mother's Day weekend, in case anyone was under a rock and didn't realize it. :) In my family, we don't do a whole lot for Mother's Day, partly because Mom's Birthday is usually 2 - 3 weeks later, and partly because we're a super busy family, an it's hard to plan stuff like that. I got my mom a card and a gift card to Sport's Authority because she's a PE teacher and is really big into running. I figured she would enjoy that more than a Barnes and Nobles gift card (which I think is something I would enjoy more). I love my mom very much, and I think sometimes we don't tell her enough in my family. She gets up and cooks us breakfast on weekends, and listens without judging, and plays referee in our family. I think she plays referee the most because anyone who knows my dad, sister, and I knows that we are very stubborn, and very stuck in our ways, so disagreements are plentiful in our family. So here's for all the arguments she puts an end to, all the eyes she opens to the other party, all the breakfasts, and all the listening she does. Mom, I love you!!!!!!!