hey, what's up?

I have not posted in FOR. EV. ER. Trying to get back in the swing of it, though.

So what's changed since August...hmm:
- finished another semester of grad school, despite completely forgetting one of my finals even existed (4.0, woo)
- Thanksgiving (family visiting, delicious feast, etc.)
- bunch o'wedding vendors booked (more on that later)
- Christmas (absolute disaster re: family, but our little personal celebration between my parents, Chad, and I was great)
- read a few books
- rescued a puppy eating out of a bag in the middle of a busy road
- one of my bffs/MOH came to visit in September (shenanigans, etc.)
- checked a few things off the 101 list (check the sidebar for dates if you are curious!)
- scheduled surgery for March
- New Year's Eve, spent playing Texas hold 'em/bullshit at my mom's boss' house...
- only like 128 days or something until we get married. WHEN did that happen?!

some photographic evidence (mostly via crappy iphone photos, apologies):

Thanksgiving feast

Chad's post-feast and wine stupor

Glass artist we watched for like an hour straight when my bff/MOH was here

bff/MOH singin' in the rain...in my CSU hoodie. Who vacays in CO and doesn't bring a coat?

We also visited the Stanley in Estes Park (hotel from "The Shining")

Cupcakes we tasted for the wedding...snickerdoodle, red velvet, cherry vanilla, and mexican hot chocolate.

puppy we rescued! she was a mess. with red hair. but she is the sweetest thing ever.

she poops herself out pretty quick when you play with her though. on my grandparents' stylish rug.

Christmas tree!

my pocketfold-making station. finished product pictures to come later.

Ta-da! pictures. And I promise I'm working on posting more often. I shall share more wedding excitement and other fun with you later this week.

update...

well, I am back from my internship in Nevada. It was absolutely fabulous, and although the town was ridiculous, the people were awesome. I made some great friends and I am officially doing my thesis there, so it will be interesting.

I can check another item off my 101 list:
#58: go camping with chad.
we went camping in cripple creek, CO. this is west of Colorado Springs, and very pretty. We stayed at a very nice campground, ate smores, and checked out some cool local stuff. we went to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Park and I may or may not have stolen some fossils...we also toured an older underground gold mine, which was pretty cool. We ended up sleeping in the car in the middle of the night because the tent was miserable, but once we get a different tent it will be much better.

We have also made a lot of progress with wedding stuff. We are meeting with a caterer next week, and meeting with a florist and photographer this Sunday. I am really excited to see what the florist has for ideas. I am also excited to do the tasting with the caterer next week, and start doing tastings for wedding cupcakes...you can never have too many cupcakes, right?

Anyway, I'm currently watching bridezillas and drinking big red + vanilla vodka (ridiculously delicious)...so this is a short and sweet update :)

i suck...

...because I haven't updated in about a billion years. sorry about that.

so what's been going on? well:

• may kind of went by in a blur. the first couple of weeks, I was crazy busy administering/grading finals and submitting grades, followed by my own finals. then, I had about a week and a half before I left for nevada for my internship with Barrick Gold. which brings me to...
• my internship. I was expecting it to kind of suck because of being an intern, and being in a crappy town in the middle of nowhere. the town does suck, granted, but the job is absolutely fantastic. it is so interesting and there is always something fascinating going on. I am working at the Goldstrike mine, one of hundreds worldwide, mapping geology of the open pit. Our pit is about half a mile deep, and about 2 miles long/wide. the huge equipment is mind boggling - trucks with 12.5 feet tires are really intimidating. I'll be living in a hotel until august, which is not really pleasant, but whatevs. there are some pics on facebook, but here's a couple for the sake of awesome:
  
  
  

• we took our engagement pictures on may 17, from the contest we won for the free session. just got them back about a week ago. all pics are courtesy of tattered veil photography. there are also a bunch of those on facebook, but here's a couple of my favorites:

• spent a night in the ER two days before I left for the internship. started having terrible pains in my abdomen/chest (and i do mean TERRIBLE) around 1 in the morning, and pretty soon I was doubled over shaking. Chad and my dad drove me to the ER and turns out I was passing a gallstone. runs in my family so it is not that shocking, but it was my initial guess even though I've never had problems before as soon as the pain started. they basically took a bunch of blood and doped me up, recommended I have surgery before it becomes a medical emergency, and sent me home about 5 AM. good night?
• also, talked to Jill about dietary needs and she was very helpful. I've been doing everything we emailed about, so thanks! :) also, I have been 99% vegetarian (I had some thai chicken last weekend, but it was mostly veggies anyway!) for one month and am very happy with it. my stomach pains have decreased to almost nothing, and I feel a lot better.

so that's basically what I haven't updated about for 2 months. but I promise, I've still been reading everyone's blogs!

101 checks and such

so this past week has been pretty busy, I think.  stuff to check off:

• #7.  run a 5k.  check!  did this on Saturday for the March of Dimes.  It was really fun and I enjoyed the trip around downtown Denver.  It was cold, but once we got moving it was enjoyable.  Lots of pics on twitter, here.
• #17.  try a new restaurant once a month.  this month's was taco del mar in Fort Collins.  It is a lot like Chipotle, but actually, I thought the meat was much better.  and I love Chipotle.  I really loved it and their salsa was good too.  Last month's was smashburger, I just never updated about it.  Smashburger is fantastic, and I don't even like burgers.
• #24.  pay off credit cards.  I only have 2 to pay off, and they are small balances really, but victory for one of them, thanks to my tax refund :)
• #34.  whiten teeth.  bought a new product last week, Arm&Hammer whitening enhancer or something like that.  It is next to their toothpaste, but you use it with your regular toothpaste, as in at the same time.  It makes your teeth feel dentist fresh which is a good selling point in and of itself, but I actually could notice a whitening difference within a couple days.  I like it a lot, which is nice because I tried those strips once, and they grossed me out.
• #35.  recycle regularly for at least six months.  only one month left of this!  it's been nice and I of course plan to continue, but one more check! :)
• #59.  get reusable grocery bags.  done!
• #60.  create a budget and stick to it for at least 3 months.  2 months down.  yay!

lots of progress, it seems.  good news.

twittererererersss...

so i don't really get twitter, but i joined.  someone took my standard screen name already (WTF considering i have used that since like 7th grade and for EVERYTHING...so who is out there stalking me and using it for one internet fad!?), so i used a different one.  i found some of you from my address book on gmail and some of you from others' twitter lists.  so hi!  follow me @jenlikesrocks.

gross + hilarious

so i forgot this existed until just now.  but it is hilarious (although completely disgusting).  i present to you...

steve, don't eat it!

seriously?

if I see one more person update facebook with anything remotely close to bitching about 2 states legalizing gay marriage, I am going to stab someone.

::resumes happily deleting ignorant people::

fashionista types...

I need some input.

engagement pictures are at the end of the month.  I have a cute navy dress to wear, but I am a little conflicted on a second outfit.  I was planning on jeans and a cute top, but I can't decide on a top.  Do I get something patterned?  3/4 sleeve?  A completely different color? 

help?  i'm looking at you, Alexis and Kate.  

congrats and complaints

I like lists. so, in honor of this, lists:

congrats:

• to kate, who got married on saturday. best wishes and enjoy your honeymoon!
• also to mandy, who got married on saturday as well...saw pictures on FB, she looked great!
  
• and erin! who got married today. big wedding weekend.
• to my mom, for making some amazing chocolate malt cupcakes with cherry buttercream from scratch for a bake sale for March of Dimes. OMG. (side note: our team has raised about $3000 bucks so far!)
  
• to ME! for making ebay my bitch just now and outbidding 6 other people in the last 35 seconds. knotties, part of my MOH gift dilemma has been solved :)

complaints:

• I think I have the flu. lots of body aches, fever, and my lungs are crying. I cannot even miss class tomorrow because I have 2 presentations tomorrow and also we missed 2 days last week for the blizzard.
• I did not get my paycheck direct deposited last week for some unknown reason. wtf, CSU!?
• I have now received 5 notifications in the last 2 weeks that I need to pay my student loans, after talking to the company 3 times and supposedly "resolving" the issue. This really annoys me because I used to work student loans for a living, and I know how it works. All they need to do is type my name into the student clearinghouse and in .000002 seconds see that I am still enrolled in school and they need to STFU and defer them. but no.
  

snow day!! er...blizzard day!!

i love not having to go to school because there is snow. beautiful.

just not this much snow.

oh well! :)