My Version of Black Friday

I did NOT go shopping today...well, I didn't make any purchases of my own today.

This afternoon, I finally got to see an old friend from middle and high school. She, her mom, and her cousin came into town to try on her wedding dress. I'm going to be a bridesmaid in the wedding, but I wasn't able to be with her to pick out the dress, so today was my first chance to see it! It is really pretty and I think the dress of her dreams. We were also able to pick out a headpiece and veil for her that complement the dress very nicely.

After we left the dress store, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Ricatoni's in downtown Florence. It was just as good as I remembered it!

On the way to the AT&T store, we went by so she could see little Miss Emma. Then at the AT&T store we had to fight the system as they didn't want to make the process of upgrading her mom's phone easy for any parties involved. They did walk out with matching iPhones though.

Sadly, we had to part after the phone acquisition. They had to get back to Tennessee tonight and I needed to head over to my Grandparent's house. It's a shame we don't see each other more often, but with only about 7 months for wedding planning, we will definitely be seeing each other more frequently in the future. I hope we never go as long between seeing each other again.

I have new pictures of Emma too from Thanksgiving Day, but I haven't put them on my computer yet. I'll try to do that in the next couple of days!

We're Home

Emma and I made it home around 5:30 today! Yay!!

I'm really ready to go to bed, but I have to wait until after Grey's Anatomy is over--it's a new episode, so I don't want to miss it. Also, my Dad is on his way back home from a business trip and I'd like to welcome him home before I go to bed.

My Grandmother and I are going shopping for my Christmas gifts tomorrow morning after her weekly hair appointment, so I won't really get to sleep too late, but it's for the best since I'll get to pick out my things before everything is picked over in the post-Thanksgiving sales.

I've got to go so I can keep my eye on Miss Emma...she doesn't know what to do with all the extra space she is given in our house!

Grad School Stuff

I've set some goals for myself both before I leave tomorrow and before the semester ends for Christmas break related to my MAc application.

By tomorrow, I will:

1. Finish the draft for my Statement of Purpose
2. Email the draft to a few people for review
3. Update my resume
4. Try to meet with professors to ask for recommendations--I need three and I know two of them will be having office hours tomorrow. I might just have wait until we get back to talk to the third.

By Christmas break, I will:

1. Submit my application, resume, Statement of Purpose, scholarship applications, and assistantship application
2. Ensure that all recommendations have been submitted

Then, all I will have to do is wait for acceptance. The deadline is February 1, so I might have to wait a while.

Four Days

Just four more days until I get to go home! Luckily, my Friday class is canceled for this week, so I can leave Thursday afternoon! I really have only been home three times this semester and that's really just not enough in my opinion! I'm so looking forward to seeing family and friends and just having a break from Auburn and college life for a little while! Don't get me wrong, Auburn is great, but it's nothing like home!

I don't have too much going on this week. No tests or projects due, but I need to be as prepared as possible for finals before I leave. I know I won't get anything done while I'm home. I really need to start working on my graduate school application. The application itself is not too long or hard, but I also have to refine my resume with new grades, etc. for the semester, prepare a purpose statement, fill out the general business and School of Accountancy scholarship applications, and apply for a Graduate Research Assistantship. It won't be too bad, but I need to get going on all of it. The hardest part will be the essays that go with the scholarship and assistantship applications and the purpose statement. Maybe I can knock the purpose statement out this week! I also need to ask professors for letters of recommendation. I need three and I know two people I want to ask for sure, but still need to decide between a few other professors for the last recommendation.

Also, on Tuesday I will be initiated into Beta Alpha Psi, a professional honorary accounting organization. We have initiation and then a meet and greet with an accounting firm followed by our final meeting of the semester. All of this will take a few hours, so my Tuesday will be pretty busy with classes from 8 to 2 and then having to be back on campus around 4:30. I have a feeling I won't accomplish anything after I get home that night besides falling into bed!

I've also got to start thinking about Christmas gifts! I won't be home until about 10 days before Christmas, so I need to get also accomplished over Thanksgiving week. Maybe I'll brave some Black Friday sales...or not!

Well, I'm going to go and get my things ready for classes tomorrow. I'm definitely going to take advantage of being able to go to bed early tonight! : )

Old Fashioned Fudge Pie

I've made this pie the past two weekends and several people have asked for the recipe, so I though I would share it with all you readers out there, too!

It's a Paula Deen recipe, so of course it has butter in it, but it's oh.so.good.

Makes 2 pies:

2 sticks butter
4 squares semi-sweet chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 regular frozen pie shells

Melt butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan over low
Remove from heat and whisk in sugar then eggs
Pour into docked pie shells
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25 minutes (It usually takes longer in my oven to set)

I also like to add a little vanilla to the pie mixture. Some orange extract might be good also since orange pairs so well with chocolate! :)

Serve warm or cold, with a meringue, whipped cream or ice cream. Basically any way you want to! :)

What I'm thinking about today...

As you can see, my mind is on sitting in front of a roaring fire either at my house or my Grandparent's house in Florence. My parents went and got a load of wood for our house yesterday, so now we can have a fire whenever we want one. I just wish I was there to enjoy it, but I will be before I know it.

Sitting in front of a burning fire really signals the beginning of the Holiday season to me. There's just something about that crackling sound and the slight smoky sound to the air that tells me it's fall and Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner.

My Grandmother always keeps a good fire going during the winter. Her sewing room is off of the downstairs den where the wood-burning fireplace is (they have a gas one upstairs that's really just for looks), so she's always walking by the fireplace to go anywhere else in the house. Much to my Grandaddy's dismay, she's always throwing random trash or sewing scraps into the fire as kindling instead of using the fire starter or real kindling he provides. I guess she thinks she's creating less trash for landfills if she burns it! : )

Our fireplace at my house is good, but not near as much fun to sit in front of. Ours is a traditional-type fireplace and I just don't think it produces as much heat as my Grandparent's cast iron (I think) fireplace insert. It will do though! I like to turn one of the wing backs in front of the fireplace where I will be able to feel the heat or just simply sit on the hearth in front of it.

Instead of "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas", it's "I'm dreaming of a warm fireplace". haha

Almost There

I realized this week that, after the rest of this week and Monday-Thursday next week, I will only have a week and a day of class left. Then we will have dead day and start finals. Christmas is right around the corner!

With everything that has happened this semester--Winnie, Emma, job interviews, office visits and of course, classes--it really seems like time has flown by. My life has changed so much since I came back down here in August--mainly because I lost my first dogter and gained a new one.

There have been good things too that have happened this semester, but I can't say I'll be sorry to see it go. Saying goodbye to Fall 2008 is one step closer to August 2009 and Graduation!