Our little home

Here are a few pictures of our house... It's kinda messy but I figured I'd do it while it was on my mind because I'd probably forget to take them after I tidied up. The first one is the bedroom view from the bed, and the second is from the other angle in the bedroom. The third is our little kitchen and the last one is from the front door... on the other end of the couch is where our table is..unfortunately there isn't enough room to sit at it...we just use it as a mail table and have a bunch of stuff under it for storage. Notice our HUGE TV that take up half our house.

My Summer

So I know that summer has been over for a few weeks for some people, but I feel like it's just ending for me. Reason number one is because it's finally cooling off again here after the late summer weather we got. And number two is because of the time of my honeymoon I feel like it extended summer even longer because I was way to see everybody start back up at school.

Because I haven't posted in quite some time I figured I would write about my summer as a whole..mainly because when I was in elementary we never had to do a "What I did on my Summer Vacation" report. I feel jipped. So here it goes...I didn't feel like my summer was super eventful but looking back on it now I think it was. First off I graduated from college (YAY!) but I still had to take summer classes to actually finish and get my degree (BOO!). Summer classes where only 7 weeks long so it didn't take up all of my summer time. During this time I also landed a job locally (YAY) but then the Friday before I was supposed to start work I got a call saying that funding fell through so they could no longer hire me (BOO!) Then, in my last week of classes I ended up having to have surergy to have my appendix removed (another BOO!) which ended up making me take 2 incompletes in my classes that I was taking.. I was able to make up the work once I had recovered a bit so that I could actually finish up and graduate...I still have yet to recieve my diploma though...I think losing the job I had gotten was a bit bitter sweet because I was actually able to enjoy the rest of what was left of summer for me and not have to worry about work or school for the first time in 4 year. However, the money would have been nice.

In July Cory and I went to a friends wedding, and did a lot of my own wedding planning and thats really it. In August Cory and I went to a tubing trip with a bunch of friends from school down state. That was nice because most of the people that go on it are already graduated so it was a good time to see everyone again. After that it became crunch time again with wrapping up wedding stuff making sure everything was falling into place. I also landed another job (YAY!), this time with Aflac as a Sales Rep. Before I could start though I had to get my state licence to be able to sell insurance which consisted of having to take a 3 week course all about health insurance rules and laws and then take the state exam. On top of it all Cory and I also moved. twice. So you can say it was a very stressful time for me that month.

Then came September, the first few days of the month I was downstate getting all the last minute details in place for the wedding. Thankfully Betsy came up from Luisianna to help me with it all! The 5th cory and Igot married ( YAY! YAY! YAY!)! It was a blast and people don't lie when they say it goes by SO fast...it really does. After the wedding we went to Niagra Falls (the canadian side) for a few days and then to Toronto for our honeymoon. It was a lot of fun and some much needed relax for both of us. It was the first time in a while for both of us where we had a break where we didn't have any commitments what so ever (every other break we've had lately we've still had wedding plans to take care of or homework to do, or something). While in Niagra we went on a Jet Boat ride through the rapids of the falls. It was a blast! Although I did think I was going to drowned at one point in time. We went though class 5 rapids down stream from the falls and got soaked. The only way to explain what it's like is by imagining getting sprayed in the face with a fire hose for 5-10 seconds, now repeat 5 times. In Toronto we went to Cirque de Solie which was incredible! If you every get the chance to go, go. It's a bit pricey but it's definately worth every bit of it. The act we saw was called "Ovo" which is "Egg" in french, the story line is about a fly that brings an egg back to the "bug town" and him and the mayor have a battle of wits as to how is going to win the egg and get to eat it...all the other bugs were on the mayors side. Also in Toronto we went to see a filming of "The Hour", which is a Canadian late night talk show which Cory watches everynight. It was fun too, but not really what I expected. The only portion of the show that they film with a live audience is when they are interviewing the guest.

After that we went back to Lake Orion for a few days to pack everything back up that we had at Cory's parents and headed back up to Houghton. Cory's back in School and I have now started trainging for my job and summer is finally over. But thats ok, because I love fall...something about the leaves changing and the crisp air in the morning. I just love it.

Bad news bears

I'm watching the Today Show right now and they're talking about health issues for women when they start to get older.I decided I don't want to get old. I already have to get up in the middle of the night every night to use the bathroom.. Maybe I can somehow just stay young forever.

Look What I can do!

This summer I'm taking an intro to web design class to finish up with my classes and actually graduate....here are a few things I've learned how to do so far.

First, I leaned how to embed movie clips into websites and Blogs!! (now I just hope it works!)



Second, I learned HTML coding by hand! its really rough and a few glitches / things missing still.
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~alwaselo/Personal%20Website/Alexandra_Cory3.html

This week and next week we'll be working in dreamweaver to make better websites!

Suprise!

I got a letter from MTU today. I thought it was just junk mail and was just gonna toss it because I figured it was just about my tuition bill. I ended up opening it up just to make sure that it wasn't. It's a good thing that I opened because it was a letter from the registrars office saying that I had grade changes in a couple of my classes and that 2 of my grades for my classes last semester got boosted!!! One class went for a "C" to a "BC" and the other went from a "BC" to a "B"! I was super excited because I was a little disapointed with those grades when they origonally came out. :)

School is yuckie!

I know its been forever! Schools been going good...it's starting to get a little overwhelming seeing how the end of the semester is finally coming!!! But break starts Friday at 11:00am for me! YAY!!! 2 of my three classes have been cancelled! however, in my 10am I have an exam yuckie! Over the ENTIRE book! don't ask me how it's only a quiz...I think the teacher is a bit nuts.

Last week the sorority had our group picture taken along with our indiviual pictures for our composit. The link to look at the pictures is attached. The indiciual ones are going to be cropped and matted with the crest being in the center. It should look really good. The guy who took the pictures is another student and does it on the side for a bit of extra cash.

http://jbaumann.zenfolio.com/p891292365/h23624dd7#h2792eff7

Can't wait to see everyone next week!!! YAY!! :)

A great weekend with a horrible ending

This past weekend Cory and I went over to the west side of the state for a big river tubing party with a bunch of our friends from school. We car pooled with a couple of other people who live in the Detroit area to help save on gas. Cory and I both left our cars in a park and ride just down the street from where he works, hopped into our friends car and were on our way. We had a blast! Friday night everybody hung out and then Saturday we went out to breakfast at the ONLY restaurant in town, Bob Evens. After that we all went back to the house to get ready to leave. We got picked up by a bus from the tube rental place got to the river and rode down. I think the trip took about 3 hours do get to the pick up station. Once we were there the bus picked us back up and brought us back to the house that everyone was staying at. When we got back we cooked out and then hung out for the rest of the evening. Sunday everybody packed up and headed in our own directions again. It was pretty nice car pooling because that meant that I didn't have to drive and I could sleep the entire was home. It was nice.

Well it was nice. Right before we pulled into the park and ride I was joking around about hoping that both cars were still there and hadn't been stolen. What was supposed to be a joke turned out to be not so funny. Somebody smashed out one of my windows and stole some stuff out of my car. They got away with about $70 Canadian cash and some pampered chef stuff that I had in my car. I'm pretty sure there was nothing else in the box besides that...there might have been a couple of little things but nothing I can think of off the top of my head.

After waiting an hour and a half for the police to arrive, we were finally able to file the report and let them know what happened. Apparently that park and ride gets hit all the time, which surprised us because while we were waiting we had to of seen 20 people going in and out of it getting dropped off or picked up. The Cops said that because it was only a total of $170(ish) lost that there is nothing really that they can do about it. If they had stolen a larger amount in value then they could. Also, because the window is only going to be $190 to fix insurance wont cover it because the deductible is more than that. So including what we lost to the river on our trip (Corys native sunglasses and my crocs) we are out a total of about $450 in two days. Awesome. Well, at least we had fun.

Kid Rock

Each summer Cory's dad gets 4 free tickets to all of the DTE energy concerts because he takes care of all the lawn equipment for their venues. So with Cory's dad being nice he gives us some of the tickets to some of the shows... past weekend Me, Cory, Ashley, and Erin went to go see Kid Rock in concert! It was a REALLY good show too! Uncle Cracker opened for him and then Rev. Run from Run DMC did a couple of songs with Kid Rock...The music never stopped and he played hit after hit!

So far this summer we have seen Stevie Wonder and Kid Rock. This Friday we're going to see O.A.R. Also on our list to see is Josh Turner, possibly 3 doors down and Finger 11, and maybe Maroon 5...I really want to see them but its the night before a wedding that Cory is standing in. Journey is also coming, but unfortunately I'll already be back up at school when they come. Backstreet boys are coming as well haha, but we're passing on that one.

Last weekend Cory and I went up to Houghton for the fourth. I think this year was the first year that I actually noticed how many people actually go places for the long weekend. In the UP they always talk about everybody traveling but you never actually see it on the roads, there might be 5 cars instead of the usual 2 or 3. We left after Cory got off work on Thursday, the trip generally takes 8 to 9 hours depending on traffic and the weather it took us the full 9 this time because of everybody heading up north. When we got in we met up with everybody that was in town and hung out.

The next day a bunch of us went out to eat and then went to the Gay parade and all of the festivities there. No, it's not a parade full of gay people, there is a itty bitty town in the Keweenaw named Gay and all that they have there is the Gay Bar. The parade was interesting to say the least, it even rivaled Gladstones! Anybody can be in the parade as long as they come up with something interesting to do while in it. One guy just wore a bathrobe and underwear and drank beer as he walked down the street and there was another guy that took 10 wiener dogs and dressed them up like baby reindeer and made them pull a mini sleigh as he walked next to them as Santa. There was also a group that danced to the chicken dance the entire time. After the parade everybody gathers in a field for the trout tossing competition. After that we all headed back to Houghton for dinner and to hangout until the fireworks. The fireworks were good but nothing spectacular.

Saturday I actually had to do something productive, move all of my stuff into my new room. That was actually the reason that we went up to Houghton. At the end of last semester the girl living in the room that I am going to be in next year wasn't out yet so I had to pack all of my stuff up and put it into a corner in my old room. Seeing how I'm not going to be up until after the girl living in my old room is there we had to go up sometime to move everything around. After getting everything moved in we met up with everybody at the beach and hung out down there all day and then a bunch of people came back to our house for a BBQ! All in all it was a fun weekend, it was nice to see everybody and be up there for the long weekend.

Schools out for summer!

WOW! have the past couple of weeks been hectic! Last weeks were exams, I had three in class exams, one take home final, and one final project! The final project wasn't difficult at all, it was actually really fun! It was for my Rhetorics class, I had to design a campaign piece for a presidential candidate and it could be whatever I wanted it to be. Seeing how I'm a marketing major I wanted to go for something a bit more fun and people could see very easily and all over the place. It ended up being a t-shirt. I took a different approach on the project then everyone else (like always because I think outside of the box) and made my piece more of a get people to vote in general than for one person in particular. Although I did put a candidates name on it(because I had to), it wasn't my main focus. The shirt ended up saying McCain 2008 on the front and then on the back it said "You say one vote doesn't count...What would happen then if nobody voted? Make you vote count Vote McCain" I didn't really have a reason why I chose McCain I just did because I knew not too many people would be doing pieces on him.

My three in class exams were finished by Tuesday and I wrapped up my take home Tuesday afternoon too. I think I put a total of 12 hours working on it. My teacher said it would take anywhere between 8-24 hours to complete it so I was really nervous that I wouldn't do good on it. I've been freaking out about getting a good grade on it since I turned it in seeing how I had to do good on it to do good in the class because I struggled with the class this semester. But guess what! I ended up getting an 81% on the final! I was so excited when I found out I jumped up and down! haha!

Now that school is done I get to relax (YAY!) for a bit. I'm living downstate for the summer just North of Detroit with Cory, and I'm looking for an internship / work for the summer and I'm also going to be taking a couple of classes, but they don't start until July. Right now I'm just waiting until Golda's wedding and starting to try to get everything together so that Cory and I can start planning ours too!

My Ring!!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to get this up. I lost my camera at first, it was then found when I was gone on spring break and then lost again. I ended up finding it last week in my sock drawer, weird I know. Anyways here is a picture of my ring. its the best I could do.

Update on life

Its been awhile since I've posted so I figured it was time for an update. My computer is back up and running for the most part, my wireless internet doesn't work which is a pain but at least it works again with it plugged in to the cable. School started back up again on Monday, the semester shouldn't be too bad I have one class Mon. and Wed. 4 on Tues. Thurs. and none on Fri. YAY for long weekends!!! Unfortunately with the start of the semester means carnival (UGH!) so that will be keeping me pretty busy for the next couple of weeks. mandatory hours aren't as bad as last year luckily its only 5 this week, 6 next, 7 the next with a work party (3 hour block) each week as well, and then a 6 hour shift on the all night which is was better seeing how it was like 12 last year. I really shouldn't complain about the hours at all because some of the frats put in 30+ hours a week per person plus going to class and studying, needless to say they don't sleep for like a month. Also this semester I am the sororities Social chairman and House manager. Thats really all thats new with me my life is pretty boring.

I think my computer hates me

about a month ago now my computer started running really really slow. At first I really didn't think anything of it but then it kept getting worse so I finally did a virus scan and found out that it was infected after all. Seeing how I am not very computer literate when it comes to anything other than the internet and Microsoft Office I had no idea what to do. Luckily I do go to one of the nerdiest schools you can possibly imagine and have friends that like to fix computers for fun! (YAY for overly nerdy people!) So I thought it was fixed because it was working over at the Sig Ep house low and behold though when I get it home it stops working on me again! I did another virus scan just for the heck of it and it said that I had over 130 viruses within 10 minutes!!! So, a few days later I bring it back up to the Sig Ep house to have the boys look at it again and it was working fine once again! I finally got sick of trying to fix it so I ended up re-formating the entire thing wiping it clean. Now it's fast and happy again! more problems though;
1.) The wireless no longer works at my house, I can bring it to campus however and the wireless works just fine. just not in my own home, weird?
2.) The mouse is now set up so that if I tap it twice it is the same thing as double clicking the button and I have no idea how to shut it off, still after trying for half an hour!
3.) The scrolly thing on the mouse pad also no longer scrolls for me, no idea how to change that either.
4.) When trying to use the scroll bar on pages it goes really really REALLY slow, don't know whats the deal with that either.
5.) This I have found out as I am typing this, the courser keeps jumping up lines, don't know if I'm stupid or whats the deal with that.

I'm sure they're more things with my computer that I haven't found yet, but just from the list above I think its clear that I am computer illiterate and my computer officially hates me.

P.S. if you know how to fix any of these problems it would be greatly appreciated if you told me!

The Hedgehog

My roommate has a hedgehog.

Hedgehogs are nocturnal.

It keeps me up at night.

I am sad now because I enjoy my sleep.

oh, and it smells too.

The End.

Utah!

The First picture is the view out of our hotel window in Ogden and the other three are from Deer Valley, the one with me sitting on a rock is only a itty bitty part of the rock. We climbed up it and Cory didn't think I'd be able to in my Crocks. I forgot to get a picture of the full rock though :(

Last week, actually on the 10th, I went out to Utah to see Cory. He's out there for work right now for 3 weeks so I went to go see him for 10 days. It was a lot of fun and SO beautiful out there! I flew in Friday night and then we headed up to Park City for the weekend. Cory has a bunch of friends of the family out there so we hung out with them that weekend and then went up to Ogden for a couple of days because Cory had work to do up there. Tuesday I had adventure #1, because I wasn't allowed to travel with him and his co-workers in the company car I had to find my own way to Salt Lake City so I took the bus. It wasn't even nearly as scary as I thought it would be, it was actually kind of enjoyable...the bus driver even gave me free tokens to ride again during the week! I made it to the hotel all right and got checked in and decided to go out and find something to eat which led to adventure #2. We were staying just off the campus of the University of Utah so I decided I would just walk down to the Union and grab a bite to eat...bad idea. I got so lost on campus it was unbelievable, I also decided that people in Utah don't know how to give directions. After walking around for about 30 minutes I finally found the Union and got a bite to eat then started my journey back which took almost an hour to get back. I decided to stay away from campus after that. Friday me and Cory went downtown and walked around a bit and played tourist and then went back up to Park City for the weekend again to hangout with the Bakers and Lindsay and Andy again.

Back to being bored

Cory came up this weekend(YAY!). It was originally going to be a surprise, he had it all set up with one of the sorority sisters Alyssa, he was going to fly in and she was going to pick him up. I ended up ruining my own surprise though haha so I knew he was coming, he actually told me he was going to come up. Cory got in Thursday night on the late flight and then Friday I had to work for a couple hours in the afternoon so he just hung out all day at the house with the girls and then when I got off work we went and saw his old boss from up here at school that he's been keeping in touch with. Saturday was pretty much the same along with Sunday, but Sunday we went out to dinner which was fun!

Besides Cory's visit not too much has been going on, just school and work. Schools been going good I can't believe that I'm already half way done with the track. Work is great too, I'm a tour guide on campus what other job can you find where you get to walk around and talk about a place you know about and meet new people everyday and talk to them? It's pretty much the best!

Is it done yet?...Its getting old, I'm getting old!

No, of course it's not done yet! And will probably never be done!!! Right now the sorority house is getting a new roof. It's really not a big deal except that I live up in the attic so all I hear all day long is pounding on the roof. They wake me up nice and early at 8:00 every morning for the past week and a half now and then continue until about 5:00 in the evening. Whats worst about it is that when they are above my bed ( two feet away from my head because of the slant in the walls) each pound that they make shakes my bed...Its SO annoying!!!!

Enough of my ranting and complaning. Today I was reading my Newsweek (yes, I'm a ner I have a subscription to it) I came across an article that started out as ' 20 years ago in the summer of 1987...' When I first started reading it, before I got the the 1987 part, I was like hmm I wonder what year it was, and then I realized that it was '87. Thats when it actually hit me that I'm going to be 20 in 3 days! I'm excited for my birthday! YAY!!!

Oh the travels

This past week has been kind of hectic. Last Sunday Cory and I went down to Watersmeet for his cousins graduation, after that we went down to Gladstone to see Betsy and Trent and got way way lost in the middle of no where for like an hour down a dirt road. We finally made it though we spent Monday down in Gladstone, we went to the parade and a bbq. Monday night we headed back up to Houghton just to do laundry all day and pack up the car because Wednesday we went downstate to see Cory's parents before heading out to Maryland because Cory starts work on Monday. We stayed down there until Friday evening and then started the drive out to Maryland. We got in at about 3:00 Saturday afternoon. Didn't really do too much unpacked the car, ate dinner and became ultimate bargin shoppers!!! We were able to get a $1300 matress for $640!!!! It was pretty great.

Tuesday night before we left for downstate me and Alyssa threw Cory a surprise going away party. It wasn't very big which was nice becasue we knew everyone there for the most part, just some of Cory's good friends that are in town for the summer and the rest of the girls in the house. Alyssa and I made him a big banner that said 'Good luck Cory' on it and everyone that was there signed it and left a little message for him. We were pretty sneeky about the whole thing too. We said we had to run some errands and were going out to eat to have some girly time before I left for the trip when we really went to go set up and make the banner. That night Alyssa said she was wanted to take Cory out for a drink before he left. They went out and I went over to the fraternity house we were having it at to get the last couple of things in place and waited with everyone till he got there with Alyssa. We were all really happy how it turned out, it was a lot of fun and a good turn out all in all.

Me domesticated? Take Two

Schools out and now and I'm living in the sorority house for the summer and next school year. I share the attic with 2 other girls but its devided into our own bedrooms. I decided to make some curtains for my room because otherwise its just open with no door and if people are up there they could see me change and it adds a bit more privacy and more of a room feeling. So I went and got material (its plaid and way fun) and took out my sewing machine. Come to find out it was broken :( it sounded like a gear was broken inside of it and it wouldnt do anything at all jsut make a really sad noise at me. I got it fixed though and now it works! I must say I am very proud of the work I did with the curtains, they pretty much look fantastic! Besides that whole fiasco I've also been cooking a lot. This week alone between me and Cory we've made a chicken stuffed with stuffing, a roast thing and potatoes, bread, homemade KFC chicken bowls, and homemade soup using the rest of the chicken.

Calla Lillies

Calla Lillies are my favoritest flowers of all times. They're so pretty and happy...Well, most of them anyways. My Calla Lily plant is sad and droopy and wilty, im makes me get a teary eyed thinking about it...ok not really, but it does make me sad! LUCKILY theres good news about my plant thanks to the wonderful internet! ITS NOT DYING!!!! According to the research that I have done while investigating whether or not I had killed my plant, Calla Lillies are supposed to be watered with destilled water and not just tap water, something to do with the salt and other mineral contents in it. Another reason why it was starting to look so sad was becasue apparently I forgot to water it for about a week maybe a little longer. (oops!) But its ok now that I know how to take care of my flowers they will be the most beautiful ones on the block! YAY for the internet saving my flowers!!!! Now lets just hope I remember to water them.