HAPPY HALLOWEENIE!! :)

where did october go?

i don't about you guys, faithful readers, but this month flew by! i can't believe its already almost november, though i have to say, i'm sort of excited about november. :) i'll be doing some traveling to chicago and texas which will hopefully mean i will be pretty much done collecting data for my dissertation. i'll get to see some college friends while i'm in the midwest. i get to have a fun thanksgiving with mike's family and hopefully catch up with some texas friends. and i get to miss a lot of work which is AWESOME. (boring job stuff going on right now..) then before we know it the semester will be over which will mean no more saturday classes and having the chance to go home again for the holidays. :) looking forward to all of that a lot!

i had a fun weekend with mike. we went to a halloween party on saturday night and i think our costumes were a big hit. i'll try to post some photos later on. the work computer is not cooperating.

haven't heard much on the faculty job front. i sent out about 10 more packets last week and hopefully that will be it for a while. i'll let you know if i hear anything.

i guess i should work or something now.

my scale is made of evil

so today i stepped on the scale and to my happy surprise it said that i had lost 10 pounds since this crazy process had started and had thus reach one of my benchmarks. i think foolishly stepped on it again and it was a dirty lie! it lied by 5 pounds. what the f@)#!?~ time for a new scale? :) regardless, pants are getting to big and ass is getting smaller. and i can run a slightly longer distance (thus faster pace) than i could even last week. boo-ya! screw you evil scale!

UPDATE: this morning (oct 26) the scale said that i've lost 9 pounds since this process started. it even said that the second and third time i stepped on it. can i get a woo hoo?! maybe those muscles i built up are finally starting to get rid of the fat. *grin* scale is less evil today.

crazy freakin' weight loss

mike and i have been trying out body for life. i think i'm trying to do a good job of sticking to the food part and have been working out more often and with more intensity than i have been in a long time. sure, sure...iowa was not kind to me in terms of eating right, but i'm happy to say that it wasn't a dis-ass-ter and i managed to even job while i was at home (and sick with a cold to boot!)

so my results after 3 weeks....pretty much the same weight..though i have dropped a few pounds...nothing exciting going on with the stupid scale in my bathroom. pants...a bit looser...i think i'm exactly between the size i really didn't want to be and the size i was when i moved here. so what is keeping me doing this? well...there are some noticable results even if the scale doesn't reflect it. my body is getting trimmer....i'm getting some muscle tone...my face is thinner...my boobs are bit smaller (of course)...and even that pesky tummy is shrinking slowly. and i can lift more weight, run/jog faster and longer than i could before, and can do some exercises that were impossible before due to jacked up knee. i'm ready and waiting for the part where the muscle i've been building up starts eating the fat away so i actually do shrink a size and smile when i step on the scale. but...so far so good i guess. right? :)

(by the way...congratulate mike because he's lost way more weight than me. damn boys!) ;)

"kate's mom just called jeremy a bitch"

this past weekend i went to iowa for the wedding of one of my closest friends from college. it was a great time and so nice to get to see my family and my college buddies. and i think it was especially awesome to see how happy monica is in her new relationship. she and patrick are truly a perfect fit and that was so evident as they took their vows and joined their lives. so happy for her. :) the wedding was beautiful and simple and monica looked gorgeous! maybe i'll post some pictures at some point.

the subject line for this blog is a quotation from a rock. now i know you're asking, "what the hell is kate talking about?" but i will explain. monica and patrick had large river rocks on each table with paint pens so that we could leave them words of wisdom. at one point my mom did, in fact, call my friend jeremy a bitch (he earned it..trust me!), so my friend jed wrote the aforementioned quote on one of the rocks for monica and patrick. i'm sure they will treasure it always...or bury it under the other rocks that say things like "laugh often." :)

the day before and after the wedding i got to spend time with my parents and my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces. i haven't seen my niece amber since december when she was a newborn, so it was fun to watch her running all over the place now. she's a cutie. and my niece amanda is growing up faster than i'd like to admit. she's doing well in her new school though and will soon be driving and stuff. insanity!

anyway, that's enough rambling for now. i'm back in new mexico...back at work...and stumbling through all the stuff i'm trying to get done. :) hopefully some more exciting news will be coming soon.

relief via usps

so my friend sara asked me how the job search was going like a week or so ago and i haven't answered her yet (see last post). but, the scoop is that i have sent out about 27 job applications. in fact, i sent the majority of them today which is a huge relief. could the packets be better....sure! would it help if i had more publications...absolutely! do i care at this point....not really. :) i mean, i care...it would be cool to get a job somewhere (kinda sorta), but mostly i'm just happy that they are out of my hands and in a mailbox and i don't have to worry about it for a while. as random positions pop up i can still apply, but its nice to know that most of them are on their way for evaluation. where did i apply you ask? well...all over the place. more details as i hear more.

fall is always busy!

so, its fall here in albuquerque. some leaves are changing, the weather gets relatively cool at night, its not uncommon to tote a sweater or jacket with you in the morning, and my schedule is freakin' busy as hell. it seems to be this way every fall though, which is probably good since i'm so much more motivated than the spring.

what's keeping me busy you ask? well...a lot of stuff. i've been working full-time still and about 3 days a week i have dissertation interviews scheduled after work. i've been doing body for life so i've been trying to eat better and work out more. i'm still applying for a bunch of faculty positions so i've been trying to get all of that information put together, copied, and sent. my hope is to get almost all of those mailed this weekend. i'm trying to figure out next semester in terms of employment (shhh...that's a secret so don't tell my boss) and might have some options there. and i've been planning trips to austin and chicago to finish my interviews and a trip to iowa for a wedding (one of three happening this fall!!). and on the more fun side, my great friend shelley came to visit last weekend which was AWESOME! good times. :)

and then there's the list of things that i need to do...which actually mostly involves writing 3 chapters of my dissertation by the end of the semester. hopefully once the interviews in NM are done that will be easier.

so...that's the scoop right now. need more hours in the day engineers. work on it.