New Semester, New Study Habits

Today begins another semester of grad school.

I took the summer semesters off because my work schedule is intense. I won't lie: I loved coming home, having dinner, and spending the rest of my evening doing whatever the heck I wanted. But the nerd in me is missing the academics.

I only take two classes each regular semester. I could probably add one more to the mix, but I'd like to have some sanity in my life. The program I'm in requires you to finish the degree in 7 years - while I hope it doesn't take me that long to complete, it makes my two-classes-per-semester the perfect pace for me. I like that there's wiggle room in the program because life happens.



My study setup last fall. Our poor dining room table.

Our fall schedule in our home is hectic. Richie's high school start started back, which means fall and winter sports are about to kick up (he also works for the high school's athletics department). I try my best to go to as many games as I can. With his schedule and my schedule during the week, my intention this semester is to reserve Saturdays as my "big" schoolwork days. Our weeks get too busy for me to stay up until the wee hours working, so my prayer is to knock out the upcoming week's work the Saturday before.

Do you have any study/schedule tips for me?

Product Review: Lifeway Kefir

I signed up for Influenster via Sara (who is launching a new website today!) back in October of 2012. She would review products she received through the program, and of course, I wanted to sign up. (Being able to try new products without wasting my hard-earned cash? Heck yeah!) It takes a few weeks to get going, but I am reviewing my second product through the program already, and it's fun!

This time around I'm reviewing Lifeway Kefir probiotic drink. I actually tried this product once before at a friend's house - and I never wanted to try it again. I tried the raspberry flavor, which isn't my favorite flavor in general. For this process, I picked up the blueberry drink. On its own it's good, but I decided to make a smoothie with it. I did one cup of the drink to one cup of frozen strawberries. I added no sugar or sweeteners. The smoothie hit the spot! And my favorite part about the kefir? One cup has 11 grams of protein.

Saturday smoothie goodness!

I'm fortunate to have no food allergies. If you do have 'em, this product is 99 percent gluten and lactose free. It only has a handful of ingredients. And who doesn't love ingesting good bacteria? Yeah, I'm a fan.

(Disclaimer: I received a free coupon to try this product. I received no financial compensation for reviewing this product.)

Movie: Struck by Lightning

In the midst of my summer laziness, Richie and I have been perusing Netflix for something to watch. Our habit is to typically find a show, watch every episode possible, then find something else. We are currently working through How I Met Your Mother and Private Practice.

(For the record, it takes us months to get through shows. When fall rolls around, our TV gathers a good layer of dust.)

Over the weekend neither of us felt like watching a show and decided to watch Struck by Lightning. Have you seen it? It’s a sweet movie about realizing that you don’t have to be defined by the label given to you. Of course, a teenager dies from being struck by lightning… but you just have to watch it to understand the significance of his death. It’s not a tear-jerker; it’s a feel-good movie. Even Richie enjoyed it and he doesn’t generally choose “feel-goody” movies. I definitely want to check out the YA book now (because you know it’s a book, right?).

Do you have Netflix? Can you recommend something for us to put in our instant queue?

20 Days

It's been 20 days since I last wrote something here. And I'm sorry.

I wish I could say the last 20 days have been intensely exciting. On the contrary, life has been moving along at steady pace of work, home, church, and general life happenings. We do have some pretty exciting things going on behind-the-scenes, but I'm not one to spill the beans until I know things are 100% going to happen. I guess you could call me superstitious.

Sadly, I have had little to no motivation for recreational activities lately (I consider this blog recreational). My reading list has been pushed off the table, my to-do list of projects around the house is somewhere, and I'm just generally feeling blah. I blame the summer heat. But lo and behold, my daily e-mail from Money Saving Mom alerted me to a new blog series she's writing: 10 Guaranteed Ways to Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas. Sign me and my lack of motivation up! I'm hoping to get some ideas for blogging ideas because I'm just... blaaaah.

What do you like to read about on blogs?

Book: Trinkets

I’m gaining momentum on my to-read list. I had a few duds where I stopped reading them after starting. I used to have such guilt about not finishing books that I started. I’ve trained myself to stop reading if I am not genuinely interested in the plot. The time spent reading is too precious to waste on books you don’t enjoy.

I flew through my latest pick: Trinkets by Kirsten Smith. One could read this in a single evening. Smith’s characters - Elodie, Tabitha, and Moe - each have a different style of telling the story. On the outside, the three teens wouldn’t look like the type to become friends: Tabitha is the popular one, Moe is the punky one, Elodie is the girl-next-door one. However, their common bond of kleptomania brings them together at a Shoplifters Anonymous meeting. Soon after meeting, the girls “compete” to see who can steal the most expensive item they can. As time goes on, they each learn something about themselves and their lives, leading to broken families, broken relationships, but ultimately a happy ending.

As always, I borrowed this book from my local public library. I found it in the Young Adult section.

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Kirsten's book. No, I'm not making money off the links.