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I feel compelled to write this blog since today will be my last day working in the stats lab. And I can't think of a clever title. Deal with it. :)

So.

I graduate in 2 days.

Wow.

It feels like this day has been such a long time in coming... I'm not really sure if it's completely sunk in that I will be done with my Bachelors in Mathematics in just two days. Done. For reals. The end.

Of my undergraduate career that is.

Yup. That's right. I'm not stopping. Over this past weekend some thought's came into my head, I talked to one of my professors, went to the temple with Braedon... and this all led to the decision that I will be going to Graduate School. At least, that's the plan.

What am I doing to myself?

In all reality, I actually am excited the more and more I think about it. Since I've decided so late in the game to go to graduate school, I will for sure have a nice long break from school (hallelujah). I could possibly start in January, but a lot of programs don't like you to start in the middle of the year, so it looks more likely that I'll be starting Fall of 2011. I don't think I could have just dove right into any more schooling. I definitely need a break like a bear needs to hibernate.

So now the plan is to find any full time job in the Salt Lake Valley to help put some money into savings (so if you know of anyone hiring, let me know), and start studying/practicing for the GRE.

Yay tests. ;)

I'm not going to lie, I actually almost wanted to cry when I first felt like I should consider graduate school. The thought of two more years of schooling is a little daunting, but the more I prayed about it, researched it, talked it over with people, the more it felt like the right thing to do. So I'm choosing to trust, and to be optimistic. :)

Anywho.

On to other news. Today as I was handing in my Advance Calculus take home final Zhu, my teacher, promptly orders me " go get an envelope for your wedding on my desk, it says For Katie". So I take his keys and go to his office, search around his cluttered desk, finally find the envelope, and go back to the classroom he is in. Upon asking him if I had the right envelope (who knows maybe there are two Katie's he's giving stuff to...) he repeats "ya ya" and then proceeds to tell me what's in it (which was a very nice gift card). He is such a funny guy, and I love how proud he is of his students and how much he cares about them.

As I walked out of the room and said goodbye, I actually got a little sad about graduating - I'm going to miss a lot of people here at this school. I never realized how close you could get to teachers and fellow classmates. But when you have a teacher 3 or 4 times, and you have the same kids in your class 6 or 7 times you start to build some really awesome relationships. I'm going to miss that. Hopefully I can still keep in touch with the people I've met and become friends with. :)

So there you have it. Graduation. I can't believe I did it. And now, with school finally ending for the semester, I can start working on all those things I've put on the "Do after you are done with the semester" list. Like cleaning. And washing my car. And packing. And finishing our guest book. And painting some old furniture. And job searching. And moving.

And getting married.

Sounds like a good plan to me. :)

Closer and Closer!

Working in the stats lab = new blog post.

-I wonder when I'll blog when I'm no longer working at the math/stats lab.

-Invites go out tomorrow. Thank. Goodness. Besides getting the wedding video finished up, all wedding plans are done with! Woot!

- Bridals went fantastic last Tuesday! The weather ended up being perfect for the shoot (even though it played with me all day) and we got some really good shots. I'm gonna have a hard time choosing...

- While out on my Bridals I had multiple people comment on my shoes, one even going so far to ask if he could take a picture. So awesome. I love my shoes. :)

-My last day of class is on Wednesday. My last day of finals is in 10 days. Then only 2 days after that and it's graduation! :)

- I didn't think it could, but my patience for people in the math lab is still decreasing as that graduation date gets closer. Every time a person walks into the lab I secretly am giving them the death glare in my head.

- I gave my knot presentation today about Celtic Knots, and it went really well. :) My good friend Josh was also presenting today so I brought some drinks and he brought some food to share with the class because everyone knows that you get a better grade when you bring food, right?

- The food that Josh ended up bringing happened to be those fancy hotdogs (oxymoron?) that has the bread wrapped around it - because they looked like a Torus knot. And then he also brought some Funyuns (mmmmm) because they look like the unknot. It's funny. I swear.

- I love Funyuns - but not so much an hour after I've eaten them. I can't get the taste out of my mouth. Bleh.

- Me and Braedon have a place to live! We are going to be taking the basement apparentment that my sister and brother-in-law currently live in right now. They move out to their own new place the first bit of May, and then we will be moving in after them. :) Perfect time, eh?

- Speaking of a place to live - we are also getting new couches! They are red. And I'm excited. :)

- I get to go to a special (FREE) lunch on Friday with all the other Math slash Math Education graduates. Minus the faculty, there will be a grand total of ten of us. Does that seem kind of small to anyone else?

- I had my first shower on Saturday (I know, kinda gross - I should probably work on that hygiene problem, har har har). It went really well! People are so nice. I've never been a super girly person though, so I have kind of a hard with showers. Especially with showing that my gratitude, cause I just can't make myself do the typical squeal of delight on how cute those oven mits might be, or how perfect those muffin tins are. While yes the mits might be cute, and the muffin tins might be perfect - I'm just not sure how to exactly express that. :S Hopefully my gratitude is felt by those giving the gifts, cause I really am grateful. :)

- Me and Braedon also started to learn our dance on Saturday. Oh. My Lanta. My feet were so sore afterward - and my hips, and sides, and armpit, and butt. Apparently I'm just not used to moving that way. But I'm so excited. That's all the detail you're gonna get - if you want to know more, you'll have to come and see. :) Though I have to give a shout out for Corey for taking so much time in helping us. He basically rocks.

- I think I'm done for the day. My brain is too tired to think of much else.

Loves and hugs. :)

1 month.

So I'm sitting here in the stats lab, and there are just the right amount people to keep me occupied enough not to be able to do my homework, but not quite enough to keep me completely busy the whole 2 hours. Thus the blogging.


1) This month has already been so crazy and is about to get even more so. As I said on facebook, make sure and wear your poncho's so you don't get Katie guts on you, on the chance that I literally explode. (Over dramatic)

2) Thursday, one of my best friends, Ben Stanfield, came home from his mission. His girlfriend that was waiting for him (that also happens to be my maid of honor) thought he was getting home sometime this week. Needless to say, it was a fantastic surprise and I was so glad to help out with it. :) If you want her full account of the story just go here.

3) On that same note, I'm excited to have my Ben Friend home. :)

4) As school gets closer to coming to a close, I've entered a new stage of annoyance for stupid people around me. Or lazy people. Or just students in the math lab in general. Or psychology majors that freak out about a 5 minute presentation for a class that requires absolutely no other work. Don't talk to me about your 'stress' (Again, over dramatic).

5) I'm taking my bridals tomorrow. Of course it's the one day this entire week that will be rainy. If I wasn't wearing an expensive dress that still needs to look nice for later, I'd totally take them outside in the rain. Instead I'll just find some cool indoor location down town... I know they will turn out good either way. :)

6) The invites are designed. I love how they turned out. We should start printing and stuffing envelopes here soon and then be sending them off. (Check)

7) Tuxes and flowers are also done as of this weekend (Me and Braedon had one of the most productive weekends ever). I'm excited for how both will turn out. I'm even more excited to not have to think about either anymore till the day of the wedding. (Check and Check)

8) I keep on having to remind myself that I chose to be a math major, I finish school in 16 days, and graduate in 18.

9) How cool does it sound to be able to say "I graduated with my Bachelors in Mathematics". Pretty dang cool to me.

10) I'm still on the job search. If you hear of anyone looking for mathematicians or some such let me know. :)

11) I love Braedon so much. I know that's pretty obvious, but I still feel like saying it. I can't wait till I get to marry him and be with him for time and all eternity. :)

12) Why are people still coming into the stats lab? Don't they know that I'm tired and my brain is basically to the non-functioning level? Don't they also know that they aren't funny or clever but rather just annoying and make me think they are just stupid and lazy (refer back to #4) when they say something to the effect "I'm so glad it's not super busy! You can just teach me everything I need to know for the test *chuckle*, since I totally fell asleep in class! *Chuckle chuckle*" Not. Funny.

13) This combines two forms of nerdy, and I love it.

(If you can't read see it well, it is a little picture of Gandolf from Lord of the Rings, saying "You Shall Not Pass" to an exponential function. It's funny. I swear.)

:)

Brain Spasms

It seems like just last week I was blogging about how I couldn't believe it was March. Now it's April. What the weird.

I've been looking forward to slash dreading April for a while now. Anytime I open my calendar on my phone I have a mini brain spasm about how much I am going to have to do this month. Remind me again why I thought that planning a wedding, balancing social life, finishing my last semester of school/graduating, and finding a new job all at the same time was such a good idea?

*Brain Spasm*

In reality I know I'll be able to handle it, just don't be surprised if you don't see much of me this month. ;)

So in order to help my little mini brain spasms I'm going to do a bullet point list because in case you haven't noticed I'm a total list person and it helps me feel better after I write them. :)

- This is my last semester of my undergraduate career. How crazy awesome is that!? Pretty crazy awesome if you ask me.

- On the same note, this month just might make my brain explode if I don't keep on top of things.

- Ben comes home soon. Like. Really soon. I'm so excited for him, and most of all Kelci. I loves that girl and I can't wait for her to finally be done with the two year ordeal.

- I love Kelci. (I felt like she deserved her own bullet point, cause let's face it she is just that amazing.)

- Braedon and I, with a bunch of friends, went to Moab this weekend. It was amazing. I love Moab so much. I also love our friends so much. I really have never met a more loving, respecting, fun, crazy group of people ever. They are fantastic. Thank you all for making it such an awesome trip! (Maybe I'll post some pictures later... we'll see)

- I have a big Knot Theory presentation coming up that I haven't done a single thing for. I should probably get on that.

- Showers are going to be starting soon for the wedding. That is just all sorts of weird to me. I'm not the biggest fan of that kind of attention but getting free stuff is always good, so I'm not really sure if I'm looking forward to it or not.

- Wednesday should be my last chiropractor appointment for my neck! I really am glad I went back to get my neck fixed, and even more glad that it's finally done! It's wonderful to not have a constant headache. Go figure.

- We are going to go Tux shopping on Saturday. I'm not really sure where, but we are going. Braedon looks fantastic in a tux. :)

- My bridals are coming up! I'm way excited. I really want to get a picture by a hobo, so cross your fingers that the opportunity arises. ;)

- So, I've decided that I don't want to be a teacher anymore. Well, more I've been getting very strong feelings that I'm not suppose to be a teacher. Life is fantastic, eh? Here's to hoping I figure out what I'm going to do with myself soon. :S

- Me and Braedon just might be learning a special dance for the wedding. Ask me if I'm excited. :) I can't stop smiling when I think about it. Hopefully we don't completely suck.

- Okay, I think I'm done now - off to do homework! Woot. :P

Loves and hugs.