I'm stressed, I'm stressed, I'm very very stressed. (Sing to the tune of "I'm late, I'm late, I'm very very late" from Alice in Wonderland.)

At least the due dates for one of my papers got pushed back! yay!

San An-tone

Last weekend my mom and I went to visit my dad in San Antonio. I was only there from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. My dad has a lovely little apartment we stayed in.

On Friday, we went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. The Alamo was very cool and historical... too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside.

The picture above is supposedly the line that Liutenant (Forgot his name...) drew in the sand and said "Anyone who wants to stay and fight for freedom, cross this line". Of course it is probably just someone's idea of where it happened...considering a major battle took place there after he drew the line and chances are it wasn't there when it was over. :)

The Riverwalk was so pretty....it's what I think New Orleans and Venice would look like if they were smashed together. The river runs strait through downtown San Antonio, and they Riverwalk is lined with great shops and restaurants. It was St.Patricks day weekend while we were there so there was some great Irish bands and festivities going on (and some really good green margaritas!!!). Texas is surprisingly gre as you can tell by the picture. I really thought it was a big desert...kinda like Arizona!

On Saturday we drove to Houston to visit my cousins Bobbie and Travis. I forgot to take pictures while we were at dinner with them, but I got one of their house. It is such a pretty neighborhood-very unique and green and tons of trees. All the house are made out of either brick or stone...none of the stucco cookie cutter houses you see here. You can kinda see my cousin Travis on the far left in the picture.

All in all it was a very fun weekend. I'm glad I got to go see my dad and see Texas! My mom loves it and wants to convince everyone in my family to move over there!

Now I am am sitting in the living room with all the doors open, listening to and smelling the rain. I love Arizona. It's amazing that it was 99 degrees outside a week ago, and now it is stormy and probably in the 70s. Sorry mom, I don't think I'll ever move (no matter how hot it gets!)

Oh and I tried to make homemade chocolate chip cookies earlier. And they are bad. Very Very bad. Oh well-it was my first attempt at homemade cookies and I will try again.

Now I have to do homework. Bah.

I am not dead...just stressed out. Whenever I sat down to write the past few weeks a wave of stress would hit me and I realized I had more important things to do. Of course now I have a million things to write about and still not much time to do it.

First, I got a job. It's with this company called "Sitters and Company". In essence it is like "The Babysitters Club" books from way back when, but more professional and actually a real business. Basically people can pay a fee to go on this website and search for qualified sitters (baby, house and pet sitters). They can then request a sitter for a particular day, and the sitter (me!) can either accept or decline the request. It is not exactly my dream job, but it pays well and allows me to be flexible with hours during the school year. Hopefully it will be something I can do full time over the summer also so I don't have to stress out about finding a job.

I was elected to be the student coordinator for this food drive on campus. It is pretty exciting, very stressful though. I have to coordinate different activites to get students involved, talk with clubs on campus, and many many many more things. I swear I have been spending at least an hours or more just answering emails dealing with the drive. It's fun though...definately something I am considering as a career (on a much larger scale of course...)

Spring break is next week and I am so ready for it. No big plans really-doing homework alot probably. But my mom and I are going to San Antonio for a few days to see my dad which should be fun. We get to go to the Alamo and the Riverwalk (and see the river dyed green in honor or St.Patty's Day). I've never been to Texas so I wonder if it will be like I expect it to be.

I also have an informational interview next week with the volunteer coordinator for the Arizona's Children Association, which is a group that helps place foster children into permanent homes. It's an assignment for a class, but it should be interesting at least. It'll give me an idea about what being a volunteer coordinator actually entails.

Probably very boring, but it is all I have time for right now. Amy was talking about how she makes lists all the time, and so did Kevin. This is something our Grandma Jaye does basically everyday. It really must be something hereditary, because I do it all the time also. ALthough my mom doesn't...so maybe it skips a generation. Anyways, blogging was on my list for today, but not for any other day this week. Check! OK-time to do homework.

School starts tomorrow and I am actually very excited! I have been bored out of mind for about a week and a half, so some mental stimulation will do me good. Although I only have one class tomorrow, so I'm going slowly back into the whole school thing. My life is boring because all I talk about is school so I think I'll post some pictures just for the heck of it:

This one is of my Perkins cousins and second cousins...at least some of them anyways. Heather is missing, and so are Kevin and Amy-although I know they were there so I'm not sure why they aren't in the picture. The only one of my Aunt Bunny's kids who is there is Chris, and her 3 kids, but Bunny's other two daughters and their kids are missing.

This one is of just my second cousins on the Stratton side (although there are a few cousins mixed in there). I think most of them are pictured...but some may be missing.

These are my Stratton cousins. I believe 5 or so are missing, plus there are no spouses pictured.

And lastly just my immediate family...my mom made it balck and white and it looks pretty cool. The kids look silly, but adorable as always.

OK-that's all. I have to go prepare myself for school tomorrow.

Reading is fun!

I went and got my books today...so far there are 16 books for 3 classes, and at least 4 for the two other classes that the books weren't in for. Amy asked me to post the book list for my Contemporary Women Writers class so here it is:

• Nickel and Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich


• Written on the Body By Jeanette Winterson


• Human Croquet By Kate Atkinson


• How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents By Julia Alvarez


• Yo! By Julia Alvarez


• The House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros


• My One Night Stand with Cancer By Tania Katan

If anyone has ever read any of these books, or other books by these authors let me know! I'd love to get some reviews!

Has anyone ever heard the story of Tania Katan? It is an amazing story that one of my professors shared with us last semester. Tania was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 21 and had a mastectomy. When she was 31 she was again diagnosed with breast cancer and had her other breast removed. Since then, she has run three 10k breast cancer marathons...topless. Shocking huh? Since she has no breasts, she runs them holding a sign that says "This is what breat cancer really looks like". It's amazing to me. I don't think anyone I know has the courage to do something like that. I know I don't. I found a picture of her:

I couldn't find the one of her actually running the marathon. Anyways, I thought I'd share this incredible story with you.

I will also be reading a Foucault reader for Political Theory and "What Color is My Parachute?" for Adult Career Development, among many others for those classes as well. I'm pretty excited for the semester to start actually. It will be stressful as always, but I think my classes will be awesome! I know, I know-I'm a nerd...it's in my blood.

No more school for Lisa!

I just had a meeting with my academic advisor...dun dun dun. No-it went very well actually. She said I am all on track to graduate in Spring 2008, as long as I take 15 credits the rest of the time I'm here, which shouldn't be a problem. The GREAT news is that she said I don't have to go to grad school. Everyone had always told me that as a sociology major I should go to grad school. My advisor said that unless I want to teach or do research it is not important that I go. So...I'm not going to. :) I have no desire to spend 2 more years in school after I get my BA. Plus, I can always go back to grad school if I decide that I really want to later on. However, I am considering adding on another minor in Special Events Management, so that means I wouldn't graduate until December 2008. I'm just excited that I am soooooo very close to being done with school. At most I have 4 semesters left, but possibly as few as 3! Oh-I decided I am going to take that Contemporary Women Writers course instead of Religions of the World, so that I can get some upper division credits out of the way. OK-time to go to class and listen to some very boring presentations. Last day of this class though-and no final! Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Oh and btw- Brad Paisley has a Christmas CD coming out! I can't wait! Someone better get it for me (ahem...Davis...ahem...)

people bug me...

So I was sitting in my Urban Studies class this morning and a girl sits down next to me. She begins to complain to the person sitting on the other side of her about how hard this class is and how she isn't going to get a good grade. Ok-this is a 400-level course, not supposed to be easy. BUT I have 3 other upper division course that are as hard if not harder than this one. That's not the point though. Our professor is nice enough to put her lecture online every week so we can print it out and follow along/take notes during class. This girl who is complaining about this terrible class does not have the note printout and tells the guy next to her that she never "bothers" to print them out. Then, as soon as class starts, she proceeds to whip out her phone and text message for the entire class period. Hmmmm...I wonder why she thinks the class is hard....

Anyways, it really bugged me. I think that you only have the right to complain the classes if you legitimately do all the work and pay attention, but do not get the material. Oh well...it made me mad and distracted me during class. ok-time to do homework now....