admin November 29th, 2004
What a great break Jared and I had. The few days of Thanksgiving break were much needed and much appreciated. We headed to Emden on Wednesday night…and hit snow just south of Springfield. It was crazy-go-nuts! We made it safely though, just in time for some fresh cookies and sleep. Thursday we spent Thanksgiving with my Grandma and the rest of our family…in Emden. It was the first holiday without Grandpa, so it was tough, but we made it. After lunch, supper and some visiting, mom, Greg, Jared and I went to see Christmas with the Kranks. It was really cute. Not the best movie ever…but it gives you that happy “holiday feeling” in your tummy. Friday morning mom, Grandma and I braved some shopping in Bloomington. I didn’t really buy any gifts though…just all the wrapping paper and gift wrapping stuff. It was a lot of fun though. Friday night Jared and I headed back into Bloomington and hung out with some long-lost friends (aka: the Shandley’s and Cox’s) It was sooo much fun! We played Scene-It, ate Tobin’s pizza and looked at each other’s wedding albums. I sure do miss those guys. Saturday we slept in and were bums for most of the morning. Saturday evening we went to Jared’s cousin Mandi’s wedding…in Bloomington of course. It was a lot of fun too. It was nice to see his family and just enjoy ourselves for the night. I had a new black dress that I broke in….and Jared looked super spiffy in his suit. There was much dancing and fun had by all. Sunday we went to church at Vale and enjoyed a scrumptrulescent lunch at Famous Daves (drooool….). We made another stop at Jared’s mom’s house and had the chance to hang out with his sister and our nieces too. (They’re too cute!) We taught them how to play Dance Dance Revolution and had yet another Thanksgiving meal. Yay for pumpkin pie! After we got our things packed up at my parent’s house…we finally headed back to Greenville. We made it home around midnight and got a good night’s sleep. We were awakened though…around 7:00 a.m….by a big ol’ nasty black hornet. Worry not…my hero (Jared) killed it! I think that pretty much brings you up to date with our lives. Tonight is apartment cleaning and tomorrow we’re putting up the Christmas decorations. Yay for Christmas decorations! Adios!
admin November 24th, 2004
I’m just about ready to pack up and leave the office. Jared and I are heading back to the Bloomington area for the rest of the week. We’ll be staying at my parents house, but we’ll be all over the place. So…if you’re reading this and you want to see Jared and I at some point…give us a call. I’m quite excited to pick up all of our Christmas decorations this weekend as well. Yay for our first Christmas together! I’ll get an update up once we get back…maybe before then. We’ll see. Either way…have a wonderfully terrific Thanksgiving! 
admin November 22nd, 2004
The rest of the weekend went just as well as the first half. Saturday morning Jared had Core class…and I slept in until 11:30. It was awesome…well, for me at least! After I finally got out of bed and decided to move my body out of the bedroom…I ate some breakfast/lunch and headed back over to my office and started the painting fun once again. We finished up the painting just in time to head in to Fairview Heights with the Morfords and Jamie McDugle. We ate at Fazolli’s and wandered around the mall. Fazolli’s was much needed and the mall was the same as always. We watched SNL when we got back…all of us in our tiny little livingroom. SNL just isn’t the same anymore. I still like it…but not like I used to. U2 played on SNL this weekend though…and they rocked!! I love U2…they’re so old now, but Bono still rocks. Anywho…Sunday morning we attended the First United Methodist again…and it was just as good as last week. We’re still not sure if we’ll keep going there or not…but it’s been good so far. After lunch and an afternoon spent reading another fabulous book….Jared and I headed over to the bowling alley to bowl with several college faculty and staff members. It was so crazy realizing that I was there because I work with all of those people. It was so much fun though. We got to bowl 4 games in a row….and believe you me…my arm is suffering the consequences this morning. It was worth it! We finished up my office last night too. It looks great….if I do say so myself. Feel free to stop by and check out its coolness if you’d like. I need to get back to work now…hope everyone who reads this is having a great day. (Does anyone read this?! )
admin November 20th, 2004
The weekend’s been pretty good thus far. I actually made a big supper for Jared and I last night. It’s been forever since I’ve had the time to do that. After supper we noticed that the movie “Rookie of the Year” was on the family channel. I love that movie! It was funny watching it…knowing that I had seen it in grade school in the theatre. I used to have such a big crush on that boy. Funny stuff. Anywho…after that, Jared and I went over to my office at the college for a painting fest. My office was boring white and I needed to change that….badly. So after my boss gave me permission…I bought a gallon of lovely olive green paint and was ready to go. We got most of the office taped off yesterday and got quite a bit done. Today I’m going back to finish painting and will hopefully get it put back together. Well…it’s just about 11:30….and I woke up about 15 minutes ago. I should probably hop in the shower and get my day started. More updates later!
admin November 17th, 2004
It’s been a good week so far. This week we made the transition in the office to put me in charge of all incoming transfer students. I’m super excited about this because of my once being a transfer student as well. I get to evaluate everyone’s transcripts…how cool is that?! (Ok, so I’m a nerd.) Yesterday Jared and I got new cell phones, finally. (If you need our new numbers…just let me know.) Jared’s never had his own cell phone before…so he’s super excited about it. Yesterday we also got confirmation on our new apartment that we’re moving to in Januaray. It’s going to be so much nicer than our place right now. It’s the bottom floor of a 1930’s home…and it’s super cute. The best part is the front porch. It’s a huge front porch and I can finally have my own porch furniture! Yay! (Once again…I’m a nerd.) We also get our very own washer and dryer to use….no more Jansen’s 3rd Street Laundrymat! Needless to say, Jared and I are uber excited to move there. For those of you who know Eric and Cassie Wiedman…it’s where they live right now. So yeah…only 2 months left in our current place of dwelling! If you haven’t seen where we live now…and you still want to…it’s crunch time…hehe. You’re more than welcome to come and visit! Anywho…it’s time for lunch and the hubby should be here soon to pick me up. Adios!
admin November 15th, 2004
This weekend was AWESOME! It’s been awhile since Jared and I were just able to go and have fun on the weekend. Between my travel season and his homework…it’s been crazy lately. Either way…Friday night was just a lazy night for us. We sat around and did nothing…and it was great. Saturday we actually got to sleep in for once. That afternoon we headed to Fairview Heights to do a little shopping. We had to get a diamond in my wedding band tightened…so we dropped that off first. Then we stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond to get these little bed raiser thingies. Shopping in BBB made us want to get married again…just so we could register for more stuff. What a great store! After that we headed over to Ruby Tuesdays for a scrumtrulescent dinner. Jared had ribs (of course) and I got this super awesome steak. We both got loaded baked potatoes…which are the best ever! Next was Best Buy…where were just going to pick up a CD or something (we had a gift certificate). Instead…we gave into temptation and purchased Dance Dance Revolution and the dance mats for it. As soon as the purchase was complete…we ran to the car and flew home so we could partake in this most marvelous game. We danced like lunatics in our living room for pretty much the rest of the night. Seriously…if you’ve never played this game…you need to visit us and we’ll let you try it out. Everyone looks like a dork doing it…but it’s totally worth it. Ok…so Sunday. We’ve been attending a certain Christian Church in Greenville for some time now…but we’ve never gotten much out of it. We finally broke away this week and have started the search for a new church. We attended the First United Methodist church today…and after one day…more people had talked to us and welcome us than the other church. It was such a blessing to us. After church we returned home for more Dance Dance Revolution. Then we neglected to clean the apartment so we could keep on dancing. Then, later that night, we went to see The Incredibles. SUCH AN AWESOME MOVIE! Go…now….seriously. What? It’s too early in the day to see a movie right now? Who Cares! Go stand in line at the theatre and wait! It’s worth it! Needless to say…it was a good time. Afterwords…we of course went back home to play DDR before we went to bed. Ahhh…what a good weekend.
admin November 12th, 2004
Ok…I’m at work right now and I shouldn’t be bumming around writing blog…but I am. Today is crazy go nuts in the office. Seriously, it seems like every student in the world is visiting our campus today. My visits have been good so far though…they thought I was cool…therefore it was a good visit. My boss went home early today because he’s sick. That means we can all leave early today…woohoo! Yay for weekends! Jared and I are going to St. Louis tomorrow to shop and just get away for a bit. I think I’m also going to search for paint for my office at work. Michael gave me permission to paint…I just have to pay for the paint myself. If you saw the nasty wallpaper on my walls…you’d buy the paint yourself too! I’m pretty sure I’ve got my mind set on olive green or somthing along that line. I heart olive green…and since we can’t paint in our apartment…I’ve got to let my painting urges out somewhere. I think I’ll go ahead and rearrange my office too. It’s in need of a major facelift. Anywho…I should get back to work. More to come later! Adios!
admin November 11th, 2004
Ok, it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything. I’ll do my best to get you updated. That is…if anyone actually reads this thing enough to have missed me. The biggest thing that has happened was the passing of my Grandpa Cox. He was 80 and he and my grandma have lived down the road from me for most of my life. He was a Methodist minister since he was like 20 years old. Quite honestly, he’s been one of the most influential persons in my life. Though it was a shock at first, it’s gotten easier to deal with. Losing Grandpa has really made me examine my life and begin to re-think a lot of things. Grandpa helped me to become the Christian I am today…and I realize that even more so now. I stayed up at my parent’s house for a week to help with funeral preparations and to be with Grandma. It was a wonderful week. We haven’t had our entire family together for such a long time. It was great to see all my long-lost cousins and aunts and uncles…etc. etc. The week after all of that, I got the flu. It was aweful…and I slept a lot. That pretty much explains that week. Since then things have gotten back to normal. Work keeps me busy and I’m still traveling to college fairs once in awhile. I just had a fair up in Dixon, Illinois (by Rock Falls). It was great because I got to eat lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Sparks and then I got to stay over at Geof and Lauri’s house (my brother and his wife). The next morning I was lazy and went to the craft mall before I headed back to Greenville. I bought lots of cute fall decorations for our apartment. It looks so festive and fun now! I also got a call that afternoon, from Bill, our wedding photographer. He FINALLY had our wedding pictures done. Now we have lots of massive pictures of ourselves to put up all over the place too. I must admit…Jared and I looked HOT that day. Seriously…good stuff. Anywho…I’m going to finish up this post here. I’ll try to post more regularly from now on. Leave me messages!