Last Semester as a Full Time Student!

Well, the time has come. It is officially my last semester as a full time college student, that is, until I go to graduate school, which it seems I will inevitably have to do. The more I look into the possibilities for the future it becomes increasingly clear that I will not be able to compete in the museum workforce unless I have a master's degree, even though when I graduate in December 2006 I will have the same education as someone who got their undergraduate in History and got their master's in Museum Studies, except I will not have to write a thesis. Not to mention the fact that I have worked in a museum for almost two years now. I guess titles are still so very important. Not that I am slightly disgruntled, or anything:) But I have a way to go, since I will be waiting a while before going to grad school, and at the moment I am excited at the possibility of working more and going to school less sometime in the near future.

This semester is looking good so far. My classes are interesting and I have most of them with my museum studies girls. However, I did have a very hectic Thursday this past week, which was more than I was prepared to handle on the fourth day of school. Let me start off by saying that Baylor has a HORRIBLE parking situation, as do most universities, and I am usually aware of my surroundings and the dangers associated with driving amongst crazy college students. But on Thursday, as Liz and I are driving to class, we almost get into the same exact car accident as Steph was in a year ago, which involved a car running the stop sign on Daughtrey and both cars being totaled. So I was already a little shaken, and then I actually get into an accident as I am trying to find a parking space!! Thankfully no one was hurt, but my poor car is now in serious need of a nose job (purely cosmetic, no dents!!). Then, I get a call from Liz as I am walking to my car after class asking where I am, and I can tell she is upset or needs to tell me about something, so I just tell her I will pick her up in a few minutes and then we can talk. As I am driving down the road to where she is supposed to be waiting for me, I see her RUNNING at my car down the street! And when she gets in, she immediately ducks down in the seat! So apparently her stalker, which will only make sense to a select few of you, but the point is that she has a stalker, spotted her and was chasing her out of the building. This is just the latest in a series of creepy encounters, but nonetheless, not something we were prepared to take in after the accident.

THANKFULLY! We went to Treff's that evening and I spent an amazing evening with Liz, Monica, and Karen dancing and enjoying the weekly entertainment who calls himself the Piano Man. The day ended well. Unfortunately, Jess was not at work on Friday because she went home to be with her mother during her first chemotherapy treatment. For updates, go to Jessica's page under my links and keep her mother in your thoughts and prayers. Jennie sent a little naked Jude Law a la Cold Mountain home with Jess as a mood booster, so hopefully that was successful:)

And now, my car needs a bra. How embarrassing. I love my fiance Dave, my family, my friends, my job, Coheed and Cambria, and this quote:

"There is no gravity. Mr. T pities everything to stay the fuck down. Except for birds and airplanes because they are shaped like a T."

And then there is this.....



Confused? Join the club.

New Year's Eve

Hello All. Well, seeing as how it is 10:45 on New Year's Eve and I am already in my jammies and have taken out my contact lenses (a sure sign bed is not far behind), it is understandable that I totally forgot that today is supposed to be special. First of all, David stayed at my house last night since his entire extended family on his mother's side is at his house and he would have had to sleep on the floor, which means that it was inevitable that his laziness would rub off on me therefore I slept in until 12:00pm. This does not bode well for the punctuality of my future life. Anyway, that is the longest I have slept in since forever and I always feel guilty when I do that, like I am sleeping my life away or something, but to make it worse I spent the rest of the day at the mall with my sister so she could buy a lot of fake jewelry at Claire's with her gift card that Santa got her. What makes it even worse than that is that I bought two shirts and a necklace at American Eagle and a pair of rather expensive jeans at Gap, which is bad because I need to be saving up for my Hawaii trip. Let me just say that Killeen is the most ghetto place in the entire world and there were sooooo many ghetto people there today that I felt claustrophobic, which has never happened to me, and I had a minor panic attack. I started sweating, and for those of you who know me well you know that I am always freezing, I felt like I was going to pass out, I felt sick to my stomach, and it was all I could do to get myself to the food court so I could get a soda so I would stop shaking. It was really weird, but I am just not used to all of the people. The Waco mall is very mellow. Then, as I was waiting outside my sister's dressing room in Dillards, this girl asked for my opinion about a very cute dress she was wearing and asked me if it was a "tonight" kind of dress. It took me so long to figure out what the hell she was talking about, but of course she meant a New Year's type of dress, which it totally was, and I felt lame and embarrassed at the same time.

So, that was my day. I am now waiting for my parents to open the very nice champagne they bought ( a perk of celebrating at home with people who have expensive tastes) while surfing the web about Coheed and Cambria. This leads me to my next point, which is that I still love them more than any other band and I would basically kill to get to see them live. Not really, but it would be amazing. I also want to tell all of you about something Jessica introduced me to to. It is an internet cartoon called Making Fiends and it is great. Weird, but great. That is the explanation for the links below:

http://www.coheedandcambria.com
http://www.makingfiends.com

On the TV right now is Maria Carey and Ryan Seacrest, who are my two least favorite people in the world. I have high hopes for 2006, and I hope everyone has an amazing new year. CHECK OUT THE LINKS and it will be even better.

Again, so much has happened......

Ok, so I said I would keep this updated, but then finals happened, and it just didn't work out!! Thanksgiving was good, but Pride and Prejudice was even better!!! It was soooooo good, and I went back to see it again. It was so much better the second time, but the original is still the best, and since Liz, Jen, Jess, and Steph have not seen it (bitches...) we are going to have a REAL Pride and Prejudice marathon before school starts in January. Then the last week of school came, and the madness began. Lets just say in the span of exactly one week I had three papers due and four final exams, all of which kicked my butt. I ended up doing well, so I am happy!! So here is what happened...

~ I got my Baylor class ring!!!! It was very exciting because I got the pretty rosewood box even though I did not have to sit through the extremely corny ring ceremony. I originally was willing to give up the overrated box so I didn't have to sit through the ceremony, but once I gave in to going I realized I had the last MSSA meeting to attend the same evening, so I didn't have to go. Anyway, it is really pretty, so I am excited!

~ I am going to Hawaii!! I am going over Spring Break with David and his family and I am sooooo excited! We are staying at the Hilton in Honolulu which is right on the beach and next door to the military hotel with all the fun amenitites, so there should be a lot of future in-law type fun. We will have to do all of the adventure-type stuff like climbing Diamond Head and parasailing since Linda and I are the only two girls so we are outnumbered, but there will be a lot of scuba diving and tanning involved too. I was so jealous of Jessica for so long since she got to go in October, but now I get to go too! Many pictures will be taken, don't worry...

~ I have found a new musical obsession....

(This is on my Facebook profile too, so if you have been ignoring it there you really need to read it!!)

BIOGRAPHY: James Blunt
James Blunt’s family have served in one kind of army or another since 995A.D. A long line of warriors. Savages really. Not a musical bone in any one of their bodies. The only music he heard growing up was “Happy Birthday” and “Silent Night”. His father considered all music, even classical, to be unnecessary noise. Although James was not one to rock the family boat, he didn’t really think he was going to join the army – it sort of crept up on him. Plus his family didn’t have a boat. Aged fourteen he just held the teenage conviction that he would have an interesting life – maybe that’s why he picked the guitar? Then again, maybe if he hadn’t, he would have tripped over it. He went to University and studied Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering and Sociology, spending most lectures asleep on the floor at the back. In much the same way, he ended up in the army. In essence, one day he was sleeping off a hangover at the back of a sociology lecture hall and the next thing he knew he was in Kosovo with a gun and a guitar strapped to the side of a tank, wondering who he could possibly sleep with to get out of this war. To break up the super attenuated monotony, James would sometimes stroll through Serb villages wearing an East German cap singing, “All we are saying is give peace a chance”. “We were peace-keepers at that point,” he explained, shrugging helplessly.
So how did the music get into him, you might ask? Well if you were sent to boarding school aged seven, studied Engineering by mistake (“I thought we were going to fly planes, but we just pulled metals apart – the brochure was very misleading.”), joined the army by default, guarded The Queen, buried The Queen Mother and pranced around London like a tit for Japanese tourists to photograph, what you’re going to want to do very much after that, besides getting stoned and laid, is put your gun down, pick up a guitar and make an album in America with Linda Perry. So James came to Los Angeles in September 2003 to record with Tom Rothrock et al. At night he’d go to bars, bringing with him his valuable British accent (in the U.K., too posh for some people – in LA, the best thing she’d heard all night) and the fact that like 50 Cent he’d been shot at numerous times, but unlike the Cent, had dodged the bullets. One song, “Goodbye My Lover”, was recorded in his landladies’ bathroom (“She was a frequenter of mental hospitals and in general, a freak – but pleasant”) where, naturally, she kept a piano.
From birth in a military hospital in Tidworth, to Harrow School, to Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering, to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, to The Household Cavalry, to Kosovo, to Buckingham Palace, to a recording studio in Los Angeles. How did James get from there to here? Only James Blunt’s hairdresser knows for certain, and either he isn’t talking or James cuts his own hair, and it’s up to you to join the dots – there are ten of them on the album.

Written by The Landlady

"the Cent" is my favorite part



get with this shit: http://www.jamesblunt.com

~I made a whole bunch of gingerbread men for people at work and to bring home to my family. I doubled the recipe because last year when I did it there were a few left over, but not enough to satisfy everyone! So I had already doubled everything else when I realized that the regular recipe called for seven cups of flour, so even though I have known that 7+7=14 since I was six years old, I kept on hoping somehow it would turn out differetly. It turns out that my fears were justified because my handmixer only lasted until the tenth cup of flour, whereafter it caught on fire because the dough was so thick that the beaters could no longer turn on any setting. I had to throw away my handmixer and have David come stir as I added in flour a little at a time. It was a mess, and I have soooo many cookies left over it is not even funny. Take a look:



~ The History Channel came and filmed at work on Wednesday and the Dr Pepper Museum will be featured on another show on the History Channel on Tuesday night. My friend and former co-worker Joy was also in town this week to spend the holidays with her in-laws, so it was very nice getting to se her again.

~ Tonight I went to Nature in Lights at BLORA with Liz and her family, and it was really fun except we had to wait an hour to get in, so we spent the time watching Dodgeball on Liz's brother Michael's PSP and amusing ourselves by watching the people in front of us jump out of their car and go to the bathroom in the woods about five times. I haven't been to the lights since the ninth grade, which was FOREVER ago, so it was a nice trip down memory lane, literally!!

And that is all the major stuff that has happened since Thanksgiving, but don't let the overall joyful mood fool you. I have stayed up til at least three in the morning every night for the last two weeks, so I am basically exhausted and so sick and tired of school that it is just not even funny. But I am glad it is break, and I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Yum Yum Turkey Day!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! This year we are having a "relaxing" day with just my family. Usually we have one of my sets of grandparents or David's family over, so it should be more low-key. My mom has been busily cooking all of her usual stuff: the turkey (of course!!), stuffing (my favorite!), my grandpa's green beans, green bean cassarole, cranberry sauce (the wiggly jiggly can kind!), pumpkin cheescake, and lots lots more.

Ok, so my mom and I have been looking forward to seeing Pride and Prejudice almost as much as seeing Harry Potter, but apparently Killeen is not a part of "everywhere," which is where it is supposed to be playing as of yesterday. So my mom is going to have to come down to Waco with me on Sunday so we can go see it. Killeen is a cultural wasteland.....

But on a brighter note, my friend from the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades came into town this week. His name is Brandon, and his dad just got stationed at Fort Hood and promoted to colonel, so Brandon is home for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to see him! We went out with Tami on Tuesday night to the Roadhouse and caught up on old times. Last night Brandon, Stephanie, David and I went bowling and to Hooters, where we ran into Cooley and Deana! It was a regular reunion!! We had a blast, and now that Brandon will be coming back more often, the good times will continue.

Happy Turkey Day Everyone!!!!!!!

Thank God it is over!!!

Ok, so today I took the GRE, which is like the SAT for grad school. Even though I am not going to grad school for another year and a half, I went ahead and took it to see how I could do without much prep. I didn't great but I did OK. Who cares?!?!? I am through! Afterwards I went to George's with the girls and Dave and had a huge peach belini to celebrate. I am soooo excited because we already have our tickets for Harry Potter on Friday!!!! Tonight we are watching the third movie to get us in the mood, and because Steph hasn't seen it yet. Anyway, yeah for us and defeating the GRE!!!!

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!!!!

Where to begin, where to begin!!!

Ok, well first let me say that DAVID AND I ARE ENGAGED!!!!!! This has basically occupied my life for the past week, and I am still basking in the glow of being newly engaged. Please check out our website and sign our guestbook (click on "Mary and David's Knot" under links)!!!

Ok, so other than that my life has been absolutely crazy, mainly because of school-related stuff. First of all, I basically do Latin homework every waking free moment that I have just to keep up. Every night, Latin homework. All week last week I was sick, but I got engaged, so that kinda makes up for it:) This week has been especially crazy. On Monday I had a large paper due. Tuesday was study-for-Latin day. I had a hugely destructive Latin test on Wednesday. Thursday I had to shadow my education mentor for three hours while she did a program, I went home and proceeded to sleep through the first thirty minutes of my Decorative Arts class which I had already missed on Tuesday due to study-for-Latin day, MSSA meeting, dinner, then study-for-History night. Friday I had a major History test.

However, it got a lot better on Friday night!!! I was Liz's date to her service fraternity's semi-formal, or semi-fiesta as they called it. We bought these outrageous dresses, got glammed up, and danced the night away!!! It was a lot of fun. I made new friends in Monica and Rachel, who are also crazy fun!! I am always sooo busy that it felt good to act crazy and girlie for a night:)



Today was also a lot of fun. This morning MSSA too a trip to the Cameron Park Zoo and got an amazing behind-the-scenes tour of both the new and old exhibits. My favorite parts where when we got to feed the giraffe and pet the rhinos. All the animals were just so amazing, and it was something I will remember forever. After we went to the zoo Liz accompanied my family and me to Harker Heights vs Lufkin in the first state playoff game of the year. It was at the Waco ISD stadium. Heights was predicted to lose by at least 33 points, but by the end of the game we were tied 24-24 and had to go into overtime. Unfortunately, we lost, but only by one touchdown. It was a really intense and exciting game!!


In the meantime, my friend Jackie got engaged and is planning a June wedding, so I got to go pick out my bridesmaid dress a couple weeks ago. My puppy DJ aslo turned 1 year old on Halloween, so we celebrated that. On Wednesday of this coming week Liz, Stephanie, and myself will be taking the GRE, so everyone wish me luck!! They are more stresed than me, but I still would like to only have to take it once.

So basically, my life is crazy and I am always busy and tired, but I would not know what to do with myself if I didn't have a busy schedule, so I bring it upon myself. Thankfully, I have wonderful friends and an amazing fiance (ahhhh!), so I am the luckiest girl ever!!

I promise to try and keep this thing updated!!

An Action-Packed Weekend!!

A lot has happened since my last post!! The past week was crazy since I was in Killeen Wednesday night, Austin all day Thursday, Waco Thursday night, at Siz Flags in Dallas all day Friday, back in Waco Friday night, then in Houston all day Saturday!!! AHHHHH!! Lets start from the begininng.

I went to Austin on Thursday for the Texas Women's conference, so I drove half-way to Killen Wednesday night so I would be closer. I left my house at 7:00 in the morning and it took me until 10:15 to get into Austin, get to the parking garage, and get to the convention center. Traffic was awful, and there were 7,000 women there. I missed the opening session where Bill Gate's wife talked, but I made it to the first seminar session where I got to hear Cat Osterman speak. She is the pitcher for the UT softball and won the Olympic Gold Medal for the US team. Then I went to the luncheon where I got to see Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of york speak. She was amazing and was a lot of fun. It was really sad to hear her talk about Diana (her sister-in-law) and her battle with her weight. The really inspirational part can at the end of the day when I was front and center to see Maya Angelou speak. She sang and read poetry and was so vibrant and timeless. The trip home was not bad and I am really glad I went.











Then on Friday I went to Six Flags with Dave, my sister Carol, and her boyfriend Justin. The main attraction was supposed to be Fright Fest, but it wasn't really that scary. we got to ride all of the rides, and of course Titan was amazing!!! Basically it was just a great opportunity for me and my sis to spend some time together, and we had a blast!!











THEN....After getting back to Waco at 1:00 in the morning and not getting in bed until 1:30, I got up at 5:00 so I could be at the Mayborn at 6:00 for a class trip to Bayou Bend in Houston. Bayou Bend was the home of Miss Ima Hogg (really!) and is now the museum that houses her collection of American Decorative arts. On our way home we stopped at Winedale where the crazy guide lady kept touching all the artifacts and slammed the door of a 200 year old German Shrank into the door frame! We all alomst died. It was a fun trip, but no more chairs!!!

Fun Night Redux

Just wanted to post the picture of Mary Beth and I having fun at Cricket's for her birthday. Granted I don't always look like this but I hadn't even been home from Hawaii for 24 hours. Still recouping.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MarrrBeth!

THE DEEJ!!!

Alright people, this has been a long time coming. I would like to introduce everyone to my crazy-ass pomeranian puppy DJ!! She is red and looks like a fox and is super sweet and vicious all at the same time. We say she has an evil streak because there is a line of coarse black hair that runs from her nose, down her back, and all the way to the tip of her tail. Her favorite toy is a make-up brush, and she holds it by the fluffy ends and swings the wooden handle back and forth, which leaves really bad bruises on me since she is only happy if she is standing on me while doing it. Of course I do the cliche thing and buy her cute shirts and dresses even though she has a ton of fur. She looks sooo adorable, though!! David does not agree with that all of the time, and he does not like taking her out when she is all dressed up, but he still does it cause he loves her. We both love her too much, and spoil her rotten. She is the DEEJ!!!

Fun Night!!

My 21st birthday concluded with a fun-filled night at Crickets. Thanks to Davy, Ryan, Adam, Liz, Stephanie, Lance, Veronica, and Jessica!! I had a great time hanging out with you and celebrating. It was Stephanie's 22nd birthday on Tuesday, too, so it was kind of a double party night. We had good drinks and the girls played the longest game of pool EVER!! Lance said it was like watching the Special Olympics, which was true. Happy Birthday to me!

My Birthday!!!

Yay!! Today is my 21st birthday and I feel no older than yesterday... However, I am going to buy my first drinks tonight with my friends, so that is fun. I have had a wonderful birthday so far. I was productive at work this morning, I got a nice card from the people I work with, and my friends Carrie and Liz were so nice and got me wonderful presents. It is a beautiful day outside and my homework is minimal, so I am pretty much happy. I do have to go work with small children and their parents who worship them for 4 hours this afternoon, but hopefully that will go better than I am imagining. I love all my friends, family, and especially my boyfriend David. Thanks for making my b-day great!!

Finally normal,
Mary Beth

Me opening presents at home

Whew!!

Thank God it is over!! I took my first Latin test today. I spent all day on Saturday studying for it. Literaly, from noon until 11:30 that night, so by this morning I didn't care if I passed or not, I just wanted to get it over with!!! The test ended up not being all that bad, but I have no idea how well I did. We'll see! Well, time to start on my presentation. The school-type fun just doesn't stop....

I wish it was Saturday -Mary Beth





Cicero the Smart-ass

My new obsession!

Right now I am doing some heavy listening to Coheed and Cambria. I found out about them through David's friend Adam, and they are amazing! It is deep, which I like. Their new CD just came out on Tuesday, and Adam was at Best Buy when it opened to buy it, so I am supposed to be downloading it on my computer later tonight, and I am pretty excited! They are playing in Austin in October, but it is in the middle of the week, so I probably can't go, which sucks. I would recommend listening to their song "Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3." It is my favorite so far. You can visit their website at www.coheedandcambria.com. Check em' out!

A Soggy Weekend...

This week has been pretty stressful, and now a hurricane is coming. Yeah! Tonight I treated myself to a trip to the mall and a tube of very expensive Clinique lipgloss to take the edge off. Baylor has cancelled classes for Friday, so I am going home to ride out the storm tomorrow night. It makes me sad because this is the weekend I am supposed to celebrate my birthday with my family, but I will be trapped indoors instead. We will be together, and that is the improtant thing, so it should be a good birthday anyway. I hope everyone keeps safe!

- Mary Beth

I Made It!!!

This weekend I completed the first real, actual, I am going to use it in real life thing I have ever made. It is a big purse to hold all of my crap that I have to carry around, and it will be my backpack and purse all in one, all the time. I went to the fabric store, picked out the pattern, picked out the fabric, and sat down in my mom's sewing room and made it. I am so proud! Even though the patten does not call for it, I put in about five extra pockets just for fun and because I have so much random stuff I feel I cannot live without at any given moment. I am not even going to go into the fact that I could not buy a purse that I felt held all my stuff and how sad that is, but whatever. I am excited about using it, and besides a few finishing touches, it is good to go!! I will be taking orders for more starting at $200.00 (just kidding, but really, if you want one, lets talk).

Glad to be done,
Mary Beth

This week has been absolutely insane!! I am president of an organization. This means my life is nutso. I was president of an organization once before and I promised myself I would never do it again, but here I am. I guess I thrive on the pressure. It is my boyfriend's birthday this weekend, and he will be 22. We will be celebrating big time at the Olive Garden. Wo hoo!! He loves World of Warcraft, and for those of you who know what that is you understand the obsession. I don't understand, but he loves it, so I support, mainly by yelling. Happy birthday to my Davy!

In all seriousness,
Mary Beth


MB and Davy at the Rangers vs Braves game

My First Blog!!!

Hello everyone! I was inspired to do this by my good friend Jessica, so here goes!