Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Well both Dustin and I are finishing up the semester and we each only have one left till graduation. Dustin is still waiting to hear back from ASU and we're still confident he will be accepted there for the graduate assistantship. So Dustin has his plans set for after graduation, but as for me, thats another story.
People have been asking me for the past year what my plans are after graduation and I have absolutely no clue. The only thing I have so far is hanging my degree on the wall so I can see what I just spent four years doing. Who knows what I'll do.
Dustin is the type of person with the plans, but as for me I just go with the flow. It might be a bad thing that I don't know what I'm going to do, but I don't look at it that way. I see it as an opportunity for discovery.
With my educational background I am flexible enough to go wherever Dustin needs to go in terms of jobs. I am fully supportive of his work and understand the passion he has for what he does. I can make that commitment to him to go wherever he needs me to go.
I am excited for what the future brings and I know there are going to be a lot of positive changes in the next year ;)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Meet The Parents (continued)

So this past week my mom (Sandy), sister (Dominique), and myself flew to Arizona to meet Gina's parents and sister. Gina (as you can tell) was very nervous and anxious about this event and there was no calming her down :)

We flew in mid-afternoon on a Tuesday and things already felt weird to actually have my parents with me in AZ. We first went to visit ASU (hopefully my future place for Grad school), but not until eating at Oregano's. It was a must to introduce my family to the all famous "Pazookie" and both of them fell in love with it just as I did when I first ate it. We had a nice lunch and some Chicago stuffed pizza that had way too much "stuff" on it. After we left there we went through ASU to show my mom and sister the sights. We also looked at apartment's while we were there. It was weird looking at places to live because I'm not even sure if I'll get the GA spot with Sports Med there (but I'm keeping positive.....gina). We looked at a place called the Grigio and it was defiantly a nice place. We also checked out a place called Grigio Metro, which was on a later day, and was nice as well. Once we were done at ASU we went to the hotel and just relaxed for a while before we made our way to Gina's house. On the way to Gina's house she was freakin out and getting all excited while the rest of us (Melvin's) were laughing at her. When we arrived, we were casually walked through the garage (inside joke) and into the house. To make a long story short everything went well, both parent's talked and enjoyed each other's company and really went smooth. Dominique would occasionally get bored and start texting (your average 15 year old teen girl), but she did enjoy the stay in AZ and loved everything about it.

On Wednesday we went hiking in sandals. Gina took us to some area where there was mountains and cacti. My mom and sis both wanted to see cactus's and take pictures so we ended up just walking around and next thing we know we are on top of a "mountain" (more like a big hill). The sight was amazing and was worth the hike. Afterwards we went to Gina's house to meet Meredith. My mom and sis stayed over there in the evening while I took Gina out for dinner. At this point I have to get off subject a little bit because this is the moment EVERYONE thought I was going to propose to Gina and sorry if I let anyone down but that did not happen. So to say the least Meredith was quite upset about no ring on Gina's finger (haha). But to get back on track....we went to the Melting Pot and this place was really really good. We could have just went for the cheese and chocolate but it was our first time so we had to go all out. The place was nice and we got to sit in a booth with a curtain cover so it was very romantic. Once our date was over we went back to the house and talked for a little with the parents. Then later that night we went to watch "New Moon" and I watched Gina and Meredith go crazy during the movie like 13 year old girls at a Backstreet Boys concert. But the movie was good so I can't rip on them too much :)

Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner with the Amadee's and it was very nice and again everything went smoothly. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome than what we had. We all had moments to share and had good laughs.

Friday we went shopping because of BLACK FRIDAY. We went to a lot of places and spent most of our time at the Fashion Mall in Scottsdale (I think that's right). The mall wasn't too packed and everyone did their thing and got at least something for their selves. Later that night we went to Rustler's Rooste to eat and we basically went here for my mom and sis to eat somewhere new and fun. We all had a good dinner and ate SNAKE, plus we got T-shirts to prove our gutsy act.

Saturday me and Gina went to IKEA and some other places to shop. IKEA was HUGE and we basically went there to look at furniture for hopefully my future apartment :) We then went to the Amadee's and said our last goodbyes since we were leaving in the morning. The day before I leave is always the worst cause you have to pack your stuff and it's just a depressing moment.

Sunday came too quick and that is when we had to depart in the morning for Indy. The trip out was perfect and I couldn't have asked for a better outcome from the whole experience. So as many can see this was a big step in Gina and my relationship. This brought us closer, as does anytime we see each other and now we just have to see if ASU calls and hopefully everything falls into place :)