...for as long as all the liquor lasts, we'll drink to VPI!

So I'm back from a trip to Virginia for the VT vs UVA game. It was awesome, and I had a great time.

Friday
On the way up, I slept and listened to podcasts, so the drive wasn't that big a deal for me. We drove through campus (which was beautiful) on our way to the hotel. After we put our stuff up we headed to the bookstores. I saw a few sweatshirts I wanted, but unfortunately they didn't have my size. I did get a pin for the game, so I was happy. We headed to dinner at a place called Nerv. It definitely ranks up there with my worst restaurant experiences of all time. First of all, we had reservations, so I figure they should've known we were coming. An hour and a half (and 3 glasses of diet coke) later, our food finally came out. Of the 6 of us, I think only one was actually the temp it should be. My meat was warm enough that I didn't think I'd need to send it back for health reasons, but I did get a cold noodle here and there. We were afraid that if we sent it back that it would take forever for them to bring it back out. Basically, we were all starving and irritated by the time the food came. We headed back to the hotel, and ended up at the hotel bar place. It was pretty quiet, and we just sat around and talked. I didn't drink, of course, but it was fun to hang out with Scott, his brother, and his girlfriend.

Saturday
Saturday we got up early so we could go tailgate. Scott and I walked to the site and got to see a bit of campus. We sat around and talked and ate, then headed in to the game. The game went really quickly, and we won. After the game we headed back out to tailgate until it got dark. We packed up, and headed to Sharkey's to get dinner and check out the scores of other games. I had some amazing french bread pizza. Scott and I ate and hung out for awhile, but we were both tired. We walked back to the hotel (yay exercise!) and watched the Notre Dame vs USC game before I decided that I was tired and went to sleep early.

Sunday
Sunday basically consisted of driving, like Friday did. I got home, talked with my parents some, then headed home. Riley had a good time hanging out with my parents, and is absolutely exhausted now. He's been laying around and sleeping since I got home.

So that's about it. I still have a little over two weeks of classes left, with papers and such that go with it. I'm pretty caught up though, thanks to a few free days during Thanksgiving break. Once classes are over I just have to finish up my internship hours (as quickly as possible) and then I'm done with the hard semester! I can finally see the light at the end, and that's a great feeling. Once I finish with classes the crazy cleaning begins. Christmas is going to be at my house again, which means I have to clean the daylights out of it. I'm glad, because it needs it, but at the same time I hate doing it. Oh well. It'll be worth it in the end.

I got a 16 week charm at Weight Watchers today. I didn't realize they gave those, but it was something about helping to keep people motivated because people usually quit around the 3-4 month time. So that was a nice surprise.

I think I'm going to go finish re-watching Grey's Anatomy and then maybe start cleaning and get caught up on the Lime and Violet podcast. I'll leave with a few pics from the weekend.

Hokie Pokie Video
This is a link to the video I took of the tubas playing the Hokie Pokie. =)

And this is me with my knitting during the game. I'm entering it in a contest for "Best Sporting Event" that is held at a knitting blog by the Arizona Star. Voting opens December 1.
Other pics from the trip can be seen at my flickr account. =)

Thanksgiving already?

So the month of November has gone crazy fast. I really can't believe tomorrow's Thanksgiving.

Riley
So Riley had his Delta Society screening on the 19th. He was a very good boy, and did a good job with all of his obedience stuff. Our screener said that we had good communication and a good relationship. I heard another screener say, "Oh, we've got a cute team over here." So, hopefully all that's going in our favor. There is enough room for 14 dogs, and there were 19 dogs that were at the screening that day. I was surprised though, because the other 4 dogs I saw were all big dogs...a German Shepherd, a Great Dane, a Rottweiler, and another bigger black and brown dog. Riley was by far the smallest dog there, but he didn't seem to mind. He was wanting to play with the big dogs. =) The German Shepherd growled at Riley, which makes me wonder if it's appropriate as a therapy dog. Anyway, we're supposed to get a phone call next week-ish to let us know if we made it in the class. Oh, and my screener also said that she could tell that I really wanted to do it, and that that was 90-95% of it. I'll be disappointed if we don't get in, but there's always next time. I'll just get him some extra training so he'll do even better for the next session. He's still really young, too, which just makes me prouder that he can do so well while he's still a baby. I guess we'll see! *crosses fingers*

School
School has been absolutely crazy. I've finally gotten a handle on all the work I have due, thanks to getting some things moved. Today I wrote a 5 page paper about the ethics of using IQ tests to determine intelligence based on nature versus nurture. Um, yeah. If someone had told me a few years ago that I'd be writing a five page paper in a day and not be overly stressed about it during the writing, I'd have not believed it. I'm glad it's easier to get big papers done though. Only an annotated bibliography, an 8 page paper, a take home exam, an in-class exam, a presentation, and a reaction paper left! I've already written 6 of 8 articles for the bibliography, finished the presentation, and done one of 4 of the sections for the reaction paper. I'm soooo ready for this semester to be over. I knew it would be hard, and it didn't disappoint. Next semester I'll only have 9 hours, and 3 of those will be over after the 6th week of class. I do have comps though, which won't be fun. I have my readers/graders for my comps and my special topic decided on, so that should help. The annotated bibliography is for comps, so even though I don't want to do it it'll help me in the long run.

Weekend Plans
On to something exciting that's not school related! This weekend I'm heading to Virginia Tech for their rivalry game versus UVA. I've been wanting to go up there, and I'm glad I'm finally getting the chance. I'm hoping it's not too cold though. I've heard the campus is beautiful, and I can't wait to see it. Besides going out to eat and going to the game, I don't know what else the plans are. There's probably not time for much, considering we're driving on Friday and Sunday and the game is on Saturday. Even still, it'll be nice to have a mini vacation.

Christmas Presents!
I got some early Christmas presents from Scott's mom, so I could use them at the game. I picked out some Uggs and a Northface jacket that'll help me stay warm. Even though I never wanted Uggs and thought they were ugly (hence the name), I managed to find some dark brown ones that really don't look bad. They're way comfortable, too. So those will be keeping my feet warm. My jacket is purple and white, and has a liner that I can zip out and wear separately if I want. It's definitely the nicest jacket (and most expensive) that I've ever had, and I plan on wearing it for a long long time.

Other stuff
I also recently bought an ipod, which I love. I decided to cash in my points on the credit card, and had saved up $250. That was more than enough to buy a 4gb ipod nano. I got a white one, because I really like how clean it looks, and because the metallic ones are a little too bright for my taste. Anyway, I've discovered podcasts, which are awesome. I've also enjoyed listening to harp music while I'm reading or writing a paper.
Another exciting purchase I made recently was a new pair of skinny jeans. They're a little more than 2 sizes smaller than I was wearing in July when I started Weight Watchers. I say a little more because they're a petite size, and those tend to be a little smaller than regular sizes.
I'm still knitting every now and then, but I haven't had much time lately. I have made it to the first sleeve of Grandmommie's sweater. I had to buy lots more yarn, but I should have enough now to finish it. Hopefully it'll be done before Christmas. I'd like to go out to Nebraska to see the family out there, but we'll have to see if that works out.
So, I guess that's about it. I don't have any pictures loaded up at the moment, but I should have lots after this weekend. I'll close with two pictures from today's date in 2004.

Fancy pants

I've been pretty busy lately (don't I always start with this?), but I've managed to find time to go to the flea market, knit, go to a Vandy football game, and go to Scott's office's 50th anniversary party. Here's my favorite picture of the night.
And no, I'm not that tall. We were conveniently placed where I could stand on a step. =) This doesn't have the best resolution, so if you want you can check it out HERE. For some reason it comes out better on photobucket.

In other news, I've lost 16.6 pounds. Whee!