Taking control

Sorry for the lateness. Most of it is actually school related. I unfortunately didn't do very well on my first 2 tests for each of my classes and pretty much began spending all of my free time catching up and studying harder for the next 2. I did great on one and ok on the second, but improvement is improvement so hopefully I keep getting better. Luckily I got an extra 4 days of studying on one, due to the wonderful flu season.

I also had a number of personal things come up that needed to be addressed. While I can't fully go into the details about those things (to be respectful of the others involved) I can at least give a nice image that I think explains quite a bit on how I at least handled my end.

My therapist is really glad that I basically grabbed each situation by the horns and tackled any problems that I could on my own, figured out my plan for what to do, and prepared myself for what I needed...rather that freak out, let anxiety and/or depression take control, or become the below image:

As cute as it is, I think I much prefer the former of the two pictures.

I'm actually getting pretty good now at either knowing what situations I should and shouldn't care about, what should upset me and what I should let roll off my back, and most importantly recognizing the signs of my dysthymic disorder. Basically, I know when it's right to be depressed (someone dies) but it was harder for me to step back and realize that many situations I was in before didn't warrant that reaction (stressors in life like school, job, finances, or relationships). I not only can recognize the signs of when I'm starting to dip back into those "old habits" but I can also step back and realize why I don't need to feel that way, what I can do to change my situation so it either gets better or doesn't happen again, and do things to help reset my brain's chemistry and mood (like running and other exercise). I'm really proud of myself, and while I'd love to take all the credit I have to say 90% was definitely the help of my therapist.

Unfortunately, since I spent most of my time taking care of those situations, and my school work, I didn't leave much planning for blog posts. However, I did keep up some sketching here and there so that when I was able to post again I'd have something. Only thing is, they turned out to be mostly sketches with Husky and I. But hey! Sketches are sketches so here they all are!


My cookie recipe that I've been trying to perfect for months now has finally been completed. As with all my baked goods I tested them on my 3 male roommates and Husky. The result? My roommates have asked me to either not bake as much or give away the goodies before they eat them and then feel bad for it (the calorie count is not pretty), and Husky had this reaction when I last asked him about it:

He got sick while he was visiting me 2 weeks ago so I made sure to take good care of him, and even visited him during the following week to help out some. Was super happy that he prefered tomato soup with water and grilled cheese with Velveeta slices. Those are big point winners with me.

Speaking of point winners...you know you have a good girlfriend when she finds the reason below as a good reason to love you for...

Aaaand at the same time you've got a good boyfriend when he does things like this:

The last one is a joke between the two of us. We're so damn alike that we're becoming increasingly convinced he was cloned from me (since I'm older) and that somewhere in the cloning process something was changed, which explains why he came out as a male with just a few differences in likes/dislikes, life path choices, etc. Somehow we got on the topic of biggest pet peeves and apparently he hates Africa about as much as I hate stupid people.

And with that I'm off to bed. I'll do my best to get back on track next week with a more appropriate post, though this one turned out kind of fun too.

The best incentive ever

I found out quite a number of my friends read my blog. This of course has made me super happy that my sketches are providing entertainment for them.

And no, my ego knows no bounds.

This past week has been interesting. Ever since climbing that first weekend, with Husky, my left leg has been bothering me. It's gotten worse and now my coach is concerned it could be a tendon issue or a stress fracture. I go in tomorrow morning to have it checked out. Of course it doesn't stop there though. My tics in my right arm have gotten way worse over the past couple of days and really stressed out my shoulder muscles. I have a huge knot in my shoulder as a result and the whole area is fairly painful. I had to break out the sling I keep around, just to keep my arm in place. Hoping everything feels better for the big rugby game against our biggest rival, this weekend....

This past weekend was fun, since I of course spent time with Husky. We went on a picnic, checked out more cheese shops, watched my team play against Illinois (after which he became sufficiently more worried for my safety in such a rough sport), attended an awesome brewery tour at Lakefront Brewery, and even check out a corn maze outside of town. It's tons of fun to get lost for 2hrs with someone who also agrees that maps are silly and you should figure it out without one. There were also fun little games at the site, like archery and corn shucking (which is basically firing a hunk of corn from a giant potato-type gun). We obviously decided to try those out but with an added twist...

Note to self: DO NOT EVER make bets against an engineer who is very capable of understanding the mechanics of things like firing arrows or firing giant potato guns and then being really, really good at them as a result. Needless to say I have 2 rounds of drinks that I now owe, though I did beat him in archery on the 3rd round.

The other fun thing we did was attend one of the best haunted houses in the Midwest, with some of my friends. Now, I do like these things...the only problem is I spook really easily...and apparently have a horror movie quality scream...and usually cut the circulation of whoever's arm is in grabbing range.

Thank god my boyfriend is a rock climber. I was pretty much able to grip his hand and arm for the full hour without him being bothered by it at all. Of course I had lots of fun, but there was still much screaming....

So that was my week! I know this post is a bit shorter than my usual but I've been studying much more and don't want to get too sidetracked. Why, you may ask? Well I found out the minimum requirements for my top grad school of choice and they are...intimidating, to say the least.

Serves me right for aiming for a school that's top 10 in the nation for practically every grad program they offer. The nice thing about it is that it's actually the main college in Husky's city, and seeing as my super awesome boyfriend lives there I have even more reason to want to get into it. He's of course already mentioned how much he'd enjoy that as well, over me going to one overseas. I'll of course choose the one that's the best for me, and he knows that's the right decision too, but after talking with a friend who has studied in the Netherlands I might not look too hard over there anymore. They're apparently not as good and not very personable either. Regardless though, it's honestly looking like the one near Husky really would be one of the best choices. Their psych program is one of the best of the best. Still...those scores require a lot of dedication to achieve.
Luckily, Husky offered just the right incentive for me to really want to focus....not that being in one of the best schools in the US or being closer to him wasn't enough already (which by the way it TOTALLY is)...buuuut......

So, not surprisingly, Husky has become the animal nickname of choice that I picked for him (he approves) and Steiff is one of my favorite plush companies in the world because they are so realistic. However, they're expensive so I unfortunately don't own one of my own. Hopefully that will change soon. I have 3 months of studying, which include the whole month of winter break where I won't have any schoolwork to get in the way. I'll take the test in January before the spring semester starts. Needless to say, I'm even more determined now. The promise of a husky from my Husky is just too great to pass up.