Goals for the future...

I am a pro at to-do lists. Writing this blog was on my to-do list for the afternoon (my post-work-to-do list, not to be confused with my work-to-do list). What I'm not so good at is long-term goals. I realized that right now I'm kind of just living day-to-day. Which is okay! I think it was necessary in school... I had to manage what little time I had and take care of the things that needed to get done the soonest.

I still make to-do lists each morning. But what I don't do is make a to-do list for the week, the month, the year. And this morning it hit me: I don't know what long-term goals I have for myself at work or in my personal life. Throughout college, my long-term goals were constant: graduate and get a full-time job. I've achieved both of those goals... now what?  Obviously I have to get certified to be a flight controller. That goal is laid out for me by the performance plan at work... but that is the minimum I need to do. I haven't really thought about how I'll get to the point where I'm prepared for minisims in February or our biggest test sometime next year.

So today I started thinking about the things I want to do in addition to the minimum (and interim steps to get where I want to be). I haven't gotten too far in my planning, which is okay. These things take time. But I came up with some things I want to do before Christmas (both at work and at home).

By Christmas:
-Have started paying off my student loans
-Pass my Console, Tools, and Displays checkout
-OJT or sim follow at least twice
-Finish my GPS workbook
-Pass my GPS checkout
-Start working on the RGA workbook
-Make my bed every day between now and then (slipping once a week is okay... no one is perfect)
-Cook a meal that I haven't cooked before
-Journal at least twice a week (this is more to keep me honest about my progress and give me a place to write down my feelings)
-Talk to our co-op about what she would do differently if she could start her tour over again
-Finish 4 scrapbook pages for Kirstyn

I'll come up with more things for what I want to do by the end of January, February... like take the GRE and start researching grad schools, but that's all for now!  Going to try out a community band tonight... can't wait to play!

Sleep shifting... kind of...

I'm writing this post at 5:07 a.m. Why?!?! Because I'm pseudo sleep shifting for a night. On console, we call the 11 p.m. til 7 a.m. shift Orbit 1, and it's a quiet shift on console. Which is why I want to OJT (on-the-job train) on an O1... lots of time to ask questions and talk to the ADCO without getting in the way.

In order to pseudo sleep shift, I went to bed at 8 p.m. yesterday. Weird. And then I forced myself to get up at 4:15 a.m. today. My hope is that I'll be able to sleep from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. and then get up, shower, and go to work. 6 hours doesn't sound too bad, right? The cool thing (and the hard thing) is that you try to stay up all day on Thursday. So I'll get off work around 8 a.m., and then I have to stay awake the rest of the day. Which means I can do a lot of errands and stuff during the day. It's so great. I'm making a list of everything I want to get done... buy stamps and a can opener, take all my recyclables to Ellington Field, put together my desk chair (still in its box), do laundry, vacuum, and Dance Jam!

It's a little rough (like I am so tired right now), but it will work. And then Training Academy starts next week and the ball gets rolling. Looking forward to work picking up and moving towards my cert.

Have a great rest of the week!

Full-Time Goals

Yesterday I started my full-time job, which seems crazy. Really. It was the first day in a long career. It was ridiculous to think about how many days of work I have left.

That being said, there are a lot of things I want to do now that I'm a 'grown up'. I felt that if I posted them here, I might be held accountable. So here it goes:

1. I want to make my bed every single day. Thanks to lofts in college, I got out of the habit. Now that I have my own bed, I'm going to do it every day. I started on July 2nd, and I've made it every morning since. Progress!

2. Wash my sheets and towels frequently. Again, something I didn't do in college that I need to do now.

3. Cook more often. Scrapbook more often. Spend time by myself more often. Doing things independently and taking care of myself by doing things I enjoy but tend to put off when social commitments arise.

4. Call Mom and Dad more frequently. Invite them to come visit me. Make trips home just because.

5. Say no to more things. I'm so bad at over-committing. I want to take a few months to figure out how I want to allocate my time. I've skipped Bible study, avoided fitness class (with the exception of Dance Jam), etc. I don't want to get stuck in a rut.

6. Use my sun shield and reusable bags more.

Gonna try to rock being an adult (while still having tons of fun!)

So many "BIG GIRL" moments!

As the move to Texas draws near (I leave in 4 days, y'all), I keep finding myself doing more and more grown-up things. Of course, I'm living with my 'rents right now, but on July 1st my first ever solo lease begins. I've set up electricity, been researching renter's insurance, and just yesterday I opened a bank account. ALL BY MYSELF. It's actually been overwhelming. I get stressed and start sweating (for real), and I have to ask a ton of questions so that I know what is going on. I HATE not knowing what I'm doing, but I think it's been a good learning process for me. 

Oh, I also bought a bed! And a whole bathroom set-up (towels, rug, shower curtain, etc.) that matches. It feels so 'big girl'. I'm excited to be able to move in (and then I'll post pictures).

After the move, I should be a lot less stressed. I don't start working til a few weeks later, so I will have time to blog, scrapbook, read, lay out by my pool... all the fun summery stuff that I really haven't crammed into my summer yet. 

But USA plays today, so I need to take care of some stuff before the game! #IBELIEVE 

To my future backpacker self...

I was blessed to be able to spend 3 weeks post-graduation backpacking through Europe with my twin sister and a college friend of hers. Nothing I have experienced has been as surreal as receiving my diploma on Sunday and flying to Munich on Wednesday.

We had a really successful trip: minimum drama, minimum confusion, and maximum adventures. So many great stories to tell and pictures to cherish. 

What up, Cinque Terra?!?!

Pardon the selfie: inside the Leaning Tower of Pisa

My lovely travel companions wine-tasting in the Chianti region of Italy.

Sisters by the Trevi Fountain

Of course, there are always a few things that you realize you could have done better, prepared more for, or packed. So here is my advice for the next time you don your backpack.

1. Pack a roll of toilet paper.
You never know when your hostel will run out (happened multiple times to us) or when the train won't have any to begin with. Also, the toilet paper can double as napkins or tissue paper. Handy!

2. Pack your clothes in gallon bags.
Jennifer did that on our trip, and it made organizing her large backpack way easier. My clothes were a jumbled mess!

3. Pack hand sanitizer or soap.
Some hostels didn't have any soap. Gross. We were happy we had hand sanitizer (good thing my twin is a germaphobe!)

4. Look up your hostel beforehand, and print directions on how to get there. 
The struggle with trying to find our way (before we picked up a map of the city) was real. It would have been easier to have that information from the get-go.

5. Research the places and learn the language. 
This is my one regret: I didn't have time to mentally prepare for the trip. No time to read up on the history, sites, or cultures of the places we visited. I didn't know how to say "Hi!" in Greek. Don't get me wrong: I LOVED MY TRIP. It just would have been awesome to get more out of it.

6. Buy Eurail passes.
We did this. Best. Decision. Ever.

7. Take your student ID.
Discounts for days.

8. Buy the Roma Passes in Rome; reserve your trip to the Vatican Museum; get in line early to see the statue of David. 
Essentially, be prepared. Look online to see if you need to reserve a time to go (and it usually allows you to skip the line!). We got around Rome like pros because we prepped for the upcoming day the night before. It allowed us to make the most of our time.

That's all I can think of for now (and my mom would be upset if she knew I was blogging instead of cleaning my room/packing for Texas).

Ciao!

10 Days of Classes Left

Yesterday hit me hard. We finished our senior design presentation (after weeks and weeks of meetings, struggles with MATLAB, and good times with teammates) and headed to Harry's for lunch. I realized that in a few weeks, these people who I learned with, grew with, and struggled with won't be around any more. It will be time to grow with different people. 

I felt kind of sad as I thought that maybe I should have spent more time with people, but then I realized that now is not the time for regrets. Now is the time to enjoy these final days and cherish the moments. I worked my ass off for years to get to the point I am at now. I need to finish in stride. 

Here are some pictures from my recent escapades with Ultimate and senior design!

Crazy teammates!

Love these ladies.

So legit. 

My cheering squad.

Senior design lovelies!

Carpe diem, y'all! Make the most of every day. 

Not your typical Spring Break

I do not know what I was expecting for Spring Break. Maybe time to lay out by the pool and relax or spend lots of time with my buddies who are currently co-oping at Johnson Space Center. But I didn't really get either. The purpose of my spring break was to apartment-hunt in the Clear Lake area so that when it came time to sign for an apartment, I was not signing blind. And my Purdue bestie, who landed a one-year internship closer to downtown, wanted to find an apartment. So two days were spent visiting apartments around Clear Lake while two days were spent driving around the Westheimer area looking for her. It was honestly kind of exhausting. 

Do not get me wrong: it was a great spring break. We both found apartments we loved, and I got to eat a lot of Tex Mex food. But there were some things I was not prepared for. 

I was not prepared for driving in Houston again. Indianapolis looks like a small town compared to the crazy, bustling, sprawling city that is Houston. I can't tell you how many times I got honked at for stupid reasons. I am going to miss Midwest patience and kindness. Also, I did not have my car, so I had the added stress of driving an unfamiliar car. 

I was not prepared for the fact that I would hardly get to see my friends. Two of them were busy trying to make up time from last week, when they took off time to hang out with their girlfriends who visited, and another was trying to spend a lot of time with his girlfriend before she left JSC to study abroad. So it was basically my Purdue friend and I. It actually made me miss working. It was strange to see them leave for work while I was trying to plan what to do with a whole day. 

I was not prepared for the emotions that I would feel, and I had no time for myself there. So no time to sort out my crazy, jumbled feelings. I realized that it is hard trying to 'be where you are' and stay in touch with far-off friends. I spend my time at Purdue investing in my Purdue friends, but then I felt a gap when I tried to reconnect with my NASA buddies. 

I did not intend for this to be a gripe session. I got to sit on the beach, enjoy beautiful weather, find a place to call home come July, and see so many friends again (even my best friend, Kirstyn). I was reminded of how much I love Houston and Texas and NASA.

I learned that I need time to myself, so living by myself is probably my best option. I learned that I have changed a lot, and that is a good thing. I feel more prepared for my job that I did when I co-oped there. I feel older and smarter and more self-sufficient. I realized that time and space changes us all. I need to keep looking forward and not dwell on what may have been. I saw something on Tumblr that read, "Old ways won't open new doors." That stuck with me. Time for new ways. Life is changing, and I'm going to keep racing ahead. 

Okay, I am done with all my thoughts. Enjoy some pictures from my trip. :)

On Galveston Beach

Showing my bestie MCC

I get to work here soon... full-time

A glimpse of Houston

My NASA bestie

House of Pies

Procrastinating on spring break?

Yeah, that is exactly what I'm doing. While I'm stoked to be flying to Houston tomorrow, I'm currently doing everything BUT packing. Yes, I mean I'm doing senior design work and blogging. I already went for a 3.3 mile run and cleaned up my kitchen.

I will pack (soon), but I wanted to talk about the things that have gotten me through these first nine (NINE HOLY COW) weeks of my last semester. Here are the things I could not live without:

1. Water - as basic as it seems, I can't emphasize it enough. I drink lots and lots of water, thanks to my pink Contigo water bottle and the tumbler Lisa bought me.

2. Hillsong United Pandora station - good music that helps me keep things in perspective.

3. Chobani yogurt and granola - perfect post-workout (or pre-Ultimate practice) snack.

4. Clif bars - due to my Physical Exercise Studies class at 12:30 p.m., I don't have time to eat lunch. Instead, I live off of Clif bars.

5. My watches - I have a nice white one, a pink running one, and a tacky grey one that is also a heart-rate monitor. I hardly ever am found not wearing one of them.

6. My friends, family, and roommates - constantly keeping me sane.

7. My noise-reduction headphones - not only do they allow me to jam out to Talk Dirty unabashedly, but they keep my ears warm. Dual functionality... aw yeah.

What are the little or big things that you don't think you could live without?

The crazy life...

This past weekend was a blur of fun and work.  I'm still working on balancing my senior design work with my social life, band, and Ultimate Frisbee practices and track workouts.  I've found this semester challenging in that for two of my three aerospace classes, there are no set deadlines.  This makes it hard to know how I'm doing in the class.  I'm a girl who likes hard deadlines and rigid grading rubrics.  But I'm learning to set my own deadlines and allot time to each of my classes. 

Back to this past weekend... on Saturday, my roomie and I went to a Purdue Swimming and Diving meet. It was really entertaining to watch the divers (amazing!) and cheer for the races, but the highlight was meeting Gold Medalist David Boudia!  He was so friendly.  Boiler up!

Me with a legendary Boilermaker

Later that night, two of my roommates and I went to see Ender's Game at Flicks at Fowler (free movies for Purdue students).  It was intense, but not as good as the book... are movies ever as good as the books?

Tapout for KKY was on Sunday morning.  My 'family' welcomed a new member, Becca. She's a saxophonist and totally awesome.  She's actually my great-great-grand little.  Crazy!

The whole fam <3

After the ceremony, we went out for a family lunch.  So fun!  

Anyways, today is a snow day (COLLEGE SNOW DAY, WHAT?!?!), so I'm catching up on my to-do list... 

Stay warm!

Cheers to the (3 day) weekend!

Can I get a holla for three day weekends?  I'm not sure what it is about having one extra day that makes me want to seize the moment. For example: yesterday.  I got up at a decent time, did a lot of homework, and then went to Starbucks for a former-roommate-date.  Such good conversation... it made me really miss the girl I lived with for the first five semesters of college.  She is so supportive of me. Note to self: make more of an effort to keep her in my life. 

Then at dinner I got to keep one of my New Years Resolutions.  I baked a recipe I found on Pinterest, given here: http://www.marthastewart.com/317305/cornbread-and-beef-skillet-pie

I had to make some substitutions (seriously, who has tomato paste just sitting in her pantry?), but it turned out delicious.  And I just had some leftovers for lunch.  Still delicious. 

Then off to the Purdue basketball game with my roomie/fellow tenor saxophonists.  Sorry for the blurry picture of us... I just wanted to document the beautiful snow. 

 And check out this few of campus...

 As if a Purdue victory over Penn State wasn't enough to leave me in a good mood, I received the best piece of mail... my Starbucks Gold Card.  Heck yes.

And my Saturday nights wouldn't be complete without a movie night with the roommates. Hello, Captain America.

Soon I'll be off to visit a friend at her college (she's in grad school now... we're so old!).  Looking forward to furthering that relationship and doing something new.

Carpe diem, y'all!

10 Reasons I'm Excited for School to Start

So this is more for me than for anyone else, but in order to pump myself up for my last semester, I decided to think of 10 reasons I am excited for tomorrow.  Here it goes:

1. College Ultimate Frisbee.  I'm looking forward to a great semester with my teammates.  After giving that up last semester in order to focus on band, I'm stoked to be lacing up those cleats again. And to make it even more sweet, I bought a cool, recycled frisbee when I was in Boulder, CO.
2. I only have 3 aerospace engineering classes.  ONLY 3.  I don't think I'll have much free time still (I study pretty damn hard), but it's comforting to think that I only have to keep track of 3 real classes (my Exercise to Music class doesn't really count).
3. I'm principal clarinet in Wind Ensemble.  Time to keep getting better at clarinet, and I'm looking forward to challenging music.
4. I get to rock climb FO FREE.  That co-rec that I rarely visited last semester is somewhere I have to go 3 days a week for class.  So that bouldering wall will be calling my name.
5. I'm going to get my degree this semester... I will be able to check that off my bucket list.
6. My roommates.  I love being around them, period. They are awesome and make me feel awesome about myself.
7. I get to see a bunch of my aero boys that I haven't seen in a whole month! What am I going to do once we graduate?  I guess that's a thought for later blogs.
8. One of my textbooks is a book I was going to buy just to read anyways.  A book for class that I would have read on my own?!?!  I'm definitely in the right major.
9. I will be able to go to church almost every week this semester. Praise God! I learn so much at Campus House, and it is a great place to worship.
10. Tomorrow is simply a day to be happy, further my friendships, praise God, study hard, eat delicious food, hear music, breathe... it's a blessing!

Good luck, y'all!

Starting off 2014 right!

No, no.  This isn't a post about my New Years resolutions or a new fitness routine.  I haven't even been getting enough sleep or hydrating more than usual.  What I have done was go on an adventure with my sisters!  We made the long, boring drive across Nebraska (thank goodness for good company and good jams) to colorful Colorado to spend a few days with one of my NASA buddies who lives in Boulder.  Two other great friends joined us in CO from OK and TX.  Great trip, great people, great memories. Enjoy the pictures!

The whole gang in front of the Boulder courthouse.  From left to right: Sarah, Lucas, me, Kirstyn, Lisa, Laura and Chris.  

We spent a snowy afternoon at the Left Hand Brewery in Longmont, CO. 

Free samples of tea/herbal infusions from Celestial Seasonings. 

Lisa and Kirstyn playing ping pong at Ace Eat Serve, a newer restaurant/bar in downtown Denver. 

We went tubing at Copper Mountain, and then we hit Breckenridge for shopping and some food.  Lisa, Laura, and I hit up a fudge shop for Mom and Dad. Nothing like some Rocky Mountain fudge! We went back to Kirstyn's house for pizza with her mom. 

Touring CU Boulder. Check out those flat-irons. 

Seriously, these two girls are two of my favorites in the whole wide world.  I miss them when I'm at school, but we stay in touch pretty well. 

Taken on the morning we left CO.  This is a popular breakfast/brunch place that began in Denver.  Lisa and I split the most delicious pancakes ever.  IHOP will never be the same. 

I have been wanting to travel since my family went to see a great movie a few weeks ago. My mom summed up the movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by saying, "Instead of daydreaming about things, go out and live it." Pretty good words!  This year, make your life what you want it to be.