Songs = Memories

This morning it came across my newsfeed that CMT was playing a new video by the Eli Young Band called "Even If It Breaks Your Heart." I love music, especially country music and if you know me, I love to know all of the words to every song.

Somehow, I relate every song I hear to a memory or to a time period in my life and when it plays, I begin daydreaming. Sometimes a song brings me back to a good time and sometimes a not so good time but no matter what, I remind myself that the time, place, or memory that a song brings me back to has led me to where I am now.

The new Eli Young Band song states
"Some dreams stay with you forever,
drag you around but bring you back to where you were.
Some dreams keep on gettin better,
gotta keep believin if you wanna know for sure."

This is one of the truest things that I think anyone can relate to.

Some dreams do stay with you forever, one example for me is a wedding. Yes, I am married, but I still have this dream of my dream wedding that I began planning as a little girl. I know it is not realistic due to the price it would have cost, but I still can see that picture in my head. When I hear Dusty Drake's song "Say Yes" or Tracy Byrd's "Keeper of the Stars" it always brings me back to that dream.

No matter what I dreamed or wanted in my dreams, I am so thankful that I am where I am today. All of the wishes, hopes, and dreams has led me to where I am today.

Always dream. Dreams help you to keep believing and to keep goals.

Married Life

I am a college graduate - whooo hoo for Nutritionists! :)

Also, my little brother is now a high school graduate!

I had my "bachelorette trip" with my girls for a weekend at the beach before the wedding and had a blast spending the weekend with each of them :)

I have been married to my best friend, Benton for almost 2 weeks now!

It's hard to believe that we were in Jamaica this time last week!

We were at Sandals Whitehouse and it was beautiful there! We are so blessed to have been so fortunate to go there. We met a lot of other honeymooners and we were able to relax and eat a lot of varieties of food too!

Our house has came together piece by piece and room by room. But the house and the honeymoon mean nothing compared to how great it is to wake up beside my best friend every morning.

Sweet Zoe, our puppy has made the transition into the new home very well! She is just the sweetest little pup!


I cannot wait to hear back from the University of West Florida about my Master's program that I applied for. Also, I am looking forward to applying for the fall round of dietetic internships!

Finally, I have been able to cook a lot more lately with my husband which is wonderful! :)

Short post, yes, but I must get some rest and do laundry - it calls my name :)

-ME

February

It's hard to believe that it is already mid-February.I finished up gathering all of my preceptors information and forms and put them all in order, made copies, filled out a rotation schedule form and was so glad to be done with it! Then I completed my personal statement and updated my resume and spell-checked everything on my application on Sunday morning. Finally, I submitted my DICAS application and mailed my supplemental things to the University of Northern Colorado on Monday. I signed up for D&D Digital and now I get to play the waiting game until April 6th at 6:00pm to find out if I will be in the 2012 graduating class of the University of Northern Colorado's Distance Dietetic Internship. I am praying that all goes well, but I know that it is in God's hands what happens and everything will work out for the best.

So for a backup plan - I am applying to Liberty University online for a Master's in Health & Wellness.

As for wedding plans, with one shower out of the way (thank you Caitlin & Mrs. Joni Towns for being wonderful hostesses) I am a little over 3 months away from marrying my best friend and love, Benton! He and I are starting to meet with my old youth minister, Daryl next month for premarital counseling and I am excited! It's always great to have someone who has been married for a long time and not to mention has four adorable little girls to be a mentor and talk with us about all aspects of marriage and how God views it and everything.

Now that I have engagement pictures out of the way, I am getting down to the nitty gritty details of wedding planning. I have all of my registries complete and have a second shower coming up March 3rd for all of my Statesboro friends! I cannot wait to see everyone!

Not to mention, I will be in my sweet friend Holly's wedding in June and in Jenna's in September! I also have a wedding almost every month from May through November to go to. How exciting! Benton will be busy being my wedding date this year! :)

School is in the full swing of things with twelve hours this semester I thought it would be easy, but no, I am busier than ever! I have Metabolic Nutrition Therapy II, Experimental Food Science, International Studies, and Quantity Food Practicum. Every Wednesday morning, I am going into Nevil's Elementary School at 6:30am sharp and working in the lunchroom for practicum! Learning the flow of foods, sanitation and safety issues, delivery mechanisms, procurement, and everything else is helpful and makes for a long day! I thank Georgia Southern for making it be a requirement though, because I definitely have learned to appreciate the lunchroom staff more because by no means is it easy work or a short day! In experimental, I am working on developing a new product: Candied Couscous Cornbread. Soon, I will begin my trials and we will pray that all goes well! The idea is to make cornbread a sweet bread, since that is what I prefer! I am interested to see how everyone elses products turn out this semester.

Well, I better run so I can work on my experimental food science proposal and my metabolic nutrition therapy II case study on diverticulosis! :)

May

So I am still on Christmas break and I have one more full week off! 5 weeks at home has been so nice! I substituted all week this past week. I had first grade, special ed, fifth grade, and third grade. I absolutely love third grade students! If I was going to be a teacher - I would pray that I could teach them! They are super cute :)

I am currently working on the DICAS application for Utah State Distance Dietetic Internship and for Northern Colorado University Distance Dietetic Internship. I am praying that in April I will find out that I am accepted into one of the two. I have two of my preceptors forms completed - Ms. Dena Barrows, RD, LD, School Nutrition Director and Ms. Millie Smith, RD, LD, is going to be my Clinical preceptor. I am waiting on a district person from the Health Department to e-mail me back about being my community nutrition preceptor and I need to find a long-term care center for 2 weeks to complete rotations at.

The DICAS form is a little aggravating because it is the first year it has been used and being a transfer student, when I am entering my courses, on my ABAC transcripts, I have no idea if it is wanting to know the way it was named at that school or if it wants how GSU accepted it and what GSU called the class and in the instructions that is not listed. I have to have the DICAS form completed and have additional information mailed by February 15th. Time is moving so quickly!

Besides, internship stuff - I have been walking! My roommate Caitlin said that she got a new Jillian Michaels video that uses a Kettle ball - so I am definitely going to get one. We love the 30 day Shred video Jillian has - so I have no doubt that her new video "with weights" is a good one!

My first shower is the 22nd of this month! I can't believe it! I am super excited and I have no idea what I am going to wear!

My grandparents gave Benton and I a set of really pretty fine china and I am registered for casual china. It is Juliska Thread and Berry! I LOVE it! It is very pretty and I have already received my first gift! I dinner plate from that registry courtesy of Mr. & Mrs. Harrington! I was super excited, and no, I did not break the bow :)

My wedding is 140 days away - it is sneaking up! I have the florist and photographer out of the way. Below is a picture of my two main colors for the wedding, I call it sangria & lime :) And yes, the boys are wearing "toffee" colored tuxess!

I really have been wanting a puppy. My mother thinks that it is not the right time in my life to get a puppy, but they are so cute and I have a lot of patience and I can't help but to look at the online constantly. Benton and I have talked about it a lot and it definitely is in the future! We both like miniature schnauzers! This is a white one that is irresistibly cute from the kennel in which we are going to buy one from!

Benton and I went to the Falcons game last week and I had a blast! I loved that it was in a dome and the people were all so enthusiastic! It was one of the best Christmas gifts! Brandy & Jake gave the tickets to Benton, second row seats! At first I was a little hesitant about a football game in January thinking it was going to be long and cold and full of old people. I was wrong! It was a lot of fun, only cold outside, and people of all ages! I would definitely go back!

Well, back to working on the DICAS form. I am excited to see if here in south Georgia if we will see the "snow storm" on Monday that the weathermen are predicting!

Miss Nutrition

The future scares me - but when I sit down and think about what I love and what my dream jobs would be here is a list:

I would love to be a Martha Stewart - Have my own show/blog/network with home projects and recipes

I would love to be a Dietitian and work for a television station and do short segments on nutrition and food science and healthy living.

I would love to travel the world and have Samantha Brown's job.

I would love to plan weddings - oh how I love details in things!

A country singer ;) of course that requires talent!

Ah back to reality... I honestly have no idea what I am going to do with my life. I graduate with my Bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Food Science with an emphasis in Dietetics in May. I apply for graduate school and for dietetic internships in early spring. I find out if I have been selected for an internship the second week in April. Oh, and the other thing - I am marrying my best friend and prince charming at the end of May. So I have a lot of decisions to make! What do I want to pursue a Master's degree in? Journalism? Media? Community Health? Master's of Art in Teaching? Family and Consumer Sciences Education. So many options! I know that I want to work with people! I love children too! I love to travel also. So why is it that choosing places to apply for internships is so difficult? Well, first of all - Benton, my soon to be husband, has a great job but he is willing to move and he completely supports me in 100% of the things I choose to do. He constantly reminds me of what I am capable of and not to limit myself. I pray about this a lot and its still so hard to decide. Graduate school on the other hand, what do I want to do? Master's programs often have courses that are required before entrance into the program. I have researched and I just want to do something that I love. The question is where is that offered? Also, I kind of want to go ahead and begin work and pursue a master's degree online that way I can begin saving money and building up retirement. There are so many choices!

An option is school nutrition director. I can apply for jobs that may come open niear graduation and be under provisional status for 5 years that will require me to obtain a Master's degree and a certificate for a school nutrition director. I would love to do that, but I imagine it is stressful. That is why I have been researching, talking to current professionals in this field, and job shadowing.

Overall, I know that God has a plan for me and he will never leave me. He is in control and the more that I try to stress about it and take over and plan every detail, the more I am telling him that I am not trusting that he will provide. So I have prayed about it and decided that I am not going to settle, I am going to find what I love and go for it. I love my small town and family but if I never try new things, I will not allow a door to open in which God could be leading me towards. So here it goes - research into programs and internships and job opportunities has now begun. Will you see me on television one day as "Miss Nutritionista?" Maybe so! Will you see me in the hallway at your child's school teaching family and consumer sciences or planning meals for their lunchroom? Maybe so! Will I be in a clinical setting as a Registered Dietitian? Possibly! But my journey has begun and in these next six months, we will definitely have some fun and stress. Wedding planning - here I come!