Winter Break!

The semester is over!  I am grateful to have this semester behind me because it was LONG.  As I've talked about before, this semester brought on many new life changes, projects, and endeavors.  First of all, Justin and I were planning our wedding, which happened on October 20th.  On top of that, both of us were going to school full-time - Justin was finishing up his second-to-last semester of his psychology degree and I was working on my second-to-last semester of grad school.  I started my first teaching job ever.  Through my graduate program, I was hired to teach two sections of English composition at IUSB.  Then, our friend Lowell approached us and asked us if we would be interested in moving into a soon-to-be-vacated apartment at his campus house.  Justin and I agreed and took on a huge remodeling project (see my earlier blog post for before and after photos of the apartment). 

Needless to say, it has been an extremely long semester, but Justin and I are now married, we have a cozy apartment, and I am one step closer to graduating in May.  I thank God for giving us the time and energy to get through the past five months.

I finally finished that 20-page paper for my film class that has been looming over my head for the past couple of weeks.  This week is actually finals week at IUSB, but I didn't have any finals, just a final paper for my film class and a final portfolio for my poetry class.  Justin has been so busy this week with final exams, final papers, and working that I feel like we've barely had a moment to talk.  He had his last final today and I am so glad to have my husband back!  We spent the day together, did some Christmas shopping, went to dinner, and saw a movie.  I'm so glad we had that time to reconnect.

So here are some things I've learned in the past few months of my life with all of the changes:

1)  Never, never be afraid to ask for help when you need it. 
2)  Always take time to reconnect with your significant other, even when things get overwhelming.  Nothing is more important than maintaining meaningful relationships with loved ones.
3)  Don't move two households worth of stuff by yourself, especially in one day.  You probably will not be able to get out of bed the next day.
4)  Don't move a week before your wedding, especially when your new place still has renovations to be completed.
5)  Don't drag four days worth of luggage through downtown Chicago while trying to find the station to get on the South Shore train.
6)  Taking our honeymoon right after our wedding, even if it meant taking a week off of both of our jobs and school, was the best decision we could have made for starting our marriage off right.

This Christmas break, I am going to enjoy catching up on sleep, working on my proposal for my independent writing project, and spending time with my lovely husband.