O.A.R.

I finally took a break from all the work and stress and was able to get out to see O.A.R. here in Clemson. We went as a group of 8 for dinner before the concert at Mellow Mushroom. On our way back from the restaurant O.A.R was playing at a fraternity house so we got a little pre-show. As we were leaving the fraternity house O.A.R came out behind us so we were able to meet a couple of the band members. This would never happen if we weren't in small town Clemson!

This is the band strolling down the sidewalk.

This is our group of friends waiting to get in the door.

Here is the opening act Parachute. They weren't too bad.

And finally O.A.R. It was a blast!

Great break from the stress and chaos of this semester. To top it all off we are still trying to push out a paper with results by Thursday with no viable results thus far. Should be fun as I am leaving for a conference on Wednesday and will be gone through Sunday. Then its time to write a 15 page paper for class and take 2 finals by Wednesday.

Weather

We've had quite the wet spring so far, which is nice for flowers and trees, but the severe storms that flew threw on Friday we could have done without. I was just finishing up watching a movie when all of a sudden I hear a loud siren and talking. So I muted the TV to try and hear what was being said. All I caught was take cover immediately, so that is what I did even though it was dead silent outside and it didn't even look all that bad. Well, apparently a funnel cloud started its decent on Clemson and decided to pull back up into the sky. We didn't get an actual tornado, but it was close. There were 4 others that did touch down in nearby towns - one of them was an EF2 that practically tore a town to pieces. They are still cleaning up from it today.

Well whenever the warm weather returns it will be nice. I'm sick of cold rain and am completely ready for a day in the sun. The pool is starting to look real good and I'm hoping I can go lay by it soon.

On another note,I can't wait for this weekend. Besides the presentation and paper that will be finished, I have an O.A.R concert to go to! We have a group of 12 that will be partying it up. Should be a great break from all the work.

Spring

Even though it is a little chilly out today, we have generally had temps near 70 for the last 2 weeks. Because of the warm temps everything is in full bloom and it is so pretty. I love this time of year, minus the pollen. The trees are all starting to get leaves and the bushes, cherry trees, and ornamental trees are just beautiful. Every day on my drive into school I come around a bend in the road just to see a lush green background and 3 trees decked out in white flowers. The contrast between the two is wonderful. I'm hoping I can get enough time this weekend when it warms up again to take a stroll through the botanical gardens.

Happy spring! Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter.

Count down has begun.

I am officially 4 weeks from the end of this semester and I can't wait until it is over. I'm not going to get one of my papers done, so I'm a little less stressed, but otherwise I still have a lot to do in the next few weeks. I'll try and post again later this week.

And the week is off!

Just another day in the life of an overly stressed graduate student. I haven't been able to sleep as well as I would like because I have lovely nightmares about not getting all my work done. I need to hurry up and be done with this paper, my first of 3 presentations, get an experiment to actually work on Wednesday, and write a 10 page proposal in 7 days. And to top it all off... I also have to have a rough draft for my second presentation completed by Friday. Can somebody spare a couple of hours so I can add them to my day, PLEASE?

Well just needed to vent. Sorry!

Just waiting until April 13th and then it will be smooth sailing until finals.

Where has all the motivation gone...

I have so much to do before the semester ends and I work so hard during the week to get as much done as possible, but the weekends come and I lose all motivation. I can't seem to get myself to do anything even remotely productive for school. I can cook, clean, workout...but school work. NONE! I was able to at least get 2.5 pages of a paper written today, but I needed to get 8 done. Guess it will have to happen tomorrow...guess my brain is telling me to take a break.

The semester will be over soon enough and then the research will kick into high gear. At least that means no class work!

Other than that....nothing exciting here lately. Spring is officially here and trees are starting to get leaves. Weather is warming up and I am waiting for the semester to end so that I can get out and explore.

Hope everyone is doing well! 10 days and counting until my B-day!

Snow Day...

Yes, that's right...we have an official snow day today. It had rained all weekend and finally at about 4pm yesterday the white stuff started falling. It was super saturated, wet snow that caused a lot of trouble for travellers. I stayed in all day working, but by 7pm just couldn't hold back any longer. I had to get outside to play. My neighbor came and knocked on my door warning me that my car might get hit if it was left where it was. So I threw on my rain jacket and moved the car.

Once the car was moved, a snowball fight ensued with Laura (my neighbor), Jason (her boyfriend) and their friend Branford. We must have spent about 45 minutes outside chucking wet, packed snowballs in a girl vs. guy fight. It was awesome!!! So we finally called a truce after the guys were sick of getting nailed.

Then the power started to flicker on and off and then finally it was out. So what do you do when the power goes out? Sledding...except that we didn't have any sleds, but we had a kayak. We proceeded to put the kayak in the back of Jason's truck, put 'er in 4 wheel drive and headed to Kite hill on campus. We snow kayaked for a good hour and a half! It was such a blast!!!

By 11pm last night the power was back on, school was cancelled and I was ready to hit the sack after pulling a kayak up the sledding hill multiple times. To say the least, I think that is one of the best times I have had here in the south so far. Nothing like snow to cheer up a dreary weekend!

And to top it all off for a great start to the month, Erika and Kevin had a little baby girl yesterday morning. Congratulations LaPeans on your new arrival!

Have a wonderful week everyone! Mine is starting out great as March came in as a Lion and will hopefully go out on my birthday as a Lamb.