Life. Is. Good.

As PJ always says, “Life. Is. Good.” And it is. Really really good.

Mostly I’m just really excited because, after months (actually 2, but still) of waiting, I got a job! I start this Monday and I honestly can’t wait. It’s at a company called John Wiley & Sons. I’ll be working in publicity, which is exactly the department I wanted to start in. The only downside is that the office is located in Hoboken, NJ, which is about a 45 minute commute from my apartment. Even that, though, has a silver lining: The building is one block from the Hudson River, and there’s a park along the river that has incredible views of Manhattan. Another cool thing: three blocks away is Carlo’s Bakery, which is where the show Cake Boss is filmed.

I feel so incredibly lucky to have all my dreams coming true so quickly. Within four months of graduating college, I’ve moved to my dream city, landed my dream job, and am living very happily with the love of my life.

As always, PJ and I have been having plenty of New York adventures. A couple weeks ago, we took a few double-decker bus tours that took us Uptown, Downtown, and to Brooklyn. We got to see some things we haven’t yet, like the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, South Street Sea Port, the Guggenheim Museum, the Met, etc. If possible, I fell in love with New York even more. There’s so much to do and see; we really do have everything we could ever want right here at our fingertips.

We also got to check out the only Chick-fil-A in NYC a couple weeks ago. Yay food that reminds me of home!

Last week we celebrated our 3-year anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been so long, and yet so short!

So, basically, I can’t imagine being any happier right now. :) 

Two Months Later...

And another year older!

So much has happened in my life since I wrote last, I feel like everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed at all!

I finished school on July 15, so I now officially have a Certificate in Publishing to go with my bachelor's degree. I'm so happy to be done! Now I'm job hunting. One thing I definitely learned from SPI is that I am really interested in and excited about the marketing/publicity departments, so I've been applying to any open positions in those areas. I've had one interview so far, and will hopefully be having a follow-up in the beginning of September.

After my classes ended, I was very lucky to be able to go home for awhile. I initially went home because my little sister got married! The wedding was planned in less than two weeks, so almost no one, including my sister, knew I would be coming home. It was lovely to surprise her! And to see family. I was so happy to be there for that special occasion. She made a beautiful bride:

I ended up staying a week longer than I'd initially planned. I got to spend some quality time with lots of family, especially my mom. :)

I've been back in New York for a couple weeks now, and I'm constantly reminded of how much I love it here. The lure of being with PJ everyday notwithstanding (and it was very difficult being away from him), I love living in the city! Now I'm just trying to make our apartment as fun to live in. It's slow progress, but it will be beautiful when it's done!

Today was my birthday, and besides last year's, it was the best! [Last year PJ proposed to me, and I've been able to wear the most beautiful ring in the world as a souvenir for the past 365 days]. PJ took a vacation day so I wouldn't be alone. We slept in, had a great lunch at Peanut Butter & Co., and spent some time in Washington Square Park. The weather turned out to be beautiful. Then we came home, had a nice nap, and went to dinner after Olive Garden. Next to Olive Garden, which is in Times Square, is the M&M store. We went there afterwards, and I picked out a present using the gift money my Nanny and Papa sent:

I like to think I made a pretty mix. After THAT (long day!) we went to a movie. It was such a nice, relaxing day with the man of my dreams. Some more highlights:

Seriously, one of the coolest restaurants.

Washington Sq. Park fountain and arch. If you look really closely, you can see the Empire State Building under the arch.

Elvis M&M! 

I hope I didn't forget anything! I promise not to go two months again. Also, happy 1 year engagement to my love, Patrick Fontillas! <3

I Want to Be a Housewife

Not really, but I have been missing my free days this week.

I've been going to NYU's Summer Publishing Institute for a week now, and it really is one of the neatest and best opportunities I've ever had. I was a bit naive, though, about how rigorous would be. Every day this past week, I spent about 12 hours between the time I left my apartment and the time regular class ended. I then met with my project group, came home to do homework, and had about 5 hours to sleep before I had to wake up and do it again. For those who know me, I need a whole lot more sleep than that to be at my most cheerful, if you know what I mean.

Other than that, though, I really do love the program. I've heard from some of the most powerful people in magazines in the last few days - the editors-in-chief of Glamour, In Style, Food Network Magazine, New York Magazine, and Real Simple just to name a few, plus people from Penguin, Hearst, Scholastic, Newsweek...seriously, the list goes on and on. And the next several weeks are the same. So truly amazing.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get a lot done personally for awhile. I've been wanting so badly to finish writing my thank-you cards to my wonderful family for being at my graduation and being so generous to both PJ and me. If any of you are reading this - I'm so sorry for neglecting you, but I promise you'll have a card coming your way very soon. I miss you all and appreciate everything you've done for us!

Thinking about writing those cards has made me realize how much I really really miss home. I thought my adjustment here would be much harder than it has been, but lately I've been thinking more about my family and how much I'm missing out on this summer. I'm so blessed to be so closed to almost all of my family, but it doesn't make it easy to be so far! I miss a lot of my friends too, and I can't help but feel guilty that I didn't spend more time with them when I could have.

So here's to hoping that I get to see some of you soon. As always, hugs and kisses to everyone!

Back to School!

Today was the orientation for NYU's Summer Publishing Institute.  I have no idea why it was on a Sunday, but that's New York for you. Tomorrow the actual program begins and...

I am SO excited!  The orientation was wonderful, and the directors are incredibly nice, funny, entertaining, professional, and enthusiastic. Starting tomorrow, the next three weeks will focus on magazine publishing.  The schedule is incredibly intense, and a part of me (bigger than I'd like to admit!) will be sad to see my free summer New York days end.  Many days go from 8:30 or 9 in the morning until 7 or 8 at night.  It will be hard, but I'm so excited to learn about the industry more.  Everyday features speakers from huge companies (Glamour, Elle, Rolling Stone, Hearst, Conde Nast, Real Simple...the list goes on and on).  There's also a career fair, resume workshops, programs that teach us how to use publishing software, and a major project.  I'm sooo excited for all of it!

Another drawback is that almost all of the program is held downtown, which is at least a half hour away by subway.  I'm going to be having some verrrrry long days very soon.  My apologies in advance if you don't hear from me or if I'm hard to get a hold of for awhile!  Hugs and kisses to everyone back home.

Ashley xx

A Week and a Half Later...

I meant to update this sooner, but I guess I never got around to it! Sorry!

So last week was pretty uneventful, mostly because poor PJ was sick. He was sick for the better part of the week, so mostly we just laid low, stayed in, and hung out. It was nice, but I felt like the week went by so fast.

We had a wonderful holiday weekend though! Friday I got to do some shopping at the Forever 21 store in Times Square, and PJ got off early for the weekend. Saturday, though, was the best day! We took a tour through Central Park, and it was easily the funnest thing I've done in New York. We saw a lot of the sites of the park and got to see some of the buildings that celebrities live in! The ones I remember are Brad and Angelina, Woody Allen, Yoko Ono, and Denzel Washington. It was a beautiful day. Here are some pictures from the tour:

Getting ready to start the tour. This thing was pulled by a really nice guy on a bicycle that told us about everything.

This is one of the big fountains in the park. Behind it is one of the lakes, where we saw two geese with their baby AND a few turtles! 

This is Strawberry Fields, a memorial to John Lennon. It if very near where he was shot and killed outside of his home, which we also saw.

This is the fountain from Friends!! :D

After our park tour, we did some shopping and took the subway to where my classes will be starting next week. The area was kind of dead; I think it's primarily corporate. My building is only a block or two from where the World Trade Center stood. Then we came back uptown and went to dinner at Juniors, a famous diner in Times Square with incredible desserts.

On Sunday we laid low, but we had more fun on Monday! We went to a late lunch and decided to go to the movie theater to see Hangover II. On the walk there, I spotted a sign outside of a bar boasting their 150 unique shots, one of which was a Harry Potter shot! I just had to stop by and ask about it, so we ended up doing a shot randomly in the middle of the day! Gotta love New York. :) We went to the movie and then dinner (which wasn't too fabulous).

And now it's Wednesday. We've got a lot to do this week. Our bed finally came, so PJ will be putting that together soon (pics to come!) I also have some pre-institute homework to do by Sunday, which is the day of the program's orientation. I'm so excited to start, but I'm going to miss the freedom I've had the past couple weeks!

I promise to write again soon and update you all on the progress of our apartment and wedding plans! Thanks for reading, and special hugs and kisses to my family - I miss you all very much!

First Week in New York

I seriously can't believe we've already been living in Manhattan for a week! Things are so great here. This was definitely the right choice for us! Brace yourselves; this may be a long post!

First and foremost, PJ's job with the New York Times is going great! He loves it already. Everyone is super nice and friendly to him. He even got a Macbook to use in the office and at home! It's a rather relaxed environment -he has no really rigid dress code and gets to dress the techy-version of "business casual." And his hours are 10am-6pm, which is essentially perfect. He's been choosing his benefits and will be learning more about what he'll be working on specifically in the coming weeks.

We love love love our apartment! I've been gradually working on getting it put together and cleaned up. The bathroom is basically done, and the kitchen doesn't require much effort. PJ has his desk and computer chair set up, and we've bought a brand-new bed and mattress that we're waiting on. Also, thanks to some generous  family members, we have a brand-new 32" flat screen Sony television! We've never had a flat screen or HD TV before! The cable people are coming on Tuesday - so excited! So things are coming along. I still have long to-do and to-buy lists, but we have time. We can already see ourselves living here for longer than a year. I love love love our bathroom especially! I've added lots of storage and the tub/shower is wayyyy better than our old one. The building is nice too. All the doormen are wonderful and incredibly nice. There's garbage AND recycling on every floor. And we just had our laundry sent to a place down the street that washes, dries, folds, and delivers it for you - all for $1/lb of laundry.

Like I mentioned before, we're basically in a prime spot, and I looove our neighborhood. Things I've found so far that are within walking distance:
-Central Park
-Columbus Circle
-Lincoln Center
-Bed, Bath, and Beyond
-Best Buy
-Rockefeller Center
-Times Square
-The New York Times building
-Madison Square Garden
-Macy's (and all the awesome stuff around Macy's)
And I'm sure there's even more that I haven't discovered yet! There's also great food everywhere, and practically every place delivers - for FREE! In our little "block" alone, there's a great pizza place, a great Mexican place, a great diner-type place, a really awesome and stylish contemporary kind of place, a great "we have it all" place (pizza, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, salad, dessert, bread, etc.) And there are still a million different places we haven't tried.

We've spent a lot of time just hanging around and enjoying each other's company, but we've had some New York-type fun as well. We had our first New York brunch, I ate a nice lunch in Central Park one day, we've done some shopping and dining and riding around in cabs, and we even saw a small concert at a dive bar this weekend.

I really do love it here. Hopefully the next week will bring just as much excitement, but just will some better weather!

Also, now that the whole moving-to-New-York thing is taken care of, wedding planning is back! I'll write more about that in my next post. :)

Just Like Freshman Year...

At the end of my freshman year, I was good at two things - procrastinating and all-nighters. I've been really good at the first thing lately, but  not so good at the second! I had a 12-15 page paper due Monday that I finished around 2am this morning (for those keeping track, it's Wednesday). I probably could have finished it Sunday night into Monday morning, but I decided to sleep and take the possible grade penalty. That's how I know I'm getting old. At least there are only 4 finals standing between me and graduation. And I can't really procrastinate on those!

A week from right now, I'll be arriving at my apartment in NYC for the first time! I honestly can't wait to be back there, and to show my mom the city. I really feel like I'm on the brink of my new life, and I can't wait to actually start it.

I'm also SUPER excited to decorate the whole place. We're only going with an air mattress right now, so I'll be able to buy all new stuff to suit my tastes. First up - a monkey bathroom courtesy of Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Good luck to everyone during finals and your next steps in life!

Almost Done

As everybody is more than aware, it's the last full week of classes! It's so nice that school is almost over, but I can't believe how soon everything ends and I move away. As excited as I am, it's getting harder and harder to think about being so far from family and friends.

I happily sold my car this weekend! That put some money in our pockets and will help us save a lot on gas and car insurance. Not that we'll notice as much once we're in New York, but still.

There is still soooo much to do though!! As if everything my professors have so kindly piled on wasn't enough, I still have to go through EVERYTHING in my apartment and either sell, throw out, or pack it all. And I only have two more weeks to fit it all in. I may go crazy by the end of this...

Back From The Big City

I returned to Peoria yesterday from New York, and I must say, it's not so great to be back. I know I should be enjoying my last few weeks at Bradley and in Illinois, but I can't wait to finally make the move to New York.

The trip was wonderful! We found our apartment on the first day, but saw about 20 more, and then applied that night. The next day we were approved, saw a few more places, and then signed the lease! After that we got to sight see and hang out. We spent more money than we ever have before, but at least we have a place to live. It really was a great time.

Our apartment is fabulous! It's a studio with a separate kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom is nice and the kitchen is getting all new appliances, including a dishwasher, which I've never had before. There are two big closets and big windows. I took some pictures:

The best part, though, is the building and location! We have an elevator, laundry room, and doorman! The building is in Midtown West. We're about 2 blocks from Columbus Circle, which marks the entrance to Central Park (2 freaking blocks from the park!!:)) and also has a mall, CNN's headquarters, Time Warner's Headquarters, and Trump Tower!! We're also about 5 blocks from Lincoln Center, where the symphony, ballet, and opera are. About 15 blocks away is Times Square, which is absolutely incredible. PJ's work is about a 20 minute walk - not bad for New York! Our block has tons of restaurants and pharmacies and dry cleaners and pretty much everything we'll need. So we pretty much hit the jackpot.



I really hope the next four weeks go by fast. It's so hard to concentrate on or care about homework and tests and readings and papers when I know what's waiting for me!

Tomorrow!

I know my past few posts have all been about New York, but I can't help it - I am so excited!! Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will officially begin my very first trip ever to New York City. 

We fly out of Peoria around noon and get to New York by 7:30 p.m. We're staying with some family friends of P.J., who couldn't be nicer or more gracious for taking us in. Then, bright and early Thursday morning, we have an appointment with a broker to begin looking at apartments! 

I'm super excited to see and experience what will be my new home in a few short weeks, but I'm also very nervous. Finding an apartment is generally difficult, but they make things very complicated in NY. I know we'll find something (mostly because we have to), but we have a lot riding on this trip. 

We get to stay until Sunday afternoon though, which means 4 glorious, real estate-filled New York days. I'll definitely post some pictures when I return. Wish us luck!

Done Waiting!

That waiting game that I've been complaining about is officially over for me - I was accepted today into NYU's Summer Publishing Institute!!! :)

NYU was my first choice, too, so although I'm waiting to hear on the other two, I'm pretty well decided. I'm so excited that I don't have to be stressed out about it anymore and that I'm actually going. I can't wait to learn more about my field and meet some of the biggest publishing executives.

So within the last week, my fiancé got a job at the New York Times, I was accepted at NYU, I started packing, and we booked our plane tickets for what will be my first trip to NY! I can't believe it's all happening, but it is. Now we just have to find an apartment and sell all of our stuff and we're there! Oh, and finish school/graduate. ;)

Speaking of selling everything, we really are, so if anyone needs a kitchen table/chairs, living room furniture, a bed, small kitchen appliances, a TV, etc. let me know!

New York, Here We Come!

Got the best news in the world today! My fiance got the job he interviewed for! He's going to be a Web Developer for the NEW YORK TIMES!!! :) The starting salary is wonderful, and he's getting a signing bonus that will help (although not completely cover) our vast moving expenses. This makes it officially real - we are off to New York!

The is one minor...thing...though. He is scheduled to start working May 16th - a mere 2 days after graduation, and 5 days after finals end. That makes things even more stressful. We're probably going to have to miss some school to fly out, look at apartments, and sign a lease so we have somewhere to stay. That will be easier than missing finals. We'll be here probably for finals and graduation, and then fly out after graduation to prepare for his first day.

We'll also have to sell/store/get rid of/pack ALL of our possessions, including our furniture and car. We have to plan how and when we'll get our things to NY and when we'll start the moving process. Plus, we now have just about a month to save up for our apartment, moving costs, flying, etc. It's stressful, but I'm so excited! Now, fingers crossed, I'll get into a publishing institute and we'll both have our careers underway literally right after graduation!

Sex and the City

With increasing boredom and no nice weather in sight, I've started rewatching the Sex and the City series from the beginning. Not that I'd ever really admit it, but this show inspired me more than anything else (except my love of publishing) to move to New York City. I literally cannot wait to experience it all - or at least the New York parts! Plus, it's just an awesome show.

Every day I get more and more impatient to move to NY. I still have about two weeks until I'll hear from any of the institutes I apply to. Why why why can't time go faster??  Even so, there's only 46 more days until graduation, and I know that once it's over it will feel like time went by at warp-speed. If only it could do that now... My fiance is waiting as well. He flew to New York on Friday to interview with the New York Times, and he's supposed to hear back early this week. I'm kind of living vicariously through him, so I'm incredibly nervous!

Okay, back to my show...

Break In Illinois

Spring break isn't too exciting when you seem to be the only one stuck in Illinois!

Break was uneventful for me, and nothing new has really happened. My fiance, who I still swear is the most incredible man I've ever met, is being flown out to NYC by...get this... the New York Times! They're interviewing him on Friday. I'm so proud! But as for me...I'm still waiting.

I did get to have a couple nice "wedding" moments over break. I picked up my wedding dress, which is now residing safe and sound at my parents' house until I get it altered in December. I also got to visit the location for our wedding again. I thought I'd share some pictures:

This is where people will sit. If you can see it, behind the bricks against the glass is a pond with pretty fishies.

This is where PJ and I and our wedding party will stand. The chairs will go past those stone areas, and we'll stand just to the right of the waterfall.

And here's a closer view of the waterfall.

I love where we're getting married. It's so pretty inside, and we get the run of all the outside gardens too. They're not in bloom yet, but I know they'll be gorgeous come June.

The Waiting Game

I finally mailed my applications to the publishing institutes yesterday! It's such a relief in a lot of ways, finally getting it done and knowing that I did my best. I hate waiting though. I should find out if I'm accepted by mid-April. If only I had that much patience...

There's not much else new going on. My wedding dress is in, and the contract for our wedding venue is signed. Now I'm just waiting to figure out more about New York and trying to get through school.

Is anyone else ready to graduate like now?

Have I Mentioned...

...that I looooove wedding planning?! It seems like things keep falling into place. I got my dress last week, and today I got two more pieces of really great news.

1. My mom came to visit today, and as we were sitting and chatting, she told me that she had some good news and some bad news for me. I told her to tell me the bad news first, and she said that she had called the Botanical Center, where I want to get married, and that it was booked on June 2, 2012. My heart sank; I was so sad! Then she smiled and said "By you!" Apparently she called and set up an appointment and is signing the contract this week! So naturally we squealed and jumped up and down. She's so sneaky, but I'm so thankful to have such a selfless and thoughtful mom. So... I am OFFICIALLY getting married June 2, 2012 at the Quad City Botanical Center! Yaya!

2. Later today, I got a reply to a message I sent on Facebook a long time ago. (P.S. Gotta love social media for tracking down people! :)). It was to the woman who took my senior pictures when I was in high school. She was awesome, and I wanted to try to book her for our wedding. I finally heard back from her today, and not only did she agree to take our engagement and wedding photos, but she said the sweetest things and is essentially charging us what she does her family. So I'm getting an awesome photographer that I already know at a fraction of the price of many others I've looked at. And we don't have to pay her for quite awhile, meaning we can save up for other things right now.

I really do love planning my wedding! :)

Here Comes the Bride!

I did it! I bought my wedding dress yesterday!

It's so pretty - and the most money I've ever spent on one thing in my life! But it was a wonderful experience that I got to share with my mom, sister, and both grandmothers. I couldn't be any happier. I wish I could describe the dress or post a picture, but I'm afraid my fiancé would read this blog and see it. I'm old fashioned like that - he won't get to see it until I'm walking down the aisle.

This makes the wedding so much more real to me, and I have no idea how I'm going to wait another 15 months.

Yesterday was really a great day to lift my spirits. I got to spend the day with my family, got my first smartphone, and bought a wedding dress. And today I blew off my first class so we could do a little more shopping (shhh!). I adore my mom and my sister, and they helped me forget about the sadness for awhile.

Happy day!

Say "Yes!" To The Dress!

I'm super excited for tomorrow. It's been kind of the one bright spot in all the sucky-ness of the past couple weeks. Tomorrow...I'm going to try on wedding dresses! I'm planning on choosing the one tomorrow and getting the process of buying it started. I couldn't be any more excited! I'm also planning to invite my grandmothers to come and share in the experience. (Plus, tomorrow I'm finally getting a new phone, and a smart phone at that!)

Nothing like wedding planning to cheer a girl up. I'm watching Say Yes To The Dress to celebrate.

A Hard Week

This past week has been an incredibly tiring and difficult one. I am down to the wire on my publishing institute applications, and losing almost two weeks has really sucked.

Last week, I found out that my great-grandpa, who lived in Arkansas, had congestive heart failure and was being given days to live. No one really knew what would happen, but my parents decided to make the drive down to see him one last time, and I went with. I got to see and talk with him on his last good day, last Tuesday. He later got worse and was moved to a hospice. I came back to Peoria Thursday night, and he passed away Friday afternoon. I hadn't planned on going to his funeral, but I knew I'd regret it later if I didn't. So on Sunday we made the drive again, and I spent through Wednesday in Arkansas.

I haven't gone through this, really at all, in my lifetime. I have very young parents, so I've been blessed to grow up having all of my grandparents and 3 great-grandparents around. I don't quite know what's proper to think or feel or say to people. It's just hard. 

Since I've been gone almost two whole weeks, I have so much to do that's adding to the stress and emotion of it all. Not only do I have to catch up in my classes, but I have to hurry and start/finish the applications to the publishing institutes. 

I suppose I write this mostly to vent, and to also explain why I haven't been around and haven't been doing any more planning for the future, but I sincerely hope no one else goes through this this semester. 

Broadside

There's no real news in my planning, but I thought someone out there might be interested in what I'm doing now.

Publishing is a very city-based industry, so living in Peoria makes it very difficult to get any real experience that will help me once I get to New York. That’s the main reason why attending a Publishing Institute like the one at NYU is so important.

However, I do what I can here to at least get some experience. I work for Hilltopics, Bradley’s alumni magazine, doing copy editing, office work, and some writing. Even better than that, though, is that this year I was selected to be the Editor-in-Chief of Broadside.  Broadside is a student run organization; we are Bradley’s literary arts journal and publish two journals a year featuring student poetry, short stories, drawings, paintings, photography, and other works of art and writing. It’s a huge responsibility, but it’s reinforced completely why I want to be in publishing.

As Editor-in-Chief, I’m involved in every stage of putting the journal together, and I plan events that keep students interested in Broadside and further showcase students’ artistic endeavors.

I’m getting really excited about the things we have going on this semester. The first week of March we’ll be having an open mic night, followed by a showing of a related movie (probably Dead Poets Society). In April, just before the spring journal is released, we’ll be having a release party where people can get early copies before the rest of Bradley.

If anyone who reads this (and is a Bradley student) is interested in submitting a piece of writing or art, visit bradley.edu/campusorg/broadside or email me! 

Great Wedding Planning Weekend

This past Saturday, I attended the local Bridal Expo, and I must say it was a very successful trip! I went with my mom, and it's always nice spending time with her. There were a ton of vendors, and each one had some sort of give-away (no word on if I've won anything yet). I did win a door prize though - a $50 gift certificate to an okay-looking design company that sells, from what I can tell, flowers and centerpieces. We got business cards for all kinds of DJ's, caterers (even though I already know who's catering), photographers, bakers, etc. Most caterers and bakers had samples of their food. :) I also made another appointment to try on dresses. Can't wait for that!

Also wedding related, I (and PJ too) have decided to have our wedding in the inside atrium of the Quad City Botanical Center, which has all kinds of tropical plants and palm trees. The actual ceremony will take place in front of a gorgeous waterfall. It's very pretty. I say PJ too in () because he's very indifferent about a lot of things, which is sometimes frustrating. But I guess that's what it's like to be a bride! I have to decide things.

Hopefully, when I try on dresses I can post some pictures. :)

First Post!

I know that I probably won't know a lot of you who are reading this, so I thought I'd write a little about me and where my journey regarding New York and wedding planning are.

I'm a senior English major living in Illinois. My fiancee and I graduate this May, and we're planning on moving to New York City right away. It's an adventure!

As far as moving to New York goes, it's stressful to say the least. I've been trying to plan things the best I can, but for the most part, it's too far away to know anything concrete. My plan is to attend a 6-week crash course in book/magazine publishing called a Publishing Institute. NYU and Columbia each have one, but I still have to apply and be accepted. The hardest part about applying is writing a personal statement. I'm procrastinating hardcore on that. You'd think that, as an English major, I'd be able to write a page or two about myself fairly easily, but I'm very intimidated! Anyway, during/after the Institute, I'll start looking for a job. Hopefully by then, my fiancee PJ will have a job too. He's in computers, and he's brilliant, so I'm not worried about him. Publishing is a bit harder, so we'll see how it goes!

Oddly enough, even though it's much further away, I've been more focused on wedding planning. It's so fun! So far, PJ and I have decided on a date (June 2, 2012), a location (the Quad City Botanical Center - a really pretty garden on the Mississippi River), and a song (Can You Feel The Love Tonight by Elton John). We've (for the most part) chosen our bridesmaids and groomsmen. I've tried on dresses, and this weekend my mama and I are going to a Bridal Expo.

This is all basically old news. We haven't planned anything new in awhile, so my posts for the next few weeks might diverge from these set topics. We'll see!

I hope I wasn't too boring and that someone might find this interesting! Please leave comments and let me know if there's something else I should write about.