Baby, Baby

Oh, Johnson & Johnson. Why must you make baby commercials that make me cry?

That’s a sad, sad confession, I know. But it’s true. I love babies.

Tomorrow I’m off to see the other side of the family. I can’t wait till New Years. Maybe I’ll post some of my resolutions soon.

For Jeremy

Home
By Vanessa Carlton

Some people live in a house on a hill
And they wish they were someplace else
There’s nobody there when the evening is still
Secrets with no one to tell

And some I have known
Have a ship where they sleep
With sounds of rocks on the coast
They sail over oceans five fathoms deep
They can’t find what they want the most

And even now
When I’m alone
I’ve always known
With you
I am home

And some live in towns
Cardboard shack on concrete
All blustered, and bustling life
They search for the color
You can never quite see
‘Cause it’s all white on white

And even now
When I’m alone
I’ve always known
With you
I am home

And even now
When I’m alone
I’ve always known
With you
I am home

For me it’s a glimpse
And a smile on your face
A touch of your hands
An honest embrace

For where I lay, it’s you I keep
This changing world
And fall asleep
With you all I know is
I’m coming home
Coming home

Christmas

Christmastime always wears on me, but it can also be a bit refreshing. I enjoy the family time, but I think the best part is looking forward to the New Year. I had a great Christmas, though, and got way more than I ever deserved. I really didn’t do much this year for folks, but they seemed to outdo themselves. I appreciate it though. Among my spoils include: Pyrex casserole dishes w/personalized cover, two sets of my St. Moritz Wedgwood china (absolutely beautiful), a new leather wallet, a stocking full of goodies, cool books including a cookbook, kitchen implements, a Thermos caraffe, teas and coffees, new clothes, and much more. So, I definitely made out like a bandit, not to mention that I had a good time with the families (Johnsons and Adamses). Jeremy has been amazing. Aside from dealing with my bad moods, he also got me a beautiful gift–a gorgeous watch. I have needed one for so long. I always felt a bit less confident that I didn’t have a nice timepiece to wear at professional conferences or presentations, but now I have a very nice one. I really appreciate practical gifts like this, especially since he took the time to pick it out himself. That means so much.

I have been quite Scroogish this holiday season for reasons I’m not entirely sure of myself. It just hadn’t felt very Christmasy until yesterday between the weather and the stress of trying to find something special for each person. I think I did well with my gifts to people, though. I know it’s not supposed to be all about the gifts, but I do try to put a lot of thought into what I give to people to try to show them that I do care. It makes me happy to give people something that they’ll actually use and enjoy.

But my mood has been despicable lately and I know I just need to get over things. I think it’s partly because this break is so excruciating. I know most people would love this much time off, but it just about makes me crazy–I can’t stand not feeling productive. I’d much rather be studying or writing or cogitating than “breaking.” It doesn’t help that January and February will be the months where I’ll actually get to visit graduate school campuses and I won’t know anything more until then. Friends have told me that this waiting is the worst part. I know that I’ve been accepted to two of my top three schools, Clemson and UGA, which is definitely a relief, especially since they accepted me so very early. I am hoping to get decent offers from both, either teaching or research assistanceships. I don’t know that I’ll qualify for any fellowships since my GRE scores were low, but I am always hopeful. 

I know that I should practice living in the moment and not take any moment for granted, but it is so hard when the rest of my life is so close. I feel like everything that I want has been put on hold until I finish my undergrad degree–I can’t focus on research and I certainly can’t take part in any serious life-altering events (I’d lose my scholarships). But I can take comfort that the end of this is only four months away, which will fly by I’m sure. It is good and bad. Good that it’ll be another chapter of my education coming to a close, leading into another. Bad that I’ll be leaving behind some of my favorite people. I know that I love school, especially my professors. They have helped me in more ways than they’ll ever know, and I’m immensely grateful to them for it. I have been so blessed in my friendships. They all have molded and shaped me into the person that I am today without fully realizing their influence. I have been very lucky to have such a great support system.

This time of year always makes me nostalgic and introspective. I am always living in the past or the future, never in the present, and I know that this is a flaw of mine. Because there is so much beauty that I miss out on in the present.

Like this.

And this.

It really is all about spending time with those you care about.

I need to go work on my New Year’s resolutions. Much love.

Cleared For Takeoff

I received a letter this morning from Clemson’s graduate coordinator and they are sending me an acceptance letter soon with information about an assistanceship. Talk about exciting news. I am really looking forward to visiting them and speaking with the members of the faculty that I have been in contact with via email. They seem genuinely excited to have me, which says a lot for a department. We shall see what unfolds in the next two months.

Two down, three to go.

I know Jeremy has had a long, rough week, so I’m hoping he’ll feel better after some time to himself. I hope to get the last of the presents wrapped this weekend and maybe I’ll start in on the cooking. I still am not quite sure what I will be fixing.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend if I don’t get a chance to update! 

Clemson Letter

Hello Savannah;
 
First off, thanks for your note and for your interest in Clemson.  I’m very glad to hear of your interest in Clemson and hope you decide to apply to one of our graduate programs. 
 
When I first received your email I immediately forwarded it to Prof. G* in chemical and biomolecular engineering, because I knew of Prof G’s interest in biosensors and related topics.  I have an interest in biosensors and have worked on them in the past but my more recent interests are in materials for batteries and fuel cells, so I thought Prof. G might be a good match for you.  We (he and I) discussed a possible joint advising arrangement for you which is still possible; I thought we might discuss that further if your interest in Clemson stays strong and you come for a visit. 
 
I understand that he has been in communication with you, and that’s great.  I think that his C3B center would be a good match for you.  I hope you continue your communications with him and ultimately decide to apply to Clemson, if you have not already done so. 
 
Let me add one final thought.  We often invite especially strong prospective applicants to visit Clemson at our expense to explore opportunities for graduate study here.  Prof. G and I would like to extend such an invitation to you to come and visit for a day, to speak with faculty and see what we and Clemson have to offer that might be a good match to your interests.  You are quite close so it might be best for you to just come over for the day.  Or if it made more sense to do so we could put you up in a hotel.  Either way we would support your travel and local expenses.  If you want to do something like that please let me know, and we’ll schedule it. 
 
Thanks again for your interest in Clemson; and I hope I get to meet you sometime this spring during a visit.

Prof. C*

*Names removed out of respect for their privacy.

Busy Bee

Thursday I went about baking cakes and other goodies for the upcoming parties–Mom’s bday and the family gathering on Sunday. I heard from Mom that night about my grades for this past semester. Luckily, all A’s. This pleases me because now my GPA’s back up to 3.91 from 3.89. Small difference, I know, but now I will graduate summa cum laude rather than magna.

I am typing this from Heather’s MacBook since I came down to the ‘Ville yesterday to visit with her. I went to the county Christmas party yesterday before heading down and was able to squick out with free food. I haven’t seen the Pleather in quite awhile and I’ve been needing some “girl-time” away from the fellas I normally roll with. It’s always fun to have dinner and watch insane movies with her. And the one we partook of last night was INSANE: Forbidden Zone. Yeah. Just go watch it. I cannot adequately describe the film using words. One must EXPERIENCE the Forbidden Zone. I think Heather is sucking me into her Oingo Boingo obsession, oddly enough.

Today, I plan to hang with the Pleath a bit and then head back home to have dinner with Mom. I took her her Orange Creamsicle cake yesterday as a surprise and she really seemed to like it. You can see pictures of it on my photos page. I also posted a pic of the Double-Chocolate Cheesecake I made. I think I’m going to keep pictures of all the foods I make so as to keep track of what was good and what was not so good. Maybe I’ll even post recipes later.

Tomorrow I will be with the familia paternus. It shall be fun. I haven’t seen them in so long.

So long for now! I’m off to prod Pleather with a very small hand on a stick(I told you–just go watch Forbidden Zone).

Animal Afternoon

So, I just uploaded some new pictures from the Habersham Co. Animal Shelter on my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goatneck. Go check them out! They are all such darlings. I wish I had a giant animal farm so that I could take them all home with me.

Shameless plug: http://www.fohcas.com.

Hello world!

So, here it is, world. This all started as a project to help a friend, but I may keep it around for kicks. I have missed messing around with php/html/etc. I’m on Christmas break right now, which is why I have any time to do this sort of thing. This layout is based on one that I found, but I definitely added my own touches to it. I am currently working on the other pages, so some of them are blank still. It’ll be something fun to mess around with. More later when I finish messing.

I just want to give a shoutout to my Jeremiah! I love ya.