I went to Vegas with Alex, Danielle, and her boyfriend, Justin over the weekend.  It was fun getting to go back to Vegas with Alex again.  We’ve only been one other time together about 2 years ago, and I wasn’t old enough to gamble at the time.  We had fun playing blackjack together   And when I could barely walk because of my joint pain late at night, he helped me walk.  He was also a good sport about leaving the casinos earlier than planned because it was getting to be too much for me.  So we went back to the hotel and he drew me a bath and gave me massages and everything.  It’s so nice having someone that cares about me so much when I’m having difficulties like this.

Speaking of the pain… I have another doctor appointment this Friday and I made an appointment to see a Rheumatologist on December 2nd, which was the earliest I could get in.  It’s getting unbelievably frustrating not knowing what is going on with me.  I can’t do half the things I was able to do before this started happening.  And while I may have a few days or even a week where I don’t really experience much pain, it always comes back.  And I’m sick of the doctors taking forever to see me and then not even having anything to tell me when I do see them.

On another note… I registered for classes this morning for next semester.  Here’s what it looks like:

MON - 4:15-7:00p - Marriage & Family Therapy I (PSY 639) with Amy Tuttle
TUE - 5:00-7:00p - Psychopharmacology (PSY 627) with Diana Hurlbut (only meets 9 weeks)
THU - 4:15-7:00p - Techniques of Counseling & Psychotherapy (PSY 637) with George Nalbach
THU - 7:15-10:00p - Clinical Management of Psychopathology (PSY 600) with Lisa Fasnacht-Hill
SAT (1/10 & 1/24) - 9:00a-4:45p - Human Sexuality (PSY 628) with Susan Johnson

It sounds like a lot… but it’s only 12 units, 1 class only meets on 2 saturdays in January, and 1 is only a 9 week course.  I just think it’s so doable so it doesn’t make sense not to cram this much in, especially while I still don’t have to do my practicum.  So it shouldn’t be too bad of a semester.

Today was my first mostly pain-free day in awhile, and I relished in it.  I ran up the stairs, hopped in my car, and lifted things   It’s been really depressing not being able to do those things.  One evening at school, I saw someone running down the stairs of the parking structure and I almost started crying because I couldn’t do that myself.  I also got a lot of shopping done today for miscellaneous upcoming events.  I bought a white feather boa for my swan costume on Saturday night.  I also bought a bunch of favors for the bachelorette party next week.  I’m probably going to relax and soak in the jacuzzi tonight.  Yes… that sounds like a good idea.

I’m also going to Vegas in 2 weeks!  A friend of mine from Pepperdine wants to go for her birthday, and it’s going to be her, her boyfriend, me, and Alex.  She knows someone who works at the Residence Inn Marriot in South Vegas, which is just a couple streets over from the Strip.  We got a suite with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchen for only $120 a night, and since I’ll be paying 1/4 of it, that means the whole weekend is only going to cost me $60 (+ about $30 for gas and well, food and drinks and stuff).  The hotel even includes a free breakfast buffet which I’m in love with, haha.  She also has a friend who works at Tao, and she said he can get us a VIP table… so yay for that.  I’ve been wanting to go back to Vegas with Alex anyway, so this was the perfect opportunity.

I can’t believe it’s Halloween tomorrow already…  This semester has flown by.

I’ve been super busy ever since I got back from my Vegas trip with my mom and Lynda and I haven’t really been in the mood to blog.  I had so much fun in Vegas and I was sad to leave.  We did so many fun things everyday and Zumanity was great of course.  I posted photos on facebook and myspace (links are on the contact page).  I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to upload them to flickr.  I didn’t feel like my trip was long enough and it took us 8 hours to drive back with Labor Day traffic (normally the drive takes just under 4 hours), so I just wasn’t in a very good mood.  I also started school on Tuesday, so things have been crazy busy.

I’ve had 2 classes so far (I won’t start my Monday class until next week due to the holiday) and so far I think I’m really going to like it.  My 2 classes could not be any more different from one another (in terms of structure).  One class has no writing assignments, just a midterm and a final.  The other has no exams and in fact nothing is ever graded (the class is credit/no credit) but there are tons of reading and writing assignments, group projects, and activities.  It’s a class on group therapy, so it makes sense that we would be doing a lot of group activities.  Oh am I going to struggle in that class.  But nothing is graded and the professor said there are no right or wrong answers on the assignments… so how bad can it be?  Please note, I’ve been blogging in greater detail about my classes/overall experience in grad school at Psychofemme.com.  Though, everything from my blogs is automatically crossposted to Livejournal, so if that’s where you follow me, you can stay put.

Time to get back to work…

I’m leaving for Vegas tomorrow morning at 6!  Early I know, but we want to beat the Labor Day crowds and also, Lynda’s flight arrives in Vegas at 10:15 and we’re hoping we can get there shortly after.  Fun girls weekend ahead!  I just had my nails done today and I got them HOT PINK to match the dress I bought yesterday (which I’m sure will be in plenty of my pics from Vegas!

I’m treating this weekend as my final celebration of summer before grad school begins and all the fun stops (because that’s what it is…)  See you all Monday night and have a good Labor Day weekend!

Well, two days ago Alex and I returned from our AMAZING camping trip in June Lake and Yosemite!  I’ve been so busy the past few days, however, that I only just this evening got around to sorting through our pictures, resizing them, and uploading them to Flickr.  But I’m done now!  You can check out the new set in my travel gallery here.  There were probably hundreds of amazing photos that we took between the two of us, so it was REALLY hard to pick the “gems” to put in that album.

It really was an amazing trip though, one I will never forget.  Yosemite is so awesome that I can’t wait to go back, hopefully next spring.  I’ve figured out that I’m the most content and relaxed when I’m out in nature, and I just LOVE all the little creatures we ran into on our hiking trails.  We saw little squirrel/chipmunk things, a bigger furry animal (maybe a possum or a badger or something), a deer family (2 big ones and a baby), and even a super tiny snake!  It was so much fun, especially the deer.  We actually saw deer twice on our trip, the first night near June Lake and also on our 7 hour hike on the Glen Aulin Trail to Tuolumne Falls.  They’re SO sweet and beautiful!  They didn’t mind our presence even though we kept following them deeper into the woods to take pictures of them.  Awesome.  Yosemite (and actually the entire Eastern Sierras) is so freakin awesome.

My next trip (in a week) is to Las Vegas.  I don’t think these two trips could be any more different LOL.

It’s our last day in Yosemite! Boooo. We did a semi hike earlier today along Yosemite Creek (4.4 miles round trip). This pic was taken at a look-out point on our way driving back along Tioga Pass. 1 more night of camping in June then we hit the road tomorrow for home.

Taken at the end of our 3.5 hour hike yesterday on the Glen Aulin Trail. After we reached the Falls we still had to hike back for a total of almost 7 hours and 8 miles! My body really feels it this morning and the strong winds aren’t helping!