Life as I know it....

It has been long, way too long, since I have written a blog post. I don’t know how many of you out there are bloggers, but even being the basic beginner blogger that I am; I seem to go in spurts. I love, love doing it for awhile and then it just becomes another thing on the never ending “to-do” lists….and quite frankly, sometimes something has to give and that “something” often becomes the optional things in my life, such as this blog.


With that said, I have had folks remind me lately that they do enjoy my blog and honestly, so do I. So, here we go.


As I am writing this blog, I am sitting in a St. Louis hotel having accompanied 5 students to a leadership conference. I enjoy conferences like this because there are a limited number of things for advisors to participate in and therefore I have time to get some work done, or in this case, write a blog update. I am also feeding my Starbucks addiction in the hotel lobby killing two birds with one stone; the first being my caffeine addiction, the other being visible for my students should they need to find me. And truth be told, I would feel guilty if I were in my room snoozing away when I insist that they attend every available workshop time at the conference.


So, seeing as though it has been since August that I posted, life as I know it as changed quite a bit.


The new academic year has started with a bang. Students are keeping me on my toes and causing me to laugh a lot as well as stress quite a bit. I have recently discovered I need to find away to manage my stress a bit better. Being awake from 2:30-5 a.m. on a regular basis worrying about work related issues is not helping me out at all. My higher education friends can probably relate in that so much of my work is related to how others choose to behave. In other words, my stress can be pretty directly linked to the fact that students on my campus have been making some relatively poor choices as of late. Their choices have a direct impact on my job, and therefore on my sleeping pattern. And they wonder why I am so bitchy? ;) It also makes me wonder what I should be doing in my position to help them make better choices, what we can do as an institution, etc. etc.


$hit…my blood pressure is rising just writing about it.


Seriously.


On a more positive note related to work, I am coming up on my 1 year anniversary at my job. I am very much enjoying the people I work with and the students (even the misbehaving ones…they make me better at my job and hopefully I help them learn from their behaviors), the town is starting to feel like home and I am getting more and more settled into my house. I have recently started playing Bunco, which I used to make fun of as an old ladies game. But, it’s a great way to visit with ladies in the area and make new friends as well as drink a glass of wine. So there. And I am not old- even though I did recently find two grey hairs.


I also seem to be surrounded by babies, women getting ready to have babies, people talking about making babies, people getting married, talking about getting married, etc. etc.


And, I have a confession.


I am jealous.


I am envious.


And the pity party portion of this blog post begins.


I recently ended a relationship. And it was certainly the best decision for both of us. And we will still remain good friends. But, I would remiss if I didn’t think in the back of my mind, “Damn it. Now I have to start all over. I am 32 years old. I need to find the right man. Marry him. And pop out a kid if I don’t want to be 50 taking my kid to kindergarten”.


I have gone on a few less than stellar first dates recently. Let’s recap the top three:


• Church dude ended up being a bit of a creeper.


• Guy admits on a first date that he recently got a DUI and has one of the breathalyzer things in his car that he has to use before he drives.


• Guy admits that he and his ex-wife did not engage in “relations” for the last three years of their marriage.


WTF?


Are you serious?


Not to toot my own horn, but I am a good catch. I am intelligent, educated, well employed, funny as hell, pretty cute on most days….


Yet I am a magnet for f-ed up men.


Seriously.


But, on a less pity-party-ish note, my sister and niece are coming to visit next weekend. I am way excited! And, my sister doesn't know it, I am also hopeful that she will help me paint a few rooms of my house so I can wrap up that project.


And, for those people that have asked, I will soon be sharing the funny, or less than funny but with a Tiffany twist, stories of my college student experiences. Apparently people enjoy hearing about happenings of a college professional.


So, life as I know it right now is a pretty mixed bag. But I try to, on a daily basis, remind myself that I am blessed in many, many ways and that there is plan for me (even if I don’t know what it is yet) and that eventually everything will fall into place.


But patience is not one of my strongest virtues.


Seriously.


But I am trying.


Really.


At least for the next few minutes.