Ski Trip

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of going skiing with Chucky and Nick Bell - I even met up with Jordan! The gear rental ticket allows the holder to switch between skiing and snowboarding free of charge, so I gave snowboarding a go. It is quite different from skiing, but pretty fun, too. I took several spills and one really nasty fall on the caboose, but I'm still kicking around, haha. I was really glad to put my snow pants to use at least once this year, too.

Take a look at these fabulous boys just before we hit the powder:



Jordan and his mom arrived well before I did, and by the time Chucky, Nick and I were just getting started, Jordan and Kim were about to leave. So, Jordan and I didn't get to hang out too much, but we did exchange Christmas gifts! He bought me the second book in the Twilight series (can't wait to see what trouble Bella and Edward get into), and I got him a photo of me pulling a face while he innocently smiled at the camera - HA! (It's become a sort of game between us and Jared, too.) Which is clearly why he got me in the photo below, haha:



After snowboarding for a few hours I decided to get on some skis and actually succeed in a snow sport that day. One of the big slopes was nice and lengthy and allowed for a good deal of speed, that one was my favorite. I got to see what a great snow boarder Chucky is! He's in love with it, haha! He loves it so much he managed to convince me down a black diamond that I certainly made it down (albeit at the pace of a snail for most of it). I'm glad I did it, though - it was empowering! Kind of. More frightening, I guess, haha.

Any way, I had a blast, and I'm really glad I let Chucky talk me into joining him. That evening was the terrible ice storm of 2008 and, lucky for us, Chucky didn't let us leave until 7:45p because by then the temperature had risen above freezing and the roads were much safer.

Here's a great photo of me and Chucky:



-Amanda

Purdue Graduation

I've done it! I am now a proud Purdue University alumna! After 4.5 years in Boiler Nation I am now pressing onward into the next chapter of life: The Real World. More on that later.

In case you're wondering, I've graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Network Engineering Technology (think design, implementation and maintenance of hardware for computer networks) and a minor in Organizational Leadership and Supervision.

A quick recap of my nine happy semesters:

Semester One: little freshman, triathlon club, NROTC, first triathlon, meeting heaps of new friends, started dating Roy

Semester Two: used to the college scene, still with Roy, triathlon club, NROTC, two more triathlons, WIT

Semester Three: first apartment, still with Roy, house parties galore, started getting into yoga, WIT President

Semester Four: dealing with a roommate friendship gone bad, more house parties, dabbling with running, WIT President

(Don't worry, my grades were still fantastic, tee hee!)

Semester Five: gained a new circle of friends, movie nights, started serving on the C&IT Industrial Advisory Board, WIT President, first studio apartment

Semester Six: developed a slight bout of Senioritis, WIT President, C&IT IAB, getting more into running, began to consider a Study Abroad,

Semester Seven: officially a senior, C&IT IAB, WIT President, finally turned 21, Breakfast Club, serious about running, pot luck roommate in a great, new apartment, started dating Adam, gained a new circle of friends

Semester Eight: in Australia, lots of traveling, met loads of new (international) friends, gained new perspectives on life and the world (see Australia blog for more)

Semester Nine: the home stretch, tried many new restaurants, celebrated my first one year anniversary, ran my first half-marathon, accepted a job with Lockheed Martin upon graduation

Ah... it's been a great experience. I love Purdue! I bleed black and gold! Here are some photos from Commencement in December 2008:

My family and I



My grandparents and I



My great friends Alex and Feras and I



My old friend, Tyler, and I



Me crossing the railroad tracks towards the south to represent the end of my undergraduate career and the beginning of my relationship with the Purdue Alumni family



Just a quick blurb about the actual ceremony - it wasn't as long as anyone expected - yippee! And that day was the coldest day of my life! -20 degree wind chill! No one who attended the ceremony that day will ever, ever forget how cold it was, haha! On a more serious note, I really enjoyed President France Cordova's words and the music. It felt so wonderful crossing that stage!

Thank you so much to my amazing family, friends and Purdue!

-Amanda

Master Bedroom Plan

I've been getting excited about dressing up my new apartment, and I thought I'd share a little about my plans. This post will detail my master bedroom. The color theme is of shimmery blues and a little brown, too.

Here is a photo of the curtains I chose.



And here is the bed set I purchased. This set is the beige color theme, whereas mine is actually the blue color theme which better matches the curtains above.



I've decided to paint the bedroom, but I'm undecided on what color and shade. I'm thinking a faint blue or maybe a light creamy color? I just want something other than white. I'm very tired of white walls.

As for furniture, I have a ways to go. I will be buying a dresser, and a night stand. I'd also like a shelving unit of some sort, if space allows.

For the master bathroom, I'm not sure what theme to go with. I don't want to do anything typical (i.e., the beach, fish, etc.). And my current bath decor will be made into the guest bath decor - that means the master bath can't be avocado green-based. Hmm... I'm thinking grey. Grey and silver, maybe? I'll have to think on that a bit.

So that's my master bedroom plan.

-Amanda

Graduation

I am proud to share with you that I am now a Purdue University alumna!

Despite the bitter, bitter cold weather, my family and grandparents shared the day with me in celebration. The ceremony was very pleasant and it was a great feeling to walk across the stage.

I want to thank my parents for their never-ending support, especially in these last 4.5 years. I love you, Mom and Daddy. Thank you.

I also want to thank the many friends I've made at Purdue. You have become my second family.

My grandparents took the photos today, and I don't have copies of them yet, but here is one of me and Purdue Pete from the Senior Send-Off event:



Boiler Up!

-Amanda

Opportunistic October

Whoops, I got out of order with my months. Oh, well. Here is October 2008:

Opportunity - a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances.

In October I was fortunate enough, once again, to be supported on a trip to Keystone, Colorado to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2008. The experience was priceless and I met several great women from across the world. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, the sessions and all of the fun stuff!

During one weekend the folks came up for a visit. We all went to Pepe's to visit Chucky while he was working. He hooked us up, and we returned the favor for his waiter Bingo, haha - his coworkers were not pleased that he won so quickly.

October holds a day that celebrates moldy cheese, appropriately named Moldy Cheese Day, haha - can you believe it? Because we love cheese, Adam and I bought some fancy cheese and bread and wine and had a nice little Italian dinner.

October break was fun and relaxing. I was lucky enough not to have much school work going on, and that always makes for a nice break. I remember that me and Adam had a pleasant weekend.

Adam took me to see another Margot concert. It was fantastic. I fell in love with them all over again with the release of their new album (Not/Animal).

On the 18th Adam and I ran the Indianapolis Mini Marathon with my mom! It was AWESOME! I had never ran for so long in one session, and I had never been SO sore (thank goodness for the hot tub), but it was completely worth it. Racing the mini was motivating, toned me up almost instantly, and I just loved it! My mom finished, then Adam, and then myself (my mom had trained a lot more than what Adam and I had). All of our times qualified us for the Indianapolis 500 Mini in the spring - I just booked my flight from Orlando for that race with my mom, actually. Ah, what a great race! I finished in 2 hours and 19 minutes. (Search for our names at this link for more details: http://www.tuxbro.com/results/2008/IM3/IMhalfa.htm )

October held the Computer and Information Technology Industrial Advisory Board meeting of the semester. Stephanie Semmel was new to the Board this year; she'll be taking over for me. I'm glad she enjoyed her position as the new student representative. As far as content discussed at the meeting, I think it's brilliant that the courses are being adjusted in the interest of retaining female student. Also, the C&IT labs are getting a lot of light.

Lastly, Halloween. What a FUN night! Adam, Kubacki, Feras and I went to Potter's party on the south side of Indy. Adam and Kubacki caught up with everyone while Feras and I had a goofy time together, haha. I'll never forget that night. Costume wise we were great - I was a librarian, Feras was Bob Marley, Kubacki was a SWAT guy, and Adam took the cake as Charlie Chaplin - it was priceless. This was also the first and only occasion I've seen Adam without his beard. It was kind of strange.

And that was October 2008.

-Amanda

Nostalgic November

Nostalgia: a bittersweet yearning for the things of the past

So befitting a post title for the eleventh month of 2008.

During November of this year my mom visited Adam and I at Purdue. We had a great evening during which we went to Akropolis for some delicious Greek cuisine (it was my mom's first time). Afterwards the three of us ventured back to campus for some gelato at Grey House.

I ran a 5-mile race with Mom - Run the Mounds. It was one of my worst runs (hers, too, if I remember correctly), but we were both very glad we got out there and ran. Plus there was an assortment of food and snacks afterwards, so that was really great. Plus, I just love running at Mounds State Park. It's where the birth of my passion for running took place.

The presidential election took place during this month. It was quite a hype leading up to the 4th, but afterwards it was fairly calm, if you ask me. I'm really happy about Barack Obama becoming the president-elect for the next presidential term in the USA. It's a tough time for the US, but we'll see what happens.

One night was particularly fun when me, Adam, Kubacki and Feras went to see Quantum of Solace (the second of the new bond movies) and then had dinner at Nine Irish Brother's. We had a spectacular time out that night.

During the weekend of and on the 8th of November Adam and I celebrated our one year anniversary. The day couldn't have been more perfect (with the exception of his becoming ill throughout the day = ( ... Regardless, we each enjoyed our gifts, and cherished the day and what it represented to us. I've never had the pleasure of sharing such a wonderful year with someone so amazing as Adam. I am thankful for every day of that year together.

In retrospect one can see how November would be such a nostalgic month for me. Among the memories reflected here in this post, It holds a tremendously beloved memory with someone very dear to my heart.

-Amanda

Friday Funday

Ergh, this is what happens when you wait months and months to write up a post. I was good and got the images uploaded (see below), but I don't have much of a post to go with them. So, I'll leave it at that and caption the photos for your enjoyment.


Stephanie, me, Candice and Jen with the GHC 2008 sign


Myself with the Lockheed Martin recruiting team


A really pretty sunrise Friday morning


Two USS Grace Hopper sea mates and myself

Sweet September

September happens to be one of my favorite months of the year. I love autumn, the weather is starting to change, college football is rolling, and, not to mention, it brings with it my birthday!

I say sweet September because it was such a sweet month. Sweet is a word meaning "pleasing to the mind or feeling." And September was just that: pleasing.

Classes were getting going and were going well. Adam and I thoroughly enjoyed Breakfast Club craziness and a few home football games at Purdue (though the team had a kind of rough year).

Karan and Ed took me and Adam to Nine Irish Brother's for dinner one weekend - so delicious. It was a very pleasant visit.

One of the first couple weeks of September was Purdue's Black, Gold and Green week to demonstrate the ways in which Purdue was becoming more and more environmentally friendly. I really enjoyed that but I ask why can't it be more than just one week. Alas, it's a start in the right direction.

As I was fortunate enough to receive some financial support through some scholarships from the College of Technology, I attended a scholarship reception. It was very well enjoyed. Many students received scholarships, and the keynote, Abelardo, shared a truly amazing and moving story about his path to further his education at Purdue.

I had the pleasure of meeting Eric and Georgie at Grey House a couple times for tea and gellato! Georgie is an exchange student from Australia - Brisbane, QUT to be specific. It was great to catch up with her and Eric and talk about our trips.

Once again I got a group together to pay a semesterly trip to Hei Sei (Pratt, myself, Adam, and the Sees). As always, it was a good time and great sushi! Mmm!

A new tradition crept up during September: movie nights with ice cream breaks at Cold Stone's Creamery! I wonder why I hadn't come up with that idea sooner?! Kubacki, Adam, Feras and I took full advantage of those nights. Typically they fell on Sundays, and those days, according to Feras, are the days when I become super goofy, haha.

And, lastly, my favorite trend of the semester began, and that would be visits to The Hookah. I love that place so much, and it has provided me with many cherished memories.

Ah, September 2008. Ever so sweet.

Ambitious August

I've been slacking with the posts this semester - goes to show what a busy final semester of college it has been! Let me get started:

I'd like to begin by defining the term "ambition." Ambition is a cherished desire. In August my desires were many, but a few note-worthies would be to kick off a great final semester, to grow with Adam and to enjoy life. I'm happy to report that I was ambitious and met my desires.

Now the quick-n-dirty run down on what all I was getting up to during August:

During the first half of August I completed my second internship with Lockheed Martin. It was another great internship, although I missed Kristin's company dearly. I had several visitors: Mom, Aunt Dawn and Grandma visited one weekend, and Adam came down for a weekend, too.

A few times I got together with friends to watch the Colts season get started. It was a rough start, but I still bleed blue, and you better believe it! I finally got a #18 Colts jersey (for my birthday), which I wear on Colts Sundays, naturally.

The summer olympics were fantastic to keep up with. As a swimmer I really enjoyed watching Phelps set so many phenomenal records! The gymnasts were fun to watch, too (thought I was a little disgruntled about the whole age episode with China).

When I returned to Indiana I ran a great race at the Kernal Klassic 5K with my folks and Sam. We took a photo with Garfield and were dubbed "the running family." Immediately after the race I headed up to the Indiana Dunes to spend the weekend with Adam and his crew. We jumped the dunes, built a sand Egypt and visited the casino.

Next on the agenda was to move up to Purdue. Adam was a tremendous help in the effort (I have lots of stuff). That week we celebrated Michelle's up-coming trip to Dominica for a doctorate program she's partaking in. That night was a ton of fun, and I paid dearly for it that night and all the next two days, haha. Adam took such great care of me. Also this week we visited Adam's folks at their recently acquired lake cabin - it's so cute, and such a beautiful lake!

And then it was time for classes to start. I, of course, was all excited and ambitious. That attitude didn't last any longer than it usually does, but it was a great start, nonetheless. There was a nice welcome back reception for spring Study Abroad-ers. Adam took me to an excellent concert of the Counting Crows, Augustana, and Maroon 5 - we loved it!

Labor Day weekend was one of my favorite camping trips! We played bags and cards and swam and played frisbee! It was a blast. Not to mention the company - we'd never camped with Lynn, Mike and the boys previously, but they were great!

And that was my August 2008.

November Photos

November 2/2
November 1/2