+adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience

Today is the last day of April.
One month ago today I was at Allen Fieldhouse watching the Jayhawks make it past the Final Four and into the NCAA national championship game! I was less than 24 hours from flying to Nashville for a job interview and little did I know, being proposed to by the man of my dreams.

One month from today will be the last day of May.
I will be working side by side the Director of Orientation at Belmont, about ready to take over while he has family time. I will be leading undergraduates at Belmont and orienting the newest Freshmen to campus.

Today, I celebrated with my classmates and faculty members as we finished our Capstone course - comprehensive exams done (and passed!)... poster presentations conquered. Today was also the day I completed my for-credit internship paperwork. One finance paper is all that academically stands in my way of being officially hooded (next Friday!).

Last week + 2 days I ran a half-marathon.
Next week + 4 days is the official end of Devon and me being in a long-distance relationship.

Not that this Spring is eventful or anything like that.

+now we're standing side by side

Out of order posting - you ready for it, blogging world?

I think that I have a picture of myself from some event from almost every day of April. Busiest, craziest, best month of my life.

So today, I want to introduce... no... what do you call it when you're adjourning? Presenting? Bah, forget the correct word choice... here are my women, full of personality, goofiness and love, from our final big event together. The highs and lows and everything in between are all so worth it at the end, aren't they? Big risks, big rewards.

Margaret Amini, '11-'12

Hall Staff & President

 

 

My first wedding present! Hand-crafted bowls
from a Kansas City artist.Thoughtful.

+the skies are dark, they're dark but they're clear

Anyone who works in the university world knows that the end of the year is all about celebrating and honoring the accomplishments of the year. It. Is. Awesome. From attending thesis presentations by talented and hard-working students to letting staff and leaders know that their hard work was meaningful and made a difference, banquets and plaques and balloons and food is everywhere you look.

This past weekend I watched my men's hall close their year at their Senior Farewell Banquet. The Seniors gave a rousing account of stories of their time in college and advice to the newest men in the hall. Inspiring and hilarious -- both just make me full of pride. Afterwards, we all attended the annual Spring Semi-Formal for all the Scholarship Halls. My fabulous grad staff and supervisor are pictured here. Looking clean and fresh, happy spring to all!

KK Amini Scholarship Hall, '11-'12

Scholarship Hall Grad Staff & Nicole '11-'12

the Greta!

+ode to my favorite pair of running shoes

Well, I knew this day would come at some point, but it's time to retire my favorite pair of running shoes. Since July 2011 I have purchased 5 pairs of running shoes. Sick, right? Except for the fact that each pair of shoes only gets about 300-400 miles on 'em. When you consider the sort of mileage needed for my training, that means shoes don't last as long as you think they should. All my shoes are Brooks (shoe snob?) And all came from a quaint little running shop in downtown Lawrence. Like you have a favorite pair of jeans, I have a favorite pair of shoes. I use them only for days I feel really good and then for every race (as a bit of luck). This post is my honorary they-need-to-be-retired-already post. Goodbye wonderful Green Silences, I will miss you!

 These are the Brooks Green Silences. They are lightweight, look cool, and have seen me through so many miles. This picture is from my first 18 mile run back in the Fall. 

 

They also were on my feet when I placed 3rd in a 5K. This pic is with my graduate school cohort who ran the 5K with me. I think it was the first time I actually placed in a race!

 

They not only carried me through July to November of training, but they were the pair that I laced up for race day - 26.2 miles and faithful as ever.

And this past Sunday was the day they were retired. I rotated them in and out of my training runs all spring for a half-marathon, and I knew they were already needing replacing. But, the nostalgia was too much... I still had to wear them. My knees are a bit achy from wearing slightly worn out shoes, but it was worth it.

But! Thanks to a great find from Greta, a new pair is now in my possession! Here's to Chicago and to my 2nd pair of the most amazing shoe ever made!

+i think the finish line's a good place we could start, take a deep breath, take in all that you could want

Yes, the blog is open-access again. That may be because the job search is (drum roll)... OVER! All in all, what a wild semester. The month of April has been the most life-changing (literally) months to-date. And it's not even over yet! I will make an ode-to-April blog post, for certain. But for now, welcome back readers and enjoy the rantings and thoughts from Heather all over again!

+explaining that I'm just visiting

Tonight, as my tweet alluded to, was a night to remember. In my work in housing and student life so far, there are a couple of key moments that stand out as "epic." Last year's winning moment was a male staff member's goodbye on his graduation day and the heartfelt thank you card he gave me. I sat in my office for an hour and cried. Embarrassing, sure, but my first year of grad school was long- the start of a distance relationship, starting my entire life over in a new state, learning and being pushed to my limits. That thank you meant more to me than he realized.

The moment tonight tugged my heart strings much the same. This week the stress was comps and family and just feeling the distance from the fiancé. My day was long, full of tough conversations with students in hard places academically and emotionally. I got down to dinner around 7pm and one of my women was just getting home from work. She and I go to church together, so we talked about life. She asked all the right questions, "How is your family? How is Devon? How are you holding up?" and then she said to me, "Can I just pray for you?" and the tears started. The most meaningful words said to our mutual heavenly Father. What. A. Moment.

And so the world is now in perspective. The opportunities are so exciting. And between her prayer and Devon's prayers and the thoughts and prayers of so many, I am feeling blessed and cared for and like I need to give the whole world a hug!

+You capture me and You carry me home

My comprehensive exams start tomorrow morning. I am not nervous at all, and that may be in part due to the big finance exam I have tonight, and the day full of appointments with prospective students to the School of Education. Keeping busy is a great distractor.

But I feel so overwhelmingly blessed. It's funny how good things are despite lots of other things crumbling. I do not have a full time job yet, my laptop computer crashed and died this week (5 years strong!), I had to have a strange ear procedure at the doctor's office because I couldn't hear out of my ear earlier this week, Devon has had to have unexpected dental expenses, and we have been searching (much in vain) for a wedding venue.  But despite all the crazy - I feel so calm, collected, loved, at peace, guided, and stable. Great conversations, sunny weather, great runs, family, support, and a confidence in myself that I did not have moving out here 2 years ago.

Ready for the push to the end. Ready for these comprehensive exams to be done. Ready, ready, ready.

+the crickets all leapt up and met the moon in a standing ovation

This week has been sleep deprived, full of nerves, and full of absolute joy! So good to catch up with old, dear friends, and to celebrate with new friends. And if I thought dating at a distance was rough, being engaged at a distance is even rougher. All the stories and excitement, but not getting to look Devon in the eyes is hard! Luckily, we have gmail for long catch ups when we don't have time, google docs for starting the wedding guest invite list, and phones that help us to not skip a beat. And these words keep me calm:

"...And thank you for being low key with planning.  I think our number one goal should be enjoying this process.  Because it's gonna be stressful, we'll probably argue about stuff, and fold our arms from time to time.  But I never want to stop focusing on the fact that WE'RE GETTING MARRIED." -DN

My mental image of "folding our arms from time to time" makes me giggle. But he's right. I'm sure it will happen.

But for now... there are BIGGER fish to fry - my Master's comprehensive exam is this Friday. So I will be putting my pinterest  planning thoughts on the shelf and get ready for my biggest academic challenge to date. Cheers!

+would you let me see the world, behind your eyes

A month without blogging is such an anomaly for me. But this month has been jam-packed with goodness. Since last I posted, I have celebrated a couple of great march madness tournament games with everyone here in Lawrence (rockchalk!), I have flown to Nashville to interview for my first professional job, and I have become an engaged lady. Whoever named it March madness or who coined the term April Fools needs a pat on the back - that is just what they are!

I have been engaged for just 5 days now and each day I still am surprised to see a ring on my left hand. I am so blessed to have Devon in my life and even more blessed that I get to call him my Husband (I'd be lying if I didn't say the word fiance is pretty fun too!)

I have never been a HUGE fan of gals who post their every life story detail online- an abbreviated version and pictures is more my style.

The story:

Heather flies into town for job interview.
Devon connects up to walk around Belmont's campus.
They sit in a gazebo on the main quad.
Devon asks Heather to be his wife.
Heather says, "of course of course of course!"
The end!

And photos. The quality is a little lacking - they were iPhone photos at 10:30 or so at night - oh well! :)

 

A couple of moments afterwards. All tears and smiles!

 

Documenting the gazebo. Oh, sweet wonderful Belmont!

 

Kelly & Drew found us! So happy, so goofy.

A day of blissful planning and talking and tearing up with Kelly. So thankful for time together!

Upon arriving back in Lawrence, KS, my lady friends threw me a little shindig with champagne, flowers, notes, cookies, and magazines :)

+i'll put one foot in front of the other one, i don't need a new love or a new life

I love perspective. So here are some academic milestones for ya: 

In High School I was stressing about all the AP and IB exams I was about to take:
espereencristo.livejournal.com/2006/05/11/
Best quote from this, "I never knew what i was getting myself into. And now that it's done? I really don't think i could feel more accomplished." -18 year old Heather

In College, I was stressing about the 35 page Political Science senior thesis I was writing/presenting:
http://hlpie.blogspot.com/2009/03/wholly-unproductive.html

And now in Graduate School, looks like I'm stressing again. This time, it's comprehensive exams. The way our capstone course works is that we have 2 practice case studies before the actual case study is given on Friday, April 13. The actual comp? 25 pages summarized 6 core courses and all the brain power and problem solving we can muster. The practice versions? Just as rough. Without boring you with the details, here is the first and second spread I have had for days of writing:

If you need to know anything about how college are structured, how colleges come to be a part of the American landscape, how to assess or evaluate any program you have on your campus, the research on college students and what programs increase their involvement or engagement, or if you'd like to know how to get something done based on your college's organizational structure, I am your gal. That's right.... throw a case at me, I'm ready to tell you (in 25 pages or less) how to solve anything! Err... that is what the goal is :)