You know those weeks when everything just piles up and you somehow wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into? Ah, yes… this was one of those weeks. And I’m only saying this on Wednesday. HA!
I’ve got some beef with the USPS, as 3 of my grad school applications were due yesterday and I only found out on MONDAY that all 3 of those schools were still missing one or more letters of recommendation. In graduate school, they expect you to be mature and to have your shit together, so when you call them panicking about missing letters of recommendation, it probably makes you look a bit wacko and unprepared. Being the organized OCD freak that I am, I triple checked each of those addresses, hand wrote them and put multiple stamps on the envelopes which I enclosed in a larger envelope to each of my references. All they had to do was write the letter, seal it up and pop it in a mailbox. Easy enough, right? No. Not at all.
I know my references well… and I knew they wouldn’t have screwed me and forgotten to do this, especially since I diligently checked with each of them every 3 weeks to make sure deadlines were met. So… detective Eliza here figures that 1 of 2 entities are at fault: either the admissions offices at these schools (EVERY SINGLE ONE) misplaced the letters or the post office hates on mail that is labeled “IMPORTANT – DO NOT BEND – CONFIDENTIAL.” I’m leaning toward suspect 2.
Anyway… this meant that yesterday at work between plowing through emails from clients and answering phone calls wondering if we were still functioning from the snow storm (22 inches on Oct. 29 – the Apocalypse is coming, for sure), I was blasting emails to admissions offices and my references in a momentary freak out that my applications would be trashed because they were missing one or more letters. Luckily all of my awesome references were able to answer me ASAP to get temporary electronic copies to these schools so they wouldn’t stamp my apps with the dreaded “INCOMPLETE” from hell. Talk about getting a girl worked up. You spend all this time (years… YEARS people) taking prerequsite classes and volunteering and writing essays and getting people to commit to writing letters for you in the first place, and it can all get flushed down the toilet due to a post office mistake.
The lesson from all this? Don’t be afraid to badger the admissions offices to make sure every damn piece of your application has been received. I will surely be doing this for the next 4 due in January. And I’ll be making these phone calls momentarily… never too early, right? Okay, maybe a little early… happy medium, Eliza, happy medium.
And about that snow storm? Take a look at these totals:
Talk about an ass kicker. Made me super thankful to have my 4wd since everyone, regardless of how long they’ve lived in New England, forgets how to drive in snow during that first storm. I even got to play rescue hero and helped a few people that got stuck, which is more than I can say for the police officer that looked at me dumbfounded while I pushed a lady’s car up a hill… thanks for the help, buddy.
In other news… totally missed having dinner with Honey Bear last night. BUT – was happy to be in bed before midnight on a Tuesday which has definitely not happened over the past month and a half. They did reschedule my class from last week in which the speaker never showed up, so next week will be the official last professional development trip to the big city. Sad face.
And this – because this post is already a smorgasbord, however this is relevant to the snow storm: what are your favorite brands for ski/winter jackets? I was spoiled 2 years ago and bought myself a $300 Marmot jacket that I found at TJ Maxx (yes, I am a Maxxinista) for $65. However, this jacket is size XS. It really fits like a small, and I would be more comfortable in a medium… so a Marmot small? I digress… this XS I pulled out of my closet, still in impeccable shape, hardly zippers over the tub-o-tummy I’m sporting. Which now has me thinking… how the hell is it possible that my weight fluctuates so much? When I bought that jacket I was having a skinny streak which was mostly due to jobless stress (shouldn’t have been buying a jacket) and lots of extracurricular sexy time (and by lots I mean in short, non-sweat breaking sac sessions because let me be quite honest, because it’s my blog and I can, Not The One was a minuteman). Maybe lots of lost calories? Maybe. But after I broke my ankle back in March of this year, I’ve slowly been creeping up the scale… so much so that I realize I am now about 25lbs heavier than I was at my skinny streak. OUCH. Yes… clearly I am not getting any sexy time in, nor have I been hitting the gym due to my serious lack in time to do anything these days. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that I sit at a desk all day?
Uggggh. Getting frustrated here, people. Friends will tell me that they hardly notice a difference, as I guess with my frame I somehow even out the weight I gain so it looks more like a 5lb increase instead of the 25lbs. But, I’m also that girl that can stand on a scale one day and weight +/- 5lbs the next day. Why is that??? They did not teach me about this in A+P.
So, new plan. Help me. I have no extra cash for a gym membership and it’s getting super cold outside… which my asthma hates. I don’t eat much junk, at all really. I will admit to my ice cream sweet tooth but I’ve really kept it under control as of late. I know I need to cut the carbs, but this girl loves her pasta. My doctor suggested the Paleo Diet to me months ago as an overall cleanse since I had been so stagnate in a cast. I’m thinking it’s about time I tried it, however the very thought of life without pasta, cheese, or an occasional sugar burst terrifies me! Have any of you tried this way of eating? Is it even physically possible? Also, any indoor, limited space, low budget exercises you can recommend? I need some serious motivation that is not related to graduate school, pronto.
And yes… I attribute at least 5 of those lbs to my 2 trips to the North End. See here and here.
Okay, kids. I’ll shut up now. :)
xoxo, E.
gabs from eliza 