Life Update: School, Family, Work, Hair...You know, the important things

School
I must say that I enjoy being back in school and am not too ashamed to admit that one of those reasons is that while in school I don't feel too bad about not working full-time somewhere. Granted, with going to class and having homework, I put in almost as many hours as a full-time job but it's totally different, I don't care what anyone says.

I have three classes this semester: Intermediate Accounting, Cost Accounting, and Individual Tax. The latter class is my favorite, partially due to the course content and partially due to the professor. My other two classes aren't difficult classes but the professors have wonky teaching styles, so the classes tend to be a bit more challenging than they probably should be. Oh well, I love a good academic challenge, especially when I end up getting As, which I am on track to get in all three classes.

I'm not really good at making friends in my classes, especially at the beginning. I tend to like to work out problems on my own, I learn the material better that way, so I kind of stick to myself. Eventually, though, I get to know the people in my classes (and I end up being known as a smartie) and really enjoy becoming friendly with them. While getting my undergrad at SUU, I ended up making some really good friends from my classes. This is beginning to happen in my classes here at Weber. I'm already becoming friends with a gal in my Cost Accounting class and slowly I'm getting to know other people in my classes, talking to them about homework, the professors, our career plans, etc. Even though it takes me a bit of time to get to this point, I really like the social element of school.

Work
When I started school, Steve told me that he was fine if I didn't work at all, so I could concentrate on school. That was really sweet, but I kind of wanted to work a little to kind of help with the family finances, even if just a tiny bit. I told him I'd work part-time but only if I got something on campus. Well, I did! Yay! I work 20 hours a week at the Student Health Center and really enjoy it. They understand that I'm a student first so have worked with me if I needed to miss work to finish a huge project and they allow me to do homework at work if it's slow. And of course they work around my school schedule. It's pretty much perfect for me. And, I really like everyone I work with. Colette, the office manager, is my direct supervisor. We sit at the front desk and help the students when they come in to see one of the two doctors on staff. It's also great because I don't work weekends, nights, or holidays! In fact, I don't think I work at all after the semester ends and I know I have the summer off. So, it's not a ton of money, but I feel good about bringing a little to the table and it actually does help with our budget and financial goals.

Family
After making several trips to Cedar and other various places to see family over the summer, after we went to my nephew's baptism the first weekend in September, Steve and I decided to not take any big trips until Thanksgiving. I kind of thought I'd be bereft of seeing my family for all that time...silly Julie! We ended up seeing my brother who lives in Sandy for 4 weekends in a row after that and October was chock full of family visits!

My youngest brother visited the first weekend, along with his girlfriend (now fiancee) and her son. We had a blast going to Lagoon with them and just sitting around playing games and chatting. The next weekend my mom came up. The best part of her visit was that she came up just to see us - there was no other reason. It felt good that she had just wanted to spend time with us. We had a lot of fun with her. Steve was working when she got here Friday evening, so I got to spend a few hours just her and me, which was really wonderful. We showed her some of our favorite things in our area and just really enjoyed her company. Two weekends later, my dad, stepmom, and little sister came up to go to the Weber State vs. SUU football game. It was a fun game to go to, even though Weber shot themselves in the foot with all their penalties. I even got to see my great friend, Cardine, at the game - Bonus! Finally, last weekend we babysat my nephew while Jason and Rachel attended the University of Utah football game. My nephew absolutely adores Steve and our dog, Sadie, so a good time was had by all. And, we wore both him and Sadie out by throwing the ball around the fenced in tennis court.

I'm blessed to have such a close family and really enjoyed getting to have so many fun visits from them lately.

Hair
In September I decided to have my hair cut short. It wasn't a HUGE difference because my hair was currently an A-line bob just a couple inches below my chin. After the hair cut, the front was just a couple inches shorter, the big difference was the back - it was short. I liked it, though I didn't love the front so ended up tucking it behind my ears all the time. A couple days ago, I went in for a touch up and ended up with even shorter hair. I liked it a lot though. Then this morning, I got the crazy idea to cut my bangs. It had been so long since I had cut my own bangs that I had forgotten the cardinal rules*. Now instead of having whispy, feminine, adult bangs, I have chunky, blunt, child-like bangs. Oh, and for the first time since cutting my hair short, I feel really boyish.

Now, I could totally let this ruin my life, or I can remember that hair grows back - in fact, bangs tend to grow faster than other hair - and have fun with my new look.

The biggest hurdle to this latter, and better, approach is my husband. It's funny how much more I worry about how I look now that I'm married. Before, I wanted to look good to hopefully be found attractive by a guy who would then want to date me. However, I had this idea that they get what they see, so if I had blonde hair, they'd better like blondes, etc. Now though, it's harder (though obviously not impossible) for me to change my look because I kind of feel like Steve fell for a girl who looked a certain way and if I change that look it's kind of unfair to him. Fortunately, he says he loves me no matter what I look like, that I look beautiful no matter what, but I still want to look my best for him.

Oh well, tough noogies. Me being me, I change my hair. Sometimes it's going to look really good, other times it may not. Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun with short hair...just not the uber short bangs.

Life
Life is good. One indication of that for me is not ever dreading a certain day, especially Mondays. Of course I still prefer the weekend because I get to see Steve more and we have lots of fun together, but I never wake up wishing it weren't that day. Thursdays are my longest days but even then, I don't mind them because I enjoy what I'm doing throughout the day.

What's not to enjoy? I am married to the most wonderful man I've ever known, we have a comfortable, nice home and a crazy, cute dog, I'm healthy both body and mind, I get to go to school to learn new things and meet new people, I have a job I enjoy, and my life is filled with wonderful friends and family.

Yeah, life is defitely good.

* The first cardinal rule = Don't Ever Cut Your Own Bangs. If you sin against this rule, please remember the following: don't cut your bangs while hair is still wet and always cut them longer than you think they should be. Since you tend to pull your hair down before you cut, if you cut them where you think you want them, when you let go of the hair, they'll be a good deal shorter than you wanted.