It Was His Lucky Day

Earlier today, just as I was getting cozy about to study in the second story room we like to call "the room with the desk in it" or "the room with the winter clothes," I looked out the window that faces one of the green fields in our yard and saw THIS!

At first glance, I thought it was just a branch from a tree. As you can see, Adam has plowed the field which typically results in the parallel lines that you see. I thought to myself, how in the world did a branch end up in the middle of that field lying noticeably perpendicular to the plowed lines? So I started watching it and the branch began to slither across the dirt!

A SNAKE! (As a shiver runs up my spine!)

Are you kidding me? I have lived here almost a year and have NEVER seen a snake on this mountain. I believe Adam even told me once that snakes don't like it on the top of this dry mountain. I'm not usually this dramatic and yes I've seen plenty of snakes in my lifetime but if you only how knew much this new discovery makes my skin crawl!!! I lay out in this yard! I used to lay out in this yard! And my sweet 7 pound little LuLu roams these woods! Please don't get me wrong. I love all the animals in our yard...the deer, turkeys, and rabbits, but a snake hardly makes the list!

As I realized what it was, I quickly grabbed my camera and took pictures first from the upstairs because I knew Adam wouldn't believe me. Then, I realized I HAD to know what kind of snake it was. LuLu was just playing in that field this morning! I quickly ran outside and hopped on the 4-wheeler to go get a closer look. It truly sickened me to watch it slither through the grass. God only knows what I would've done to that thing had I grabbed something other than my camera if you know what I mean! Well anyways I got some closer shots of the creepy little thing. (Keep in mind I have pretty good lenses with pretty good zooming capabilities on my camera. I didn't get that close! It makes the hair stand up on my arms thinking about it!)

Shortly after, Not soon enough later, Adam came home and looked at the pictures only to inform me that it was "just a chicken snake" and that he wouldn't have killed it anyway. We will just have to see next time should he show up again! All I can say is it was his lucky day!

 

What's Next??? Boards. Job. Vacay.

Now that I am done with school, the real studying begins!  Over the next few weeks, I will do the most important studying for the 2 most important tests I will ever take.  I will be taking the boards to become a pharmacist. One test is the national test and one is the Alabama law test. Sadly, going to school for 8 years and getting a doctorate is only half of the story.  My degree is pretty much useless without passing my tests. $700 later, I have applied to take the 2 tests. And $300 more later, I have applied to the ALBOP (Alabama Board of Pharmacy) to get my license to practice pharmacy...once I have passed my tests. Someone forgot to tell me about this $ part! I thought I was done with paying for school! I nearly died when I realized how much it was going to cost to get my license assuming I pass the tests the first time. But as the saying goes, it is what it is.

Once I pass boards, I will be a licensed pharmacist at the Wal-Mart in Pell City, Alabama.  I have interned with Wal-Mart for 3 years in my hometown and was fortunate to get a pharmacist job at a different store close to Clay County. I will continue to work between now and licensure as a Post-grad Intern then transition into the pharmacist position.  I look forward to starting work at my new store soon!

During the hiring process, I made sure there was one thing that needed to get cleared before things went any further...a one week vacation planned for the end of June!!! Adam and I are taking a little trip back down to the Caribbean to ~JAMAICA~ for our 1 year anniversary and my graduation trip (and hopefully celebratory trip for passing the boards)! We enjoyed our honeymoon so much and said we would "come back" next year. So, we are!  We are getting excited!

Life is changing so quickly these days. Pray for me as I am studying, starting my job, and adapting to life without school. I'm thrilled about starting this new season of life.

PHARMACY SCHOOL GRADUATION

I don't even know where to begin. The road to and through pharmacy school has been a long but worthwhile one. While I was sitting there on the coliseum floor waiting to officially graduate and get my hard-earned doctoral degree hood, I couldn't help but to reminisce about all the experiences I had encountered throughout life that helped me get to where I was at that moment. I thought about all the people in my life that have done nothing short of encourage me, listen to me gripe and whine, and love me through it all. I thought mostly of my parent's honesty, financial and loving support. I thought of Adam who was ever so patient with me while studying and stressing almost daily throughout pharmacy school and especially during our first year of marriage, my last year of pharmacy school. There were so many others who prayed for me and also encouraged me throughout it all that also crossed my mind. I couldn't have done it without each and every person and I am so thankful for those who helped make my journey a success!

So, after 8 long years...I am happy more than proud, honored, and excited to say I am finally done with school!!! I have earned a PharmD degree which is a Doctor of Pharmacy. (Yep! I'm a doctor!) Strange and exciting! I am a double Auburn Alum which I, of course, LOVE! War Eagle! Auburn has been my second home for nearly a 1/3 of my life and for the last 8 years. I have been in school for 21 of 26 years of my life so I think it would be an understatement to say it's going to be weird to not be a student in school! It's going to be a new way of life, a new chapter, a new season that I am very excited to begin! At this point, however, I think I should be honest and admit that I might probably will be going back to school to get my MBA. I know. I'm crazy! More school. But I love school (obviously) and I love to learn. More on that in the future. I hope to become a triple Auburn Alum one day. I think its safe to say Auburn will always have my heart! :)

Graduation day was a wonderful! I was surrounded with the people I love most to help me celebrate! And of course, we took plenty of pictures to capture it! Here are a few! Enjoy! And War Eagle!

Everyone.

My family.

Adam's family

My aunt and uncle.

My grandmother.

LET'S PLAY CATCH-UP!

I'm still here I promise. I have some a lot of catching up to do. Over the last few months, I have been so busy as usual... trying to finish up pharmacy school, which I did, YESTERDAY! More on that later. I guess for this post I'll just start where I left off in February/March. Here are the highlights of the last few months.

FEBRUARY
Adam and I attended "Couples Game Night" at our friends Zack and Samantha's house. We all bring food and play games. It usually gets pretty loud since we are all pretty competitive, but it's so fun and FUNNY!

This was us trying to pop a balloon between us! It was HILARIOUS!

Group pic.

MARCH
In March, I ran in a 5K in Troy to raise scholarship money for the Troy Junior Women's League. It was started in honor of one of it's members Brittany Shepard Pugh who passed away along with her 1 year old son, Shep, last March in a car accident. I came to know Brittany through a friend, Clint, who I went to school with growing up. She and Clint met in college at Troy and got married. Brittany was one of the most beautiful (inside and out) and funniest people so its no surprise they started a scholarship fund and race in her name. I got to see and catch up with old friends from high school. It was a huge success. I'm looking forward to next year's race already!

With Clint.

APRIL
In April, Elena and I ran in another 5K in Auburn. It started at Toomers Corner and ended on the 50 yard line in Jordan Hare Stadium.

They also had a 1 mile fun run and a 10 K.

This was just the 5K runners!

After the race.

After the race.

We celebrated Easter of course.

And lastly in April, I attended a women's conference in Birmingham. It was really good. They had so many great singers and speakers like MercyMe, Kim and Krickitt Carpenter (the couple from The Vow),  Candace Cameron Bure (DJ Tanner from Full House), Sarah Palin, and so many others. I hope I get to go back next year!

MAY
And now we are in May. I worked at Wal-Mart in Troy at the beginning of May to finish up some hours for school.

Adam and I went to another game night at The Baggett's appropriately themed for Cinco de Mayo.

The girls.

We were playing Catch Phrase. This was me trying to explain the word to Adam! HAHA!

The group.

And lastly so far in May, I GRADUATED yesterday! I'm saving that for a post of its own coming next.

So, that pretty much sums up the last few months. :)

Until next time...
 

TaDaaaa

TaDaaaa!
At least that's what I felt like the person was saying to me when my wedding dress somehow crammed in to this cardboard box was handed over to me. I'm really not sure how it all fit and I really hope I don't open it one day to find the skirt missing or something!

I decided I wanted to have my wedding dress preserved during the wedding planning process when my mom and I were looking at hers and how it had aged and discolored. I couldn't have worn any piece of it if I wanted to, but I was able to take some lace from her veil for my bouquet. A few weeks and a couple hundred dollars later, (Yes, can you believe that? I told Adam I was in the wrong profession.) it was ready to be picked up at the place I had it preserved in Birmingham. I thought they did a great job based on the appearance, but only time will truly tell if the preservation really works. You probably can't tell in the photo, but my veil is laying over my dress as well. So, it's all in there should I have a daughter and in my dreams God-willing she wants to wear it or some part of it. It also came with some fancy schmancy gloves to wear in case I ever want to take it out of the box.

Here are just a few photos looking back at THE DRESS.
This was the first time I put on the dress. As you can tell, I was loving it and knowing it was the one!

A few months later, my actual dress came in and this was the second time I put it on. I was still loving it which was really good considering how much I worried over how I would feel about it once a few months had lapsed. During those months, I looked at a picture of it every night, threw away all my wedding magazines, and stopped watching "Say Yes to the Dress."

Then after a few fittings...The final product on wedding day!


I loved my dress so much. I can only hope my daughter will feel the same way one day! :)