Visiting Valdosta

Last weekend, I drove down to Valdosta to help judge the Valdosta State University Debate Tournament. I haven't been to Valdosta since my brother graduated from college. So much has changed.

I spent some of my favorite years on that campus, and I barely recognized it. I would've liked to get pictures, but I didn't really have the time or anyone to take pictures for me. Still, I had a great time watching debates, catching up with my old debate coach, and marveling at how big the campus looked since the last time I was there.

Here's a few things I took away from my trip:

• All the good stuff comes after you leave. When I was at VSU, I had to walk across the street to get Chick-fil-a. Not only do current students not have to cross the street for CFA, they also get to eat at a Nathan's Hot Dogs and get Starbucks Coffee.
• I now understand why VSU keeps hitting me up for money--gotta pay for all those nice, new improvements somehow. 
• I really miss being a part of speech and debate. I had such an awesome time as a competitor traveling to different places and meeting new people. 
• Nothing stays the same. I hardly recognized the campus, got lost a few times, and even though it's not the same, everything changed for the better. And just as the campus has changed, so have I. I didn't walk the sidewalks as the same person I was when I was in college. I've grown and changed in ways that I never really realize until I take a step back.

I would have liked to have more time in Valdosta, but I had to get back to Michael because I accidentally took his laptop with me, and he had to do schoolwork. Even though it was brief--I still get to cross "Visiting Valdosta" off my 30 before 30 list.

Kimberly

Time to Fall Back

This time change is way overdue. I've been getting up in the dark at 7 am, which drives me nuts. I need light in the morning.

I am so ready for the time change. And after a fun, but unproductive day, I'm going to bed. At least I'm trying to stick to this NaBloPoMo thing. Hopefully, I'll carve out more time to work on posts tomorrow.

Today, Mike and I were celebrating our 8th month of marriage with donuts or deauxnuts from the Lagianappe Cafe in Fayetteville, followed by a early morning movie, Ender's Game. Then, lunch at O'Charley's. Then, we caught up on Scandal. Fun Saturday, but it will be back to business tomorrow, especially with that extra hour to help us out.

Snug as bug,
Kimberly

Updates & Goals

It's about time for an update, I think. I've had much to write about, but I've been doing a good bit of travelling this week. So, here's a quick update about how I've been doing on completing my list.

• Travel: I've visited Valdosta last weekend while I helped judge the VSU Debate Tournament. I've also planned out my trips to Virginia and New York, booked hotels, and the car, so we are ready to go.
• Health: I've been making an effort to go for a walk 3 days a weeks, and will hopefully be able to walk today if the weather improves.
• Home-Life: I figured up how much I need to put toward paying down my debt, and I've made plans accordingly.
• Personal: I've read 4/30 books. I've signed up to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to help push me toward writing my first draft. Additionally, I'm on board for National Blog Posing Month (NaBloPoMo) to help me write a blog post every day during the month of November. Writing will be a big part of this next month.
• Life Experiences: We will definitely be seeing a Broadway show during on New York trip.
• Fun: I've watched 2/30 Academy Award Best Picture Films.

Throughout this month, I'll post my thoughts on the books I'm reading and the films I'm watching.

It's gonna be a great month!!

Kimberly

Book Reviews 1 and 2: The Marriage Plot and Sheridan

It's a two for one book review day!! Book 1: The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, tells the story of a love triangle between Madeleine, a Literature major, Leonard, her manic-depressive boyfriend, and Mitchell, the nice guy who finishes last. The whole book is about these three characters and what they each do after graduating from college. I could relate to Madeleine (minus the sleeping around and having two guys vying for her affection) because of her struggle to find herself, love, and a career. Overall, it was enjoyable, but a bit of a chore to get through. I was also jealous of the kind of college experience that was depicted in which students sat around and talked about books and language and theory.

On the downside, this book was long (400 pages), and I probably would have given up on it if I wasn't reading it to prepare for a book club through Meet Up. I ended up being too sick to go on the day of the meet up and had to cancel. Then, I got this really snooty message about same-day cancellations and how I'm supposed to let them know as soon as I start feeling ill that I can't make it and that they only allow two same-day cancellations before you get booted from the group. What is this a job?! And even though the organizer said that she wasn't trying to discourage me from participating, that is exactly what she did. Luckily, I'm a member of an awesome book club on the southside of Atlanta, and the second book I read was for this book club.

First of all, don't judge a book by it's cover. Book 2: Sheridan by Olivia J was a pretty fun read, but I had my doubts at first. We chose this book for our first selection because Olivia is a member of the club and mentioned that she is a published author, and then jokingly suggested that we read it, so we took her up on it. I was pleasantly surprised. This book about four best friends and their intertwined lives is well written (minus a few editing errors) including characters that are genuine and believable, and the story was filled with more drama than an episode of Scandal. In fact, Sheridan is pretty much Olivia Pope with all of her connections, professionalism, and personal dilemmas. This story is pure heart and all about lifelong friendships, relationships, and sticking by each other through the ups and downs of life. It's definitely not what I was expecting from a self-published book, and it is definitely worth the read.

Kimberly

The List

 

Two months ago, I decided to create a bucket list of things I want to accomplish before my 30th birthday. My plan at the time was to blog about the journey, but I never wrote anything, so now I've revamped my site and will focus on blogging my accomplishments. In the process, I've decided to move all the content from my original "Notes from In Between" blog to another location. It will take some time, but eventually all the content will be moved to the link above.

And just so no one thinks that I've just been sitting around doing nothing on my list, here's a summary of what I've done so far--I've already read 2 books, watched 2 Best Picture films, planned out my trip to my birthplace and New York, about half-way through my next two books, and Argo is being sent to me tomorrow. I'm going to write my thoughts on the books and films I've read/watched in the next posts, but this is just the introduction.

Hope you enjoy the journey with me. 

Kimberly