Snow vs. Sand

Living in Michigan has been great, there is so much to see and do here and everything is within a decent driving distance.

That being said I must admit my only dislike for our state.

 (ok there may be multiple, but no state is without its problems)

I detest snow.

I detest snow so much that it this year alone has made me want to move very far away, preferably more south.

(although the storms have been breaching southern territory too)

I'm not happy with the quantity we have so graciously been given, and it never seems to end. If I had to guess (with my totally legitimate math skills) I would say we've been getting 2-6 inches a week (at minimum). There are huge piles, nothing ever seems to be shoveled enough, ice covers everything, and don't even get me started on walking to classes! 

I for one have had enough snow for a lifetime.

What has been keeping me sane during this perpetual downfall of white flakes?

Maui!

Yes, Maui.

My sweet, loving fiance has planned a beautiful honeymoon in Maui, HI and I can not wait to be sitting on a beach sipping....smoothies? 

(they really should reconsider the typical 'sitting on a beach sipping Mai Tai's' cliche for people who don't drink...)

Anyway back to the beach. If you go and read the description Joseph gave about me on the "Lynnette" page, it says I love summer, and it's true. I love being outside, so winter really brings me down. Every morning that I wake up and see another inch has fallen, I just think to 133 days from now when I will be on a plane to Maui. Joseph and I love sitting on the beach doing absolutely nothing but enjoying each others company. The last time we went to the beach Joseph built a sand castle while I took pictures of the process. I pretended to tan, and he kept jumping in the water to cool off. We read some of our marriage book, and generally just relaxed. We are spoiled here in Michigan with our beaches, seriously, the sand is the best in the world (so I've heard, and I won't disagree because it really is great sand).

However, I am so excited to travel to a place I have never been and experience it all with my husband. Of course the beach is on our list (we are staying right on it), but we also plan on doing the 'Drive to Hana', which will be beautiful and eventful. I love taking drives with Joseph and I'm sure that one will be one of my favorites. I can't wait to see all of the trails and waterfalls as well as more beaches (really at this point that's all I'm thinking about, sorry sweetie).

Only 133 days left to go! 

Engineering

The engineering building has become a second home of sorts. 

To Joseph it has been home since his start in grad school, for me it became home when I began to sit and wait for him. 

(Not a bad sitting and waiting, just in general, waiting for him to finish work so we could talk, or just sitting admiring him while he works)

I see the same faces on the first floor, a mix of doe eyed freshman engineers and math students going to their first tier classes, blissfully unaware of how difficult their life is about to become (and as the semesters go by the changes in the movements and expressions is almost comical, sometimes I feel bad for not warning them).

As I make my way up the stairs to the second, then third floor the atmosphere changes and the people I see I've become to know. Before, I would get weird looks, as if they thought I was lost, now most of them know who I am and why I'm here, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. 

Before I was this mysterious potential engineer, who was smart, and who didn't fit the typical mold of one who is on the third floor, and for some reason it gave me a little sense of joy being able to be mysterious for a little while. I had to entertain myself somehow being stuck in this building. 

Now that they know I'm just a significant other the looks stop and I've become a part of this little society. I know all of Joseph's lab mates, and can have a conversation with them apart from being the girl who comes to wait for Joseph. 

My favorite part is being able to show his lab mates what a supportive partner looks like when I bring him lunch, patiently wait for him without distracting his work (sometimes I fail at that, but hey he can't be business all the time), and even engage in a discussion I know nothing about in order to help him solve something about rendering a 3D object (the fact that I even remotely understand what that means enough to say just goes to show how much I'm here listening to him). So here I sit (literally, I typed this while sitting in the lab) waiting for our scheduled Monday Date Night to begin, while Joseph is trying to accomplish some computer thing I barely understand, and it feels like home.

Lynnette

Morning

I am not a morning person. 

Morning for me doesn't begin until 9am, and trying to get me out of bed before then is a struggle. Actually it's even a struggle to get myself out of bed when the alarm goes off at 9, but that's the earliest I can wake up without entirely hating the world. 

Joseph is a morning person.

He can wake up sans alarm at 6:30-7am every morning. He will wake up and get to work and go. Without any assistance from any stimuli at all. It's weird.

I wish I was a morning person, God only knows I wish I could enjoy mornings and wake up like Joseph and be energized and ready for my day, but it is near impossible. 

See, I don't sleep well. I am an extremely light sleeper. Any sound, movement (including my own), or shift of any of my surroundings stirs my body awake. Even worse, it takes forever for me to fall asleep and I feel I never reach that deep restful sleep everyone brags about. This has caused weird sleep patterns and unfortunately I spend most nights awake, and most mornings asleep, a la I am not a morning person.

The only way I could become a morning person is if I resorted to the sleep habits of an elementary student. In bed by 8pm every night.

Ha!

Because that is possible while being a college student.

I want to try and make it to becoming a morning person. My goal is to find ways I feel more rested and prepared when the alarm goes off and I need to start my day. I just hope that happens before we get married or I may end up mad at my husband for always waking me up! 

Heres praying God turns me into a morning person!

Lynnette