My husband and I went just a month ago and camped at the Colorado National Monument. It’s something like 5 dollars to get into the park for a week, and 10 dollars per night to camp at some really awesome campgrounds. In a way the Monument is like the Bad Lands (national park) mixed in with a miniature Grand Canyon.It is really spectacular.

Monument

See what I mean? Beautiful scenery, huh? Well, this is where we camped but let me show you some pictures of where we tasted the wine! (and Port and Mead!)

Colorado Wine Cellars

Here is a picture inside Colorado Wine Cellars. Yes, wine comes out of the taps, which is different…

Vines

Here are the vineyards right outside one of wineries. Most of them grow the fruit right outside where you taste. The funny thing about this winery, is there is one across the road, and two more down the street.

Well, there are definitely more pictures from this fun little trip we took for 3 days. However, I feel as if you got the picture: You need to go and try it out for yourself. Make sure that you get some fudge and try it out with the wine!! The pair of wine and fudge is amazing! Can you do this when you are working full-time and going to school full-time? Sure you can. That’s what I am doing! It’s just that I don’t take classes at the campus, like those Saturday classes. I take all my schooling online! You won’t see me walking around the campus at night or on the weekends. Oh, that makes me shudder! I have a life to live!

I will talk to you guys later.

Cheers!

My schedule is not so bad. I had Telling Tales for English, Philosophy, and Diversity in Theater. All the classes are online, and I shall conquer them!!! Here are some adventures that I conquered over the summer, while doing Photography and Political Science. (I think I slept through that I class, I really don’t remember much.) ANYWAY!Chill out while looking at some pictures.

Camping

We went camping in Pike National Forest. It was freezing at night. As you can see, my husband is bundled up pretty well at 5 AM in the morning. Our sleeping bags, with a comforter, was no match for the cold in late May. Brrrrrr!

Family

Lake

I saw my family at Minnesota. While visiting, we saw the green beauty of the state of 10,000 lakes. Every time I go back there, I am astonished by how green and how many lakes there are! Wow! However, I still love Colorado more!!

Besides that we went to weddings, played volleyball, read a lot books, worked a lot, and tried to play hard. We went to Grand Junction and got a taste for the wines over there, but I want to save that story for a later blog. It was so nice to get some time to remember the beauty of the state of Colorado. There is so much here to do and to see! It’s amazing to have the time to go do everything!

Well that’s all that I have for now. I welcome you back to school. Hopefully you have some online classes this time and hopefully you didn’t get lost using the new portal that was ushered into last spring semester!!

Cheers !

Dennys

Coors Tour

The Tavern

Do I look like I get more and more exhausted as the day goes on? Sure do! We headed to Dennys in the morning for a free grand slam breakfast for my birthday with the parents. Then we headed to Coors for free beer. In the middle somewhere we had some wine. Then we finally ended the day going to The Tavern with my coworkers to celebrate. By that time that the day was done, I was one tired woman. Overall, it was nice to unwind and have a lot of fun!

So what’s next on my to-do list? I get to go to Minnesota this summer. Then comes a grand wine tour of Colorado and also thrown into the mix is some rafting and hot springs, with hiking and rock climbing. Fun right? I think so. All of this is accomplished while taking classes and going to work. Impressive, I know. Life is only accomplished for me by taking online courses. I’m not too sure how else to do it. My online experience has been fun and exciting. It has not been without homework, but that’s what school is all about. It has been about self-discipline and a good sense of goal orientation to accomplish every course with the best possible grade.  I look forward to balancing my extremely busy schedule this summer with online courses. Nobody really wants to take courses in the summer, but they also want to finish school earlier. I find that these courses are the compromise to that problem. I get to finish earlier than most people in my class, about a year earlier, and I get to spend my summer the way I want to.

So that’s about it folks! Tis my post of the week. I had a great birthday. My finals went well aaannnnddd…..

Here comes SUMMER!!!

Right now I’m working on my final essay for Sociology of Global Issues. I had a good professor and I enjoyed the class. We got to choose the topic for our last paper. I picked: The Socioeconomic Effects of Globalization and Capitalism on Africa. OYE! Run for your life! Tis one crazy paper. It just a lot more woven into the topic than I thought at first. Wish me luck! I also took International Dimensions of Science and Technology (that was a tough course, no joke.), History of Sociological Issues (a great course), and U.S. History (that was my freshman class! ha!) I took all of these classes online and did just fine in them! Thank you very much! Needless to say, I have done nothing but work and school for the past 2 weeks and I have dark bags under my eyes to show for it.

Overall I think I have taken a total of 20 online classes. Give or take 1. I’m a pro at them. By the time I am done I will have taken 25 courses online. I loved all of them! I have good grades to show for it to.

I will have some pictures for you at the end of this week! Why? It is my birthday!!!! I’m super excited. I have always thought that college gave me the best birthday present, the end of the semester! I kill two birds with one stone: end of the semester celebration and my birthday all rolled into one. Nobody could feel better! Well! Pictures are coming for this weekend. Not right now. I still have this paper to divide and conquer to turn in tonight. That probably means that I will spend extra time on facebook… nothing like procrastination!

I hope you didn’t procrastinate like I did. I hope you did well on your courses. Please think about taking some online courses for the following semesters! It makes life for me a whole lot easier. Alright time to wrap the paper up and get some sleep!

Cheers!

p.s.- Now until May 15th Starbucks is having happy hour from 3-5 PM. Only on certain drinks. It makes finals week be easier.

Anyway, I am writing to you on this very beautiful morning in Denver, Colorado. I have a final today, tomorrow, and an 3 essays due by the end of the week. Wooo! Glad I am a Senior who has experience with these things. Psh, yeah right. I was thinking about the weekend, this past weekend, and wondering what everyone else was doing. Probably studying and also doing homework. You know what is just excellent about online class? Usually they tell you what the assignments are on Monday and by the weekend you have them done. That means no homework on the weekend! That is, if you didn’t procrastinate. (like me… ha!)

Even though I didn’t feel all that great this weekend, I did feel OK on Sunday, enough to play a few volleyball games with some friends. You know, to burn off that stress…
There is a moral to the story here. Husbands: take your wedding bands off before you play. I wish I could have taken an action shot of it: My husband jumped up trying to block and his wedding ring whipped off his finger! I just shook my head. Here are some pictures.

Looking...

Still Looking..

Found it!!

So we found it at last and then played 3 more games. Needless to say, my body is sore. However! I am trying to get ready to run a 10K this summer at GOG in Colorado Springs! Wish me luck will ya?! This weekend is going to be very crazy! I’m not too sure what my schedule is… However, I do know that it is my 21st birthday next weekend! So, get cracking on your stack of books. I wish you luck in your finals! If you can, get outside today and enjoy the beautiful weather! Maybe even play a game of volleyball? Cheers!

They are coming in about 2 weeks time. You see that stack of books that you barely cracked open for most of this semester? Get to it. You know it’s coming, please try not to procrastinate.
I have already started. For some reason most of my finals are next week!!! I’m about ready to faint. Anyway… Here is a few tips on how to handle to the stress. They come from various sources, and I have put them in order that I feel to be most important for a student.

1) Try to get enough sleep. At least 6 hours please per night.
2) Stay away from the junk food and energy drinks. (even though we students are known to stack up on it going through finals.) Sugar and fast food is just going to make you more tense and feel worse.
3) Take 30 minutes per day and exercise. Whether it is walking, jogging, or playing a sport.
4) Drink some water… and also drink it through your test. It helps.
5) At the end of the day before bed, unwind and either read, soak in a hot bath, listen to some music, or play a game. Whatever you do, just relax: it’ll help you get a more rested sleep.
6) At the end of finals… don’t forget to let go and party!!! I think we may go camping!

p.s.- Lavender does wonderful things and drinking tea.

Besides all that stuff: I would just like to give myself a shout out. I will be graduating in December with a very good GPA in hand. I will have gotten married to my wonderful man in December. I will have worked mainly full-time throughout my entire college life, while attending college full-time as well. The best thing about all this is that I beat cancer as well. I’m graduating ahead of my class, and I went through a year of chemo, radiation, and surgery without missing a beat. Thank you very much. Whoever said it was impossible, think again, many things are very possible to do. I had a lot of support, I grew much closer to my religion, and I proved to myself that I was remarkably strong. As are you, I am positive about that.

So next time when you look at the situation ahead of you and think it is impossible (like getting through these finals or going back to school while being a single mother) think again. Most things are very “doable” and you will be extremely proud of yourself for doing it.
Thank you for listening to my ranting. I took pictures of making Tom Ka Gai soup…I shall be posting that soon.

At any rate, feel free to leave a comment if you have questions about online classes.

Cheers!

p.s.- I believe that this fall semester or summer (since I am taking summer courses) you should try out the online section of UCD. You would do great!!

So, my schedule is 2 classes this summer and 3 classes for next fall that equals graduation. Following graduation, I would like to continue on with UCD by getting my teaching license. That is, if I can ever get to one of these meetings that explains to you what is going on. I’m trying… I’m trying… Why can’t I make it??

My schedule for a normal day is as follows:
Wake up at 7.
Get ready and go to work.
Leave work at around 2:45.
Get home at 3:15. (or later depending on traffic!)
Set stuff out for dinner.
Do homework and check my classes online.
Get dinner starter while doing classes.
Husband comes home, takes over dinner.
We eat. Then we split to do homework, or I go workout.
We go to bed at least by 11.

Let me tell you, I cannot wait for graduation. However, you know when you have the job where you are just stuck, can’t go anywhere, no promotions, all because you don’t have education?? Yup. That’s my fear. I would rather powerhouse through it now when the online classes are available, and then get those promotions later on. Wouldn’t you? Just remember that when you are about to quit! Beware! Once you start you have no reason to quit now, we have online courses.

Now, I leave you with this: I have a beta fish named Bow, because he is red and we got him at Christmas, and he sits with me at the table every time I type away. Right now he is attacking his glass container, telling me that it is time to go and feed him and get on with homework. So! I must go now (on that weird note) and I will ask of you to go register for some courses. Remember, if you need your schedule to open up a little bit more, for whatever business, then register for those online courses.

Cheers!

Also! In June it will have been one year since I have finished chemotherapy. It was such a trip not only in 2009 but also the beginning of 2010 has been quite interesting. Here I am:

Dec 26th 2009

This is me at my wedding

in December of 2009.

May 2009

This is me during cancer treatments in (well approximately) around May 2009. What you can barely see is my port on my left side right above my heart, and the great big red patches on my back due to chemo coming out.

Not such a big difference, but there is a huge difference. You just can’t see most of it!!

I plan on, this summer, going to Minnesota in June, camping in Colorado in July, and doing a wine tour of Colorado in August at the beginning of the month. We have a lot of places that make their own wine and my husband and I have decided to go wine tasting throughout the state!! It should be a lot of fun!! Once again, I can do this and work because I am taking online classes. I am very happy to have the freedom to support my family and go on vacations without the interference of school. Alright! I don’t know if I ever gave you wedding pictures. So here you go! Enjoy! (you shall enjoy….)Have a great great week everyone! You are almost done! Make sure you sign up for some online classes, so you can have as much fun as I am having in school!

Sand ceremony

pertroglyphs

imitating petroglyphs

New Mexico

Well the picture farthest over is off some petroglyphs that the pueblo people carved into the lava rock a long time ago. The middle picture is of me trying to imitate the drawing I found! The farthest one over is me and my husband sitting in front of a beautiful painting someone did of the New Mexico landscape!

tumbleweed

Here is a picture of us walking on a wall because, obviously, tumbleweed blew around and got stuck between the wall and a fence. There is quite a lot of tumbleweed in New Mexico. In fact, we exited off I-25 there and ran into a road block of tumbleweed that was under the bridge. We had to pull off and help clear it with some other people. There is no joke when people say those weeds can be half the size of your car! They are full of thorns and I am pretty sure that my husband is still pulling thorns out of his hands.

So, that’s about it! It was a shorter trip than I thought. I was pretty excited to leave for 4 days and get a break from everything. We are going to hopefully be doing some more trips, plus my birthday…I’m turning 21! So there is more to come. I have to now go and do some homework. We are coming down to the final weeks of this semester. I have registered for all the classes I need to graduate. Woooo! I hope you are having a first few good weeks of spring.

1) https://portal.cusys.edu/UCDAccessFedAuthLogin.html
The login and password is your login information for your email. Login!!

2) Click on the student tab on the upper left hand corner.
3) Click on “Create a Schedule” link in the upper center.
4) Under the Academics box, click on the “Enroll” link.
5) From here you can search the classes, add them to your shop cart, drop, swap, and edit.

However! Make sure that when you add all the classes to your cart, you select all the classes, click the go to step 2 out of 3, and then enroll in them. You won’t be enrolled if you just put them into your shop cart.

SO! That’s it!!! I hope you guys get the process down by May. I went to the campus today…got lost again. I had fun talking to some students. I’m sure they laughed at me and thought I was a Freshman. All in all it was fun and I got to know a lot more about UCD.

Midterms are not over yet, although I slammed all my essays! I did a great job at producing some well done essays for the midterms. Tomorrow will be the last test to complete midterms.

This is not the only reason I am writing this blog. Remember a previous week, I wrote about taking trips while still in school? Well, here comes a trip for me! While you guys had spring break for school last week, I worked. However, this week is my spring break for work and I am headed to New Mexico to spend Easter with my family! So! It pays to be a student and a teacher… you get two breaks! (well, sort of) Since I take online classes, it makes things a whole lot easier for me! I promise to bring the video camera and take lots of pictures!

So, I would suggest you go look at the registration process before May. I’m pretty excited about finally getting a break. I hope school will end well for you!!!

Cheers!!