pl.n. Miscellaneous items, remnants, or pieces.

• I got another job! Not sure whether I'll stick with the motel or not. Who am I kidding? I'm outta there! I'll soon be employed as an Administrative Assistant at the rec center (fitness center) on campus. Sweet. It's temporary part-time, but rumor has it there's potential to move permanent full-time. I hope I make an impression (not a bad one).
  
• I went through hell today trying to have a bachelorette party this Saturday. You see, I completely forgot it was this weekend and didn't request the night off. So of course, I'm scheduled. And with one desk clerk in CA and another having gall bladder surgery, there's no one to work for me. Except George. My SAVIOR! First, he agreed that if Jared couldn't do it, he'd work my evening shift on Saturday. Second, he said that he would work his Sunday morning shift instead of having me take it (working until 11p and then having to work again at 7a is rough). Which means I don't have to worry about being up in time for work at 7a the day after my party. Such a hassle, but I think it's sorted out. And the whole time I kept thinking, "I already have another job. I could just not show up." But alas, that would be horrible of me & I always complain about people who are like that.
• We got our marriage license yesterday! I expected a long wait (like at the DMV), but that wasn't the case at all. Pretty simple really. I just think it's hilarious that we paid $60 for two sheets of paper. That paper better be able to cook me dinner for that amount of money!
• I went to Chris' Ultimate game last night. I guess I hadn't ever seen him play before because I was astonished at how good he was. To the point where his teammates were idolizing him. I was quite proud. :o)
  
• Did you hear about the guy who killed 60 baby loggerheads on accident? He apparently set up candles along the beach to propose to his girlfriend and when the turtles came out to make their way to the sea, they got confused by the light and went in all kinds of directions beside the one they needed to go. Crazy. Glad Chris didn't do this.
• We got our pictures in the mail yesterday. Oddly enough, after all the time I spent trying to decide on a bridal portrait to display at the wedding and still not being sure about it, I really like it. I thought I was going to cringe seeing myself in a 16x20 format, but that was not the case.
  
• And last but not least, I bought an epilator and it's the coolest thing e-v-e-r. I had no idea these things even existed until I saw a video on YouTube about them. Chris said it's worth the money just to see my facial expressions as the pain registers.

Are you excited??

Perhaps it was the mood she caught me in. Perhaps I was in the same mood when others asked me the same question.

That seems to be the most common question: are you excited. And other forms: are you getting excited? Are you nervous/anxious? Are you ready for the wedding/big day? Do you have everything done for the wedding?

As a bride, are you supposed to feel excited? I would assume so since that's the most common question I get. Except, it's not often I feel that way.

I'm pretty honest with people and usually answer with something like, "Eh." lol That's Nicole for ya. I started to think something was wrong with me because I just don't feel...giddy about it. And I thought about just coming up with something to say to people like, "Oh my goodness you have no idea!" because when I'm honest, I sound like I'm really not looking forward to it or too stressed out to enjoy the process.

Why am I not excited? I've tried to figure it out. Do I have too much on my mind to feel anything, let alone excited? Am I so even-keeled that I'm really not "excited"? Has it not hit me yet? Am I actually kind of dreading it because much attention will be on me (not something I look forward to--I'd rather just sit in a corner I think)? Is it because we'll be legally married some other time & this is just show? Is it because we already live together?

And then I figured it out. I do get excited. I just don't remain excited. It comes and goes. And usually it's regarding one specific thing. Are you excited about your groom's cake? Super duper excited! Are you excited about the drink luge? I wish I could see it now! Are you excited about getting married before the ceremony? Completely. Are you excited to walk down the aisle with your dad? I plan on sobbing before the wedding so I use up my supply!

I thought I was crazy until I came across this lovely post from Offbeat Bride. And I realized that I don't need to be excited, nervous, anxious, or any other word you can think of to describe a bride and what she may or may not be feeling. I don't have to feel excited 24 hours a day. I can be whatever I want to be and however I want to feel.

Quite the weather lately

Here's a couple of pictures I took last night of the Tuck. Normally you can see lots of boulders and when one goes rafting, the odds of bottoming out are high. Please forgive the picture quality...it was evening. This is the river just down from my house.

Free from leaching BPA

Interesting

Autumnal Air

I have to admit...I cringe every time a see fall & Halloween decorations now. I used to love them. Not so anymore.

I walked into Ingles today and it felt like I was smacked in the face by the Halloween candy. And my next thought was, "Uh oh. Is this the beginning of the end of my love affair with this season??"

Why such dread? Because it means we're that much closer to the wedding. Not that that's horrible thing. On the contrary.

What it translates to me is that I'll have more to do. More on my plate. More appointments to meet with people. More emails. More money. Thank you notes. Decisions. More more more. Oh, not to mention a job and a thesis to write.

Piece of cake.

P.S. On the job note: I had a phone interview today for a temp, part-time secretary position at the fitness center. I will be ecstatic if I get called in for an in-person interview and absolutely floored if I get the job. Sweetness: On campus. Part-time (good for me right now). Possibility to turn permanent. Loads more money.

Desk clutter

No matter how hard I try to keep my desk clean, the clutter always come back.

Couldn't have said it better

This pretty much sums up my relationships. *past & present*

From A Practical Wedding

Dance lessons

I've been brushing up on my dancing skills for the wedding.

Getting married before/after getting married

I just think it's so amusing that our wedding ceremony will have no legal merit whatsoever. I know a lot of people do it this way, but I never envisioned it for myself. Chris says, "We can wait until after the ceremony to get legally married." Uh huh, sounds like a good way for him to high-tail it outta here! ;o)

So wait. When would our anniversary be? The day we were legal or the day of the ceremony?? Can we have TWO anniversaries?! Sweet.

For some reason I'm excited about being married before the ceremony. But at the same time, will it take the magic of the ceremony away?

Do we do it sooner rather than later? Does it make a difference?

Hmmm...

Treehugger Equivalent

This is kinda crazy and I love the first sentence of this post.

I'm...famous?

So if you go to a particular website and enter in a particular nucleotide sequence, this might pop up *hint: look under authors*:

Uncultured fungus isolate DGGE gel band 20_5C 18S ribosomal RNA gene and internal transcribed spacer 1, partial sequence

• Features
• Sequence

LOCUS       GQ388268                 190 bp    DNA     linear   ENV 30-AUG-2009

DEFINITION  Uncultured fungus isolate DGGE gel band 20_5C 18S ribosomal RNA

          gene and internal transcribed spacer 1, partial sequence.

ACCESSION   GQ388268

VERSION     GQ388268.1  GI:256557773

KEYWORDS    ENV.

SOURCE      uncultured fungus

ORGANISM  uncultured fungus

          Eukaryota; Fungi; environmental samples.

REFERENCE   1  (bases 1 to 190)

AUTHORS   Allman,N.D., Collins,B.S., Davis,R.W. and O'Connell,S.P.

TITLE     Fungal sequences retrieved from Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel

          (Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus) feces from the Southern Appalachians

JOURNAL   Unpublished

REFERENCE   2  (bases 1 to 190)

AUTHORS   Allman,N.D., Collins,B.S., Davis,R.W. and O'Connell,S.P.

TITLE     Direct Submission

JOURNAL   Submitted (15-JUL-2009) Biology, Western Carolina University, 132

          Natural Science Building, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA

FEATURES             Location/Qualifiers

   source          1..190

                   /organism="uncultured fungus"

                   /mol_type="genomic DNA"

                   /isolate="DGGE gel band 20_5C"

                   /isolation_source="Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus feces"

                   /db_xref="taxon:175245"

                   /environmental_sample

                   /country="USA: Southern Appalachians"

                   /note="PCR_primers=fwd_name: ITS1-F, rev_name: ITS2"

   misc_RNA        <1..>190

                   /note="contains 18S ribosomal RNA and internal transcribed

                   spacer 1"

ORIGIN    

        1 tcttggtcat ttagaggaag taaaagtcgt aacaaggtct ccgtaggtga acctgcggag

     61 ggatcattac aagtgacccc ggtctaacca ccgggatgtt cataaccctt tgttgtccga

    121 ctctgttgcc tccggggcga ccctgccttc gggcgggggc tccgggtgga cacttcaaac

    181 tcttgcgtaa

//







Don't hate.

Ya know what?

I reserved our hotel reservations in Gatlinburg, TN today!

At a hotel 3 months old
In a room with a whirlpool AND fireplace

For cheaper *CHEAPER* than our room in Candler on our wedding night.

Crazy.

So yeah, originally we weren't going to go anywhere on our pre-honeymoon, but we figured we have the days off, we might as well do something.

That something turned out to be Dixie Stampede & Dollywood. Um, yeah. I'm crossing my fingers that I get to meet Dolly. Not joking.