ahhhhhhhhh!(sound of angels singing!)

This stuff is Heavenly! If you are on the market for a sunless tanner this one is great and relatively cheap! See a full review here.

Life: Real talk.

WARNING! This is a whiney, Suzi-is-down blog. Figured I’d give you a heads up!

Well yesterday Spencer and I broke up. I don’t care to go into details, but it wasn’t anything really other than the distance and the fact that he works all the time and I go to school and work as well. Our schedules just conflict and the fact that we live an hour away from each other didn’t help either.

I am just so down. I know we dated less than two months, but he made me happy. I am thankful for my friends and family who have called/texted/listened to my whining.

Work- sucks. School-sucks. Spencer made all those things better and gave me smiles on the worst days. I looked forward to the weekends when I would get to see him. Randomly running into him in town made me smile big. I feel like I’ve been the happiest in a long time over this past month and a half and it’s all been taken away.

I think the worst part of everything and why I feel so down is because it seemed so sudden. I’ve not noticed him acting weird lately or anything and just POOF, all of the sudden it was over.

There’s my whiney blog for the month. I know things will get better but right now I just feel like I have no hope.

I hope we continue to talk, even just as friends with out the pressure of a “relationship” and who knows, it might work out in the future when/if we slow down. Only time will tell….

short weekend…back to reality

Well I had a very short weekend after I worked til 9:15PM Friday I headed to Daytona to meet my Mama and Sami. I was glad to see a little of this

and do a little of this

I found these cuties that are originally $50 for $20 at TJMaxx :)

Hooray for beach trips. No matter how short they are!  Now on to some of this…

No bueno!

See ya later bloggies!

My new baby :)

I mentioned earlier that my computer hasn’t been very nice to my lately. It’s been overheating and cutting off, not wanting to open Microsoft Office, telling me my version of Microsoft Office isn’t geniune, freezing(Ironic that it’s been overheating and freezing up!), and SLOWWWW.

So I sucked it up and got a new one and charged it. Ugh. I’ll probably regret it after a few months of having to pay on it but I need a reliable computer!

It seems to be a great computer so far and it’s SUPER fast compared to my 4 year old Dell Inspiron. And did I mention it’s super cute? Well it is! see below!

 

Check out the cool fingerprint reader!

Wheewwww! What a week!

Monday afternoon I ate lunch with my sweet Daddy and boyfriend, Spencer and then headed south towards Valdosta. I stopped in staples to look at laptops because 1) my 4 year old Dell has been giving me issues and 2) I just had some time to kill before I had to be back in Val. While in Staples my younger sister, Sami, called and asked if I had heard about Justin(our brother-in-law. I call him Bubb. Don’t get confused!). I said I haven’t and immediately knew something was wrong. She didn’t seem very upset/panicked so I wasn’t really sure. I asked what was wrong. She said that Amanda said he shot himself in the hand and was in Tifton(I assumed at the hospital). I freaked!  Sure it was his hand and he obviously was still alive or she wouldn’t seem so calm but this is my BUBB!, my only brother, one of my best friends, I was very scared!

I rushed to the register to check out what I had in my hands and rushed to the hospital.  I had no clue where they were so I went to the emergency waiting room. No sign of them there. I was PANICKED! I grabbed a girl that worked there who I recognized from a church we used to go to and asked if she could help me find my brother. That was when I lost it and began crying. She talked to the girls at the desk in the emergency room and confirmed that he was indeed there and she went back to try to find them. I collected myself and quit crying. Then the sweet girl returned and asked me to follow her. She took me back to where Bubb was and I immediately started crying again when I saw his parents standing outside the room. Poor Mrs. Desiree just held me as I cried all over her pretty little shirt. She asked if I wanted to see him. I didn’t know what to expect but i DEFINITELY wanted to see him!

I walked in the room with no idea what to expect. There were two guys who I didn’t know there asking him questions and my sweet big sister, his wife. I immediately hugged his neck. Just seeing that he was alive made me feel 10 times better! His hand was wrapped in gauze and bloody but he was there and seemed fine(I am sure from the adrenaline!). I asked him what happened and all he could tell me was he was playing with a gun. The whisked him back to another room so they could clean him up for surgery.

A little back story. Bubb had just gotten a new revolver the day before. He had never owned a revolver but has several other guns and has been around guns for what seems to have been an eternity. Sunday night when I was at their house he was showing me the gun and just playing around with it(unloaded of course!).

From the best we can tell, he still doesn’t remember exactly how it happened, he thought the gun was unloaded. After the accident happened, my daddy went to Sarah and Justin’s house to remove the gun. Daddy said the gun had four empty chambers and there was one spent round in the gun(the one that had shot his finger). When Daddy tried to remove the shell, the gun pushed the shell back in the gun. He had to literally grab the shell and pull it out. My guess is that when Bubba unloaded the gun, he just dumped the bullets out and never checked to see how many he took out or if the gun was truly empty, and by the malfunction of the gun ejecting the bullets there was one still in there. So he truly thought the gun was unloaded and in reality it was loaded with one round.

They performed surgery to reattach his finger and kept him in the hospital for 48 hours. They couldn’t give him any information as to what would happen with his finger for at least 2 days after the first surgery. They released him from the hospital yesterday and referred him to a hand specialist in Macon to discuss whether or not to put in an artificial joint or to amputate his left pointer finger. He was able to get an appointment today which is nearly unheard of in any office let alone one as prestige as this and they decided that amputation was the best option for him.

I know he is excited to get going with the recovery process and I know he is ready to get back to work!  He has been blessed with many visitors, Facebook notifications, texts, calls, and prayers sent over the past few days. I hope they continue to come as he starts his recovery process!

Bubb learned the hard way that we should always double check behind ourselves when dealing with guns. He made the comment that he never thought it would happen to him. I personally, am thankful that he only lost one finger, rather than his life, and am glad that he is looking at this as a learning experience. He is so positive about everything and I am sure he will recover and be back to the fire department/EMS soon!

Here’s a picture of my cutie patootie Bubb in the hospital!

 

This isn't the end...just the end of the beginning!

I finished my last day of full-time practicum yesterday with my 2nd grade babies! It was bittersweet. I will miss my munchkins but it also meant the start of SPRING BREAK! Woo-Hoo! I get to go visit them on Mondays and Wednesdays until mid-April so it isn't the end yet! I can't wait to see them grow more. I am wondering how I am going to make it as a real teacher if I can get this attached to the kids after a few months. I couldn't imagine having them from August to May and seeing how much they grow and then letting them go for the summer only to get 22 more in August!


I am super excited to go back to see them...until then I am focused on *hopefully* going to the beach for a few days to relax..provided work cooperates!

Look who crawled out from under her rock.

Well after some coaxing from my sisters I decided to start my blog back up. So many things have happened since I last wrote, some good, some bad, and some that started bad and turned into blessings.

I started my first block, or my first professional semester, in the education program at VSU in August. The program has been intense! We are the first class in the "new program". All I can figure this means is LONG (15-18 pages) lesson plans to teach 20-30 minute lessons and stress, stress, and MORE STRESS! I have never felt so defeated in my life. I ended up pulling through with 3 A's and 2 B's. Not too shabby being as I was unsure if I would make it through without having a panic attack and getting put on medication! I have had more emotional breakdowns and felt so close to giving up on one of my biggest dreams ever after those few months. If it weren't for my Mama, sisters, a few great teachers, and the 24 AMAZING girls in my class to help me through, I definitely wouldn't have made it!

During my break in my blog writing I also got a job. As if school wasn't enough for my brain to handle. I started working at Sears as a Cashier in October. My job is fun in the fact that I get to work with people and meet new people. But with my job and school taking up my life, I have little to no social life. That sucks.

At the end of October, I made a decision that changed my life. I broke things off with Zack after nearly four years together. It was one of the hardest things to do, but it was something I had to do. I couldn't keep my life together while trying to make sure he had his on track at the same time. I am by no means innocent. It all fell apart in all directions. I was continuously busy with school and work and when I wasn't I was EXHAUSTED. We didn't talk much in the last few weeks because we were too busy. There were so many factors in making this decision, I can't even list them here. But know, the decision was in no way easy and I still love him(and always will) with all my heart. He was my first love.

I think the hardest part in the split was losing not only him, but his family. His parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins have become my family in the past few years. I loved them just as much as my own and my family was the same with him. It hurt so much to lose all of them when our relationship ended. I am sure we will continue to be friends, but it hurts not being able to see them and spend time with them like we used to. I saw his Ganny(his grandma) in Piggly Wiggly the other day and realized how much I truly miss seeing them.

It's still hard to this day to think that it's really over between us, but what's done is done and we need to move forward and make better for ourselves.

This quote has gotten me through a lot and given me hope to move on:

"Every moment is an opportunity to start over, to move on with your life, and go after what you deserve. Never settle for anything but the best because you deserve no less..here's to a new beginning."

We found out in early October that I am going to be an AUNT! PRAISE THE LORD!! I am tickled BLUE(haha)! My older sister, Sarah and Bubb will be welcoming baby WYATT SCOTTIE COOK into the world on May 10, 2011! That gives me just enough time to finish finals and head on up to Ashburn to prepare for his arrival! I am perhaps the most excited I have ever been! I have been asking and praying for a nephew/niece for YEARS((Yes, literally!)) and will be FINALLY getting him! I am excited about his room they have been preparing for him. Check it out here. I feel super bad because with my crazy work schedule I'm working through BOTH of her baby showers! But don't worry this little boy will be SPOILED ROTTEN by his FAVORITE Aunt Suzi before we know it!

On to other news because I can talk about Wyatt all day! :)

Here is one of the MANY I love my Aunt, etc. shirts I have bought him!


At the end of January I started talking to a great guy named Spencer. We have always kind of known each other and each others families because 1)we live in a small town and 2) his brothers are close to my older sister's age. So we knew each other but never really talked. We've been dating for almost a month and it's been great. He's an amazing guy with a good head on his shoulders and I couldn't ask for a harder worker! I am excited about getting to know Spencer more and watching our relationship grow in the months and years to come!
This is my sweet boyfriend, Spencer, and I on our first date. :)


For Valentine's Day, Spencer drove TWO HOURS ROUND TRIP to Valdosta during my THIRTY minute break between work and school to surprise me with roses, a flower, and a bear. This meant so much to me! He truly is a keeper!


I started my second block of the education program in January. After fussing and fighting with the education department about my schedule, I found one to work with my work schedule. It's intense again this semester but we're making it so far. Each semester we are assigned a school and a classroom in which we are to observe two days a week from 8-11:30AM. I am placed in a GREAT school(can't list names!) with an AMAZING teacher! I have second grade and they are the sweetest, most well behaved group of second graders I have ever met! No exaggeration! They're GREAT.

Each semester we are assigned two full weeks in which all of our classes are canceled at VSU(except Math for whatever reason?) and we are required to be at our school Monday through Friday from 8-4PM. That makes for a TIRED Suzi! We are right in the middle of the two week practicum right now. I finished day 1 of week 2 today and next week is SPRING BREAK!(PRAISE THE LORD!). Being with these students for these two weeks has made every bit of headache from writing my lesson plans worth it! I am in love with each and every one of them. I do believe older children is my calling! Don't get me wrong, I loved my kindergarten babies, but second grade is where it's at! :) Next semester I'll be in either 4th or 5th grade so we will see!

Oh, I almost forgot! I got my first tattoo a few weeks ago and I love it! Here it is below!