It's almost here!

I can't believe it but today I had my Final Piano Recital and last night I sat through my last undergraduate class!  It's over people.  On Tuesday, I have 3 final exams (all on the same day!!...scary right?) and then I am done!  I have to admit, I have already allowed myself that big sigh of relief because my psyche just can't handle being freaked out about finals.  I am studying this weekend but I refuse to overdo it.  I've earned it right?  Can't wait for my mom to get here so we can play for five days!

An Update on Our Life

Today is a big deal.  The grocery store behind our apartment that has been under construction for 10 months is having their grand opening.  It is fabulous, and big, and I am so happy that I finally get to stop fighting for a parking spot at the grocery store a mile away.  I heard the construction noise all the way up until 10pm last night, but now it's finally over.

This week is finals week and I am in my usual avoidance stage.  It is so daunting to try to remember everything you read or heard in the last 10 weeks.  I'm giving myself another hour before I dive into my books.

We have started up our crazy travel weekends again, but it is such a blessing to get to be with our family.  Last weekend was spent getting our hopes up that Daniel's brother's team would take the National title for college basketball.  They came in second in a devastating loss by only 3 points, but we had the time of our lives in Virginia.  (Plus, it was 80 degrees there!)  Next weekend we'll go to Hanford to spend time with family.

These are my nieces in their sweet flower dresses and the wedding shoes I bought yesterday.  Don't the girls look so precious!?  Next week I take my dress in for alterations and soon we'll start shopping for groomsman ties and Daniel's suit.

Happy Spring!  It's not here in Portland yet but I know it's coming!  Last year I remember a lot of rainy days during spring quarter but we'll make it through.  

What My World Looks Like

I Heart Weekends

I had a long week this week where my view mostly looked like this (on campus at the library).

But I am so blessed to have a boyfriend who surprises me with bubble bath and a dinner date!

Thank goodness for weekends.

January Changes

Hello Readers!  I have had a rough start to this quarter/year and today was the first day that went smoothly.  Between switching classes and a seemingly constant evolving schedule I have just been keeping my head above water.  I (finally!) got the wedding plans to a place where I can do the bare minimum until July.  I'm a little depressed that I am too busy to sit around and daydream, but what's a girl to do?

School is doing such a fine job at eating away my time that I have had to ration myself to only two blogging sessions per week.  I know...it's so sad!  But hopefully that will make my posts a little fuller.  I am going to try to take more pictures!

The only reason today finally went smoothly is because of Randy Pausch.  In the midst of my stress yesterday and the ominous procrastination I could see lurking in my near future, I typed in "time management" into google, and this video popped up.  I realized while watching it that I truly undervalue my own time sometimes and I wanted to change that.  Not all of his advice is relevant, but I am now using google calendar to block out every hour of the day, and my to do list just got a little boost.  Today was very successful and it's only 6pm and I have studied for a full five hours and went to two classes.  I am looking forward to my new early bedtime and I hope tomorrow I will keep at it!

This video is super long.  So if you want to watch it, I would reccommend you have time + a pen and paper to take notes.

Happy New Year's Eve

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!  Are you making any resolutions?  I don't usually but this year I am feeling the need to push myself at the end of my college experience.  So I guess mine would be more like goals for the next six months.

• I am taking Nike literally because I have to "Just Do It".  There is no more planning, just making it through each school and nanny day.
• I resolve to fulfill each task on my planner, even though some of those tasks require extra time at the library or wearing exercise clothes to school so I can't justify missing pilates.
• I resolve to end the 'poor me' monologues (which play too often in my mind) and to focus on what's good about my life right now.
• I resolve to take both actuary preliminary exams before my graduation date, so that I can walk right from the graduation stage into a new situation.
• I resolve to wake up, and to get dressed and ready on purpose.
• And, (this one's the hardest one!), I resolve to accept the rain.

Enjoy your New Year's Eve!

Final Frenzy

Just finished studying for fall finals!  I had my final exam for Women's American History today and I'll take my finals for Physics and Statistics tomorrow.  I am so happy to be done studying, but tomorrow still feels heavy.  I am nannying as well so it makes for an eventful day.  I can't wait until tomorrow night when I can finally take a deep breath and celebrate the upcoming three weeks off!  Another quarter down, and another milestone! (pardon the !!!'s...I'm allowed to be this excited...)

A few book reccomendations...

My Women's American history class has been very illuminating, and has especially made me grateful for the position of equality with men I hold in modern society.  Some of the books that we have read include Charlotte Temple, by Susanna Rowson.  This book has been around since the 1790's so you feel like you're getting right to the source of women's 18th century thoughts.  I also have been reading No Small Courage, by Nancy Cott, which has essentially "caught me up" on women's American history.  (Many of my classmates are History majors so I was feeling a little behind.)  Cott is extremely thorough and explores the lives of all groups: European, African and Native American.

I will say though, that I have thought about women's "progress" and I have found pieces of it to be damaging to both sexes.  Women now have the burden of child-bearing and have lost the option to stay at home and take care of their children without risking poverty.  Men tread a fine line between being expected to provide for a wife an family and being accused of male-chauvinism and patriarchy.  It seems as though a new kind of partnership with equally shared roles of providing financial stability and childcare is the only way for a modern couple to survive today's demands on family happiness.

Another milestone

This year is going to be full of milestones...and that's awesome.  Today I turned in my application for Spring graduation.  Although on the surface it seems like another way for the University to charge me $20 to push papers around, it truly was a big deal to me.  So much so that I did a double-fist pump on my way out the door.  Go Vikings!

Happy Fall

School is in full swing and the end of this week will be halfway through Fall quarter!  I went to the university library on Saturday to study Physics, so I got a rare glimpse of an empty campus.  The fall leaves are so beautiful right now, especially since it hasn't been raining!

I heart PSU!

Pocahontas

I am taking an American Women's History class at PSU and after spending all last week talking about what we were going to talk about this term, today we finally dove into the material, starting with Pocahontas.

I learned a few things about Pocahontas today.

1. The Disney movie is a gross misrepresentation of historical facts.

2. Chief Powhattan was trying to adopt John Smith as part of a greater plan to incorporate the Europeans into their tribe.  His perceved "torture" was a male initiation rite.  It was not strange for Pocahontas to intervene since in Powhattan society, it was under the women's jurisdiction to decide the fate of captives.

3. Pocahontas is a tribal nickname meaning "mischievous one".  She had other names...Matoaka meaning "White Feather", and Amonute meaning "Beloved Woman".

4. Powhattan means "People of the Dream Vision" and Pocahontas had shown that she had visionary gifts.  To her, her marriage to John Rolf and her baptism were part of fulfilling her destiny, since she had dreamed that she would do great things for her people.

5. The Europeans thought the Native Americans were savages, while the Natives viewed the Europeans as newcomers to be incorporated (until Europeans started killing them with disease and warfare).  Marriage of Native women to European men was a way of legitimizing and initiating the incorporation.

I am a little angry that Disney fed me such trash.  Because I thought I already knew about Pocahontas, I might have missed out on learning about a very dynamic person, one who has a much more complex life then what's "just around the riverbend".

My Walk Home

In case you aren't convinced by now about how much I love living in Portland, this post is to show you how beautiful my daily scenery is.

Don't get me wrong, my hometown Salt Lake City is gorgeous!...on a much grander scale.




But Portland is beautiful on a smaller and more diverse scale.  There are so many things to appreciate here.  So today...since the weather was so beautiful and clear, I walked the 45 minutes home from school instead of taking the bus and I took pictures along the way.

Here are some of the things I see on my way home from Portland State.

Meet Portlandia.  Yes, way before the TV show, came the second-largest copper statue in the U.S. (next to the Statue of Liberty of course).

My neighborhood and downtown are separated by the Willamette River, so I get to travel across the historic Hawthorne Bridge nearly every day.  It is so accessible for buses, cars, pedestrians and bicycles.

See Mt. Hood above?

Looking back towards downtown...

This is not a traveling circus...this is a whole lot on Hawthorne full of food carts.  It's called Cartopia, and is home to Whiffie's Fried Pies which is rumored to be the best cart in Portland.

Along SE Hawthorne, their are many unique shops and restaurants like these.

But I don't always like to walk on Hawthorne because of the traffic, so I duck into my neighborhood where there are lots of cute houses and many more cute squirrels! I don't know how I got this one to pose for me!

I hope you enjoyed my walk!

The Last of a First

Today is a momentous day in the life of Cheri.  Today was my last first-day of school, so I have decided it must be marked with an oversized blog post.

I am so excited to graduate but...realizing that all those things that I love about starting school (the crunch of leaves under new school shoes, the autumn smell, the apprehension of finding your classroom) made me just a little nostalgic.  I wanted to take some pictures of campus but they didn't turn out like I wanted so I will try again tomorrow.

The most exciting thing about today is that I am back in a routine.  I have started a Pilates/Yoga routine in the morning via a Netflix streaming workout video, followed by coffee and getting ready.  By the time I left for school at 9:45, I was feeling so ready.  The rest of my day was class, studying, and piano right up until now.  It is 6:15 PM and I am exhausted, which makes me really excited that I am going to get a good night's sleep tonight. And start all over again tomorrow!

Today my classes were Women's American History and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists.  Both seem like they are going to be great.  In Stats, we spent a little time talking about the probability that the recent falling satellite would have landed on one of us and I was wishing I would have had that lecture last week so I would have been a little less concerned. ;)

After school as I was walking to the bus stop, I had to get out of the way because there was a sidewalk parade heading right toward me!  You never know what you'll run into on the streets of Portland.  There is always some walk or protest for this or that.  Although this particular walk was memorable for the music and stilt-walkers, they only had one sign in front and all I could see was "March for..."  Someone was walking right in front of the last word!!  It made for quite an inefficient message.

My stove decided to quit (and damn near electrocuted me last night), and I wasn't about to have sandwiches for two meals today, so I planned to treat myself to some pho (Vietnamese noodle soup).  But the restaurant I like was closed today!  It worked out great though because across the street is a creperie that I have been meaning to try but I always forget about.  I had the most amazing swiss, spinach crepe with a fried egg on top and a side salad for my lunch.  It was so delicious and I can't wait to go back (maybe next time for dessert)!



I have been watching the Masterpiece Theater's mini-series version of Charles Dickens' Bleak House so I think I'll be finishing up my night with that.  Here's to a perfect last first-day of school!

Proud to be a Viking

Today I went to the University for a routine pre-schoolyear doctor's visit.  I snapped this picture on the way there, and all day in keeping with my 'be in the present' theme I was thinking about how grateful I am for Portland State.

When I graduate, it will be eight years since I graduated from high school.  Life sure can take some turns.  I remember how determined I was when making the decision last year to get back in school for good and since enrolling at PSU, I have never looked back.

I reclaimed my love of school and my love of Math at PSU, and because of some incredible mentors, I have chosen a career that excites me and challenges me to keep learning.  I hope I can remember to relish this school year.

Balancing

I feel like writing today.  I feel that maybe I should keep my thoughts locked away in a secret journal somewhere for only posterity to dig up, but it's 2011 so I'm joining the rest of the world in spilling my guts in a public way.

One year from now, I will be married, living in a different apartment in a different city (maybe), graduated from school, and (hopefully) interning for the start of a long-term career.  All of these things are exciting on their own, which makes their combination feel like a big ball of nervous and excited anxiety.

I spend a good amount of time planning, day-dreaming and wanting that future.  I know this is largely due to the fact that I have a break from school right now and a lot more time to think, but lately I feel like I might be borderline obsessive.

Today I am giving myself a wake-up call.  I don't want to miss this year.  If I look at it a different way...this is my last year to live on Hawthorne, my last year to go to college, my last year to have the last name I was born with.  Maybe next year I won't be able to take as many neighborhood walks, or read as many books.

This optimism isn't easy.  Although there is a lot to enjoy, I am still a struggling college student without a dishwasher and a construction crew blowing up dust into my apartment windows. I still do a disproportionate amount of window shopping compared to actual purchases.  But somehow I need to find that present joy...that "I don't want to be anywhere else but where I am" mentality.

Speaking of enjoying the moment...Daniel and I celebrated a pre-anniversary yesterday.  It was exactly one year from our wedding date so we had a toast!  Cheers to a great (and present) year.

Feeling like a Fraggle

I've been feeling like I live on Fraggle Rock lately because this is the view from my kitchen window.  They're tearing down the outdated Hawthorne Safeway to build an updated version.  I felt like it deserved the spotlight today because my apartment was shaking so much from the machines, you'd think there was an earthquake.  I like it when they cement though because that's real quiet and you hardly notice they're out there.  The machines kick up a lot of dirt (from the mound of dirt they stockpiled right next to the apartment), and the dirt gets into my windows, into the bathtub and on the kitchen floor.  I just keep telling myself how good it will be when I can just walk around the corner to grocery shop again.

I have finished The Help (such a sweet book!) and I have started reading a new novel.  I ran into it at Powell's Books today and I got so excited because the author, Loretta Stinson, was my advisor when I was thinking about majoring in English at Portland State!  I am excited to see what her novel will be like.  It is called Little Green and it is set here in the Northwest.

Cheers to the end of a quarter!

Yesterday I took my last two final exams for the summer quarter at PSU...the end of eight weeks of mental exhaustion. Cheers to that!

 I thought it would be so nice to get all dressed up and meet Daniel downtown for dinner but plans started going south as soon as I opened my closet.  Being a student, I buy clothes only when I really need them and since I'm always at school I have recently only stocked up on t-shirts and jeans.  After coming up with some of the most bizarre outfits, I finally settled on a short black polyester skirt and a grey quarter-sleeve tee.  Awful... The only thing that saved it was a pair of red ballet flats.

Oh well.  I didn't feel "dressed up" enough to go downtown (kind of a contradiction in Portland terms) so we ate on Hawthorne.  Had a good time but then I must have mixed some things that don't mix because Daniel was up with me at 3am as I had the worst headache I have ever experienced and threw up everything.  Poor Daniel...I don't know what I would do without him!

Even if the celebration was short of fabulous...I am so glad summer quarter is over!

A Proper Introduction

As tomorrow is the last day of summer session at Portland State and I will finally be on summer break... I have decided to start this blog which will be mostly an online diary, and a way to turn the everyday into something artistic and hopefully beautiful.

I thought that I should first give a proper introduction of myself.  My name is Cheri.  I live in Portland, Oregon and I am studying math at Portland State University.  I spend most of my free time with my amazing boyfriend Daniel and we live a very simple life.

I love the piano.  I have been playing since I was fourteen and my life is always better if I have one in the house.  My current piano is a digital Kurzweil...wasn't pricey but I love it.  With the right set of headphones you can make it sound like a concert grand.

It rains a lot in Portland and over the two winters I have lived here, I have picked up paper crafting as a way to be ok about having to be indoors.  Here are a few things I have made for the apartment.

I wish I could say more tonight but my exam reviews are calling.  I have learned to write super tiny as they allow one sheet of notes for the exams.  (I don't know how I would survive without that!)  Wish me luck!

Summer Final Exams

I took one final exam today and I will take two more tomorrow.  I have been uber stressed out over taking three math classes in the summer, but Saturday I will be able to take a deep breath and it will all be worth it.  I am taking so many classes because I am excited to graduate next June and I have been an undergraduate so long that I am desperate to get out into the real world! After tomorrow, four quarters down...three to go!