Run Over by October

It's safe to say it's October, considering what my calendars look like.

What my calendars looked like on the first of the month... they've since gotten more crowded.

This is the month where I typically completely forget I'm a student and am focused mainly on what I'm doing at work. That's not to say I'm not doing my homework, but I often have to remind myself "hey, you've got a 10 page paper due in 2 days... you should probably get on that". This is the month that Homecoming and prepping students for the NACA Northeast tend to collide and explode in a multitude of meetings, emails, Word documents, and more meetings. Oh, and mid-terms too... I guess. #SAgradprobz

I've been staying afloat relatively well this year. Last year, I kind of let it completely break me down, but this year I'm a bit more mindful of what needs to get done and how I'm going to accomplish it. I recently described how I deal with my busy schedule as "completely blacking out and just doing it then waking up and saying to myself 'what just happened'." I think that is the most accurate description I've given to date!

Me either, mystery person. Me either.

I've somehow been able to fit in some personal time in my schedule, and have actually been doing some pretty fun things lately! The weekend I went to NH for the marathon, my parents also ran a 5K called Footrace for the Fallen, so I ran support crew for them in return for running support crew for me the day before. There's so many fun short to mid-distance races in our area of NH, and they try to participate in as many as they can!

I've been making a serious effort to see Brett as often as I can as well. We're both so busy and on completely opposite schedules that it's hard to be able to spend time together that isn't spent sleeping or working on other things, but we've been making the most of it. We went out to froyo the other night (Brett's first time... his mind was blown) and we always have breakfast together in the dining hall at his school after his early morning work outs, so we still get a solid few waking hours together each week!

Yes, that is his school's logo in their waffles... incredible.

Other than spending time with Brett and my family, I've gotten a solid dose of time with my old pal Microsoft Word, cranking out papers like a champ. It's kind of gross that 8-10 page papers are second nature to me at this point when that seemed like such a daunting task a year ago. I'm actually enjoying the things that I'm writing about in my classes this semester, though, which makes it much easier to get through! I guess that's another clue that you're going down the right path, right?

Though October has been stressful thus far, it's been fun as well. We're smack dab in the middle of Homecoming at BSU and we've implemented a Spirit Week component to the mix this year which has been SO much fun! I'll post more about it next week. I'm also really looking forward to NACA at the end of the month. I know kind of know what I'm doing at conferences (I had never been to one before grad school!) and it's going to be a great opportunity to chat with colleagues at different campuses to get a feel for where I'd like to possibly work in the future. It's going to be a lot more than just taking it all in this year, and I'm excited for that!

I hope you all are having a wonderful October as well! (Can you believe we're already half way through? Where is this month going?!) I'll be sure to be posting in the next couple days, but here are two photos that are summing up my feelings on life at the moment...

Talk to you soon! :)