too legit to quit.

you guys. so you know how the last 2+ years of my life have been spent crying/stressing studying my life away for this? well, despite passing my classes, being pinned, and graduating, i wasn't even a real pta yet. on top of all the crap hard work you have to do for school, you have to take a licensing exam to even be an actual pta {except for in the states of colorado and hawaii, apparently}.

we graduated on may 10th and had to wait two {2!} whole months to take our boards. july 10th was a super big day. because the local seats filled up before i was able to register, austin and i drove up to to nashville the night before and stayed in a hotel so i didn't have to try to drive and take the test all in one morning. after staying up as late as i could handle {about 10 pm} and trying my best to get a good night's sleep {right} it was time.

i came. i test. i left.

and that was it. it then became a waiting game to see whether or not i passed.

and i had to wait a whole week. 7 days. 7 days too many, in my opinion.

i mean, it's computerized. they should know immediately, right?

but i waited.

and...

and holy guacamole! i passed!

but even still, passing was not enough. the state of tennessee has to give me a license. and they did! it's legit! see that? active licensed. take that!

cue celebratory dancing, running through the house and perhaps a few tears. followed almost immediately by the ceremonial burning of the flashcards/old notes/papers from class.

best. feeling. ever. i am so, so happy to be done with school. it's been a long road but i can't wait to get started working as a legit licensed pta! because, yeah, i accepted a job! i interviewed with a handful of companies and got quite a few offers, but after careful consideration and a lot of sweating, i made a decision. so excited to get back into the real world!

the beach!

so austin and i just got back from the beach over the weekend. before we got married we used to go to fort walton beach/destin, florida at the beginning of every summer with austin's parents. but the year we got married we didn't go {we were a bit busy gettin' hitched and all} and we hadn't been back since. i'm not really sure why, but i'm sure it had to do with austin having/changing jobs and me not having a job/being in school. but not this year!

i really don't have that many pictures to share. mostly because blinding sun + greasy sunblock + sand + digital camera = hot mess. but i do have a few because i whined to austin that i just had to have pictures to prove we went on vacation i wanted to have the memories recorded.

although it was a bit seaweed-y some days for the most part the water was so clear!

we arrived on saturday afternoon and after the drive none of us were interested in going grocery shopping or cooking. instead we decided to grab dinner at dewey destin's seafood. and by "we" i of course mean everyone but me because they had zero food i could eat. they couldn't even throw some lettuce on a plate and call it a salad for me. i later had a frozen dinner meal back at the condo.

on sunday we hit the beach. obviously. and i slathered on spf 60 the entire week to keep from getting burned. #palegirlproblems. austin and i headed out to the boardwalk to wander around. a people watch. there's always interesting people-watching at the beach.

and bird watching. we saw lots of these birds. you can get crazy close to them and they just sit there.

we also saw lots of pelicans. a favorite.

oh what a wonderful bird is the pelican. for his beak can hold more than his belly can. he can store in his beak enough food for a week and i don't know how in the hell he can.

we grabbed a few drinks and then had dinner at mcguires just over the bridge into destin. listen to me here: if you go to destin, you MUST get pizza at vinny mcguires. it was delicious. no joke. and our server was ridiculously awesome. and the decor inside mcguires is... interesting.

{is this picture blog appropriate? idowhatiwant.}

on monday austin and i packed the cooler and the car and headed to the state park for some snorkeling. it was really fun. i so badly wished we had thought ahead to buy one of those cheap-o disposable under water cameras. but we didn't. but then again no one needs to be photographed with those goofy looking goggles and snorkels on their face anyway.

tuesday, wednesday and thursday were mainly beach days. although we did take a trip to the movie theater to see the great gatsby {two thumbs up right here}. we also ate a "celebrate rikki's graduation" dinner at callahan's one night. thursday night, austin took me on a date night where we went back to the board walk to people/bird watch, shop and enjoy dinner at crab island cantina.

we had yummy margaritas and and delish guacamole {oh, i eat guacamole now, who woulda thought?}.

on friday we soaked up as much sun as possible since it was our last day. and by "soak up as much sun as possible" obviously i mean hide under the umbrella to keep my pale skin from frying.

hiding from the sun all week was, of course, alternated with floating on the lacking waves water that is found in the gulf {i tend to prefer the scare-the-heck-outta-you-gotta-dive-through-em-to-keep-from-being-turned-upside-down-and-drowning-waves you find at the east coast beaches}.

after swimming/frying all day austin and i decided on the spur of the moment to drive back home late friday night instead of waking up super early saturday morning to head back. we had a full moon to light our way the whole trip.

and for any of you who have ever taken a road trip with me you know i am like an infant who falls asleep almost instantly in the car. but not this time! i'm proud to say that i was able to keep myself awake for the entire drive home. who am i? we made it back in town in time to get a good night sleep before picking up the pup in the morning.

she was pretty excited to see us. and kinda blurry.

and if you're wondering why we had to get back in town so early it was so we could make it in time for my sweet sorority sister, kailan, to get married to austin's fraternity brother, mason!

i may be a bit biased, but adpi+phi delt weddings are the best weddings.

and as much as i'm hating having to wait until july to take my boards, i'm really enjoying all the vacation-ing i'm getting to do during this time. i even get to head to virginia soon to see kasey!

pta pinning

in case you missed it: I AM DONE WITH PTA SCHOOL. FOR REAL. like, no more class, no more clinical rotations/working for free, no more studying! ok so maybe i should study for my boards in july...

this year, our class {because we are that awesome} decided we wanted to do a special ceremony to celebrate our accomplishments. sure, there's the school-wide graduation ceremony, but we wanted to have something a little more personal and just for us. so we organized a pinning ceremony.

and look who came in town to be here for it!

and, of course, austin was there for me, too.

i even gave a speech. in front of 200 people. eeek. what you can't see in this picture is how i am profusely sweating and my knees are literally shaking as i talk.

there were also a few awards given out. i got two! woop woop!

the first was for being veep of the pta club.

and the second was for being the outstanding academic graduate! go me!

and each of us got to come up one by one to be pinned by someone special to us.

here's all 22 of us who made it!

and if you're wondering about the baby there in that last picture, just... don't. it's really better that way.

so congratulations to the pta class of 2013. i've had a great last two years, but i'm so glad it's over!

and maybe now i can have a life again!

atl by iphone

i recently and finally finished up PTA school for EVER. and in order to celebrate, i got an emergency root canal. holy frijoles, i have never been in so much pain. but the good news is i managed to pass my exit exam with a pretty good grade while on percocet. and without a single second of studying. because i was too doped up to know what a book was at the time.

ok so that's not actually how i celebrated the summation of a two year hard-as-heck pta program. in fact, austin surprised me with a little trip to atlanta to celebrate. so after i took my exit exam and after austin got home from work, we jumped in the car to head down south.

although it took us 3 different gps systems and every ounce of patience i have in my body to finally find the hotel, we did eventually arrive at the intercontinental buckhead atlanta. i'm pretty sure this is the first hotel i've ever stayed at that actually had mints on the pillows!

after a quick wardrobe change, we no longer looked like we had just left work/were on narcotics {just me, not austin, of course} and we headed down to the bourbon bar for a drink. possibly to calm my nerves after the gps fiasco.

and if you were impressed by the mints on the pillows, whoa man would you be impressed by this bar. i've never even heard of some of the things they had to put in your drinks. a whole collection of extracts and bitters to add a little something. some kind of drink that austin ordered they actually used a spritzer to coat his glass with absinthe, for the aromatic experience as you take a sip of your drink. whaaa?

after that, we took a freezing cold walk {apparently winter made a guest appearance in atlanta that weekend} to grab some dinner at bricktop's. we had some guacamole {because the spinach dip had chicken stock in it... boooo} and i had the goat cheese flatbread pizza and austin had the chilean seabass. the food there was seriously delicious.

after stuffing our faces, we made our way back to the bourbon bar where we had another drink and sat and giggled like we were kids. my recently operated on face hurt sooo bad from laughing too much. i also ordered the twelve layer red velvet cake for some dessert. and although it was good... it wasn't as awesome as a twelve layer red velvet cake sounds.

don't get me wrong, i ate it. all twelve layers of it. but i think some cheesecake probably would have been better.

saturday morning, we walked through the freezing cold rain to grab some breakfast at the flying biscuit cafe. and oh, did we eat. we only ordered two meals, but i swear it was enough food to feed at least six people. there were eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, omelets, the best grits i've ever had in my life, whole wheat french toast and, of course, biscuits. austin was disappointed that no biscuits actually flew at any point during the meal.

then it was time for what austin had actually planned the weekend for... we went to the bodies exhibition! it was pretty cool. of course, i was quizzing austin the entire time on what muscle was what and what it did. he was less than impressed with my knowledge. waaamp waaamp.

after the exhibit, we wandered around atlantic station for a bit checking out some stores here and there and then we grabbed some lunch at yard house because austin had checked around and found that they had an entire section of their menu devoted to vegetarian friendly gardein products!

austin ordered a delicious grilled cheese and tomato bisque and i got the gardein bbq chicken pizza. oh, and we had a tower of onion rings, as well. mostly because they looked really cool.

and then i found this onion ring that looked like a face to me. i may or may not have held it up to my face like a mask. austin was not amused.

and then we did something i've wanted to do for years. years! that's right, we went to ikea.

and i have to say, having never been to an ikea before, i was really, really confused. once i finally got the hang of it, sorta, i realized we were being herded through this gigantic store like cattle. and it was not my cup of tea. the only thing i really wanted to buy were some house plants. but austin wouldn't let me. booo.

after the chaos of ikea, it was time to head home. but not without one more stop. i just happened to spy a giant billboard advertising over 250 flavors of popcorn. and how could i possibly pass that up?? answer: i couldn't. we stopped at popcorn haven. three free samples later austin and i each had chosen our picks. he went with caramel toffee almond and i, of course, got cheesy.

eventually our overstuffed selves made it back home and picked up the pup. i swear i've never eaten so much food in one weekend. but it's fine. we were celebrating the last two years being finished, right? nevermind the fact that we're going to the beach in a few weeks. guess i'll be hitting the gym soon...

and i gotta give austin credit for planning a super fun weekend trip to atlanta for me. sometime that kid can really get things right. :)

{also, i just feel like i need to let everyone know that no, i did not actually consume drinks while on percocet. i actually had stopped taking my pain meds because they made me so loopy. i know better than to combine things like that. that and austin can barely put up with me when i'm not under the influence of anything.}

good things.

good things are happening around here lately. and i'm soaking it all in.

first, i finished up my clinical rotation at the rehab hospital. to celebrate, austin and i met up for drinks and dinner at big river with two other students who were at the same site as me, but from different schools.

also, i dyed my hair. and got 2 1/2 inches chopped off. kind of happened by accident, but the end result i'm pretty happy with. ready for summer, i suppose.

also, i was on spring break last week from school. this picture pretty much sums up the most of the week. very exciting.

and since i was on spring break i made plans to meet up for dinner with bri. it was super good to see her face and hang out. we also got to meet up with the guys after our dinner. so. fun.

and bri, i really, really, wanted to share the picture i took of you with tears streaming down your face from laughing/choking to death, but you told me not to. so i didn't. but i will keep the picture so i can look at it any time i need some cheering up. :)

austin and i even got to have an impromptu dub's date {with juliet in tow}. if you're looking for a peanut butter milkshake that's the definition of thebombdotcom, dub's is the place. also, they'll give your pup some soft serve ice cream.

and the last good thing i am super excited about right now is the warm weather we had over the weekend allowing my to get out in the garden and get some dirt under my nails. we mulched, we dug, we weeded, we planted. it was glorious.

i planted succulents in a colander and i just think they're the cutest.

and, of course, juliet was soaking up the sunshine. nobody can complain about the first warm day of spring. except maybe austin. because he got ridiculously sunburned. a word to the pale: coming out of winter hibernation should be a slow process.

hope you all have had good things to enjoy lately, as well!