3 Month Lag...

Okay, so its officially been three whole months since my last post. I can't put into words how incredibly busy I've been! It's been crazy!

Well since July 16, 2006, I've finished my last internship, gone job hunting, finally got my Master's degree, got a great job, did some house-hunting, found a house to purchase, and now I'm playing the waiting game before closing. Wow. Whatta whirlwind!

If you want to see pictures of everything that has been going on in my life, please feel free to visit my flickr site!

I'm not promising anything, but I'm going to try to keep this blog as up-to-date as possible!

Long time, no post!

Wow...so it's been a while since I've posted. I've promised pictures and updates, and I have failed to do so. My sincerest apologies...

So, I got a job! I'm so excited about it! That's what's new on the homefront here....oh, and I'm graduating in less than 4 weeks! I can't believe it's almost here! It's so crazy how fast time flies! I'm so glad that I bit the bullet and decided to go to graduate school. It has definitely paid off!!!

Short blog, I know, and for that I'm sorry. But I've gotta head to church now! Hopefully a new post will come soon!

Western Conference Champions!

Praise ye the Lord, and HALLELUJAH! The Mavs totally took the Suns tonight in Game 6 of round three in the Western Conference Finals. Which means...the Mavs are going to the finals baby! I'm so flippin' excited...I can hardly contain myself! It's an even sweeter win because at one point during the game, the Mavs were down by 16 points, and ended up winning by 9 whole points! I'm still in awe!

Anyway, back in mid-May I took my brother to Game 4 in Dallas against the Spurs in Round 2. Of course I took my camera...and binoculars! I decided to take a few pictures with my camera through the binoculars as well, so I got some pretty close shots. The color is a bit off, but it still worked!

(WITHOUT the binoculars)









(WITHOUT the binoculars)

My dear Mavericks,

I am so very proud of you! You are an amazing team, and I look forward to watching you take out the Miami Heat in the finals! Good luck to you all!

Mom's Day + More

For Mother's Day, my brother, sister and I all wore "I Love Mom" shirts. Of course Mom wanted to take pictures with us, so while we waited for Mom to come pose with us, Dad snapped a few shots (mostly unposed)...







...and then we had fun with Mom! Hope you've enjoyed the montage from Mother's Day!





I do have a picture or two from my San Antonio trip I will post, but I will do that at a later time.

Also to come is pictures from the AWESOME game last night! Game 4 of Mavs vs. Spurs! The game went into overtime, and the Mavs pulled it out! I'll share photos soon! So stay posted, people!

GO MAVS!

Okay...seriously...I'm so flippin' excited!!! Mavs just won game 3 in Round 2 against the Spurs!!! So the game count is 2-1, Mavs! YES!



It was so intense...I'm surprised I still have my voice...and also surprised I don't have a stomach ulcer from the stress of it all! And to top it off, I got tickets for me and Nate (my bro) to Game 4 in Dallas this Monday! Dude, it's gonna be so awesome!

I have to admit though...I do have a crush on Manu Ginobili of the opposing team...I just can't help it! :)



Stay posted...just got back from San Antonio. Pics, and possibly video to come shortly...

The Evolution of Dance!

Mute Math!

Last night was my first time to experience Mute Math...live...in the flesh! I have to say that it was one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. I found myself standing there, mouth hanging open in awe! And Paul's voice is phenomenal! Such a tight band...they're huge. Anyway, here are some pictures from the evening...











And check out the video...part of the outro of their encore....pretty darn cool if you ask me.


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

My Big Update!

What is with me lately? My goodness...school has dominated all of my extra time, and I haven't really had the time to sit down and give you all an update. My apologies...

So, I've decided to create one blog of different things that have happened over the past few months that I haven't had time to post. You'll get some clips from here and there...hows that sound?

Back in February, I finally got to see Coldplay. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I got some pictures, but I'm really upset because I missed the best one. In one song Chris Martin always runs off the stage and into the crowd. Well guess what? He came right up my aisle and I was about 20 yards away from him and the battery to my camera died. Can you believe I forgot to charge it the night before? I kicked myself all the way back to the car. But, that didn't stop me from enjoying the show...




Another concert I got to attend was Maroon 5.



My brother got tickets for me and my sister, so we had a siblings trip to Houston, and met some friends there...it was a fun night. How does that fingernail taste, Rube?




Near the end of March, I got to attend the state convention in Grapevine, Texas with my girls! We had one of the best weekends ever! I desperately needed that trip! PLUS! The hotel we stayed at (Gaylord Texan Resort) was absolutely phenomenal. It is such a beautiful hotel! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the weekend.


Me & Gina


Me, Davnee & Lauren (from INSIDE the hotel)


This picture was taken right before the Praxis bowl. Gina, Lauren & I competed and tied for first place! We had a great time on that trip! Didn't we ladies?


What else? Let's see. Hmm...Well the Mavericks are doing pretty well in the playoffs...so that's a good thing.

OH! And my previous post (about the old men at the hospital) talks about a special old man that was my favorite patient. He was the sweetest old man, and I loved working with him everyday. He got readmitted near the end of my internship, and he ended up not making it. It was a very sad day, and I think of him often. It makes me sad. But he was funny, and so happy. Every day he would read the newspaper and check out the obituaries and say, "Let's see who I beat." He hung on for a while...he put a smile on my face...and still does.

So, on a lighter note, I'm done for the semester. Thank the Lord! I have all of May off, and I'm catching up on projects/hobbies. Today, I'm going to dye my hair blonde...not bright blonde, but a medium blonde. I'll post pictures soon...until then...

The Hospital and Older Men

As most of you know (maybe even ALL of you know), I'm interning at a hospital this semester. So far, its been really enjoyable, and an EXCELLENT learning experience. When I began this internship, I wasn't really prepared for the old men.

I've had some great stories to tell about his old men. I've never received so many compliments in such a short period of time. They may shoot me a wink, tell me I'm pretty, or even ask me to dinner! ha! One of my favorite patients is a 76 year old man with swallowing problems. I started seeing him in acute care, then he moved to rehab, and then he discharged. Now he comes in 2 or 3 times a week as an outpatient. He's such a kind man, and very friendly.

One day he told me, "You are my angel!"
I said, "really?"
He replied, "Yes! When I saw your face come through that door, I could see your wings spread out behind you!"

HA! What a sweetheat! I really enjoy working with him!

THEN! Just yesterday, we saw a new patient, and he was also in his seventies. The other clinician was working with him, but this man kept his eye on me, and of course winked at me a few times.

The other clinician asked him, "Do you see Staci over there?"
He replied, "Yeah, she's pretty....for a girl."

What?!?! Pretty for a girl? Of course I couldn't help but laugh at this comment. I thought, "why would he say that?" But then it quickly came back to me..."Oh yeah, he's diagnosed with altered mental status and delirium!" HA! I tell ya, working at the hospital is pretty fun, because you NEVER know what you will see or hear!

Great News!

Okay, so do you all remember that HUGE test I had to take to pass graduate school (the Praxis exam)? Well I studied my little butt off for two weeks straight. I took the test about a month ago and called today to get my scores...and guess what? I PASSED!!! I am so relieved! I can now relax for the rest of the semester.

Now for an update on my school progress...

Last semester I interned at a school, and this semester I'm at Baptist Hospital in Beaumont, TX. Also this semester I'm taking my last two classes I'll EVER have to take! So what happens next semester? Well, I'll have one more internship for two months (June-July). I'll go full-time, but without pay...kind of a bummer. Now where that internship will be is unknown as of now. I've been thinking of moving to the Dallas/Fort Worth area after graduation, so maybe I'll just go early and do my summer internship in the DFW area. (My supervisor at Lamar agrees that doing my last internship in Dallas would be a good idea if I plan on moving there anyway, because I might get my first paying job where I intern this semester.)

Anyway, keep me in your prayers. Pray that God will direct me, and tell me what to do and where to go. Thanks for tuning in...

Photo Booth FUN!!!

it's been SOOO long since my last post. I've been crazy busy with my schedule this semester. I'm going to my internship (hospital) five days a week and two 2.5 hour classes on Thursday (which are my LOOONG days). So I've been pretty worn out these past two or three weeks. Plus, I didnt really have much of a Christmas vacation with Hurricane Rita extending our Fall semester, and then my two and a half weeks of studying for the Praxis exam I took on the 7th of January (results still pending). Anyway, obviously, I've been ultra busy. Also, sorry I don't have pictures of my new beautiful car to show you. I got an awesome new digital camera for Christmas, so I'll be sure to take some, and post them asap.

Okay! So some of you may have heard of the program that comes on the new Apple iMacs called Photo Booth. The cool thing about the new iMacs is that it comes with a camera installed, so you can plug up and take pictures of yourself instantly. Anyway, this program has some fun effects as well as distortion effects. I was first introduced by my good friend Matty Bell when he showed off some of their pictures taken at the Apple store. I was dying to test it out. My best bud Gina got one a little over a month ago so we've had endless hours of high quality entertainment!!!

And now for your viewing pleasure...some endearing as well as comical photos taken with Photo Booth!



You may be familiar with this effect. It's probably the most popular. (That's Gina on the left)



This is the map pencil effect



Here is the thermal effect



This is a pretty fun one...the comic book effect. Look how dark the eyebrows and nostrils get! Yikes! :)

Okay, so those were the fun effects....now, we're on to the distorted effects. You may wanna take a quick tinkle trip, because if you laugh too hard, a little might seep out...haha. Well, that's how I felt when we were taking the pictures at least.



Oh dear...it doesnt even hardly look like me...does it? Weird.



HA! This is the mirror effect. You can see how much Gina was enjoying it! She was laughing so hard, I believe she shed a few tears!



Step right up ladies and gents! Get an up close look at Staci's expanded grill!



Here is what I call "Hilarity at its Finest!" We were doing the lip/teeth thing. You know where you dry your lip out a bit and push it up where it gets stuck on your gums above your teeth. Plus with this stretching effect used....oh my gosh! As you can tell, I was laughing so hard. It was quite comical!

Whew....that was fun! Okay folks, thats all I have for now. Keep it real and follow Jesus! :)