A New Semester

Alas, the time has come.  School is back in session, starting today.  My schedule is a breeze compared to last semester.  I’m taking “Advanced Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals” and “Introduction to School Counseling,” the latter which I’m taking as an elective.  In our master’s program, we must complete 21 hours of core courses and 18 hours of electives.  I’m interested in pediatric nutrition and possibly working in schools, so I think this elective will be very beneficial.

I’ve been busy over the holiday finishing up my application for the dietetic internship.  If I get accepted (oh please, pretty please!), I will begin this fall.  If I do the internship through the program that I’m in now, I get 9 hours of credit towards my degree.  I will find out the result next month.  If all goes as planned, after the 1o month internship, I will have just two more courses to complete before I can add RD and MS after my name ;).  I cannot wait!

It sure has been a long journey, but looking back, I feel extremely proud of myself for how far I’ve come.

Before getting caught up in the busyness of school and work, I felt the itch to have one last wild night (by my standards anyway), one last pow wow if you will.  Usually I’m in bed by 10, but on Friday, I tried my best to stay awake and wait for Tim to get home from work.  He surprised me by bringing home soju, Korean distilled alcohol.  My alcohol tolerance is not that high, but when it comes to soju, even I amaze myself.  It’s a mystery, indeed.  Anyway, we had a great conversation and ended up staying up till 2.  So there you have it…my “wild” night.  That’s about as crazy as it gets around here.

The next day, there was only one thing on our minds…downing a big bowl of pho.  The warm, beefy, licorice-y, savory broth is by far the best hangover cure!  And it sure did not disappoint.  I felt my whole head clear up and my tummy settle down.  Good stuff…

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around at home.  Tim watched football and did the laundry, while I experimented in the kitchen.  I have some delicious recipes to share so stay tuned ;).

I also want to share with you what my marvelous sister did.  She sent me a box of Harry and David’s famous Royal Riviera pears!  She loves me!  She really really loves me!  She knows all too well that I would never order them myself, as they are so expensive.  I was truly touched by her thoughtfulness and generosity.  She’s simply the best.  With great anticipation, Tim and I are staring at them relentlessly in hopes that they will ripen faster ;).

I hope they’ll be ready for me when I get back home from school today.

Today is also a big day because my dearest Kona is turning 4!!  He’s 35 years old in human years, and this makes me a bit sad.  My lil’ stinker has surpassed me in age.  He’s so full of personality, and I cannot imagine my life without him.  He has brought so much joy and laughter into my life and has gotten me through some really dark times.  Although I say he is extremely clingy (no doubt he is), I am just the same way.  If he’s not in my field of vision, I feel lonely and antsy.  Yes, I am a tad bit obsessed with my black shadow.  It’s hard not to be.

As is the tradition around here, I made him his very own meatballs to enjoy during his bday week.  Last year was turkey, and this year it got upgraded to…bison!  The meatballs had carrots, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and peanut butter.  Yes, peanut butter.  He likes his veggies crunchy so I roughly chopped them.

See what I mean by tense? He was quite impatient while we were singing him happy birthday.

Since both Tim and I won’t be home most of today, we threw him a mini party yesterday.  He inhaled the meatballs  in no time.  It was such a joy to see his tail wag vibrate.

Wanna get to know this guy a lil’ bit more?  Here are some past posts dedicated solely to Kona.

• Hello world! I’m Kona
• Part 2 in the Kona series
• Kona series #3

I also want to take this time to show off his intelligence.  He has learned many tricks (both in English and Korean – his “halmoni” or grandma likes to yell at him in Korean).  

He knows “leave it, beg, stay, sit, high five, bang, stay, huggie time, go to bed…”  He doesn’t like “leave it” very much.  He shakes and becomes really tense when he tries to resist the temptation of treats.  He also rings the bell to let us know that he has to use the potty.  Yup, that’s my boy!

He is crazy about peanut butter.  Whenever I say “PB!” he starts shaking and licking his lips.  He will stay standing on his hind legs for minutes if he has to.  I try not to give him too much, but it’s just so hard to resist seeing him lose his sanity.

He’s quite the curious one.

He’s looking wiser and wiser as time passes.  It must be the beard.  My family affectionately calls him “the goat.”

Happy Birthday, Kona!  Thank you for 4 amazing years.  Mommy and daddy look forward to many more to come!

I feel bad that he has to be by himself for the majority of today, but off to school I go.  I will just have to shower him with love (and meatballs) when I return.  Hope you have a marvelous Monday!!  Thank you, Katie, for the link-up!