It's Official!

Sorry for the very short posts lately, but I've been so so busy! Here's the proof!:

Followed by brunch at Brennan's which is one of the most famous of the fine dining restaurants in New Orleans which was awful and horribly over priced, but the ambiance was nice.

Here's me and Meg (at Brennan's) who supported me along the way:

And me and the wonderful woman (my mom) who made so much of this journey possible:
And my crazy sister, doing things that only crazy sisters can do at fine dining restaurants :p :

The Honors Ceremony

So tonight was the Honors Ceremony for graduation. The "big news" that was talked about in the comments section last night was that there was a rumor that I was going to get an award. I did in fact get an award for excellence in research for the research I did that I presented at the National Rehabilitation Counseling Symposium in Albuquerque last year. The research was entitled "Extent of Rehabilitation Values in News Articles of the Hurricane Katrina Crisis." Basically, I found that there were absolutely no rehab values and the media played it very neutral when they could've been more of an advocate for the public. So it was nice to have my research recognized with a plaque and some applause. I was just upset that my partner that I did the research with wasn't recognized as well, but they said they could only give the award to one person. So yay for me! Here's a picture of me and Megan at the banquet afterwards. The best award of all is that she's here with me for the next few days :):

So Begins The Last Week Of School

Not only is this the last week of school, but it's my last week as a student. I have very mixed emotions about this. A part of me is so relieved that it's over and ready to move into the workforce, but another part of me wants to remain a student.

My graduate student experience has been chaotic to say the least. It started with Katrina. Since then, everything has been up in the air and constantly changing. But I made it through, and it will make that degree mean that much more to me. I've made a couple of really close friends and one in particular who I'm sure I'll continue to keep in touch with. I've learned tons! I feel like I've learned more in these past two years than I have in any other schooling. I've learned more in the practical sense...how counseling actually works. And I've really enjoyed it despite the huge amounts of stress and the having to fight for everything. The faculty hasn't been a huge help to me, nor has the administration which is unfortunate. I've learned the most from my supervisor at the hospital where I've been doing my internship.

Now it's time to find a job. I've sent out a few resumes, but haven't heard anything back yet. I'll just sit and wait for now. I'll start going at it full force after Mexico. Get in a little bit of R&R and then play hardball.

Plans for the rest of the week: Today I have my last clinic class, tomorrow is my ethics final, Wednesday and Thursday are internship days, and Friday is my birthday :) Then it's all over! A week off and graduation on May 19th. It's very surreal that I will have a Masters in a little over a week. Strange...

I'm sure this isn't the end of school for me though. I can definitely see myself going back for the PhD. If there were a degree above that, I'd get that too....well I guess I could go for an MD, but that's definitely NOT going to happen.

Migraines, Migraines Go Away

No migraine today, thank God, but I did go to the neurologist this morning to have the meds switched up a bit. I've been taking Amitryptiline for awhile now for migraines. It's an antidepressant that's also used to treat migraines. It hasn't been working too well, but it has helped with my depression...go figure. So I think I'm going to stay on that medication in addition to the new one. The new one she prescribed is Topamax...anyone else try this one? It's a seizure medication, but hopefully will work in the migraine prevention area as well. It's got some brutal side effects which I hope won't come my way, although I wouldn't complain about the weight loss ;) I've found that Relpax works really well in getting rid of headaches. It's just so damn expensive ($30 co-pay for 6 pills!), but it's worth it.

As for the rest of the day, school is on the menu. blah...I'm going early though so that I can stop by the bookstore and get a diploma frame for my Master's which will be in my possession on May 19th :D

What a boring post...

Don't forget to get your name in for the Mirrormask giveaway. I'm picking the name tomorrow night!