I Think I've Found It!

 
  
....the Online University I hope to be attending next spring that is :)
 
Western Governors University!  
"The best online school you've never heard of"
 
Don't believe me? Watch this :   http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/nbc_news

The quote is absolutely right, I have never even heard of this school. While re-comparing online universities today, I came across this nifty OU (online univ) ranking site : http://oedb.org/rankings
This list ranks OU's on 8 different factors (acceptance, graduation rates, retention, financial aid....and some others, you'll see in the article)
  
I was looking at AIU, University of Phx, and was still thinking about Ashford a little (I was actually leaning towards AIU). Well suprise, suprise, I found that all three of these ou's rank on the lower end of the list, and AIU is dead last! ....Well to be fair, Phx Online was more in the middle.
  
So I started comparing the higher ranked Universities - first looking for the degree I am pursuing, then how stuff is structured.....the usual yada yada yada when comparing schools.
 
Anywho, I found WGU! {which is ranked #9}
  
The best part you ask? Here, let's play the cost game!
   
Get this :

Phx Online -   $530 /per credit hr     (or $1590 per class)
AIU -        $339 /per credit hr    (or $1017 per class)
WGU -     $2890 per 6 month term, it is a flat rate tuition based upon 12 credits but you can take less or more depending on what pace you want and the rate never changes. (So this comes out to $241 per credit hour {for 12 credits} ...or $723 per class)    Awesome no?

The wheels are turning : At BSU I was  handling a couple semesters of 16 & 17 credits (while working full time)- if I REALLY wanted to get ambitious again:
16 credits at WGU would be $180 per credit   - $541 per class
{11 more buckaroos than just ONE credit hour of Phx Online!}...sheesh now that's a deal.
 
So instead of spending just over $30,500 for the same degree at AIU (and Phx Online being a lot more expensive than AIU),  I have quite a few options at WGU, some of which they give on the site of; $11,500, $17,340, or $23,000....This depends on how accelerated this little MRS. wants to get, and since I already have an Associates, I'll definately be looking at the lower ones! Now I do understand that I don't have the prev accummulated credits factored into the AIU total but we all know that WGU would still be a STEAL!
     
I am feeling extremly happy that I stumbled across this Univ, I can't wait to get the ball rolling. I'll keep you updated on this process!

**I love saving money**

 

 

   
  

Book Report!

I just finished :
  
 

The Time Travelor's Wife

  

It actually took me a little bit to get into this book,

I'm not big on extremely imaginative & unrealistic books

(i.e. time travel)

But I fell for it, it's an extremely cute story, very sweet,

and also sort of heartbreaking. (although I didn't

choke up).

 

The movie is already out, and I'm going to be one

of those nerdy people who say "you should

read the book, it's WAY better"....

...and I haven't even seen the movie yet. :)

 

Now Reading :  Snoop : What Your Stuff Says About You 

 

 

 

 

Say What? Gaining Weight = Smaller Brain?!

   
Wow..now this is interesting :

http://www.everydayhealth.com/publicsite/news/view.aspx?id=630364&xid=nl_EverydayHealthDietandNutrition_20090828

 

 

 

 
 

  

You Know You're a Married Woman When...

   
You're uber excited about your dinnerware!
    
I am slowly working towards acquiring the whole collection of dinnerware from my registry. I am in love with these! I originally didn't want plain white but these are BEAUTIFUL.
   
Today I got - Serving Bowl & Plate, Salad Bowls, Creamer & Sugar (came with the serving set), rest of plates and mugs.
 
Next on list - Cereal & Side Fruit bowls, Gravy Boat & Stand, Covered Casserole Dish, Canister Set, & the 1 Qt Baker. (poo hafta wait though...gotta be frugal!)
  

 

 

I can't wait to finish my flatware either...

  

these look so cute with my dinnerware

 

 

   

Good News from the Obama Front

   
...so word on the street is that Obama just increased Financial Aid / Scholarships/ Grants available for college education. That is wonderful news considering this MRS. is going back to school next fall...or I was even thinking summer (after the honeymoon). I've been looking at two online schools, they're pretty much the same price for tuition. Although University A has a school location maybe 5 mins away from my house, which could be very convenient.
     
After going over the credit requirements at both Univ A & B, I noticed that the classes seem a tid-bit different than the BSU Academic Credits I have. So the Official Deciding Factor : I have a lot of Accounting, Business, and Finance credits from BSU and the Univ that puts the most credits towards my degree wins! The least amount of time acquiring more education is what mamma likes :)
  

  

 

...Visions of Europe Dancing through my Head

 
 
Welp...wedding over, but the buckling down isn't! Time to start scraping all those pennies into the Honeymoon fund now!
    
Which means I can't go shopping still.....WAIT, I did budget for some cute "traveling" outfits, so I guess I shouldn't complain.   Ooo Now I can't wait to go find some haute European-ish travel outfits that don't scream "tourist" but hint at "I am a cute, adorable, semi-fashionable, newlywed ...and you can't quite tell that I'm American" ... the American part will be really hard to disprove, but oh well - a girl can dream right?
     
Anywho... I've been touching up on that French, learning Italian, & ATTEMPTING Greek.  I've also been studying up on all the cities we're visiting (those train systems seem a bit confusing, but who wants to spend valuable shopping $ on an expensive taxi?).
  
I'm going to share what I've been dreaming about since I was a little girl (actually I always thought I'd live there....well there's still time for that, I don't HAVE to come home ;)  )

 

  A Small-town Country Girl's Dreams of Europe

^Pompei

^Venicie - of course

vv* I can't wait for Santorini! - it looks unreal with all those white buildings *vv

SQUEE! Wedding Pics!

  

 

Got the rest of my wedding pictures!

http://tinyurl.com/lam98d

 

  

 

..A Chemist in the Kitchen?

  

 

 

On a whim, decided to slice up strawberries,

Drizzled our wedding favor honey over the berries,

Half cook Kashi Instant Hot Cereal (Honey Cinnamon)

    

by the way...Kashi hot breakfast stuff is AMAZING

  

Anywho...cooked in over at 350 until granola was

golden brown and crisp again

Sprinkled a little brown sugar over the top

and Drizzled some more honey

   

 

I ended up with a sort of strawberry cobbler-ish yummy dish

  

...And it passed the test with Eric's raves - YAY!

   

 Here's to strawberries and a spontaneous idea

(which I'm sure is a recipe somewhere out of the

zillions of recipes there are in this world)

  

 

 

 

Deciding on Living Room

 

What we want to change :

  

The Pergo Floors (they're actually in really sorry shape)

Baseboards - I'd like to go a little bigger/fancier. I don't want to say "more ornate" because I'm trying to keep more modern-ish lines in the house. The baseboards that are on now must were removed and then hammered on after they DIY installed the pergo and tile flooring.

  

I also want to get rid of the tile in the dining area and make the laminate hardwood that we're going to put in the living room. I think it'll make the room look a LOT better.

  

 

This is what it looks like

   

   

   

  

    

I'm liking the handscraped hickory A LOT.

I also want to find an amoire for our TV

"HIDE THOSE ELECTRONICS I SAY!"

I want a mocha colored amoire to go along

with our mocha colored tables and chairs

in the dining room.

The armoire in this picture looks as if it

may be a little too dark

   

Chao!!

   

  
  

Not a Knotty anymore :(

   
 
The only thing that sucks about getting married...

you graduate to "the nest"

Don't get me wrong - it's a cool website

...but...the knot was just so much better. I miss it.

   

..Now that whining is over, I decided I should share my knotty planning bio that I worked really hard on. I spent a whole year planning a wedding mostly myself -- fo real B!  With both sets of parents & siblings living 2 1/2 hrs away, a fiance CRAZY about racing cars, and bridesmaids/friends with busy lives - the majority of everything was left up to me.

  

No, I'm not complaining, I absolutely loved it ...I'm...bragging?  
:) yea.

I'll shamelessly toot that little horn of mine a little

- the wedding turned out REALLY STINKIN CUTE!

   

I wouldn't mind becoming a wedding planner (until I ran into BRIDEZILLA eek)
     

  

  

  

Anywho, without further adieu...

   

 http://sites.google.com/site/jeskasunnysideup/

  

Enjoy

  

  

  

Done with the wedding planning...

   
  
....now I can get back to mi casa renovation!  (well for now I can just start dreaming things up until that pesky thing called cash money starts building up again...blast)
   
First I'll start with the kitchen...
   
This is what our kitchen currently looks like:
   

  

I can't wait to change those white curtains hanging over the patio sliding door, our neighbors' upstairs window has a great view right into my dining area...Next spring we're planting a few trees :)

  

*Funny story (well maybe not so funny) if you look closely at those white curtains they're 1 foot too short for their own good. Before their first washing, they were about 3 inches too long! whoops...

  

  

wow my paint looks gray...it's actually a pale green (lemongrass if you want to get technical) I promise! ..must be the time of day/lighting/camera?

 

  

   

^^ Dishwasher recently updated from an old black washer that went kaputze  -  conveniently helping us decide which appliance to update first!

  

  

This duo is "gonna get got" ... updation is in the nearest of futures for these musketeers

   

  

The white ceramic tile that I don't quite care for..if you look closely there's a crack in the one tile.

  

  

    

   

 

And *drumroll please* these are the inspiration/idea boards that I created for the kitchen:

     

^ I want white cabinets, with a more modern look/flair

I definately want  need  the window cabinets - they're so cute

    

   

^^ We have a coffee table that has slate tile on it and it looks SO good with our paint, so I decided that we're going to do slate tile kitchen floors, and I want to try to recreate the slate backsplash, I LOVE it. It'll go so good with the black granite countertops!

  

 

 

^^And last but definately not least, a black granite sink. I originally wanted stainless but once I saw these I decided that being a little different is a good thing :)  Unless I'm in the wrong area, you don't see many black sinks and WORD ON THE STREET says that these sinks are SO easy to care for, and they hide dirtyness really well (which is good for me) ...not to mention how sharp they look.

 

First Dinner as a Married Couple

Please excuse my rolly polly placemats - I just washed them :)

  

    

We woke up and spent all afternoon cleaning our house -it was a serious war zone from the wedding.

    

I even got to test out one of our new gifts (the steam mop shark)!

Which was pretty cool, I wasn't as impressed as I thought

I'd be but when I was done steaming the living room floor

the bottom of that pad was ICKY

    

Anywho, after cleaning house, we went to the gym and came back with a TREMENDOUS appetite, so we decided that we'd cook in our newly organized and cleaned house :)

    

    

 

The Menu:

  

BBQ Chicken & Fish (fish on square platter)

Fresh Steamed Veggies (yum)

Strawberry Salad w/ Homemade Strawberry Balsamic Dressing

Mimosas made with my FAVORITE juice (peach,orange,mango juice)

   

  

I got the salad dressing recipe watching Rachel Ray's cooking show while running on the treadmill :)

It's a classic - TRY IT!

  

  

Dressing

2 Tsp Strawberry Jam

1 Tbsp Balsalmic Vinegar

about 3 Tbsp extra-virgin Olive Oil

  

    

Salad

That green stuff! she did Romaine, we did Mediterranean mix

1 pint of strawberries sliced

(we added some sliced purple onion)

Salt and Pepper to taste

   

    

Bon Appetit!

Just Realized that Massages are Fan-diddly-tastic

...Just thought I'd throw that out there. I love the jello feeling afterward...after they have to wake me up that is! The first time I was a little weirded out (getting mostly naked and letting someone rub your back isn't my forte) but I quickly warmed up to it!

When life gets stressful - go get a massage!!

Drinking Alcohol...good for you?

At my last doctor's visit I was told that 1 unit a day for a female (1 glass of wine) is actually really healthy for you. I thought it was really interesting... Eric & I don't hardly drink at all. Only on occasion but I do have issues every once in a while with anxiety and the Doc said that actually drinking would help that....I thought it was funny that a doctor would prescribe such a silly idea.


http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/limiting-alcohol-intake.aspx



**To good health**

...these should have been our vows!

Suprising Habits that Sabotage Your Skin

http://www.everydayhealth.com/dry-skin/dry-skin-care.aspx

I'm really bad at #1, I love long hot showers but since I've been trying to cool the temp as much as I can stand, I have noticed a difference :).

Finally! I'm Hitched!

Yay what a perfect day, and now I'm officially Mrs. Stoltzfus. How exciting eh?

We didn't have any problems with the Vendors - they all did their jobs. Some may have not fulfilled their job descriptions to their full potential but ultimately we felt that all our vendors were well worth the moola.

Vendor Grades

Caterer - Kanak Attack A-

The food was delicious (what I got to eat of it that is). However I do wish that someone would have stayed to attend the buffet. All the food was uncovered and I wish they would have actually read my timeline and listened to me when I talked with them about the cocktail hour hoers d'ouevres and dinner (these = two separate things silly caterers)

DJ - Real Entertainment A+

Eric and I both really liked Josh, and were so glad that we found him. It was nice not having a "cheesy" ( mid 30's - early 40's guy rockin' a mullet) DJ. Josh made our wedding reception.

Florist - Myself + wholesale flower shop http://www.fiftyflowers.com/ A+

I was a little sketched out by having flowers mailed to me (from ecuador to boot), but it turned out awesome. I would totally do it again! Free shipping for wedding flowers = absolutely fantastic and get this NOT A SINGLE FLOWER died during or as a result of being cut and shipped off in a box. It's sort of funny to watch, they show up kind of wilty and thirsty but within the first half hour of soaking in water & flower food that really start to perk up. The white cabbage head roses first disappointed me when I opened the box because the heads were pathetic tiny rose buds but within 7 hours of soaking their heads had quadrupled in size. They were huge and beautiful - just the way I wanted :)

Photographer - Captured Moments A+

I didn't want anyone else taking our pictures for the wedding after Mandie had done such a great job on our engagement photos. She's tons of fun and really creative - that's why we love her. Sunday - Friday I shamelessly stalked her blog to get a glimpse of my wedding day sneak peeks. :) I was ecstatic when I saw them - so beautiful.

Ste Chapelle - A+

They treated us like royalty, they have been nothing but flexible and nice. They were pretty chill with anything. On the day of our rehearsal, we were supposed to be out by 5:00 pm but left at 5:20 - no one said anything to us, which I really appreciated.

Bridal Couture - A+

I loved these girls and they helped me pick out a dress that I love more than Eric (well not quite but pretty close). I had been trying on dresses for a while and was talking with one of the sales girls about the vision I had for my wedding, and you could just see the light bulb go on when she said she'd be right back. She brought me the dress and I knew from the hanger that I would love it. They also steamed my dress for me the first week of August and then kept it hanging safely for me until the day before my wedding. I really appreciated that service.

***************************************

It is the first weekend that I have absolutely NOTHING going on (i.e. no wedding errands/planning/meetings..etc). It feels oddly eerie but refreshing.

Now it's time to start planning that honeymoon!!! :D Europe here I come!