So it's been awhile...Oops!

So it has been awhile since I posted something, so I think it's time to do that.

Well, as the end of the semester quickly approaches, classes are becoming more and more stressful. For the majority of the semester, so far, I've kind of breezed through everything because we really haven't had a whole lot to do, but EVERYTHING for ALL of my classes is due in November and December so it's about to get crazy. Other than that, school is school. Softball is going well. We joined a new conference this year and we're doing fairly well. Right now, we're third in the conference which sounds really impressive, right? Well it would be if there were more then six teams. Oh well though. I love all the girls! I couldn't ask for a better group for my senior year! At the end of the semester, I will be moving home. There has been a lot of drama and I decided that I wanted to move home and save myself some money, and I get to be with my puppy.

Oh yes! I got a puppy! His name is Kugel. He is a chihuahua/terrier mix and I love him! He is almost six months old. I'm usually not a little dog person, but he's awesome!

Right after we got him

Few weeks ago on our way to the dog park

It's kind of a funny story about getting him seeing as how I didn't tell my mom. My friend's boyfriend put pictures up online of these puppies that his dog had and said "free to a good home" and my birthday was coming up and I had been wanting a dog for such a long time, so I said I would take one! I then scheduled a time to go down to pick him up (from Kentucky) and I told my little brothers about him so they went with me to get him! We told my mom we were going to Cinci to the outlet malls to get Ben a birthday present and she bought it. I figured it would be easier to ask for forgiveness then ask for permission (story of my life). So anyways, we drive down and pick him up and the boys immediately love him and he was getting along with the boys! We stopped on the way home to pick up a crate (aka cage), food, a gate (to keep him in my room) and a toy or two. When we got home, we all ran straight in to my room and past my mom and she followed to see what all we had bought from the "outlets" and as she walked in to my room, she saw him. She wasn't very happy at first, but now, even though she won't admit it, she really likes him. My brothers love having a dog! They've taught him to sit, lay down, shake, dance and even give high fives!

Zach (left) and Drew (right) with him a few days after bringing him home.

Now he's gotten so much bigger! 

And of course, he's a Navy football fan! :)

So far this semester, I've only been up to visit Ben once, but it was a great trip! We spent the entire weekend in Washington D.C. and had a blast! We took an early morning jog one morning and ran around all the monuments and saw the White House. We went to the International Spy Museum, Holocaust Museum and the Smithsonian of American History. We also got to see the new WWII memorial which is beautiful! As well as the Washington Monument, the White House (again), the capitol building and lots of other stuff! We also went to the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial (it was the week after 9/11). We stayed right downtown in the Hilton Garden Inn which is only a few blocks from the White House, so we were in the PERFECT location and got the most clutch parking spot right outside the hotel (for FREEEEEEE) and didn't move jeep all weekend. We got to try lots of new places to eat as well as going to the awesome Fogo de Chao which is always delicious!

White House! 

He was super excited to be going out this day!

Date night at Fogo de Chao

As I said above, softball is going great! My team is AWESOME! In our league, we play Ohio State, Miami University, Xavier University, Eastern Kentucky University and Ohio University, and we also played Miami Hamilton (a Division 3 Varsity team) at the beginning of the semester.

Miami Hamilton 1-1 

Game 1: UD 0 MH 10 

Game 2: UD 6 MH 4 

UD's overall record: 1-1

Ohio University 2-1 

Game 1: UD 6 OU 2 

Game 2: UD 5 OU 8

Game 3: UD 8 OU 7

UD's overall record: 3-2

Ohio State 0-3 

Game 1: UD 1 OSU 13 

Game 2: UD 5 OSU 6 

Game 3: UD 1 OSU 10

UD's overall record: 3-5

Eastern Kentucky 2-1 

Game 1: UD 8 EKU 2 

Game 2: UD 12 EKU 6 

Game 3: UD 5 EKU 8

UD's overall record: 5-6

Xavier 3-0 

Game 1: UD 3 XU 1 

Game 2: UD 10 XU 2

Game 3: UD 3 XU 0 

UD's overall record: 8-6

We have a super young team this year, but everyone is getting along so great and meshing so well! I really couldn't ask for more for this season! And we're playing fairly decent in this new league. This weekend are our last three games against Miami University and if we beat them, we can place second in the league! This week, we also started our Flag Football league and won our first game 31-12 so "Go Flyer Nuts!" 

Halloween team bonding!

Alyssa, Molly, me and Amanda during the games against Xavier

Gina and I during the OU games

Me high-fiving Alyx during the game against Xavier

Team bonding

Goofy team picture! I love these girls! 

This semester, I'm taking a guitar class where I am learning to play a classical guitar and I'm loving it as well! My fingers have been quiet sore, and we're playing Christmas music already (since before Halloween), but it's a lot of fun and a good challenge that is keeping me pretty sane and I'm going to be able to play the guitar before Ben teaches himself to play ;) 

Oh, I also got a new job! I had applied for this photography job through the University at the beginning of the semester and ended up figuring they had already filled the position since I hadn't heard anything back from them, but about two weeks ago, I received a phone call saying they wanted me to come in for an interview! So I called Nick (boss at 808) and asked him for some images that I've taken to put an updated portfolio together to show them. After the interview, they told me my portfolio was beautiful and very impressive (to see images, check out my facebook page), so I was super excited and hopeful that I would get the job. Sure enough, a few days later, she called and offered me the position! So I will be taking pictures during UD basketball games in the Presidential Suites upstairs, so not only am I being paid to take pictures, but I also get a press pass that gets me ANYWHERE during basketball games AND I get to go to the games for free! I'm super excited about this opportunity! 

I'm also very excited for next semester. I will be taking 13 credit hours (the least amount I have EVER taken in my college career), but one class is Scuba Diving and at the end of the course, as long as I pass, I will be scuba certified for life! I will also be taking a Photography Studio Lighting course which should be pretty interesting along with Law and News Media, Philosophy of Music and Islam (religion course). It should be a pretty interesting semester.

Right now, I'm looking forward to this month! Ben comes home in 20 days and finds out his service selection in 27 days! I think I'm getting more excited/anxious then he is (or at least that he's letting on)! I also love this time of the year because you get to see and hang out with family and I love Thanksgiving (I'm a fat kid) and Christmas so the next few months really make me happy! 

Well, that's that for now. Hopefully I'll get better at posting things since I've been pretty boring lately. Hopefully you enjoyed the recap of the last few months and I didn't bore you too much!