Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you amazing Dads out there!!! And to my POPS!! You have been the most awesome father I can ever ask for. Each day, our bond grows stronger, and I am so blessed that God has blessed me with a great role model in life who has taught me to live life to the fullest, and to never be blind to anyone or anything! I love you so much DAD, and YOU ROCK MY SOCKS!!

Hooray..Hooray...It's FRIDAYYY!!

TGIF!! Last working day before we peace out to Maui, and I am oh so excited!! But FIRST, we must kick this morning off with a High Five for Friday link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk!

Top five fave things of the week are....

:: one ::

My cousin Kyle graduated form high school on Wednesday! WOOP!! I'm so excited and proud of him!! It's been one long journey through his high school years, but he pulled through with a diploma and a smile on his face!! AND our cousin Coco graduated too! Same school, same class, same coolness!

:: two ::

Got my Birchbox for the month, and what a perfect start to packing for the trip!! The them is Jet Set, and got tons of goodies in there to help prepare me for the sun and some!

:: three ::

My Bestie of all America sent me THE gift I've been awaiting for all my life!!! Feast your eyeballs on this!! Can't wait to buy all the different flavors in the world and brew coffee whenever I want to!! In either my spiffy new coffee pot from my SIL, or a single cup from the nice Keurig my Bestie best bought me!!

:: four ::

Oregon State University is having their commencement ceremony this Sunday. AND they are ooberly lucky to have the First Lady come speak! The good thing about working in the Football office is this view!! Amazing how much time and effort is put into the ceremony!

:: five :: 

I'm tickled pink I get to marry the man of my life, my best friend, my BOO!

Although I'll be gone and MIA from the blog visits I regularly do, don't stay away from my hood! I have posts scheduled and some guest posting goin' on!! Stay tuned my friends... and if I don't respond in the next two weeks, please know I LA LA LOVE YOU GUYS and I shall be on and poppin' when I get back... as a WIFE!!

From Blog Life to REAL Life!

No, you're not cray cray... this is my 2nd post for today. How can I pass up a super duper fun lookin' link up with Jessica from Lovely Little Things and Britt from The Magnolia Pair?!?!

Let's get to it, and answer some questions about From Blog Life to Real Life!!

1. Do you have any real life blog friends? 

 I sho' do! We were frannnds before blogging ;) Her name is Nita and she blogs at bits-and-pieces. She's a newbie to the bloggy blog world, so go show her some la la love!! She's a crack up!

2. Which blogger are you just dying to meet?

Soooo not a one person answer because I honestly wanna meet errrrryone! But, I'd love to meet Steph from Steph Sweet Life, Liz from Liz's Lovely Life, Bree from The Thing About Joy, Jess @ Lovely Little Things, Molly from Carry Your Heart with Me and on and on! Oh and Tieka from Selective Potential! Her blog is full of fun outfits, and she's so relatable :)

3. Which blogger's closet do you want to raid? 

Hands down Anna's closet from Fash Boulevard! I swear she has a different outfit for every day and her accessories are bangin! I would KILL to live in her closet!

4. You are stuck on an island. Which blogger would you want with you to help you survive? 

Since she's Ms. travel pants and has seen lots of the world (more than I have), I would say Emily from Emmy June. She would have the happs with what's strange vs. normal so I wouldn't freak out!

5. The first blogger you remember "meeting" and connecting with? 

Ms. Jess at Lovely Little Things! I remember stumbling across her blog and reading her "About Me"... and it was as if I was reading the future of my blog. I totes related to her being a student, working, and trying to really just appreciate the present for what it's worth instead of being on the go go go (like most of us are). I emailed her a few times, and still do to this day... she's been nothing but supportive since DAY 1!

6. Any blogger that you admire and look up to? 

I ooberly love Kelley at A Crooked Trail! Thank goodness I was paired up with her for the Send Something Good project... she is one unique gal, and I absolutely admire and adore how she marches to the beat of her own drummer!

7. Who is the craziest/funniest blogger? 

I get a good laugh whenever I read Michelle's post at The Vintage Apple. She's even funny with her tweets and love the cray cray pictures she posts of herself with silly faces! She's got tons going on with life and always looks at the bright side with some chuckles in it!

8. There's a reality television show for bloggers, who would you want to be casted with you? 

Definitely Michelle at Mish Lovin' Life!! She is ooberly funny, has no filter, and I LOVE IT!!

9. Some bloggers have really cool jobs, anybody you'd like to swap careers with? 

Hmmmmm... I would have to say my bestie, Lauren Conrad. She has the best career because she's doing it ALL!! I can imagine that she never has the same day within a week.. or even a month! And yes, she is a blogger!

10. Favorite blog design?

Absolutely loveeeeeeee Kinsey from Sincerely, Kinsey. It's super duper chic and classy!

My Love... My Pins

Hellllo hump day! Today marks the ONE WEEK countdown!! That's right folks... seven days from today at this very moment, I'll probably be running around like a mad woman trying to make sure everything is set up right, getting ready, making sure all the bridesmaids are ready, and everything else to conquer the world as the bride should on her wedding day, right??

Linking up with Ms. Michelle from The Vintage Apple, I'm joining in on another Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday! I'm in the la la loving mood, and wanted to spotlight my pins on some romantical ones, and wedding shots I've been obsessing over! Feast your eyes on these pins!! (please note, Pinterest has been acting up on my computer for the past few days, so I will put up the sources as soon as I am able to!)

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Pinned here

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Time to pay dues!

WARNING... this post is an informative one, which means not a lotta' fancy pictures, BUT, super duper useful info lies ahead ;)

Guess what comes after the victory of finishing up grad school?... LOANS!! Yes ... all the financial aide that has helped you get through tuition... helped you buy your expensive textbooks that cost as if they were made of gold pages... helped you get that expensive statistical analysis software... helped you get the school supplies you need to get through each semester (and you know you had to shop for these things every semester... that was part of the excitement for me was getting a new planner, a new folder, a new binder, new pens and some!!). It's now time to face the challenge of paying back your lenders for all these mighty fine things that aren't covered in tuition costs.

Since I'm in this boat now, I though I would share some of the basic points with you all that may be getting ready to start repayment, or even if you're in school now, you can see what lies ahead for you!

• You must complete Exit Loan Counseling once you are out of school. This is a resource can actually give you further information about your responsibilities to your lender(s).
• For Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, you will have a six-month grace period, which begins the last day you attend school. This is great news because you're not pressured to find a job the day after school to start repayment... you have six months until they go into repayment.
• You have five different repayment plans to choose from, which work around your lifestyle. The good thing is that you can always switch it up for that one day you find your dream job making diamonds and pearls!
• If you have multiple loans and they confuse you with repayment amounts and due dates, you have an option to consolidate them into a single Direct Consolidation Loan. 
• If you want to check out the status of your loans, feel free to check them out on the National Student Loan Data System. I actually recommend checking this site each semester to check for accuracy.
• Always check with your Financial Aide office on your campus. They are there to help you with any and all questions you may have!

Whatever you do, DO NOT IGNORE THAT YOU HAVE TO REPAY THESE LOANS BACK!! They are always willing to help you out, in any situation you may be in!! I completely understand if this is overwhelming to you. It stresses me out... but not as much as it used to. Besides, with this man being my soon-to-be-husband, he'll help me fight through any battle in life!

What I Loved, Learned, and Laughed About

Happy Monday peeps! Hope your weekend was full of love, laughter and some!! Ours was full of boxing... that's right... my fiancé is a huge fan of Manny Pacquiao! I have to admit that I myself like watching him fight too! He's such a humble man, who is ooberly aggressive in the ring. Things were going just fine in our house... Pacquioa was dominating each round, and even scored higher than Bradley in 11 of the 12 rounds... and then BOOM!! Bradley was announced the winner and our mood in the house just turned super silent. Quite the disappointment to hear that Bradley was announced the new champ... even though the stats (and common sense) said otherwise!! WOMP!!

Good news is that we BBQ'd for the fight, and I had a scrummy turkey burger :) Gotta look on the bright side, right?? Anyhoots, moving on with Monday Funday's post... last week I brought up starting a series on this bloggy blog called my LLL's, which stands for Love, Learn, and Laugh (hence the title of my blog). Without further ado, here are my LLL's of the week!

LOVE

I love that I passed my final defense (if you haven't heard by now)!! It's just a huge accomplishment that I've been waiting for since the day I started grad school! WOOP WOOP!!

LEARN

I learned that this wedding is approaching me wayyyy faster than I imagined!! I've been so indulged with dissertating, that time has been just slippin' away from me... 9 days to be exact.... AHHHHHHHHH!!

LAUGH

I caught an I Love Lucy marathon on Friday AND Sunday, and I from the gut as I always do! I didn't even have to watch the tv to know what was happening... I've watched her episodes so many times, I knew exactly what was happening by hearing it all while I sat at my desk in my office! The episode where Lucy and Ethel bet Ricky and Fred that they can live from the 1900's was on, and watching Lucy knead the dough was hilarious!!

Those were my love, learn, and laugh moments from the week... What were your LLL's of the week?