Panic Mode

Josh's parents are coming to visit in two weeks. And they're staying for four days.

I have never met these people. And naturally I'm scared stiff. 

It's my boyfriend's parents, guys. And he's constantly telling me they're super excited to meet me and they're going to love me and it's just terrifying. Because anyone who raised Josh to be as fantastic as he is is going to expect a lot. And what if they don't love me as much as Josh thinks they will?

Me and Josh at a Diamondbacks game. He's such a Phillies fan that he
refused to take his gear off, even for a different team.

Josh has already met my parents via video chat. In fact, he's met my whole crazy family. While Rachel was home in August we had a very complicated three-way Google hangout that included Mama, Daddy, Rachel and Molly in Livermore, Emma in Reno, and me and Josh in Phoenix. Mama was sure we'd scare him away, but the guy grew up with three brothers and a sister and a million cousins. My three sisters aren't going to scare him off. 

We've only been dating for four months or so. But already it feels pretty serious. He has this way of looking at me that's not like other boyfriends have done. I tried to explain it to my friend the other day and wasn't doing a very good job, so he said, "You mean like you're the best thing that ever happened to him?" And that's exactly it. 

Which is part of why I'm so terrified of meeting his parents. Because I do not want to mess this up. 

Midterm Assessment

Dear readers,

By now perhaps you are wondering where I disappeared to. Don't worry; I'm still here. But it has been a super busy couple of months. Allow me to explain. 

First, there's school. As academics go, this semester is much easier than others have been. I'm only taking 14 credits, and that includes my internship two days per week. But the internship lasted only until last week. Almost all of my classes are journalism classes — a Borderlands of the Southwest seminar (formerly called Latino and Transnational issues), Graphic Design for Print and Web, and Advanced Online Media. There's also a Small Business Operations and Planning course online that started last week. 

Fourteen credits doesn't sound like a lot. But the internship with Virgo Publishing required 15 hours per week. There was also a lot of stress involved. It was a lot more busy work than I expected and up until the last week, I had nothing with my name as a byline. Thankfully I came away with two clips for my portfolio. You can read one of them, a story about Starbucks and Evolution Fresh opening a new production plant, here. The other, a profile of a gastroenterologist who uses humor to ease her patients' fears, has yet to be published. Highlights of the internship were a giant orange coffee mug and using a cassette recorder to tape interviews ... except for the part where I ran out of tape in the middle of an interview and spent five minutes awkwardly apologizing for having to rewind.

Me with the giant orange coffee mug. And that polka-dot shirt? Yeah, that's from NY&Co.

But school isn't the only reason I've been busy. Up until last week I was working about 23 hours each week at New York and Company. At the end of this month I'll have been there for 90 days, which means I'm eligible for a promotion from sales associate to keyholder ... which is just a step down from assistant manager. My store manager has already talked to me a few times about the new position and has encouraged me to leave room in my schedule next semester for the job. That would require 30 hours a week minimum, but would come with a pay raise as well. Apparently I've been doing well in the position I'm in. Last week I had the highest average dollars per sale (ADS) and units per transaction (UPT), all of which employees are tracked on individually. And the previous week I scored the third most credit applications. 

I've also been shopping there a lot. Too much, actually. I have so many new outfits to show you. But more on that later. Right now my bedroom is in no shape to take mirror selfies, although my full-length mirror is finally hung!

How have your semesters been? Let me know in the comments section below!