Sweet Surprises and a Decision

On Friday, my sister called me at work and asked if I could come over to pick up my wedding DVD; she said that she had something else for me, too. Darby took me by her house on our way home, and I was surprised with these:



Sorry they're sideways. I don't think there's a way to rotate the picture after I've uploaded it. Aren't they pretty? She found the vase at a garage sale and thought it looked like me, so she filled it with some bright flowers.

Darby and I went back to our apartment, and when I walked in, I was greeted by these:



My sweet husband had gotten me flowers "just because!" He and Hannah hadn't planned it, but they ran into each other when they were at the store buying their flowers. What a coincidence!

Two bouquets in one day! That made my week!

In other exciting news, Darby and I made a decision about grad. school this weekend. Before I let you in on the big decision, I'll tell you how it all went down:

In December, I found out that I had been accepted to:

I was glad to have at least one acceptance, but it wasn't my first choice because it's an online program, and I'd rather go in person. The plus side was that I could do it from anywhere.

In January, Darby was accepted to:

Side note: Don't they have an awesome mascot? He was very excited because Georgia Tech's a great school. We were relieved to have at least one option for both of us. (Him at GT; me doing the online program at UNT).

In February, I was accepted to:

UT! Woo-hoo! But we were still holding out for UW.

In early March, Darby got a rejection e-mail from:

That was a sad day because we had both really wanted to go there. But we knew something else would work out. A couple of days later, I got a letter saying that I had been waitlisted at UW (not that it mattered any more, anyway).

About a week later, Darby got an acceptance e-mail from:

We were very happy! Illinois is an awesome school (despite their lame mascot...Illini, are you kidding me!?!) I started getting really nervous about whether or not I would get in. I waited and waited for my letter. Finally, the Tuesday after Spring Break it came. I didn't get in. That was tough. I knew UT was still an option, but I also knew that Darby would really rather go to Illinois. I started feeling better when I realized that if we did decide to go to Illinois, I wouldn't necessarily have to start the UNT program and could reapply to Illinois next year.

We kept waiting for Darby to hear from UT. He called and they said it was the Circuit Design Committee that was holding everybody up. (Of course, that's the committee that affects him.) When we hadn't heard from them by last Friday, I asked Darby if he wanted just to go ahead and commit to Illinois. Of course, he did, but he wanted to make sure I was okay with it. If I were single, I would definitely go to UT, but I want him to have the opportunity to live out of state, which is his dream. Plus Illinois' program is better than UT's. And it's a really great program for me, too, if I can ever get in! We're both glad to finally have a decision, and as of today, we still haven't heard from UT, so I'm glad we didn't wait around.

So, bring on the long johns. We're moving north!