OH, the joys of school!

As most of you know, school is back in session! Some of us are excited about this happening (Sandye, that would be you), while others of us are extremely sad (that would be me and my mom and dad). Even though I had an incredible summer, I'm never quite ready to leave home... AGAIN. There's something about being home that will forever make leaving HARD. I love coming home to my mom making dinner and her waiting anxiously to hear my "story of the day". I love sitting at the bar with both mom and dad waiting for Daddy to ask, "Did anything exciting happen today?" or his famous quote of the summer, "How many cokes did you sell today?". But once I packed up my little Honda and drove all my belongings back to school, I had to leave all those wonderful things behind :(

I did however come back to school not moving into my matchbox sized room at the sorority house, but my new apartment. Mom and I had come down the first weekend in August to do the little things (unpacking dishes, Tupperware, pots and pans, silverware, etc and wash them) before moving all the big things in. So that weekend we also hung blinds (or Dave did, I was so proud), lined all the cabinets and CLEANED - because we all know (if you know mom and me) that no one cleans well enough for us. So, even though we had walked in that weekend and found this little cleaning company's card, mom proceeded to RE-CLEAN what had already been cleaned, and I am SOOO appreciative of that :) After coming back down the next weekend and moving all the furniture in, it slowly began to take form. Now, all the pictures are hung and the objects arranged and it feels a little like home. There are still a few things I want to do, but those are projects I'm saving for when Momma comes to stay :)

This was my Chirstmas present from Dave (and my study table - sorry about all the books and bookbags)! He gave it to me early (he can't keep secrets!).

This is the first piece of furnature I ever bought the summer before I came to college!

Dave checks in on me MULTIPLE times a day and makes me feel a little safer while I'm still in the process of looking for a roommate (which I am in desperate need of). He's also quite the little handy man! He helped me hang my Daniel Moore print, fixed my dryer, called the cable guy for me after he found out what the girl I had talked to was charging me, hooked up my cable box, secured my shelves in the bathroom... just all sorts of stuff! I'm finding new sides of him every day ;) He even called me one day on his way to work and said "Hey, there's an estate over here like you're going to Fastenal. You should go!". I was so proud - and I actually found a little table to put by my couch! I'm glad he's close!

As for school: YUCK!

I had orientation last week. Nine to Five Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And as most of them have gone in the past - for nursing school anyway, I came home crying... AGAIN. For whatever reason, I always get so overwhelmed those first three days (that's not to say it doesn't follow me throughout the semester as well, but orientation seems to have this death grip of anxiousness that wraps itself around me and just won't let go). But after crying and talking to my mom and Dave I realized this is just one more stepping stone to the bigger picture, and that not everything I was upset about is bad. "What could possibly be BAD?" you might be asking yourself. Well, let me just tell you. I found out that ALL of my classes would be moved to MONDAY'S from 8am until 6 pm and that my clinicals for Adult Health will be on Thursday and Friday NIGHTS from 3pm until 11pm the whole semester. My first reaction to the class thing: No big deal. That just gives me another reason to get up, put something cute on and look nice all day at class (while everyone else decides to wear their usual t-shirt and Nike shorts). My reaction to the clinical schedule: TEARS! TEARS TEARS! Not only does this just suck because of the days, but that ruins my normal study hours and also means going home is going to be hard. That cuts me short one night each time and I like to go home, that's where my momma and daddy are, after all. BUT, there are a lot of up-sides to the clinical process, and I'm going to hope that it all turns out for the best... AFTER my first test on Monday - AHHH!!!!

On the weekend front, Dave and I have been accompanied by our good friends Luke and Julianna for the better half of the last two weekends and we usually have the same itinerary:

• Friday Night: Dinner and Innisfree
• Saturday: Pool and Dinner
• Sunday: Church and an afternoon activity

It's nice to have close friends that like to hang out and understand all your ways better than you realize :) These two are really very special to us!

Sorry we've been lacking on the updates here lately. Everything's been so crazy since we got back from Vegas. I promise to take a little time at least once a week to let you in on our little life here in TTown. Football season's starting soon, after all, and I'm sure there will be some stories to tell! Find a weekend and come visit. It's sure to be ball!

Until then...