Isn't it about... Time?

Guess what? 

I SUBMITTED my thesis last week!!!!!!!  I have one more paper and a portfolio to put together, and then I am home free.  That means there are only 25 pages still standing between me and my degree!  It almost feels like this day was never going to come, and it's still a little surreal.  But it's here!  And when I actually graduate, you will hear all about that too. :)

In the meantime, I have a decision timeline.  If it's on the June list, you might as well give up asking me about it until then, because I'm not even thinking about it and will have no updates. ;)  Believe me, I will be shouting it from the rooftops when I am even 70% certain of what I'm doing after August 31st.

May:

• Wedding arrangements (dresses, tickets, ideas for B's reception)
• Parents' visit!  Where to go, what to do
• Singles' ward vs. family ward for the summer
• Getting a gym membership since I'll no longer be a student with free access :(

June:

• Adopt a tomato plant
• Hopefully extend my lease (since it ends at the end of the month and I don't want to move)
• Becca's wedding
• PhD vs. 2nd Bachelor's vs. Move somewhere random (i.e., What in the world am I doing with my life?)
• Start freelance writing

July:

• Finish bridesmaid dress (sleeves on a dang strapless dress... grr.)
• Final decision on the PhD/Career/next steps  (Does anyone have a dartboard I could use?)
• Ashley's wedding

August:

• Hopefully pack up for the next chapter of Rachel Voss: A True Story
• Publish a couple of articles I will have finished at work (I hope!)
• Move to...??????

I'm also hoping these months will include lots of adventuring-- Red Sox (or Paw Sox) games, hiking, and general running-amok of the Rhode Island variety.  Come join me if you can!  :)   

Take it and run

I probably shouldn't be blogging. I have 1 hour to finish a speech, and though it's almost finished, I have to turn in a written copy (and my notes! When did we rewind to middle school?!), so I like it to be just so.

However.

The fire alarm is being tested in my building.

The gents upstairs are rock-banding their hearts out.

And I am tired.

So instead of working on my paper, for just a moment I will indulge myself (and hopefully you will indulge me too) in some random thoughts. :)

Random thought 1: I love fuschia leaves. All of the leaves out here are beautiful, but I always catch my breath running down the boulevard where there's one bush that definitely has its fuschia game on. One day I will take my camera with me and show you what I mean. Yesterday was a particularly lovely day to be appreciating the colors since it was sunny and in the 60s!

Random thought 2: I didn't think it was possible, but I'm actually booked every weekend until the end of November. Why? Don't worry, much of it is fun, but still...

Random thought 3: If anyone has recommendations of things to see in Philadelphia, I'm going there for the American Public Health Association conference next week. I'm really excited to check out the city and the ward (since Philly is on my list of possible places to move next year)... and, of course, talk about public health and whatnot. :)

Chi Town Part I

I never posted about my trip to Chicago to see Becca, so here you go! It was a fun trip, and I always love seeing my sister. :)

First of all, the buildings in Chicago are tall-- but there's so much space in between them!


Much to Becca's chagrin, I couldn't get over how many parks there were and how much of the sky you could see between buildings. We did a cool boat tour of the city's architecture, in which I found out why there's so much space between buildings: Because that's how their zoning laws are written! I guess Chicagoans don't like to be cramped.

I also managed to be there for the one week of nice weather they had had all "summer" long, so it was almost like being outside of the city. (Kind of.) We did lots of picnics in the park.

Just in case the picnics and parks weren't enough to ease my city fatigue, we went to the botanical gardens, the Shedd Aquarium, a museum that was really like an indoor botanical garden, and the zoo. It was pretty cool. We even got to see a butterfly being born! The butterfly house had a whole bunch of chrysalises (?), and one butterfly finished breaking out as we watched. Sweet.


On top of all that, we had a lot of excellent eating adventures... Which I will detail in my next post. Becca, you're so good to me. :)