Early Christmas

Last night we had a little mini Christmas celebration at Daniel's parents' house. Since we are flying back to Denver after Christmas, they want to give us some of the bigger gifts now. That way, we can load up the car with lots of stuff and it doesn't take up room in our suitcase. We got so many great things for our kitchen! A coffeemaker, bakeware, and knife set. We also got a beautiful rug for our living room and a dog bed for Jackson. It felt kind of like a wedding shower instead of Christmas. My parents also got us a kitchenaid mixer! I am so thrilled because I love to bake and it's so difficult to use a hand mixer and hold the bowl and everything. I can't wait to get home and put everything in our house. My dad also bought me a nativity set that I've been wanting for a while. Setting up the nativity was one of my favorite parts of Christmas, so I really wanted one for our house. I feel so completely spoiled. We have such a generous family.

I can't believe I forgot to write this earlier, but I got my grades and I didn't get a D in chemistry. I didn't even get a C in chemistry, I got a B! I'm so thrilled and I honestly can't believe it. I was ready to give up when I studied for finals, but I didn't and it really paid off. My final exam score was higher than both of my midterms, so it replaced one of them. With the curve, that was enough to put me up to a B in the class. I am proud of myself for studying so hard for finals and not giving up. And I think I learned a valuable lesson about studying hard for my midterms and not letting it get to the point where I have to do so well on the final exam that I'm stressing out about it. I got all As and Bs this quarter, even in my labs. My GPA is still a 3.5, so I am very happy!!

I got an email from my future employer yesterday outlining the conditions of my employment. They offered my $8 an hour, even though I asked for $10. Daniel thought I should ask for more, but I don't think I will. I'm so nervous about this job. I'm afraid the extra hours will make me so busy that I will be stressed out. And sharing a car with Daniel will make driving back and forth difficult. I'm trying really hard not to think about that and to focus on what a great opportunity this is. I will get to be involved in important research and learn a lot about respiratory illnesses in a real lab. I am taking less credits this quarter, so that should help. I just hope we can work out a schedule that I will be happy with.

We leave for Denver in two days, and I am happy about that. I will be glad to have my privacy again and some space. And our nice queen size bed! A full size just isn't big enough anymore. Hopefully it's warmed up a bit- last time I checked, it was -15 in Denver. As in, 15 degrees below zero! Crazy!