Wednesday, April 28, 2010

wedding decisions

Tonight Daniel's mom checked out another place we're interested in having our reception at. The more I think about it, the more I want a church wedding. And I really want the ceremony at a place that means something to me- not just a pretty church. Which pretty much leaves CITD and maybe La Casa de Cristo. So we're looking at places to have the reception. This one place in Chandler called Inspirador looks like it's exactly what we- mostly Daniel- want. It has this fabulous modern romantic decor, and it's not too expensive. Julie said it is breathtaking. And, it will do the entire wedding and reception- all inclusive- for pretty much exactly what our budget is. Here's the problem: it's about 40 minutes away from Scottsdale. I really don't know how I feel about that. Every wedding that I can ever remember attending has had the ceremony and reception very far apart (except Beth's where they were at the same location). I can remember not really liking all the driving. It made the ceremony and reception seem like two completely separate things. I don't want to have this huge break between the ceremony and reception. I would like the ceremony and reception to flow together. On the other hand, if it's exactly what we want and a good price, is the distance that big of deal?

The other option of course is to have the ceremony and reception at the same place. This would mean not having a church wedding. And it would mean that the place would have virtually no meaning to us. But it would mean people didn't have to drive from one to the other. And it might cut down on costs, since we would only have to pay for one venue and probably less decorations and things.

Another issue I'm trying to figure out is how to manage the time between the ceremony and reception. I can remember weddings I have attended in which we waited what seemed like an eternity for the bride and groom to show up at the reception. I don't want to make my guests wait. But, I want beautiful pictures. And I really don't want Daniel to see me before the ceremony. I think there's something so magical about that moment that the groom sees the bride at the end of the aisle. So, do we take pictures before the reception and make our guests wait, or do we take pictures before the ceremony and Daniel sees me ahead of time? If we serve hors d'oeuvres (I had to look up the spelling of that one!) then making the guests wait wouldn't be too bad, right? I mean, 30 minutes would be enough time to take pictures and wouldn't be too long to make the guests wait, especially if there's food out. But if I tell the photographer 30 minutes, chances are it will be twice that long. Then again, if we have the ceremony and reception at the same place, is it rude to take pictures right outside the room that all my guests are waiting in? Would we have any chance to breathe, or would we be rushing from the ceremony to the reception?

Any suggestions? A compromise, solution, anything I haven't thought of? HELP!!

Denver vs. Phoenix

I just realized that I have two tests next week. Anatomy, and Chemistry. Why do I never feel prepared for tests? At least I have no homework, so I can just focus on studying this weekend. And cleaning the house. Because Daniel's parents are coming on Monday night. They're staying for 3 days. His aunt and grandma (on his dad's side) are also coming. They want to see our house. So of course we want it to be clean and perfect when they come. Unfortunately, Daniel has Orientation Leader training all day on Saturday, and a camping trip with his brothers overnight until Sunday. Which means I'll probably be doing a majority of the cleaning. I'm okay with that, I like it done my way anyways.

Lately, I have been Phoenix-sick. I thought that as time went on, I would want to stay in Denver. We are getting to know the city better and making lots of friends and connections here. But I still feel like the day I graduate from DU, I will feel totally lost. I have very few connections to Denver outside of DU. And I miss Phoenix. I miss being close to my family. Every time I hear about a big family dinner, I wish so bad that I could be there. And I miss my church. I miss my very best friends that I have had since I was a little kid. Thinking about all this makes me want to move back there after we graduate. I could easily go to PA school in Phoenix. And that way when we have kids, both of our parents will be right there. I feel so lucky that my grandparents were always there for me and my brother and sister. I want that for my children too. Most of all, I want to live near my sister. I know that she doesn't live in Phoenix right now, but it's possible that she will move back there.

So now it comes down to convincing Daniel. He is absolutely sure that it's best for us to live away from our family. His parents always say that the best thing they ever did was move away from Florida, where both their families live. But I don't think that's necessarily what's right for me. I have such a hard time understanding why Daniel is so resistant to everything about Phoenix. Anytime I comment on how the weather is beautiful in Scottsdale, he insists that it's too hot there. Anytime I root for the Diamondbacks, he roots for the Rockies. Anytime I want to fly to Phoenix for a holiday, he wants to stay here. And when I wanted to have the wedding in Phoenix, he really wanted to have it in Denver- as he put it, OUR HOME. I just don't understand why he is so ANTI- Phoenix! I loved growing up there. Scottsdale is beautiful. We never had to shovel snow from the driveway, or scrape ice off the windshield. I think it is perfectly feasible to have a healthy distance from your parents and still live in the same city. Especially the 5th biggest city in the United States!

I'm going to keep talking about it and trying to convince him. No matter what, I want us to both be happy about our decision. I won't be happy living in Phoenix if Daniel is miserable there. Luckily, we have time to think about it. Two years, to be exact. Because about 23 months from now, Daniel will be done with school at DU.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Weekend

Daniel is skiing today, and Hope is gone somewhere, and I don't know what Eric is doing. So I'm basically home alone. It's kind of sad. But it's a beautiful day outside, so I've been spending lots of time in the backyard. I'm trying to teach Jackson how to play fetch the right way. We throw the ball once, and then he fetches it, but doesn't bring it back. He is very possessive of his toys. So I got some treats and exchanged those for the ball. Hopefully he'll catch on eventually. It's not very much fun playing fetch when you're chasing after the dog with the ball in his mouth.

I'm also getting a teeny bit of homework done today. I didn't do any yesterday. I'm very protective of my weekends. It's nice to have an entire day with no obligations. So I try to do all my homework on one day, and leave the other open. Since last week was midterms, I don't have that much homework anyways. Just the usual lab report and textbook reading. This is the first quarter in my entire college career that I have kept up with the reading this far. In anatomy and nutrition, I consistently read the chapter before the lecture. I like it a lot. I feel like I know the information so much better, and I don't have to study as much because I remember a lot more.

Summer feels so close now that the weather has warmed up. In five weeks I'll be done with my third year of college. I am really looking forward to a time that I don't have tests anymore. It adds so much stress to my life that I really don't need. And unfortunately it is a way that I measure my self-worth. If I get a bad grade on a test, it can make me really depressed and upset for a long time. Mostly, I feel like I need to get good grades as "payment" to my grandparents for paying my tuition and living expenses. I mean, if they're willing to spend $40,000 a year on my education, the least I could do is get good grades. But Grandpa and Grandma tell me consistently that they think I'm doing great, and that they just want me to try my best. I know they are very proud of me regardless of my grades. Maybe it's a good thing that I'm so hard on myself. It certainly is motivation to do well! Anyways, I'll be glad when I don't have grades anymore. I think there are much better ways to measure success.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Busy Week!

I have had a very busy week 5. I haven't had any free time to get homework done, or catch up on reading for class, or blog! I'm so glad midterms are over. I didn't study at all for my nutrition test because we had a paper/project due the same day that I was a little more focused on. Turns out, I didn't need to study. The test was so easy. I may have even gotten 100%, though it's more likely I got an A. Either way, I'm happy :-) The paper was actually kind of interesting and fun to write. My conclusion: I need to eat more carbohydrates, and less fat. I really want to lose about 10 or 15 pounds. So with that goal in mind, and to improve my general health, I have been working out at the Coors Fitness Center on campus (I know- in Denver everything is named after beer). Well, the real reason is that I have a huge gap in the middle of my day on Monday and Wednesday. Daniel also has a lot of free time when it's just not practical to drive home. It was getting to the point that he was bored out of his mind. So, we decided together to start using the gym. I don't know why we haven't thought about it before- it's free! I'm sure there are lots of people that would be very happy about free access to a gym. We have been using the elliptical machines. The first day, I made it to about 25 minutes before I really got tired. The second day, about 30 minutes. And today, I used it for 30 minutes without really getting tired at all (I couldn't use it longer because there were people waiting). The one thing I don't like is that I don't really have time to shower afterwards. I don't have time to shower and blow dry and straighten my hair and reapply my makeup. It feels so gross until I've cooled off and I'm not sweaty anymore. But I put on some deodorant, brush my hair, and it's fine.

Back to midterms, I took my anatomy practical today. Right before it, I could feel my chest tightening up and my breathing speed up. I know this feeling very well- anxiety. If I don't get it under control it turns into sharp stomach pain. Which just makes me more stressed out! I took a few deep breaths and I felt a little better. Though I had to try to ignore my stomach pain throughout the test. What didn't help is that ten minutes before the test, the university sent out a weather alert. There was a tornado warning for Denver. So before we went into the classroom, our professor briefed us on the emergency plan- if a tornado comes, if the power goes out, etc. This just made me more nervous. I don't need to be thinking about tornadoes when I'm trying to remember what the third tarsal is called! But overall it went well. There were lots of questions that I knew right away- and quite a few I didn't really know for sure. But I studied A LOT and I did my best. I'm excited to see how I did. This practical covered all the tissues in the body (under the microscope), the entire human skeleton and skull, skin, and the knee joint. The next practical will cover every muscle and all the nerves that innervate them. That is so overwhelming to even think about. I'm just going to take it one day at a time. The skeleton was very overwhelming at first too, but I absorbed a little bit each time I studied.

Chemistry went better this week than last week. Good thing too, last week I was ready to switch my major just so I could drop this class! Lab went really well, and I feel like I'm learning a lot in lecture. I'm honestly just excited for our next exam so I can prove that I'm not a complete idiot. And I have to keep reminding myself that the final grade can take the place of our lowest midterm grade. And it almost certainly will be higher. It better be higher!

Daniel is out with his fraternity tonight. I elected not to go out since I have class tomorrow morning at 9am and work the whole day after that. I'm actually considering getting up early so I will have time to work out before class- but when my alarm goes off I'm sure I'll decide to stay in bed rather than get up. We'll see. This may be the start of a new, healthier, more fit, hopefully thinner Rachel! :-)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Much Needed Weekend

I had a very nice relaxing weekend. And a great day at work on Friday. I've gotten into a rhythm at work where I can basically predict what I'll be doing. I've spent almost all my time working with Judy who will be my project advisor over the summer. At this point we're spending a lot of time optimizing and preparing for the summer. Her project and mine are very interrelated, so we're basically working on both together. It's very exciting! I've got RNA isolation down to a science (no pun intended- well, maybe) and this week Judy is teaching me how to do an ELISA. I've done a few before, but I'm not very good at them. This will give me good practice on that.

Over the weekend, Daniel and I did some serious planting. We planted some flowers and a whole vegetable garden. Daniel has been absolutely dying to start planting the veggies in our backyard, but I convinced him that it was still a little early. The seed packets say May-July, so I want to wait a few more weeks. We planted them in those eggshell things and put them in the guest room until it warms up some more. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately! 60s and 70s every day. Although the forecast calls for a solid week of rain. I don't even care, because it's spring! Everything is blooming, there are flowers and blossoms everywhere. There are cherry trees are covered with the most beautiful white blossoms. And the flowers that we planted last weekend are actually sprouting! After a week, we can see a tiny little green stem poking up from the soil. I'm so excited because I was so skeptical that anything would actually come out of it. I also spent the weekend on the usual cleaning, homework, grocery shopping, etc.

On Saturday night Daniel took me out on a date :-) We went to my new FAVORITE restaurant, Hapa, for some delicious sushi before going to the opera. DU's opera program was putting on The Magic Flute. It was really interesting to see the difference between DU's production and the one we saw in France. Obviously, the one in France was a professional production and done entirely in German with French subtitles. The students sang in German, but the dialog was in English. Overall, I was still pretty impressed. I knew some of the students because I was in women's choir with them freshman and sophomore years. And Daniel knew a bunch of the cast too just from classes together. The orchestra was also really incredible.

Oh, and Jackson turned one year old this weekend! He's not a puppy anymore :-( But he's still a puppy to me. I think he likes the warmer weather too. He spends a lot of time laying in the shade waiting for a squirrel to come into the yard so he can chase it. He looks so funny stalking squirrels. Daniel and I made some more progress wedding planning this weekend. After a conversation with his parents, he is finally opening up to the idea of having the ceremony at a church. Though neither of us are really excited about Cross in the Desert, we are considering it. It's not a beautiful church, but it obviously has a lot of meaning to us. We have also talked about La Casa de Cristo. I'm glad Daniel is becoming less specific about what he wants. I was starting to feel a little pushed aside by his long list of requirements. I definitely don't need the wedding to be "all about me," but I don't want it to be "all about Daniel" either! So he has opened up to some compromise lately. Daniel's mom is going to check out a place that we are both excited about for the reception. It's a garden near the 51 and Bell. Lots of people have weddings there and it looks really beautiful. They have an open house on Tuesday nights, so Julie is going to go and look at it.

I have had a very productive day so far. Class, got some homework done, worked out for a little bit, lunch, and got some reading done. This week I have two tests, one of which is my first anatomy practical. So I guess I should get off the computer and study for that.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Very bad day.

I had a terrible day yesterday.

First thing in the morning, I got my chemistry mid-term back and I did really, really, REALLY bad on it. Way worse than I thought and way worse than most of the rest of the class. I tried to just not think about it the rest of the day because it made me feel so terrible. At the end of the day, I met up with my lab partner to weigh our product from Monday evening's lab. We also had to take the melting point. We were supposed to get at least 0.9 g of product, and we got closer to 0.5 g. That's not good. Our professor, Dr. Verl, was coming in and out of the lab, talking with some TAs and preparing for next week's lab. We just kind of ignored him, and did our work. Daniel came in to the lab to meet me before we drove home together. He came in with a drink, and set it on the bench next to our product. I told Daniel he wasn't supposed to have it in the lab. Dr. Verl walked in, and immediately said "what is that drink doing on the bench?" This is the chemistry professor that is very scary (see my post on March 22). He is really strict and expects a lot from his students. And is very strict about all rules- especially in the laboratory. Daniel put his drink away. Then we took the melting point. This involves putting a tiny capillary tube into a melting point apparatus- a metal box with a thermometer sticking out of it. Dr. Verl stood there for a minute watching and said "I'm just making sure you don't set something on fire." Great. We turned it on and turned the heat up. Dr. Verl left the room, and a few minutes later, it exploded! The thermometer shot out of the metal box and it shattered to pieces. My lab partner and I looked at each other and I asked him "Do we tell Dr. Verl, or just leave and pretend it didn't happen?" We are both scared to death of him, as is every single other chemistry student. But we didn't just leave. I decided we had to tell him. He would know it was us anyways. I went to find Dr. Verl and told him what happened. He was surprisingly okay with it. He just went and got us a new thermometer. As he was reassembling the apparatus, he asked, "so how did you do on the test?" I said not good, and he asked why. I told him I hadn't had time to look it over yet. I was so mortified. I'm sure he asked me because he knew I did so terrible and he wanted to know why. He left, and we finally took our melting point. It was almost 50 degrees lower than it was supposed to be. Which is also really, really not good. I wanted to go home and get into bed and stay there forever and ever. But I didn't. I went home, took a nap, and I woke up feeling slightly better. We went to the Rockies game that night which cheered me up and helped take my mind off such a terrible day. And they won, which was good. I'm feeling better about the whole thing today. It's one test, there will be others this quarter. And the whole melting point apparatus breaking wasn't that big of deal, or at least Dr. Verl didn't yell at us or anything. I just felt so embarrassed and incompetent. Like Dr. Verl must think I'm so stupid to do terrible on a test, and the lab, and break a thermometer! I guess it only gets better from here.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

crime

Yesterday we woke up and opened our living room curtains to discover a giant hole in our roommate's windshield. Overnight someone smashed it, presumably with a baseball bat or some other large blunt object. What a jerk. The criminal was probably trying to steal his GPS. He leaves it stuck to his windshield overnight which is, admittedly, a little dumb. But by no means warrants vandalism. Our neighbors across the street (we call them "the lesbians") talked to Eric and told him that they heard some noise around 4am. When they turned on their porch light, they saw a guy jump into a car and take off. I'm so glad they did! Who knows what would have happened if they didn't turn the porch light on. Eric filed a police report, and a claim with his insurance company. He has a rental car for the week while his windshield gets replaced. The criminals also put some dents in the body, and some of the glass from the windshield scraped up his dashboard and the paint on the hood. Did I mention his car is only about 4 months old? Practically brand new.

I cannot believe there are people out there who actually go around in the middle of the night looking for things to steal! In what universe is that okay??!! It's so hard to believe that there are people out there who do that. What do these people tell themselves that says it's okay to destroy other peoples' property and steal their things? I have never been so close to being victimized by crime. That could have easily been our car that was vandalized. There are no garages in our neighborhood, so everybody parks on the street/ in the driveway. It makes me afraid too. It's a small step from someone's car, to their front door. I thought our neighborhood was really nice- lots of kids and families. Now, I'm not so sure. I will definitely keep the front door locked now, even when I'm home. Though these jerks proved that a lock won't keep them from trying to steal things. I am disgusted with humanity.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Productive day

I got so much work done today. I love days like that. It makes me feel like it's okay to spend a few hours after dinner not doing homework. I had 4 hours between class and in that time I covered the material I missed while in Phoenix, caught up on my reading for Nutrition, studied some human anatomy, and wrote over half of my chemistry lab report. That was all in about the first 90 minutes!

In nutrition today, we taste tested some low-calorie sweeteners. Sugar/ fake sugar is not very good by itself. It was interesting nonetheless. We learned that Splenda is basically sucrose that has been chemically altered so that your body can't digest it. It's genius, right? You get the sweet flavor, but without the calories! And I will never EVER feed my child honey before he/she is one year old. It is very bad. I think I want to write my final paper on some kind of pediatric nutrition. I find pediatrics really interesting, and I'm even thinking about specializing in that when I go to PA school. It's fascinating to learn about how humans grow into adults. There are a lot of nutrition considerations, especially for infants.

I have my first test of the quarter on Friday. It's in Chemistry of the Elements. I have no idea what "Chemistry of the Elements" is supposed to mean. The first week was all stuff I've done before, but the last two weeks has been brand new material. Like, I didn't even know this kind of chemistry existed. I thought that by this point I've at least heard of just about everything in biology and chemistry. Guess not.

Lately, I've realized how very limited our science is. I have heard a few very scary reminders that we actually know very little. For example, years ago scientists thought SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) was caused by an enlarged thyroid gland (which is found wrapped around your trachea). So, all "good" parents got surgery on their newborn babies to have their thyroid reduced. The reason behind this is that when scientists performed autopsies on babies that died from SIDS, they saw a very large thyroid. Turns out, what they thought was an enlarged thyroid gland was actually a normal thyroid gland. They thought it was enlarged because all the bodies donated to science to teach medical students were from poor people and poor people tend to have very small thyroid glands. They did these completely unnecessary surgeries because all the bodies used in medical schools were from poor people. It makes you wonder what treatments we're being given today that later will be found to cause cancer. There have been lots and lots of medical treatments even 50 years ago that were later found to cause cancer. I used to think that we were such an enlightened generation, that there is very little out there that is left to be discovered. That is definitely not true. It's exciting to see what new developments will occur in my lifetime. That's why I love science so much!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Life and the Future

It's 9:30pm and I'm falling asleep. I have so many more exciting things to do than sleep! I guess that's college.

At work today, I got to cut open some more mice. These ones were very fresh, which means they didn't smell as bad. Except the one that was pooping as he died. That one smelled. Too much information? lol sorry. This quarter's schedule is so messed up, Daniel and I end up on campus a lot more even though both of us are taking less hours of actual class. It sucks. This week we are eating lunch on campus every day, and dinner twice. I do NOT like to eat on campus. I think the food is not very healthy, and I like to know what's in my food. They put way too much salt in everything. The lunch I had yesterday had 350 calories, and 1200mg of sodium. That's ridiculous! And I like to be at home anyways. I like my home. It's cozy and nice.

Plus, Jackson needs us here. He has been a very, very bad puppy lately. Chewing things up, running around like crazy, barking, and one night he even refused to go to bed. He was in the backyard and it's impossible to catch him because he's so fast. Finally, we just decided to leave him out there all night long. When he gets like that, I know it's because he's bored and he has extra energy to burn. Which means we need to play with him and walk him more often. We've just been so busy lately. But this weekend the weather will be really nice so I hope to take him to the park then. There are some serious behavior issues we need to deal with though. First, walking on the leash without pulling. That is so annoying. Second, not coming when he's called. If he chewed up something, he knows he is in trouble and we spend 20 minutes chasing him around before we can discipline him. Which, of course, is exactly what he wants. That's not good. Third, jumping up on people. When our friends come over, he jumps all over them. It's really embarrassing. I'm thinking it may be time for obedience classes. Maybe this summer we'll have more time.

The past few months I feel like all of a sudden I am way closer to being an adult. Like, in one year I will have my bachelor's degree. That's crazy. I will be able to get a real job to support myself, and all the Rosen babies in our future. It's amazing that so many of our friends graduated high school and never went to college, or they're still trying to get their associate's degree while taking care of a new baby. I can think of two girls I graduated high school with that are exactly in that situation. They are happy with their decision, but I'm so glad that I waited and went to college. Even though I'm still DYING to get married and have children, this will be better in the long run. I will be able to support my family better, and we will have a more comfortable life. I don't know why I'm in such a hurry anyways. I have the rest of my life to be married and have children. But this is the only time in your life that you have a chance to experience college. Live in the dorms, live with friends, party on the weekends, and have very little real responsibility. I am definitely taking advantage of it and enjoying it while I can. And when the time comes to become a "real" adult and take care of myself and my family, I will be ready. :-)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Easter weekend

I am so glad I decided to go to Phoenix for the weekend. It was a lovely vacation. The three days I was there were completely packed full, and by the end I was ready to come home. I got In-N-Out immediately after landing. I don't feel guilty, since I can only eat it while I'm in Phoenix. On Friday, I spent the entire morning just hanging out with Grandma. She gave me some great advice on planting flowers, trees, and vegetables in our yard. And she took me shopping and bought me two dresses! That evening, my bestest friend ever Sarah went to P.F. Chang's with my family for dinner. It's too bad I couldn't really enjoy it because I was having terrible stomach cramps. Afterwards we went shopping at H&M and then bar-hopping all night in downtown Phoenix. It was First Fridays, but by the time we got there it was kind of winding down. We met up with Daniel's brother, Evan, and his girlfriend Kristy at the first bar. I was pretty good about spacing out my drinks this time so that I didn't throw up or fall asleep after just a couple hours- that seems to be a problem of mine lol. We went to two other places after that, and hopped on the very last train just before 2am back to Sarah's apartment. That is very, very late for me, especially considering it was 3am in Denver! I slept over there and then left really early because Sarah had plans at 8am. After a "nap" until 9am, I went out with my Mom for a couple hours. Both my parents had plans, so I was kind of stuck at home for a while until I went to the Rosens at 3pm. We met my grandparents and aunt and uncle there and had a delicious dinner. The Rosens like to cook a ton of food, and it was so hard to choose what to eat without stuffing myself! Evan cooked these delicious scallops, and we had 3 different kinds of cheese, and steak and ham, and fruit salad..... it was really good. The best part was the whole family getting together. I am so incredibly lucky that my family and my in-laws get along. Not just get along, but enjoy spending time together. Even though Daniel's parents are hard-core democrats, and my aunt and uncle and grandparents sometimes work for the Arizona Republican party. We left straight from there to pick up my sister at the airport. It was so great to see her! And of course, we went straight to In-N-Out. Unfortunately, I was too full to eat anything this time. Nicole and I watched Survivor that night. We both have been following this season so it was fun to watch together. The next morning, we went to church. It was so fantastic to see everyone at church. They were all so surprised to see both of us there. We spent over an hour after the service just talking with people. It was particularly nice to see Mary Tassi, the Francis family (I babysat both their boys when they were newborns and now they're 3 and 4 years old!), and the whole bell choir. Before first service, we went back there to say hi to all of them. I really want the bell choir to play at the wedding, but I'm still trying to convince Daniel on that one. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's at noon for another delicious meal! We had crab legs, filet mignon, my favorite cheesy potato casserole, and green bean casserole. It's kind of weird, but I liked the potatoes and green beans the best. We left for the airport at about 6pm, because my flight left at 7:45pm. When I got to the airport, the screens said my plane was delayed until 8:50pm. By the time I got through security, it was delayed until 9:30pm! With the time change, this means we would land at 12:15am. Less than 9 hours before class the next morning. I got in line at the gate quickly, and I was second on the stand-by list to get on a flight at 8:55pm. It was a long shot because the flight was already overbooked, but I figured it was worth a shot. At 8:45pm, they called my name and handed me a boarding pass. So I landed at about 11:30pm instead of after midnight. It was still late, and a long, stressful, boring, exhausting wait at the airport, but I was finally home :-) And Jackson was very happy to see me! He couldn't stop licking my face. And Daniel kissed me too of course. It's hard after such a busy weekend to get back into school mode, but I don't have a choice. I have a chemistry test this Friday. I was falling asleep in class this morning, so I went home and took a nap before lunch and my afternoon/evening classes. I have a lab until 9pm tonight so I'm going to be on campus for dinner. I really hate that, but I don't have a choice. I'm looking forward to going home tonight.