hello, dear friends.

No, I'm not dead. I came close, but i made it through :)

The last three weeks have been hellish. I had the GRE last Tuesday, and four tests, a major outline, a quiz, and a four day field consultant visit for Tri Delt shortly after. I lived in the library, breathed psychology, and forgot what laying around and doing nothing felt like.

Friday night was like stepping off of a very fast escalator. I had my last test on Friday, and then promptly drove our field consultant (who was awesome! such an encouraging car ride conversation) to Columbia. The car ride back was surreal... I just had this "see, Bridge? You can actually do this whole multitasking thing..." moment. And it was lovely.

Somwhere between the insane to-do list items of the last three weeks, I realized I had grossly underestimated myself. Maybe it's the whole you-are-what-you-get-on-the-GRE bug I got from studying so much. Maybe it's just Furman, where "your best hasn't been good enough since 1863." Somehow, I forgot that I was a strong, compassionate person. I didn't believe I could do it.

But I can :)

So now I'm adjusting back to my much more balanced life of friends, family, and school work. Friday night was a little rough -- I just got discouraged by a few conversations, so I decided to go hide in Greer. Saturday was spent doing a little retail therapy and going to the Oyster Bar and Cory's friend Mark's house with Jessie and some of the Greer crew.

Can I just say how much I love Greer stories?

I just find so much encouragement in the stories of people's lives... and I appreciate people who take the time to share those stories with people they care about. It's a habit that has gotten tossed by the wayside, I fear. Everyone seems so busy talking about everyone else's lives that they forget how precious and interesting their own life can be. Maybe people smack talk when they don't feel like they have anything interesting to contribute. Maybe the whole middle school "get a life" comeback has something to it ;).

I've thought about the way my life has changed since I met Cory -- he has such a genuine love for the people in his life that I can't think of the last time I heard him smack talk for the sake of it... I've gotten so used to his genuine interest in the lives of people he meets that I take it for granted sometimes. He'd rather experience life than talk about it. I've grown to really respect that trait in him...

... and I've started to expect it in other people. Which perhaps isn't fair. I think a combination of not spending a lot of time on adventures with Cory and spending too much time in the Furman bubble really got me stir crazy. Too much talk about who's doing what and so on and so forth. I started to miss the wildflower talk ;)

So the weekend was nice but far too short. I got some cooking in, which was really nice (I haven't had time the last three weeks!) ... we did a little Oktoberfest make-homemade-pretzels deal with the roomies on Friday, and today the boys and I made chicken nachos and fried pickles for NFL Sunday :) I never thought I'd see the day I'd be slaving over a hot stove of fried pickles... haha. Life gets you when you least expect it!

I'm looking forward to this weekend -- we're heading to Columbia for Halloween and the USC-UT game (I missed the LSU game to study... and was sooo sad)... which will be LOVELY! I am a little sad we won't be doing the trick-or-treater thing... seeing as this is Cory's first Halloween in his new house... but Cola will be an adventure, I'm sure. I'm looking forward to getting out of here. Too much Furman.

:) Lots of Thesis and nannying this week -- and hopefully getting my schedule for next term. If all goes as planned, I will only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and TAing for Autism on Mondays and Wednesdays)... which means I'll need a new job (and will probably be nice and poor), but I'll have barely any schoolwork. I'm so excited.

Hope everyone is doing well!

:)