may your days be merry and bright

Mom is giving me crap about not keeping up with this. So here it goes, Mama. [Who turned 53 yesterday, by the way!]

My previous post was somewhat depressing, talking about the bad few weeks I had in October and all. This one shall be quite the opposite :)

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but after a few weeks, things just got better.  [1] Classes got a bit more challenging. [2] I think I finally accepted that I'm in grad school, at a different university, and things are going to be run a little different than CSB/SJU.  [3] I was only halfway through my first semester of grad school. I can't base my judgement on just a couple months.

Like I said before, that little meal planning service project helped, too, as well as a conversation I had with the program director about some possibilities for a thesis project.  She unintentionally reminded me of the conversations I had with my nutrition professors at CSB/SJU when I was trying to decide where to go to school -- grad school is what I make of it. I could be at the best program in the country on paper, yet it may be the worst place for me if I don't do what I can to make the most of it.  So, long story short: Overall, my first semester of graduate school went well!

A [fairly] quick run-down of the last couple months in SLC.

napoleon in the mountains

-  My cousin [and one of my bestest friends], Chelsey, has been visiting a lot!! She's a flight attendant for Mesaba, a connecting carrier for Delta, and one of their main hubs is in Salt Lake City.  She joked this past summer that we would see each other more when I moved 1400 miles away than when I was an hour away in St. Cloud. Guess who was right? It's been so nice having a familiar [almost 24 years familiar!] face around every week or two.  And we've been exploring the amazing "diners, drive-ins and dives" of SLC.

-  The family [minus Bud + Dusty & Gramma Dar] came out for Thanksgiving! And I successfully cooked a full Thanksgiving meal by myself! You'd think that with the crazy love I have for cooking and all the time I do spend cooking, it wouldn't be a problem at all. And, it all went perfectly, but I was still nervous. They were only out for a couple short days, but it was so nice. My parents never do anything like that, and my sister has not traveled much at all, so I'm hoping it was worth me whining like a baby to get them to drive out...I think everyone [especially Mom and Gramma] feel a lot better about where I'm living now, too.

And, I'm HOME now. I have been for just over a week. What a crazy experience it was getting home, though. Geez. First of all, I had a final from 9 to a little after 10 on the morning I flew out [Wednesday, December 14]. Rushed out to catch the train back to my apartment only to have it come and leave about three minutes early. So, I missed it. [Not really a big deal since they run every 15 minutes, but still, just annoying]. Got back to my apartment, then ran around SLC picking up some last minute gifts for a couple people. Cleaned my room, bathroom, and the rest of the apartment. Kellie [my amazing roommate] came home from work to bring me to the airport. Got through security and everything just fine; or, until I realized I had lost my ID somewhere between security and the gate. And no one had turned it in in the hour that I was sitting at the gate. Ugh. Just my luck, huh?

Oh, but it got better. Our plane was supposed to leave at 5:00 PM.  However, after a late arrival to the gate, refueling, and deicing, we finally took off at 6:20ish.  My layover in Phoenix was only supposed to be just over an hour. So, 62 minute layover - 80 minutes late taking off = i'm going to miss my connecting flight to MSP = that plane better hurry the heck up.  We got into Phoenix at 7:41. My plane to MSP was scheduled to take off at 7:56. The flight attendants basically told everyone on our plane that we were just outta luck if we missed our flights. Nice, huh? Especially since the next flight to Minneapolis wasn't until 9:45 the next morning. AND I didn't have my ID to get back through security in the morning. What the heck was I going to do?

Well, after a sprint across the airport [because, of course, why would my departing gate be right next to my arrival gate?], I made it on to my plane to MSP.  And so did my bag! Woohoo!

Now I'm home. Relaxing. Or trying to. Spending lots of money on Christmas presents ;-)

Tonight with the college best friends and the associated man friends. Sometime SOON with the high school best friends [why, oh, why does the real world have to make things so hard to plan?!].  Christmas Eve with the Gates family. Christmas Day with the Goodells. Next Friday with Karla/Jack/Megan/Peter/Dusty,  New Years with the Clintsmans [WEDDING!].  It should be a good break.

Oh, and pray for snow, please. SLC has NONE, so I was incredibly excited to come home to below zero weather and a winter wonderland. but no. Minnesota's Mother Nature, you disappoint me.

sunset over the great salt lake

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!