Out with the homework, in with the wedding planning

MBA? Done and done! Had my last class last Tuesday and attended the MBA grad banquet last Thursday and while I was supposed to "graduate" yesterday, I decided A) I'm too cheap to buy the cap and gown and B) I don't really feel like sitting through 3 hours of blah blah. I did go to the SPU book store and buy a black tassel though, just for proof that I finished. Although I guess the diploma will be proof enough, once I get it in the mail.

Phil finished his quarter last week as well so we have been thoroughly enjoying our time off together. My Dad was up Friday for work so we went to Thai for dinner. Zab Thai in Everett is one of our favorites, although let's be honest, I don't think I've ever been to a Thai place that I didn't love. (Pssst...there's a coupon on that website!)

On Saturday Phil and I headed down to the Tacoma/Gig Harbor area to check out a few potential wedding venues with my Mom. Found one that I'm seriously considering. It's a little pricey though, and the "rain option" isn't all that great. We'll see. After that Phil and I headed to the Supermall in Auburn. We like to shop at the Banana Republic and Nordstrom Rack there because they seem to be less picked over than the ones up north. Then we went to Kirkland for dinner and found a great restaurant called Cactus. We both loved it and when I looked it up on the internet the next day I discovered we'd actually been to a Cactus before! There are 3 locations and we'd been to the one on Alki a couple years ago.

On Sunday, Mom and Dad headed up to our place and we took the ferry to Whidbey Island to check out their wedding venues.


We were pretty neutral about the venue we toured due to the risk of mosquitos, but we did happen upon a pretty tasty Chinese restaurant for lunch, called China City. We had planned on taking the Keystone ferry to Port Townsend and checking out a venue in Port Gamble, but the ferry was hours behind schedule due to the wind. So instead, we took a quick peek at the huge battlements at Fort Casey. You can tell from the picture below how windy it was (because no, my bangs don't usually look like that and I was actually having a pretty good hair day)!




After that we turned the car around and headed back the way we came. We ended up having to wait to get on the ferry back to Mukilteo for about an hour. Those of you who know Phil and his tolerance for waiting in line can imagine what a pleasant experience that was ;)

All in all, a fabulous weekend! I am so excited to be finished with school, although my mind is a bit thrown off by the lack of homework. Meh, I'll get used to it!

Is it June 9th yet?

Wow have I been slacking on keeping this thing up to date. I have more tulip pictures to add and pictures from my visit in Colorado. I will get those up eventually.

In the meantime, just a couple quick updates...

First and foremost, I am now a certified PHR (Professional in Human Resources). 30 hours of class in the last 10 weeks and probably another 30 hours spent studying the material (over 1,000 pages of material). I finished the 225 question test in 3.5 hours last Friday morning (they give you 4 hours) and I PASSED! Now, hopefully, I will be better equipped to compete for HR jobs against people who have more experience than I do. And the MBA should help too (in just four weeks). Hey HR managers! Hire me!

We had a lovely Mother's Day weekend. On Friday we went to the Mariner's "game". Wasn't so much a game as it was a snoozefest. But we did have beer and garlic fries, so who can complain!! Saturday was spent studying (also a snoozefest). On Sunday we took my mom to Bite at Hotel Murano in Tacoma. They had a Mother's Day brunch buffet that was delicious! After that we looked at a few potential wedding venues. There was one we all really liked, so I'm looking forward to setting up an appointment with their event coordinator and getting some more information. We will definitely be checking out a few more before we make any commitments though. There are SO many venue options in Western Washington, I'm afraid looking at all the possibilities is just going to make the decision more difficult. I imagine that's how dress shopping will be too. Hopefully I will just fall so head over heels for one that I will have no desire to keep looking. Awww...kinda like how I stopped looking after I met Phil (I know, gag).

Speaking of weddings, Megan and RJ got engaged on Saturday! I am so thrilled for them! I just wish she lived closer so we could look at bridal magazines and watch Say Yes to the Dress together :) Oh and they got a new puppy. She is a papillon like Bradley. Her name is Bella and she is adorable!

Speaking of sisters, Melanie and Luke made it to North Carolina and are getting settled in their new house! Not sure when Phil and I will be able to take a trip out there and to see it but there is a good chance we will see them when we stop in Washington D.C. in July.

I think that is about it for now! And because I hate blog posts that have no pictures but I am too lazy to upload my own, I will leave you with this:

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

Now that the holidays are over and school is back in full swing, I'm finding myself looking forward to all the fun I'm going to have after I graduate. Yes, the countdown to June 13th has officially begun, and we have 144 days to go folks. In these next 144 days, I will finish 3 classes...one which I started last week for Winter Quarter, and two in Spring Quarter. I also got myself signed up for a PHR certification prep course that A) counts as an elective towards my MBA and B) will position me quite well for my much desired move to HR. The PHR class overlaps the last half of Winter quarter and the first half of Spring quarter, so April is going to be a doozy.

Luckily, March will set me up nicely for the stress of April. I'm planning on taking at least one, possibly two, extended weekend mini-vacations (California for sure, Miami is a maybe). And Suzie and Joy are both due to have their wee ones in March, so I'll be on a baby high for a while.

But before all that, Phil and I and my parents are taking an extended weekend mini-vacation in...Fairbanks, Alaska. I know...Alaska in February. We might be a little crazy. BUT, my sister and her boyfriend live up there and we've very excited to see them and have them show us around town. Hopefully the Northern Lights will make an appearance too, otherwise Phil might ask for his money back ;)

Speaking of sisters, Melanie and Luke recently found out they will be stationed in North Carolina in May, so we'll get to see them when they come home for their month of leave in April. April is going to suck as far as school goes, but we're already planning on meeting up with Mel and Luke in Washington D.C. when Phil and I go on our post-graduation East Coast Food Tour/Vacation in July.

Let's see...what else...well we had Phil's high school buddy Ronny here for a visit earlier this month and then Albert, Phil's brother, and his girlfriend Kay came for a visit last week. We had a great time showing them all the sights. I'll post some pictures soon.

This Friday is Mom's birthday so we're taking her to The Met for some steak and I'm taking her to see Sleeping Beauty (the ballet) on Feb. 6th.

And yeah, I think that's about it!

In my spare time (hah!....well okay, I do have enough spare time to watch Cake Boss and Project Runway, so I probably can find SOME spare time) I will try to scan some of my baby pictures and post them, by popular demand (or the demand of two people, hehe).

Adios!

Happy New Year!

Whoa! 2010!? Time can just go ahead and slow the heck down now!

I've been very busy since my last post...mostly with the hassle of going to court to evict my tenants who haven't paid rent since September. I won't say much more about that depressing issue, except that I won my case and I'll be looking for new tenants very soon (so if you know anyone interested in living in a beautiful 2bd/2ba condo in South Everett, let me know!!).

December also marked the end of my third to last quarter in my MBA program. One class next quarter and two spring quarter and then I AM DONE! I am so excited to see what doors open for me and also to have some free time again to have a social life and finish decorating our house. I hope to start cooking more too...Phil is probably going to double up on classes in the near future and I'll need to step it up and cook for him for a change. I hope you like casseroles honey ;)

Phil flew home to New Jersey for Christmas and I spent it in Federal Way with my parents and my uncle...the only family still in WA. Some sisters of mine need to move back to WA as soon as possible!! Though it was just the four of us this year, we had a great time. We went to see "It's Complicated" with one of my favorite actresses, Meryl Streep. It was very good, I highly recommend it. On the 26th, I treated my parents to "White Christmas" at the 5th Avenue. The show was excellent and we had a very good dinner at Palomino afterwards.

On the 30th my mom and I hosted an "Anne of Green Gables" get together for some of my dearest friends. We made Anne themed food and watched the first 4 hours of the 12 hour miniseries as we chatted and exchanged presents. It was very fun and I hope as our lives get busier, we can all continue to find the time to get together and just veg.

I spent New Years making new friends at a very fun house party in Mountlake Terrace. I had a wonderful time, but I do hope its the last New Years I spend apart from Phil. In 3 years I still haven't got to kiss him at midnight :(

Here's a picture from last night...I'll post more as more get posted to Facebook ;)


Well I think you're all up to date on my life. Here's to a new year which I hope brings many blessings to my family and yours!

September

Though my summer didn't really start until September because of my school schedule, Phil and I managed to pack a lot in and make lots of fun memories.

First came Phil's parents' visit Labor Day Weekend. First we took them to the most beautiful place on the planet (in my unbiased opinion), Paradise at Mt. Rainier. We hiked up to Glacier Vista (I think that's what it's called) just in time for the ginormous cloud that was hovering over the mountain all day to drift away. Our way back down was lit by twilight and it made for some gorgeous pictures. I love this place...








Other activities during their visit included dinner with my parents at Buca di Beppo's in Seattle (another place I love), a seafood smorgasbord at our house, and what visit to Seattle would be complete without a trip to the Space Needle? Phil took his folks there for lunch one day (I was working...sniff sniff) and they had a great time.


The middle of September was kind of a blur...I think mainly because my birthday was coming up and so we kind took it easy knowing that weekend would be busy. Phil, as usual, planned the whole weekend chuck-a-block full of surprises for me. On Friday the 25th (day before my birthday), I came to work to find my cubicle had been decorated with a banner and confetti...sneaky Phil. That night, he took me to dinner at the Barking Frog in Woodinville. Very nice dinner and ambiance, I highly recommend it. Here's a picture of me in the herb garden of a restaurant next door to Barking Frog (it was called the Herb Garden, go figure).


On Saturday morning, Phil woke up and bounced down stairs and out to the garage and came back upstairs wearing my birthday present -- a hiking pack, inside of which were hiking poles! That day, we went down to Tacoma to have lunch with my folks. We dined at BJ's and it was delish! Their pazookies are freakin' awesome! Here's a picture of me and my parents waiting for our table to be ready.


When we got back up to Everett we got ready for the Saturday night surprise...a Redneck Party! We'd had one in Phil's old apartment about a year ago and it was the most funnest (hehe) party I'd ever been to. So, we had another one! Here are just a couple pictures, I'll have to post more later. I think Joy took a bunch I haven't seen yet...



And yes, that's our first-born on my back there...her name is Peaches. And my second-born, Bubba, is the one with a plastic ash tray duct taped to his head. And don't worry, that's a fake cigarette (because not only would I never smoke, but I would never hold it that close to a pregnant lady!) and fake tattoos. The hair though, that's real. And the look on my face...that's a look I wore in every picture and pretty much the whole night. And if you ask anyone who was at the party, they will tell you that I was probably a redneck in previous life, because I pull it off WAY too well.

And Phil pulls it off purdy good too...


Obviously we had a blast with our friends and we may just have to make it be an annual tradition :)

On Sunday, we headed south again to hang out with my parents. We had lunch at Pick Quick drive-in in Fife. Such tasty burgers and scrumptious blackberry milk shakes! Then we went to a Bamboo farm in Spanaway...Phil's thinking about putting some bamboo in the backyard. Then we headed to The Old Cannery furniture store in Sumner as we're in the market for a new coffee table and end table. Found one I liked, but haven't sold Phil on it yet...hmmmm, maybe I'll just go pick it up while he's out of town this weekend ;) Then we went to Pt. Defiance to stroll through the rose garden. We were all more delighted by the dahlia garden they have though...go check it out if you live nearby. After that, we went to dinner at the Matador in downtown Tacoma. If only it wasn't a Sunday, I would have tried a few of the bazillion kinds of Tequila they offer! After dinner, we went home for cake and then Phil and I made the trek back to Everett. End of birthday, end of summer :(

So yeah, that's pretty much the latest. I'm back in school already and that's going okay so far. I've also decided to run the Seattle half-marathon at the end of November. I'm not an athlete, I'm not a runner, and I don't have a whole lot of endurance, but I figured if I could lose 25 lbs and keep it off for 2 years, I have enough discipline to train for a half-marathon. So I'm in week 5 of training and its getting so much easier. I think I might actually start to enjoy running!

That's it for now, bye ya'll!

Pictures, as promised...

Well the new house is really starting to come together, thanks to the pressure of hosting our first BBQ yesterday. Here are some pictures Phil took before our guests arrived:

Garage - we are oh so proud of the epoxy floor we painted last week:

Our new sectional - housewarming/birthday present from my parents :)

Dining Room & Family Room:

The "Guest Room", aka, the "Blue Room":

The master bedroom...kinda plain, needs my decorating touch still:

Our new bedspread - Phil was okay with the flowers, because they were cherry blossoms, which apparently the Last Samurai was okay with, thus Phil is okay with:


My favorite part of the house, the master bathroom...I heart that bathtub...


The other "guest room", aka the "man room"...this is where Phil plays x-box and does other manly things such as burp, fart, and snuggle with my big stuffed lion who has taken up residence in the man room. Note the classy side by side twin beds, only one of which has a frame:

And the outside...this was a few weeks ago before we actually moved our stuff in. The yucca plants in front are in full bloom now so I'll have to take some new pictures.


Still a few accent walls to paint and shelves to buy, and the garage walls are being painted as we speak. Then we'd like to fence the backyard and plant some flowers and maybe a vegetable garden. But after THAT is all done, I think we'll be able to sit back and relax and just enjoy it.

In other news, I started summer quarter. So far so good...global political economics is a little painful, but I'm sure I'll get through it without any permanent scars. Phil is taking the quarter off from school, but keeping very busy with the house projects. A quarter off sure sounds nice, but if I keep at it, I will have my MBA in just 10 months! Right in time for next summer! After this quarter, just 5 more classes...soooo close!

Anyhoo, that's about all the conclusive news I have at the moment. Unless the return of O'Boisies chips counts as news. I was just whining a couple weeks ago about how Keebler discontinued O'Boisies several years and and then lo and behold, I spotted them in the vending machine at work today. So I HAD to buy them. Pretty disappointed actually, they don't taste nearly as awesome as they did when I was a kid. Perhaps my beloved PB Crisps wouldn't meet my expectations either.

Packing

The house closed on Friday and I have the key in my possession. The previous owner has until 9:00pm tonight to get the rest of her crap out, and then its all OURS! Well technically it's all Phil's, but he's being a sweetheart and sharing it with me :)

Phil is currently hiking with his college buddies in Yosemite. It's their third and final night camping in the wilderness...I bet they smell awesome.

Meanwhile, I'm alternating my time between finishing up the packing, and being addicted to my new favorite website/blog: http://www.dooce.com/. She's a stay-at-home-mom in Utah and describes motherhood in a very honest, somewhat profane way. Says what most moms are probably thinking but too afraid to admit, or too prude to talk about. And she has really flippin cute dogs.

As for the packing, it's almost done (really Phil!). I just have to tackle the kitchen, the laundry closet and pantry, and underneath my bed. And I need to buy some large garbage bags for all the towels and linens. Oh poop, gotta take down the window treatments too. Sigh...packing sucks.

Oh yeah, Spring quarter is officially over as of a week ago. Summer quarter starts next week :P Haven't got my final grades for Spring yet, but I'm pretty sure I got an A- in Project Mgmt. and...drumroll please...an A- or A in Finance! I got a 97% on my Finance Term paper, so if I did as well as I felt I did on the final exam, I totally rocked that class!

Besides school and moving, we're getting ready for a very busy summer with our family. We're going to Missouri at the end of this month to visit my Dad's side and then for the 4th of July we're heading down to my Aunt and Uncle's beach house in Lincoln City. Then Phil's Aunt and Uncle are coming sometime in July. My cousin is visiting with her baby in early August. We've got a couple weekend trips planned with friends as well. On the off-weekends I hope to get in some good hikes. There are still so many areas of Washington I want to explore...especially the Olympic peninsula.

Well I think I'm going to make the first of many trips to Wendy's this week for dinner. No plates = no cooking...perfect excuse for fast food. Don't worry though, I'll get the salad ;)

P.S. Pictures of new house to come later this week!

Student/Landlord/Nurse Katie

Another lovely weekend...wasted inside, doing school work :P Just a 3 hour exam and a final group project and Spring Quarter is done! I only get a 2 week break before summer quarter, but after summer quarter I get 2 MONTHS! Woohoo, can't wait! And by this time next year, I'll be taking my finals for my LAST quarter of my MBA. As busy as its kept me, I'm glad I've stuck with it...it's really going by quickly and I know it will help my career quite a bit.

In the meantime, I'm started to think about packing up the condo as we'll be moving into the new house in a few weeks. Unfortunately, I can't get too excited about the new house without being reminded that I still need to find renters for the condo. If anyone knows anyone who wants to rent here in Everett, please tell them about my place!

Not much else going on around here, other than Phil being sick all week. He had gone to New Jersey for Memorial Day weekend and when I picked him up at the airport Monday night, he was feeling like he was coming down with a cold or the flu. By Wednesday, he had such bad vertigo he could barely stand. Took him to the doc where he was told he had a virus which caused the fever which caused his ear to not drain properly, hence the vertigo. He was prescriped Anti-biotics and anti-vertigo medicine. Then Wednesday night and all day Thursday he was having intense headaches, so we went to the ER Friday morning...that doc didn't seem too concerned, just told him to take Sudafed consistently to dry up his ear, as that was probably the cause of the headaches. So between the sudafed, anti-biotics, and vicadin, he was really starting to feel pretty good yesterday. Then last night he noticed his tongue was looking kinda funky...had a white coating on it and it was sore. He googled it this morning and figured it was "Thrush", a yeast infection on the tongue caused by anti-biotics (which kill good bacteria along with bad bacteria). So he went to the doctor AGAIN and was prescriped some fancy mouth wash. Crossing my fingers now... the poor guy is going to go broke paying the co-pays and prescriptions.

And bless his heart, he still threw on his khakis and a dress shirt and took me to the ballet last night for our last show in our season ticket seats. I decided to forego season tickets next year as I figured it was a treat I could live without while we put our money into making the new house a home. The ballet was pretty good...not my favorite show of the season, but it was a nice break from school work and being cooped up in our condo turned nursing home.

Well I suppose I should stop procrastinating and start studying for that dang test, which is tomorrow (yikes!).

Houses and Condos and Homework, Oh My!

Good news! Phil bought a house and he got a great deal on it! The inspection is all done so now Phil just delivers the moolah to escrow and we wait it out. Closing is no later than June 12th, but Phil goes hiking in California June 11th, so we'll see how that works out. We probably won't get to move in until he gets back about a week later.

House Stats:

• 4bd/2.5ba
• built in 2005
• hdwd floors downstairs
• 5 pc. master bath (can't wait to use the huge bathtub!)
• located in Silver Lake (South Everett)

Phil took some video at the inspection yesterday which you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qawRjw2cC2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Yk5CKlMiw

Can't wait to get in there and redecorate!

So, since I'm moving in with Phil and the market is too sucky to sell my condo at the moment, I'm looking to rent it out. It's 2bd/2ba, hardwood entry, granite countertops, ground floor with fenced yard, in gated community with pool, hottub, billiards room, clubhouse with kitchen, workout facility, basketball court, playground, and close to Boeing and freeway. Pretty much the best condo EVER! If you know of anyone looking to rent, send them my way por favor!

While all of this is going on, I'm trying to finish out the quarter. Just one term paper, an exam, and 2 group projects to go. I'm pretty sure I'll get an A or A- in Project Management and I think I'll probably be able to sweak by with a B or B+ in Finance. No me gusta finance :( Next quarter I'm taking Global Political Economics (I feel this class could go one of two ways -- very interesting, or mind-numbingly boring) and Compensation and Benefits, which is NOT the area of HR I want to specialize in, but SPU isn't offering the classes I DO want to take in the near future, so it'll have to do.

Gonna be a busy summer!

P.S. A girl at work gave me some Friendship bread dough and today was day 10, which means I have 2 loaves of bread I shouldn't eat plus 4 bags of starter dough that I need to give to my friends. Hmmm...which one of you will be the next friendship bread victim?

Weekend Recap

I'm winding down from a very busy weekend at the moment...feels good to just sit on my couch and surf the net. I had class from 6 to 9 on Friday night and again on Saturday from 9 to 3. Then I met with my group project group for finance from 4 to 8 Saturday night. Living and breathing school this quarter and while I'm a little anxious about my finance class, project management is a breeze. Both my group project groups are really good this quarter too...no slackers!

This morning I volunteered at the Special Olympics in Marysville. What an experience! I escorted a group of 16 to 21 year old men for the softball throw event and the one who cheered the loudest for his competition ending up winning the gold medal for the event. I also escorted 2 awesome ladies in the "25 meter assisted walk" event (they used walkers). The woman who came in first was 77 years old and when it came time for her to accept her gold medal, she wasn't about to just stand in front of the podium, she hopped right on up there. Needless to say, I finished my shift with a smile on my face :)

After that my parents drove up and went house shopping with me and Phil. We did a few open houses and lots of drive-bys. There is SO much on the market right now, it's almost overwhelming. There were definitely a few stand-outs though...one in particular. That's all I'll say about that because a) don't want to get myself too emotionally attached to it and b) don't want to jinx it!

After that we went to the Chinese buffet in Everett...that calls for an extra hard workout tomorrow!

Well that's about all for now...

Work and School

Well school has started and its going to be a challenging quarter. I decided to stop being such a slacker by taking only one class a quarter and ramp it up to two this quarter so I can get through it quicker. So I'm taking project management and finance analysis. PM should be kind of a cool class...we're doing a simulation which keeps things interesting, plus my group is in 1st place so far, so I can't complain. The class only meets three times (Fri for 3 hours, Saturday for 8 hours) throughout the course of the 10 week quarter, but there's lots of group work in between. The good news is there is no exam and I don't really have to read the textbook. Woohoo!

Finance is going to be challenging I think...I haven't taken an analytical class since senior year of my undergrad so I'm a bit rusty. The prof seems great though...very flexible and fair. He's given us the option of either writing a term paper and taking a comprehensive exam OR taking a exam based on new cases he gives us 3 weeks before the exam. He said the anxiety level is higher at the end with the second option, but more and more of his students are taking that option and most get A's or B's. I think I'll go for that second option....anything that gets me out of writing a ten page paper about finance!

In work news, I found out today that I'm getting a new statement of work. I've been quite frustrated with my current work package over the last year for a variety of reasons and its definitely time for a change. Hopefully this will be the change for the better that I think it is and it will keep me sane while I wait for a safer time to transition to a new organization. With layoffs happening every few months, I've been advised to stay where I have experience and a good reputation! My other career interests will just have to wait I guess.

Between the work news and the sunshine, I'm feeling 100% better than I was last week (I was in a funk last week....self-pity and loathing like I haven't seen in quite some time). And coming up to improve my outlook on life even more....DisneyWorld! Phil and I are headed down to Orlando to meet his aunt, uncle, and cousins in T-minus 3 days. A much needed break from work (even though I just went to Mexico in December....that seems like it was AGES ago!). Wow, I just reminded myself how lucky/spoiled I am...dang.

Well I guess I better stop procrastinating and get back to my school work so I don't have to worry about it during my vacation. I'll leave you with a pretty picture Phil took at UW, which we visited this Sunday to check out the cherry blossoms and study in the beautiful library. While I have a certain affinity for the WSU-Pullman campus, even I can't deny how pretty UW is...double dang.

General Life Update

Seeing as how I'm addicted to about 10 of these darn blogs I figured I may as well start one of my own, even though there is a very good chance I won't keep up on it...we'll see.

Thought I'd start with a general update on my life:

Last month Phil and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary with a weekend away together in Lincoln City, OR. We walked on the beach, soaked in the hot tub, window shopped, played checkers (it was a draw), and watched Disney movies. It was quite relaxing :) When we got home, my present from him had arrived in the mail...he made me a very nice photo book on shutterfly of our first two year's worth of adventures together!

Speaking of adventures, his OTHER present to me (half for anniversary, and half for v-day) is a trip to Orlando in April! We're going to Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Seaworld, etc., and I couldn't be more excited. I told Phil he's gonna have to put me on a leash cuz I'll be out of control!!

Last week I finished the 5th quarter of my MBA program...about 5 more quarters to go. I think I have decided I want to get a masters in Industrial/Organizational Psychology too, so looks like I'll be in school for a good 3 more years :0 Phil was just accepted into his masters program at UW though (whoohoo!), so at least we'll be in it together. Yay school! And since it looks like we'll be around here for a few years, Phil's preparing to buy a house in the next few months. Hopefully I'll get to rent my condo out around the same time (we have a rental cap here...stupid HOA) so I can move in with him and decorate to my heart's content!

Other than that, not much else is going on. Phil is currently in NY/NJ visiting his family, and I'm laying on the couch watching reruns of Scrubs and recovering from a late night last night (final paper due :P). Tomorrow I'm heading down to F-dub to have some Mom time...I'm taking her to the ballet, which I have season tickets for...such a good purchase. The rest of March is pretty busy -- Phil has a friend visiting next week and then my sister Megan and her boyfriend will be in town after that. Looking forward to seeing them all!

Well I have kept my eyes open much longer than I thought possible, but they're really starting to droop. Time for bed!