Back to the Litchpatch

I'm almost officially moved into my mom's house... geez how bad does that sound... but my lease is up at the end of the month in my apartment in STL and instead of paying for one month's rent I just moved back home. The good thing is that it will give me plenty of time to study for the boards. The bad thing is that it will give me plenty of time to study for the boards... At least I don't have to cook every meal myself? Nah, it will be a good time to spend with family before I leave them all for the mountains.

I'm already homesick for the city though. I never thought I would be a city girl, and I even took a job in a small town (granted, a lot different than Litchfield, but a small town all the same). And now I'm starting to think that the city is where I want to be. I'm still very excited about moving to Whitefish, and I know it's going to be a fantastic adventure for myself and I'm going to learn a lot and do a lot, but I think my future involves moving again, maybe to Seattle, Portland, or Denver. We'll just have to see where life takes me.

Still looking for a place to live in Whitefish. And still looking for a car. I just need to DO IT, not toil over it every day. But decisions are not my strong suit... I think I decided though that I'm going to get something pretty cheap that is decent and that I can pay off in a year or less and then work toward getting a nice, newer car to last me for a long time. We shall see.

Lots more changes to come! Just trying to take it one day at a time....

I'm Gradumacated!

7 years in the making.... well, 21 if you count all of 'em. And now I'm finally done! Done with school for the rest of my life! At least, I'll go ahead and think that for now. It's pretty inescapable. Continuing education is in my future, but we'll just put that aside for the time being. Let me bask in the glory of being done with PT school.

You can now call me Dr. Smith. Well, not really. Only in some states.

Gee, it's sounding less and less exciting the more I write about it! But regardless, I've been officially hooded!
Pretty sweet outfit, ey? Not hot and uncomfortable at all! Polyester at it's finest! The whole fam came down for the ceremony, including Nana and Grandpa Hap and Uncle Kevin.

It was a really nice event and I managed to tear up only twice. Okay, I bawled as soon as I got out the door and hugged my family. What can I say, it was an emotional day!

The rest of the weekend was filled with more graduation festivities, including Mike's graduation from high school and his party where he played with his band, Wojtek's graduation from UMSL and entertaining his friends who came down from Champaign, and some all around wholesome family time. We even hosted Wojtek's mom and brother from Poland, which was an adventure in and of itself. Very busy weekend!

And now it's just a waiting game before I move back to Litchfield on Sunday. I won't be leaving for Montana until July, so I'll have time to study for the board exam and save up some $$ for when I get there. I helped Wojtek get all packed up on Monday and he took off that afternoon for Denver. It was pretty sad saying goodbye, but there's always cell phones and ichat to keep in touch. I'm sure he's going to fit right in and feel at home there, and I'm happy for him!

I have to say, though, that I'm really going to miss the city. I've really grown to love parts of it in the past year. Wojtek and I had been venturing out to new places and really had gotten to know a lot of good things about St. Louis. For a while I couldn't wait to get out of the miserable weather and horrific drivers, but after finding my niche and my favorite spots, I'm finding it hard to leave. The good thing is that I know I'll be able to make the most of anyplace I go. I just never thought I'd be wanting to stay longer in this city!

But enough ramblings. I'm starting to get quite uncomfortable sitting on the only peice of furniture I have left in the apartment -- my air mattress on the floor. Okay, so it won't be that hard to leave.... ;-)

If only my knees could talk...

...oh the stories they would tell.

Or maybe they would just moan in agony.

Finally got some photos from mountain biking! Wojtek and I went to Castlewood State Park and hit the Chubb trail - 1st time for me. It was really easy for the first half. Mostly gently rolling next to the river and then through fields.

Then -- oh then -- we get to the actual technical part. Which was basically nothing but climbing up the rest of the way. With lots of rocks and roots. Definitely got my heart pumping! The part that is the most difficult is when I hit a big rock and it basically stops me, and then I can't get going again because it's so steep and I can't get both feet back on the pedals.

But after a short stop off at the top to rehydrate and rest the ol' legs, the fun part was coming back down! Probably for the first time, I was able to just let go and let the bike do it's thing, whipping around corners and jumping off the rocks. I actually had a smile on my face instead of a full-on grimace. Of course, the way back down took maybe 1/10th the time it took to get up, but it was fun!

I managed to only fall twice, which is great because it was pretty muddy and I'm known to slide around when it's been wet. I slid twice on the same section - once going out and once coming back. It was a little stream but one side of it was super steep and pure mud. You would think I learned my lesson going down but noooo, I thought I'd try going back up... That's how I got the lovely bruises on my knees this time around. So I decided that I probably shouldn't go mountain biking between now and graduation so that I can wear a dress and not have people stare at my black and blue legs!