Spring Showers

O boy. A month has happened since I last updated. Needless to say, so much has happened, but that's an obvious statement. O to recall it all....

This last month has been really long. Really long.

It started out with my spring break. It was possibly the least restful break I have ever had, mostly because it wasn't much of break. I decided to go into work because I had things that needed to get done and I was going to help out with some studies that were happening. This was fine, except I could not maintain focus or concentrate on anything. For some odd reason during a time when there should have been little distractions I was the most distracted. I also had a sizable midterm coming in the following two weeks so I spent my nights studying and the normal weeknight activities (Monday night dinners and Thursday night small group). I just felt stressed, disappointed in myself and busy. Hence, the non-restful break.

It also happened that Tony and I decided that we were not going to leave the state of Iowa for the whole month of March since we had been traveling to Michigan or Wisconsin at least once a month. We had been in Iowa for about 8 months at this time and it was time we stayed put for a while. In general, living 4 hours away from my family has not been terribly difficult, but sometimes it just sets in that they aren't an afternoon visit away anymore. March just happened to be one of those months, especially after my spring break and thinking about everything that I needed to do in the next few months.

Luckily, my brother decided to move out to Nebraska in the beginning of April, so as a family we got together (those who could on such short notice) one more time before he moved. I was not about to pass up this opportunity to see everyone, recharge and get some lettuce soup. So the last Friday of spring break, we trekked up to Wisconsin, broke our no traveling in March rule, where I did no homework and got to spend some quality time with some of the family. It just to happened that my sister Beth had her baby the Thursday before so we got to meet Payton Leona Grady as well. (Sorry, I didn't take any pictures.)

The following week was spent starting and finishing a project for school, a project where I thought I had more time that I actually did. Whoops! Overall, I managed to finish it with impressive programming skills and I got to play with marshmallows and toothpicks. Part of the project was visualizing 3D, so Tony had the idea to use mini-marshmallows and toothpicks. He even ran to the grocery store to get some for me. What a man. The week ended with Easter. Easter was spent eating lunch with some of our friends here. Kimberly made a delicious turkey (so good!!!) and we just sat around and chatted all afternoon. It was a very relaxing afternoon.

April brought about the next round of studies for me in the lab at work, meaning I spent two weeks wearing scrubs preping, honing my skills, helping out with the studies and walking through the tunnels of the hospital traveling from one building to another. The rest of April has been the same story: studying for my tests (finally done!!) and doing homework. Some of the highlights in the past 13 days have included:

- presenting a poster of my research at the engineering open house.
- buying a couch off of craigslist (a not to shabby sleeper sofa for those who come to visit). Yes this means we have had to rearrange the living room.

- purchasing a bike (also off of craigslist), however I have not really ridden it yet. I need to look up how to properly take care of a bike now that I have a decent one.

- finishing the studies and tests and having nothing to do this weekend except for one homework that is 2 questions long. O the joy!
- Tony arriving at home before I do quite a few times in the last week even though he has been being awesome and importantly busy at work (terrible wording I know).

O and I forgot. I got new glasses. It has been fun(?) figuring out insurance and everything, but we learn from our experiences. Moral of the story, I like my glasses and I can see properly out of my right eye!!