Pregnancy

No, I'm not pregnant. But more and more people seem to be asking me that these days. Have I gained weight or something to make people think that I am or should be? I've gotten pretty good at answering my mother's queries and my sisters' questions. I can even be witty on occasion. But I did NOT know what to say when the six-year-old in my Sunday school class asked me why I don't have a baby:

"I...don't know. Sorry?"

It caught me off guard. Normally I'd say something sarcastic like, "How do you know I don't?"or "Where's yours?" But she's six, so the sarcasm would be lost on her and it'd be pretty rude of me to say that in the first place. Next time I've got to come up with a good answer. Any ideas?

Wales Is A Go

That's right. We decided we are definitely going to do Wales. It's only for twelve days so it's going to be a whirlwind adventure in Wales and England, but we're going to love every minute of it. The four of us are going to spend nights in youth hostels and see a globe theater play and spend an afternoon on the beach at St. Ives and cram ten days' worth of adventuring in London into just two packed days of sightseeing. It's going to be epically fun. I have *just* enough vacation days to cover this adventure, which means we have to save up some extra money so we won't be hurting from Josh's missed work (he doesn't get paid vacation time as a part-time employee) and then we'll still be in our normal financial position when we get back from the trip. Last time I went to Wales, I honestly did not give any consideration for what I would do with my life after I got back, so I was completely unprepared for life after Wales. This year, I'll try to take that into consideration so we aren't stranded hobos when we return.

What fun this year is turning out to be! A wonderful vacation with family in July, graduation, and then an adventure in Europe! Now if only I can get through this week of finals...

Chase the Mayor 5K

This May 5th, my friend Megan and I are going to run a 5K in Provo. It's called "Chase the Mayor" because I guess the Provo city mayor will be running as well and he'll get a 60-second headstart in the race. Anyone who can beat his time gets a trophy or something. I think it's cute, but I won't be competing against the mayor in this race. I can only run 2 miles at this point, and not fast at that. It takes me about 45 minutes to cover three miles right now, so I've got to trim that time down. My goal is to run it in 35 minutes, which I know I can do eventually, but I'm not sure I can do it by the end of April. But I already bought my registration voucher, so I'm committed. As a bonus, because May 5th also happens to be Cinco de Mayo, all participants will receive a sombrero. So really, everyone's a winner in this thing.

Here's to running in May! Good luck to us!

Wales?

So Tom the Wales wizard had to cancel the Britain blitz due to scheduling conflicts this summer. This means that Rachel, Jonathan, Josh, and I all have roundtrip plane tickets and nothing to do with them. We are deciding whether we want to use our travel insurance to cancel the tickets or maybe do our own adventuring in Wales without Tom. It could be a cheaper experience if we're smart about it, or it could cost a whole lot more. It's tough to say. In any case, we have time to decide, and to mourn the loss of Tom because he really does make everything magical.

WALES!

So my old study abroad professor (we shall call him Tom) is taking a group of people to Wales on a whirlwind two-week trip through Wales, Scotland, and England. And Josh and I are going! We're super excited but it only gives us four months to plan and save up money and the cost is pretty hefty, though it's a smoking deal for Europe. If we can find airfare for cheap enough and dip into our savings a bit, we can totally make it happen. And the best part is that it will take place in mid-August, which means Josh will be done with summer classes and he'll come back in time to start the fall semester. It's just absolutely perfect. It will take place literally just after I graduate, so it'll be a like an awesome graduation gift to me! I'm so excited I could just die.

Now to start saving up vacation days, and looking at airlines, and dusting off my passport... *squeal* This seriously makes all the work we've put in already this year SO worth it. I thought I was going to die before this semester was over and I still have another to go, but now I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it's well worth it. All of it.

Here's to summer adventures!

Phoneless

My stupid phone, which I had just found, is dead. That may be because I ran it under hot water for two solid minutes. That may be because I accidentally dropped it in the toilet. That may be because I was leaning over to flush and it slipped out of my jacket pocket. I won't go into the details of using various kitchen utensils--since thrown away, of course--to fish the gross thing out of the gross bowl because I couldn't stand to put my hand in there.

In any case, I am phoneless. Josh thinks the whole thing is just hilarious.

Best Professor Ever

So I have this religion professor this semester (the same one whose book I'm editing). He's pretty cool. He knows I'm pretty busy, because I try to squeeze out a couple chapters of edited copy each week in addition to my work and school schedules. Yesterday before class I shot him an email letting him know that I might be late because I had to take a midterm after work but before his class. He said I sounded busy and wondered if he could help, which made me shrug my shoulders and ignore the email. What can he do? He can't make my professors stop giving me homework.

So after class that night he called me aside and told me that I would get an A in the class, that I would take the final but not be required to have to study for it, that I should still read the text for the course but that I would not be tested on it, and that I am no longer required to provide a chapter summary each week. So basically, I have to work on editing his book and I have to keep showing up for class.

Score.

I have never had a professor cut me this kind of slack before. And I didn't even tell him how stressed out I was--he just sort of knew and wanted to make it easier on me. He's the best ever.