And the fortune says . . .

Can you believe it? I’m posting again and it’s only been a few days since my last post. Will wonders never cease? Or it could be because after two and a half months of dedicated studying, I have now finished my prep course, including all six practice tests! Yay!

I finished just in time too – my test day is this Saturday! I’m nervous for sure, but my practice tests have shown me that my level of readiness has increased. I’m hopeful it will be enough. I’ll know shortly. Wish me remembrance and understanding. Prayers definitely help too.

I do want to share a few fun pieces of information that have encouraged me along on this journey.

This is one I got last summer, and I liked the idea of it, so I taped it to my computer at work. At that point, grad school wasn’t really on my radar. I just liked the idea of something new and exciting happening.

This is one I got in January. At the time I was excited for it to refer to something else, but I’m just as okay with it perhaps referring to the GMAT and grad school. In any case, it’s encouraged me to be brave.

I don’t remember when I got either of these, but since they apply to the task at hand, I’m including them.

Let’s hope the Chinese (or whoever writes these fortunes) got it right and test day proves to be successful for me.

Always I will remember . . .

 

Today it’s been three years since this beautiful angel was called to her heavenly home. I still miss her every day, even though I know she lives on and, more importantly, watches over us. I can’t wait for the day when I get to see her again.

Love and miss you, Ashley!

I would say happy angelversary, but I don’t tend to think that the day you left us is an occasion to celebrate. More like a reason to reflect, remember and cherish.

Spoiled rotten!

So, you may or may not know, but I recently celebrated a very important event: my birthday! And this year was a milestone for me. I had a few minutes of freaking out and then I decided that it’s just another number so there’s really no reason to be upset about it. And that was that.

My heart is still full to overflowing with everybody who reached out. From Facebook comments to sending cards across the U.S. (thanks Robin, Corey, Addie and Jack) to coming to my birthday party, it was a wonderful time.

It started with a family birthday party when I went to visit my sisters over President’s Day weekend. My parents came down and we celebrated.

Here’s a few photos commemorating the occasion:

I not only picked out a few things for myself, but I also got to help my sisters pick out some new clothes. It was fun!

At work that week, my supervisor not only took me out to lunch at one of Salt Lake City’s nicest restaurants, she also gave me a beautiful butterfly charm from Swarovski and dropped this tasty cake off for me, to my surprise and delight.

As is tradition for me, I took my birthday off work. Life is much too short for me to be working on my birthday I’ve decided. I slept in, went to the gym, had a massage and had an amazing party at my house! My roomies were fantastic in organizing everything, decorating and providing a great collection of food for the party. This is what it looked like.

Okay so I might’ve been having lots of fun playing at my party so I don’t have a lot of pictures of that. But here’s a picture of the whole group, sans a couple who had to leave early.

This is my birthday dance with Max. He is so sweet!

And, finally, this is my family birthday party on Saturday afternoon/evening with my aunt, cousins and some dear friends.

See, I told you I seriously got spoiled. It was a wonderful birthday and a great way to pass a milestone birthday.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, Chucky made an appearance for my birthday. I’m just that cool so he couldn’t stay away.

Once again, thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special.

Snowshoeing!

Greetings to anyone who actually still checks my blog (cough, cough, it’s a little dusty here). Today, I hail from a little place called GMAT land. No, it’s not like the Emerald City or Candyland. It’s much less fun than that. But, I’m hoping it’ll all be over soon. Time will tell.

In any case, a LOT of time has passed since my last post. And I’ve had some very fun times I’d love to share. It would take me forever to put in all the posts I had intended to put here, so I’ll instead focus on just two. This one took place about three weeks ago.

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to experience snowshoeing for the first time. It was hard work but lots of fun! So, when I heard that a second snowshoeing activity was being in the works, I knew I had to go.

Once again we hiked to the lovely snow-covered Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. There was quite a bit more snow this year than last. Shocking with all the cold weather and storms we’ve had. J/K!

Anyway, as always I captured it in pictures, and they can tell the story much better than I can.

The whole group. It was a LOT smaller this year than last but still plenty of fun.

Of course here’s me, stylin’ in my snowshoes.

The snow-covered canyon. I hiked all the way to the falls last year, but it resulted in a rather cold trip home after I had to slide down on my behind. Since I still don’t own snow pants, I decided to skip that part this year. Instead I captured the rest of the group walking up. Oh and the canyon of course.

And here was our prize for finishing our hike (and just in the nick of time too because it started snowing as we were walking out).

Even being lost in GMAT land, sometimes I still get to have adventures.