Last Fire

This is the last fire we will light in our home in Colorado (unless, say, there is an unseasonable blizzard and we lose power and are forced to live off the land - ha)!

This is (clearly) Rachel talking here. I have to say that it was really nice to have a wood-burning fireplace while living here. I've never had a fireplace growing up and though I still have yet to actually learn how to build a fire or start a fire or anything about fire, I do appreciate them and the ski-lodge ambiance they bring. For example, there's nothing quite like studying for a neuroanatomy exam by the fire, or having dinner by the fire, or watching a movie by the fire... but alas, I would still willingly trade this (and the associated 8 months of winter) for 8 months of summer in the burning fire of Arizona. :-)

Spring Break

It's Spring Break, and what are we doing? Vacationing in Florida or Mexico or even going back to Arizona for a visit? Nah. We're livin' it up in FoCo and counting down our last 8 weeks until graduation. It's starting to feel a little more real.

Here's our picture we took for graduation purposes in our dining room.



This week so far...
*Rachel threw a baby shower for her friend and it was lots of fun. :-)

*Charlie stayed at the vet hospital until almost midnight and then had to return again at 7am.

*Rachel's been checking things off her to-do list, like doing random schoolwork, giving away sweaters and coats to Goodwill, and passing the graduate written exam (Yessss!).

*Our ghetto neighbors below us left on vacation and their alarm clock has been going off the entire time!

*Weather forecast for the weekend : Snow, of course!

The fun never ends around here, folks - make Fort Collins your Spring Break destination today!

Hoop Jumping

Lately I feel like I am an expert at jumping through hoops.
You want me to do what? By tomorrow? Sure thing.
Take 4 exams in one week? Piece of cake.
Schedule my oral exam with 3 insanely busy professors? Can do.
Study all the material I learned from the past two years in full detail? Already done.
Wear a bowl of fruit on my head and do the cha-cha for everyone? Gladly.

So I take my big graduate exam tomorrow!! Let's hope I survive the 2nd to last of the "hoops" before graduation. Wish me luck

Thoughts

1. I am sad the Olympics are over. It really helped me cope with the winter blues that I get from Colorado. Charlie knows it is the only time I am even mildly interested in watching sports unless they involve some type of dancing or costumes like figure skating. Plus I love watching athletes from other countries and seeing their interesting names and outfits. And I especially liked watching the opening and closing ceremonies. It made me A) Want to visit Canada, but only in the summer, and B) excited for the next winter Olympics in Russia after I watched the ballet dancers and Russian choir perform.

2. I took my second neuro exam last week and it was really hard. I skipped 2 other classes to study for it that day - I think I am going crazy! I will find out tomorrow how I did.

3. Two weeks until spring break means two things for me:

- The semester is almost half over!! AND
- I only have two more weeks until I take my written exams which basically determines my academic future. I just read that again and I scared myself even more!