Scott and I met with the pastor who will be presiding over our wedding next fall, and since the church is so close to the Lakewalk, we went down and took a walk afterwards. Short, because there was a strong wind coming off the lake, and it was cold. Here's a video of the waves crashing up on the breakwater.
It's been snowing all day - big, fluffy "Christmas card" flakes. Scott and I helped Mom clean off the driveway, so we don't feel too guilty about sitting inside and drinking tea during the rest of the day.
More photos here!
1. I took the GRE this morning! Given that I only studied for three and a half days, I'm pretty happy with my scores. And I'm pretty happy to have it over with.
2. Scott is en route to Minnesota as I type! He'll get to Duluth around midnight... just 9 more hours to go.
3. My mom took me to go see the Minnesota Ballet's production of The Nutcracker! We were supposed to go on Sunday, but bad weather postponed it to Monday night. I danced in this production all the way through my senior year of high school, so it brought back lots of great memories. The only strange part was not recognizing any of the dancers - Lindsay was supposed to be in Merlitons, and Anna should have been the Chinese Maiden. Thank goodness Suzanne was still the Snow Queen and Robert was Mother Ginger.
4. My dad took me out for pizza last night, since my mom was at a meeting and neither one of us felt like cooking. I am such a spoiled daughter... especially when I'm the only kid home. (Fred gets in tomorrow, so then things will return to normalcy around here.
Finally, a few photos to illustrate the last post.
Mom's baking extravaganza!
The view out the back door - very white, and very cold!
And, just for fun, here's a picture from last year. Scott and I are both very much looking forward to NOT having our noses buried in our computers this year! Maybe we can actually play in the snow instead!
Right now, Mom is in the kitchen cooking spritz cookies, biscotti, cranberry chutney, venison stew and apple carrot spice bread.
I'm in the kitchen studying GRE vocab: distaff, dyspeptic, enconium, etc. Lots of interstitial chat with Mom though...
Dad is outside. He got out the BIG snow blower for the first time this year and is clearing out the driveway. It's stopped snowing, but it's still blowing, so some of the snow will probably drift back in over night. Still, better to get the bulk of the work done this evening, when the temperature is in the double digits. Tomorrow, the predicted low temperature is -18. The predicted high is -7. Uf da!
Scott and I ran through the Arboretum today, and took a quick detour to check out our new apartment. The great news is that it's on the ground floor, and the patio faces south, so we can plant a little garden for ourselves! Not quite as much fun as a kitten, but it is exciting.
I'm all done with finals, but still have a pretty full plate. I've decided to apply to the M.S. program in Nutritional Biology at UC Davis. And my application is due January 15th. I registered to take the GREs (next Wednesday! eek!) and contacted professors about writing recommendation letters and have been meeting with nutrition faculty about research I could help out with. I'm still hoping to have a low-stress Christmas break... we'll see!
(I'm still planning to go to medical school afterwards... I think I'll be in school forever.)
First, the good news! Scott and I get to move into Solano Park! This is a subsidized apartment complex for UCD students, so we'll be saving $500 per month on rent, and it's even closer to downtown and to campus. Now that both of us are students, this is wonderful news for our bank account.
The bad news is that Solano Park doesn't allow pets. Not even kittens. So we won't be getting a kitten for a few years.
So much good stuff going on... besides the imminent kitten.
1. The advent calendar I made for my sister a while ago finally arrived! I sent if off before Thanksgiving, and it was supposed to get there on December 1st, so I was nervous about its whereabouts when it still hadn't arrived a week later. But today it showed up, safe and sound. Yay!
2. My bro is arriving tomorrow! I get to pick him up at 6:15 AM (how's that for sibling love), take him and his buddies out for breakfast (I'm thinking Ciocolat), and then send them off in our trusty Saab on a climbing & bouldering trip in Bishop. I'm excited to see him, and to show him around Davis.
3. I took my bio and chem exams today, and they both went well. I just have one left (Physiology) to take on Thursday.
4. I'm making stock from our turkey carcass. It doesn't actually fit in our dutch oven, and the neck is sort of hanging out the side, but I bet it will be tasty!
5. I get to go climbing with Scott tonight.
We just made plans to pick up our kitten on January 1st! Here's what his breeder has to say about him:
He is big, going to be the biggest in his litter. He is very playful. He is a little shyer than most of them. He loves interactive toys, will pounce and hang on since his jumping is generally good enough to cling to the toy. His color is red silver, similar to his mother's. I have had other people come in and ask for him because he is so handsome.
So it sounds like we're getting the most athletic, most handsome cat. We'll try to make sure it doesn't get to his head (or ours). How on earth am I supposed to study for final exams when there's a kitten to anticipate?
Thanks for all the great name suggestions! Now it's time to vote. Here's the official ballot. Voting ends when the kitten comes home, sometime after January 1st. I promise to post photos!
