Iowa!

Greetings to all of you lovely people from Larchwood, IA!

Exactly two days before I am expected to move out of my apartment and back into the dorms, I find myself visiting my fabulous friend and roommate Brittany Sehr in her hometown - none other than small town Iowa. I came down with Tiffany Heck and Adrian O'brien, also friends of mine from Mt. Marty, and together we dubbed Larchwood as being "precious." Brittany lives in the perfect little neighborhood with green luscious grass and light brown brick houses (the kind I dream about living in someday). Her neighbor across the street is a hardcore body builder. This morning I looked out her kitchen window to see a young father pulling his three kids down the street in a mini-wagon train thing. It's just the cutest little neighborhood. Good location as well beings that it is only about 30 minutes from Sioux Falls. In fact, we drove to Sioux Falls at 4:00 this morning for some pretty fantastic strawberry banana french toast, and we are getting ready to head back soon for an afternoon of shopping - definitely great memories to end my summer with! As much as I love staying up until 5 in the morning with friends, I doubt I will have the opportunity to pursue such an adventure for quite some time. Goodbye lazy summer days and hello demanding volleyball practices. ugh.

Beyond loving my life in Larchwood, nothing new and revealing has happened in my life since my last post. I'm still making disgusted faces at the thought of having to go back to my apartment tonight and tomorrow to pack for the big move in day Saturday. I still have to-do lists up the wahzoo. BUT...deep breath here, this is big: ........ I did manage to knock off a big chunk of my grad school to-do list in a couple of afternoons I like to think of as "operation get organized." I now have three folders labeled and sorted with notes telling me deadlines and requirements. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of myself for accomplishing that. I also have shadowing experiences lined up (although one's not until a week in mid-December and the other is still in the workings as they had to do the whole background check extravaganza). All in all, it has been a busy but surprisingly productive week. Things are looking .... um..... school-ish and sure to be busier.