23?

This past Thursday, I turned 23.  22 was such a life-changing year, and I am grateful it is over.  There were some great things that happened -- I graduated college, Dan bought a house for us to live in, I got a pretty good starting job, and I got a puppy that I love.  Plus many other things, I am sure.  There were also the negative aspects.  Most importantly, not getting into graduate school.  I say this is negative because it went against my "plan," but what do I know?  Since I didn't start grad school, I was able to move into this house with Dan and get a job that I really do enjoy.  Maybe 22 just wasn't the year for me to go to grad school...


I am excited to see what 23 will bring.


This weekend I also had the privilege of seeing a great friend get married.  It was a beautiful ceremony, and the love was radiating off both the bride and groom.  I was so honored to be there.  It's hard to believe my group of friends is getting to the age where more and more people will start tying the knot, but I guess we really are growing up and beginning our lives as adults.  

grown up life = routine.

I haven't been updating this nearly as often as I thought I would.  I guess that's because life hasn't had a whole lot of changes lately.  I am still spending 40+ hours a week at Chestnut.  My very own insurance was activated at the beginning of the month...I guess that's a pretty grown up thing.  Besides work, there has been some fun things happening, though.


2 weeks ago I went to Texas to see Airman First Class Donovan graduate from Basic Military Training.  I am so lucky that I was able to experience this with him and our family.  Words can't describe how wonderful it was to see my baby brother after almost 3 months.  We got our first glimpse on Thursday morning during what's call the "Airmans' Run."  All the Airmen graduating that week ran by with their flight groups in formation.  It was so cool and touching to see.  Then we waited 3 hours for the Coin Ceremony, where Josh and the others officially became Airmen and were given their Airman Coin.  It was also awesome.  After the Coin Ceremony, we were able to go "tap them out," meaning, they stood in formation until we went and touched him.  Aidan and I stood in front of him, so he grabbed Aidan pretty quickly.  It was cute!  We got to spend the rest of the day with him on base, and he told us some incredibly funny BMT stories.  The kid is hilarious.  Friday morning was his graduation parade and ceremony, and then we hung out with him again.  We also got to see him Saturday and Sunday.  It was so hard to say goodbye again on Sunday, but it has been a lot better now that he has his phone back.  For the past 2 weeks, he has still been in Texas doing INDOC for tacp school.  He passed all of the physical tests/requirements and is flying to Florida this evening to start tacp school.  I am incredibly proud of him.  Who knew a little brother could be such an inspiration?!  But he is, and I am so grateful he is a part of my life!


Last weekend I went home to blono to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday.  Even though we had just been together in Texas, it was great to see him and the rest of my family again (we really missed Josh, obviously!)  While I was home, I was also able to see a lot of great friends.  Home always reminds me of how lucky I am. There is nothing like knowing you have the best friends in the world.  I am truly blessed.


Over the next 2 months, I will be home quite a bit.  My cousin is getting married in a few weeks, my aunt and uncle are coming to visit from Ohio, and one of my wonderful friends is tying the note in October.  I am so excited to see so many people that I love, and it's always great to have excuses to go back to Normal :)


As for work, I have my own "primary" client now, so that is pretty cool.  I get to meet with him every week and basically do counseling that we did a crash course of training in.  It's a great learning experience.  Also, my work schedule is going to be changing!  Starting in September, I will have Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays off.  (Currently I do not work Sun-Tues).  I am pretty excited...and it's great timing for the weddings I get to go to!


I'll end with some funny Aidan comments from Texas - 


 - (side note - this was the first time Aidan flew.  She was incredibly excited, but she passed out as soon as the plane was up in the air.)  When we landed in Texas, she looked out the window (which looked just like the STL airport) and goes "ugh.  I thought we were going to Texas!"  She was legitimately disappointed.  It was hilarious.


 - Aidan gave Josh a congratulations card that she had written random letters in.  Josh asked her what it said, and she replied (very sincerely), "I don't know.  I can't read!"  We all laughed uncontrollably for about 5 minutes.


 - At one point we jokingly asked Aid to bring the car closer, and she had a whole bunch of responses to avoid that, including, "but I can't reach the pedals!"  & "But I don't have my driver's license!"


 - On the way back to the airport to fly home, she was looking out the window of the shuttle and exclaims "ugh...I can't find it."  My dad asked what she was looking for.  "um. the Statue of Liberty!"  haha...wrong city, darling!


 - On the plane ride home, Aidan unfortunately did not get a window seat.  She was straining her head to look over the aisle and out the window on the other side of the plane.  The man sitting in that seat closed the blind, so Aidan looked at my dad and said, "but grandpa, I was looking out of that window!"


She is probably the funniest 4 year old in the world, and yes, I am willing to argue that fact!   I love that girl.

grown up life = boring.

I officially have a full-time job at Chestnut.  I have been full-time for about a month, and it's...going...  Don't get me wrong, I usually like it, but it can be extremely stressful.  These boys can make me laugh, but they also make me want to scream (which I cannot do).  They can be over dramatic, take everything way too personally, and just rude.  Unfortunately, when there is one doing that, it makes the whole day much longer.  I hope this is what I am really supposed to be doing.  There are a few that make it worth it, so I really hope that I am helping someone with my time there.


I think the stress of work is combined with life stress in general.  For the past few months I have had to reevaluate where I am and what I am doing.  For the past four years (at least) I assumed that I would be starting grad school right around this time, but instead I am working a (basically) dead-end job with very little pay.  It is also difficult because everyone else has graduated and left St. Louis.  I love living with Dan, but I wish I could live with Dan in Normal.  I want to be home, so I think I am stopping myself from really loving my job / life because of that.  I would just really like to be home with my friends and family.  I'm lonely in St. Louis.


Tomorrow I start my 6 days in a row of work (10 hr shifts + 4 extra hrs of training on Friday).  Yuck.  BUT! Hopefully it won't suck because I will be there knowing I am leaving in a week for Texas.  I haven't seen Joshy since May 29th, so I cannot wait to get to Texas and see him graduate as an Airman in the US Air Force.  It is going to be so amazing!  Hopefully I'll survive these next 6 days of stress and frustration so that I can truly enjoy my break.


In other news.  Miss Riley Roo is amazing.  She is over 25 lbs, and is so cuddly and lovey.  I just can't get enough of her.  She follows me around, lays at my feet, and enjoys cuddling on the couch with her momma.  She is very awesome, and I am so glad she is part of the family!  However, my kitties are still not fans.  Payton puts up with her, but Pika does not like being anywhere near here, so Pika will only cuddle with me at night while Roo is in her cage.  Poor kitty!  I really hope that with time, they will find peace!

funny Aidan comments

I am home for the 4th and miss Aidan has been cracking me up.

She was playing basketball and made a basket. She said "woo one in a row!"

A few minutes later she asked grandpa if she could sit on his motorcycle and said "dont worry. I won't drive it anywhere!"

Earlier she said she wanted to play barbies and said "i can't play with three alone, I don't have 3 hands"

She was trying to jump rope and couldn't do it the first few times and said "its because I need to be on the trampoline, I think"

Hilarious child.

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Trying to be an adult can be hard...

I recently got a new puppy.  Her name is Riley, and she is a 10 week old Chocolate Lab.  She is absolutely adorable, but she's a puppy!  Meaning she plays a lot, which is usually great - I already have her playing fetch, tug-a-war, and she's learning tricks!  But this "kid" has so much energy and she wakes me up way too early to go outside!  Also, she completely breaks my heart every time I leave the house and hear her crying in her cage.  I can't imagine what it would be like with real children.  She definitely proves that in the growing up thing, I am not grown up enough for real kids.

I may be one step closer to having a full-time job, though!  I have been working at Chestnut since February.  I started part-time working Sat and Sun, but with IL state budget cuts, I was switched to Fri and Sat midnights, and it SUCKS.  Still, I cover at least one other shift a week, so I still get to see the boys going through treatment, and I love those days.  Well, there are some full-time staff leaving, so I applied and interviewed for a full-time position last Friday.  I should hear something this week.  Please keep your fingers crossed!  I am ready to get off midnights and have 3 days off a week!  (Since the shifts are 10 hrs, I would only work 4 days a week.  Sweet, I know!)

All of this is keeping me busy and my mind off the fact that my baby brother is in TX for the next 7 weeks at basic training.  He's been gone a week, and I have already written him twice.  I can't wait to go see him graduate because after basic, he goes straight to tech school in FL until Dec 31st.  Meaning he'll miss Thanksgiving, his birthday (with his family...obviously he won't miss it), and Christmas.  I am already dreading it all, but I am so proud of him.  There are facebook pages for families that have people at Air Force trainings, and they have been so helpful.  I get teary-eyed looking at them.  It's hard to believe that my baby brother is one this growing up journey, too.  He is such a great "kid." 

Home (and the incredible wisdom of a 4 yr old!)

The last time I was home (in Blono - my real home) was over 2 months ago to see my little brother enlist in the Air National Guard.  My family has always been important to me, but since starting at SLU and moving to St. Louis full time at the beginning of my sophomore year, it has become an even bigger part of my life.  I realize I am only 3 hours away, but away is away.  Plus, with working weekends, I am not able to go see them whenever I would like to.  That's why trips home are so emotional for me.

While home, I was able to see some great friends and catch up on their lives.  I love that I still have friendships from high school that are such a central part of my life.  These are people that I know I can depend on through anything, and I am eternally grateful that I have them.  They help bring me back to reality and just enjoy myself and my life.  Plus, one of my good friends is getting married in October, so it is beyond exciting to hear about the plans and see how happy and in love she is.  It's going to be such a great wedding to experience!

I also saw Dan's sister graduate high school.  I've known Ali for 7 years now, so it's crazy to think that she is grown up enough to graduate.  Plus, she will be leaving for West Point within the next month, so that is emotional, too.  Dan is so proud of her, and so am I.  Next time we go home, it will be so different without the little siblings around.

Which brings me to the main reason this weekend was emotional.  Josh was supposed to leave for basic in October, but they called saying they had an earlier date, and asked if he wanted it.  Without even asking what the date was, he said yes.  He cannot wait to get out of Blono and start his life.  He will be leaving June 7, so we had his going away party this weekend.  Basically, for the next year, Josh will not be home except for potential short breaks between different trainings.  Over the next 8 weeks of basic, the only communication I can have with my baby brother is letter writing.  Then he will go to FL for 19 weeks for TAC-P training, and at some point he will also be going to WA for survival school (or something like that).  He has a lot of training ahead of him, and I am so proud of him, but I am definitely going to miss him.  We have gotten a lot closer as we've gotten older, so not being able to text him about my day is going to be such a hard change to adjust to. I already cannot wait to go see him graduate from basic...

Now for the wisdom of a 4 yr old -

My niece is my favorite person in the world.  She amazes me every time I see her with how smart, friendly, and absolutely caring she is.  Right before I was getting ready to leave, a bird pooped on my leg.  It was this tiny little thing near my ankle, but I semi freaked out, asking my dad frantically to bring me something to whip it off and saying how "gross" and "disgusting" it was.  Aidan asked what happened with genuine concern and came over to look at it, when she saw it, she said "well, it's a small little bit."  Talk about perspective.  She definitely brought me back down to earth.  She didn't say it in a normal bratty 4 year old voice (that she has also perfected - don't get me wrong!).  Instead, she was trying to console me.  She did not deny that a bird pooped on me, but she put it in perspective - it could have been a lot worse.  Just like the rest of life.

I need her influence in my life more often!

a new addition?

So in the past year, I've gone through quite a few changes.  One including moving in with my boyfriend.  Shockingly (kind of...), we did not kill each other, and when he bought a house, I was invited to stay with him, and for it to be "our" house.  Everyone knows it's the woman's responsibility to fill said house.


It is happening a little faster than expected, but I will be adding to our little family.  This weekend!  I bought an adorable chocolate lab puppy named Riley :)   (pets are all I can do - it is no where near time for little children!)


So Miss Riley will be joining the fam (of already a dog and 2 cats) this weekend.  I get to leave in the morning after work to go home and see everyone and pick up my baby!  I am sure Bella is going to be super stoked to play with a puppy...until she realizes said puppy is getting in the car and coming back to her house.  Hopefully they get along...   I know Pika is not going to be even remotely pleased, but Payton may enjoy someone new to play with.


I have had quite a few large dogs throughout my life, and my parents currently have a lab, so I am aware of the trials that we'll face, but I also know that I want a huge dog that thinks she's a lap dog.  Plus, labs have more love than practically any animal I have ever seen.  She's going to fit right in :)