Qual!

Matthew passed his Qual:) That means he can continue on in his PhD career at CMU. Hooray! He worked so very hard this time and I'm incredibly proud of him!

Wedding Planning

Last night and today I've really finally dived into some wedding planning. Our trip home to Eau Claire is coming up fast and I want to see as many reception sites and meet with photographers as possible while we're home. Especially since we aren't going to be in EC for longer than a weekend until Christmas-time. I've gotten information from a number of places and now it's really just going in and looking at what there is to offer, settling on a price and hoping that we'll be able to afford everything.

A shocking surprise: chair rental is ridiculously expensive! $550 for one short afternoon! Cripes!

Happy (belated) Easter!

Yesterday, Matthew and I celebrated Easter with our lovely Pittsburgh friends John and Jessi. Jessi cooked a delicious ham, made mashed potatoes (my favorite at any holiday meal), biscuits, and whipped together a salad. John and Jessi invited Matthew and I over, along with their neighbors Devin, Pallas, Soli and Phoenix. It was a lovely meal filled with laughter, happiness and cute kids:) After the meal, I had to go to work for a few hours, but thankfully all the employees were in a "well, we're here, we might as well make the most of it" mood so that helped. After work, I came home and did some major wedding planning. A productive (and of course chocolate and jelly bean filled) Easter!

Thanks to John and Jessi for hosting! It was lovely!

One of the hardest things about living in Pittsburgh and being so far away from friends and family, is not being able to see them very often. This week, after playing a lot of phone tag, I finally had phone dates with three of my favorites! It's wonderful to be talking to a friend and not realize that an hour has gone by and you both still have things to talk about. When I talk to Emma, I get incredibly homesick; homesick for EC, homesick for Minneapolis, homesick for things I've been familiar with since I was a little girl.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm content with living in Pittsburgh for the moment. I've got employment that is satisfying, a wonderful fiancée, a nice apartment, a crazy/cute cat and a safe neighborhood. Sometimes it's just hard to keep in contact with everyone, especially because they're also super busy:) I wish they'd hurry up and invent lightspeed (like in Star Wars) so I can go into Hyperdrive and be in EC in 10 seconds. That would be wonderful!

However, I will be traveling home in May for a wedding and doing some of our own wedding planning! I can't wait!!!!

This week's winners are:
Darrian
Daly
Chaise
Angelin
Freesia

Warm Fuzzies

I woke up this morning to an email from the teacher I substituted for on Friday. The email said " I have read over your notes and I must say that you have been the best substitute that I have ever had. I will definitely e-mail you the next time I am out. Thank you for your time with the students and for your detailed note. I truly appreciate what you did for me."

A nice little warm fuzzy for my basket this morning. What a great way to start the day!