So good things are happening in my life. Specifically, I just finished the first of three parts of my comprehensive exams, which determine whether I will be awarded a master's degree in December, or just a lot more loans. It went well, and I feel quite confident that I will pass. :)

I also have had a mostly good back day thus far, for which I am quite thankful. Since the weather started cooling off I've been dealing with a hurty back again, which I don't like one bit. It's similar to last year, but different, too. Unless I'm remembering wrong. Anyway, I'm trying to exercise and drink lots of water and tighten my muscles a lot, in hopes of avoiding a replay of last year's fiasco, which eventually involved me quitting my job and lying on my back during lectures, as I couldn't sit for an hour at a time. Yuck.



In other good news, I had a great week-long road trip/visit in Ohio and Indiana during fall break. I got to see Josie in Cleveland, along with her hubby and their adorable little Reagan. Here's a picture of us together. I'm her favorite "aunt". This is actually not the best picture of her, but it's the best one of me, so I'm using it. But I guess in Reagan's defense, I'll post a better one of her, too. Here.

So after leaving the Land of Cleve, I drove home and spent time with my lovely family and "home friends". Here's a picture of my adorable niece, Devan, and her goofy dad.
This was at a family dinner at Josh and Michelle's house. I spent the night with Dalen (my other adorable niece) and Michelle and Devan the night before, and we had a great girls' night, complete with Fat Jack's pizza (which I occasionally dream about) (well, that's an exaggeration, but I do miss it) and a fire in the fireplace, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Childhood. Security. I taught Dalen how to blow on the fire when it's burned down low and you add a log, to make it blaze back up again. She was really excited about that. :)

On the way back to the burbs of the Windy City, I stopped in Winona Lake to visit a couple of college friends, Liz and Jessica. We had a really nice, relaxed visit. It was great to catch up a bit. Liz is a mommy twice over now, which is pretty hard for me to wrap my mind around. And Jessica is working on a master's in social work right now, which seems to be keeping her busy.


Then it was back to good old Wheaton to continue working on my never-ending research project. That Saturday we had a post-Halloween party at our house. We six, and Augustine (our honorary house member) all dressed up as Miss USA pageant contestants. In the end, the best state won. :) Here we are, looking pageant-y.

Now I just have a 10-pager, another written comp section, and the verbal comp section to go, and my life shifts into "normal" gear again. This is a gear that I haven't really experienced since, uh, maybe June. So I'll be happy to get back to it. After that I can focus some more on the little details of what to do with my life after graduation. I'm currently looking into teaching ESL in Quito, Ecuador, working with World Relief in Aurora, IL, and teaching EFL in Northern Iraq. But stay tuned, because these ideas seem to fluctuate on a daily basis.

Now I'm going to go to the video store and celebrate the completion of the first part of my comps by renting Elizabeth. The sequel is at the cheap theatre, but I've yet to see the original, so I'm going to do that first. Whee!