It's My Birthday and I'll Post If I Want To...

Hi all! So I guess I've been a little busy....
First of all, it's my birthday! That's right, I'm 21. What am I doing tonight? Studying. Oh. Yeah.

Anyway, the last week has been a bit hectic. I don't even remember all of it... The worst day was Tuesday. We had to go through the applications and evaluate them via point system and essay to pick the seven people who would be able to go to APVMA National Symposium with the club. This would have been easy if it had been all upperclassmen, but the majority of the applicant were our first years. Many of them don't have very much experience yet, and the few that do are highly competitive with each other. We had a really hard time doing it, and I hated every second of having to choose people... luckily my committee was pretty solid about buckling down and doing it and we ended up picking them. 3 juniors, 2 sophomores and 2 first-years. The rejections letters I had to send out sucked... I personally know almost all of them and I know how much I would have hated to get that. At the same time, they do have 3 more years to attend, so it's much less heart-rendering than if they were juniors and I had to turn them away for some reason.

Then my father and stepmother were coming out for a week from Colorado, and they arrived yesterday. So Tuesday I had to clean house and get everything ready. Yesterday my brother and fiance came over and helped me finish cleaning, mow, clean the chicken coop, bathe the dog, and cook my famous marsala chicken. Yes, it's my go-to recipe. We had a really good time with everyone here, and it was so good to see my other parents- this is like my once yearly time to spend with them.

Today was another good day. Of course it was. Jared made me breakfast and my grandparents came up to enjoy it with us before I headed off to school. Jared got me a new pair of tennis shoes (desperately needed), a couple scarves, and the latest book from my favorite author. My dad and Mary gave me a huge box of Land of Lakes Hot Chocolate mix (the best, by the way), so I am in heaven right now. I had a wonderful lunch with some of my friends, and had so many people say nice things to me today... I felt incredibly loved. Gael gave me a coffee table book of my absolute favorite artist who I met the other week- Deborah Butterfield (see below). I am so thrilled to have a collection of her work. It was a very thoughtful present, from a very thoughtful best friend.

I then had lab, which I totally understood today and got finished with in two hours. I got some work done, and headed to a pre-vet meeting, which was the best-attended we have had so far. It was probably one of the best birthday gifts I got today. To have that many people come and to be so interested in what we were doing just was so gratifying and made me feel like everything I do for the club really has a purpose. We skyped with a current vet student for about an hour, picked out t-shirts, discussed the fundraiser, and took the club photo.

And then I went home to find that my mother had dropped off a pan of dark chocolate brownies for me and left me a very sweet note... I am so grateful for my amazing family and friends. I can't remember feeling quite so loved. It is so awesome knowing that my dad is right now just a town over and that I get to see him tomorrow, my mom and her husband live 20 minutes away, my brother lives 20 minutes away, my grandfather less than a minute. My family means so much to me and I am so thankful to have them around me whenever I need a network, and especially to just be able to interact with them so frequently. Life is too short and unpredictable to not spend time with those we love.