Taking a Little Break

Greetings and Happy Monday, everyone.  I hope you had a great weekend.  Mine was pretty good.  Lots of studying (what's new) but I had a wedding to attend on Saturday afternoon which was a lot of fun.  I left Charlotte proper for the first time since I arrived here as the wedding was about 35 miles north of Charlotte on a lake.  The area was beautiful and it was nice to see water again (there is no water within the bounds of Charlotte).  I will say that driving back into Charlotte made this whole move here feel a little more real.  While moving into an apartment and settling in obviously made the move real, driving around in my own car in the surrounding area was another dose of reality that makes this feel a bit less like a really long business trip. 

I'm feeling a bit better that I did last week, but I can't say I am the picture of positivity.  The foot thing really sucks and the lack of exercise is not helping as I always have relied on endorphins to offset some of the stress of CFA studying.  I don't want this space to become a pit of negativity or a stream of 'woe is me' posts, so I think it's best if I take a step back from living out loud.  I will probably be back in early May, so it won't be a long absence. 

I hope the rest of the month of April is great for all of you, and I especially hope that it warms up for those of you in the Midwest!  I will say that hearing about the 8+" of snow that Minneapolis got last week made me miss that city just a little bit less!

The Highs and Lows of Being Home

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Even though mine was a 3 day weekend, it went by way too fast (as they always do).  I'm so glad I got a chance to get home.  I am pretty sure it's the last time I will see my parents until after the CFA exam in June as I just don't see how I can go home over Easter and miss out on all studying...  Oh well, such is the life of an adult.

Here are some of the highs/lows of my trip....

Highs...

• Spending quality time with my parents.  I got to their place around 7:15 on Thursday so had a good 2-2.5 hours to just sit and talk before we went to bed.  My dad is recovering well and his incisions look really good (he has 6!  yikes!).  
• I slept so well at my parents.  I think it's because I sleep in the basement there so it's extra dark.  I forgot to pack my sleep mask (I am addicted to my sleep mask) but it didn't seem to bother me too much, so that is good!
• Spending time with my grandma.  It's not common for me to get my grandma all to myself since I usually see her at family events, so I really treasure the one-on-one talks.  She let me pick out some books and something from her china cabinet.  I picked out a cup and saucer that is so beautiful!  See for yourself... 

Lows...

• My boss called on Friday with some not news about potential changes happening at work.  Nothing is official yet, but if/when these changes happen, it will significantly impact my quality of life at work.  I spent most of the day in tears. 
• The roads were so bad!  It was really windy on Friday so the snow was blowing across the road, which resulted in icy roads.  The drive to and from the wedding should have taken 50 minutes each way, and instead took 90.  I did not stay very long at the wedding  because I knew I had a long drive ahead of me and it had already been a long day for me.  
• I had to turn down my grandma's offer of a game of scrabble as I had to get back to studying.  I hated saying no, but I had a certain number of hours I needed to put in on Friday.  She understood, and we will just have to play this summer when this darn test is behind me!

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.  I really didn't want to leave my parents' house on Saturday morning.  I wanted to stay in the cocoon of safety and comfort that only your parents can provide. 

I have a really busy week ahead of me between studying, work stuff, and 2 baby showers this weekend (which I am really looking forward to!), so I probably won't be blogging much, if at all.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!