Fall Break

It’s here finally! Devin is finally getting a break from long, hard days/nights of studying and homework.  Right now he is playing video games, thinking of nothing else but defeating his opponent, and without any guilt he gets when he spends any time away from studying.  He gets most of this week off, and then in another week and a half he’ll get Thanksgiving off.  Two fabulous and much needed breaks.  After Thanksgiving, he’ll only have a few more weeks until he is done with the first semester of his SECOND year.  Time is flying…at least for me. 

Because I needed to get out of the house (wait, who’s on break here?), he took me to Beverly Beach where we stayed in a yurt for a night.  It was a short but great trip.  We walked along the beach, had a fabulous steak dinner, went shopping at Walmart (we don’t have one near as close as I would like one), and then just hung out in the yurt for the rest of the night and watched movies.  Just a fun, relaxing little getaway. 

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Can’t see?? This guy can help:

Relax

After weeks of planning and organizing, the Halloween party has finally come and gone.  For some reason, planning for this one really stressed me out!  Could have been the 70+ people that ended up coming (I was expecting 40), the lack of rooms available at the school to hold it in,  the running's around, or the fact that I felt completely overwhelmed and under qualified.  But, it went off without anyone getting hurt or mad and, really, that’s all I can ask for. I’ve been losing sleep (and my mind) trying to get this simple task accomplished, and now that it is over and done with I feel so free!! All of a sudden, all of my other stresses don’t seem as stressful. Yay for that! And yay for a husband that helps me out even though he has a ton of other important things to worry about besides the goings on of the “girl club” at the school (like studying for his test on Monday, which is why I am still up).  There were countless days, nights, and hours when I would blab to him and ask his opinion about details of the party.  He freely helped me without a complaint :)  Love it! 

Now that I am party stress free, I can focus on reducing stress in other areas of my life, which is a much needed goal for me at this time of  year, especially since I won’t be going home for Christmas.  First time away from family for the holidays EVER!! I am trying to stay positive about it though and think about how I’ll be able to see the Pittock Mansion at Christmas time, or the ships that sail by decorated with Christmas lights, or maybe even experience the Portland Zoo Lights Festival!  I will miss seeing the lights on temple square (AMAZING!) but I’ll hopefully be able to substitute it with The Singing Christmas Tree.  All this talk about Christmas, and it’s still 2 months away!  But as you can tell, I’ve got the season all planned out to distract me from the lack of family. Anyway, that’s all off topic…

So between now and Christmas what’s next for Jen? Hopefully, not a lot for a few days. A wise person once said “If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies.  And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race”  Okay, so Oprah said it. What? Oprah is considered wise by many people! But I agree with what she says.  Sometimes, we just need to step back from the busy life, and  take a moment for ourselves to relax.

And just for fun, here’s a video that is….interesting?

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