Camping with the 08s

It's late and I should go to bed, but I need to write a few words about this past week before too much time has past by. Why was last week so special? Well, there are many reasons.

Since family comes first I have to tell you about Julia. She made really good progress on her potty training this week and she also went to her first sleep-over this past weekend! Even more exciting, a couple of weeks ago she got her first real golf club. It's an eight iron and she is getting pretty good. She loves her golf club! At night she wants to take it into her bed, and she gives it a hug and kiss goodnight. Mark and I are really looking forward to taking her out on the golf course to start spending some quality family time golfing, could it get any better?

Second, I got a very surprising, and very happy, phone call from my really good friend Rita giving me the good news that she had gotten not only engaged, but also married! Congratulations Rita and Dave, we are so happy for you!

Third, my best friend Arin turned 30 last week. Welcome to the club Arin, I look forward to celebrating your birthday with you during Thanksgiving!

I also received some incredibly sad news about the tragic death of my former plant manager who was also an LFM alumni. It is difficult to grasp that someone who did so much for so many people is not here with us anymore, the loss is tremendous. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

On a more uplifting note, the LFM class of 08 was in town last week for their internship midstream review, and the week culminated with a joint camping trip in Vermont for the LFM class of 08 and 09. Both Mark and I went camping on Friday night (hence Julia's first sleepover), and I went white water rafting on Saturday. It was tons of fun to hang out with the 08s and get to know them better. They are really a fun group! I look forward to spending more time together in the spring when they get back from their internships.

Other than that, classes are moving along quickly, sometimes way to quickly. I'm struggling to keep up with all the work, and I think it's just going to get worse, ouch! Talk about needing to take charge of my work life balance. I have become much better at planning my time this fall, it is a necessity if I'm going to have any time outside of school. I try to emulate my friend Jens superb planning skills. Although I doubt I will ever get to the point where I sort my grocery shopping list by isle and make 2 weeks worth of grocery shopping in ten minutes like Jen and Mike do. Incredible!

One thing on my plan is to go running more consistently. Tomorrow morning Mark and I are going out for a much needed run, it's been two weeks since I last went running. It's difficult to believe that last year at this time I was training for a marathon! Hopefully I'll be able to get back in shape, but likely not until next summer when the internship starts and I have more time to run. I have to be realistic, it's just not going to happen now while taking nine classes this fall.

Ohh, I almost forgot, we got our tickets to go back to Sweden in October for Katarina and Fredriks wedding! I am so excited to see my friends and family again. I am definitely going to make sure I go running when I'm home, Lidingo has some of the most beautiful and best running trails I have ever ran! Well, its time to get some well needed rest before another busy day tomorrow.
PS. To Mrs O, your son is doing well and says hi, he also had fun at the camping trip!