Hello, my lovelies!

...and welcome to my blog!

38 days to takeoff. I can hardly believe it myself. But I obsessively count calendar blocks, so I know it's true.

Let me see if I can re-iterate this "hardly believe it" thing. Right now, I'm sitting at home, eating leftover stir-fry out of a tupperware box. My sister Olivia is watching American Gladiator. I'm wearing the first OU t-shirt I dug out of my laundry this morning. None of these things will be possible in less than forty days. That's mildly intimidating.

Perhaps it's the combination of Bobcats Abroad last week (yeah, wow, let's not say any more about that...) and the seven hours of orientation I spent yesterday thinking "hmm...I am mildly freaked out right now."

And no. I'm not scared. Appropriately concerned, yes. Heck, I'm concerned about the whole 'airplane' thing. But don't ask if I'm scared. I'm not.

But even something just as simple as spending a few hours ice skating with Sam and Clare today gave me these profound feelings of the need to savor. To live these next 38 days to their very fullest, and NOT to obsess over March 26th.

Then again, I'll still let myself count those calendar blocks at the end of the day.

I know it's probably not going to be nearly as thrilling to read this blog as it is to be the one writing it, but I do hope some of you find it worthwhile to stick with me. I can't promise I'll be online nearly as often as I am when I'm on campus, but I will keep you folks stateside posted.