Happy birthday, Brian! We finally got to spend some time with two of our closest friends, Brian and Heather, to celebrate Brian's 30th. It's so hard to get together since they live in Chattanooga with their baby, and we have odd work schedules which make scheduling visits difficult. On Friday evening, we met at Brian's mom's along with his sister, her family, and our mutual friend Tara. I've always liked his family and what a pleasure it was to visit with them again.
I've known Brian since 1996, and I can honestly say that I never worked harder to become friends with someone. He was so quiet then, and it took me 2 years and a couple of semesters of pestering him in Russian class to get him to really talk to me. I have found over the years that there is very little he won't do for a friend. Brian truly is one of the best people I know.
We've been busy remodeling the back two rooms of our house - our office/laundry and the 2nd bedroom (Penny's room). Since I will be spending so much time studying back there, we thought we'd make the space more livable... filling in an unused doorway, covering an ugly paneled wall, painting, improving the lighting, etc. Don also designed and constructed an awesome desk for me! I just finished sanding it and am going to paint it black.
Here's Penny:
Anyway, because UT gave me a teaching assistantship which will be covering my expenses for grad school, I gave my 2-week notice and finished working with the abuse prevention/education program last Thursday. I was never so apathetic about leaving a job before! Usually there is some emotion involved... rapturous joy, sad tears, relief... but this time I felt absolutely nothing. Just wrapped up my files, tossed my keys and badge on my boss's desk, walked out the door like any other day, and drove to my dentist appointment. Yee-haw. I will continue with the bookstore a few extra hours in the month of July, but otherwise plan to spend some time relaxing and fiddling around the house. I am not exactly sure yet when I have to start working at UT but I imagine it will be the first week of August.
