Welcome, Fall!

Good morning!  ...As I sit here with my oatmeal and a big cup of coffee, getting ready to snuggle up on the couch for an episode or two of Parenthood before I work on lesson plans later, and seeing the three, glorious weekend days laid out of ahead of me, I realize that it is, in fact, more than just a "good"  morning.  The words stupendous, exceptional, or amazing seem to fit better.

I have just survived one of the most intense weeks of my life.  It was the perfect storm of assignments that all hit at exactly the same time.  

Monday I had clinicals from about 8-5, and had to give two of my first major assessments/evaluations to one of my very, very young clients.  

Tuesday I had a huge acquired brain injury test that I studied hours and hours and hours for.  It ended up being about 4-5 pages of nothing but essay questions.  Then I had to write my first diagnostic report for an assessment I gave last week, which was intense in and of itself, and took all my free time that day.  Then we had a quiz during my last class over a 40-page chapter.  And to top it all off, we gave oral mechanism exams to one another in my diagnostics class.  This is my fourth time doing that, but I always get a little stressed out when I have to go poking around in my friends' mouths and sticking a tongue depressor in the back of their throats to make sure their gag reflex can be activated.  And vice versa. I feel like we are probably one of the only professions who gag clients on purpose.  But alas, the gag reflex is a very important thing to have when it comes to things like not choking.  Anyway, Tuesday was crazy!

Wednesday was a bit of a break.  After clinicals, I spent the rest of the day studying because...

Thursday I had my first big test in my AAC class.  I also had to revise and resubmit my diagnostic report from Tuesday, because my supervisor had me change a few things since I don't really know what I'm doing in that area yet.  I got home and frantically worked on lesson plans until about 10:00. 

And to be honest?  I feel a little bit like superwoman this morning having survived it all.  Ha!  The sad thing is, as well as I'm doing in school, I am failing at just about every other aspect of life.  Blogging included, clearly. I just have to keep telling myself that other aspects of life will resume during Christmas break, and they will resume permanently in just over a year-and-a-half when I'm done!  There is life after grad school.  

Anyway, that was quite a tangent.  All that to say, I'm extremely excited to have three days off this weekend, and I think I may have just survived the most intense week of the semester.  

But let's rewind to last weekend.  Because it was amazing!  I just haven't found time to write about it yet.  

I went with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law to White House Fruit Farms!  Which is the best place to go this time of year.  We literally filled up Maria's vehicle with pumpkins, gourds, mums, and delicious food!  It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and just what I needed before my stressful week!  We, of course, had to get some of their famous donuts.  I took a half dozen blueberry and apple cinnamon donuts home, and enjoyed them so much throughout the week!  I decided a long time ago that White House donuts are worth the diet cheat.   

After our trip, I came home and decorated my front porch!  Ever since we moved into the downstairs apartment, I've been so excited about decorating the porch for both fall and Christmas!  Anyway, I feel like we are really in the heart of fall now, and that makes me insanely happy!

Here are some pictures from our morning. 

Diana, Maria, Me

The Pumpkin Pavilion!

m-i-l Patty with our FULL trunk of fall "necessities."  And this was before we went into the main building for food.  Oy. 

Front porch!  ...address conveniently blotted out.  I dug that little table out of the basement.  I used to hate it, but I thought it looked perfect on the porch!  I think that will be a permanent fixture from now on.  In this picture the Mums don't look so hot, but they are perking up and starting to bloom now.

I've also been working on the inside of my house.  I think I've finally figured out what my decorating style is.  It took me so long to figure out what I like, and could never put a name on my style.  But I've finally realized that I'm into rustic.  Farmouse-y.  And that just works with our old, old house and the old, beautiful woodwork, beveled glass details in some of the windows, and stone fireplace.  So anyway, I've been a lot more into rustic and farmhouse looking things lately.  My grandma caught wind of this from seeing pictures on my blog, and offered a bunch of beautiful, old milk bottles and other jars to me!  They have so much character, and I love them!  I put some on the mantle, and some on my tiny, kitchen table.

***

In other news, I crashed a fun little cookout at my sister's house on Saturday night with my parents.  It was so nice to have the whole family together! (minus Luke...he had invited some guys over for the OSU game.  Hence the reason I stole away to Julie's).  We had burgers, pasta salad, and chips with delicious homemade salsa made from pickings from their enormous garden.  We ate out on their newly finished patio area, and it was fun to catch up.

Also, completely unrelated to anything, but I was up for a cell phone upgrade on October 2!  Perfect timing, it seems, and my iPhone 5 should be here soon!  I know everyone says it will be lame, but it will be faster, and the camera will be nicer than my 4.  Which is all I really care about anyway.  Oh, and it's white! ...probably my favorite part, because they didn't  make the white model when I bought my 4.  I hope to get this blue Otter Box for it, because me and unprotected iPhones don't mix.  

Was that the most random post ever?  Probably.  That's what happens when you only post once a week!  I have one post to catch up on 7 days worth of stuff!  

Anyway, happy Friday!  I can't wait to catch up on all of your blogs this weekend!  That's always one of my weekend highlights.