I have the day off today, despite the fact that I took Wednesday off to play with monkeys. Fortunately, being on a two week pay schedule, I can make it up by working all five days next week. So I can enjoy my day off guilt-free!

Being the sort of person that I am, I like to make my days off productive. Crossing things off of a to-do list is probably one of my favorite things to do. So today I have a couple of things lined up to check off: laundry, making an oil change appointment for the car (which may be its last before making the trek up to the Great White North, eek), calling Verizon about a billing question and potentially more minutes and meeting my sister for lunch before a doctor's appointment. I got my student loans finished yesterday, which is the most important thing to have lined up before I go back to school.

And holy crap, but I only have four weeks of work left and one more week after that to pack up and then I'll be going back to school. I can't believe that it was two years go that I was preparing to make the trip for the first time: getting all of my paperwork in order, fretting about what stuff to bring, moving out of my apartment at the time...ugh, what a hassle it all was. It's become a much more streamlined process now that I've done it a few times: get rid of unnecessary clothing and stuff, pack desired clothes in vacuum-sealed bags, make sure containers are stocked with toiletries/etc and pack that stuff up. I've been doing a mental inventory and have bought a couple things that I'll need before I go back up but there's still a bit to be done yet.

So that's creeping onto my radar lately, which is both exciting and not exciting. I'm eager to get up there and settle in but I'm going to be sad leaving my husband, family and friends behind. I expect this year to be the most challenging yet, but fourth year is already on my horizon mentally - I've started to contact places about rotations and will need to have those nailed down by February.

It's hard to think about February when it's 95F outside with a heat index of 110F. But it'll be here before I know it. Eek!