This one goes out to Christine...

...who's been so kindly reminding me that it's been several months since I've updated my blog. :) It's true, I've been quite busy. I had the LARGEST project to finish up in February and it was a beast! I pulled an all-nighter getting that one done...never again! Plus other work in general usually requiring in total more than 40 hrs. per week. And then there are numberless other excuses that I really won't bore you with because you probably won't really care to read about those....

Since my last post before Christmas, I have been busy trying to get myself ready to go back to school. That's right, Nicole is going to be a student again. No, it's not a masters degree - which would seem the obvious next step after having received a bachelors degree - but a second bachelors. You read that correctly, a second bachelors. I'm doing a complete change of course, and am going to study Child Life at the U - that's right, the U (I may need to consciously remember not to wear any BYU clothing!). Because I've already done one bachelors, they're waiving all sorts of classes for the second. So I can do it in about 1.5-2 years, including the internship. With this I can certify as a Child Life specialist and work with children in hospitals. Specialists use play therapy to prepare children for medical procedures and otherwise help them cope with their hospital stay, whether long or short. I'm really quite excited, because I've grown somewhat tired of libraries and business, and I feel like this will be more rewarding for me. So should be an exciting new adventure.

Because of said schooling, which I'll be doing full-time, I'm also stepping down as project manager, though I will be staying at my company. I just finished the first week of training my replacement, and it feels great! I'm feeling less stress already. Only a couple of weeks left then freedom... :)

And as a treat to myself - post-manager and pre-school - I'm taking a trip to.....

My beloved England
and...

DC!!

I can't wait for a little R&R... I'll be going at the end of April for two and a half weeks - one and a half in England and one in DC. Hooray!

So here's to you, Christine... Hopefully you won't have to prompt me for another post. :)