An update.

I miss blogging. The bottom line is just that I have nothing to blog about. I take that back. I actually have a pretty good list, but the topics require effort to put together, and I just haven't felt like putting forth any. I also (as you know) am not a picture taker, and reading blogs without pictures is just not entertaining (I've been told by some). Though, I think I prefer blogs with few pictures.

So, an update is in order. My thesis has passed! I am officially DONE with my master's degree and have an M. Ed. (master's in education) with a reading emphasis. I enjoyed my program, particularly the educational psychology classes, my final educational research class, and my curriculum development course (the one where I wrote the bulk of my thesis).

I'm so glad to be done and realize though I may go back to school at some point, I am absolutely done for the time being.

I'm living in D.C. and feel really good about it for the time being. It's great to be near my sister and her family. When they moved back from London (a year ago now) they bought a home in McLean (near Chesterbrook). It's fun to be able to stop by and see them whenever I want, and read the kids a story before bed, and hang out. I just may have been the happiest I've been in a long time a couple days ago when reading a book with Juliette lying on one side of me and Sam on the other. Little Sam kept cuddling closer and closer to me as I was reading. Love him.

The other night my sister was venting to me about some family stuff. Nothing that big, but I'll admit, I liked it. My sister and I have always had a okay/good relationship, but I've never felt like we've been particularly friends. She's five years older than I, got married right when she got back from her mission, had her first baby right after graduating from college, had 4 kids quickly. We've just always (and still are) been in very different stages of our lives, and she's been really busy with her family. As I've mentioned before (I think), it's hard to be left alone at the end of a family; when everybody else has moved on and formed their own families and the family of origin (to a great extent) has been dispersed. I don't like it and don't think it's okay for this to happen, but I guess I realize the necessity of it. So, my sister says to me that she doesn't think we (us siblings) do a very good job communicating with one another. This was said because we're trying to figure out plans for a family reunion (of sorts) in August, and I guess plane tickets were bought and now there's some question as to how committed everyone is to it. And my sister is frustrated because it's her family who went ahead and bought tickets. The thing that's, of course, funny about this, is that I'm not involved. Because who am I? I'm just a sole person who really bears no significance on the whole time and place of the family reunion. Last year, after all, I was completely omitted from the family reuion. It's okay. I could handle it. Though, I think I did cry about it at one point. Basically, my family had a family reunion without me. I had to teach through the summer, and I guess there was only one time to do it; so they did it without me.

I apologize for the rambling. But, I guess my point is this. I agree with Steph. We don't communicate with each other as much as we should, but I really love my siblings, and feel really blessed to be related to them, because they are all amazing people. And I actually feel really close to them right now. Spence and I have always been close, though of course, I've been frustrated with him many a time. And I'm glad to be living near Steph and becoming closer with her. It's not like we ever talked on the phone when I was at school. That was both of our faults. We probably just aren't great phone talkers (to each other at least).

And the last thing of import for my update is the following...I'm okay with not living in New York. I've decided that people in NYC maybe try too hard to be cool and trendy/"hipster." And I'm just not okay with that.