Life is the art

The fall semester marks the kick off of my upper level classes as an Aerospace Engineering major. As I approach the third week of school I am already overwhelmed. I almost feel as if I need to give up, but there is that little nudge in the back of my head telling me I can do this. I need to remind myself of the things I accomplished and the people I proved wrong in the past, but most importantly I need to constantly remind myself the lord is behind me. This is what he told me he wanted me to do and this IS what I want to do. It would be so much easier to just give up engineering and pick up teaching, but in doing this I would be proving the whole male engineering mind set right. They say that engineering is a man's world and it is, but I refuse to go with the flow. I have always been one to go against the norm and do things girls typically don't, so why stop now? Watch out world This girl is about to turn you upside down!

Since I decided to take classes this summer, it left me with a very short, but sweet break! My family finally made it to Michigan after 4 years. It was a great vacation full of family time and adventures.

Our first day consisted of a very redneck county fair, demolition derby, and bomb fire with the Steavens Family. We then headed to the Upper Peninsula (UP). Camping in the UP was amazing. We spent a day on Lake Superior in a pontoon boat. It turned out to be a beautiful day which is not normal for Lake Superior. We boated around Pictured Rock where we swam in caves, fished and jumped off cliffs. The water was cold, but amazing.

After our trip to the UP we headed to our second stop in Traverse City on Lake Michigan, the second of the Great lakes! While the parents wined my bro and I took a 10 mile biking adventure to the city. We shopped at boutiques and looked at antiques. LOL Then we took a dip in Lake Michigan which was surprisingly warm.

Following our long road trip we spent time with Grandma rummage saling where I found things to finish the apartment. The battle of getting everything home turned out to be very intense. It consisted of my dad ripping my under garments from the suit case and putting them in another bag. All the while we were in the middle of the airport. Thank God I packed my nice undies!

After a lovely dinner with all the cousins, Aunties and Uncles we were off to Ohio for a quick side trip to Cedar Pointe for our last day of vacation! Jim and Tara joined us which made for a great day. Mastering the highest and fastest roller coasters in the world was very physically demanding but soooo worth it. The next day we were on our way back to Palm Beach. Riding in first class half the way made for a good nap, thanks to my Dads many trips for work J.

I must say though the best part of the trip was spending time with my Grandma. I was able to give her a picture of my recently past Great Grandmas house. I was so afraid she wouldn't like but she was soo excited. I will say my Grandma is a little crazy and she is out of state, so it is hard to connect with her sometimes, but when I gave that too her I felt for the first time we were close. When we went to visit her later that week she had hung the picture up above her desk and was the only picture hung up in the room, after she took down the others because they were too hard to clean. She then gave me my Great Great Great Grandma Chadwick's handkerchief who I was named after and some beautiful she personally had made.

Overall the trip was crazy busy because that is not even half the things we did, but it was the trip I really needed. I also came to the conclusion I was meant to grow up in the country as my Mom did.

One thing I have noticed, since I started school, is the lack of a social life that engineers have. When everyone has gone home to their beds, you can always find engineers scattered, in the engineering building, studying their life away. We never are done working. There is just not enough time in the day to get all the work we need done. So if seem to be unsocial and too busy, do not take offense I am an engineer!

So today I had a spur of the moment idea, I decided to get a hamster! I have wanted one for a while, but the cages cost so much. However, I decided to stop at a garage sale and to my luck I found a cage for $5! So I headed to the pet store where Miss Kylee and I picked out a cute black fur ball with white feet. Now I have yet to pick out a name, but I am sure it will come with time.Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Right now I am thinking Vader (as in Darth Vader) because she has been quite mean and aggressive. I am sure she will calm down over time…Hopefully.

In other news, we have another addition to the family! My cousin Steve asked his recent girlfriend to marry him yesterday, making him the first of 8 grandchildren to get married. Bad news he is going off to Afghanistan in June. Prayers for his safety and marriage are greatly appreciated!

So here it is! I finally made a blog. I have never been one for journaling, so I thought I would give this blog thing a try. I probably will not be frequent in posting, but I will try my best.