Are you fucking kidding me???!!

So, this morning I was checking my school email and I had a message from the financial aid department telling me that my refund check was ready and to come pick it up. I was totally not expecting a check. It turns out that I had a grant check issued to me (meaning this is $ I don't have to pay back) that I can use to upgrade software, pay rent, go to dentist etc. So I bought a a brand new Macbook pro. Will be here on Monday. And am going to dentist. My life boat finally came in, and I couldn't be happier.
Love,
kat

Holy Smokes...It's been a while.

Here's what I've been up to:

• Lab work. Did not actually have a winter break in between semesters. Haunted the science building day and night trying to wrap-up research from the summer. Was fun to have lab, (and entire building) to myself for a few weeks. Only other person there was my favorite geology prof. He is the sweetest old man. I think he was really excited about getting ready for the Spring semester...I often saw him sorting rocks and fossils in his geology lab. So cute.
• Two new part-time jobs. House-sitting and taking care of sheep, horse, chickens, ducks, guinnea hens, 2 dogs, and 3 cats on a farm. The job is easy, and the place is beautiful. I can make my own hours, and the couple that lives there is wonderful. She is a poet and antiques dealer. All of her sheep are named after famous (and not so famous) poets. The other job is book-keeping for Ben's recording studio. Business is picking up, and space has expanded. I am really enjoying being a part of it.
• Classes have started. I just finished my first week. Have decided to drop 1 class in order to focus on the last part of my research. This semester's main focus is birds. Taking both an ornithology (biology of birds), and literature of birds class. Lots of bird watching! I have a kick-ass pair of binoculars that I borrowed from the science center. Today I was checking out my neighbors yards from my bedroom window. Peeping Kat! I was doing this only because there wasn't a single friggin bird in sight. WTF? Am also taking a cap-stone course for Environmental Science. We are working with the Conservation Commission in Keene to do a natural resource inventory on a conservation easement in the town. This will allow the commission to develop a management plan for the land being studied and documented/inventoried.
• I am moving. Ben and I are sick of not living together. So I am moving in with him. We are going to start saving some money to get a place of our own. (We will be living in a 3000 square-foot warehouse that is currently the location of his recording studio. This is illegal. And there is no shower...yet) But we will work towards finding place. Somewhere. Not necessarily NH or New England but maybe. It doesn't really matter to me. We want a place where he can record music and I can be a naturalist and continue to study the natural world in some way. Most importantly, we will be together. Or has he put it, "I want us to make all of our meals together, and take turns making the bed." My heart skipped several beats.

Love, KAT