It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

I am currently at Mississippi State University and in FOUR days I will be back in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving : ) I am obviously anxious and excited to get home, but I am trying to not let that affect me and prevent me from doing my job to the best of my ability during my time here. I arrived here Monday morning and was in complete awe of this house. I felt like a walking zombie all day because I had to get up at 3am to make my 6am flight out of Roanoke. I had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta, and because of the great rainy weather it got delayed another hour. It took all I had not to fall asleep sitting up in the airport! When I finally got close to Columbus, MS the weather was so bad we had to circle the airport until the weather lifted. Needless to say it was a very long and tiring morning. But when I arrived at the house my spirits were immediately lifted.

The house is decorated for Christmas : ) How beautiful?!

I've had a great few weeks. I was at Radford for a week then went to James Madison University. It was such a beautiful campus. I fell in love with the school and the entire chapter. It's amazing how much better you're days are when you're around nice people! I hung out with so many of the girls and the Executive Council took me to dinner at this Mexican restaurant and to ice cream at the famous Klines! It was delish. They gave me so many cute t-shirts and this great crew neck sweatshirt with Zeta Tau Alpha and our crest on the front! I wear it almost every day. Then the night I was leaving the girls gave me this pocket with tons of thank you notes : ) Made my night! AND when I woke up in the morning there was a CD on my door with some of EC's favorite songs for me to listen to on my road trip to Radford! So sweet--reminds me why I wanted this job. Here's me at JMU on their mascot:

Lots of great things coming up--This Saturday is Light Up Night in Pittsburgh! Literally leaving the airport and going right to the city for the night. Sunday I'm going to lunch at the vineyard with Kelley, Erin, Chelsea, and Brit and after going to Clarion to see all my BFFs there for the night! Definitely in need of the Loomis right now. Monday and Tuesday are filled up with lots of relaxing with my family and Chloe and Wednesday I get to party like it's 1999. Thursday is Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. Friday is a special day. It's my paps birthday...the first one without him here. Definitely going to be one of the hardest days of my life. I remember how hard my 22nd birthday was without him here, and this one is going to be just as difficult. One thing I know is that just because he is in a better place does not mean I won't be thinking of him every minute of the day and celebrating the best man I ever knew. Not a day goes by that I don't think about my pap and thank God that I was so blessed to have him in my life for almost 22 years. At times I'm selfish and want him to still be here with me, but I know even though he isn't here physically he is always watching over me and will always be in my heart. On that same Friday I am going to the Backyard Brawl to watch Pitt play their rival WVU (Boo). This will definitely fun--tailgating starts bright and early and the game starts at noon. Saturday and Sunday are still up in the air, and I fly out to East Carolina State on Monday! Im literally gone for 10 days and I'm HOME again for CHRISTMAS : ) : )