Responsibilities are hard.

It's hard being a sixth grader.  Just ask mine.  There are all kinds of things to remember; books, homework assignments, gym clothes, fundraising papers (these could be forgotten in my opinion), picture day forms, etc.  This is the first year that she has lots of responsibility for herself and she is struggling.  I am not a super organized person- I can be when it counts, but generally, I tend to be a little scattered myself.  This fault that I see in her is a reflection of my own, and it annoys me.  For example, over the weekend we went to Sonoma County, CA with some friends.  At the airport car rental kiosk, I gave the man at the counter my driver's license which he promptly handed back to me because it is expired.  What?  I was just at the DOT getting a new one!  How can this be?  And then Todd pointed out that I was getting a new one because I lost the old one, not because I was renewing the license.  Grr.  On the bright side, this meant that I wouldn't have to drive all weekend!  

Sonoma County is beautiful by the way.  The weather is spectacular, vineyards are perfectly straight lines of amazing looking grapevines, and there are wineries scattered everywhere that are surrounded by gardens of strange looking flowers and fruit trees.  Plus, you can drink wine in the morning and it is totally acceptable.

House in Sonoma where we spent the weekend

Update on graduate school:

Last week I had to respond to a horrendous discussion question about defining advanced practice nursing.  Not to be confused with advanced nursing practice.  What is the difference, you ask?  Advanced practice nurses provide direct patient care (nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists) while advanced nursing practice refers to nurses with advanced degrees like nurse educators and administrators.  Why is this such a big deal?  Because nurses like definition. 

I am also writing a paper about my professional goals and my 5 year plan.  I am totally making it up.  Education...Future nurses....Health care changes...It has to be 2-3 pages people!!  I am running out of material! 

Class #3 asked me to send in a picture of myself for an ID badge.  There are very few pictures of me (just head shot) and no kids/Todd.  So this morning I took a picture of myself with my phone.  First I had to put on makeup. Now, I know that people take pictures of themselves with their phones.  I have seen them.  They look cute.  There must be a secret that I am unaware of, because I look insane.  I took a bunch, trying different poses (I hope no neighbors were watching), and threw them in the little garbage can.  Then I decided that it was the orange shirt I was wearing and changed into white.  I took some more, walking from room to room (different lighting & paint color), and finally settled on the least insane looking one.  Here are the insane/less insane photos:

Insane looking Emily

Slightly less insane looking Emily (I think)

Yesterday I renewed my driver's license and I didn't even have to take the test.  I did get teased by the gentleman working at the courthouse, but that was it!  Minor consequence for my irresponsibility.