Good-Bye Party

Last night, some of my friends and family got together to wish me good luck when I leave for Illinois.  I now have just under three weeks 'til I go!  It was extremely warm (99 degrees)  when the party started, which allowed the sweat to flow freely :)  

First I want to thank my good friends Mark and Ashley, and Rich and Andrea who hosted my party:

Mark and Ashley

Rich and Andrea

Many, many thanks to these two couples for all their efforts in planning and preparing my party!

The cake was made by Ashley and Heather and I think that it turned out quite well!

The food (hot dogs, hamburgs, potato and macaroni salad, veggies and dip, chips, fruit, ice cream bars, cake) was delicious and enjoyed by all

My sister Heidi set up a station for people to sign a guestbook and take a card with all my information.  

I enjoyed spending time with family and friends, it was a wonderful evening!

Aunt Dawn and her three oldest nephews, me, Tom, Andy

Tom and Laura

Phil and Jen

Ashlee

Ladder Ball was a popular game throughout the evening

Troy and Andre

Gramp and Gram Gerber

Betty

Crystal aka "Willis"

Ben

Aunt Dawn with her oldest nephew (me) and youngest nephew Sam

Duane and Beth

Kev and Jayme

 Lou and Deb

This is my littlest sister Carla, Heidi got a real good picture of her at the party

Many thanks to all who came!  It was a great send-off!

My New Home

Welcome to my blog!  Here you will find infinite words of wisdom, encouragement, and advice ;).  But seriously, it is my hope that through this blog I will be able to allow others to follow me on my journey to attain my veterinary degree (DVM).

For starters, I will take you on a tour of the apartment which I will be calling home in about 3.5 weeks.  The apartment complex is called Baytowne Apartments and is located in Champaign, Illinois.  It is only about 6 miles from the veterinary school giving me a 15 minute ride to school.  I will have two roommates, Loren and Josh.  

Now on to the tour!

This is the entrance to my apartment complex and yes, let me just get my nose out of the air, it is a gated community ;)

    

This is my apartment building

I am living in an upstairs apartment.  This is the stairway leading up to the apartment.

  

Here we go!

You walk right into the living room when you enter the apartment.

A view of the living room from the other side of the room.

A view of the kitchen and dining room from the living room.

The kitchen:

The dining room:

My sister claims that the chair in the right corner is mine, who knows?  I can't imagine that it would make for a very comfortable or relaxing dinner!

The bedroom, my bed will be off to the right, you can just see the green blanket on the bed.

The bathroom, with two very large mirrors, allows plenty of room for us to be able to see what we are doing when we are fixing our hair in the morning ;)

There is a shower however the bathroom door is blocking it.

The apartment also has a nice little porch.  Here's the view from it:

That's all for the apartment, now to show you the grounds of the apartment complex.

There is a man-made pond right in the middle of the apartments.  There is catch-and-release fishing allowed.

The clubhouse has a fitness center, racquetball court, saunas, bar/restaurant, and some nice rooms that can be rented out for gatherings.

The pond has a beach next to it however there is no swimming in the pond.

And of course there's a pool:

It will be different living in this apartment as it is in a very commercial compared to the more country area where I live right now.  But hey, I can walk to get groceries so I suppose it will be convenient.

My plans are to leave Connecticut on August 11th and arrive in Illinois on August 12th and move my stuff into the apartment on August 13th.  So I have another 3 1/2 weeks or so in Connecticut in which I plan to enjoy my time with friends and family!