Happy July

On the 28th of July of my 28th year, I figured I should squeeze in a few minutes to post on some of the new haps. It's been a very big month for me. My birthday is always time to celebrate, and celebrate I did with friends and family for an entire week. My dad came and visited, and it helped me realize i have one of the coolest dads ever. He's not your typical dad: tacky (rarely), active (always), social (extremely). He's the kind of guy you can take anywhere and find a way to have some fun. We spent my birthday weekend having a nice dinner, a few drinks out with my friends, lots of good conversation, and a nice trip down some class II rapids on the South Fork of the American River. Yup, just a leisurly stroll down some (flip out of the boat and lose your valuables and lucky if you don't get bruised/scraped by rocks) nice rapids. Lucikily we all survived. I'm grateful, though, for my dad and the relationship that we have. I'm glad that I'm so much like him, and I'm really glad he and the boyfriend get along fairly well for 2 people with very strong personalities (read stubborn).

We also moved on July 24th (see June post) across the Sacramento River to a cute, spacious house in West Sac. I still feel like I'm only visiting someone else's really cool house. Although it's only a rental, I still worked my butt off to get to the point where I could live where I wanted, in a house that I hand picked because I deserve to. I haven't strayed from my personal goals, I haven't stopped working towards the next level. I've accomplished a lot for myself in the last 10 years out of high school. This one is for me. For us. Because I deserve it.

3 days ago I found out that I passed my PE exam. It's been something I've worked for for the better part of 2 years. Taking classes, studying nights and weekends, gaining weight from so much sitting! And it's all paid off with a title. Not that it means much to my worklife now, but it does mean I'm no longer playing in the minors. It's all about the big leagues now. To wear that title of professional engineer will raise me to the next level (and hopefully result in a raise of another sort), and I will eventually take the increased responsibility and continue to work my butt off in an industry whose main purpose is to improve the quality of life for the public. In fact 75% of my time is spent in something related to my improving myself to be a better person, better engineer, and a better leader.

Now that the month is coming to a close, I have pretty high hopes for August (my least fave month due to no holidays, and 100+ degree weather). Not that I would be disappointed if it were less than special, I had a pretty awesome July. Plus I got these sent to me at work today from my best friend, Libby, congratulating me on my PE. I know, amazing right? I'm lucky to have such a great friend, the best friend a girl can have.