I’m moving out!! well, not right away, but I was accepted to Springfield College!!! I got home from EMS last night and realized I hadn’t checked my mail, and low and behold, a nice fat envelope. Did anyone else have the theory when applying to undergrad that fat envelopes meant good news and thin ones meant bad? well, my theory is holding true so far; massachusetts here I come!!

I may not go right away though, I may take a slight detour through Alaska. “What?!” you all say? “Did I read that right?” yes, you did. it’s still in the exploration stage, but this guy named Eric who used to work for EMS went to Alaska last summer to work (and be in Alaska, obviously) and he’s going again this year and has invited me to come along. he is a spectacular salesman and makes it actually sound possible. I’m planning on moving anyway, so I will be between leases and jobs, I’m 23 years old, when else would things be this perfect? when I talked a little to mom about it last night, she thought it sounded like an amazing opportunity as well, but I need to do some research to determine if it’s actually possible. I have to make sure that I would be making enough money to actually be SAVING money (something I haven’t actually accomplished much of this year… oops!) and that I would have a place to stay and all that, but it would be so amazing. and we would be driving across the country, so depending on when Caitlin leaves Chicago, I would maybe be able to stop by and see her (and maybe crash on her floor)! and then, on my way home at the end of summer, I think a detour through california would DEFINATELY be in order. I obviously have tons and tons of research to do, but I am going to try my darndest to find a way to make this work. traveling across the county, visiting people I haven’t seen in ages, and then being in Alaska!

and one last piece of good news… Mike my Army Guy is back from Iraq!!! it’s so nice to not have to worry about him anymore! we had been emailing each other for the past month or two since I started to suck at the whole letter writing thing, and I knew that he was due back soon. so, he’s in Seattle now, but he’s suppose to have about 3 weeks of leave in the end of April and he said that I am definately on his list of people to see. He said he would go anywhere to meet me again, but I think the best plan is to meet in Albany for dinner or something, that way we can meet for a second time, see each other sober, and I can crash at my brothers so there is no undue pressure for anything to happen. he did mention though that if dinner went well, he’s already thinking of asking me to the Engineers Ball in May, he would fly me out and everything. ee gads! I’m really nervous about seeing him again. It’s been 16 months, we only met the once, and I was ridiculously drunk (it’s not everyday that one of your best friends turns 21 on new years eve). I’m afraid that he’s built this up in his head as some big romance, when the truth of the matter is, we barely know each other. I’m also worried that I will be incredibly shallow and meet this guy who has been really nice and sweet and stuff in emails and letters and not be attracted to him at all. I know that I’m getting way ahead of myself, we need to meet first before I worry about all this stuff, but there’s not much to do here at work, so I spend way too much time thinking about this. thankfully, I now have ALASKA to think about. and GRAD SCHOOL. woohoo!!!

ok, that’s about it from here, and this is quite a lot of Nicole-babble/news. I hope everything is going great for all of “my girls”!! love you bunches!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo