Just living my best life

Hello everyone! I like to try to make these short but after so long of not putting a blog up this is probably going to be the longest one ever. I have had such a crazy few months with school, work, festivals, and literally about every single aspect of life but I wouldn't change a thing!

Me bowhunting

I have left my nursing home job that I have been at for 4 years. It was time to move on and now that I work at the nature center 20 hours a week I can afford to pursue my more biology focused career path. My last day was October 3rd and that was incredibly emotional leaving but I told everyone it is not forever and I promised to visit as much as I can. 

School has been going really well- I very much enjoy the college that I am at and the degree program I am in. The professors are great and it is a lot of fun learning about biology- my two literature classes are a lot of fun but they require a ton of homework which is a bummer. This semester I got put in the classes I am not so interested in like genetics but I am making the most of it and am learning a lot. There is only a few weeks left in the semester now and I am getting very excited to end it on a good note. The classes I have next semester will be a lot of fun and probably more hands on in nature. 

I got to be a vendor at an art festival for a historic farmstead in my county. It was my second event ever and I did very well!! My wonderful boyfriend was my assistant over the course of the weekend and it was a lot of fun. I've decided to start selling my art like that now since the prints and business in general went really well. 

Me at the first art festival 

Work at the nature center is going well, a lot of fun studies and a lot of sweat. We held a fall festival here on October 23rd and it was a lot of work trying to get everything figured out with that from vendors, transportation, and activities. Rounding up volunteers and stuff is pretty hard too. I gave a talk at a nature station about current research like my bobcat project and having animal tracks to look at and teach the folks about them. Parker was at the forestry station and he got to show off his skills and knowledge to the folks. My dear friend Nicole helped at my art vendor booth there and many other wonderful people came to help out and make the event a good one! I couldn't have done it without them!

Me giving the speech at Rotary

My station table at the Fall festival

I just was a guest speaker at a Rotary meeting about all the research projects I have going on at Creekside. Not just the bobcats but I plan on doing some barred owl box research and river otter research as I found tracks and slides recently. The speech went very well and I am invited back, the kind folks gave me some really good ideas, too!

After hunting and during hunting clad in camo

Hunting season has started so I have been going as much as I can. In fact, as I write this I just got back from the morning hunt- I haven't had any luck yet but I have faith that I will eventually. With all that is happening in the world this is such a good skill to have and not to mention I am out of deer steak. 

                                                                    At the hockey game

I just got back from a super fun girls trip with my best friend, Nicole. We went to Missouri a few days ago, we spent most of Thursday in St. Charles and did some shopping at the bath house and a bunch of other stores that we like and ate at a very good historic restaurant. After that we went to the hockey game where my two favorite teams were playing: the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues! ( My very favorite team won!! *GO PREDS*) The next day we went to the St. Louis zoo and spend most of the day there, I really enjoyed seeing the bears and the big cats and Nicole's favorite is the penguins. Then after that we went to the St. Louis Art Museum!!! When I tell you I was over the moon...I was absolutely over the moon, out of my mind happy. I have never seen a place like this and I could have spent all day there. I say art that I have learned about in school that I never thought I would get the chance to. There was Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt, and so so many more. Their main exhibit was called "Art Along the Rivers" and I love rivers a lot. The Sangamon is the closest river to me and I cherish it, I tell folks the way I feel about the Sangamon is how Mark Twain felt about the Mississippi. Needless to say, this museum was the coolest thing that I have seen in a very long time and I was able to learn a few things my looking at some great art. Then we went-of course- to the cheesecake factory for food and then left for home. 

Polar bear at the zoo

                                                                                    St. Louis art museum

Monet's Waterlilies

Vincent Van Gogh art work

Parker and I are doing very well although we miss each other, long distance is not fun but he is so worth it. We went to Starved Rock and Matheson State Park. It was so much fun showing him that not all Illinois is flat- although the drive up made me seem like a liar! It was really fun; He also got to meet my dad's side of the family for my birthday cookout. (Oh yeah, my birthday happened- I am 21 now!). Then I went to see him and we went to the pinnacles in Berea and his family had a wonderful little birthday celebration for me. We also went to West Virginia and saw the Moth Man Museum in Point Pleasant. That was pretty neat. Then he came up to see me, (see we do every other weekend and it has been quite a long time since I blogged, so a lot of back and forth going on haha) we went to see my mom's side of the family up North and had a lovely weekend. We got some cheese and saw Lake Le-Aqua-Na but most of our weekend was spent doing homework. I had a 12 page paper I had to write and he had a paper and studying but luckily I was able to work on some of it in the car (thanks Dramamine). 

At the pinnacles with Parker

At the moth man museum

So that is my life so far- a little out of order but that is okay. I have been doing a lot of fun stuff and a lot of homework mixed in. 

My verse for this blog is: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3: 5-6. My wonderful cousin Lindsey picked that out for me. She said it was a good one because of all the things that have been happening in my life and how God is there to constantly guide me. 

Nichole 💜

6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make