Whew!

Well, it was a long weekend...in one respect, anyway. I had to wait until yesterday to find out whether I'd passed my loan officer test. Once I'd taken it and it was out of my hands, you'd think that I would just let it be, but no. I was so worried about it, that I found myself (all weekend) asking Heavenly Father to, "please let Camille understand why I made the decisions I did on those loans, and please help her to agree with my logic so she will give me a passing grade on my test." Silly, I know. But I guess it worked, because I passed!! Yep, that's right...at this moment you are witnessing the joy and immense relief of America First's newest loan officer. Sweet.

Having learned of my success yesterday morning, I spent most of the day in a pretty good mood. That was topped off by a surprise visitor at closing time -- my dearest Vanessa came to congratulate me, flowers in hand! Vanessa's are awesome...everyone should have one. :)

Thanks, everyone, for being so excited for me -- I'm excited, too!

BAH!

Anyone else had a mad week? I mean, like crazy, strange, exhausting...?

First there was clinic; now, I know that all of us are SO done with clinic. I think I was half-asleep during my appointment yesterday -- I flat-out forgot to clean the "away-from-me" surfaces on my patient's lower anterior teeth and consequently lost a good chunk of my grade. What about the Periodontology test? We'll just say that I've spent a lot of time on Facebook this week when I should have been studying -- I just can't concentrate!!! Needless to say, not my best work in that class. I'm sure Mrs. Knight got a good laugh out of my essays...I had no idea what I was talking about.

The craziness culminated today with the arrival of my loan officer test (dun, dun, dun...). I've been preparing for this for months, all the while dreading its coming. Wanting to feel my best for the big day, I woke up early this morning and got all "dolled up." I wish I'd taken a picture, because I looked and felt pretty cute! That feeling only lasted about an hour, though. After staff meeting I realized that my time had come, and almost hyperventilated all the way to Sandy.

The test was every bit as nerve-racking as I'd expected, and took almost the entire day. I began at 10 a.m.......seven hours later I emerged -- test completed, brains fried, hair totally flat and experiencing an unfortunate case of static cling.

I will probably be bruised from the hundreds of times I banged my head on the table in frustration, and thinking about loans now makes me a little queasy. But the worst part? I still had to go back to my branch and finish the day there...I almost fell asleep the minute I sat at my desk!

I will find out on Monday if I passed, so I only have to suffer for a couple more days. Oh well, at least it's over. Can't wait until I can say the same about hygiene school...

If I Had a Million Dollars...

I realized today that it's been weeks since I've looked at Anthropologie's website....how could I let that happen? So, tonight, with my Periodontology book & notes on my lap and every intention of studying (in just a few minutes), I reacquainted myself with the random cuteness and amazing detail that is always to be found there. As I did so, I thought to myself, "Man, if I had lots of money I would buy all my clothes from Anthropologie!" Then I realized that I'd really rather just have lots of time to create a whole wardrobe of my own home-sewn knock-offs.

Yeah, man.

Here are a few of tonight's finds that made it into my extensive gallery of "someday" projects:

So, What Else is New?

I'm sick of school.

The End.

Santa's Workshop

It's officially 59 days, 11 hours, and 2 minutes until Christmas...but who's counting? Besides me...I am so excited for the holidays that I went to Robert's the other night and bought my Christmas trees (a couple of little artificial alpines). They are still sitting in my trunk, but since I can't decorate them until December I will probably try to work them into my regular decor until then.

Most of my Sunday afternoons this month have consisted of me barricading myself inside my sewing room so I can work on my Christmas projects undisturbed. I've completed a couple, but I've always got at least a dozen extra ideas that I never get around to...it's hard being so busy! Still, I am quite pleased with my finished products thus far. I can't post all of them, because I don't know who all reads my blog, but here's one. This is the jacket I made for Steph:





It's a Rachelpologie, of course...someday I will learn how to design my own stuff, instead of just copying everyone else. I did make some of my own adaptations (Stephanie doesn't like 3/4 length sleeves), and used a slightly different pattern. St
ill, if you compare it to the original, I think I did a pretty good job:


Yay for Christmas!

Ghouls Night Out

So, I am sitting up late tonight, wondering where the last hour went...I was going to go to bed with Colby a while ago, and then I got sucked into the infinite vortex that is on-line Christmas shopping (I think I may single-handedly solve the economic crisis with my holiday purchases; you can all thank me later). But before I "hit the hay," I wanted to share just a smidge about my Fall Break...

I went to Boise!!

It was so wonderful to see my family, especially since I only make it up there a couple of times a year. Holly was so wonderful to let me have the weekend off (seriously, I owe you big!), and I got to ride up with Dave, which was awesome. Friday night, my dad and brothers went to the BSU/Hawaii game, so I stayed home with Mom, Andi, and Steph for a "girls' night." We watched "Hairspray," swooning over James Marsden and Elijah Kelley and gave each other pedicures. I also copied Sarah's fantastic fingernails and gave my sisters Halloween manicures:





I wish I'd gotten some better pictures; I was trying to get the details in while showing all of my little paintings in just one or two photos. I wish you could see the little witch on Steph's thumb...she was really cute! But, since I still don't have a digital camera, my crappy cell phone pics will just have to suffice.

Winter Weather

I really like Christine's Halloween background on her blog, so I decided to follow suit and decorate mine for the season, as well.

Speaking of the season....even though Saturday night's snowfall shouldn't have caught me off-guard (because it was in the forecast all week), I was still a bit shocked as I looked out the window Sunday morning, torn between disappointment and excitement. While part of me screamed, "No, NO!! It's only October!!" the so-excited-for-Christmas-cuz-it's-just-around-the-corner side of me could barely be contained. (Consequently, that side of me was in charge today...I didn't study at all. Instead, I vacuumed my apartment and finished two Christmas presents.)

When I walked to church Sunday afternoon I was still in awe of the snow. I think I kind of forget how cold it is, the way the sky looks, and how it smells when it snows. It's so pretty, even when it's gray and cloudy outside.