Congratulations, everyone. We got through another week, each and every one of us. I hope you’re all as pleased with this accomplishment as I am.

I worked every day this week, still training. By friday, I felt a lot more comfortable and confident. On Monday, I will go out by myself, with my own route. It is, of course, a completely different route than the one I’ve been training on, and I need to fit in the time this weekend to really study it, but I’m excited to begin.

Also, I’m flying out to Michigan on Thursday. The whole thing seems a little unreal right now, mostly because I have a lot of things to accomplish before I get on that plane, but I’m flying out to Michigan on Thursday. I’m so excited! The thing is, you see, that Leftenant Weatherby and his Lady Elise are getting married a week from today. Goodness. One. Week. From. Today. It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime kind of events that you just gotta be there for, whatever it takes. I was willing to Greyhound-bus it, but my parents thought that was crazy (they’re awesome) and lent me enough money to get the plane tickets. Getting the time off my new job wasn’t even an issue, because I brought it up before any of us even had schedules (I still don’t have a schedule past Monday). So next week, I get to witness this important and meaningful occasion in the lives of two awesome people that mean a lot to me… AND I get to see everyone in the group of friends surrounding those people. Lady Higg, Constable Maelstrom, Doctor Longbottom, and everyone else that doesn’t have a blog pseudonym yet. I’m just so happy that I’m able to make this trip, able to be there, and able to keep these people in my life. I’m actually flying into Lansing on Thursday and staying with Lady Higg, and then driving upstate for the wedding with her and Doctor Longbottom. The three of us and Constable Maelstrom are staying in a cabin for the weekend, and then I’m flying out of Lansing again on Monday. You’ll notice I have cleverly maximised my time with Lady Higg, because going a year (okay, eleven months) without seeing your best friend is the exact opposite of an ideal situation(!!!), and who knows when I’ll get to see her again after this!! So naturally, I’ve arranged my trip to include as much best friend time as possible, and I can’t wait.

And that’s your blog post for today, because I actually have a lot to do in the way of packing and planning and shopping and laundering and studying and sketching and all the other things. Have a good Saturday, y’all!

Me and Lady Higg in NOLA. Ignore the redeye. Also, I didn’t clip Lorax out of the picture intentionally! That’s how I found it on facebook!

And here’s a group shot that actually includes the happy couple! Elise standing up on the far left, and Tom (Leftenant Weatherby) looking heroic with the box of cupcakes.