Hey Mister! That's an Organized Pile!

This morning I woke up to piles, piles everywhere. Piles to go to Dawn, piles to go to Oklahoma, piles to go to Italy. PILES!! Kyle tried to throw his dirty clothes on top of one of my piles and I had to help him realize there was a method to my madness, or messiness rather.

It's getting down to the wire. Just to catch you up to our current time frame:

My last day at OTC was August 6th. The staff had a food day in my honor, and they even sang to me! I had no idea I would be so greatly missed. It made me feel good to know they cared so much. I'll miss you guys and appreciate all you did for me!

Saturday August 7th was my going away party. A group of 15 people all got together at an Italian restaurant downtown to celebrate a new adventure in my life. It was awesome to know that so many people were going to miss me while I'm gone! A true bitter sweet moment.

Sunday August 8th marks the day of that, I have to confess, I had that moment. That moment that really reminded me that I AM my father's daughter. WHAT IN THE WORLD DID I JUST GET MYSELF INTO??? I quit my full time job with benefits. I'm running off to a country where I don't completely know the language. And I'm not going to have any income for at least three months... I couldn't get to sleep for quite awhile. However, it was only a moment, and my more...shall we say, outgoing, spirit took back over and I'm back on track with my dreamily thinking.

Today Monday August 9th, marks 8 days to my departure. EIGHT DAYS. Eight. Wow. Okay so it's focus time, BUT not before having a wonderful SURPRISE! A week or two ago my boss at Vino100 asked me if I could work a shift for him at the store tonight. Little did I know, he and some of my favorite regulars were planning a surprise party for me! I was so happy and felt so loved that they would plan that for me. You guys are so sweet, and I loved being able to sit and have wine with you and just be able to visit before I leave! You guys are all so awesome. *I'd like to take a minute to point out just how many amazing friends I have. You ALL are seriously better that I could've asked for!* Okay so now that tonight's party is over it's time to get stuff to Dawn and Oklahoma, and myself off to St. Louis to my plane! So tomorrow we'll start with pile number 1. I'm driving to Dawn (4 hours) and back (an equal 4 hours) in one day. My goal is to be out by 8am and back around 6. We'll see how that goes... :)

As for the rest of the week, I'm going to try to give you updates everyday until I leave, even if they are shorties (like me! haha!). Wednesday the Traveling Wine Chick is book for Part 1 of a photo shoot with Ikeonography. I'm excited to work with my cousin and see what he can do! Wednesday night will be dinner with Kyle's family! Thursday is more pictures and cleaning up the car so my sister and brother in law have a nice clean "rental" to drive. Friday is a trip to Oklahoma to drop off the car (and pile number 2) and say goodbyes to my family and friends there. We'll get back Sunday only to leave again on Monday night for STL so I (along with pile number 3) can catch my plane at 12:51pm (random, I know, and believe me I WILL be checking to see if it leaves at exactly 1 minute after 12:50).

So basically the moral of the story is, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. Stay close and I'll keep you updated as possible! As for now, it's time to pack of my computer and get it ready to go back to Mom and Dad's tomorrow.