One more day of work...

Tomorrow is my last day at Butler for almost an entire month! Yikes! It is so weird to think of being gone for that long. There are so many things to try to anticipate needing to either bring with me to be able to edit or work on for Orientation and Program Board while I am gone. But it is overwhelming to try to anticipate it all. I'm sure it will be fine, but I want to make sure that I can do it all between travels and my job back at Butler.

I have a few things I need to take care of before I go so that I don't go crazy with emails. I also still need to do some more work on my presentation for the CSSI (Confederation of Student Services of Ireland) conference http://cssi.spudmurphy.ie/. I've got Butler data, some pictures of Program Board events, and some basic information about First Year Experience programs...now I just have to format it well into a 20 minute presentation. I'm going to be the voice of American First Year Experience Programs during this conference, so no pressure or anything. :) At least I'll have Jarod with me to help present and talk about America and Butler. We finish each other's sentences, so we can definitely handle 20 minutes in front of a crowd.

Final Preparations are underway! T-minus 36 hours until I leave Indy to go home...
I've collected publications and brochures from Butler to share with all of my meetings for the University College Dublin http://www.ucd.ie/. And I've got to bring all of that, along with some free Butler swag to pack in my suitcase to share. Plus I need clothes, accessories...and SHOES. :) I might need a small miracle to pack everything into one suitcase.

Working on my checklist slowly but surely to get ready...

Right now my apartment smells so fresh and so clean with Gain and Downy as laundry hangs to dry. (Which is a great combo if you're looking for new detergent and softener...just my two cents...Mama Shauna knows how to pick sweet smelling clothes to curl up in.) I've got to have all my clothes clean so I can pick the cutest, while also wrinkle free clothes to bring and stuff into a suitcase. :) I've heard that I will be headed into late spring like weather in the mid 60's so I should be good to go. No sunscreen needed while I'm there! Finally I'll be in a country where freckles are the norm, freckled fair skin is normal...and I won't feel ghostly around all of the fake tanners here in Indy. :) My people!

I'll pack up my clothes tomorrow after I drop off my cat. Teensie tends to freak out and try to climb into my suitcase to travel with me when she sees the bags being packed. I've also endured some war wounds in my arms and hands to get her out of the bags. Its nice to feel loved...even if it sometimes makes you bleed a little (I guess?). I can't bear her little green eyes when I have to throw her on the floor and say no. It breaks my heart. I'll drop her off at my friend Laura's tomorrow. She is my personal hero for taking care of Teensie for the 3 weeks that I am gone. She is saving me a ton of money, so I'm trying to make sure that Teensie isn't too much of a pest. And hopefully Teensie can become friends with Chase (Laura's cat) too. I'll bring litter, toys, food, and some other stuff from home for her to Laura's apartamento. Also...I bought a new fangled invention at Petsmart today so that Teensie stays in Laura's good graces. They are like Lee press on nails for cats. I'm not kidding. I bought clear because that is all they had, but I think it would have been funny to get one of the other various colors like Hot pink or electric blue. Hopefully they work better than the real Lee press on nails...ladies you know what I'm talking about. You'd run your fingers through your hair and the nail would fall off your finger, but get stuck in your hair. Awkward. :) Watch the comercial that Petsmart uses to attract buyers... http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754502 Click the video underneath the picture...I doubt it will be as easy as the woman in the video to put them on. Her cat looks either drugged or catatonic. My cat tends to live life on the feistier side when it comes to touching her paws. So I should have a lot of "fun" equipping her with her new rubber talons. We'll see if it works to keep Teensie from scratching!

Otherwise...then I am ever closer to my travels and trips. I will have to gather everything together, pack it in the suitcase, sit on the suitcase to make it zip, lift it to make sure that I don't get the stupid extra weight fee...while also leaving sufficient space for trinkets, treasures, and presents from the land of my family! Maybe I can find a little leprechaun and a pot of gold to bring home with me too. :) We shall see...

So for now, I will just have endure a scrolling to do list of things popping up in my head.

Oíche mhaith (G'night!)