Four Years

What's your address? seems like a funny thing to ask your husband the day before your fourth anniversary, but that's exactly what I asked last night! Nathan started at Pipestone National Park on Wednesday and is busy learning all about sacred rocks.

Last Thursday I DID pass my PMP Certification exam, so I am officially a PMP! (I always pronounce that "PiMP" in my head, which makes me chuckle.)

Three weeks ago, I finished my Hiking Challenge strong with a hike along the Round-Up Horse trail, Jones Creek, and the Loop Road for about 6 miles.


I didn't see anything out of the ordinary: some horses, but no bison on the trail. When I finished, the entry above mine in the register said they saw a scorpion. When I got back to the Visitor Center, I found out a guy had brought in a picture of a Rattlesnake sunning itself from the day before. I was not quite as lucky to see such exciting things!


Nathan's brother, Justin, graduated on May 16th and we went to Madison, WI to partake in the festivities. Lucky for us, we didn't have to be crammed into the Kohl Center waiting for 2,000 names to be read off. Nope, the LaFollette School of Public Affairs has their own, intimate ceremony in the Assembly Chamber of the Wisconsin Capital. We were in and out in an hour - now that's what I call a graduation!

Justin and his Wizard Sleeves

It also gave me a chance to marvel at how amazing their capital is (take note, North Dakota!) - a fact that I just don't think I appreciated as much on our 4th grade trip to visit it. Now that I've been a few places and have seen works of art like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and Chichen Itza in Mexico, I agree that Wisconsin's capital really is something special. And to think - you can walk in any time from the Farmer's Market on Saturday just to use the bathroom!


It was really good to see all of Nathan's family. We almost didn't, save the last-minute trip to Milwaukee to see Nathan's mom. We even got the chance to stop into Buraka for some delicious East African food.

Which reminds me! I had a chat with one of my African Wildlife Foundation buddies and found out that they have not only secured funding for the Eco-Lodge I worked on, but they plan to start construction in June. Who wants to come with me to the Grand Opening?!

Munchies

I owe everyone who reads this blog some great pictures from my final hike (yes, I DID complete the hiking challenge last weekend) and Madison (my brother-in-law's graduation), but you won't get those until next week.

This week, I'm studying for my Project Management Professional Certification (a.k.a my PMP credentials). This is something I've been working on since last December. In order to even apply you need a full 4500 hours of Project Management experience and some education. I got that taken care of and my application was accepted without audit (phew!). Now comes the fun part - I have to take a 4-hour, 200 question test with laughably ambiguous questions based on 100's of Project Management, Management, and other resources. Ok, so it won't be that hard - 80% of the test is based on the Project Management Bible (Project Management Body of Knowledge - PMBOK) and there are a lot of books out there that help you prepare for the exam without reading every last reference resource. I started studying for this in February and am finally taking the exam on Thursday.

I have Monday-Thursday off and, although, I visited my alma mater this weekend, I forgot rule number one about exams - you need snacks. Exams were always my favorite part of the semester (wait, don't leave - hear me out!) - you got to sleep in most days, no more classes, you ONLY had to worry about a handful of exams, the dining halls served delicious hot breakfasts for $1.09, and once you finished each exam - YOU WERE DONE FOR GOOD! Nothing hanging over your head - free to move on to another painful semester - or worse - the real world. Ahhh, those were the days!