Sixty-seven days to go!

Today marks the beginning of my last week at my current job, which I've been in for almost five and a half years. Let me tell you, it's a strange feeling. My coworkers have become like family. One of them has babysat my dogs for me several times at her home. I know the family of the other one almost as well as I know her. I've seen these ladies go through cancer, divorce, marriage, births of grandchildren, etc. And they've known me since I was a freshly graduated 22 year old living on a salary of beans, through my reptile phase (when I had 4 snakes and a bearded dragon), through the loss of my beloved Penny, through several horses, through grad school, and now through my dating and engaged months with Philip.

I used to complain about being stuck in College Station. I was bored living here, I wanted out, I wanted a job where I actually made a difference, etc. And while those things are still true, I'm very grateful for the opportunity I've had to make the relationships I have. I felt like God wanted me to stay in College Station for a reason, and I suspect that the reason has something to do with the human side of things more so than any other reason. I will very much miss these women.

Friday is my last day, and then I'll have the following week to pack up my place. I've been packing little by little, but the prospect of packing everything is pretty daunting. I'm pretty sad to be leaving my little house in the country, scorpions or not (although not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited about not having to worry as much about scorpions in the future). It's so nice to have my ponies right there. It's also nice to have total control over their diets, turn-out, blanketing, etc. But it's going to be nice to board again, too. I won't have to worry about who will feed the horses while I'm out of town, and I'll have people to ride with. Since I'll be moving to a place where I don't know anyone except Philip, I have pretty high hopes that I'll make some new horsey friends at the barn.

The barn is in Arlington, where we thought we were going to end up living, but the house we ended up liking is in Fort Worth. Philip will have a longer commute, but he wanted me to be closer to the barn so that I could get out to the ponies more easily. He's a sweet guy.

I start my new job February 4th! I'm going to be an associate editor for a publication that is stationed in Fort Worth. And I am so excited/nervous about it. I'm hoping that securing the house and getting my stuff moved will take my anxiety level down a few notches, but I know that until I get started and settled in my new job, I'll be boiling pretty high. And then there will be the wedding!

Like the title of this post says, we are only sixty-seven days away. That's only a little over two months. My bridal shower is this upcoming weekend, and I am so excited. My bridesmaids have been working really hard on it, and I know it's going to be fantastic.

So, that's my life right now. Since I dislike writing text-only posts, here is a photo of Chica and the sunset from last week that is pretty terribly quality-wise (I have a new phone and am still learning how to use several features of it):

And here is a photo of my little bear, Ramses, who was looking so cuddly that I just had to cover him up with a fresh-from the dryer hoodie. He was obviously super bothered by it.