Was reminded by my friend Kat that I haven't updated this in quite a while. My blood tests all came back normal - although she did recommend taking Vitamin D supplements. I have to call to schedule a follow up appointment today or tomorrow. I'm still getting headaches, they aren't constant but they are regular, usually every night or every other day. I'm just happy I got through my finals without completely losing it. The constant pain piled on top of the stress of school and the pressure I was putting on myself was certainly pushing me - but I was able to get through. I'm getting a lot better at knowing my limits and knowing when to let myself take a break and when to push through, and what I can do to make it easier for myself. I can get through a difficult class or a long research paper if I have a little treat - some tea or coffee or a snack. I can be proud of myself.

Speaking of which, I got my grades back, and I'm pretty happy with how I did. I got an A in Legal Environment of Business and A-'s in Legal Ethics, Political Science and Intro to Law. My GPA is 3.79, and I'm on the Dean's List - which I'm pretty excited about. I was expecting at least one B in there, but I surprised myself. I'm hoping to do as well next semester, but I'm taking an Algebra class and that's the subject I'm weakest in. My other classes I'm looking forward to though, Psychology 101, Composition, and Litigation. I looked up all my professors before choosing my classes to ensure they were all nice - I got lucky last semester - and my Algebra teacher is said to be very patient and good at explaining things. Plus, they have free tutors at the school, which I plan on utilizing, and Paul has already said he will help me.

Christmas was good, I got a slew of Hello Kitty stuff which was heavenly. Paul got me three HK tees and a HK hoody, plus a cute knit sweater from Delia's. My parents got me a $25 Starbucks gift card, a mini fridge (so exciting - we can have cold drinks in our room now! Plus I don't have to worry about Paul's parents accidentally taking our food or not having enough room in their fridge for our food), a bunch of candy, a HK ornament, plus new boots and gloves. My grandmother and bio. father gave me money, and Paul's mom gave me HK socks. This year was a good one. It was relaxing and warm. We stayed over my parent's house Christmas Eve, made a Rice Krispy treat train, watched Die Hard, and then went to bed. We woke up and ate cinnamon rolls, drank coffee and opened presents, and then around 2:30 we ate an early dinner of steak. The best steak ever, mind you. The most tender steak. Mmm.

Christmas shopping for us this year was low key, as we are less poor, but still pretty damn poor. I got Dem a used Lego Star Wars game that he picked out himself, and a little stocking with a Christmas ornament and some candy. I got my mother a feather owl necklace for use as a wall decoration, and a cute plaque to go alone with it that says "Follow Your Heart", plus her own stocking with an owl and a penguin decoration, plus candy. For Paul I bought a book on anatomy for artists and a burgundy zip-up that he wanted, plus another stocking with candy. My grandmother received a masquerade mask to decorate with, and Paul's mother got a ladybug wind-chime and a magnetic wall calendar.

Our New Years Eve plans are kind of up in the air. We plan on stopping by our friend Sal's house for a get together, but we aren't sure what we are going to do besides that.

We are looking into perhaps getting an apartment with our friend Devin. We viewed this amazing apartment in Manchester - about 5 minutes away from my school and not too far away from Paul's job. The master bedroom is gorgeous, it's located in a room that's in a sort of "tower", so it's sort of a half octagon and there is a window on each wall. Next to the bedroom is the living room, with a beautiful built in cabinet with glass doors. Then the kitchen/dining room, which is huge and also has a built in cabinet with glass walls. Then you can either go into the bathroom, which is small, but still a pretty decent size, or the second bedroom. Plus we have access to the basement for storage. I am so in love with it. It's right above Paul's boss, who told us about it in the first place. It's $850 a month, not including utilities. If we had a roommate who was even paying just $350 we would be able to afford it. Right now we might be able to without a roommate, but it would be extremely difficult.

I truly want to get out of Paul's parent's house though. It's way too stressful living here, for reasons I won't go into, but definitely have to do with my extreme social anxiety and love of privacy.

I'm off to go read for a bit while Paul is out running errands. I've been working on The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck is surely one of my favorite authors. I'm only about 100 pages in, and Paul warned me that it starts off rather slow, but it's still rather good. It feels good to be able to read for pleasure, although it feels weird to not have school work.