More reasons to hate snow.

We had gone almost 2 weeks without any snow, and of course this morning as I was going home from taking Casey to work (truck's having work done) it started snowing, and I slid and rear-ended someone. The girl was really nice, and her SUV didn't get much damage at all, but the VW sign and part of the plastic grill on the Jetta is crunched.

I am pissed at myself, mainly because I tried to stop, but obviously with snow you want to start that process a little farther back than I did. We weren't going fast at all; Charley was in the car with me, and he barely noticed anything had happened. Thank God none of us were hurt. I'm just so annoyed right now. Insurance will cover it and I'm glad we have the coverage we do... I just hate that because of something I did, we'll have to spend more money. When it rains it pours. Or when it snows... it royally messes things up for me.

I vow not to live any farther north than we do right now. If Casey ever gets a job in Alaska, he'll have to go without me. ;-P

Tonight we're supposed to go out to dinner with one of the new grad students at USC- he's in town visiting his girlfriend. (I will not be driving.)

Tomorrow I have an appointment to get my hair cut. Woo hoo! It's only been a month but it's going a little crazy right now and not really doing what I want it to. Looking forward to having it trimmed up and looking nicer for Thursday. I have Orientation for school that afternoon. I'm now considered a 'non-traditional' student... which should be interesting! I'll update more after I go and check things out. Thursday night we are also supposed to go out withone of Casey's coworker's and his wife. It looks like this week is going to be pretty eventful... I just hope there aren't more events like the one this morning.

That's all for now- I'll update later.

-Ash

Holidays in Kansas

I'm sorry I haven't written in awhile! The past few weeks have been pretty crazy. We went home to Kansas for Christmas, and it went too fast, as usual. It was nice to be home and see everyone, though. I posted pictures on www.flickr.com/ashleyhetrick. Now we're back in Illinois... it's cold here, but so far (knock on wood) we haven't had any snow since we got back... that's been great!!! We can actually see the (dead) grass in our back yard. Charley doesn't seem to mind going outside now... especially when there are rabbits to chase. That's become his new favorite activity, which also means he barks at us and stands by the door- something he normally does when he has to go to the bathroom- more often now. He went to the vet today, which is something that was long overdue. Luckily all of his tests went well, and he's up to date on all of his shots now. He loves going to the vet. I think it's because he gets so much attention- he got 4 shots today and didn't even seem to mind. Then they had to squirt one type of vaccine into his mouth, and although you could tell he didn't like the taste of it (he made a hilarious face!) he licked it up anyway, even off the floor at one point. The vet said she thought it seemed like he was just being polite... lol...

Anyway, enough about the dog... for now. I have been on the job hunt again, and applied for a few more last night. There's one I found that I'm not going to hold my breath for, but if I got it I would assist a professional photographer by being a 'Second Shooter". That's an ideal job for me right now, and even though I would be photographing weddings, it would definitely give me great experience. Anyway, again, I'm not holding my breath, but I'll definitely keep you updated.

I think Casey and I are going to play Wii now, so I should cut this short. I'll try to write more when something exciting happens. Hopefully that'll be soon!

-Ashley