well it's finals week again

I have to tell you, our apartment is its cleanest during finals week. Instead of studying, I find out things that I have to do that definitely take priority over my grades (which is my full-time job, basically).
So Billy went to San Jose a couple of days after Thanksgiving for a funeral. All of that is posted up on his blog, Schulk Hogan's Heroes. While he was gone, I didn't have a car, but I walked down to K-Mart (which I hate, but it's close. I always feel like I've hit rock bottom when I walk in there, because it's a particularly gross one) and got some Christmas stuff like lights, cheap stockings, and a garland. I had already gotten a small 3' tree and made some awesome ornaments. Anyway, I decorated the place for Christmas while he was gone, even though I didn't really have time to do it. He was surprised because I also cleaned up our house which was destroyed. It looks so good! I was really happy to do it, and I'm getting into the Christmas music, too. I put some of that on and it was all ready for when he came in the house on Wednesday night. We enjoyed it for a little bit together, talking about his trip, and then we both had to get a LOT of work done.
As for school, finals week is this next week. I have already taken two of my finals. One was for Beginning Ballet (no problems there) and the other was for my Biochemistry lab class. I feel like this entire quarter that I was struggling in all of my classes just enough because all of my time went into this one. Then we took the final early (which was hard!! of course) and now it's over. Wow. Except that I have two more quarters because it's a one year sequence but I can't believe how hard I have worked and how much I have learned about biochemistry laboratory techniques and their background. It's pretty ridiculous. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty smart about it, especially since I was in the top 4 of the class somewhere. The class average was a 55%, and I had a 57 without one lab grade and the final counted into my total score. That means that my score will go up a lot while the class average will go up maybe a couple of points. Yay! I'm so shocked. Now I just have to worry about passing my other classes, which I actually do have to worry about. Like I said I've been struggling all quarter.

Some crazy stuff happens around school a lot, but I never have a camera and I don't have time to update this enough so I forget. I'll try to do it a couple times a week once school starts, but it's ending this week. Oh well.
Well, we are going to be doing some exciting things soon! Our ward Christmas program is December 21 so we have to stay in town at least that long because Billy plays piano for the choir, and I'm in the choir along with a women's trio number for the program. That said, we'll have over a week of no school to fill in Santa Barbara. We are going to do things that we've always wanted to do!! We've heard that the Christmas lights on some of the houses here are super ridiculous so we're going to drive around and look for some monsters. Maybe I'll take pictures and maybe I'll post them. Who knows?
Also we're going to go shopping for Christmas presents for each other/me. I basically need clothes so we're going to shop together and that's what Billy's gift to me will be--letting me buy things for myself! I like that idea!!
Also, about 30-40 minutes north of us is a little town called Solvang. It's a Danish village. Like literally. The architecture looks all Danish and cute and I've been really wanting to go there for a night or something and walk around downtown and stuff. Well we're going!! We're staying at a nice hotel mid-week so it's cheaper and we're going to walk down Copenhagen street. One thing we are DEFINITELY going to see in Solvang is a little Danish bakery. Not only are Danish goods delicious, but every Christmas the baker makes a 8'x10'x11' gingerbread house. That's right, that's about as big as our tiny bedroom :P I'm SO excited to see the gingerbread, it's almost worth the entire trip and we'll get to spend a cute little weekend together in a cute little town AND our hotel room has a fireplace!! How cool is that?! Other than those things, we'll just hang around a lot for that week before we go up to San Jose for Christmas. I'm excited about all of our plans. You'd think that because I basically spend every day with Billy, that maybe I'd want a change of scene or something. Well, not just because I love him do I want this, but during the everyday times that I hang around Billy we're stressed out a lot from school and we just do different homework together. We have a lot of fun, but we both like to go do things together outside of our little apartment. We're in here so much doing work and coming outside to somewhere different feels like a vacation! Anyway, I'm glad I updated and I'll try to do it more (after finals!) and good luck to everyone else in finals and other preparations for Christmas and the end of the year!! :)