Driving myself around is awesome

I'm feeling very grateful today. I'm really glad to have air conditioning. Also, a driver's license, a good car I can use that license with, and traffic rules. Thank goodness for traffic rules. The road is dangerous enough as it is. On the other hand, I am not too thrilled that all the students are back in town and that University Avenue is impossible to go through.

I'm also really happy to have classical 89 -- the crispest, clearest classical music station I've ever heard (and probably ever will hear).

And since I'm listing stuff, here's a few other things/people that make me happy:
my incredibly supportive husband.
my major
my excellent taste in food :)
amazing parents-in-law
the fact that my family is coming here for Christmas
a job that will allow me to graduate from college debt-free
a scholarship
the fact that I get to teach Sunday school tomorrow (maybe it'll turn into a calling? hint hint?)
the gorgeous Utah valley I've lived in for the past 4 years... and counting. I'll really miss our beautiful neighborhood
our awesome apartment that has room for a table!
Dryers. (as in to dry clothes with. Since we got back from France, Andrew has developed a strong distaste for paying for hot air so he's been hanging clothes all around the apartment... it's pretty funny to see the place on laundry days... that being said, I'm very happy to have access to a dryer.)
the view out my window
did I mention our not-ghetto neighborhood?

Really excited...

to drive again. I got my driver's license the week before we left (Which apparently I had not blogged about! Shame on me!), and so I only had a brief taste of the delicious freedom that came with it. I love driving* and I can't wait to drive again!



*Do note that I do not love driving manually. My dad tried to teach me last week and it was miserable. I know there's a learning curve and all, but... holy complicated!

22 years old and still no driver's license

But by next month... I'll be official!

You see, I got my learner's permit almost a year ago, and now it's time to buckle down (he he, pardon the pun) and get this thing over with.

I am scheduled to do four more two-hour driving/observation sessions, one tonight (that I need to leave for just about now) and three next week (yeah, I'm tired of dragging this thing out) and then all I have to do is take the test.

Hopefully, after one year of driving with a very strict instructor (and I'm not talking about A-1 driving school...) it shouldn't be too much of an issue. And I'm a pretty dang good parallel parker if I do say so myself!

Why do I still not have a driver's license? Good question. In France you can't get it until you're 18, and since I was moving here in just a few short months I decided to wait until I came here. It's cheaper (a LOT cheaper) and easier, so win-win right? Only to drive you sort of need a car, and without a car... no go. But now I'm doing it and by golly I will have a driver's license before we leave for France!

Woohoo!

Driver's ed: I'm terribly effected by it!

I am learning just how uneducated driving instruction people are right now... it's kind of useful to know the difference between "effect" and "affect"! Does the good state of Utah not care that its driver handbook is laced with spelling errors and other embarrassing typos?

(Incidentally, I am just biding my time until I make a spelling mistake in one of these sorts of comments... I know it's bound to happen some day. I'll take that risk.)

Also:

Now you know why the instructional videos are boring to death. Their voices alone make me want to go out back and beat myself with a rubber hose, especially when they tell me to "keep your hands on the will."

a momentous occasion

I obtained my learner's permit Wednesday (on the first try, might I add) and am now learning to be a responsible driver thanks to my dear husband. I thought I should immortalize the moment in a drawing of my own creation.
I call it:

Andrew teaching Lydia how to drive