Awesome autumn

Fall hit Chicago like a ton of bricks these last few weeks. We've gone from steamy summer to brisk, breezy fall. And it's heavenly.

B and I have been taking more walks, dusting off our soup-making skills, and finally turned on the heat (B thinks 58 is too cold for inside our house -- hrmph). I've been walking a lot, and mapping it all on Daily Mile to see how far I go - 14 miles so far this week.

School is excellent. It's tough and I've already started planning for when tough gets ridiculous when baby-to-be arrives in the middle of spring semester when I'm doing clinicals for adult health and community health, and taking pharmacology.

But school is terrific. I'm happy to be moving toward becoming a nurse, being challenged and seeing myself rise to the challenges. I got a 100 percent on my nutrition test. I did about average on my first pathophysiology test, but now I've got a plan in place to do better now that I know what to expect. (The director of my program said "that'll just go up" when I told her how I did on the patho test - good news!)

My lab instructor is a nurse at Children's Memorial and is the coolest guy ever. He makes me feel confident, answers all our questions and tells us how it really is to be a nurse. Now I'm home from a long walk, making a study guide out of some patho lecture notes, watching cooking shows on PBS, and thinking about making a pie... soon!

Here's my beautiful new niece Penny and me cheering on the Bears. If you want to get a person used to watching the Bears with Bears fans -- shouting, yelling, stuff-throwing and all -- you should start young. Penny is just 6 days old here! Go Bears!