First visit to Baltimore starts a week from Sunday. I'm starting to get excited; I'll finally get to see the city that I'll be spending the next three years of my life in. Despite a few less-than-favorable reports online about the crime etc., I've been hearing only good things about it the from people I've talked to. I've done some searching on Craigslist for housing, and this week I'll probably search a little more and get into contact with some people. While I'm there I'm also going to tour my campus and register for classes finally... I'm trying really hard not to wish away my summer, because there are a lot of people that I love here and will miss terribly, but I'm really anxious to start this new chapter of my life.

In other news, I'm scheduled 26 hours at work next week. I also picked up a couple shifts this week to bring my hour total to 20. Much better. Not exceptional, but livable. Ha, my friend Jake and I spent last Saturday night rolling coins from my change bank (not the whole night-- we went out for dinner and such too) and stopped once we had $100 worth. That wasn't even all of it, so my change bank, while much more meager-looking, is not empty. I cashed the rolls in and tucked the cash away for the trip. I'll need more than that, of course, but it's a start.

I went and visited my mom Wednesday, a late Mother's Day visit, since I worked Sunday. I hadn't been sure what to get her (I've been really bad about gifts for parents/relatives for birthdays/holidays, and I'm trying to remedy that. I feel like I haven't been very good at showing people my appreciation for them). Tuesday night I went out looking for beads for her Pandora-type bracelet, since she's only got like two on there. Holy cow, those beads are expensive! The brands I found that were not Pandora started at $10. Ten dollars, for a single bead! They weren't even anything special. I couldn't justify spending that much, especially when they were just colored beads, so I went to JoAnn Fabrics to look at the beads they had there. Cheating, perhaps, since their glass beads are like $3-$4. Didn't see one I liked there either, but I did find some silver spacers with loops on them, and I thought, I could attach some crystal beads of mine and my siblings' birthstones to them for her bracelet-- then she'd get three beads instead of just one, and they'd be more meaningful.

In true procrastinator style, I stopped Wednesday morning, on my way to see her, to get the individual beads (the bead store was already closed Tuesday night when I started my mission anyway). Then I sat in the parking lot after I bought them and attached them to the silver spacers. I don't know why I didn't just do it in the store, as they had work stations; guess I felt weird about it.

Well, after all that trouble, it turns out the silver spacers were just a touch too small to fit on her bracelet anyway, because hers is leather instead of metal, making it a little thicker than I thought. Grumble. She was still thrilled with them (as moms always are with presents from their kids, it seems :P), and said she could just get a chain to string them on as a necklace. She already has so much jewelry though... Ah well. In my travels I discovered that the bead store also has Pandora-type beads. Though that doesn't really help me now, as her birthday is the next big event and that's not til November. I'll be gone by then.

I suppose I could just not procrastinate so much. I doubt that will change though.