Back from Vacation. Back to School!

Sunset over Maho Bay, St. John

Right before we headed off on vacation a few weeks ago I got some great news.  I've been accepted into the Masters Program in English at PSU (Portland State University) for next fall.  On top of that, I've also been offered a graduate assistantship, which means I get to be even more involved in the department and I'll get lots of experience teaching and working in academics!  I'm really excited to get started with classes and new experiences, but that only leaves a few months of freedom before I'll be dedicating all of my reading and writing energy to academics.  In celebration, I'm planning a pre-grad-school pleasure reading marathon.  Starting school full time again is the perfect motivation to finish up all those books I've been meaning to get to.  In between house hunting and other summer adventuring, I'll be reading as much as I can!  But more on that later.  As I mentioned, I just got back from vacation!  If you haven't already seen where we were, check out www.maho.org.

Click below to keep reading - see photos of the trip and find out how the beach reading went!

The trip was really great, but much more active than I expected a week at the beach to be.  We spent our days hiking, snorkeling and kayaking and by evening we were exhausted and ready to sleep.  There was hardly a moment for reading!  I did start Water for Elephants, but I didn't really dive into it until the flight home.  Once I started it I couldn't put it down.  I read the whole flight home and I finished it within a couple days of being back.  I would recommend it to just about anyone looking for a great story.  I can't wait to see how it is going to play out in the upcoming movie!  I'm really glad I picked this one up.  As for Bird by Bird, you can bet that one of the books I've been lingering over the longest will be one of the first on my list to finish up this summer!