Hello, readers!  Today I plan on interrupting the YA Tropes I Hate series (haven't read it?  Start here!) with some fun life updates.

I had a lot of time this month to stew on the nature of endings.  A lot is ending for me right now-- my classes, high school, my time living in my parents' house.  It is hard and frightening to let go sometimes.  I can taste college and adulthood right around the corner, and I am ridiculously excited at what this means: being treated like an adult, working hard, and setting off into the world.  But that's still four months away.  A chapter of my life is ending, and the next has yet to begin.  I have four months of awkward in-between, and I'm not sure how I'll spend them.

Most excitingly, I have graduated from high school and confirmed that I will attend UNC Chapel Hill in the fall.  My official cap-and-gown graduation ceremony, as well as college orientation, isn't until June, but classes are over, I have my final grades, and I am sooo ready to enjoy summer.

I also finished my training program with the Catholic Church and was confirmed as a full member of the church.

Me and my lovely sponsor!For those of you unfamiliar with the Rite of Confirmation, it symbolizes your adulthood in the church.  You pick a patron saint, and their name becomes your saint-name.  It's like an additional middle name, which hardly anyone uses day-to-day.


I chose the name Miriam of Nazareth, the Jewish name of the Virgin Mary.  I chose it because A.) she's the coolest, and B.) I really like Jewish culture and history and wanted to honor that.


In other exciting news, I have my first real job (aside from a brief stint teaching violin).  I work as a crew member for the local Cold Stone Creamery.  It is the most fast-paced, intense, energetic work I have ever done, although that may be because I had my first shift on a Saturday night.  By the end of this summer, I am going to have crazy arm muscles from pulling ice cream.



In slightly less life-changing but equally exciting news, remember how I got to meet Maggie Stiefvater?  She gave a lovely talk, signed my book, and took a hilarious No-Smile Selfie with me, which absolutely made my day.  If you haven't read her book  The Raven Boys , I highly recommend it.

After an action-packed month like that, I'm more than ready to have some time off.  But they say the wicked never rest, and I suppose that's true, because in a little over two weeks, I'm jetting off to Ireland, where I will fail to post anything but take lots of pictures for when I get back.

But I'll save that for next month's updates.

How about you, readers?  How's your month so far?