Pilot Life: Pattern Work with Overcast and Crosswinds!

So my checkride is scheduled a week from today; in continued preparation for it, I decided to go up and get a little more practice in. Overcast cloud layers and some crosswinds kept me in the pattern today. Plus, I think I'm getting sick as I've begun to lose my voice (try making radio calls with a groggy throat!).

Flew the pattern inn N992CT today.

My flight instructor, who took a DA-40 Diamond Star up with another student departed ahead of me and informed me via radio that he was getting buffeted winds to the south, so that helped me make up my mind by staying in the pattern today. In the end, I logged a good half hour of flying and made five landings total; I got to practice some more soft-field and short-field takeoffs and landings and made a few touch-and-goes as well as stop-and-goes.