Where did June go?

Time flies when you're super busy! I do not really have time to post right now because I have some emails to write and a grant proposal to work on. I was inspired to share a couple of things though, like text conversations with Bill that make me laugh. He is on the left; I am on the right.

I went to a workshop where there were lupine...

...jellyfish...

...and lots of fun and good connections made. I also got to see friends and family before and after the workshop, which is always a plus!

There are other things I could write about, but maybe when things slow down after my proposal deadline? Famous last words - after that deadline is an undergrad research day with my summer student and after that I have four weeks to plan a seminar course and catch up on all the other teaching ideas I have had. It would be nice to read a book for fun too....

The count-down

I am lucky. I still have another week before classes start. I have been relatively productive during break, but could have done more planning and prep before now if I had cared to. At the same time, I am definitely not going into the semester exhausted, which is a good thing.

I am not sure if I have mentioned it, but I am teaching a lecture/lab course plus one intro lab this semester. In the sciences we figure out staffing by contact hours, so I will be in the classroom teaching for 9 hours a week. The intro lab is no big deal - there is a person who preps the labs - but I will also be sitting in on the lecture so I know what the students are learning and also sitting in on a lab before mine so I know what to teach - that will add another 6 hours to my in-class time each week. The other class I am teaching I have decided to do from scratch even though I have my predecessor's materials, so it will be fairly time consuming to generate the course material. My knowledge is different from my predecessors, so it was either learn what she had taught and teach it, or draw on what I know and make up new labs. So I went with the latter.

Unfortunately I will not have my research set up before the start of classes, so I am not sure if I will be able to use my research in my teaching lab this year, but will down the road!

I realized last week that I actually have to be putting together lectures for the semester. Tomorrow, I start my one-lecture-prep-a-day plan. Over the course of the week, I need to outline the first few labs too. I am excited about the course, as it is upper level, and am trying to hold the self-doubt at bay. I know I can do it, I just need to do it.

In other news, I painted this. It will be fired and ready to pick up this week. I picked it as a pet dish, but we will see if she gets to use it or not. I painted the flower on the inside figuring it could be a water dish, and then I could still see my handy work. A few of us went for a ladies' night at one of those paint-your-own studios, and we all did completely different designs. It will be fun to see how they look after being glazed and fired!

In other-other news, I spent a fun couple of days in Philadelphia this weekend.

 The stairs Rocky runs on.

 The Liberty Bell, which I learned was cracked from day 1.

 Independence hall.

 The room in which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. George Washington sat in the chair in the front!

 Random alley...

I have also managed to run 3- 4 times per week, thanks to some friendly motivation. For some reason I don't feel like I am getting any faster or that it is getting any easier. I think I need to try running without music, as boring as that sounds, to figure out what my natural pace is. It is on my To Do list for tomorrow.

My motivation to keep on top of my work this semester is going to be more short trips like this. 7 days to the new semester and counting...

Whirlwind

I am pretty sure the last two weeks have taken about a month to get through. I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight after 10 days on the road, but alas. The travel goddesses caught up with me, and I am spending another night at a hotel in VA. Although, US Airways gave me a voucher with no hassle for a nice Hilton, so I cannot complain too much. My cat might have a different opinion after being alone for so long (with my neighbor checking on her).

Last time I posted was a bit on the depressing side. I definitely got myself worked up for nothing, and would have better spent the emotional energy in some other manner. My grandfather's visiting hours and funeral were sad and nice. My Mom is from a small town, and a lot of the relatives still live there. In fact, my grandfather's spouse's relative commented that she did not realize my grandfather had so many relatives. I caught up with a cousin who I had not seen in years, which was great. I had found his sister and another cousin on FB, and he friended me after we talked for a while.

So...I started this post a while ago and then got distracted with Cupcake Wars...and I need to get up in a few hours for my ridiculously early flight...So, here are some photos. Proof that I was off doing things like a bridal shower...

 

...and a trip to where I will be starting a job this summer...

 

  

...and a meeting near Colonial Williamsburg...

Okay, so none of those pictures *PROVE* anything. You'll just have to trust me that they are what I say they are. :-)

Thank offering

One of the groups at church passes out little Thanksoffering boxes that are collected around Thanksgiving. You are supposed to put money in every time you are thankful for something during the fall months, and I believe they are returned on stewardship Sunday. I had put change in it here and there.

My parents came to visit for the weekend, and my Dad emptied his change into it. Seemed appropriate - we visited a museum, an art/craft fall fair, a couple of small towns in the area, a great restaurant, and hung out.

I just emptied my wallet into it yesterday. It was again appropriate. I went to NYC and got to see lots of friends and eat good food and they all humored me and did touristy things. I miss them all and was very thankful to see them.

If I had change I would put some more in there this evening for time spent with my confirmation mentee. She is two weeks shy of 14 years old, a cross country athlete, and full of energy. I think the next time we meet, I will have a coffee before so I can be more her speed. I think I used the word 'like' enough though. Her Mom, like, made us chocolate chip cookies and lemonade. No joke.

Other things that I have had fun with? I have enjoyed my smart phone. I am slowly being less obsessed with checking it all the time. Angry Birds has been bad for my productivity. I took some photos and used Instagram while in NYC at Brooklyn Brewery...

...and a random building near where we had Sunday brunch. The sky was blue; the building had cool masonry, and the clock had no hands.

2 Weeks Ago...

2 weeks ago I finished another MS Challenge Walk. I think it was by far my most successful, as far as my legs go. I would link to old posts about walking and the Walk, but I am procrastinating on work right now as it is. You will have to trust me that this was my NINTH year. Next year will be my TENTH (that was some fast math). I have decided that my best secret to training is to freak out that I will not train enough and will be in pain, because that is how I trained this year. I was probably walking 3 to 4 times a week, and 5 to 9 miles each time. My Mom did not train as much as she did her first year she was a walker and did all 50 miles. This year I think she walked about 34 miles...at 2.5 miles an hour.

I walk for my Mom, who was diagnosed with MS something like 30 years ago. I would feel guilty about leaving her to walk alone, and frequently check myself if I get snippy when I do walk with her. The lady is getting severely crazy, like I think she would win the prize for the craziest "normal" mother. Luckily, it is mostly in a harmless way. She did kiss someone at the walk though, which made me really uncomfortable (not like kiss-kiss, but more like she should have just stuck with a hug kiss), and tends to overshare things that make people uncomfortable. All of this to say that she walks SLOW anyway. So on Day 2 of the walk, I told her I could not walk that pace after lunch. She was going to skip ahead to miss the hilly parts due to her knees and blisters. She skipped 6 or 7 miles, to walk the last 4 or 5, and I almost caught up to her. I was probably walking twice her speed. I did 3 miles in less than 45 minutes. I told her it was because I had warmed up for 4 hours that morning walking with her. Hahaha. Sadly, my sister has managed to hurt both of her feet in the past couple of months on the little league field and on a worm in her garage. She walked on the last day to get on the course a bit, and it was nice to have the Mom buffer.

My nephew will be old enough to walk next year, so we finally created a team because it helps with fundraising. When I was walking to meet up with my Mom and my sister, I thought our name should have 'numb' in it. We realized that one reason my Mom gets such bad blisters is because she has reduced feeling in her feet so they get bad before she realizes she has them. We decided our team name should, therefore, be 'Comfortably Numb'. It comes with its own theme song, which two of my favorite female artists have covered.

I do not take many pictures on the Walk anymore, but a couple I did take....

That yellow ribbon has been there long enough for the ivy to grow over it. It reminded me of when SO MANY PEOPLE put yellow ribbons up for the troops during, I think, the first Iraq war.

The road is sometimes quiet.

A noteworthy flower along the way. Mostly noteworthy because it is fall and past the season for a lot of flowers.

Long-stemmed roses CF sent that were waiting for me when I got back to lab after the walk.

On the road

I attempted to write an actual blog post, but cannot figure out what in my head I want to write about. Instead, I will give you pictures. I was just back East for 10 days (well, one day of driving on each side in a car with no AC, but whatever). I fit a fair amount of stuff in, but did not take many pictures.

I went back when I did because I had friends getting married. It was outdoors and lovely. Her dress was beautiful, as wedding dresses tend to be, and the hydrangeas were in full bloom.

I saw lots of sail boats.

Boats that apparently do not have room for a dinghy, so they have a helicopter pad on top instead.

Oh! More sail boats!

The Boston skyline from afar. (Also saw it from up close, but then it is harder to capture.)

I saw nice sunset while walking to the subway when my friend and I were on our way to her friend's roof-top Friday night happy hour overlooking the Charles River. The 'Do Not Enter' signs really make this picture, I think.

And the morning after a night out? A long drive home. At the beginning, I was thinking about how much more I like the scenery along the Mass Pike than along the highways in the northern Midwest. This picture is not the best example, but there are mountains and vistas!

I stopped and visited my grandmother (and uncle) and then hit the road again.

 At one point, I was in two countries at the same time. Crazy! Spark, I think I could see Toronto from there.

 And then the sun set.

 And unfortunately, the crescent moon does not photograph so easily when you are driving 110 km/hr.

And then there were two times when I thought I should not be driving, but I was SO CLOSE to home, so I rolled the windows down more and turned the radio up and made it home fine. My cat was so happy, her whole chin was wet with drool. It was a long 16-hour trek home.

Argh

I need to just decide about a few things right now so I can stop thinking about them:

Drive or fly back East this summer? I was all geared up to fly, but then I start thinking about traipsing all over the place. Then I start thinking about renting a car to do said traipsing. Then I think that is silly, and public transport could take me everywhere. Then I think think THAT is silly because I HAVE a car and public transport sucks up precious time. I have done the drive (alone) a couple of times. I would have my car, no baggage fees, and could get around whenever and wherever I please! If I fly, I get there in half the time; if I drive, I take the time I would spend on public transport and stick on my drive on both sides. Minimum I have to get from Boston to Rhode Island for a wedding. Ideally, I would also head to the Cape & MV to hang out with my parents and sister's family. Never mind seeing as many friends as possible and maybe professional visits too.

Stay a couple of days after my meeting in June to see CF or no? This should be a no-brainer, but last time I visited him right after my birthday, as far as I can tell, he had dinner planned after he picked me up from the airport, and that was it. I will not go into all of the things that frustrate me about our relationship (or lack there of), but it leaves me with no motivation to miss those days of work.

Make a doctor's appointment or no? Really the answer is yes. My hip has been bothering me for months, and a month of yoga has done nothing. It feels like it is not in the joint right. An improvement from when it started in the fall and felt like something was pinching every time I took a step. Maybe I should have made an appointment back then? Don't answer that... I also get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night and am exhausted. (and I have been exercising and eating well and all that good stuff.) I kinda wonder if when my generic thyroid medicine changing (because I forgot to remind the doc to write "no substitutions") has affected my energy and mood. It is difficult to tell when there is enough stuff going on besides the thyroid replacement to explain the fatigue and stress.

I think I just talked myself into driving back East and that I REALLY should make that doctor's appointment at least...

Ready for my close up

I do enjoy my digital camera - it is an easy-to-use point and click that takes great pictures. A while back, I said something about being ready to upgrade from my Canon Elph 850IS, and my Mom suggested I put it on my Christmas list. The camera I will eventually upgrade to will likely cost a little too much to put on a Christmas list, plus I have not put ANY thought into what camera I want! I do think it will be fun to learn to use a more advanced camera and a macro lens to take close up pictures. In the meantime, my camera does fine taking photos with the macro setting, it is just impossible to tell the camera exactly what I want it to focus on.

The High Line Park in NYC

Hot chocolate with handmade marshmallow from City Bakery.

Tiles on the floor at Ellis Island. (As an aside, if you have any ancestors who came through Ellis Island, the records are mostly or all online now and you can search them!)

Mushrooms from CF's yard.

My kitty...who was just chillin' on the dining room table watching us unlock the door when we came home last night?! She is NOT supposed to be up there.

 Um, strawberries.

Reward

My reward for going to NYC with CF's sister was seeing friends. Yay! I got to see several college friends, some college friend partners, and a former coworker.

I also did touristy things.