November 16, 2009
The Simple Things prompt is back for the fall, hosted by Christina at Soul Aperture. I love this prompt because it encourages me to slow down, pay attention, and cultivate a little gratitude for my life. To play along, visit this prompt and post a list of simple things that you are enjoying right now.
My simple things include:
- The abundance and variety of squash we’ve been enjoying this fall.
- Working half days and quarter days
- Re-watching one of my favorite TV shows and calling it “research for my final project”
- Baking cranberry and chocolate chip cookies for a dinner gathering
- Eating some of the raw cookie dough, throwing caution to the wind
- The way my husband makes me laugh
- Anticipating Thanksgiving, in all of its time-off, family visits, and big meal wonderfulness
- Colder weather, which causes my kitties to snuggle more
- Coming off a weekend where I got to spend time with my husband, study, and relax by myself… it’s been rare to get all three in lately
- Winding down my first class in my grad program
- Seeing the syllabus for the next class – I’m such a nerd!
- Golden fall light in the mornings (when it’s sunny)
- Sleeping in, even if it means I still get up earlier than I wanted
Those are the simple things that are filling my life right now. How about you?
Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers who are participating in the prompt today!
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October 11, 2009
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This week, the cold weather came to Minnesota, along with the snow. Snow! We got about half an inch late Friday night. I wish I would have gotten pictures of the fall foliage tinged with snow.
Since it was so cold this weekend, our farmer’s market was pretty empty. We had fewer vendors and customers, which made me a little misty for the end of summer and fall. I know the end of farmer’s market fun is coming, but I’m just not ready. The nice thing about the end of the farmer’s market season is that many of the vegetables have grown to freakish proportions. In addition the ridiculously large and plentiful squashes, there were these huge gorgeous cauliflowers that were beginning to flower. The one pictured above was easily the size of a soccer ball. I know that in a few weeks we’ll have only 1-2 vendors and I’ll have to get all of my produce at the co-op, so I’m glad I have this picture to remind me of the season’s bounty.
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October 11, 2009
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This weekend, several of my friends, my husband, and I participated in the fifth annual Zombie Pub Crawl on the West Bank in Minneapolis on Saturday night. The top picture includes me in front, with my friends Russ and John flanking me. The second picture is just me and the third picture is my husband with my friend John coming in out of the frame to eat his zombie brain.
My friends and I love the zombies. But not as much as some of the people we ran into during the crawl. We were dressed as everyday zombies, but some people went all out. Some of my favorite costumes included: zombie Brett Favre (in a Packers’ uniform), zombie Wizard of Oz characters, zombie Captain America, zombie Abe Lincoln, and a troop of zombie Girl Scouts.
One thing disturbed me and that was the number of young women who felt the need to be “sexy zombies.” There were sexy nurse zombies, sexy sailor zombies, even a zombie in a sparkly red leotard. It’s frustrating that women feel that they must always put sexiness forward, even when it may not be necessary or accurate. Repeat after me, girls: Zombies. Are Not. Sexy. Frankly, if the zombie apocalypse comes, the majority of us are not going to be wearing push-up bras and thigh high panty hose. And, after we’re zombies, we won’t be able to work the clasps. </feminist lecture on zombies.>
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October 11, 2009
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The challenge with working with a program that has classes on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays is that my weekends are full. So, I barely had time on Friday to take pictures. In fact, I snapped this shot in the morning on Friday, while I was doing my physical therapy before leaving for work. Following that, I had meetings straight through the day on Friday, so I had no time to take any more pictures.
Since I didn’t have time to take pictures this weekend, I also had very little time to post them. So, I’m updating my Week in the Life project while watching the Yankees beat up the Twins. Masochism abounds.
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October 8, 2009
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Today was another day of lots of desk work and all the pictures of my desk were unattractive, in that fluorescent light sort of way. So instead, I took pictures on my bus commute home, taking advantage of the brilliant fall sun peeking out of the clouds. Maybe tomorrow will be more photogenic.
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October 8, 2009
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Yesterday was so busy that I barely had time to take any pictures, let alone remember to post them before going to bed. Two of the pictures were taken in my five minute walk to Subway for lunch. The other was taken at my desk, when I arrived at work in the too early morning.
Some of the good things I alluded to yesterday are leading to more work at my job which, while I enjoy it, is not very conducive to taking pictures. I could show you all the cluster diagrams I worked on yesterday, but a) it wouldn’t make a good picture at all and b) it’s sensitive information.
I wonder how much of our lives are spent in moments that wouldn’t make good pictures. I think a good photographer (certainly more skilled than me) could make a good picture out of almost anything. But, our jobs and work lives include things like spreadsheets, email inboxes, and cluster diagrams and I have a hard time seeing the physical beauty in them. The beauty, I think, is in the results: the improvements we make to others lives, based on the data we collect and the connections we make. Then again, maybe I spent way too much time in front of my computer yesterday.
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October 6, 2009
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Here is Day Two for “A Week in the Life.” I had both a difficult and good day, which is hard for me to reconcile right now. I’ll definitely be processing the good and the bad for the rest of the week. Today involved two long commutes in the cold rain, seeing my knee doctor, and meetings galore at work. I was proud that I was able to squeeze in taking photos on my camera phone.
I’ll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with more pictures.
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October 5, 2009
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I’m trying on “A Week in the Life,” to see if I can commit to slowing down and paying attention during my week. I don’t know if I will be making collages from these photos or simply taking them and uploading them here. Time will tell.
Today included physical therapy (and post physical therapy slacking,) grocery shopping and a trip to the mall. It’s also my last day off before work starts tomorrow.
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August 21, 2009
Apparently, I need to breathe more, because the last time I took deep breaths was in July. I know I’ve been a bit absent here, and I realized today that it was because my life has been really getting busy. So, I thought I’d share some of my busy-ness with you.
I’m taking deep breaths today because:
- After a long and somewhat relaxing summer schedule at work, I can feel the academic year creeping up on me. I’ve spent the month of July and the month of August working four day weeks, with Fridays off, which has been a fabulous gift. During the school year, I work many Friday evenings and Saturdays, so there is a certain luxury in having Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off in a row. I’ve also caught up on some much needed time with my husband and my friends.
But today, I had to suspend those Fridays off. I’ve had too much work to do and too many meetings during the regular work week, so I blocked off the day as “out of office” on my calendar, but came in for a six-hour day to catch up. I got a lot of work done, but immediately discovered that I’ll have to work next Friday too. For me, summer is officially over. *Sigh.*
- In addition to my work schedule heating up, I’m beginning a new master’s degree when school starts in a few weeks. I’m taking one class a term, which shouldn’t be too taxing. I’ll just have to give up little things, like television and personal time.
There are things about this program that I’m really excited about. For instance, my first class has an awesome reading list: The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Henry V by William Shakespeare, Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, Antigone by Sophocles, The Prince by Machiavelli, and a textbook entitled Leadership. I’m looking forward to rereading some of these books, and cracking some others for the first time. I bought my books this week and I’m finishing up my last two non-school books before beginning my homework that’s due on the first day of class.
I’m also just excited to get back to academic work. I’m such a nerd that academia is where I feel really comfortable. It’s where my strengths lie and I always feel my best when I’m in school. Maybe that’s why I work in schools, in addition to collecting degrees.
Despite all this cool stuff, I’m freaking out about the work-school-life-creativity balance thing. Of course, that’s what I’m going to school to study and research, so I just have to figure out how to practice it, in addition to researching it. I keep thinking: how will poetry fit in? Will I be able to maintain my book reviewing at Read Write Poem? Will I have a life? Only time will tell how I survive.
- I’ve been really committed to rehabing my knee injury. The good news is that it’s paying off. On Monday, my doctor said I can go another six weeks of conservative care with physical therapy, without rushing in to surgery. I’m really hoping that I can continue to avoid surgery at all costs, but I just have to keep doing what I’m doing, and trust that it will be enough.
- I’m gearing up for the fun end-of-summer events. We’re hitting the Renaissance Festival this weekend and the State Fair comes next weekend. And then after that, fall. And work. And no more free time.
So that’ s what’s making me pause and take some deep breaths today. How about you?
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July 22, 2009
Even though I’m still recovering from the weekend fun extravaganza, I just had to share my favorite picture of the weekend. Above is my husband riding an experimental bike at the Tour de Fat. As he passed me by, he exclaimed, “I love riding this bike!” I love the look of joy on his face.
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Jessica
