Update
It's been forever so here are the updates.
◘ I'm back to work and it feels wonderful to be on a schedule. It seems like I have great students so far and I have some interesting projects going on besides the teaching.
◘ I've been making tons of pesto and freezing it so we can enjoy some delicious green basil-y flavor in the dead of winter. Plus basil is wonderful and cheap at the farmers market since our crop sucked this year.
◘ Speaking of the farmers market, I'm addicted. I've been buying amazing veggies and gorgeous flowers. I think this year I will have to check out this winter farmers market, something I didn't do last winter.
◘ I've been reading lots. For fun. Don't ask what, it's embarrassing.
◘ Even though the herb garden didn't fare so well, the African violets are looking good.
◘ I stood up in my cousin's wedding. It was gorgeous up on the North Shore, we ate well, had good wine, and danced a lot.
◘ I've had good coffee/tea and conversation with some friends recently.
◘ I finally got the nerve to introduce myself to this cool old lady I always see at the grocery store. She wears all purple every day and wears huge, round glasses with violet-tinted lenses. Her name is Norma and she appreciated my compliments of her outstanding fashion sense.
And here's what I'm looking forward to:
◘ Seeing some friends this weekend that we don't see as often as we'd like.
◘ Cooking and/or drinking wine with said friends.
◘ Going on an early fall scenic drive with Austin.
◘ More reading for fun.
Etiquetes de comentaris: cooking, daily, family, freetime, friends, good things, weekend, work
More Bullet Blogging
I've been behind on blogging so the only solution is more bullet points to bring me up to speed. I kind of like posting that way, maybe that's why I am enjoying my new
Twitter account thingie. Anyway, here's the latest in random order.
Stuff That's Happened◘ I finished my little summer stint at The Office.
◘ I visited with my sister and lots of other fam.
◘ I've gone on lots of walks in the company of my little shuffle or my friends.
◘ I had lunch with Sharon on Grand Avenue.
◘ I've gone to campus several times to work on random stuff. I'll be officially under contract next Monday so I'm enjoying the last days of unscheduled time.
◘ I made my friends
Cath and Siena a tortilla for lunch and Catherine shared French Granny's secret dessert recipe with me. Puff pastry and fresh berries, mmm!
Stuff That's Coming Up◘ My cousin's bachelorette party downtown St. Paul. Anyone been to Pazzaluna?
◘ Fall Semester
◘ My cousins' weddings (note the apostrophe s- two cousins are getting married two consecutive weekends in the Duluth area).
Etiquetes de comentaris: family, friends, good things, work
Bullet Blogging
So yeah, it's been awhile. Lots of things big and small were happening in all spheres of my life at once so I decided to take a blog vacation. Now I'm back and will bullet point some of what I've been up to.
◘ My nephew was born but had a little infection so I spent a lot of time reading his parents' blog and sending positive vibes out into the universe. Conner got to go home on the 23rd so he's doing much better.
◘ I cooked dinner for my inlaws for the first time and it was a success! We were up at the family cabin so I made Shrimp Monterrey and brought fresh greens, bread, and raspberries from the Farmers Market.
◘ I hung out with LeeAnne two more times; one day we went to Anodyne for iced coffees and last Tuesday we had lunch at San Pedro Cafe. It was our farewell since she is moving to Tucson for grad school. LeeAnne also very thoughtfully gave me all of her pantry items that she couldn't move so I got nice stuff like olive oil, interesting vinegars, cake flour, superfine sugar, etc.
◘ My parents came to watch the Mighty Sand Crabs play volleyball. We drank some good wine and went to Coffee Grounds for a tasty breakfast the next day.
◘ I went to my cousin's wedding shower and helped her organize an Italian themed bachelorette party. Anyone been to Pazzaluna?
◘ I worked at The Office.
◘ I worked on campus on some research stuff.
◘ I watched the first tomato of my vines ripen and am trying to decide what to do with it. I also watched my morning glories start blooming, beautiful pinks and purples.
◘ I've taken lots of walks in the company of my Shuffle and with friends. Today I went on a walk with a new friend and we had a great conversation.
◘ I've looked forward to Sharon's wedding in Iowa City for which we are leaving tomorrow morning.
◘ I read Harry Potter!
Etiquetes de comentaris: cooking, family, freetime, friends, good things, work
Friday
It's Friday, the only day this week I'm not at The Office but the one day I will be at The Campus. I'll be working with two colleagues on a project that we are trying to complete over the summer.
After that, I'll run a few errands and then do some cleaning in preparation for my parents' visit. They are coming tomorrow and we're taking them out for dinner at a haibachi grill restaurant, something they've been talking about trying for awhile. Then on Sunday, we're taking them to breakfast at a favorite coffee shop where my dad previously had been disappointed by arriving too late for a breakfast sandwich that he was craving.
It'll be a great weekend and then early next week, I get to see my good friend, Bad Z!
Etiquetes de comentaris: family, friends, weekend, work
Updates
It's been awhile since I've posted. Since I've started working part time at The Office, I've been really busy because I've also got some side projects with the university going on.
I also took a little time to go Up North to visit my parents. My mom and I went out to Red Oak Studio to have a painting by my Grampa framed. Roger, the framer (framist?) is an amazing artist who makes everything an aesthetic delight with just the right frame, mat, etc. He did all of our honeymoon art and we were entirely pleased. I can't wait to see how my Grampa original turns out.
My mom and I also went to a pottery place and to some little shops in my hometown. I went back to the craft store where I worked and while lots had changed, it was like walking back 10 years in time (in a good way).
Austin and I ran some errands over the weekend. Among them, I had to stop at the ATM that's in the bank drive-through. I deposited a check and then decided to get cash too. I was so intent on getting my receipt and changing some settings that I forgot my cash! A car behind me on the street was honking and waving like mad. A woman had noticed and sent her teenage daughter to get my money for me. The young lady came running across the parking lot with my $40 and I hugged the sweetie for her efforts! They probably thought I was crazy and I definitely felt that way after leaving my cash but I was touched at the honesty and thoughtfulness of their act. It also made up for the fact that someone in a giant black SUV, talking on a cellphone, had just cut me off and given ME the finger. I'm quick to focus on such negative instances but lots of nice things like the ATM People also happen too.
Etiquetes de comentaris: family, good things, weekend, work
The Office
Since my summer school class was canceled and staying home all day vacuuming in a dress, pearls, and heels just wasn't enough, I'm doing a little corporate stint. I guess the agony of the cube farms is paying off because I'm back to doing a bit of human resources/ recruiting/ staffing stuff. I have flexible hours and it's nice to get out and about from time to time.
Etiquetes de comentaris: work
The Conference
The conference that I attended last week was Friday and Saturday but I left on Thursday to see some friends and run a few errands. First I had lunch with my cousin Lisa (whose wedding I'm in this September) and we met downtown Mpls. It was Thursday, Farmers Market day, so I enjoyed walking around and taking that in. I worked downtown the summer of 2004 so it brought back some memories of my escape from grad school and brief return to the corporate life :-)
That evening, I was able to go to my friend LeeAnne's dress fitting at Brides of France which was really fun and she looked amazing. Then we went to happy hour at Figlio. Ah, the days when I lived mere blocks from $2 wine and $2 gorgonzola fries... That evening, we had dinner on LeeAnne and Tom's terrace and then I crashed early to get up for the conference.
The conference itself was good and LeeAnne got to meet some of my colleagues after hearing me talk for a long time. At every session, I tried to find a possible dissertation topic among all the information and research. Second Language Acquisition and identity and culture acquisition came the closest in that little game of mine.
Friday night, LeeAnne's fiancé had plans so it was just the two of us like the good ol' days. I realized it might be the last time I hang out with LeeAnne for a while since the next time I see her will likely be at her wedding and then she'll be moving to Arizona. We did our usual cooking and sipping wine and just talking way too late.
I woke up a lot during the night and finally got up around 5:30 to get ready for the day. I was presenting with my colleagues at 8:00 so I wanted time to wake up, collect my thoughts, etc. The presentation went well and I stayed at the conference until about 2:00. Then it was home for anniversary stuff.
Etiquetes de comentaris: friends, work
Conferencing
I'm off to a conference for a few days and get to visit with my friend, LeeAnne, who will be getting married on July 7. Mixin' business with pleasure, oh yeah!
Etiquetes de comentaris: friends, weekend, work
Finalizing Final Exams & Grades
Last week sort of flew by since it was final exam week. On Tuesday, my colleagues and I wrapped up a project that we had been working on since January; we are making it into a presentation for early June and are hopeful that it will also be published in article format. We'll see, either way it turned out well and it feels good to have some closure on it.
Thursday I gave all my final exams and then took myself out to lunch, grading while I waited for my crab salad sandwich and garbanzo pancetta soup. The little cafe was rather busy so I got a lot of grading done and then headed to my salon for a haircut. This was followed by more grading.
On Friday, I went to visit some friends that I had met at my very first job out of college. Usually, you don't stay in touch with people like that but we went through a traumatic management experience together and I guess that's what solidified the friendship. They had a bonfire and we just relaxed and caught up.
On Saturday, I went to a friend's grad party. He had finished his Masters in International Management, very cool and had I stayed in a corporate setting, I think I would have considered such a degree. The party was wonderful- perfect decorations, awesome food, and it was fun to see some old friends again.
Saturday night I was back home again. Home alone, even, since Austin had gone off to fight in the Great Paintball War (aka his annual paintball/camping event with the boys). I enjoyed the night to myself and watched a chick flick set in Paris.
Sunday I ran some errands with the intention of making Austin a really nice meal, both because I had been too busy to cook lately and because I thought he might enjoy it after a weekend of subsisting on hotdogs and beer and cigars. The meal I had in mind was from the most recent issue of Bon Appetit but my culinary endeavors lacked the results I was hoping for.
First off, I made a lemon cream tart with a champagne-berry compote for the top. This actually turned out the best of the dishes except that I inadvertently bought a larger pie crust than I had intended so the tart itself was nestled down in a giant crust and looked ridiculous.
The other dishes (sorry, too lazy for hyperlinks) were roasted shrimp in a champagne-shallot sauce with an orzo shallot risotto. Well, the roasted shrimp turned out nicely (just tossed them with olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and some lemon zest-- can't go wrong there) but the champagne-shallot sauce was really runny and had been reduced to the point that it was too sweet. The orzo risotto turned out like a San Francisco treat gone wrong. It wasn't bad... it just wasn't good. Plus the recipe said you just throw all the liquid on top of the risotto and let it absorb. When I made more authentic risotto (also rice and not pasta based), you added the liquid in a number of additions, waiting for absorption before adding more. I have no idea what the science is but maybe that's what made a difference?
Anyway, we basically ate all the shrimp and had a nibble of the risotto. The tart was really good in spite of its unfortunate aesthetics and that recipe just might be made again. I probably won't try the other dishes again since there are other recipes that produce a similar effect that I know will yield better results. Ah well, that's how it goes.
Now it's time to spend most of the day finalizing the grades. They aren't due until tomorrow evening but hopefully I can finish them today. Then it's off to another Sand Crab v-ball game. Pinch, pinch!
Etiquetes de comentaris: cooking, weekend, work
I Love My Job
After feeling the end-of-semester slump lately, today was a welcome change and is one of those days that reminds me of why I love my job. Very few people get to do this at work:
-make students rap about the subjunctive
-watch students do a chicken dance
-make a peanut butter sandwich and receive a round of applause
Somehow, all of my classes were working on command forms so we got to do some fun activities. In one section, the gave each other commands to do things (hence the rapping and dancing) and in the other, I had them give me commands on making the sandwich. I was very literal so when they told me to open the jar of peanut butter, I pretended I couldn't because I was still holding the bread. They had to tell me to set the bread down, then open the jar, etc. Super fun day.
Etiquetes de comentaris: work
