Obstacles

Wishing I didn't have a hundred little obstacles preventing the completion of any one task I have on my plate right now. The routine of start, stop...start, stop...start, stop isn't getting me anywhere. I need a hot air balloon to take me up, up and away.

Early Morning Workout

I was proud to make my goal this morning of getting up at 6 am and completing my workout before going to work, and on a Monday to boot! My early morning workout seemed to give me more mental clarity and overall energy throughout the day, especially this morning. I also really enjoyed not having to hit the gym after getting out of work at 6 pm tonight. I think my decision to workout in the morning to try and add some time to my evening paid off. Now to keep up the morning routine.

Shooting Stars

My "pic of the day" is of the "Shooting Stars" Carnival themed Wii game. I chose this pic because for a brief time tonight I held the winning score of 90% while playing against my husband! He then quickly surpassed my top score by shooting out 94% of the star target.

Keeping Up

My hair was growing so fast and so thick, that I had to move my hair cut up a week earlier to today. I've been going to the same stylist for over three years now and one of the other stylists made a comment that I should have my stylist do highlights on my hair again since it really made my hair "pop" the other time. Wish I could afford to, I had just started getting highlights when Paul lost his job several years ago. In addition to getting told that I should get highlights, this week I also was told that I should get a BlackBerry or some kind of mobile phone with internet so I could keep up with my friends online. Both highlights and cell phones with internet are luxuries that I can't afford right now. I'm starting to feel really left behind when meeting new people when everyone gets out their iPhone to add me to facebook and looks at me to do the same. I've also run into several situations where folks use their phones to get immediate updates of emails or facebook messages to stay in the loop and I'm several days behind because I didn't have time to go online on my home computer for email etc. after I got home from a long day. Worse yet we don't even have a text plan for the cell phones we have.

A Calmer Day

TGIF! I think we were all glad to put the first week of the fall semester behind us, and to enjoy a calmer day in comparison to how the first part of the week unfolded. I managed to get out of work ahead of schedule, get to the gym and enjoy some of the evening to watch a movie.

A Good Friend

It was such a pretty day today - warm yet not hot and without all the humidity- and I was so disappointed that I didn't have time to go out and enjoy any of it. It was a busy day with student appointments and first week of the semester questions. However, I did get to enjoy a nice two hour chat with a good a friend in a local coffee shop after work.

Tedious

A long day with lots of tedious problems (with organizing events and text books) that monopolized my time. The day left me desiring a peacful place as in this "pic of the day".

Trivia Win

A busy day dealing with the second day of the semester at work; then working out after making my way through traffic across town; and then rushing to get to our Tuesday night trivia on time. Good thing too, because our team won a $25 gift certificate to Heidleburg for 2nd place. Kudos to my husband for all his trivia knowledge that helped our team be winners! Next week our team will get to cash in our gift certificate and enjoy some appetizers:)

First Day of School

It was the first day of school for whole-lot-a students at MU today. A grand total of 6,160 freshman called MU their new academic home today (last year's freshmen class totaled 5,620), with a total of 32,009 undergraduate and graduate students combined enrollment. The University reports that it has the largest freshmen, and combined enrollment totals that they've had in history.

MU Street Signs

My "pic of the day" is of the new street signs that they've put up on all the streets in and around the University of Missouri where I work. I heard on the news that the MU Alumni Association funded the campus project to replace the former standard green and white street signs with the MU themed "black & gold" colors complete with logo. Keep in mind that nothing was wrong with the green and white street signs. This campus project reportedly cost $5000, and every time I see one of these signs I can't help but think that the money could have been used toward scholarships or some other much needed campus improvement project. It really makes me angry to say the least, especially when I just heard from a student this past week that her dream of attending MU was shattered because her mom couldn't afford to send her.

Back to Normal

A calm day full of sunshine and humidity followed the thunderstorms or "monsoons" that we received last night. To follow-up from yesterday's post, we found out that only three people were seriously injured in last night's multi-vehicle crashes in which 22 vehicles were involved. It seems that 10 vehicles, including a semi and an RV were involved in the major crash. We passed by the same intersection this evening nearly 24 hours later and it was so cleaned up and back to normal that it was hard to believe the wreckage that we saw just the night before.

Today was a pretty uneventful day, I slept in, worked out, did the checkbook, had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and now we're getting ready to watch the movie, Everybody's Fine.

Thunderstorms

Major thunderstorms bellowed down and caused flooding around the local area this afternoon and evening. During one of the thunderstorms, heavy rains served as a catalyst for a 16 vehicle wreck on I-70 around 6:30 pm which caused a semi to jack knife and an RV to run into it. Paul and I happened to be driving along the overpass just above the interstate where the wreck occurred so we had a bird's eye view of it. It was quite shocking and I believe it was the worst accident I've ever seen. Makes on think how fast everything can change!

Happy Hour at Houlihan's

Our meet-up group got together for a well deserved Happy Hour at Houlihan's this evening. We were there talking, eating and drinking for three hours! It was nice to relax and talk with old friends and meet new ones after a day at work of answering a lot of questions and organizing a lot of students and things for the semester to start on Monday.

Busy & Frenzied Day

Today was a busy day which included having a meeting with the student who will serve as a peer leader in one of my upcoming fall classes that I will teach, and our last day of summer welcome. We advised over 450 freshmen this summer who went through our departmental summer welcome! Whew (and that's not counting the transfer students)! Outside of work I had a busy evening this evening and was delayed getting home due to the heavy traffic that was buzzing around campus with res hall move-ins and the last summer welcome session. My "pic of the day" is illustrative of the frenzied approach.

Curve Balls

Today was the day for curve balls in the office. My "pic of the day" was chosen to illustrate the twists and turns.

Returning

Returning was kind of a running theme for today. The students start returning to campus this week, the annual events are returning, and the steady pace of emails and phone calls is returning as we get ready to start yet another semester. This morning I met with several students who darted in our department to ask class related questions while I worked on organizing an annual fall advising event, and I met with a few more incoming freshmen and transfer students during August Welcome this afternoon.

This evening was perfect for a swim as the pool water was still very warm following the 100+ heat index heat wave, and the temp of the day in the 80s made for a nice swim.

Sunday

We made an impromptu run to Central Dairy in Jeff City to get waffle cones of Moose Tracks ice cream today after church. Then we spent time in the pool and relaxed this evening.

Up in the Sky

My "pic of the day" represents a theme from this evening, (although this pic was taken at an airshow in May and has nothing to do with what my husband and I saw in the sky this evening).

My husband and I were in the pool at almost 8 p.m. when we noticed an object up in the sky that didn't look like a plane or anything familiar. It was kind of boxy in shape, it didn't leave a vapor trail like airplanes do, and it didn't make any noise as it flew across the sky. It seemed to shimmer from the setting sun (or by itself) and then it vanished as fast as it appeared. We saw the flying object three more times (or three different ones) in a space of about 10 minutes or so, and at one point it was flying next to an airplane for a short time. UFO or Whiteman AFB aircraft, you be the judge, but at any rate it was very strange!

After we came inside, we watched the movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, so our " up in the sky" themed evening continued.

Disappointment

We waited all week for news regarding an interview Paul had, and we received disappointing news tonight that he was not selected. We really need something positive to happen in our lives, some good news, just anything good for a change to help encourage us. We've either had hardships or moments of heightened expectations followed by debilitating disappointment for 2.5 years now while we've watched those around us prosper. Sure everyone has bad times and good, but we've watched as our peers rebound from the bad, while we sink further and further into the bad without any relief of good things happening to us. It's time that something go right for us and time for us to experience some happiness.

On a lighter note we did go to the early showing of Eat, Pray, Love tonight which was a nice reprieve from our week.

Another Hot Day

It was yet again another very hot day with a heat index above 100. I went for a short walk across campus at lunch and sweat was literally dripping off my face onto my shirt. Tonight we had the kick off get together for Advisor's Forum and I got to tour the host advisor's new home.

Back to Work

Today was a bit busier as I started to get back into the swing of things at work. The best thing about today was taking a swim around 9 p.m. in water so warm that it felt like bath water (brought to us from the 100+ degree heat indices we've been having)!

Deep in Thought

My "pic of the day" is in honor of the trivia night we just got back from. Contrary to what this statue suggests, I was not deep in thought for trivia night because for most of the questions I didn't even have an educated guess. I felt very useless. We befriended a couple that was just passing through Columbia on their way to Arkansas and asked them to join our team. Good thing we did, as they ended up knowing the majority of the answers!

Today was my first day back at work from vacation, and I guess you could say I had to be deep in thought compared to what I had been doing for the previous 12 days. So the phrase "deep in thought" was a running theme of today.

Day 12

I've reached the last day of my vacation. I have to say that I started my time off with the intention of focusing on getting rest and having some fun, but a sequence of events hindered my attempt at that. I feel so tired, that I can't believe I have to go back to work feeling almost as tired as when I began my time off. If life would quit throwing us curve balls, and Paul could get his sleep schedule back on track then we could do better.

Day 11

One of the last days of my vacation was highlighted by going to church with my mom; having lunch at McAlister's Deli with my mom and Paul; watching funny kitten videos on YouTube; swimming at the pool and watching the movie, Tenure. My "pic of the day" is of a hot air balloon that recently flew so close over our apt. complex that we felt like we could reach out and touch it.

Day 10

Paul had another rehearsal for his film project today and my mom came to visit. My"pic of the day" comes from a fountain I saw while in St. Louis on Thursday.

Day 9

Not much remarkable about today. We couldn't sleep last night until after 2 a.m. so we slept in today and then did some things off our to-do lists and watched the season finale of Friday Night Lights. While watching the show, a hot air balloon floated past our window. The highlight of today is that my quest for the perfect dessert has been satisfied by the Triple Chocolate Meltdown in our backyard basically, at the Applebee's right across the street from our apt.

Day 8

For several years now I've been trying to go to the infamous Bailey's Chocolate Bar in St. Louis. This evening I finally made its acquaintance as we were in STL for Paul's business trip.

The ambiance inside of Bailey's is quite cozy and romantic with red walls and trendy decor framing small tables each featuring a lit candle and two fresh cut stem roses. The small pizzetta that Paul and I shared was really good (a little spicy), the chocolate martini I had was simply delicious, but our dessert was not what I had expected and waited for all this time to taste. The first dessert, what they call a "chocolate bar" on the menu, I actually sent back and decided to trade it for a chocolate brownie thinking that it was virtually impossible to mess up a brownie. Somehow Bailey's found a way to experiment with the brownie in an attempt to make it trendy to the point that it had lost the rich chocolate flavor I anticipated when ordering it.

I have to say that after a stressful day of getting tired, hot and sweaty, and looking forward to Bailey's all day, it did not live up to my expectation. I did see other customers enjoying desserts that looked much better than the ones I had, so my hope is that if I get a chance to go again I will be presently surprised with the right dessert choice. Other than the chocolate bar, my husband and I literally stumbled upon a "Welsh-themed" pub when we were looking for a place to brainstorm before his meeting; and I was able to get to know STL a little bit better today.

Day 7

A very hot day which felt like the tropics, and more hot days to come. Today was a "work day" as I had to catch up on my work email, complete some things at home and help Paul prepare for his business trip to St. Louis tomorrow.

Day 6

This day marks the halfway point of my vacation. The highlights of today were finally getting to eat a piece of pie at the 63 Diner (have tried several times to eat there but it was either closed for renovation or we arrived after hours), and trivia night at the Heidelberg. Paul knew an obscure answer to one of the questions, and we plan to make it a weekly Tuesday night outing. In addition, I found out that Columbia has it's own version of "FroYo" called "YogoLuv" which is a frozen yogurt store where you get to add your own toppings and create your own yogurt sundae basically. Not to worry, we did manage to watch yet another movie today. When I woke up I was flipping channels and stumbled upon a movie that was just starting and got sucked into watching it. We still don't know the name of it, lol.

It was so HOT today, near 100 degrees with a heat index above 100 just like yesterday. We found that we were pretty wiped out today after the heat and the pool time yesterday. It will be pretty much the same temp tomorrow.

Day 5

Day 5 of vacation was spent with 3.5 hours at the pool on a very hot day, and then by watching a 2.5 hour movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, a really good "who dunit"!

Day 4

Time spent at church, in the pool and watching An Unfinished Life made for a very tiring evening.