Three Day Weekend

Tonight is the start of my Three Day Birthday Weekend!

Run, Run, Run

Today was pleasantly surprising with several good things happening in my life for a change. I even got Paul to agree to go to a Marriage class at church, but as I arrived at the church (at 6:15pm), Paul was suppose to meet me there, I was on the phone with him and suddenly he said he had "been hit" by another car. Luckily it ended up being a minor accident, but it still put a cloud on an otherwise surprisingly good day.

My "pic of the day" was taken in between hearing from Paul that he had "been hit" and waiting for him to call me back with details, and calling my mom on my cell just to talk to someone before I knew more info. During this time the tree in my church parking lot caught my eye and I had to grab a quick pic of it showing its fall colors while I was talking to my mom. Paul turned out to be ok and our car only had minor damages; we arrived late to the church class only for me to leave early to make it to a 8:30 pm PEK meeting. Whew what a day...I'm still trying to digest it all!

Calmer Day

I had a pleasant surprise today as I ended up with an unexpected three hour block of nearly uninterrupted time to work on projects and emails at work today, how nice! It definitely felt like a prayer had been answered as I had time to finally put out some fires and feel like I was getting back on top of a few things. Still there is more I would have liked to have done before my afternoon resumed with appointments. Getting ready to run back into work for a professional fraternity recruitment info session tonight.

Cooler Temps

A cool morning turned into a perfect fall day. We had the coolest night/morning since May 13th. I wish I could have enjoyed it more instead of rushing around so much. I did enjoy not breaking out in a sweat for the first time since last spring when I made the trek across campus to teach class this afternoon. At least Paul and I got to take a walk after I got home from work, even if it was hurried.

Editing Photos

I spent today editing the wedding pictures I took yesterday by cropping, color contrasting and changing some to soft focus and black & white. My "pic of the day" is of one of those pics with a soft focus added around the edges.

Here Comes the Bride

Today involved a busy day of taking pics at my cousin's wedding.

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TGIF

A long Friday at work, but TGIF!

First Day of Fall

It's the first day of fall and going along with that theme they closed the pool at our apt. complex. It was a warm day, but judging by the extended forecast, it was one of our last really warm 80+ degree days. The start of fall means that the beginning of the fall tv season has also started and I'm off to watch the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice!

Early Morning Workout

I was proud of myself that I again got up at 6 am to hit the gym even on a very wet, gray and soggy morning. Later the rain burned off and it became warm and humid as I had to go out and about on campus. A long day which included some disappointing news and a late evening meeting.

Wrist Guard

My "pic of the day" is of my husband's new hand-made wrist guard. He's become affiliated with a group that does medieval reenactment and archery. Last week he did some archery and ended up with a large bruise on his inner arm/wrist area. So this week some of the other members helped to make him a wrist guard, cut down to size from leather fabric; hole punched with a small fabric hole puncher of sorts; and then tied together with a shoe string. We've noticed how the group getting together to make their hand-made costumes is somewhat analogues to a group that gathers to scrapbook. Each one uses their own creativity and embellishments to design their own personal product.

Hot in Late September

My "pic of the day" is of a hot air balloon that flew over the top of our apt. last night. It was so close it was like we could touch it. Today was so warm, over 90, that I actually went for a swim after I came home from work. One a side note, I was very thankful that my husband was productive today.

Flowers

My "pic of the day" is of a little vase of small roses that I bought mom for her birthday. I got them at Hy-Vee where Paul, mom and I stopped to get a few items for lunch after church. It was raining so hard when we went to leave that Paul went to get the car and I made an excuse to go back inside to get the flowers for mom.

Meanwhile Paul looped around the parking lot to the entrance to pick us up and my mom wouldn't get in the car with Paul because it would leave me without an umbrella. Paul didn't understand why she wouldn't get in, and after about four loops, mom got worried about what happened to me so she went back inside the store to look for me. At that same time I soon came outside. Then Paul looped around again and with the heavy rain I wasn't sure if it was our car because I thought there should be two people in the car and I only saw one. So he rolled down the window and yelled for me to get in, and then we had to loop around the parking lot again until my mom gave up the search for me and was outside at the entrance again...all for my flower surprise for her birthday!

Mom's Birthday

Mom was visiting today in celebration of her birthday. We enjoyed time at the park (although it was almost too hot to enjoy), time at the pool and a really good steak dinner with free dessert which made it even better. We also learned more about mom's new Farmville obsession.

TGIF

TGIF! I was glad to finish out this hectic week, and I had quite a busy Friday to round it all off. At least the weekend has begun, I have a movie rental ready to watch and a Pickleman's delivery en route. My "pic of the day" is of the building going up very close to the edge of our apt. complex.

Catching Up

Today was a rare day at work free of appointments, meetings and classes and I was able to get caught up on a lot of email and to get a handle on the work that piled up while I was out sick last week.

On a side note, my "pic of the day" is of a large toadstool that arrived after the recent rain along the sidewalk leading up to my apartment. I saw the toadstool yesterday morning as I was leaving for work but the camera I carry on me had dead batteries. When I got home last night it was too dark and rainy to take the pic, so I took this pic before leaving for work this morning even though someone had broken it off from it's stem in the meantime. I love the texture of its top and contrast between the earthy browns and rich greens.

Some Breathing Room

I was relieved today and could breathe a sigh of relief when the final piece of my PhD application (letter of recommendation) was submitted just hours before the deadline today. Also after another nearly 12 hour day, I was able to feel like I was making a dent in my backlog of work and the snowball effect that was happening around me from being out sick.

Long Day

Another long 12 hour day after not being able to sleep and only getting 3.5 hours of sleep last night. I'm also quietly panicking as I wait for my last letter of recommendation to be submitted so that my PhD application will be complete while the application deadline of 5 pm tomorrow continues to hurdle towards me.

Back at Work

Today I returned to work. What a day...I didn't get home until 7 pm and continued to check email until 9 pm. I was trying desperately to clear the backlog of over 200 messages in my inbox this evening! I was successful in getting my inbox down to 80.

Today I also experienced a taste of what it is like to be a student again. I went to turn in what I thought was my last piece of my PhD application just to find out that a my undergrad transcripts were not carried over in my application like I thought they were. Apparently when one applies as a Master's student and submits all undergrad transcripts after a certain time they go into archives and are NOT included when one reactivates the file and applies to a PhD program. I had a panic with the deadline just two days away and knowing that I did not have at least one of my many undergrad transcripts at home that I could send in a copy of. I had to contact grad admissions and my previous master's dept. office to see if they could resurrect the files, luckily they could. In the process I took my eye glasses off in the bathroom and ended up leaving them there, only to realize about an hour later as I was running between teaching classes and a fieldwork meeting across campus. What a day back! Luckily my mad dash back to the bathroom proved to find my eye glasses in tact, Praise, as goodness knows I can't afford a pair of glasses right now!

I chose this "pic of the day" as a symbol of me "gulping for air"!

Signs of Fall

Signs of fall seem to have made their way into our neighborhood. I'm seeing a lot of tree leaves starting to change shades as the official start of fall is about a week and a half away. I'm also finding myself still trying to get well.

Paul's Video Shoot

My "pic of the day" is of Paul returning home with all his video equipment after being on the go for over 14 hours today for his first video shoot of The Normal which included directing at least a total of 17 actors, extras and crew. I had a much easier day of trying to sleep in and trying to get well.

Still Sick

I was still sick today and didn't go to work. When I checked on things via my work email I found a lot of "emergencies" that had sprung up which took several hours of emailing to fix.

A Little Bit Better

I was a little bit better today, but still had that "run over by a bus" feeling. My "pic of the day" is of this evening. It's kind of funny to feel the cooler temperatures and see the rain fall with the pool in the background (view from our balcony).

Sicker

So this morning started with me attempting to go to work, but getting sick in the bathroom before I ever got into the shower. Needless to say I was home sick again today, so after I emailed into work I called and got a doctor's appt. for this afternoon where I got antibiotics for my upper respiratory infection. I spent the rest of the day resting. It took me over 30 minutes to email all the folks involved with work to explain that I wouldn't be there and make alternate plans especially since I had an event I was organizing this morning, two classes I was supposed to teach this afternoon and a professional fraternity meeting I was supposed to attend tonight. Made me realize how much responsibility I had in one day.

Sick

My "pic of the day" sums the day up as I had to stay close to my Kleenex box all day.

Not Feeling Well

This day was spent with me not feeling so well. I started feeling something coming on Saturday and I've slowly felt worse in my sinuses, ears and throat since then with the worst of it being today. Leave it to me to wind up sick on the three day Labor Day weekend.

Visit

Today I enjoyed attending church with my mom and husband (something that doesn't occur very often) followed by a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesday's (thanks to mom), getting several tasks around the apartment done, and saving my laptop files to a new hard drive so I could give my old laptop to my mom. After mom left, Paul and I watched a few movies and some tv. I had a nice visit with my mom this weekend.

Nice Day

Trying to buy a gift from the Wal-Mart wedding gift registry could not have been more difficult today. Outside of that, it was a pretty sun-filled day with temps in the 70's and no humidity. My mom was in town to visit and we spent several hours on the patio at Houlihan's enjoying their happy hour, the warm evening and talking.

Snake

Paul and I came across this dead snake on our walk around the apartment complex tonight. We've lived here for over four years and have never come across a snake on any of our walks. The snake was far away from our apartment and at the edge of the little paved road that winds throughout the complex, so someone obviously ran over it.

In other news today, I was finally able to tie up loose ends on many work projects, before the three day weekend, that had created extra work for me all week because I was waiting on other folks to do their jobs. TGIF!

A Better Day

Today was a better day. I had an advisor's meeting first thing and then completed my first newsletter for the advisor's group covering the info at the meeting. Then I completed my first core conditioning yoga class which was quite intense.

I'm starting to see signs of the seasons changing from summer into fall. My "pic of the day" was taken over a week ago of a lilly pad patch where all the blossoms had dried up. Since then, I've seen several tree branches starting to change with fall colors and more leafy green plants starting to give over to the fall season.

Problems

Problems, that word pretty much sums up the day. I started the day off right by going to the gym at 6:30 am again, but then ended up having a bad start to the day before I even left the apartment. The day continued off on the wrong foot as I forgot my umbrella and ended up mistaking one of our new faculty members for the new GA. Then I opened my email to find all kinds of problems from my students. Their issues were things that should not even be problems and actually ended up preventing me from tackling real problems. Then, my laptop had major technical problems and ruined my PowerPoint presentation for my class that I teach. And lastly, the online database that I was dearly hoping would be back online today wasn't and that caused me more long term problems.

Oddly enough the most sensible thing I ran across all day was a quote that was in my husband's fortune cookie tonight, "You can't solve problems for those people who don't want their problems solved." So true, I think some folks want to stay in a permanent state of "problemhood" or like the attention that problems get them. I chose my "pic of the day" because it would be nice to have a lion scaring away all folks with nonproblem problems.