Life in Denim and Flip Flops

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. It's been a bit of a crazy week since then. Gretchen came to visit for the weekend. We went to a Gala at my work, which was fun mostly due to the wine, food, friends and a couple of decks of cards. It was fun to get dressed up and have an excuse to wear heels. Something like this certainly helps to accentuate the age difference between you and the rest of the faculty/staff. But we found our place and carved out a kid's table and made the best of it. The rest of the weekend involved finishing up my holiday shopping. Usually I don't quite leave it this late, but I really feel like December snuck up on me this year. I still don't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I forget how much I hate holiday shopping traffic, but having Gretchen along made it survivable. :) Monday I was back at work (a little late due to random insomnia night) getting ready for the fall semester and watching the impending weather forecasts with a close eye....

So for the past 3 years, I've been a nerdfighter and a fan of John and Hank Green . The last 2 years on December 17, they've launched the Project for Awesome to take over the YouTube most discussed and most rated pages for charity. People make videos and rate and comment and favorite those to the top, bringing awareness to those charities. On top of that John and Hank have put up money to the charities championed in their favorite videos. In the past, I've only participated in the commenting portion of the day. I've had some really great discussion in the comments with people I've met from around the world. This year I decided to change that. I made a video talking about the Kids Need to Read Foundation . an organization I'm donating to for Christmas this year. Enjoy it below. And don't forget to go to YouTube and search for Project for Awesome (P4A) videos all day, to do something good for charity.

I've got a bunch going on this week. I really need to get Christmas cards written and sent out. I send out too many, and they've been getting progressively later each year. I swear they will be out by the end of the week! Which reminds me, if I don't have your address, you should fill it out here . Even if you haven't moved recently, I seem to have lost some addresses in the new computer shuffle in March. I've also got to clean the apartment. Gretchen is coming this weekend to visit. She's going to be my date to the Gala. Someone's got to keep me company. Events are always fun with her, and besides one my coworkers is threatening to bring a deck of cards for entertainment. Hopefully we can both finish Christmas shopping too. (I'm also behind on that.) I need to decorate the apartment for the holidays. My penguins and Christmas tree are up in my office, but my other two trees haven't been pulled out of the spare bedroom yet. Oops. Plus I've got me...

I used to love recess. I went to a small K-8 school growing up. There were about 160 students total. My class hovered at about 21 students. 19 of those kids went to school with me all the way from kindergarten to 8th grade. Needless to say, we were close. And thankfully for the most part we got along. (Ok, I spent one year coming home crying after school, but for the story's sake let's ignore that.) We had plenty of recess time each day. We played basketball, football, kickball, dodgeball, and jsut about any other sport we could get our hands on the equipment for. But I think my favorite game we played was Sinissippi Trails. The game was a winter game, when it was way too cold and snowy to play anything else. Playing on the snow mounds and starting snowball fights were good ways to get in trouble, so we had to find some other way to entertain ourselves. I wish I could remember who's brilliant idea it was to do this, but I can't. The game was basically a tripped out vers...

Here's a short snow rant. I actually like things about snow and winter, I promise. But today the stuff I'm not so fond of. frozen eyelashes- I hate when you feel like if you blink too long your eyelashes will freeze to your face. Or when it melts against your cheek as you walk inside. I feel like I must look like I'm constantly crying. people that don't clear their sidewalks well-Whether that be by only salting and not shoveling, shoveling early so that a sheen of ice can form, or not shoveling at all, it's just not cool. people who drive too fast-I believe the motto "I trust myself to drive, just not everyone else." One person driving unsafely can cause problems for so many people. when snow becomes rock hard ice-If you get wet snow (as opposed to that dry blowing stuff) and then it get really cold you get solid hunks of ice that are impossible to shovel. cleaning off your car when its covered in ice- Ask my mom about that one. She helped with an epic ice...

You didn't think that was coming did you? I know that I promised a rant about getting to work. And you'll get it. Just not today. Today I'm gonna talk about a pair of cool new gloves I got. I mentioned them to Christina on twitter the other day. They're grey elbow length fingerless gloves with ruffles and a bow. They're so freaking cute. I wore them under a heavy red cardigan sweater. Our reference desk gets a little cool during the winter and my hands tend to freeze. My solution at home (to the same problem) has been to cut the fingertips out of those cheap 2 pair for a dollar gloves. Not exactly the most professional way to do it. My mom and sister found these new gloves at Aldo. I love them!! They totally keep my hands warm as well as my forearms without having to wear 2 layers of long sleeves! I told Christina I'd get her a picture. So here it is. Aren't they adorable? Now I just need them in a few more colors. Also, if you haven't seen Christina...

As of the writing of this blog, we are still on for class tomorrow. Most of the public schools in the area have canceled. I have this horrible feeling we'll be a last minute, early morning cancellation, which means I have to get up early and check my email or catch the radio at the right time. Either way I have to wake up at normal/early time. Boo. Anyway, on to the chronicling of the "blizzard of doom." Walking to work this morning wasn't bad at all. It was snowing lightly, and my only complaint was dealing with it snowing into my face. It continued to snow til about 11. Then we got a few hours of clear weather, but mid-afternoon brought the return of the snow. I snuck out a little early to mail a package. As my luck would have it, the wind had changed and I now got snow in my face on the way home too! The sidewalks weren't too bad if you took slow short steps. When I got home I took some pictures and decided to take them every 2 hours or so for comparison. This ...

I've decided this winter I'm living vicariously through Christina. I've always lived in places that snow all winter. I do really like snow in some circumstances. The first time you get a really big snow, and you get up early sneak outside on the fresh snow and you experience the hush. That part I like. The shoveling, trudging through snow, wearing boots and bringing shoes, getting ice on your eyelashes, feeling cold for the first 30 mins of work, and walking on ice...those, not so much. The idea of wearing shorts on Christmas Eve is one I have no problem with imagining this year. And documenting this snowstorm, thundersnow, blizzard thing for Christina so she can live vicariously through me could be lots of fun. I'll keep you updated on what one of my students is calling the "blizzard of doom" tomorrow!

The snow is coming; the snow is coming! I decided to stock up on food and necessities before the snow starts to fall. 1-3 inches are forecast tonight, and 3-6 inches on Wednesday. I tend to become a hermit in winter and don't really drive anywhere unless necessary. So grocery shopping becomes a bit insane. Today I went a little overboard and bought food for 4 different entrees. I should be set for about 2 weeks. Which is good, after I looked at the new forecast. Wednesday's totals could be 6-12 inches, on top of the 1-3 inches from tonight. I'm pulling for the minimum 7 inches, but planned for the 15. And the snow is just the start. Apparently they're worried about wind and blowing snow and possible blizzard conditions. So after doing all the food shopping I ventured out again to buy snow pants. I found some on sale for $15 at the farm supply store. Might just turn out to be the best purchase ever this winter as much walking to work through non-shoveled sidewalk as I do...

Since I didn't do it Thursday I thought I'd list a few things I loved this week for my post today. entertaining fans-The guys who sat behind us at the Badger basketball game kept me giggling during the second half with references to Tony Kukoc (old-school white boy basketball reference), "Wait so Bucky isn't a real dude," and their desire to have a Forrest/Jenny yelling moment across the Kohl Center with their friend. watching the students rush the court-Watching UW beat Duke was amazing. What I really loved was seeing the students rush the court after the game and remembering what that was like. I'm not usually a small enclosed spaces person, but with all that adrenaline I didn't seem to mind! introducing my director to the "in your pants" theory-Apparently I'd never told the library director about the game of adding "in your pants" to a book title. I did so while there was a cart of donated seminary books in the offices. OMG were ...

This week it has been really evident that the students are ready to be done. The buzz in the library has been a bit insane. Both the computer lab and public computer area have been at capacity, and finding an empty study table has been impossible. We've got a whole week and a half before finals. It's only going to get worse. The one thing that has really helped has been bringing in some "white noise" to chill the place out a little. It really does calm the nerves and keep people from really noticing the noise. At this point last year, it would get so quiet in the library that even loud typing was starting to annoy people. The ambient noise just keeps everything at a low hum so little noises aren't annoying, and the big noises aren't as noticeable. The reference desk and the circ area have just been overwhelmed. We can never keep up with shelving this time of year, but this year it seems worse. So many students are returning things now that we're having a h...

I really ought to get started on my Christmas cards. Each year I write out a list of people I want to cards to. Then I begin the real search, finding everyone's address. This used to be the easiest part. All I had to know was their box number. Then I decided to start asking in emails and tagging them with "addresses." And cobble that together with what I could find in facebook. This year, I'm going to put them all in one place. Well actually, you're going to help me. If you could be so kind as to fill out the form below, I'd love you forever. Oh, and I'll send you a Christmas card. And a birthday card too! Don't worry, no one can see this but me. It dumps it into a spreadsheet that I can organize and sort :) Thanks!! Loading...

I was planning on blogging something substantial and coherent tonight, but then I got sidetracked by the amazing UW-Duke game. We pulled it off. Led the whole freaking game. The students rushed the court. Duke was the #6 team in the country...and undefeated. But now they are 6-1 and I'm guessing they won't be #6 come Monday :) What an adrenaline rush! I'm gonna watch Glee now, cause I won't be sleeping for a bit!

Today was a scheduling day. Anne Marie and I schedule our library sessions together because it's a bit of a complex process. We see one course 6-8 times a semester. This spring there are 12 sections of that class. This results in 90 course sessions. Oh, and a third of those sections aren't in computer labs (pretty much as must for us!). And two of those non-lab sections are at the same time. :) Plus there's the difficulty of trying to keep the multiple sections a prof teaches together on the same day. That's just one of the 4 courses we see multiple times a semester. Needless to say, two people are a total must. Anne Marie is the organized and detail oriented one. I'm the one who draws on a calendar and sees the big picture of how to fit it all together. It totally works. Well most of the time. We've gotten a bit more creative this semester, putting multiple classes together, using overflow classrooms, and arranging 3-party room switches. As insane as this sound...

Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone. – Gladys Bertha Stern, British author, critic (1890-1973) Someone sent this quote around at work today. It really got me thinking. I always give up something during Lent to mark the season, but I never really do anything special during Advent. I think to mark the passage of December I'm going to send out a not-so-silent email of thanks to a different person each day. Someone I don't tell nearly enough how much I appreciate them. Or someone who I appreciate for something they might not know they do. I realize this is a bit insane to do on top of all the stuff I need to be doing in the next few weeks, (and blogging everyday for another 2 weeks), but I like projects. And doing a little bit at a time is nice. And to be honest, it's been one of those years where I think we can all use a little extra smile during the holidays. So keep your eyes peeled for an email. :)

Wow. A 9-day break from work makes it awfully hard to go back. It was a nice break from reality, but I need to get working on prep for next semester. Just remind me next year, not to schedule 4 classes on the first day back! I'll see you on the flip side!

So when you celebrate 2 holidays over the course of 4 days involving a total of 19 people over the age of 12 (and 2 toddlers), you need a lot of food. I thought I'd chronicle a little of that for you. If you've visited my house during this festival of food, you know I'm not kidding when I say we have a lot of food. You saw a bit of the candy prep earlier this week, but that's just part of it. We have the traditional spread for Thanksgiving: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, rolls, fresh veggies and dip, etc. The countertop looked like this: Our dessert table was a bit ridiculous this year though. There are always way more desserts than necessary, and they tend to last us the whole weekend. This year was no exception. There were the following desserts this year: 3 pies (apple, cherry, pecan) 2 cheesecakes (pumpkin, mint chocolate chip) 6 kinds of cookies (chocolate chip, peanut butter, chocolate w/ peanut butter chips, snicker doodles, butter...

I've found a new aerobic exercise. We play ping-pong (table tennis) at my house during Thanksgiving/Christmas. Usually we tend to play round robin, which for those of you not lucky enough to have witnessed this involves playing with multiple people, hitting one shot, dropping the paddle and running around the table. When all of the grandkids were little they would be someone's handicap. You'd carry them with you while you ran around the ping pong table all the while playing. If you were good enough (or lucky enough) to make it to the finals, you hit the shot, drop the paddle, spun around, picked up the paddle and hit the shot. Rinse and repeat this til someone missed. When you had a kid in one arm this spinning element usually came with a burst of giggling. I was never really old enough to be the carrier rather than the carryee in this situation until now. My friend Shanna brought over her adorable children: 3 years and 16 months. Playing round robin ping-pong with Sophie o...

I know that I am truly blessed and have much to be thankful for. I have wonderful parents and a great sister. I have a job I love with fabulous co-workers and office-buddies. My friends are incredibly amazing. Even those of you I've never met IRL. Seriously you have to be to put up with me. I have my health and I'm genuinely happy where I am. My students keep me busy and laughing. What are you thankful for?

Today was a calm one. A little cleaning and tidying around the house. A few more groceries to buy. Mostly today involved being with the family. We had a fun lunch which ended in us laughing loud enough that we got a few odd looks from nearby tables. We watched the Badgers win 3rd place in their holiday tournament and welcomed our first relatives to the house. The rest show up either tomorrow or Saturday. Right now Manda and I are camped out in the front room. We did so to watch Glee in private. If you really want to watch something during Thanksgiving you need to quarantine yourself from the family as they have the bad habit of talking through anything. *Anything they don't watch they ask about, and anything they do they give opinions about.* Nothing wrong with that, I just want to watch Glee in peace :) It was adorable if you haven't seen it yet. Tomorrow brings more family, a few family friends, lots and lots of food, the Packers-Lions game, probably the Mythbusters marathon,...

After dragging my butt out of bed this morning at a semi-decent hour (the Badger game went til 1:30am), the family jumped into the truck and the SUV and drove out to the Christmas tree farm to bring home our tree. For those of you who don't know, my extended family does both Thanksgiving and Christmas in one weekend. So we do Thanksgiving Thursday, put up the tree and decorate it on Friday, and then celebrate Christmas on Saturday morning. Which means...we need a tree before Thanksgiving. No matter who is around, this is always an immediate family thing. I took the camera along to document the day. Hope you enjoy the results.

Have you ever made candy cane carpaccio? Clearly you don't live with my family. Today was more candy making day. Well, mostly it was dipping chocolate day. Want to know why my day was so funny? Check out this sampling of our cooking experience. Ignore the wobbly camera, I used my isight camera. Not the best option, but the only one I had. :)

Today we did some baking and food making. Mom made a big pot of chili for lunch. She and I made cinnamon swirl and pumpkin bread (from box mixes). Then we moved on to the candies. Mom got this recipe for Oreo balls. Basically it's pulverized Oreos mixed with cream cheese. You freeze them and then tomorrow, we'll dip them in melted almond bark. We also made what I have just (as in 30 seconds ago) named "Christmas Rings of Deliciousness." We take those holiday circle pretzels and bake them for a few minutes with a Hershey's Hug set in the center, then when they're still melty you top them with an M&M. This year Mom bought some different hugs. She ended up with the Candy Cane kisses. We ended up topping these with broken candy cane pieces. They are fabulous!! During this expedition, Dad came out to help with his recipe, so we put him to work crushing the candy canes. He told us he was "going to make a nice candy cane carpaccio." It was at this point...

Back at home. Hanging out with my family for the week. Today was mostly vegging, reading, and watching sports. Now we've moved into movie viewing mode. Tomorrow will be more getting the house ready and maybe more dessert making. :) Oh, and the Badger game at 11pm from Hawaii! I feel like I packed way too much, but I will be here for the next 9 days. And some of it is books that are going to other people. Well, and clearly I needed to bring some laundry too. I still probably over-packed, but I don't care. I'm just glad to be home.

I found myself way too wide awake at 12:30 am this morning. So I did what I usually do in that situation. I get up, take a hot shower, and come back to bed.Usually this is enough to kick my body into a sleepy rhythm. And if not, at least I get to sleep in a little later since my shower is out of the way. Last night was different. I was still too awake, so I put on an audiobook. Usually the reading-aloud does the trick. Again, not so. It was past 2am before I fell asleep. Pair that with a killer headache most of the day and you get a nice picture of my day. Thus a short post tonight. I tend to try to outlast my headaches, but tonight I'm hoping the Aleve kicks in quickly.

What a week! Something about the week right before Thanksgiving has made our students crazy. So between the incredible number of reference questions, 7 classes, oh...and spending the weekend with Autumn...it's been a fabulous week. Or do I mean busy? the weekend in Des Moines with Autumn- I've already sort of talked about the show, but the rest of the weekend was fun too. Lunch downtown complete with yummy dessert, getting a free appetizer at dinner because we waited so long, delicious mojiitos, wandering around the book store creating reading lists, and comparing music lists. So so much fun celebrating Christina's birthday all week-I'm so stealing your themed days to celebrate your birthday all week next year. I missed yesterday, but I promise to catch up today. :) And seriously? I might have to use some of that movie list as my own!! my tv shows- Big Bang, Glee, Survivor, and Bones have been fabulous this week. "Warm Kitty, Soft Kitty" in a round? Booth and ...

So I had a conversation with one of my favorite faculty members today about his interesting day. Long story short, one of his students brought their pet snake to class. We both agreed that snakes definitely rank rather high on our list of fears (either rational or irrational)! My favorite quote of the conversation: "I mean I couldn't really kick her out of class for that, but..." It got me thinking about what other irrational things I sort of freak out about. Bugs don't usually freak me out too much, but worms on the sidewalk do. Bats and birds creep me out big time. Mostly with birds it's their eyes. Not sure why. Speaking of eyes, as a kid I hated those glass button looking eyes on stuffed animals, to the point where I wouldn't play with ones that had it, or find a way to cover them. Mostly I think it's because they looked too real. Actually, they still bother me a bit. As do sock monkeys. That one I can't even begin to explain, so don't ask. Ot...

Earworms are those songs (or in my case, bits of songs) that get stuck in your head. Ok, it's one of a few words used to describe it, but it's the one I like the best. I don't know about you guys, but I feel like I constantly have a song stuck in my head. Mostly mine tend to be one or two lines on repeat. If I'm really lucky it'll be the whole song, preferably one I like. As Amy well knows, I also have a tendency to get songs I hate stuck in my head. Most notably Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus songs. This week it's been RENT. Not the full-length songs. Mostly just the "Christmas Bells" and "Voice mail" pieces. Oh and the line "Because reason says I should have died, three years ago..." It's been a fun week because of that. I've caught myself humming along a few times. I really like it when it's a song I know the words to. When it isn't I have a hard time getting rid of it. Usually singing it through to the next few lines...

What was the biggest lesson you learned in a leadership position? I taught a workshop for the Emerging Leaders program today. Prepping it a few weeks ago got me thinking about all the leadership positions I've been in since high school. And all the crazy things I've learned during those experiences. Did you know that the key to an office with a couch is a great incentive for staff writers? Or that if you don't watch it, you can get elected to a position you didn't know you were nominated for? Or that it's really important to read your position description, especially when it includes being the official interpreter of the constitution? Or sometimes your most important role as leader is to keep your co-leader quiet during meetings? And sometimes it's to speak up for an organization you don't necessarily agree with? Sometimes the best way to co-manage a group involves seeing that co-manager more than your roommate. Sometimes it can be without seeing either one ...

I'm a huge college basketball fan. Being a basketball fan as a kid was totally a given. My dad is a college basketball fan, I played basketball in middle school, and we were just 40 mins south of Madison. So of course I was a Badger fan. I had to try harder in college to keep up on the Badgers. Not all their games were covered in Iowa. There was a lot of the online score watching. So after 4 years of that, I put my name in the lottery for season tickets as a grad student. I didn't get them on the first go around, but there were students who didn't pick up their tickets (Who are these people??) and they just went down the list and gave them to the next people. I was one of those lucky students. I had tickets in the last row of the top tier, but I didn't care. I was in! Even better I found out that my new friend Emily also had tickets. Her seats were way better, and for the entire non-conference season I snuck down to the first tier about 20 rows behind the basket. They g...

I usually try not to have expectations for theatre shows because you just never know what you're going to get. This is because I usually go to community theatre productions. They can be good, but if you expect good you usually end up being disappointed. None of these things were true today. Autumn and I went to see the Broadway touring company of RENT with 2 original cast members (Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal). I had hugely high expectations and they did not disappoint! For all of those who know me, you know how much I love this show. It was absolutely amazing to hear Adam and Anthony sing. Seriously, when Anthony started La Vie Boheme and held the first note, we cheered. So freaking awesome. I am clearly not very articulate about it right now. I'm still sort of in awe almost 5 hours later. Oh, and their version "What You Own" gave me goosebumps! I've always really loved that song, but hearing them sing it live was just kind of intense, but so so cool!! Ok, done f...

So a friend of mine is starting a new blog challenge. Well technically he's calling his blog, his Lorenzo. (Something about the word blog apparently.) He's decided to blog every day for 30 days. Sound familiar? I've been really good about posting once a week since April. I'm appreciative of the support of my BEDA buddies during April and thought maybe I'd attempt it again starting yesterday. November can be a bit of a crazy month, but I think I'll need some stress relief and a place to vent a bit. Or just a place to share some of the more interesting parts of my day. I don't usually need a reminder of why I love my job, but seeing examples of it certainly never hurt. Yesterday I got one of those reminders. I showed up about 11 because I was taking comp hour for Wednesday night. I hadn't been in my office for more than 10 mins when a "library buddy" of mine pops his head into my office. "You're here now. I stopped by earlier and you we...

It's Thursday again, and you know what that means. I'm gonna keep it short today. clothes shopping with my mom- We hit up the 40% off sale at Christopher and Banks this weekend. I know their clothes are sometimes older, but you just have to shop smart there for separates to pair with other stuff. I'm totally in love with the pink vest I bought. certain faculty members- I've had some really entertaining conversations and interactions with some faculty members. They've included my presentation last week, my "song and dance" about the supreme court, soccer strategies, and my gavel of justice (really a crab mallet from a DC trip). Don't ask. I lead a weird life. apple kolaches- I had break on Friday. I love feeding people. I brought the kolaches for the staff and used the leftovers to feed Kevin, Jeraca, Ben, and Susan. They were like mini-apple pies. Yum! Other things I loved this week: my uber-thankful students, Glee, new music from Blue Skies and Matt ...

Oh My Goodness...what a week! I spent this week traveling and working. Oh, and sleeping in there somewhere. Well, for a few hours anyway. Most of my kick ass week revolves around Omaha so I'll start with my non-Omaha moment. surviving my history class- Long story short, I managed to find myself in a situation where I gave a presentation on Malcolm X to a history class. That wasn't the tough part, the worst part was letting them grade me. I purposely did some things wrong and hoped that I did some things well. Putting myself out there is tough! But I really think they got why I did what I did, and so did the prof!! Omaha stuff! I spent the weekend in Omaha with John (and Holly), Justin, Gretchen, and Autumn! I had a blast spending the weekend with old and new friends. It was a really rejuvenating weekend. I came back Monday feeling totally well-rested and ready for the week. meeting Autumn!!- after meeting online during the Blog Every Day in April challenge, Autumn and I finally...

One would think that after being sick (with H1N1/cold/flu/something feverishly icky) this weekend, that my post this week wouldn't be so TILTy as much as it was TIHTy (TIHateT). But you my friends would be wrong. Despite the sickness I had an amazing week. And the best part about it? It's just the beginning of a fabulous run of things to come this month!! Brunch with Em at Brocach's- Yummo!! Corned Beef Hash done right, with coffee and great company on the side :) It was great to catch up IRL with Em. I don't transition well from IRL to long-distance well if you haven't noticed. Lots of traveling is involved. But when you have great friends, it's so worth it! Seeing Shanna- On the Becky isn't such a great friend front, I've lost touch with Shanna more than I should have, but I got a chance to hang with her (w/o the kids cause I was sick) Saturday night. I need to make a bigger effort to be there for her. We were so close in high school and she really pul...

I swear I didn't forget to blog yesterday I was just too tired after the conference to blog. So here it is. Hope you enjoy!! going to a conference with my director- You know that I love my staff, but if I haven't already mentioned it like 100 times, my director is hilarious. I don't have room to tell you all of the stories, but I'll tell 2 short ones. The cocktail hour was a little dull, so Mary Anne decided to spice it up a little, by playing Funky Town on her Blackberry. Sadly for us (and the rest of the attendees) Funky Town hadn't made it to the phone yet, but she settled for Beyonce's Single Ladies instead. This was of course companied by dancing (not the dance). We couldn't find the volume control so it was a small party, but so fun! The second story about the mentorship program. She'd volunteered to be a mentor for a new librarian. She explained the situation to Amy and I as follows. "I am the mento, that's what they call us. I'm loo...

I'm helping to raise funds to #beatcancer , by blogging, tweeting and posting Facebook status updates. Click here to join me! This is for my aunt, my grandfather, and my adopted grandfather who have all lost their battles with cancer. It's a simple thing, but you never know what might push this fight against cancer over the edge. Do your part!

I've got a few things I loved about this week. two Homecomings- Gretchen came to visit and we ended up celebrating both UD and Cornell's homecoming this weekend. I had fun at Cornell taking an "official" campus tour (thanks to Whitney), taking pics with Cornell T. Moose, and splitting a chicken quesadilla for lunch like old times. Spending most of the day outside in the cold wasn't quite as fun, but totally worth it! knitting/crocheting group- I love having an excuse to get together and crochet for 2 hours. This week I just sat back and enjoyed the conversation. (I don't have much to add when we're talking about being married and having kids). Just hanging out with other craft-y people is so nice. getting RT'ed by Maureen- While I was in my office for all of 10 mins today, I nominated Maureen as funniest person to follow for the mashable awards after I saw Andrea had. Maureen caught the tweet and reposted it. :) being the "cool" librarian- On...

Hiya! I'm writing the blog instead of videoing it tonight for a few reasons. It's shorter, less work, and I look awful curled up on the couch with my blanket and my hoodie. So text it is. :) Spending Sunday afternoon with Kyle- I forgot how much I enjoy showing off the city and the college. We spent time downtown, and rode up the Fenelon Place Elevator . Despite living here for over a year, I had yet to actually ride it. I also showed off the library (and where they filmed Field of Dreams) and the campus. I miss seeing Kyle. Seeing your high school best friend once very 2 years is just not good enough. The view from the top of the bluff! RENT!!- The RENT tickets have arrived!! Autumn and I are going to see RENT in Des Moines in Nov. It's the tour with 2 original cast members (Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal). I'm so stoked. I've never seen the show on stage, but I'm obsessed with the soundtrack! And to think this is all a result of Maureen Johnson's BEDA Buddies ...

Oh my goodness where did September go?? I kept the vlog a little shorter today. Hope you enjoy it!! Oh and if you haven't checked out Dave's new album you should. You can find it on iTunes or at his bigcartel site . I'm a huge fan of Alone Again, Untitled, and The World's Still Ending (but it's cool).

I decided to vlog this week thinking it would be easier than blogging. It was. It just wasn't any faster. Oops :) Apparently when I left it over night it uploaded, but YouTube hasn't processed it yet! Ugh. Hopefully sometime today it will process. If not I'll re-upload it tonight.

I have been at work too many hours this week, but it's totally worth it. We're really starting to see the students at the reference desk and in our offices. Assignments are due, that's why! Lots of teaching and lots of running around makes Becky a tired, but happy girl. watching Glee : I really do love this show. I mean seriously? Singing, cheesy dancing, and random Josh Groban and Victor Garber sightings? Love it!! This was my fave clip of the week. watching Greek : This show is addicting. There you have been forewarned. Despite sepnding my day surrounded by college students I still love watching this each week. Cappie just cracks me up. Like his take on movie trailer voiceovers. sports-filled weekends : I got to watch 3 football games this weekend, and catch some live and televised tennis. That always makes a great weekend. excited students : I've had 3 students tell me how excited they are about writing their paper. It's so edifying to see students excited about ...

I can't wait til this week is over. I need another weekend. Not that I need to recover from my last weekend, but I don't think I really ever fully escaped weekend mode. students/professors hanging out in my office: this week it seems like people have taken me up on the "come hang out and say hi" offer I extend to everyone in my classes. I've gotten to talk about The Office, reading Twilight in Spanish, and how the best defense against me is a hug (because apparently I'll melt!). And the bribing with candy tends to work well. Thank goodness for Sam's Club and buying in bulk. Luna Nueva: Gretchen bought me New Moon in Spanish during her time in Spain. I'm really excited about it. It's been a while since I read it in English, but I remember enough to help me through it. I'm working through it in Spanish trying to get the idea of it, then if I'm really stuck I flip back to that passage in English to get the concepts/words I missed. I just bough...

Wow. It's 8:30 and I just remembered I haven't blogged yet today. Oops. That tells you what kind of week I've had. The first week back with students and I forget everything. :) Without further adieu, my loves this week. going rummage saling with my mom: I spent the weekend at home with my mom. One of my favorite things to do with my mom is hitting garage sales throughout the city. Growing up, a lot of my clothes were garage sale buys. I love that I managed to find 2 sweaters, a vest, a zip-up hoodie, a long sleeve shirt, short sleeve button-up, 2 throw pillows, a tea kettle, glass measuring cup, and a photo frame tray for less than $20. Bargain shopping rocks! chilling with my mom and sister: We had a girls weekend at my parents. Saturday night watching cake-decorating contests with them was so much fun. Hanging out with them is always fun. We don't have to have anything planned to enjoy ourselves. Glee: I neglected to talk about the "Golddigger" preview Manda...

Oh my goodness is the school year here. I've been running all over this week and boy to my feet feel it. Lots of meetings and student streaming back. The school is alive again. Greek : I started watching this show online this week on a whim. I'd heard a lot about it, but never seen it. As soon as I started it, I got sucked in quickly. It's pretty cute and reminds me a lot of college. I wasn't affiliated, but a large majority of my friends were. It makes me nostalgic for college. Omaha trip: Speaking of Cornell friends, I'm starting to get crazy-excited about my weekend in Omaha in October. It sounds like we could have as many as 8 at any one time, including significant others, college friends, and new BEDA buddies. If the semester is as crazy as it looks like it's going to be, I'm really going to need this weekend to rejuvenate. newspaper talk: The new editors of the college paper are making changes and asking for help, so I've gotten a chance to talk sh...

This week was the last calm week before the storm. The students move back next week, and then the craziness ensues. One toast to calm! the return of reality tv: It's great to see Top Chef and Project Runway back. Watching these two shows always inspire me to yank out the pots and pans and sewing machine. And since they're already out, it's only helping to cultivate that urge! good movie adaptations: Manda and I went to see "The Time Travelers Wife" Saturday night. I really enjoyed it. I absolutely loved the book when I read it in college (and appreciated it even more after studying at the Newbery Library where a significant portion is set). I often avoid adaptations, especially ones with complex story lines, but this one was surprisingly well done. A good story. It's not the book, but I still really liked it. homemade pie crust: I'd never made my own pie crust before this week, but the recipe I linked last Monday really worked well and was so easy. She...

How is it half way through August already?? This summer has flown past so quickly. I'm both excited and dreading school starting again. I love having the kids around and teaching any everything. But it's just crazy hectic and I'm nowhere near ready yet! I need a snooze button for that. Anyway back to the point. Decently good week, way less stressful and kinda productive. Getting Gretchen's care package: she mailed me the mix cd she made when she was in Spain and a really cute necklace she bought me there. It was so unexpected and it totally made my day. And now I have a new mix that can reside in my car. It's a great combo of music about friends and some of our fave songs from college. Getting two more DFTBA records : I splurged a while back and pre-ordered Trock On and I'm Not Very Good At This Live. They got here Tuesday. I haven't had a chance to listen to them ad nauseum yet, but on first listen I really like them both. The Live album reminds me of that ...

Random blog post today. A few things today, mostly food related. I don't know if you guys watched Next Food Network Star this season. I watch most seasons because I always feel like I learn something new. Not always useful to my everyday life, but you know something I'll need on a quiz show someday. This season, I was really impressed with Melissa d'Arabian. Her food always looked good and more importantly it looked like something I could make. I DVR'ed her show this weekend and was not disappointed. I'm really stoked to try her Potato-Bacon Torte . I've never made homemade crust before, but this looks easy. I'm thinking this might make a fabulous idea for break next week. I was thinking homemade salsa, but this looks better! I made some yummy pasta this weekend. I'd like to say it was planned, but that would be a lie. I haven't exactly grocery shopped in 2 weeks (due to guests, and unplanned trips home) so my pantry and fridge looked a little dire....

It's been a hugely long week, so I'll keep this short. playing drunken Bananagrams : Stone Cliff's Sweet Cranberry wine plus Amy and I plus Bananagrams was quite the Saturday evening. There are photos of the finished product on camera that I promise to post sometime. Let's just say, two librarians and a word game will always end in hilarity! (edit: I added the photo. See. Drunken Bananagrams!) Prison Break : I borrowed Season 1 from work on a whim on Friday. I was instantly addicted. I mean how can you not be? Gorgeous cast, fabulous story, and intriguing plot twists. Now I just have to wait until someone returns Season 2. Arg!! Geektastic-Stories from the Nerd Herd : OMG what a great anthology of nerdy short stories. I love getting the references and even when I don't, the stories are great. The comics between the stories are incredibly geeky and awesome as well. (Reading the stories aloud like we did in elementary/middle school with Amy just added to the awesomene...

As promised, I've posted my first memoir over at "Life on the Hilltop." It's a little story about the floor newsletter Lauren and I (and later Gretchen) put together for the girls of our floor. Nowadays, we probably would have just posted a blog, but it was a fun project that lots of people seemed to enjoy. Just a heads up for those who aren't alums, the school is a small liberal arts college on a weird block plan schedule in a small town surrounded by cornfields. We had to create our own fun (or trouble depending on your perspective). For those of you who did go there, I need more stories! I can't keep this blog alive by myself. They don't have to be that long, or about something that big. Mine for next week is about a random night of drunken darts. Email cornellmemoirs (at) gmail (dot) com with stories, ideas, or anything!!

It’s that time again. Yay for Thursdays! Some days I miss blogging everyday, and then I remember how crazy that was. And time consuming. Wow did that take a lot of time planning and then writing or creating a blog for that day. But I’m glad I’m into a rhythm on here and doing at least one post a week. hanging out with friends this weekend : I got a chance to hang out with Megan at her apartment with her puppy Bella. Bella is a bit of a handful, but she was adorable none the less. Later that night I went to a concert on the river with Adam. I love the amphitheatre here. I've seen a few things there now and it's a really smart little space. Built into the hill behind an old brewery, the amphitheatre is situated between the river and a beautiful brick backdrop. It was fun to hang out with Adam and enjoy the bands. Some for the music, some for their humor. ;) church on Sunday : I've been bouncing around churches in Dubuque since I got here. I know more people at one across town...

So for some odd reason, my internet was out this evening, but is back for now. I'm going to write this quickly! pulling out my sewing machine : I was so excited how both bags turned out. I decided that I really needed one after seeing how cute Anne Marie’s was. Thanks for the suggestions about etsy. I’ll think about it, but sounds like too much work ;) Next one on the list is for Lora. I just need to get colors from her. If you want one let me know. I don't mind making them if you don't mind covering the cost of fabric and shipping. :) the chance to win Catching Fire : my friend Kelly tweeted about an opportunity to win a copy of the follow up to The Hunger Games . After getting to read Fire early, I would jump at the chance to get my hands on another ARC. having a chill Sunday : I did church, yummy coffee, read for a while, hung out w/ my parents, talked to Amy, took some gorgeous photos , and made a really yummy dinner on my new grill pan. A great day! people at work ...

I pulled out the sewing machine to make a bag for Anne Marie's birthday yesterday. It's been a while since I've used it. I really have to be in the mood to sew. It's usually a long time-consuming process. But was yesterday ever worth it. I've never done a quilted bag before, mostly because they looked scary/hard. Boy was I wrong. It was so easy, and results were fabulous. I had lots of fun putting it together, with only a few minor issues. (The handles are backwards and I had to redo one seam because I didn't leave a big enough gap.) Now, I want one! :) Guess who's found her new favorite pattern? Me!!

I spent part of Sunday afternoon at the local arboretum. It was gorgeous outside. Cool weather and sun. I was planning on getting some sewing and mending done today. Instead I decided I deserved to be outside doing something I love. Here's what I found. If you want to see this album in a larger version, click here . Also, if you want to use them for anything, feel free to download and use them. Just leave me a comment here telling me you're using them. (And if you're using them online for something, a credit/link would be wonderful.)

Today's entry is going to be short and sweet. I still haven't solved my internet problems at home yet. (I've been too lazy and too busy reading Fire to care.) So I'm writing this from work over my lunch hour. Fire : I got an early copy from Amy like 3 weeks ago, and I've been waiting for the right time to read it. I started it this weekend and finished it last night. I absolutely loved it. Once again Kristen Cashore entranced me and sucked me into her world. I'm excited to be able to send it along to Christina and Autumn to read before returning it to Amy! Hope you girls love it as much as I did. my selection of items at the public library : It's a little thing, but totally made me giggle when I realized I must look like I can't read. I rarely borrow actual books from the public library as I work at a library myself. I tend to only get stuff there I can't get here. So this week I checked out, one YA audio book, one YA graphic novel, 2 discs of a TV ...