Life in Denim and Flip Flops

After seeing Manda's post today, I knew I really needed to write one of these. There are so many things I love this week. Cassie Clare's Clockwork Prince --I loved her Mortal Instruments series ( City of Bones etc.) but when she started the pre-sequel series, a steampunk trilogy set in London I knew I was a goner. I have been feverishly reading CP since I finished my reread of Clockwork Angel . I'm on page 250 of 500. I know characters will die (there's always someone in the books) but there is one in particular to whom I am way too emotionally attached. If Clare kills him, I will not be able to bring myself to read the third book. I'm that invested. God, I love these books. baking--tonight I went a little baking crazy. I hope to chronicle the events of tonight at some point over the weekend. Let's just say my oven has never been so busy in one 8 hour period. 12 loaves of bread and 16 biscuits later, I am almost done with my gift baking. Almost .  the l...

Yes, it's that time again ladies and gentlemen. The winter season is finally upon us. Despite living my entire life in the midwest, every year I cling to the hope that maybe winter will just throw in the towel and take the year off. I know it's not realistic, but it's what gets me through the late fall. I promise I'll have plenty of time this winter to complain about the myriad of things I detest about the season, but today I'm going to do my best to stick to one of the few I actually enjoy about the season. I am a coldblooded mammal. Now you may be thinking, Becky, that is simply not possible. And technically you may be right, but I am as close to one as you'll find I promise. For example while I am writing this, I am in bed with the following for warmth: t-shirt, heavy cardigan sweater, fleece pajama pants (pink penguin ones of course), socks, wrist warmers, flannel sheets, a fleece blanket, a comforter, a throw, and a heavy crocheted blanket. And I'm co...

 I teach a lot of class sessions at my job. Last year alone I taught almost 150 information literacy sessions. These ranged from classes about how to find books on the shelf and how to efficiently find scholarly articles to how to read those articles and what not to do in a presentation. Before taking the job, I had taught exactly one such session to a group of 8 undergraduate college students. Thankfully I'd also taken a brilliant one-semester class in graduate school about information literacy pedagogy. That is the extent of my formal training. To fill in the rest of my repertoire, I beg, borrow, and shamelessly steal ideas, activities, style, and inspiration from some of my best teachers and professors. The rest of this post is a thank you letter to those amazing people who have helped make me the teacher I am today. David Bowman, my high school choir teacher is one of my biggest inspirations. From him I've borrowed a lot of my style and my approach, and my philosophy. H...

i am not broken but i am breaking little pieces here and there the rounded edges of happiness are chipping away leaving sharp little hooks and points my outer shell once polished and smooth, let things roll right off, nothing stuck. but now those pockets gather water; they rust and decay. the edges, they are trouble. they catch and snag. sad memories that used to blow right by, now get caught and remain slowly unraveling and tugging, taking more and more pieces along as it finally frees itself leaving behind more rough edges than ever. -------------------------- Post word total: 95 Overall word total: 1,338 Words left to write: 23,662

small, quiet, empty driving home holding back tears unsure how to deal hands busy but minds still wander. trying to make myself appear ok, normal. but inside it's hollow and blank. quiet reservation; fearful of interaction. -------------------------- Post word total: 36 Overall word total: 1,243 Words left to write: 23,757

Tonight, I sat down to write a presentation proposal for a conference. It's just a 250 abstract of what I hoped to present with my sister. I had spent time discussing it and our expectations for it with Manda a few weeks ago. It should have been easy right? Just sit down with my Macbook and knock it out. I've spent my entire life in academia going straight from college to graduate school and starting my job at an academic library just three weeks after I finished my masters degree. One little 250-precis should be a breeze. And yet, here I am on my blog bemoaning the decline in my academic writing ability while said proposal stagnates with just 170 words, at least 50 of which I think are utter crap. I'm not entirely incompetent with the written word; comments, giggles, and knowing looks from the peanut gallery be damned. I simply don't feel as fluent in the academic writing process as I once was, or maybe claimed to be. Actually, it's probably that I just imagine m...

Today I got an email from my boss asking me if I was up for another round of library mentoring. Last spring we hired a new staff member and my boss thought it would be nice for the 2 most recently hired people (whether they be professional or support staff) to take said new hire out to lunch and tell them how life really is at the library. Nothing too formal or anything; just a lowercase 'm' mentoring thing. It should include: things to look out for (being anywhere near the reference desk at 5 with your nametag on during midterms), things to expect (some offices on campus don't seem to answer phones, only email), and stuff we wished someone had told us when we started (that our boss has her own language and that there is in fact now a list of her sayings with translations available for staff use). This will be my last go-round on the welcoming committee as I am finally the 3rd most recent full-time hire on staff. (Where did those 3 1/2 years go???) This really saddened me...

No, not that writing challenge. As what feels like the rest of the world is gearing up for National Novel Writing Month, I'm gearing up for another writing challenge. There is no way I'm up for writing a 50,000 word novel this month. Because that would involve having a plot and organization and ideas and all sorts of other things I don't currently have and will not be procuring in the next hour. So instead I've decided to do something NaNoWriMo inspired. My goal is to write 25,000 words this month. No plot or novel landscape to haunt me. Just 25,000 words. Now if you do the math that's 833.3 (repeating) words a day. That's a bit of a stretch for blog posts. I'll probably end up shooting for a minimum of 500 a day and make up for it with longer posts toward the end of the month. Or maybe I'll get inspired and you'll get some longer narrative pieces by the end of the week. There are no "you must write x amount every day" stipulations. In fa...

I came home today to find a priority mail envelope in my mailbox and an Amazon box at my door. In these 2 packages were 3 copies of Hunger Games for the book club I'm running. One, a personal copy of a friend and former student, and 2 newly purchased by a friend and shipped directly from Amazon. And I still have another on the way from another friend. I seriously have the best friends ever. And boy am I going to need those books. I got 2 more requests for copies of the book today. Seriously. I'm pretty sure one more person would find me eclipsing 40 people in this book club. This is insane.

I am currently in 4 different "book clubs." I quote that, and use that term loosely, for reasons I will get into later in this post. Now, this is a new development, just 2 months ago I was only in one book club: the YA book club my coworker and I started on campus, which was on summer hiatus. But classes have started again and I'm back in the driver's seat for that one (co-organizer is still on maternity leave) trying desperately to figure out how to handle the 37 people interested in coming to a meeting about Hunger Games! (Our numbers were much much lower last year...we're talking 14 people requesting copies of the book at most, only about 7 at a meeting each time.) A great problem to have, but a logistical problem none the less. Anyway, so I have that book club, the one I co-organize and run on campus. You may be asking yourself what other 3 have popped up in two months. (Ok, you're probably not asking, as you are probably my mother or one of my friends w...

Ok I promise this time I'm back for real. I've been called out by 2 different people (Ms. Amy and my mother!) about my lack of blogging. I really shouldn't have any excuse, but I'm going to give you one anyway. Work life has been a bit insane. If you read my previous post, you'll know that some of my fall instruction has changed. I had a bit less time to get multiple versions of the class prepped. I was stressed and anxious and not sleeping. And trust me when I say that is not a time you want to be hearing from me. Anyone who heard me blowing off steam during that process can tell you it was awful. I've also been dealing with the campus wide switch to a new email system. A bit nightmarish as not all went as planned. I'm not placing fault with anyone. I know that any transition is a mess, but it's tough being the one caught in the cross hairs. People come to the library in the summer to ask questions because they know we'll be there, but when we don...

I've been a little lax about updating this blog, so I'm taking the Library Day in the Life project as a good excuse to post more frequently this week. Today was a pretty typical summer day at the library. Quiet when it comes to reference questions and people walking around, but plenty to keep me busy. I caught up my coworker who'd been out sick and dug through a weekend of email replies confirming info lit session dates. Yes, already by the end of July we're confirming dates for the fall. The rest of my morning was spent prepping fall instruction. Most of it was for our research class that focuses on a different region of the world each semester. This fall it's Africa. Normally not an issue, but we always provide a current map of the region. You might not be aware of this, but Southern Sudan was officially recognized as an independent nation July 9 of this year. So my map from 4 years ago (and by mine, I mean the previous librarian responsible for the social sc...

During the second round of BEDA we used to do a weekly roundup of media. I kind of miss that. So today you're going to get a run down of my media in the last week. Get ready for the links and video. First off, my new musical obsession: Chameleon Circuit's Still Got Legs . Their first album was good. This one is great! The production quality is outstanding. The overall feel of the album and the way it flows is fantastic. As a huge Doctor Who fan I really enjoy the songs that tell me the stories of the episodes again, but in intelligent and not obvious ways. Even if you aren't a Doctor Who fan you should check out the rock album that made the US iTunes Top 40 charts today. Another song I've enjoyed this week is the Harry Potter/Book of Mormon parody: As for the television portion of the media. I have fallen in love with Party Animals . Seriously how could I not?? It involves my former dream job of being a political research. It's set in London. Oh and it stars ...

There is nothing better than getting a hug from a great friend who's been abroad for the last year. Nothing better.

It is destined to be one of those weeks where you get posts only composed of bullet points. You know how it is. Plus, it's a Thursday and I haven't done one of these in a while (ignoring the fact that Tuesday's post kinda looked like one). my BEDA buddies-- It has been over 2 years since that fateful day when I signed up for Maureen's Blog Every Day in April challenge. There I got paired up with 3 other ladies. Two years later we're still talking constantly. Fate, Maureen, and a shared sense of crazy brought us together, for which I will always be grateful. Nicola, Autumn, and Christina, you ladies rock. I don't tell you that enough. YA authors-- YA authors rocked this week. Maureen Johnson held her own and rather eloquently defending YA lit from the accusations it has become too dark. I would link the NPR story here, but it's tough to listen to as it wasn't moderated well and the person who disagreed with her didn't exactly listen to her commen...

There is no rhyme, reason or theme to this post today. Just a collection of random stuff I want to get down/share. So here they are in bullet form: teaching myself guitar--I'm not sure how long ago this desire started. Some of you may not know that I took about 9 years of piano lessons growing up. I never practiced enough to be really good, but I can still plunk out stuff and with some practice am not terrible in the comfort of my own home. (Performing anxiety still totally there for piano playing, by the way.) Piano is practical to learn as it totally set me up nicely for all of the vocal stuff I did, but has a major drawback in the portability issue. I lacked the discipline learning piano, but I'm hoping with age comes a greater sense of responsibility. Or more people to guilt and goad me into it. I think we all know that the latter is more likely, so help me out with that. being active--Somewhere along the line I got out of the habit of walking to work and taking walks af...

I just learned that Manda hadn't seen The End of the World video. Gretchen and I thought that was tragic, so we searched YouTube and made her watch it. So just in case you hadn't seen it here it is: "Fire ze missiles!!"

Not the first or last time I'll talk about Dave on this blog. He's in a YouTube contest. It's quite simple to vote for him. He was nice enough to write up directions on how to do so. I've linked them below. You can vote once a day. So I’m in this NextUp thing and need people to vote for me. If you would like to help, here is how: 1. Go to youtube.com/nextup 2. Find my video - the thumbnail looks like this (without the play button!):  3. Click on the video thumbnail, then click the thumbs up button. Done! You can do that once a day until the 9th. Thanks so much to everyone who’s been voting already and to everyone who’s gonna go and do it now like YOU! This would be a life changer. Reblogs would also be ace. :) Dave. xx (Source: musicfromblueskies )

If you haven't heard the news, John Green announced the title of his new book: The Fault in Our Stars. It's slated for release sometime late next spring. Being John, he's decided to sign every pre-ordered copy. Basically he'll be signing the whole first printing of the book. Since he made the announcement, it's been the #1 seller on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. About a week ago he told us on tumblr that he wanted mocked up covers when he released the title. I couldn't help myself and this is my first attempt. The second one I got mostly done, but needed some help figuring out where to place John's name and with some background coloring from Kevin. I did the title (font, color, and placement) and the background image. Kevin did the rest. PS--If you really want to follow my tumblr, you can find it here . I don't post much original stuff. I mostly reblog stuff about my fave BBC shows. :)

I wasn't going to write today. I'd been putting off my posts all week. When I got up this morning I knew I had 3 posts to write today to keep up my resolution to write 3 times a week. It's a cop out to do them all in one day. And an hour ago I told myself I wasn't going to do it. That I didn't care. No one was going to keep me to it, or think less of me for it. But that's a lie. I will and I would. So here I am, last minuting it again. But this time with a vow. I'm going to make a concerted effort to actually write posts with some substance in July (and this last week of June). Blogging for blogging sake isn't going to cut it anymore.

I've been neglecting my writing. Tomorrow I'm going to rectify that. I'm going to take my notebook, my coffee, and maybe a picnic out to my favorite park and write. Not sure what. But something.

I bought this table last weekend at a cute little salvage shop in a neighboring town when I was visiting Manda last weekend. I knew I'd repaint it and use it as a night stand in my guest bedroom. The previous stand night was much too tall and had very little surface space. I'm quite proud of how it turned out. The images aren't great quality. I took some pics on my camera, but when I went to upload them onto my computer I realized the battery was dead. So you'll have to survive with pics from my phone. I repainted it a warmer yellow and stenciled some flowers on it. It's my first experience with stencils. Not bad for a first attempt, right?

I didn't forget you blog. Well, ok...I almost forgot you, but here I am at 11:20 typing out a blog. Manda and I just got home from Madison where her friend Michael was throwing a party. We had fun hanging out there. I tried not to think about the fact that I was at least 6 years older than most of the people there. :) And that some of them were younger than the students I see in my classes. I know that I shouldn't be weirded about age gaps like that, but sometimes I am. I'm too observant not to notice them, but I'm getting a lot better about not being concerned about it. Anyway, we had fun. Fantastic food and punch (though being driver I was good and did not partake of the latter.) Dinner at Dotty's and rocking out to Charlie McDonnell's album on the way home were classic Manda/Becky moments. Now we're off to play Super Mario on the Wii and eat sherbet, because clearly that is what you do with your sister on a Saturday night!

Tonight I drove an hour to Mount Vernon to see Sarah. And then we got in a car and drove another half hour to Cedar Rapids to see Company in the theatres. We were both a little surprised to see an $18 ticket price, but for the chance to see the filmed version with those names (Neil Patrick Harris, Patti Lupone, Christina Hendricks, Stephen Colbert, etc.) we ponied up the dough. And boy was it ever worth it. Beautifully acted. Well staged and filmed for the big screen. And the singing was beyond amazing. Twice I had to remind myself to breathe when NPH was singing. I went in thinking it would be great, but it blew away even those expectations. And as always great theatre-loving company...for Company. I have the best friends ever. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

I'm a pretty observant person. I also love to find patterns. This kept me entertained when I worked as a cashier. I would concoct stories about people based on what they bought. I'm always a little paranoid people are doing the same to me now. Sometimes I even concoct stories about myself using the items I buy or borrow. My public library record is usually pretty good fodder for that. Because I work in an academic library, I tend to use the public library in a very particular way. Usually for audio books and graphic novels, something my library doesn't have much of. This usually leads me to feeling like people must think I'm illiterate! Today was a little different. A good mix of stuff: Anything Goes soundtrack Merlin--BBC show Season 1 Disc 1 Arrested Development--Season 1 Disc 1 Audiobook of Memoirs of A Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin Audiobook of Across the Universe by Beth Revis Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith Dark Summit by Iris Jo...

Today I drove back to Wisconsin to go to my godsister's high school graduation party. Yep, that's what I said. Godsister. Janet and David are old family friends. In fact, my parents set them up. David was my dad's roommate when they first started at the hospital, and Janet was my mom's friend from nursing school. They're my sister's godparents, and my parents are their daughter Brenda's. And that's how I ended up with a godsister. Brenda's an only child, so we sort of acted as older sisters when we were younger. Looking through the scrapbooks I was reminded of a lot of great memories. It also made me feel a bit old. A girl I remember being born just graduated from high school. Wow!

I had a wonderful afternoon with my parents today. We did lunch at Crust and dinner at Star Restaurant, with a bit of shopping, river walk, and word games in between. I left them after dinner. They were headed to a concert; I was headed home. I'd initally planned to do laundry tonight, but decided I wanted to just watch a little television, blog and maybe read a bit of my book before bed. Sadly nothing worth watching was on, so I decided to pour a glass of wine, grab a scone, and put in Sherlock, the BBC series from last fall thinking I'd multitask and blog while I watched. It being a Steven Moffatt production I should have known better. I'm just 24 minutes into the first mystery, and I'm already in love. So much so that I've paused it just to blog this. Too much going on for me to tear my attention away from the show. Sometimes I think I might have been born in the wrong country; while the rest of the time I just know it. Tonight is one of those nights. Thank goo...

It is currently 90 degrees at 8pm. That is a bit ridiculous. But no fear, I'm here with some warm weather coping tips. Now you may be asking what makes me qualified to be dispensing such advice. You are right to question. My main qualifications come from living in a second floor apartment without central air in Iowa for the last 3 summers. I have a window air conditioner located in the kitchen, however, due to the layout of the apartment, that's not super conducive for cooling anything but the kitchen (and the the living room if I set up the fans right). Now that I've convinced you I'm qualified, here are my coping tips. Eat lots of popsicles. They keep you hydrated and cool you down. I'm a fan of the sugar free ones. Don't cook unless you have to. Today I had an apple and cheese, cherry tomatoes, and a bowl of cereal for dinner. Decently well-balanced and no turning on the oven! Drink lots of water. Hydration is key. Close the curtains and don't turn on...

I get so lazy when it comes to food in the summer. I rarely want to cook when I get home. Plus when it's 90 degrees outside that means it's like 90 degrees in my apartment. This is why I sometimes feel like I subsist on popsicles and guacamole in the summer. And fruit and yogurt. Tonight, after a full day in Madison, it was kettle corn and popsicles. I'm feeling bad about that now. Maybe I'll go find some cheese and crackers. I promise tomorrow I will eat real food. :)

So excited. Cara and I are driving up to Madison to meet Rachel there. I miss Madison. I haven't been there in a while. (Watching Manda graduate doesn't count since that was a day dedicated to her.) Rachel has never been to Madison, so I'm still planning in my head what to cover. Three librarians hitting the town. Look out Madison. Being the quasi-host of this shindig I figure I should probably have some food ideas up my sleeves. Cara's gluten-free so I was racking my brain to figure out what's a good place to go. And then I thought to just Google it. And that's when I found the Madison Area Gluten Intolerance Chapter's website with gluten-free menus and helpful restaurants. So excited. This totally helps. I hate when I take someone some place to eat only for them to have like 2 choices of what to eat. I'm glad to see the Gritty, Great Dane, and Bluephies on the list. I'm really thinking Bluephies will be it. It is my go-to in Madison. Farmer...

I am a consumer at heart. A cheap consumer, but a consumer none the less. I love buying books and shoes and bags. Clothes go in waves, usually the summer months are big because I'm a huge fan of garage sales. This has been the case for many years. Don't believe me? Ask my mom about my childhood bookshelf or obsession with my red patent leather shoes. One thing I've never been a huge buyer of is music. Now I'm not talking stealing music instead. I was more interested in listening to the radio than really owning a lot. And what I did own I listened to rabidly for months at a time, as I've discussed before . That's still true to an extent. I still pop in an album and listen on repeat. In fact that's exactly what I'm in the middle of doing this week. It's a new music week for me at Casa de Becky. For not being a huge music buyer in the past, I'm finding myself doing a lot of music purchasing in the last few months, this last week especially. I boug...

I've had a few birthday cards to buy recently. I go through phases where I'll buy cards from one company or in one design for a while. Recently it was the freshink cards. I'm in the middle of a Hoops and YoYo phase. They're Hallmark characters. I love them. I bought my dad a birthday card that had them talking about a dingo eating his birthday cake, complete with the song " D-I-N-G-O, D-I-N-G-O, D-I-N-G-O and Dingo ate your birthday cake." They have downloadable audio on their website. Some of these might just have to be my new ringtones. Love them!!

Wow. A Things I Love Thursday, actually on a Thursday :) Red Glove --I just finished this book this week. I tore through it once I started it. It's not bad for the middle book of a trilogy. Enough plot to keep me interested. Plus I just love Cassel. I mean how can you not? Plus I really love the urban fantasy feel. It's a great warm up for the Welcome To Bordertown anthology that's near the top of my to-be-read-as-soon-as-I-get-my-hands-on-it list. my boss--There are so many reasons to love Mary Anne. This week it's been funny and wacky stories at lunch and during meetings. You should not have as much fun with your coworkers as I do. Seeing both Gretchen and Amy in the same weekend--On my way home from Apple Valley, I stopped by in Clear Lake to see Gretchen. She, being the amazing former roomie she is, fed me and then went out for ice cream and coffee with me. Sadly she didn't take me up on my offer to drive me home. I mean it's only a 3-hour drive back to ...

It's officially that time again. I need to go on a no fast food/Panera Bread kick again. I've been eating out a lot lately. My decision to go what essentially becomes "not eating out" is partially financial and partially health-conscious. This doesn't mean I won't go out with friends, but I'm cutting back on the fast food which is rarely good for me. Also it gives me a good excuse to do more cooking. Since I started on Monday I've made a pretty stellar simple stirfry, and this weekend I hope to try and replicate the potato and leek curry from the cooking class I went to. What I need to make sure I don't do is slice open my finger again. I managed to nick it pretty well tonight on my veggie peeler I was using to slice Parmesan cheese for a salad. I'm not a fan of blood, especially my own. Gonna take that one a while to heal back to normal. In the mean time I think I'm going to need to stock up on some first aid supplies. I am woefully low ...

Last year about this time I bought a new purse when I came to visit Amy. I traveled it with last summer and have loved that bag ever since. I once again find myself in Minnesota visiting Amy and near The Container Store. It is clearly too much of temptation. We ended up there tonight. I've been digging through their website looking for a shoulder bag my laptop and work stuff would fit in. I couldn't decide based on the pic from the site and wanted to see them in real life. And that's when I fell in love with this bag . I now own it. It was on sale, so I don't feel so bad. But how cute is it? Shoulder strap and everything. I've managed to shove everything I brought with me except clothes in that bag and still have room left over. It looks like I own a new overnight bag, which I actually need. No more packing into a suitcase too large for the weekend. :)

Hey remember when I said I'd get out of my habit of blogging at the end of the week? Yeah, me neither. Athenian Grill--A cute little restaurant a few blocks from where I live. I don't frequent it often, mostly because I feel like once I get in the habit of going there I'll be there all the time. However, early this week thanks to my broken car, I was without groceries or any good way to get them. So off to the restaurant it was. It's under new ownership. The older gentleman behind the desk was adorable and sweet. (He gave me free chicken noodle soup because he liked my laugh!) And the food was a good as I remembered it. reconnecting with old friends--I have quite a few people I'd call friends that I don't communicate with on a super regular basis. Two of those people contacted me this week and we had a nice chat. That is always a great way to make me smile. watching Manda graduate!!--I got to see my little sissy graduate with her master's degree this la...

Due to rain today, Amy and I decided to hit the Minnesota History Center . You know me and a good history museum. I was excited to see the George Washington exhibit which was great. And then we checked out the underwear exhibit, also awesome, but in a slightly different way. We meandered through the Minnesota 150 and turned a corner. And that's when we found the best exhibit ever. It was the history of a house . They traced it back to when it was built in the late 1880s. The history of building was then told as you walked through a replica of the building. The first room of the building was set up like the original owners. You pull open drawers to view more info, or discover a story they uncovered while researching. The next few families were represented by clothing with census records or building data printed on it. So freaking cool. Not like anything I'd seen. It had interactive elements like video screens in a table under glass plates so you sat at the table to watch the v...

Today was my 27th birthday. I feel this post is sufficent. Back to regular blogging tomorrow. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

This was the best idea ever. The food was amazing, and I totally picked up some new skills and ideas. There were 8 of us there plus the instructor and the owner of the shop who was acting as his assistant. I sort of felt like I was watching a cooking show live. Sunil was totally comfortable in the kitchen, probably thanks in part to his day job as a chemistry professor. I managed to get a seat up front about an arms length from the stovetop. Perfect seat. Especially once the recipe manipulation started. He didn't quite follow any of the recipes he printed out for us, so I spent a lot of the time scribbling notes all over mine. So before I offer to show you them, I'll need to translate it myself! Menu for the evening: Mango Lassi Indian style chicken wings Bitter Greens (kale) curry Leek Potato curry Spicy Yogurt rice Vegetable crepes Tamarind Ginger chutney Fresh Fruit with Lemongrass-cardamom cream I really loved everything he made. The tamarind ginger chutney was...

Today has involved some good news. First I found out there will be a new Blue Skies album just about in time for my birthday. In case you are interested, here are 3 songs that will make an appearance on the album. I think Wildflowers is my fave so far. Wildflowers by BlueSkies In the car A vague moment of clarity So the next fun thing was learning I'd won some Ralph Lauren sunglasses in a raffle. I love winning random things. And these are cute sunglasses. See?? Yay for good news on the week of my birthday :)

I got home late enough last night that I just didn't have the energy to blog this, so you're getting it today. buying gifts early--I've purchased part of a birthday gift for the end of June, a Father's Day gift, and a birthday gift for Nov 7 already. I'm never this ahead on shopping. Ever. Oh and my sister's graduation gift? I've had most of that purchased since early April. I finished up on Wednesday.  dinner with the YWA ladies--Last hurrah of the semester for them was a dinner off campus. IT is never a dull moment with those ladies. The storytelling started before we even made it to the car. getting Manda settled in her new place--Moving is never my favorite thing in the world, but the idea of getting settled in a new apartment and city is a nice feeling. Especially when it has such good food. Speaking of which... Fat Bruce's and Rippin' Good Cookies --If you are ever in Ripon, WI...and why would you not be, right? You must eat at Fat Bruce...

Last night after work I bucked up and made a decision about my cooking class conundrum. Thanks to all those of you who voted here, on Facebook, or on Twitter (some of you twice... Michael ...I'm looking at you!) I decided that Indian food sounded fun, yummy, repeatable, and something a few more of you might enjoy eating when you visit. So I drove myself over to the store (ended up buying 2 other things because I cannot get out of a cooking/kitchen gadget store without something!!) and signed up for the class! It's paid for which helps the whole, I'm too tired to do anything excuse that will inevitably come up next week. I really am looking forward to it. Now for all of you who were stoked about the paella, if I like this class, I'll probably sign up for that one too. Expensive little 3 weeks there, but it's the only other class in the near future that I'm interested in. A decent investment I'm sure. Onto part 2 of this blog post. Indie bookstores. If you w...

I need your help. I'm feeling like I've been slightly less (read not at all) social in Dubuque since I moved here. For those of you not in the know, that was 3 years ago June 5-ish. I was never one for much of a social life (again read...mostly not at all), but I feel like it's my duty to get out of my apartment/work and interact with people. Now I get out of my place on weekends in Dubuque a lot, but it's mostly to coffee shops and parks, i.e. places where I am alone. So after 3 years, I'm going to be good and do something. I've decided that something is to do a cooking class. Me plus cooking? Perfect, right? The local kitchenware/cooking store does classes. And that's where you come in. I can't decide which one to do. I'm thinking I could still get into the one next Thursday. Or there's one coming up May 24. Next Thursday is Spring Indian Cooking, Thursday May 12th 6p-9p. $35.00 Enjoy the wonderful flavors of Indian cuisine with Sunil. A...

This has been a long month. I managed to post something each and every day, but for some reason this month it seemed more like a chore. The first 2 weeks seemed to fly by, but by week 3 I'd really lost steam. And I sort of feel like I phoned in week 4. I didn't realize quite how crazy busy I was going to be this month. Being without internet for a weekend, pulling extra evening reference shifts, and not sleeping well most of the month (no idea why) did not lend itself to witty, well-thought out blog posts. I'm really glad I did it again this year, if only to push myself to write more frequently. I think I'll go back and do some of the prompts that I missed. The writing was tougher than it was last year, but I really loved reading everyone's posts this time around. I'm rather behind on some of them. There are simply too many blogs to read everyday! A great problem to have. I hope some of you continue to flex your blogging fingers with me for the rest of the yea...

Today's Follow Friday is supposed to be a website we follow. I feel like I've probably talked about this website on here before, but I really love the website mental_floss . It's smart and funny. Enough so that I bought a subscription to their print magazine. They do quirky quizzes and off-the-wall articles. I don't know how many times I end up on their site for hours just reading the articles wondering how I managed not to have learned this knowledge elsewhere. I was a bit of a trivia and random fact junkie growing up (she says as if this is no longer true). This feeds that hunger again and more.

the library staff--Today our director gave the "Last Lecture" today. Based on Randy Pausch's book, the student government started a lecture series 3 years ago. This year Mary Anne gave the speech. It was as fabulous as I imagined. One of my coworkers thought it would be fun (and loosen her up a little) if we made signs to hold up. Mine said 'Just Perfect.' cream puffs--There were cream puffs at said speech's reception. They were delish. running around after my cousin's kids--Easter weekend was nice. I got to see my little cousins. (Technically my cousin's kids but you get the picture.) The boys had fun playing catch with me, reading me a book, and checking to make sure they weren't taller than me. (They're not....yet.) buying movies with Gretchen--Shopping with Gretchen is always fun, but movie shopping particularly so. Why don't you live closer Gretchen? 3 hours is too far to drive for shopping trips. Kindles--We just started lending K...

It's like Question Tuesdays on Friday. (Vlogbrothers reference for all of you who have no idea what I'm talking about). I've missed all 3 Follow Fridays so far, so here are my suggestion for YouTube channel: WheezyWaiter --He has clones, a whale tank in his apartment, loves coffee (and when it's done) and is thinking about making Explosion Wednesday a thing. Basically a funny frequently updated channel with some stupid humor, some intelligent humor, and did I mention clones?? Here's a good intro to the channel and one of my recent fave videos and another . So many fun inside jokes, but funny enough to watch until you understand them :)

The Godfather Casablanca It's a Wonderful Life Schindler's List Psycho Silence of the Lambs Taxi Driver Saving Private Ryan Clockwork Orange 2001: A Space Odyssey Trainspotting Life of Brian Stand by Me Goonies Rocky  I feel like this might be a good list to work from this summer. What should I start with?

Today's post is going to be short. The inspiration is just not there today. Tonight we're getting rain. I like listening to the sound of rain. I'm not so much a fan of thunderstorms. Ones that are far off I'm not so worried about, but we've had some ugly thunderstorms in Dubuque since I've lived here, and being in a second floor apartment with a large front window (and old rattling windows elsewhere) does not help that. But I do like when it just rains. I can hear it on the roof of the porch, the windows, the air conditioner. I also really like the sound of cars rushing by on the wet pavement. I'm not entirely sure what about that noise I like, but I do. I can't wait til it's warm enough to listen to it rain with the window open while I sleep. Is summer here yet??

My family is big on holiday traditions. We always have been. I feel like I've blogged about a bunch of our family traditions before. Thanksgiving especially. (I did a week long look at it in 2009, here's the first post . You can follow the rest of the week.) I thought I had blogged about my May Day and July 4th traditions but apparently not. Or I can't find them easily on my blog. (Went back and looked and found this little preview here.) I'll save May Day for the actual holiday, but I thought I'd let you in on our Fourth of July traditions. Actually a few of you have been witness to or played a part in this story. Ever since my sister and I were pretty little, we've been fans of the fireworks. As a family we'd tromp down near the river (usually to the parking lot at my dad's work) and watch the fireworks. As we got a bit older, Mom and Dad would let us venture off on our own with our picnic blanket and goodies as long as we got back to the car in ti...

So it's 11:44 and I haven't posted yet! I cannot let this be the first miss of the month. I've been doing so well. Just a week left. Tonight you're going to get a short post about getting back on the television horse. Like my blogging everyday challenge, not watching television for all of Lent has been a bit more challenging than I expected. But the outcome has been quite rewarding. I realize now that a lot of the television watching I did was to fill the time and as background noise in the apartment. Living alone, these past 40 days have been some of the quietest I have ever known. I'll admit, I talked aloud to myself more often than is probably sane. (Although those of you who know me IRL know I did that enough already before this experiment.) The surprising thing is how much I didn't miss a lot of it. I missed having something to do at night that didn't require active engagement. But the individual shows themselves I didn't really miss. I kept my...

I went shopping. I was bad. :) I needed a dress for the faculty dinner. And then I couldn't choose/everything was too damn cute. I ended up with 3 dresses. The two below and one on clearance that I can't find on their website. That was is a little more work-y. Gray checked with a slight scoop neck. No pockets, but nothing's perfect. Ok, I really need to quit blogging. We're now watching The OC and drinking. My spelling capabilities are waning quickly. Actually more like my typing skills. Ok. Becky out. :)

Posting this early before I get on the road. Lots to love this week. the promise of margaritas--When I get to Clear Lake in t-minus 3 hours and 15ish minutes, there will be margaritas. Well Mexican food and margaritas. Gretchen and I have determined this already. my YWA jacket--It's so cute. I can never have too many light zip-ups with pockets. :) The front and back from my phone. spending the weekend in a cabin with 11 college students--A great way to remind me both how young and old I am at the same time. It also cemented for me what a great group of students they are. More issues (times 3) with maintenance staff than with them all weekend. light at the end of the teaching tunnel--Just 2 more classes next week and I am done for the semester! I taught or helped with 6 sessions this week, so not exactly a sprint to the finish, but still busy enough. good assessment results--Assessment is never fun, but when the results look good and show student growth, I'm tickled pink...

I love all types of books, but there are certain things that will guarantee that I pull a book off the shelf. Combine those? And you get the epic book I will not be able to put down and will love forever. Here's how to guarantee I will love it. have a structural plot device--Frame narratives are my thing. Sections of before and after. Story within a story, divisions of location or time. Or 13 envelopes. Don't care what kind, just give me a structural piece to hang my hat on. create intelligent, strong-willed, quick-witted leads (both male and female)--both (or all) leads must be people I can imagine to be real and whom I can imagine in multiple dimensions. If you give me a weak, whiny female I will throw your book against a wall. (Bella Swan...I'm lookin' at you!) give your characters pronounable and non-ridiculous names--if it's a fantasy you get some leeway here. Otherwise give me a name that I can say out loud without getting odd looks. employ a snarky best f...