Life in Denim and Flip Flops

Today at church the opening hymn was You Are Mine one of my favorites. I haven't been to church in a while so getting to sing that today was a bit like coming home. I spent a lot of time growing up singing in church choirs or cantoring for service. Certain songs, composers, or arrangements bring me right back to my home church or my choir in Madison. It was just what I needed this morning. If you don't know the song I've posted it (and another of my favorites) below. You Are Mine Deep Within

Figuring it out. Today I spent some time evaluating things and starting anew. Most of my day was spent in various coffee shops across the city. I contemplated what I needed to do to get back where I need to be. I wrote lists. I adjusted schedules. I made plans. And then I wrote. I have a story I've been working on, writing, picking away at for a while. I sat down with it again today and finally pushed it over the 6,000 word mark. It's a random and arbitrary number, but it felt good to see an indication of forward motion. And I forgot how much I love those characters and the set up and the energy and catharsis it brings me to write again. After the internal and emotional issues got the once over, it was time to get to the outward and physical, staring with a haircut. It had been way too long since I'd cut my hair. I got complacent and lazy, so I went in and cut it off and colored it today. I needed the change. It looks like forward motion. It is forward mot...

I'm not sure how I got here, but somehow I'm a bit lost. Emotionally drained and frustrated. Not having bad days, just not really having good days. I need to figure out how to find myself again. I have routines, but I'm not in my own routines. I need to intentionally put myself back into the mix. I've spun out a bit and need to push myself back in the right direction. I will get there. This is just step one.

Five years ago I was sitting in a graduate school classroom listening to professors introduce guest speakers. Tonight I was that guest speaker. I never imagined I would be asked to talk in a library school course. Much less after just five years in the field. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that idea that tenure and previous experience do not make one an "expert" or an "experienced or seasoned" professional. I have always tied length of time to expertise somehow. I am just now learning that those don't have to be mutually exclusive. In addition to speaking to a reader's advisory class about YA lit for adults (and some of my programming hits and misses), I also co-lead a 2-hour workshop discussion about instruction yesterday. Afterwards a colleague from another librarian came up to tell me that I did a good job. I thanked him for the compliment and didn't think twice about it. It's what you say after something like that. It's not t...

I should know by now that blogging when I know I will be away at a conference is a bad plan. I always intent to write something witty and intelligent (like every post on here right?), but inevitably I end up too busy being witty and intelligent in real life to remember or actually follow through online. Sigh. But you've got to dream big right? The preconference went well!  Great attendance and interaction. Not many people brought ideas with them, but a few people told us afterwards how they were going to come better prepared next time. I love that we were doing this again. Pretty stoked to see a brainchild of mine actually come to fruition and succeed!

Today was one of the first warmish days we've had this spring. I have been itching to wear dresses for so long. It was finally warm enough to do that yesterday. I wore one of my favorite black and white dresses. (Don't even ask how many black and white dresses I own...) But today I pulled out a new dress, a pink and brown flowered one, with pockets!!! I got quite a few compliments today, because the dress was new. And the best part? It was cheap. One of my favorite fashion secrets is to buy clothes out of season. I bought the dress super cheap last fall. It's a summer weight dress so by the fall it was marked down quite steeply. I bought it and then threw it in my closet to wait for spring so I could pair it with leggings and a cute cardigan for a "new" 6-month old dress day. Same thing goes with consignment stores. We've got a few in Dubuque and I know for a fact that the one downtown deeply discounts their clothes just as they are trying to put out clothes...

I just solidified plans for this weekend today when it hit me: my April weekends are all over the place, and well so very me. Keeping with my new reality of being around Dubuque much more often than I have in the past, I'll be here for 3 of the 4 weekends. Ok, and by here I mean mostly here. I'll explain below. April 6-7 Julien Dubuque International Film Festival --I went to the festival last year with Gretchen. We had so much fun! We ended up seeing a different set of films than we originally thought, but it was still a blast. I was lucky enough to attend the Beloit International Film Festival with Kyle and his family last month, and this year he's coming down to spend the weekend watching films with me. Plus Nicole will be around for the weekend so she's coming along too! April 13-14 Twins game with Amy--We've got tickets to the Twins-Mets game on Sunday so I'll be driving back up to The Cities (I was just there over St. Patrick's Day weekend). I have...

A happy return and a sad farewell. Every year since 2009 on this date I pledge to try (and sometimes succeed) to post a blog every day of the month. This year is no different. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good and will do my utmost to post something at least slightly entertaining each and every day this month. But as I say hello again to you lovely (and let's be fair...few) readers, I'm still reeling from a goodbye. Today may be the marker of new beginnings, BEDA, April, spring (finally!), and the baseball season... but I think more significantly it's the first Monday post-Lizzie. Post-Lizzie you ask? You might remember me blogging about a new vlog-style webseries last April. It debuted April 9, 2012 and I was hooked from Day 1. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is...was...is?..more than just a video diary adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. It's a new way of story telling. The story unfolded over 100 videos on Lizzie's YouTube channel every Monday and T...