My First Ten on Ten

I've always admired the photos posted by friends who participate in Ten on Ten, but it's never come together for me to actually take ten photos on day ten of a month.  Well today was a first.  I took just a few minutes out of my day to capture some images and find the beauty in the everyday.

Usually I use Facebook for most of my updates and staying current with friends and family, but we have a number of people in our lives who aren't on Facebook (and others who are, but would still enjoy a blog).  Well, for all of you, here's a glimpse into my life today, December 10:

My desk at work

A rodent skull found by students down the trail

The Enviroscape, almost finished with some much-needed TLC

Salal outside my office door

Reindeer bathing in light on the mantle when I stopped by home at lunch

A friend on the office porch

Driving to the orthodontist

Headed home

Christmas Countdown

Santa wanted to play while we were babysitting tonight

Winter decor

Over the last couple of days we put away our Christmas decorations, said goodbye to "Tree," and reset the living room.  I wasn't ready to let go of all our "wintery" pieces, so our main space is now ideal for candlelight.

My reindeer from Danielle got some new white bow ties, I made a little pom pom garland, the adorable pine cone candlesticks from Debe's mom and my Paperwhites from Jane at work are on the table, and we're enjoying our other gifts not pictured here (including some very cute wine cork trees from Joelle and a darling "hello!" sign on our front door).

I'm just a couple of days away from starting my new job, and I have a clean, decorated house to come home to.  This might make me like January. :)

A new year

It's been a while.  I haven't had a lot to say...actually that's not true, I've had things to say, but I've been operating on the principle of "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

It's been a tough year for me, and I think for Dave (dealing with me).  2011 was filled with an incredibly stressful final quarter of grad school, 2.5 months of un(der)employment, a challenging job situation, and an almost year long search for the right career position - which I'm proud and overjoyed to say I think I've now found.

While I can't say it was easy or that I handled it very well, I will say this: my work struggle in 2011 has made me incredibly grateful for the opportunity I'm now presented with.  I know I won't take this position, or the great people I'll be working with, for granted.  I think these experiences will help me through those rough days when burn out is creeping up on me.

Enough of the bittersweet.  There were also some wonderful moments in 2011:

• Graduating
• Celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary
• Attending the weddings of my cousin Karla in Memphis and my friend Sarah in Washington, D.C.
• Both of our 10 year high school reunions
• More triathlons for Dave
• Three great weekend trips to Victoria, Whistler, and the Olympic Peninsula
• Time with family, friends, and cute babies :)
• Another year of gardening

 As for 2012, other than work, can I have a redo on my resolutions/goals for last year?  My new Kindle should be a fun new tool for reading and sharing books with friends.  We also have another kayaking trip planned with friends for June, and we hope to train for the Seattle to Portland (STP) bike ride in July.  We'll just see what happens with any time we have other than that!

Thanks to everyone for your continual, amazing support.  Here's to a great 2012!

Our first anniversary, a little late

I'm warning you now: this is the one and only photo we took of our first anniversary celebration.  Oops.  So I'll try to be brief.

Dave and I wanted to do something special to celebrate our first year of marriage, but I failed at getting my act together and planning.  I had this grand idea that we'd talk Dana and Blake (who were married on August 20th, 4 years before us) into going halfsies with us on a hot air balloon ride.  I knew they wanted to in the past, and they start in Snohomish and often drift towards Woodinville (our two wedding locations) - perfect, right?  So we're hoping maybe that's how we'll celebrate for anniversary #2 (#6 for them!).

Instead we went the Priceline route and got a hotel room downtown for the night.  In the early afternoon we took the bus downtown, checked in, and went to Pike Place Market.  I promptly convinced Dave that it is perfectly acceptable to eat ice cream for lunch when it's your anniversary.  We continued down to the waterfront, and worked our way back up to the Seattle Central Library, since Dave had never been (What?!?!).

Afterwards we headed to our room to clean up, and discovered the bottle of wine and box of chocolates pictured above.  My mom saw Dave's Facebook status and called our hotel to have them send us an anniversary treat (Thanks, Mom and Len!).  We enjoyed lounging with wine and chocolate, and walked down to the Pink Door at the Market for a delicious dinner.  It was wonderful to just spend the evening relaxing, and looking out our 24th floor room window on the city.

The next morning we slept in, which was heavenly.  Then we went to a French bakery (again in the Market) for pain au chocolat, a croissant, and Americanos.  That breakfast was a major highlight for me, but I think Dave is happiest about the new head scratcher we found at Urban Outfitters on the way home.

It was wonderful to take a moment to pause and honor our marriage.  There aren't words to express how blessed I am to be married to a man like Dave, so I'll just say thank you - thank you, Dave, for choosing lil' ol' me.

Graduation

On June 11, I took part in the College of Education graduation ceremony.  I wasn't sure about graduation.  I finished classes and my Master's project in March, so going back months later for the ceremony felt odd to me.  But, little did I know, my wonderful friend Debe was planning a special party in my honor!

That meant Dave was in charge of 1) convincing me that I should walk and 2) getting me to the surprise party at Debe's.  I don't think I made part 1 very easy for him, but Debe helped with part 2 by sending me sweet text messages of congratulations and asking about taking photos of me with her daughter (my honorary niece).

So, Dave and my dad joined me for the ceremony, which took place in the Quad on UW campus.  It was a cool June morning, but we made it through rain-free.

No, I didn't wear cap, gown, and hood (what you get for a Master's).  I had decided not to go through the big UW ceremony after the madness from my undergrad ceremony, so I couldn't justify buying it.  I told Dave I would wear full garb if I successfully earn my PhD.  I was glad to walk in with some of my class friends - apparently the Curriculum & Instruction crowd is pretty apathetic when it comes to regalia!

Walking up to shake hands and be handed a key chain.  No joke.  You'll be happy to know my real diploma came in the mail this week.

The gathered the full group of walking C&I Master's students.

Afterward Dave talked me into swinging by to return a book to Debe and Rob.  I found this odd, but was convinced because I wanted to say hi to Debe to thank her for being so thoughtful about graduation.

I don't think we took any photos at Debe and Rob's house, but it was a wonderful afternoon with many friends, barbecue, wine, and several adorable babies to play with.  I'm a lucky girl, and graduate.  Thanks Debe, Rob, Brianne, Danielle, Dana, Blake, Kendra, Jonathan, Kaity, and of course Dad and Dave!

D.C., briefly

Last weekend Brianne and I flew to Washington, D.C. for the wedding of our amazing middle school friend Sarah.  Last summer Sarah and her fiance flew out for my wedding (Sarah is in the lovely purple dress in this Galaxy Girls photo - Thanks, Princess Mars!), and it was great to see each other twice in one year.  I was sad that Dave couldn't join in, but I enjoyed the quality time with some of my favorite people in the world.

Here's a taste of our 4 days in the District:

Thursday - Arrival and bachelorette party

Brianne modeling our party garb

The Bride

Friday - Pedicures with the bridal party, Erik's arrival, jazz in the sculpture garden, DC sites

Erik (B's boyfriend) and Bri

Awesome bike storage solution at the sculpture garden

The tiny replacement National Christmas Tree (the old one blew over in a storm)

Saturday - National Archives, National Galleries, Wedding!

National Archives

National Galleries

 

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs., and thanks to Sarah, Gavin, Brianne, Erik, and Sarah's family and friends for a wonderful long weekend!

The last month

Since it's been almost exactly a month since I last posted, I thought I'd share a recap/update.  More than being a lazy blogger, I kept feeling like I didn't have anything interesting to say.  But I know something has happened in a month, 1/12 of the year, half the time I've had off since graduating... :)

Dave and I:

• Celebrated 3 years since we started dating, 2 years since we got engaged (and by now about 5 years of friendship)
• Traveled to Whistler, British Columbia for a weekend visit with my amazing cousin and her college band who were featured at the Whistler Music Festival

• Attended a great talk by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, at Town Hall
• Bought some new plants at the Orca K-8 school garden plant sale (one of the school gardens where my service learning undergrads volunteered)
• And just this last weekend went for a bike ride to Totem Lake (the actual lake, not the mall), babysat our favorite twins, went to a delicious wine tasting (Thanks, Jean!), and saw Guys & Dolls at 5th Avenue (Thanks, Blana!).

In case you're wondering, things are picking up in the job search, and I really (really) hope to have good news to report soon.  This month I've had 2 phone and 2 in-person interviews, plus one not-yet-official but promising job prospect.  I've also participated in 2 panels for UW classes, helped at the Seattle Tilth plant sale, volunteered at the Washington Park Arboretum, and spoken to someone about some writing volunteer work for a small environmental education magazine.

We're really excited for the month to come, which includes a weekend trip to the Olympic Peninsula, a wedding Brianne and I are attending in DC, a triathlon for Dave, a small College of Education graduation celebration, wine making class, my 10 year high school reunion, and a trip to Memphis for an exciting family wedding.  More to come...

Catching up, keeping busy

I mentioned the other day that it's been an interesting experience being unemployed the last month.  I feel like I vacillate between enjoying it for the time and feeling down and unsure of myself.  Probably a lot comes down to the fact that I don't sit still well.  And I have no patience, like at all.  Oh, and I really, really like to plan things ahead and know what's coming.  (Hey, at least I recognize these things about myself, right?).

Some of the things I've accomplished are:

• Cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning!  I've rearranged furniture, sorted things, pulled out donations, made plans for new office furniture, done tons of laundry, and reorganized the storage unit.
• Catching up on medical appointments, including the eye doctor, orthodontist, and dentist.
• Connected with contacts, added new references to my resume, and sent out job applications.
• Looked into volunteer opportunities, particularly helping out Program on the Environment, UW Pipeline, and Seattle Tilth.
• Renewed my CPR certification.
• Booked tickets for some upcoming weddings in DC and Memphis!
• Had fun at a cooking class, attended Mariner's opening night, said goodbye to some friends for 6 months, read a great book (yup, it took a while), watched some good movies, played some games, planned a party, and did some cooking.

Overall I'm pretty proud of how much I've gotten done, in addition to working on getting my head back on straight post-school, and taking much needed time for friends, family, and my husband!

It's so hard to plan not knowing how much longer it will be until a job works out (I'm hopeful about a few opportunities), but some of the things I plan to focus on in the coming days are things from my goals for 2011:

• Workouts!  Unfortunately the boot camp I was hoping to do didn't fill, so I'm on my own.  Dave is super supportive, and has offered to work out with me to help with motivation now that I don't have gym access.  We're hoping to focus on biking, running (ugh), and yoga.  We're also taking walks after dinner almost every night, which has been a great way to avoid the post-dinner low and just talk and enjoy each other.
• Eating healthy.  I think Dave and I mostly do pretty well on our food choices, but we both have a serious love of bread, pasta, and cheese.  A lot of people think these are the only options for vegetarians, and they are an easy fall back, but we're trying to focus on our fruit, vegetable, and vegetarian protein intake.  We can't wait until the farmer's market opens for the season and our own veggies start growing again!
• Turning off the TV.  It's really easy for me to get sucked into watching too much TV when I am home.  So, I've been working on turning off the TV more, enjoying quiet time, listening to music, and...
• Reading.  I'm now starting into Water for Elephants, which I'm really excited about.  For fun I also want to read Something Borrowed, since the movie looks silly and cute.
• More projects around the house.  I hope to get our office sorted out, mend some things that need sewing, and hopefully start making a few things for future gifts!
• Planning some fun summer activities.  Believe it or not the summer is already filling up!  Between both our 10 year high school reunions, DC, Memphis, and more weddings and celebrations, it's going to be a fun, whirlwind of a summer.  So I'm working on blocking out weekends for some camping trips and the very silly Tour de France party I want to host!

Thanks to everyone for being so supportive during this weird in-between time!

Time for friends and cute babies

It's been just about 1 month since I finished grad school, and while it's been a very interesting experience for me (I'll write more about my thoughts on the experience soon), one of the best things has been spending more time with friends and their adorable children!

I've been trying to see Debe & Kimbre and Dana, Kaylee, & Ethan every week since graduation.  I get the chance to see my good friends and catch up while helping a little or participating in outings.  Debe, Kimbre, and I enjoyed Free First Thursday at SAM earlier this month, and just last week I got to take part in a "play date" for Dana, Debe, and their kids!

 There are soooo many cute pictures of Kimbre, but I like this impromtu shot of Debe with her daughter (wow, still freaking out that my friends are parents!).

For some reason I love this picture of Kaylee.  She is too cute in her bouncer, and I was so impressed that she can now get the bird!

Ethan playing the piano, just like his dad.  Too cute!

Starting triathlon season and workout goals

Last Sunday Dave (along with Blake, Heidi, and Brianne) participated in the first triathlon of the season: the Seattle RainMan.  It's a great way to start because 1) you swim and bike indoors and 2) the swimming and biking are timed instead of distance-based.  All of them did great, and I'm so proud of Dave for finding time to stay in shape and motivated for triathlons.

Following his lead, I'm trying to set some new fitness goals for myself.  I had very little time for workouts last quarter and it left me feeling yucky about myself and my athletic abilities.  My first step has been to sign up for another boot camp (like I did before the wedding).  It was really challenging, motivating, and effective, so it seems like a great way to get back in shape.  I'm also setting a goal of working on biking, running, and yoga.

Anyone want to work out with me? :)

We'll keep you posted on our progress this spring!

done, Done, DONE

It's been a long break from this blog, filled with papers, posters, reading, teaching, and grading.  I have never had a quarter that was so continuously stressful, and the only thing that kept me going was the light at the end of the tunnel - completing the program.

That's right, I'm a graduate!  My Master's project was approved, I got my grades (and I'm quite proud of 'em), and I completed all my TA responsibilities!

On Wednesday night I was officially done with school, but just as that chapter closed, I took off for the Environmental Education Association of Washington and Washington Science Teachers Association joint conference.  I was able to stay with my dad and Cathy (thanks!) for three nights while I attended conference sessions.  Friday I was part of a field trip to the Elwha River, home to two dams that were built without fish passage.  The dams will be removed beginning in September, sparking a major ecosystem restoration effort.  Saturday I attended several conference sessions and enjoyed the keynote speech from Ken Miller - a cellular biologist, professor, and textbook author.  Sunday I caught one more session before taking the ferry home.

I wish I had more pictures from the long weekend (there were some GORGEOUS sunrises), but here are a few views from the Elwha field trip:

 Our mini-bus for visiting the dam sites - it was squishy to say the least...

 The lower dam

 The far side of the lower dam - the Elwha was a great site for hydropower because of the cliff walls

 The lake that formed behind the lower dam

 At the mouth of the Elwha on the coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca - someone had fun making this!

I wish I had a recording of the sound of the waves moving these rocks

- they were perfectly polished, geology in action!

Now I'm focused on catching up on all the things that I fell behind on in the last couple of months - things around the house, errands, etc.  I'm also starting my job search...

I can't wait to see everyone!  Thanks for all your support and congratulations!

My camp

Many of you heard about the camp I wrote and taught in December for my Master's project (to graduate you do a thesis, more coursework/papers, exams, or a project).

While I can't show you the pictures of cute kiddos, I thought I'd share some pictures of the projects we did.  Note that I took my old camera, so sorry they aren't as crisp!

 Plant part puzzles

 Tissue paper flowers

 Build-a-Seed Challenge!  This one is like shotweed - you use the sandpaper to pop the balloon and the penny shoots off, like when you bump into shotweed in the garden and the seeds go flying.

Edible "greenhouses" - here you see a "cloche" style and a covered structure - yum.

Homemade chia pets - they sprout grass "hair"

 Terrariums!  Everyone made their very own terrarium using a recycled soda bottle

I know, don't you wish you were in elementary school and could go to camp and do these awesome projects?!?  I feel that way all the time...I guess that's why I like writing and teaching camps like this! :)