Road Trip

b and I love a good road trip. I get the passenger seat and, now that we own a GPS, I don't even have the responsibility of navigating.
As long as it isn't too cold, I take my shoes off and get comfy.

I've been known to grade papers on a long drive and sometimes I'll crochet but mostly I let my mind wander.

The borders were all I accomplished on this trip.

Eventually they will be added to finish this blanket.*

This weekend we took a shortish road trip down to see Pumpkin in her new digs. This was b's first visit and Pumpkin was very excited. She told me she had a surprise for me that I would really really like. Lo and behold she was right.

My Favorite Tea-Recently Discontinued**

On the way back we stopped and bought a few bookshelves for the new office. b put them together once we got home.

The Brute approves.

*I started this blanket when Angel was in high school. It was supposed to go with him to college. Now I'm thinking it will be a graduation gift.

**Regular readers may remember that I was desperately looking for this tea, the only tea to truly make me happy, only to find it was discontinued. This may be the last box left in existence.

Fine and Mellow

It is Day Four of my official spring break and the Unravelling course. Today I didn’t take any pictures. Instead I went to both a tai chi and a yoga class. In between I worked on my grant.

I learned something really cool in tai chi. It is a two-person exercise and I think I’ll need to teach it to b so I have someone to practice with.

Working on the grant actually felt good today. I’m resolved to going slow and letting it happen. I am really enjoying Scrivener. It may be the new software winner for me (although I’m writing this post on MacJournal hoping to realize its merits). Scrivener is very versatile. It has all of the regular features I use in a word processor plus some really cool organizational tricks. I particularly like how it can break up and regroup text so you can focus in on a section at a time. It also exports very nicely to other systems so you can share your work (something that is crucial in academia). I also appreciate the 30-day trial that only counts the days you actually use the software. I highly recommend giving it a spin, if you are a Mac user.

Yoga was a lot of fun. After the great tai chi class, I wasn’t feeling another class and since I was getting good work done on the grant I was very tempted to forgo it entirely. However it was my favorite teacher and I hate to miss her classes. I went and was not disappointed. We worked on a lot of chest-opening and deep breathing exercises and I even managed to do a 90 degree, pre-handstand with a partner (the handstand-ready postures freak me out a bit and I’m a very long way off from ever doing an actual handstand). By the time I picked b up from work I was in a very fine and mellow place.

The highlight of my day, however, was getting an off-the-cuff call from Angel. He is having a fabulous time in Florida on his spring break. He has managed to stay out of trouble, enjoy time with his friends, and stay (mostly) within budget. He sounded so happy and pleased with himself that it just made my day.

Tomorrow b and I are off to visit Pumpkin for the weekend. She is very excited that we are coming and we are thrilled to spend some time with her and BB (who is flying in from his own spring break). Maybe I’ll take some pictures.

Trapped

This little guy flew into the gear room this morning while I was making eggs. It took him a while to find his way out but after butting his head into the window repeatedly, he finally figured out he needed to turn around and head out from whence he came. Goes to show, sometimes the best thing to do is to retreat.

Day Two

Phase I of RHP is complete. Our bedroom is now in Angel’s old room and our old bedroom has been transformed into a study. Phase II involves purchasing bookcases for the study so all of my books are currently in piles on the living room floor. I am looking forward to Phase III, where I get to rearrange all my books in said bookcases. The purchasing will occur on our drive home from visiting Pumpkin this weekend. The trip takes us right past a certain store.

Unfortunately the couch would not fit in the new study so Pupzilla will no longer be able to sleep by my side as I work. b says we can buy her a 2nd doggie bed, so she’ll have one in the bedroom and one in the study. Keeping the couch in the living room also means I don’t get my dream of transforming that room completely into a gym but sometimes a girl has to compromise.

Overall we have a lot more space although we still have objects without a home. I think the bookcases will help but there may be another piece of furniture that will need to be purchased. I just haven’t figured out exactly what it is. The laundry/storage room is now filled with stuff for Angel to take and I believe we’re going to have to rent him a van. Once that happens, b can transform that room into an indoor gear room/laundry room (he already has an outdoor gear room...he has a lot of gear). That will be the final phase, Phase V. Phase IV is the phase I’m really NOT looking forward to--the phase where I need to sort out all of the drawers and bins and going through papers and bills and old clothes. However I know I’ll feel good when it is all purged and organized.

On Day Two I also managed to take a few pictures for Unravelling. I’ve posted a few below. Once again, I DID NOT work on my grant (or do any other work-related work) but tomorrow I will be doing so in my new study.

My New Love on my Cleaned-Up Nightstand

Now I Can See the Backyard from My Bedroom

Cleaning Out My Closet I Remembered How Much I Love My Keens

Day One

Day One of Spring Break and the House Reorganization Project (RHP) was quite the success. It was a beautiful sunny day here in SouthLite; nice enough I could open the windows and drive The Brute a little crazy. I DID NOT work on my grant at all. This may seem like a bad thing (and in the long run may end up being a problem) but it felt very good. I DID get a lot of work done on the house and once b came home gobs more got accomplished. We should be able to finish the heavy lifting stuff before he heads back to work tomorrow afternoon. It seems b hates having projects drag on, so if I can get him started he’s pretty much a machine until its done.

Today was also Day One of Unravelling. It is turning out to be loads of fun but not at all productive. I could literally spend all day reading everyone’s blogs and keeping up-to-date on the discussions. The group is quite impressive. I’m seeing some really beautiful and creative spaces and I would be intimidated except everyone is so genuine and obviously excited to be taking the class. Since It was gorgeous out today I thought it would be smart to take my camera and Pupzilla for a nice long walk. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera were dead and Pupzilla could barely make it to the store and back. It seems the winter has been hard on our old pup and getting her back in shape may be another project.

I’ve also been playing with my new laptop all day. It is hard to keep my hands off of it, no matter how beautiful it is outside. Just having a screen that I can see and doesn’t flicker constantly is a gift. I’ve also been downloading and trying out some new software. I’m using MacJournal for this post and not sure yet how much I like it. Between work and blogging, I spend a lot of time writing on the computer. I’d like to have some tools that make it a little more comfortable. I’m just not sure which ones I like yet. I’m trying Scrivener (taking the advice of the lovely Susannah) and I’ve downloaded the trial version of Nisus. Scrivener seems interesting but Nisus seems less impressive. Ommwriter (another Susannah suggestion) is a lot of fun but a little limited. Anyone out there using something they absolutely love?

RBOC: Spring Break Edition

• b and I had a truly lovely time on our anniversary weekend. We ate great meals, saw a fun play (Around the World in 80 Days), and enjoyed each other's company. Perhaps there was a wee bit too much drinking and b was fighting a cold throughout the festivities, but it felt both relaxing and invigorating to indulge ourselves for a while.
• I'm still working on that grant that I just can't get out the door. Grant revisions are a huge project for spring break.
• Another project for spring break is the bedroom swap/new study-library with a little bit of spring cleaning thrown in. I am finally going to buy a new bookcase (or two) so my books can have a home.
• Most exciting however, is that the Unravelling e-course that I signed up for (see nifty logo on the sidebar) officially starts tomorrow. Susannah Conway is the mastermind behind Unravelling and we are all excited to see exactly what she has in store for the course. Today everyone received access to the site and there has been a flurry of introductions and twitter followings. We are a large group (I'm not sure what our final numbers will be but as I type this 62 have already identified themselves on the site) and we span the globe. Welcome to all my fellow Unravellers. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

Sitting Pretty

It is 3:45 pm and I'm sitting in SouthLite's swankiest hotel with a tequila by my side and my brand new MacBook Pro in my lap. Champagne is chilling. b and I have dinner reservations at one of the fanciest restaurants in town and will be meeting friends there for drinks before dinner. Tomorrow we have a matinee show followed by another fabulous dinner and night in the hotel (which is also one of the greenest hotels in the country). Anniversary weekend (and spring break) has officially begun and not a moment too soon as this morning was rather hellish at work.

I'll see you all on the other side.