Tag Archives: travel

2011 Resolutions

I usually like to give myself until my birthday to make resolutions and to report in on those from the previous year. This year, however, I’m pretty set on my list, and if I post it today, that gives me almost 13 months to complete the following:

Expand my bread repertoire by baking 2 new types per month. I can make a solid sandwich loaf, but there are many more loaves to try!
Knit socks. I’m there. I can do this.
Run the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. If my knee, winter training, or finances prevent this, run at least one 10K.
Continue saving aggressively for a down-payment on a house. We’re hoping to buy this summer, but it might be advantageous to wait another year, which is why this resolution is ‘save’ not ‘buy’.
Complete the 25 Recipes challenge, in which we attempt to master 25 recipes that we’ve been intending to try.
Learn to accessorize. I love the look of scarves, jewelry, and all of that, but haven’t spent much time figuring out how to work those things into my wardrobe.
Make a decision about grad school. Do I need/want more of it? In what field? This decision will largely be influenced on my job situation.
Sock away 3 months’ worth of my half of the household budget (approx $4500). I worked on this in 2009, was un/underemployed for a few months, and then got a job that pays $15,000 less than I was making when we established our budgets. I’ll be posting about this and other financial goals on How I Am Not Spending Money. Hopefully extra income from teaching will help with this.
Survive my first semester of teaching. Can I tell you how intimidated I am about this? It’s a little paralyzing.
Take a solo trip and a vacation with SB. We’re thinking Portland or San Francisco, and I’m thinking that my reward for #9 should be a trip to NYC.

What do you want to do in the new year?

Moments of Clarity

The first few days after a vacation are often filled with a sense of peace and clarity about things. I’m guessing this happens to everyone, right? Depending on the length of the trip, you may have had time to fall into a new, more relaxed routine. You haven’t had to go to work, so when you return to the office, you either have a renewed sense of focus about your work – or the blinders are off about all the things you hate. Maybe you’ve had a lot of good food, or maybe you drank too much, but either way, you’re committed to new(ly) good habits.

When I came home from visiting Oday in France, I relished the few days before my body acclimated to the proper time zone. I got up early and enjoyed my coffee outside before work. After Spain, I just walked and walked and walked and walked. Most of my trips in the last two years have been for work or family events, so I feel like this is the first big reset in a while.

Today I’m finding it a little easier to unsubscribe from those listservs and RSS feeds that I’m just not interested in reading anymore. I have a little more willpower about the candy dish on the other side of the office, though I did just grab a couple of Tootsie Rolls to help with the afternoon dra-a-a-a-g. I feel less frustrated and more serene about my work situation, though I also feel like I need to have more interaction with people. I’m enjoying reading more than I have in a while. The weather is exquisite, though I was absolutely blinded by the sun this morning. I’m sure in a few days this will turn into a post-vacation funk, but for now, things are good.

2 days to #12books!

Wow, guys, you’re totally blowing me away with your enthusiasm and also your impressive reading lists!

Shane and I are off to San Francisco for our honeymoon on Wednesday, so look for the sign up round up post towards the end of the week, and for reviews from both of us of our first books when we get home! For the record, I’ve started with The Winter Queen, while Shane is reading Kitchen Confidential on his new and fancy-pants Kindle.

Librarians on the Farm

About 6-7 months ago, my friends and I started kicking around the idea of a girls’ weekend away. I think the idea had been in the ether even longer, but after I read an article about a group of women who take yearly trips to all kinds of places (sorry – I can’t remember where I read about it OR any of the specifics) and THEN read this post about another group’s “lovebomb”, I really wanted to make something like this happen for us.

So after months of planning, the announcement of two pregnancies, one home purchase, and one rescheduled wedding, 5 out of 6 of us found ourselves en route to southern Illinois last week, where we spent two days at a cabin and another day in St Louis. I wish I could bottle up and send you the essence of the weekend, but pictures and bullet points will have to do.

- weather in the mid-70s, driving through the country with the windows down and classic rock on the radio, the joy of driving up to a cabin and finding kitties on the porch waiting for us

- walking outside to find horses, dogs, and assorted fowl making their way up the hill to greet us, then spending the waning afternoon talking to the farmers/innkeepers about their flock and herd while a peacock cried for his mama

- being presented with a dozen of the most beautiful eggs I’ve ever seen – after debating whether we wanted duck, goose, or chicken (as said animals milled around near us)

- after a run in the muddy woods, having the hardest decision in the morning being whether to take our coffee on the front or back porch

- hiking in the woods in the sun, relishing the changing temperature as we moved in and out of the shadow of rocky outcroppings. Also finding any excuse to say ‘outcropping’. Ice cream in a tiny hippie town after.

- sunset, campfire, grill-out with the first asparagus of the year

- the most ridiculous drive ever on country back roads, some of which looked like they might have just been driveways, some of which led over one-lane wooden bridges and by the camps of folks living off the grid – resulting in lunch at a truly insane root beer saloon and a sneak peek at a building rehab in process

- falling a little bit in love with St Louis as Erin took us to favorite spots in her neighborhood

- most of all, spending hours and hours and hours just talking and relaxing and reconnecting with dear friends

At the beginning of the trip, we said that if we weren’t driving each other nuts by the end of it, we should make this an annual thing. By the end of it – and in many subsequent emails – we’ve affirmed this decision, as despite travel headaches and the inevitable indecision about how to make money issues the easiest, we all arrived home relaxed, with friendships recharged and bodies and spirits rejuvenated. It is such a blessing to have the means and the friends to make this possible! <3 <3

The Last 10 Days of Food

Gees, where to begin? I’ve been pretty diligent about posting to date, but a weekend of friendos visiting from DC followed immediately by a mid-week trip with some of my favorite girls resulted in 10 days of nothing – and very little desire to catch up. So here’s what I got:

Mike and Bill rolled in on the 27th, kicking off four days of beer, movies, more beer, vegetarian food, still more beer, a trip to Detroit for the guys, additional beer, dinner at Jolly Pumpkin, and oh, more beer. I’m still not sure if I accurately captured the amount of beer that was consumed over this weekend. This wasn’t like a woooo spring break!! kind of blow out – rather, it was a series of tastings, sharing rare or regional treats from each of their stashes. I wish I’d taken pictures of the very serious boys taking their serious beer very seriously. I know Shane took a picture of all of the bottles, so that’ll have to suffice.

While the boys were busy with the beer, I made a couple of tasty dinners – Butternut Squash and Fried Sage Pasta (hearty and filling, though not quite what I expected from the recipe) and tempeh tacos (always a crowd-pleaser) – and the killer spinach strata that we’d had at Shana’s on my birthday. When the boys were late coming back from Detroit, I ate without them, then regretted it as Shane stepped up to make a really delicious Moroccan Carrot Soup (which we’re going to re-run for dinner this week).

Stradaaa

And THEN I hopped on a plane to St Louis, where my friend Erin and I collected some of the best donuts in the country and also some legendary pretzels before hitting the road to Carbondale, where we met up with Angie, Kim, and Laurie for a couple of days of hiking, snacking, napping, drinking, and relaxing with farm animals.

In addition to delicious baked goods and a whole lot of other bad-for-us snacks, we grilled out, toasted s’mores over a campfire, and made breakfast together using two pounds of bacon and the most beautiful farm eggs I’ve seen. We also checked out a bar and a cute breakfast place in Erin’s neighborhood and had an awesome dinner at Schlafly Bottleworks (including curry crackers that I’m committed to duplicating) on our last night in town.

Suffice to say that the next few weeks (leading up to um, a special occasion) will should be a bit leaner on the indulgent meals – segueing nicely into the beginning of the growing season and the return of fresh things to the market. It’s been a delicious and ridiculous ten days – and I’m very much looking forward to getting back into the kitchen and back into more normal eating.

Recipes:
Butternut Squash and Fried Sage Pasta from Self
Tempeh Tacos
Spinach and Cheese Strata from Smitten Kitchen
Moroccan Carrot Soup from Bon Appetit

June in brief!

June was, in short, insanely busy. First, Tina and I ran in the Race for the Cure and raised money for a good cause. And then we ate waffles.

Then the next day Mel and Ray arrived from Seattle and hung out until we went to Bonnaroo.

Photos of Mel, Ray, and Fred stolen from Kevin’s wonderful Flickr. Kevin, Jill, and Fred joined us for a fun brunch and a lot of catching up. The next day Shane went to Michigan, returning the day after that so that we could go to Bonnaroo:

We saw some science bears play video games.

and connected with a bunch of Shane’s college friends!

After getting home and trying to beat summer colds, I flew to Illinois for my sister’s bridal shower:

I also got to be home for Father’s Day, which was especially excellent since I thought it was the previous weekend! We made brunch for Pop since everyone was home.

No sooner did I return, then the next wave of visitors arrived. Dan stayed with us for a few days while wooing Basil:

We went to the first Fort Reno of the season with a bunch of friendos:

Linda and Jeremiah came to visit for a week from Colorado, which was very excellent. We went to a baseball game and yelled at the Red Sox:

The last day our friends were here, we got the news that we’ve already posted about, which is pretty awesome! Also Richard and Piotr were in town and we had dinner with them, but I forgot to take pictures. And then we took two days of vacation for a staycation, during which we wore funny glasses and went to Baltimore. More on that later!

Man Oh Man

In the last week, I have:

Flown from DC to Chicago
Read a 500+ page book
Took the train from Chicago to Champaign, and then back again
Ate my first cheeseburger in 13 years (which Ingbert toasted, appropriately, with another cheeseburger)
Successfully defended my thesis, the link to which will be shared soon (with thanks to all that attended the event)
Went to Kam’s, where Dan, Jeanne, and I consumed beers the size of our heads
Participated in my last LEEP on campus day as a CAS-ter.
Had a Symposium in my honor
Saw a lot of old friends and didn’t spend nearly as much time with any of them as I would have liked
Ate at old Champaign favorites: Jupiter’s, Kopi, Aroma, Esquire, Papa Del’s, Murphy’s, and the Courier.
Slept on Molly’s couch.
Watched the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special

And THEN I:

Took the 6am train to Chicago
Had brunch with the ladies
Went to a fun game store and an amazing bakery

And THEN I:

Took the train to the bus to Rockford
Slept for a ridiculous and much-needed amount of time in the very cold basement
Spent quality time with Gypsy
Saw my sister, her fiance, and their cats for the first time in more than a year
Visited my plaque on the Wall of Foam

And THEN I:

Missed my flight out of O’Hare because I thought it was at 11:10 instead of 10:10
Arrived in Seattle 2 hours later, thanks to the wonder of standby
Was joyfully reunited with Shane after being apart for a week
Met up with Mel, who picked us up at the airport and gave us our first taste of Seattle
Tried local beer at Elysian Brewery and Pike Pub & Brewery
Panicked a bit when our pet sitter lost his keys, which were later found
Killed a number of happy hours at the Pike Place Market
Worked on my presentation for ACRL
Bumped into 3 friends and counting at the conference!

I’m here in Seattle through the weekend, flying home on Monday, at which point I will not leave my house until someone MAKES me do so. I miss my cats and my own bed and not eating expensive meals. It’s been a pretty fantastic run, though, and the time has gone much more quickly than I expected.

Where I’ve been

SF love

…is in San Francisco, attending Project Bamboo Workshop 2, and also in Monterey, where I’ll be speaking at Internet Librarian in just under 90 minutes. More when I catch my breath!

Only Connect

(I had set a goal for myself to blog somewhere every day this month, but that goal was impossibilified by yesterday’s travel suckiness. In lieu of yesterday’s post, an overly thoughtful one too too early in the morning.)

So it’s 7am and I’m in Atlanta, having spent the night in the airport after my flight out of Denver was delayed by a couple of hours. Crying was involved, as was encouragement from several random strangers. The random strangers are the subject of this post.

I really don’t like talking to people on planes. It’s not so much that I’m antisocial as it is that I just want to zone out, read my book, sleep, etc. That said, I talked to my seatmate for the entirety of the 2 1/2 hour flight from Denver to Atlanta, our conversation running the gamut from Aspergers to wilderness therapy to climate change as a concept to metadata. At the conclusion, we exchanged warm farewells, aware that this was a chance connection, forged only because we were stuck in the airport and then in the plane next to each other for several unplanned hours.

When Erin Fae visited a few weeks ago, we talked about how we both really feel the lack of intimate friendships in our lives at the moment. We both certainly have those sorts of friends – the ones that hang out in the kitchen while you’re making dinner, or call you at the last minute to go to the grocery store, or are comfortable being quiet together – but not as many as we’d like, and not necessarily in our same geographic regions, making the spontanaeity and comfort of the relationships a little more difficult. We also talked about how it’s so much harder to make those kinds of friends as adults – and harder to make friends in general.

I guess that’s why I so value conversations like the one I had last night – or like Sunday night, when Max and I went to a bar near his apartment and just talked about whatever for an hour or two. It’s so rare these days to have a real conversation with anyone, much less a total stranger, much less a conversation spanning multiple hours – so when they happen, it seems like a wonderful gift.

I guess the point of this – and bear with me, as I’ve had like 3 hours’ sleep in a cold and uncomfortable terminal – is that I’m thankful for opportunities to connect, to share a little part of my life with someone new, to step outside my comfort zone and be enriched by the experience. I’m especially thankful when, as with Erin Fae, as with Linda, those moments turn into a wonderful friendship.