The Last Post I Can Label Under "Grad School"

I took this picture of G reading on the floor the other day with Roo Roo:

He had to lift her ears in order to turn the page. They looked so cute together, and when I ran to get my phone I told him not to move because I was going to take a picture. He goes, "Why are you taking a picture? So that you can then not blog about this??"

Touche.

It's been a while, loves, because I've been defending my thesis and interviewing for teaching jobs while, you know, teaching my classes, and trying not to fail as a student or an instructor or just in, like, life.

Remember me?

The past few weeks have been a bit dicey. Oh, who am I kidding? The past few months have.

In a nutshell:

• I'm no longer a grad student.
• I am the proud recipient of a Master of Arts in Literature!
• I'm now qualified to teach college classes.
• I have a teaching job at a university over the summer.
• And I'm teaching 3 college courses in the fall!
• I'll keep up my writing consultant gig and my freelance gig as well. 

It's all coming together!

In short, all the hustling of late - and, really, over the last 4 years - has paid off.

And I wanted to write and fill you in on it before we take a quick lil vacay that I'd like to blog about.

G is alive and kicking and still very much a nerd. I could include a nerdy pic here but I want you to keep reading and so I won't.

Stay tuned for a celebratory vacay!

The Strictest of Vetting Processes

Downright Civilized

This weekend I just about didn't know what to do with myself. Life without constant homework is...pretty darn liberating. I work on my thesis for about an hour every morning (and will pick up the pace on that this week because I have a revised draft due to my chair soon), and I have regular grading that I do, but that's "it."

This weekend we went to brunch - twice! - and a movie, and took a walk, and hung out together at home.

We enjoyed the spring-like weather and made some lowkey travel plans and watched TV.

I re-potted another plant (on the far left, in the orange pot) and gave the lil beauties some TLC. I brainstormed some jobs to apply for later this month when I feel like my thesis is under control.

Basically, this weekend was a window into what life will be like post-degree. Very, very soon. It was so civilized. The pace was so manageable. I could get used to this.

I'm used to every hour of the entire day being delegated to homework or grading or writing or lesson planning, and it feels so good to be reaping what I've sown over the last 4 years. March is going to be a crazy month for me, but it's going to be the last crazy month. By the first week of April, God willing, I'll be finished with my thesis and will have defended it.

Then immabe like:

Here's a close up:

Lately

My friend, Em, was here this past week and, well, there was a lot of food. We tried a new (to me) brunch spot called Sassafras and OMG. I will be going back there again, and again.

You guys. This is a buttermilk biscuit topped with a homemade Pimento spread and pickles, fried chicken, eggs, and duck fat gravy.

Duck fat gravy.

I'm gonna just give you a minute.

In other news, we got Roo Roo this cat tunnel and she mostly just gets stuck in it and lays down for a while. It kills me.

She was mama's lil Valentine.

It has been beyond cold in Denver. I haven't ridden my bike in weeks because of snow and ice on the trail. My legs are like, "This is fabulous, and also, pass the pizza."

A friend gave me this plant clipping and I'm just waiting for it to sprout some new roots so I can plant it in a pot. I'm upping the ante in the ol' bay window. Slow and steady wins the race against G and his green prejudices. (He says he can see bugs around the house. There are no bugs around the house.)

Roo Roo claimed the tree skirt at Christmas and it has become her magic carpet. Our morning ritual is, she lays on it and plays in the library while I drink coffee and work on my thesis (i.e., stare out the front window).

I've had a couple of nervous breakdowns lately about the thesis. I got overwhelmed with the theory portion and my advisor had to talk some sense into me. All is well now and I'm plugging along on it. I'm sure I'll only have to rewrite it about 14 more times before I graduate.

I've also tentatively started sending my CV out and looking for teaching jobs. (When I graduate, I'll have to teach at other colleges in order to remain a writing consultant at this one.) I've received some enthusiastic responses, which is a good sign, and I'm hoping fall enrollment is good and strong everywhere so I'll get a few more classes under my belt.

With our crazy schedules and visitors, G and I are two ships passing in the night. He brought home these flowers the other day and this has become my favorite view.

I've been able to read for fun, though! Life is starting to shift in that way.

Not only that. I've been watching TV, too! Top Chef Denver is almost done but that's OK because the latest season of Homeland just started up again and next month the season finale of The Americans comes on.

Yesterday I helped a friend move out of her apartment and clean it, which brought back all kinds of PTSD from that phase of life. (BFJ, if you are reading this, I kept thinking about that Hawaii apartment you helped me clean. Me: "Thanks for helping and everything, but I mean, I AM giving you this dish drainer so..." You: "Yes, I'm the one with the better end of this deal.") So, so glad to be settled in a house.

Well, loves, this thesis ain't gonna write itself. Not sure how much my involvement is adding to it, but hey, I gotta graduate.

Game of Thrones

Special Guest

Today was national take your bunny to work day.

Not really, but my coworkers have been bugging me basically nonstop to bring Roo in, so today I caved. And she went to work with mama for just a little while.

I brought her in and got her all settled in my writing consultant office, then went off to teach. They bunny sat and basically got zero work done until I came back. And can I just say I now know how all you parents feel once kiddos enter the picture. People didn't even see me. I was invisible. I was merely a vessel for the bunny. My sole purpose and identity were only in relation to her.

I have noticed a growing anxiety about the bun bun these days. At home, all is well. But bringing her out today was very hard for me. And - to be honest - G wasn't super comfy with it, either. I have a hard time enjoying and sharing Roo because I'm so scared that something will happen to her and it will be all my fault for trying something new. It's irrational but it doesn't feel irrational. We've been burned by the sudden passing of Lucy, and I wonder how long it will take to get over that. Is it even possible to get over that?

I feel this way about Roo:

And it was so fun to give my coworkers a bit of pet therapy today. Every day should start off with bunny lovins...

The Details

They say the devil is in the details, and while that is true, he doesn't own all that real estate himself. There's a lot of small and significant joy to be found in the little things, too.

I spent many a day over the holiday break sifting through our stuff, taking things to goodwill, and deep cleaning all the nooks and crannies of rooms. "Down sizing" is maybe too strong a description of what I've been doing, but just barely. My goal is to move toward minimalism. Kind of like if minimalism traveled a lot and picked up knick knacks and also had a baby bun bun who loved toys all over the floor.

Over the past months I have gotten rid of extra books, organized the ones that are left, and relocated my teaching and school-y ones to a shelf upstairs. This has given us more space in the library for the books that we enjoy and want to be surrounded by. I got smaller shelves to go in front of the bay window, and for Christmas, G's parents gave us the elephant bookend. I like it so much that I bought the giraffe one, too. The microphone-looking stick in the front is from the Maasai village we visited in Tanzania last summer.

Here's a close-up. Isn't it great??

Amazon had such cute book ends that I ended up getting these, too. This is a set of funky, eccentrically-fashioned animals. I put them in the living room. They make me so happy. It's like Alice in Wonderland, the Safari version.

I got rid of our old bowls and replaced them with (fewer of) these Japanese ones. World Market to the rescue.

The details aren't just for the house - here's an infinity scarf that has key quotes from Pride & Prejudice on it. Merry Christmas to me.

And I'm able to showcase my Tanzanian necklaces much more in the winter than I am in the summer. Turtlenecks FTW. Also, it's been too icy for me to bike lately so I've looked like a human rather than a bedraggled mess all day long.

Roo Roo got into trouble yesterday. She destroyed a pillow and then tried to act like she had no idea what was going on.

As soon as I cleaned it up, she crashed.

What details are you focusing on in the new year? Don't leave them all to the devil.

A Buntraditional Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, peeps!

I came across this card from a few years ago and had to include it. It makes me happy and pretty much sums up the day. Although, G and I were watching the Macy's parade this morning and he busts out with, "So, what do you think that an immigrant from, say, Somalia, thinks when they watch this?" Seeing it through those eyes, as like, one jumbled up and totally nonsensical commercial, was the best. I'll never look at it the same way again. Which is not to say that I had a certain way of looking at it to begin with. But when the Ninja Turtles came on, I lost it all together.

Speaking of nonsensical chaos, here's how our lil turkey spent the last few days.

It's hard work, all this laying around, you guys. She clearly hasn't missed many meals. Much to our surprise, she hasn't jumped up on the new furniture yet. It's much higher than our old saggy brown dilapidated mess, so maybe she's not putting two and two together that this thing replaced that thing?

We overshot on the size of the couch we'd need in the living room and ended up with an extra piece, so this morning we redecorated the side room. Not bad, right? It's getting cozy in there! Plus, we feel like we're livin' the high life since we got the carpets cleaned. We don't even want to go upstairs anymore because it needs to be cleaned so bad up there. In fact, the whole upstairs needs a massive makeover, but that's for the Christmas break, I guess.

Speaking of breaks, I finished a book I was reading for fun, sighed, and picked up my homework again. Which means my Thanksgiving break is officially over. I've been ignoring paper grading and that's got to start up again too or I'll have a riot on my hands next week. G says I can't mope about my break being over since I technically have two days of it left. He says I can't mope until Sunday when I have to go back to work.

Meanwhile, he volunteered at his job today. We were going to do Meals on Wheels but they didn't need any more volunteers (which is great!). His workplace is understaffed today so he rolled in for a few hours while Roo Roo and I sighed and did our school reading (and drank perhaps one mimosa).

Hope your day is filled with food and love and cuddles and TV and movies and relaxation and then more food. Oh! And naps!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Lil Goblin

So, I was going to post about the rest of our GRLZ WKND. And I was going to post about the many benefits I'm experiencing from still - yes, still! - biking to work. And I was going to post about fun Halloween/fall decorations up around the house.

But that's going to have to wait because I want you to see what we're dealing with here.

I vaguely remember saying that I was NOT going to go wild with stuffed animals for Roo Roo. That I was finished with that. Sigh.

 

But could you just eat her up or what? Roo is an extrovert. She's all up in the middle of everyone's business. All the time.

Guess What Day It Is!

It's International Rabbit Day!

 A day in which we honor our long-eared, short-tailed, furry toddler-acting little trolls!

 What would life be like if we didn't have to hide every wire and cord in the house?
 

 Go pet a bunny today!