Duly Noted

As a teacher, I am a creature of habit.  5:30 alarm, sleep 5:40 alarm, sleep 5:50 wake up Head downstairs, get coffee and oatmeal started. Do 8 minutes of abs while waiting for coffee and oatmeal. Eat breakfast, read emails, check weather, and toodle around feedly and pinterest 6:30 Feed Misha or prep milk, brush teeth, floss, comb hair and get dressed.  Pick out a scarf to wear. 7:15 Bike to work, enjoy the fall colors 7:45 Meet with students about essays, respond to work emails, get ready for classes 8:30-11:30 Teach! 11:30-12:00 Wrap up materials, get ready for tomorrow's classes. 12:00 Bike home, enjoy leaves again! 12:30 Home sweet home!  Cuddle and feed Misha. 1:00 Eat lunch outside on our picnic table and make plans for the afternoon. Unlike my mornings at work, weekday afternoons have yet to fall into a routine.  Although sometimes I yearn for this, I am okay with no routine with one caveat.  I need to spend some time moving, and...

Patiently waiting in line at  Walgreens. Oh hi.  This is my room. 

This past weekend was of the toodling variety.  What's toodling, you ask?  Toodling involves doing this and that, following one's whims. Friday was a fairly lazy day.  Mike and I declared Fridays as "M-Cubed Day," a day of adventures with little Misha. We were talking about going to the Landscape Arboretum (our wedding locale) this past Friday, but Misha fell asleep and, consequently, I fell asleep and then motivation drifted along with us to dreamland.  Lucky for us, the day ended on an effortless high note when our dear friends came over and made dinner Nicaraguan style, complete with our favorite tostones (fried plantains!). Saturday morning, I headed out for a longish run with another old friend along river road.  Often, I take Rachel the dog or Misha with me when I run, so running solo feels like a treat.  I love my little home team, but I feel so light with my hands free.  Post run, Misha and I checked out our local farmer's market.  Not...

So here we are- four days on the other side of April 1st.  I have yet to start a conversation without the confirmation, "No baby."  It is understandably challenging to think about anything else. That said, I no longer support the issuing of a "due date."  It is widely reported that first time mothers typically go at least a week over the "due date."  But still, that due date lingers like light at the end of a 40 week tunnel.  When an expectant mom is turned away at the gate (I'm picturing that cranky guard in Wizard of Oz- "Who's knocking on that door?"), a new kind of waiting game begins.  I wholly recommend an institutionalized shift to the term "guess date." It's a little ridiculous to think I am edgy over a few extra days.  Soon our little one will be with us for good, for forever.  Mike reminds me that this "late" arrival is a blessing; this week is our spring break so we have been able to relax and en...

Week 37 has not been my best week but my head is above water and there is sunshine on my skin again.  I felt pretty run down thus skipping my power hour (or half hour) of sweaty glory at the gym- a combination that never improves my state- pregnant or not.  On Thursday, the tides changed when I refused to listen to my laundry list of excuses and dragged my sorry pregnant self onto the elliptical.  After "sweeping out the cobwebs" (as my mom likes to say), I felt like a new woman. I am completely aware that my mental/emotional state depends on exercise (especially in the fresh air).  It's certainly an addiction in the sense that when I go without it, I crave it, I behave differently, and I get cranky and downtrodden.  But, is that necessarily a bad thing?  It's nice to know that I can rely on movement for some positive energy.  A little sweat and fresh air is all it takes. IN OTHER NEWS...I have to chuckle at myself.  I am the WORST at IKEA....

What is marvelous about today? Mid-quarter grades are due...which means that there are only 1 and 1/2 quarters left of school!  Which means summer is not unimaginably far away! Haircut!  Shorter...and a touch darker!  Yes, I got some rich dark brown highlights.  I think one person noticed. I run after school almost daily.  Once and a while though, I cut myself some slack and veg out with a diet coke, a blanket, and a stack of reading material.  Today is one of those days.  Rachel is bearing with me and being cozy too. Today is Greg Vasich's birthday.  Mike and I are honoring him tonight with an annual burger night.  If only he were here to share it with us.

Dad and I visited the Walker Art Museum   before he left town today.  After doing our best to appreciate some of the more controversial exhibitions (namely, Midnight Party (an investigation of our dreams and nightmares through art), we were about to make a break for the gift shop when a gallery on graphics caught our eye.  We decided we better check it out as we both like graphic art and I recently learned that "op" (as in op-art) is a word all by itself (thank you scrabble).  The exhibition was hands-on, relevant, and a reminder of all the inventive art that digital media has exposed to audiences.  So cool!  I jotted down a bunch of ideas for my classroom.   Here is one video that I've seen before but could always see again: I also really liked Doyle's Identity Guidelines.  He created a standard self.  Here, he is showing two variations on his standard outfit.  As a ni...

I now have a triathlon under my belt and I am ready for another! Tomorrow! (No need for concern, I don't actually have another triathlon tomorrow, but I would totally do one if I did.) Here's how it went (Skip ahead to the last paragraph if you don't want the nitty gritty details): I woke up at 5am, hit snooze, and then rolled out of bed five minutes later. I had my race breakfast- coffee, oatmeal, banana. I prepped all my stuff Saturday night so I didn't really have much to worry about in the morning. I checked the weather- high of 80 but not until later in the afternoon. Perfect. I drove myself to Lake Nokomis, biked over to the transition area, pumped my tires and set up my gear in my assigned transition spot. Luckily, my transition area was easy to identify and I was there early enough to get a prime location. My gear included a small towel to place my stuff on, running shoes, tri shorts (with gummies and a mini cliff in the pockets), tank ...