A Life Update

Since I was slacking for such a long time in the posting department, I thought I would take a moment to update you on a couple of pretty great things that happened in my life in May. First, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in San Francisco at the beginning of May. It's a great conference (I went a couple years ago when it was in D.C.). Plus, hello!, San Francisco! Hotel and travel paid for by someone else, plus a per diem. Yes, please! It was great. I was able to take a bus tour on my first travel day and walk to some other places in the afternoons and evenings during the conference days. 

One of the coolest things I did (or have ever done for that matter) was walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. It's just SO huge!

 

I also got a close up view of the painted ladies. These houses are just so pretty. I loved all the architecture in the city.

 

We stayed at an amazing hotel, just a block from Pier 39. I saw the sea lions and a great view of Alcatraz. We tried to take boat tour to the island, but were not able to get there early enough.

 

On my last day, I got up early and ran along the San Francisco Bay. I can't tell you how great that was. If I could do that every day, I would be one happy lady!

 

San Francisco will definitely be a place I visit again. There is just so much to see, experience, and EAT! The food was amazing. I would go back just for that. Anyway, when I got back, I was in hustle mode to finish my capstone paper for my Master's degree closure. Luckily, I was in good shape and was able to turn it in on time. I received an A on the paper, which I am quite proud of. Then, on May 14, I participated in the commencement ceremony and received my diploma cover. I should receive the actual diploma sometime next month. I definitely recommend that students participate in the commencement ceremony for degrees above the bachelor's. It was such a great experience because this degree was all for me. I was able to sit there and reflect on how hard I worked on something that meant so much to me. Definitely worth it. I think the picture below reflects how happy I actually was. It was a wonderful day (despite the rain) and really helped to close that part of my life on a happy note.

 

 

What I've Been Up To

Writing! I'm three weeks away from the day I will turn in my Capstone paper and be finished with grad school. I have a solid outline and all of my research finished. I present my research tomorrow evening. Then, it's all about writing. Fortunately, writing is easy once you have a great outline.

This weekend we also got some pretty bad storms. It was interesting. We don't have a basement, so when there is a tornado we huddle in the hall closet. It got boring, so we only stayed in there for a few minutes. I can get to the hall closet in 5 seconds from anywhere in my house, so I took a chance. Besides, I like watching the storms. Everything came directly from the south, which is never a good sign. Here's what it looked like before it hit. This was at about 5:30pm, so it really is that dark from the storm.

We also got a ton of hail. Some of it was pretty large. I didn't get a good picture of all the hail,  but this is about halfway through the hail on our deck. Makes me so glad we have a garage.

Luckily, I do not think we had a confirmed tornado. Lots of rotation, though, which is why they issued tornado warnings. We got lucky this time. Unfortunately, some out east did not. Hopefully the rest of tornado seasons calms down for everyone.

Chicago!

This past weekend I had one of the most wonderful experiences. I was able to meet with 11 of my friends in Chicago. I know. What's the big deal. Girls' weekend in Chicago. The big deal was that I had never met any of these women in person. Yep, they are my "internet friends". I have been lucky enough to be part of a community women on a message board for nearly 4 years. We all met while planning our September 2008 weddings and have remained in contact on our message board, through email, and through Facebook. We have become close through sharing a common event and continued to remain by sharing our lives with each. There have been mini get togethers over the past couple of years, and some of the ladies live close enough that they can get together regularly (yes, I'm jealous of them!). But, for the most part, our friendships have existed through the computer. Isn't the internet wonderful?

Back to the weekend. Most of the ladies got to Chicago on Friday, hung out, and had dinner and drinks. I was able to take the train up early on Saturday morning (I watched the sun come up from the train) and join them for some sightseeing, dinner, and drinks. Of course, there was tons of chatting, laughing, and being silly thrown in there. Meeting these ladies was so exciting and really reaffirmed that we aren't just internet friends. We are real friends. I look forward to more get togethers in the future and hope that eventually I will be able to meet each and every member of the S08 clan.

 

The Group at Angels & Kings

The Bean

 

Chicago in The Bean

The Skydeck at the Sears Tower

Out on the Ledge - 1,353 feet above Chicago

Conquering my fear of heights on the Ledge!

The ABCs of One Human

My friends Paige posted this on her blog and I thought it looked fun, so I swiped it. Hopefully you will learn something new about me.

{a} age; 25
{b} bed size; King
{c} chore you hate; Folding and putting away laundry
{d} dogs; None currently and most likely will never have one
{e} essential start to your day; Breakfast
{f} favorite color; Yellow
{g} gold or silver; Silver
{h} height; 5’4″
{i} instruments you play; None, but I would like to learn the piano someday
{j} job title; Assistant Director for Research and Policy Studies
{k} kids; None
{l} live; Central, IL
{m} mom’s name; Denise
{n} nicknames; X-O, X-O Jo, Jo Jo
{o} overnight hospital stays; Only when I was born
{p} pet peeve; Currently, people with bad gym manners (don't put up their weights, hog equipment, over the top loud, etc.)
{q} quote from a TV show; ‎I'm stealing one of Paige's - "Look at me I'm Chandler, could I be wearing anymore clothes?" - Joey - Friends 

{r} right- or left-handed; Right
{s} siblings; 1 older brother
{t} time you wake up; Around 6:45am on weekdays and 8:00am on weekends
{u} underwear; Bikinis or Hipsters
{v} vegetables you dislike; Brussel Sprouts
{w} what makes you run late; Not much, I'm Peggy Punctual
{x} x-rays you’ve had; Wrist (broken when I was 6), chest (pains in Jr. High), head (migraines when I was 8), finger (broken in Jr. High), arm (sprained in Jr. High), ankle (tore all the ligaments when I was 22), teeth (more than I can count over the years)
{y} yummy food you make; My specialties include lasagna, pork chops, strawberry salad, chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter cookies
{z} zoo – favorite animal; Hippos, obviously

2011 Goals Check In

Remember my goals for 2011? Yeah, well, some are going better than others. Here is how things are shaping up so far:

Read 50 Books for Leisure: I have read 10 books in 2011. You can see them here. This is definitely the goal I have made the most progress on.

Finish Graduate School: I'm getting there! 8 weeks of my last semester are finished. Next week is spring break and then we go back for 8 more weeks. I have planned some library time for this weekend to work on my research, so hopefully that starts taking off soon.

Take a Vacation: Not even close. We wanted to take a vacation after graduation in May, but we can't decide where and can't commit on a time frame. I'm thinking this might be held off until later this year.

Participate in a Charity Run: I need to start watching for these events, since the big season for it should be starting up again soon.

Volunteer: I submitted my information to volunteer for my local library's annual summer book sale. Either sorting books before the sale, or manning the tables during the sale. I'm excited and hope the organizers contact me!

Watch Less TV: Yeah, this hasn't happened yet. I really need to work on not having the TV on just to have it on.

Spend Less Time on the Computer (outside of work): Again, hasn't happened. I really do need to kick my spider solitaire habit, though.

You Are What You Eat

On Monday I finally watched Food, Inc. I say finally because I have known about it for a couple years and have been interested in watching it. The topic of the movie is definitely not something I am ignorant of. In fact, I think I know more about it than most. So the facts presented in the  movie were not surprising to me. It was being able to put a face to the problem. Seeing the farmers, the animals, and the families. That was how the movie impacted me.

I grew up in a cornfield. Literally. My childhood home was bordered on three sides by a cornfield. On one side was out road and on the other side of the road was another field (which rotated between corn and soybeans). I know farmers. I am from a farming family. To see how they are being manipulated by Monsanto made me angry. To see how these families are forced to defend their business and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees just to defend themselves made me incredibly sad. To know that upwards of 80% of the corn harvested in the United States is genetically modified (and as studies suggest, not all that safe for humans) made me sick.

To see how the big companies force poultry, beef, and pork farmers to treat their animals. To see what they put in to them. It made me sad. I'm not an animal lover by nature. But to make them suffer all because of our more for less mentality is wrong. What's funny is, we aren't really getting more for less. Sure, we're getting more in a quantitative sense, but we're getting much less in a qualitative sense and when it comes to food, quality IS more important than quantity.

These are just a couple of the thoughts I have had as a result of the movie. Fortunately, we have already been moving in the direction of better and more sustainable food. We shop locally when possible and frequent the Farmer's Markets during the 6 months of the year that they are open. I read labels and try to stay away from most things with unnatural ingredients most of the time. We buy milk from a local company that only uses raw milk from cows not given hormones. This year I am planting a garden and we are discussing splitting a grass fed cow with my husband's brother's family. I am considering planting a peach tree this month, which should bear fruit in just a year or two. I'm hopeful that this movement will catch on and more people will begin to think more about the quality of their food. I'm also hopeful that policymakers will begin to be more aware of the importance of this issue and structure policy to incentivize sustainable farming instead of how things are structured now. I supposed only time will tell, but it you want to learn more I would suggest checking out Food, Inc. and many other the other documentaries and books on this subject.

Happy Pancake Day!

Don't those just look delicious? I love pancakes. Especially during the spring and summer when I can use fresh berries and peaches to dress them up. YUM!

Today is National Pancake Day. Unfortunately, I will not have time to make pancakes today to celebrate. I hope to make some this weekend, though for a belated celebration.