Putting it Together

I pulled together an outfit today that I'm actually pretty proud of, so I thought I'd share.

See, I don't really have to dress up for my job.  At all.  Ever.

Plus I have to walk back and forth all over campus.  That means outside, often in the rain, and often dragging a large computer bag behind me.

Needless to say, I often choose comfort over cute in my outfits.  I'd rather not deal with blisters, thank you very much.

Every once in a while though, I come up with something functional and cute.

The only picture I really liked cut off my head.  This is what happens when you are using your camera timer and don't have an tripod.

Impressive, no?

I really don't remember where I got most of the pieces.  The belt, though, which I love is from Fred Meyers.  And this was the first I've gotten to wear it.

I've pretty much decided that the key to feeling good about an outfit this fall is boots.  Good thing I have a few pairs.

Tights are also key.  Good thing my mom just passed on a handful of pairs.

I'm pretty much set.

White Knuckles

I'm a total dog person.

And this video pretty much made my day.  Also, OK Go is pretty cool as well.

Check it!

The Transition Back

I forget how exhausting it is to start back at work.  Dealing with schedule changes, explaining to professors what exactly we do, late night edits (at least for me) add up.

Plus, I still am not quite used to getting up at such an early time.  The summer was spent with few alarms and a lot of lazy about.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but the transition is always a little rough.

I've managed to squeeze some fun into the past few days as well.  I've had dinner with a few friends, traveled south to do a little wedding dress shopping with a coworker, made it out for a show at a local bar, and worn heels two days in a row.

Quite a few accomplishments and great reminders that I have a real life.

In the summer months it's easy to forget that.

I've also come to terms with the fact that fall is here.  I'm a summer kind of woman, but now that I'm okay with fall there are a few things I'm loving.  Namely boots, tights, sweaters, homemade apple butter and the excuse to eat soup and drink tea every day.

For the folks roasting away in CA, feel free to head north for some rainy, fallesque weather.  We've got plenty to go around.

Can I request a mulligan?

Today was my first real day of work since early June.

It did not start off well.  Actually it started out badly last night.

I woke up in the middle of the night to my intestines fighting some sort of internal battle.  I'm still not sure who won.

Then in a fit of delirium this morning I somehow dismissed my alarm instead of just hitting snooze.  Next thing I know I have 15 minutes to get to class on time.  This includes finding parking and walking across campus.

I made it, 5 minutes late, which isn't exactly an auspicious start to the quarter.

On top of that, I unknowingly was supposed to bring the computers to class.

My work schedule was completely screwed up.

The good news: my illegal parking on campus did not result in a parking ticket and the schedule is pretty much straightened out, for now.  I'll take the victories where I can get them at this point.

I'm just hoping the rest of the quarter goes a little more smoothly.

For those of you who are knew to my blog, I'm a transcriber.  This means I provide speech-to-text communication access for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the college classroom.

It's awesome, challenging, interesting, and oftentimes quite nerve wracking.

Pretty Things

I really need to take a shopping moratorium.  Not because I don't have the money to shop.  I do.  I paid my bills, I have a good chunk in savings, I'm good, but I need to take a break.

It's just a little to easy to get fixated on things.  Not that I haven't already started thinking about I want to buy next.

I need to step away.  Although I do need to buy some hangers in the near future.

There's been a lot of shopping in my life recently.  Shoes, boots, skirts, dresses, shirts, leggings, and probably other things I didn't list.

And I realized, as I thought through this post that I've used things to make life a little better.  Living at home with my parents, while working at a part-time (although pretty awesome for being part-time) job, has not made me feel like I have much going on.

So I buy pretty things with a heavy emphasis on shoes and makeup.  Because who doesn't like pretty things?!

Instead of shopping, I think I would be better served putting some energy into making things happen.  I need to make a plan and follow through.

Although the good news is that after these past two years, whatever I do, I'll look good doing it.

Things I am so loving right now:

The new Brendan James album (self-titled).  If you go to his site, you can even download one of his songs for free.

My new boots!  Perfect for the transition to fall.  These are by Steve Madden.

This skirt from J Crew.  Mine is actually tan, but I'm digging the purple as well.  Not only is it adorable; it has pockets.  And all things are made better by pockets.  It's one of my mottos in life.

Going back to work (a.k.a. having a paycheck again).

The book The Help.  I read it recently and was captivated.  You should check it out if you haven't yet.

While I would love to say I'm excited about fall, I'm still mourning summer.  I just love the sun, heat and freedom that summer seems to bring.  Not that I don't enjoy fall, but I'm just a summer girl.

What are you loving right now?

Running for Hope

Over a year and a half ago I wrote a post about Kyle, an amazing little boy who lost his battle with brain cancer shortly after.

I knew (and I use the term "knew" loosely) Kyle through my dad, who worked with his dad.  My dad and I have also mowed his mom's lawn for a few years now.

So I saw his illness unfold from the outside looking in.

This spring, when we were out mowing her lawn, Christin, Kyle's mom asked if I wanted to get involved in Run of Hope.  I'd been looking for a way to get involved in my community and what better way than an event I actually have a little bit of a tie to.

So obviously I said yes.  Next thing I knew I was handling the social media for the event.  It seemed the months of unemployment, sitting at home on the couch, and playing on the internet had paid off.

I knew Twitter and Facebook, maybe a little too well.

Now we are just over two weeks from the 2nd Annual Run of Hope.  And I wanted to share with my reader's about it.  I'm not asking you to donate or even be a part (although if want to, that would be pretty wonderful).

The Run of Hope benefits research related to pediatric brain cancer through Seattle Children's Hospital and Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Fund.

Four Season's in the major supporter of the event, along with a number of other sponsors.  Jake Locker is the spokesperson of the event.  Overall, it's pretty awesome.

Last year, for the inaugural race 1,000 people participated and over $255,000 was raised.  This year we hope to have twice as many participants and raise even more.

If you want more info, are interested in donating or even participating, check out the website.  You can also follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

And finally, here's the PSA for the 2010 event.  Thanks for reading along!

All Plugged Up

My body has collided with an end-of-summer cold.  I might have mentioned this already, but I don't really remember.

Today I decided to try and sweat it out with a good workout.  Then I decided a lifting circuit was a good way to accomplish said sweating.

Bad plan.

Now I'm even more tired and sore than I started.  I should have stuck with cardio.

Then this afternoon, after going in for work, I took cold medicine.

Unfortunately, I took the nighttime medicine, which meant I was practically falling asleep while trying to read.

It was ridiculous.  I even made a comment to my mom about how I couldn't focus at all.

And now it's 9 p.m., I've taken my second dose of nighttime cold medicine of the day, and I'm plan on being asleep in the next half hour or so.

Even though MNF is still going.

Keeping my eyes open just seems like too much work.

In Memory Of

Today was September 11th. You probably already knew that. I hope.

It's kind of a big day in our country's history, but for me, today had more personal significance.

Today was the memorial for my grandmother. She passed away August 22nd of Alzheimer's. And today we celebrated her life with family, friends and people from her past.

I think she would have liked it.

And related to Sept. 11th, I wanted to share this commercial that Budweiser made in honor of the people we lost. It was only aired once.

Pretty cool. Plus I think the horses are pretty.

Now I'm off to bed as 11 hours of sleep the past two days just isn't cutting it for me.

From an airport, as usual.

It seems as though airports are the only place I've really blogged recently.

That's good and bad.  Good in the sense that I'm traveling fairly frequently obviously.  Bad because I've turned lazy.  And I'm dependent on the free wi-fi gods.

I'm headed home from Indy.  And by home, I mean I'll be back in my home state.  I won't see my bed until Sunday night.

I had actually planned to stay in Indy longer, but circumstances (namely my grandmother's memorial service) changed my mind.  And suddenly I find my weekend schedule as packed as if I had stayed longer with Sam.

(I am totally mourning not going to the Oregon/Tennessee game this week, by the way.  College football is one of my favorite seasons.  That and pumpkin spice latte season, not that I've had one yet.  Since it's been hot in Indy.)

This weekend my plans include driving across the state, going to a rodeo, the memorial service, an airport shuttle run, my good friend Amber's wedding dinner (!!!), and who knows what else.

Oh, and I'm singing at the memorial.  That should go swimmingly.  At least I've had lots of hours logged in the car singing since coming to Indy.  Driving to Tennessee and back will do that.

For now I'm waiting in the Las Vegas airport for the last plane leg.  And I have a killer headache.  One of those need-a-dark-room, shaky-hands, just-want-to-curl-up-and-die-type headaches.

Which is why I spent over $8 for a small bottle of execedrin migraine.  I drew the line at $4 dollar water bottles.  That's just ridiculous.

I'm sad to be leaving Indy, although I'm looking forward to sleeping in my bed.  The number of beds I've slept in in the past 2 1/2 weeks numbers somewhere around 5.

And I promise to give a recap from the weekend in Tennessee.  I meant to do that sooner, but I've been busy with my housewifely duties.  (More on that later, too.  Maybe)

For now I'm going to finish my not-quite-natural airport smoothie and dream of my memory foam mattress topper.

And college football.  Always college football.

Editor's note: This wasn't edited.  I didn't even read over it.  My brain can't handle with and you'll just have to deal.

Half-Way Through Indiana

I'm about half way through my trip to Indy.  I had planned to stay through next weekend, but decided instead to go home.

I had mentioned my grandmother earlier.  She has since passed away and the memorial service is September 11.  I decided to get back in time for that.

Yes, I am missing the Tennessee/Oregon game, but I'm getting to the season opener this weekend in Knoxville so I'm not going to miss out on all the excitement.  Just on the bigger game.

I have some time on my hands during the day here.  My friend, Sam, works like a normal grown up, so I do exciting stuff like job hunt, study for the GRE, and waste A LOT some time online.  You know, the usual.

Actually studying for the GRE is new.  I am just reminded how much I hate analogies.  And I don't use the word 'hate' very often.  I'm also dreading the math section.  I was good at math, a decade ago, when I still actually studied it.

I'm not exaggerating when I say a decade ago.  GRE math is not the calculus I took my senior year of high school.

I've also had some fun.  One thing Sam and I do well together is shop.  We shop well, we shop a lot, and we shop cheap.  Yesterday a trip to Burlington landed her a huge haul of stuff.  I've been picking up a few things here and there.

I have to keep reminding myself that I only have 5 extra pounds in my big suitcase.  The good news: I'm flying home on Southwest, which allows you to check two bags for free.  I'm pretty sure that I'll be doing that.

We've also caught a movie, done an all-day pool party, hung with her friends, and checked out a lot of the city.

This weekend we're headed to Tennessee, Knoxville for some football and fun and her small hometown to get a taste for the Labor Day she grew up with.  We'll also fit in a few brunches and some white water rafting.

For today, I'm being a bit of a housewife.  I've done laundry, packed up the inflatable mattress and cleaned up the kitchen.  I may be headed out to run some errands later.

Now excuse me while I get back to my soap operas.  (Not really.)