Summertime!

I don't know how it happens, but somehow - even though I'm working less, summer always ends up so busy! So here's the scoop on what I've been up to in short in the past few months, largely in pictures ;)


-In April, we took a weekend hiking / cabin trip with some friends down to Hocking Hills. Beautiful weather that weekend and we always enjoy hiking in that area.  On our way back we hit up a little winery for some tasting :)

We also went to my dear friends' wedding n Virginia that month. SO happy for the couple and SO good to see my friends in that area! We had a great time :)

In early May I went to Pittsburgh to run the 5k and the Half Marathon (the "Steel Challenge"!)  I spent a lot of time with some awesome friends from around the country and ran the half with a very good local friend/running buddy! I'm still so proud of her for finishing the half and hopefully we can do another one together in the future :)

May also brought a trifecta of insanity: The end of the semester, moving, and planning a surprise party/surprise scrapbook for my in-law's 40th wedding anniversary! Everything went really well (and the party was particularly awesome, and they were indeed surprised!), but it was a lot of work. We're still not done with the unpacking part of the move (fortunately, we only moved upstairs in our duplex, so for anyone wondering why you don't have a new address for us - that's because it's still the same!)

This is the chaos of my car at the end of the semester...  The joys of teaching in 4 different locations!

Paperwork, potlucks, and presents from students :)

Conway is still not sure how he feels about these stairs....

In June I was off of my regular job, but I taught a 4 week seminar for a super awesome program that  does professor-let literature seminars at different work sites across the country.  The program is based in Cleveland and I feel very lucky to be a part of it! My group that I've now worked with twice is small, but mighty and they were already talking about what book they want to read next time I work with them :)    June also featured a visit from my parents and it was really great to see them! And, finally, J and I went to our church's big national conference in June.  I spent most of my time volunteering on the green team (helping educate about recycling and compost practices at the conference, and making sure everything is in the proper place) and attending workshops about interfaith partnerships and immigration issues.  I wish I could remember some of the more profound things I learned there, but I suppose that's what happens when you wait a month to blog about something. 

June was unfortunately not all fun and games. We also lost a dear friend, who passed away suddenly at the age of 31. We were glad that we were able to go to his memorial service, but I think we're still processing things a little bit.  Hold your loved ones close, because you never know when they could be gone....

July has been pretty good to us. We spent the Fourth of July weekend at J's parents' lake house and
watched fireworks there.  I'm now back teaching summer classes, and even that is half over now!  I'm also involved in starting up a new teacher mentoring program at work, which is both exciting and intimidating. But  I think it will be quite helpful for our new teachers and I wish there had been something similar when I started!

  I also recently attended the Thirty-One National Conference in Columbus. It was great to reconnect with my teach AND to get a chance to see the new fall products and prints.  Trust me, you are going to LOVE them!

Our conference goodies!

I love Thirty-One's partnership with Girls on the Run!

A few miscellaneous things that don't really fit anywhere else. We've had a few fun trips to the ballpark and are hoping to go back again this weekend. I love watching baseball on a beautiful day in the summer!

We've also enjoyed some great concerts in the past few months, including Cleveland Orchestra's "The Firebird", The Dustbowl Revival at Music Box Supper Club for my birthday, and Old Crow Medicine Show and Brandi Carlisle.  Plus my own concert with the summer band I play in!

I've also been enjoying time both in my own garden and taking advantage of my membership to the local botanical gardens!  First, some pictures of my garden so far this year (from the past few months):

Seedlings

Ready to be planted outside

Strawberries!

Our community garden plot a few weeks ago

Some of my indoor tea garden

And some pictures from the local botanical gardens

Not flowers, but how happy do these cute service pups in training make you!?

And my new sewing room is finally mostly set up, so I've reacquainted myself with my sewing machine and have been working on a few small projects. I have a pretty big pile of projects I'd like to do and am looking forward to tackling those!

And, finally, one last plug for the fundraiser I'm doing that will end on Friday (July 29!). It is for the Parents Advisory Network (PAN), a group in the Philadelphia area that supports NICU families. I will be donating thermal totes for them to give to NICU families, but I need your help! You can sponsor a tote for $15! We've had 40 donated so far, and PAN said if we can get to 50,  they can gift them to the NICU families in all THREE of the hospitals they support! These thermal totes can be used by NICU mothers to transport breast milk to the hospital.  You can sign up to donate here and I will contact you with payment details :)  Big HUGE thanks to everyone who has donated so far. 


Whew! Hope everyone is having a great summer so far and my apologies for the long (and long overdue!) post!

Various updates

 Once again, work has hit me like a ton of bricks. Not a bad ton of bricks, I suppose. Just very busy! I'm back into full swing at my regular job and also teaching two classes as an adjunct. Keeps me busy for sure. So here's what's been up since my last post before the semester started:

Work: Like I said - busy! Several trips to Pittsburgh to meet with my online students. And my regular classes are going well. I have some great groups of students and am very thankful for that. I've also been doing a really interesting professional development program about teaching language that is useful for employment and I'm learning so much!

Running: I just finished my last long run (10 miles) before the Pittsburgh half on May 1. I haven't been training as well / as much as I would've ideally liked, but I'll take it. I'm super thankful to have had L. and/or T. with me for most of my longer runs and am really looking forward to running with L. at the race AND seeing some of my favorite out of town running friends :)

Travel: J and I went to Charleston, SC for a long weekend back in March with some of his friends from college. It was super nice and I loved taking a trip that didn't involve a wedding, conference, or other obligation. It was just for fun. The weather wasn't as warm as I was hoping for, but it was beautiful and a great trip. 

Thirty-One: It's been a good year so far! I did a very nice vendor event in March and then had a great open house / girls evening in early April. I'm loving the new catalog and the spring gift guide. (If you haven't seen them yet and want to - just let me know!) 

Around the house: First - I haven't done nearly as much crafting as I'd like :( Still working on that same sweater I started a year ago. And I think I've forgotten how to use my sewing machine :P But I'll get back at it... hopefully after my online classes end and I have a little extra time each week.  But I have been reading a lot, which makes me happy. I got a yogurt maker and have been happily making homemade yogurt, because I take odd pleasure in making things that normal people buy from the store. On a related note - J and I started the seeds for our vegetable garden this weekend and I'm looking forward to that. I also became a member at the local botanical gardens and am hoping to visit a lot this summer. We went to the recent cactus and succulent show and I added a new Mother-of-Thousands kalanchoe to my collection. I'm ridiculously excited about this. And then we got a zebra aloe from L. :) Making progress in my crazy plant lady life goals.  

Other miscellaneous notes: 

-J's hockey team won the city championships! I'm so proud of them :)  

-We've been to some really great concerts / shows lately. We love live music and I'm thankful that we get to enjoy it so often.

-Now that I'm not working more than 1 evening a week, I've been able to get back into my small group meetings at church and I'm really happy about it.

-I finally feel like I might be heading in the right direction with some of my health issues, though it's honestly pretty overwhelming and takes up more of my energy that I'd like. I at least have a new doctor that I feel a little more confident in...  so we'll see how this goes!

-Conway is still adorable and we love him ;)  We can't have a blog post and not mention him! 

So - the short version: Life is pretty good. I'd love to be a little less busy, but I have really nothing to complain about :) I'm sure there's something I've forgotten to mention here, but if I tried to recap it all, then I'd never finish this post or ever post again... So consider this your brief(~ish) update on my life! 

It's almost conference time!

In addition to being busy with my "real" job, these past few weeks have been busy in my Thirty One business! And in just a few short days, I'm going to be heading to Columbus for our big national conference. Not going to lie - I'm pretty excited and can't wait to report back to you all :)  In the mean time, here's what I've been up to..

Random stuff:  Here's a picture of a baklava sundae. You're welcome :)

 and also a dog doing agility from a horse and dog show we went to. It was so much fun to watch! Makes me want to practice with Conway!

Baseball: Despite the All-Star Break, there's been a lot of baseball in my life lately. Before the break we went to a home game and sat in club seats. This was my first time in club seats (which include a buffet) and it was pretty awesome. Immediately following the break, we headed down to Cincinnati to help my mother-in-law cross another ballpark off her list. It was a very hot weekend (and a little thunderstormy on Sunday), but we saw two Tribe wins, ate delicious food, and bought a ton of bourbon in Kentucky. Overall, a winning weekend!

Packing for a weekend away, Thirty-One style!

Thirty-One: In addition to preparing for the conference, I did a bridal event last week. Love these :) So much fun and I met a ton of new people!  Excited about establishing some new relationships with some of them.

My setup from the bridal show

Summer band: My fun summer band has started up again. Love the rehearsals. We practice super close to my house and the music is always light and fun.  Our first concert is this week! If you're in the area and want to come, just let me know :)

You know you want one... 

Running: The 10-miler I signed up for is just a few weeks away and I'm feeling ok about it. Just finished 9 miles this morning. I'm also planning on signing up for a half (or two) this fall, just need to pull the trigger!   Some of my inspiration has been coming from my monthly StrideBox subscription (more on that in another post) and some has been coming from a new friend at run club. It's always so, so nice to have a running partner!

Etsy: I'm beginning a soft launch of my Etsy shop with exercise headbands and cute ponytail holders. If you're interested in being one of my first customers, let me know!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

"There's a teacher in the classroom. She is cute."

My goodness it's been an eventful two weeks! When I last left you, we were about go to Opening Day. Well, it was a beautiful day! (I even got a little sunburned!) We spent some time exploring all the ballpark renovations they did over the winter and I'm excited to go to another game to try out some of the new bars and restaurants. The only downside of that day was that it seems the Tribe has, well, forgotten how to play baseball. It could be a long season if they keep playing the way they have been for the past two weeks.. 

We spent the following weekend in the Hocking Hills with some friends. We went on a couple of beautiful hikes and were both feeling very inspired to go hiking again. Hoping we can make good on that little promise to ourselves.  Here are some pictures from the hikes we went on!

The week after that was unfortunately pretty rough. We came home to discover my car had a flat tire and spent two days trying to resolve that issue. We ended up only needing to get one new tire, thank goodness. Then on Thursday that week I got sick with some kind of sinus thing and I'm only now starting to feel better. Ugh. 

My classes are going well. We are heading into the final stretch! Progress testing starts next week.  My students were especially awesome last week - they must have sensed I was having a rough time. One of them brought me some decorated eggs for Orthodox Easter.

Another day, one of my classes told me that I looked beautiful that day - so much so that two of my students started taking pictures while I was teaching!  I had them send me the photos so you could enjoy some "action shots" ;) The last one was taken during our break in the middle of class - I don't carry my cell phone while teaching! 

 

In my two multi-level classes, we did some work with "there + to be" (a chapter from the book Grammar in Context, which I really love!) I was having my students come up with "real life" examples to practice the construction "there is a.... it is.."  I had my students give examples and they said things like "There are dictionaries in the classroom. They are black." and "There are chairs in the room. They are uncomfortable."  One said "There is a teacher in the classroom" and the two things they wanted me to write to describe the teacher (me!) were "She is cute" and "She is a good teacher."  Have I mentioned lately that my students are the best? ;)

A few other notable items in brief from these past two weeks:

-Conway got a new squeaky toy. And he loves it :) 

-We went to see the folk duo Dala and they were just lovely. 

-I've been on a bit of a cleaning-out-my-closets binge. I bought a huge rubbermaid container and packed away a lot of my clothes. Not going to get rid of them just yet. But I want to put it somewhere out of sight and if I don't miss the things in there - then I'll do something with them. I hope to spend some time this summer really working on going through some of my other areas of life/the house where I just have too much stuff I don't need!

-I spent some more time with my sewing machine last weekend and got this skirt finished. I'm in love. Now I just need warm weather again  so I can wear it (it snowed this week!) 

And that's it from me for now! I could write more, but then I'd never get this actually posted :) Have a great weekend everyone!