July.

I love that today is July 1 and officially the start of the second half of 2013. It's an even better happy July 1 because it's on a Monday! I always feel over-the-moon giddy when the first day of a month (or a year!) falls on a Monday. It's the color coded spreadsheet part of me that just loves the feeling with the stars align a fresh start with the calendar.

The first half of 2013 has been....interesting. Some ups and downs, but the second half promises to be even crazier and (hopefully) more exciting because...

WE'RE MOVING TO SAN FRANCISCO!

I got a new job as the director of an international student and scholar office at a university there, so on July 23 the N-boy and I head out to get me settled in just in time for new student orientation and the kick off of the fall semester. The N-boy is actually teaching here this fall, so he'll only be with me for a week before heading back to South Bend. Even though it's a little frustrating that we'll spend the semester apart (again), the excitement of a new job, a new city, and a whole new west coast culture makes it all ok.

I think I'll have lots to say about the move (as well as some other exciting updates to share), but I'll leave most of that for later. One thing I am definitely looking forward to is living in the same city as BabyBrother!

Not sure San Fran is ready for us!

Tea time.

The N-boy and I have a tea problem. We drink it pretty much every night, especially when it's cold outside. The problem isn't the tea drinking, but more of the chaos of our tea cupboard (yes we have a whole shelf dedicated to tea and hot chocolate. I think the moment of truth came with the N-boy opened the door and boxes fell on his head.

His solution to the problem was to toss some stuff that was REALLY old and to put a moratorium on buying more tea until we reduce the stash. My solution was to take some of it to work to drink there, since I need to stop drinking so much Starbucks. And because I'm not a fan of the tea in Keurig in the office kitchen. And so we can then buy more tea.

I think this little guy appeared in my stocking last year. Under the duck is a mesh tea strainer, and then it sits in the little blue cup when your tea has steeped.

It's super cute. And I get a kick out of back from the kitchen with a duck floating in my cup. And I'm drinking yummy tea instead of Starbucks. Ok well there's still been some Starbucks. But it's a start, yes? 

Football season.

This weekend marked the first actual home game of the year (the first game was technically the game in Dublin, but that doesn't count). They open the tunnel that the players run through into the stadium on Friday afternoons, and one of my coworkers had never seen it. So towards the end of lunch we headed over to walk through it. I was worried it would be super crowded (campus is CRAZY on game weekends), but it was early enough in the day that it wasn't too bad yet.

The team won the game which is even better, as it means people will be in a good mood at work all week!

End of the Retreat and Orientation fun.

It's really hard to believe that the August 2012 leadership retreat and new student orientation really are over. It seems like we've been planning them for forever and now they're just done. Here are a few random pictures of the festive fun. 

How cute is this. It was on one of the my Duckling's shirt. 

Challenge course at the retreat.

Two of my little ducklings!

Another part of the challenge course. 

 I woke up the last morning to discover one of the Ducklings had organized all of our individual mailbox bags and drawn a map. Including a "you are here" marker. A Duckling after my own heart.

First day of Orientation. Ready to go! Maybe. 

Prepping the Health Services area.

We even let them eat! Lunch break!

 Last event of orientation. Dancing the jig with the Leprechaun. 

Festive for Friday-finished!

Orientation is OVER! Everything went pretty well. No one died. Nothing caught on fire. No one was hit by a bus or deported. In our office, that counts as a win.

I did run across this card from someecards tonight while I was slouched on the couch attempting to find the energy to get up and brush my teeth and go to bed. It seems to express where I am this week.

Orientation begins.

Orientation has officially begun, which basically means I'm off the grid for anything non-work related until Thursday. I keep checking my work email, fingers crossed that nothing crazy has cropped up. A hopeless cause.

Here is one (of three!) Dove chocolate quotes that coworkers brought to my desk on Friday. Ha!

We're actually at one my favorite points in Orientation-our student leadership program retreat. Two days in Michigan where 30 of our students come together to bond, learn, and prepare to welcome the incoming international students.

Here are a few pictures from our adventure so far-only one day left!

Festive for Friday...Cotton Candy For the Win

Why, yes. It is Friday. Thank goodness.

A picture is worth a gazillion words this week. I bring you a one of my favorite coworkers from the university wide staff picnic this week. The theme was "Under the Big Top."  Cotton Candy for the Win.

What made your week festive? 

3...2...1..Liftoff!

Houston....our Etsy site has liftoff!

We actually launched it officially a few weeks ago when the first listings went up, but now I've added a few more things and feel like it's possibly on its way to becoming an actual shop. It's also been fun to spend more time on Etsy exploring the site and looking at other people's shops. There are so many cool things to look at, that I'm pretty sure I could waste A LOT of time just browsing around.

The Momcat and I are super SUPER proud of the work we've put into this little adventure, and excited to see where it takes us. I think we're going to get to do a craft show after she arrives this week (for the grand Paducah Pilgrimage-more on that to come!) and I'm excited to have the chance to talk to people about Prairie Sewn Companion when she's actually there, instead of just describing our collaborative efforts to people.

So if you're reading this (which likely means you're related to us or I've cornered you in the office) take a minute to check out our Etsy site! Here are a few of my favorite things that we've posted.

The Momcat has been working super hard on drafting some new patterns, too, so I'm excited to see what she's come up with when she arrives TOMORROW!

Shingles suck.

So all of my regular readers (or all three members of my immediate family, that is) may have noted there was no Monday is for Muggles post yesterday. And that is because I spent yesterday going to the doctor and then researching frantically on the internet because I have shingles. Which means the happy little chicken pox virus that has been sitting dormant in my body since kindergarten has decided to come alive and make me sick. And the doctor said it is likely from stress causing my immune system to be run down.

Awesome.

And more stress entered my life yesterday when someone in the office quit. Effective immediately. Awesomeness continues.

I'd put a picture but no one needs to see the scary shingles rash (other than the people in my office that I made look at it, or the Momcat who I insisted on sending a iphone picture to). I guess I could put a picture of me clutching the medications I'm on now. Or a picture of my phone timer going off every 4 hours and 45 minutes to remind me to take the antiviral. Or a picture of me trying not to panic about when the pain will start, or hoping that we got me on the medications in time and are being aggressive enough to ward off the pain part.

Or a picture of the 17 items list I made last night with all of the things I can think of to reduce stress, since clearly that needs to be part of the plan.

Instead, I include a picture of one of my cats, because cats help reduce stress.

Yup, Friday the cat never causes stress. Ever. Except for when I'm sleeping and he pokes my head until I lift up the covers so he can snuggle in under my arm and I hold his paws in mine like he likes. 

So, goals for this week: Figure out how to reduce stress and take my drugs every time the timer goes off.

Christmas Mug Rug

Can it really be almost three months since I have posted a blog entry? Yes. Sad. 

Have I been busy? Well, somewhat. I've been continuing to work on the Paducah Challenge Quilt, which incidentally is due on Saturday. I'm almost finished, but not quite.So I haven't been able to post pictures of what I've been working on given that it's a secret challenge with the Momcat. Still, no excuse. 

I have, however, just discovered an app that will let me upload photos from Audrey (my iphone) directly to my Picasa album, from which I can pull photos into this blog. Are they the bestest quality of photos? Well, no. On the other hand my photos with my camera are not the best of quality. Although is due large in part to my lack of skill as a photographer, and is no fault of the cute little canon camera.

I do think this will help me be less lazy. I rarely have my camera with me, but always have my phone. I hate dragging out my camera cord to connect to my computer. Yes, I really am that lazy. 

So without further ado, here's the little package I made up for our office coordinator. He just started with us this last May, and has been a SUPER person to have in our office. 

I made the little rug mug from scraps I made; log cabin pattern. He really like it, and even took it home to show his wife!

Here's to being less lazy!

Spring is here!

We know spring is officially here when the tulips outside my office window bloom. I like to refer to these as "my" tulips, although I'm willing to share them with the rest of the building, the university and the very large flocks of visitors who seem to be touring campus an awful lot lately. 

Aren't they festive!

Spring also means we had our Spring banquet for the student leadership program that I'm a co-leader for. It was lots of fun, but a little sad, too, as my good friend and other co-leader is leaving at the end of next week to move back to the east coast. 

I'll miss her friendship greatly!

Despite this bittersweet aspect, the event was a huge success, and everyone seemed like they had a great time! This was the first year we had the program, so it's been a bit of a trial and error to get things to run smoothly. The best thing about last night is that the students coming into the program as new participants seemed to really get along well with the students who are continuing in the program. 

This is almost the whole group; we had a few students who had to leave early for other meetings. 

Looking forward to lots of fun with the students next year!

Amish country and Cherry Pie

This last weekend I went along as a staff leader on a field trip for our international students to Amish country. This trip was a huge success last year, with the Amish just as excited to see the international students as the students were to see the Amish. We had a smaller group this year, but I think they all had just as much fun.

I didn't take as many pictures this year, as I've been there several times now, but I did take two at our lunch that I think demonstrate one of the best things about this field trip: the food! We went to a cheese shop, a bakery, a school house, a quilt shop that also makes homemade jams and jellies, an outdoor auction with lots of food, and a downtown shopping district that was full of old fashioned candies and quilt stores! You may have noticed that a majority of these stops included food, and therefore included lots of free samples. 

These stops, however, don't include the Thresher's Lunch we had at a catering hall in an Amish home. There we had fried chicken, meat loaf, mashed potatoes, warm bread, vegetables, broccoli slaw and PIE! 

Here is my piece of homemade cherry pie. 

And here is the pie pan after the table of students had finished with it. Needless to say, I was tempted to lick the pie tin out, but I resisted.

This is why I've gone for two runs and two long walks in the past two days! 

A good time was had by all, and it was nice to visit some quilting shops in preparation for the upcoming trip to Paducah with the Momcat for the annual AQS show! This will be our second trip there, and I've got some great surprises for Momcat that I'm working on! Hopefully I'll get everything done before she arrives on Sunday!

Adventures with Accupuncture

So part of my focus for the last year or so (I think we could safely say since January 4, 2009) has been to work on finding ways to reduce my high levels of stress and anxiety. I have tried many things. Some more successful than others. 

Not eating very much=not so helpful

Exercising regularly=helpful

Office drama and politics=not helpful

Trying to find ways to accept that some things are beyond my control via a variety of spiritual practices=helpful

Attending NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) support group for families=helpful

Telling the N-boy "I don't care what you think!" in my attempt to use "I" statements=not helpful

Taking time for my own hobbies=helpful

So in this vein of seeking "things that help" (a very technical process, as you can see) I volunteered to try acupuncture at a recent programming event at work that was part of a larger celebration of all things international. 

This is me and one of my students, both being treated for stress.

Four little needles in our arms and one in each ear.

The jury is still out, however, on the helpfulness of said treatment. The acupuncturist said that it usually takes between six and 12 treatments before it really works. Although it was surprisingly unpainful, I'm not really inclined to get an additional set of treatments right now. But I certainly won't rule it out in the future!

Christmas Decorations, Advent and a Student Party

A busy week here, as the semester wraps up and we celebrate the end of another successful semester. This Sunday we held a Christmas party of our new house with students from one of our new programs this year. 

We had both international and domestic students over, baking and decorating Christmas cookies, drinking hot chocolate and hot apple cider and listening to Christmas music. 

Some of the men also watched some football (Go Bears!)

It was a great opportunity for our international students to experience some aspects of Christmas in America-a new cultural experience for some of them. As our house is all decorated for Christmas, I 'm joining Kim over at her great blog Kim's Big Quilting Adventure for a holiday tour of my home:

The N-boy and I purchased a fresh evergreen wreath for our front door at the Farmer's Market. 

It smells just heavenly every time we open the door!

Along the staircase we have the Christmas Carol Rubber Ducks-Scrooge, Marley, Tiny Tim and the three ghosts. 

Christmas cards are lined up on the built in cabinet. 

Our Christmas tree is in the front room in front of our window. We already have presents underneath it!!

And on our buffet table (really used to store DVDs, CDs and extra linens), we have what the N-boy refers to as the "Marriage Tree" (a wedding gift), with some shiny Christmas baubles and candles. 

We decorate this sculpture for each season with appropriate things-Christmas ornaments, Easter eggs, Paper mache pumpkins, etc. 

We're sticking with our current decorations for this year, and will look for things to decorate the house more next year at the after Christmas sales. 

On the festive Advent front, my wonderful swap partner has been so kind to me! I've unwrapped a bag that can be used to make baked potatoes in the microwave. 

I can't wait to try it out!

Cute cupcake liners. I love baking cupcakes!

And an adorable pink keychain with a sewing machine charm attached to a yoyo. So cute!!!

New Student Orientation....Over!!!

After a busy busy week full of 14 hours days and three days we literally stayed overnight at work to lead a new training program, my first August orientation is over! We have just a few more continuing orientation activities during the next few weeks, and of course we have to debrief and start planning for next year. Over all, things went ok. I don't think I'd call it great, but ok. Any problems we had were known only by the staff, not by the new students or their parents, which is definitely good. 

Our brand new student leadership program went GREAT though, and I'm so proud of our students!

Next year we will have an entirely new plan, timeline and alloted space so we are hoping that by beginning to plan now things will be MUCH improved. 

I haven't gotten a whole lot done on the home/crafting front. I did manage to finish all four of my Christmas Candle Mats this weekend, thus completing one of my Get in Done in August projects. Woohoo! Otherwise, it's been nice to just sleep and lay around and read and otherwise relax!

New House, New Furniture

It's been a very busy week here at work, as we prepare for the return of the students to campus. We're already started having orientation for new students, and are generally just gearing up and preparing for the onslaught of 200 new students who need to be registered, oriented and assisted with pretty much anything you can think of.

I've worked on my scrapbook some this week, continuing the basic page layouts that the Momcat and I started at Scrapmania last weekend. It really helps me to just get the pictures down on the page first, knowing that I can come back later to do some journalling and embellishing. I've also been working a bit on my knitted dish towel, starting to prepare to move and have finally finished HP 7! I'll try to get some pictures of my projects up this weekend.

In the meantime, I've been wanting to share picture of one my latest finds. This was found at the University Surplus store, which is open to University employees and students each Thursday. The selection varies widely each week, and it's very much a first come, first serve atmosphere. I'd wanted one of these since I saw them at someone's house during book club, and they had seven of them! For only $25!!!
Why would a library ever want to get rid of their beautiful Card Catalogs!

It's one of the larger ones, with 72 drawers.

Each drawer still has the metal system inside for inserting the library cards.

I'm hoping to be able to use it for storage of some of my crafting supplies, such as yarn, knitting needles and fat quarters. The N-boy, however, has expressed doubts about getting this up the stairs in our new house and into my studio room! We'll see...

Hope everyone is having a great week!