December means BREAK! So BRAKE!

Wow, I've been off the blog world for some time!  My first quarter back to university after a long summer break was exhausting!

Though I missed being on here, I spent a lot of my time away writing new pieces for two different manuscripts I'm working on, as well as just the regular student/work routine.

There were plenty of other distractions along the way:

1. A Lykke Li Concert at Fox Theater! AMAZING!

2. The man-candy grew out his facial hair to celebrate Movember.
November was also NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
so to bastardize both month-long celebrations I shaved regularly
AND wrote a poem a day with several of my poetic colleagues.
Nothing bonds people together more than the accountability to creation
and the softness of smooth legs.


3. A new addition to the family! Mordecai!

 





4.  Don't be fooled by his sweet face--he is a destruction machine.                                           Exhibit A:




                                          


                                                  5. SNOW!










 6. A BEAR visiting our house! (My footprint is on the left!)

7. A 4.0 gpa to jumpstart my holiday vacation!

Time to rest and celebrate with a Sam Adams Winter Lager?

Farewell, Summer

I have been fighting a nasty sinus infection for the past two weeks.  By fighting it, I of course mean that I did NOT go to the doctor and did NOT take antibiotics and did NOT take anything to subdue my symptoms, but merely whined about feeling horrible the entire time.  However, I do feel myself back on the mend, which I think I can thank a night of too much wine with a good friend of mine (I love you Liz! Thanks!!).  My husband has this theory that coffee is a cure all. I almost agree; a good bottle of wine can often do the trick.

I start classes today for my last year of my MFA program (so bittersweet!).  It's a curious thing: before school let out for summer I swore aloud to a group of my peers and mentors that I would have a sketchy draft of my thesis and an overambitious draft my entire manuscript composed.

Now, since today is day ONE, I feel like a fraud.  *insert frowny face*

Sure, I wrote over the summer but nowhere NEAR how I imagined months ago my manuscript might look. And instead of a sketchy draft of my thesis where I get to spend pages of ad nauseum self-reflection and analysis on my own creative processes, I have piles of half-read research.  Cool.


But on a good note, this summer was a rediscovery some hobbies (blogging and journaling;  in an youthful eager and self-indulgent sort of way) and found some new ones (like photo editing).  And I'm not sure if it's a "milestone" age thing (since I'm hitting a big birthday within the next 365 days) but I am more aware of my enjoying my life, my mind and my body.  The latter might be the biggest discovery this has been my biggest trip up in life which then sets a domino effect on the rest of those things (mind, heart, situation, life).  Do you notice that when your body feels good, the rest will follow?  And that when you let go, stop worrying, everything else becomes more fluid?  I've hated my body for so long, for so many reasons and I finally somewhere in the last year stopped fighting it.  It has its quirks and weirdnesses but it is resilient and beautiful nonetheless (which I both do and don't mean in a superficial sort of way---after all is it really superficial to enjoy one's self???).

What are your thoughts on the connections of the heart-mind-body-community-world?  And how do they factor in to your own self-perceptions?


Enjoy a photo of my sky as it appeared this summer.  Colors have not been touched up. In fact, they are less vivid than the actual experience.

An Elephant Never Forgets

No one ever told me that the last quarter of the first year of grad school is hell.  Entirely fulfilling, yes, but a wickedly draining time.  In short, it has taken me two months to decompress.  Since school was also out for everyone else, I have not been subbing.  So I fell into the rabbit hole of the couch cushions, SKIMMING over online research, Facebooking, wishlisting item after item on sites like Modcloth and Ruche, all while watching Ghost Whisperer reruns. (The latter of these has been informing my research, both on my thesis and on my wish-lists.)

In the best and latest of news, I met with my first reader on the initial portion of my thesis. He basically confirmed my greatest fears about my writing---that I must be both lawyer and defendant and THUS REALLY LEARN MY CRAFT.  Not just wing it and sing it.  Ok, this might be my interpretation of what he was really saying, but I get that creeping fraudulent feeling far too frequently (say that five times fast).

In other fun news:

Normally, I don't buy AND wear an outfit right off the mannequin/model, but I really couldn't help it with this blouse and skirt from the Bar III brand at Macy's:

The top is actually more of a long tunic and is patterned with tiny orange elephants.  The skirt is much shorter on the model and actually runs a bit big.  Of course, she is probably 5'11 and the ensemble is most likely clothes-pinned around her waist, but I still LOVED this outfit and am pleased with my parings (third-ings? fourth-ings?) of nude peep-toe wedges,  obligatory old cardigan (to hide that rascally tattoo), rose earrings, and Alice In Wonderland necklace.


Who do you think wore it best?

 

Ok, just kidding. 
You really don't have to answer that.


P.S.  Sorry for the grimy camera-phone pic in a dirty mirror, but I was in a rush to snag a quick photo.

P.P.S.  It is a magical coincidence that I slightly resemble the model.   Otherwise I should be deeply flattered.