Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Holiday Season, End of Semester, Holy Macaroni?

Somehow (don't ask me how) it is November 17th already. And per the reminder of my friend who informed me I did NOT blog on Monday like I was supposed to, I am here today to catch up.
Life has been a little crazy (in a good way) since I last wrote. The impending end of semester and start of Thanksgiving/Christmas "race" is here. I can't say I'm not delighted- I love the adrenaline rush of somehow trying to get everything done. It's a little weird, but it just makes me feel really alive and active. BUT- I'm trying to remember (like I do every year) to simultaneously appreciate the little moments of the holiday season. To take time to stop and just be happy and have some hot chocolate... or to plan some fun holiday crafts/baking activities with the kids I nanny.
Before I go any further, here is your midwest weekend recap:
1. Friday night was ladies night... need I say more? Mer, Sara, Katie and I went downtown for sushi and drinks, did a little bar hopping, and stayed at the Hilton downtown (at an awesome discounted rate of $40. YES!) It was so much fun to have a girls' night and be out on the town, all dolled up (when you spend most of your days in jeans and a sweatshirt, with kids with drippy noses and food-filled fingers, it's always nice to find time to shower, smell good, and I don't know, wear heels?). We didn't end up asleep til 4 am (this is absurd for me, ps... I am not a night owl). Andddd it was just fabulous. Done and done.
2. Saturday I sped back to our neck of the woods for a guitar lesson (which went well... and this coming week I get to start picking a song to learn! WOOHOO!) and then met Chris for the Butler game. I got in trouble for wearing my Colby sweatshirt to a Butler game, but I argued that the school colors were the same so no one would know. They won and even in my somewhat comatose state, it was fun. After the game, I went to Starbucks to finish my stats assignment and then babysat til ten. When I get home, Chris was already asleep on the futon and I was asleep about three seconds later.
3. Sunday Chris had to work so I did some more homework/studying, went to church, and then headed to Lowes for some potting soil. I was so hoping to plant my herbs but when I got home, could not find the seeds anywhere. Not the best time of the year to have to go out and buy these things since everyone looks at you like you're nuts when you ask where to find stuff to plant. Once I had given up the search, I listened to the new Sara Bareilles CD "Kaleidoscope Heart," searched to no avail for tickets to one of her shows, then watched TV for a bit with Chris (he was home at this point). I started to feel stir crazy around 5:30 or 6 so went for a nice long walk to recharge then came home to make dinner. We made Tikka Masala pizza (soooooo good!) and watched Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers. We both agreed that it was nice that our parents were not crazy and intimidating to our signifcant others, haha. Quite the contrary actually! :) Lucky us!
And that's the recap of the weekend.... now the week has been NUTSO!

Monday morning, I met with the woman who hired me on as a freelance Spanish interpreter, went to Lowes to get parts to fix the broken faucet lever in the kitchen (ahem...apparently my boyfriend has superhuman strength. Kidding, it was already loose when he went to use it) and studied/did work for a few hours. Then I worked from 2-10 and Chris worked til 10 as well. We pretty much crashed after that.
Yesterday, I was up early studying when I got a call from the interpreting company that they needed someone for a case at 11. So I threw on some clothes, got my stuff together and went to the site. It was great to be speaking Spanish and feeling challenged in that way again. After I finished, I studied for awhile longer, babysat til 6, then went to my first of two client casework trainings at Red Cross. I'm definitely excited to be volunteering with them and am so close to being done with training!
The rest of the week is a bit nutty work/training/school wise because morning nanny Heather is on her honeymoon and there is also a sheep brain dissection involved with lab this week (YES! Finally! Gotta get rid of some of these "lab parts" which are currently hanging out in the closet).
BUT- tonight is date night! It's the only night of the week Chris and I are both home before ten so we are going to go out and do something fun. Can't wait :)

Saturday I leave for Maine/Boston and am sooo pumped for Pranskgiving w/11 Clar and time with family and friends. It's been WAY too long!!!!!!!!! Chris flies out on Thanksgiving day and I have grand plans of a trip to LL Bean, tree lighting in Portland and some rendez-vousing in Boston.. Plus, I think I finally have some Christmas present ideas worked out and am super excited to get started with some shopping/prep.

Ok, I will leave you with a few thoughts/quotes:
1) "Mariah, is that word you just used something that your people in Maine say?" (Please insert here that word I used was "content.") -4 year old
"No, actually that is word people who speak English say... my people don't speak any differently than your people."
"Ohh... it just sounded wicked funny." (Yup. She's using wicked now. Uh oh).

2) 4 year old again, while brushing teeth: "Mariah, when people have babies, how does the information from the husband get to the wife?" I let this one slide. And said something about how chickens hatch eggs. Or something.

3) Listen to 99.5 for the Make-A-Wish Radio-A-Thon here in Indy tomorrow!!!!!!!!! Request a song in exchange for a donation and help make kids' wishes come true.

That's all for now... much love on a sunny Fall day :)
XOXO

No comments:

Post a Comment