School's out forever!

Guys! Gals! Dinosaurs!

I'm finished with my graduate school coursework! My graduation date was yesterday, though I'll walk in June. I had time this weekend to rearrange the house and assemble new furniture! I played video games last night! Without a speck of guilt, it was great!

I expect that, now accustomed to productivity, I will get loads done. Right.

Mindy Kaling

amazon.com

My amazing book club (can I also just say I'm not sure how I made it this far in life without having a book club? I think everyone should have one, but I also think everyone should read, so perhaps I'm biased) picked Mindy Kaling's "Is everyone hanging out without me? (and other concerns)" for December. 

I wholeheartedly enjoyed it!

I'm ALMOST finished with Graduate School.

I'm almost there!

New Library

I love libraries. Old ones, underfunded ones, you name it. But is nice once in a while to see a brand new, huge, well designed library.

A few weekends ago, a coworker and I drove to Roanoke's South County library branch for a mini-conference. We learned about genealogy and new apps, but it was just as much fun to walk through this beautiful library.

roanokecountyva.gov

 It isn't exactly centrally located (yet), but we found it (eventually).

roanokecountyva.gov

The place is just so great! There is a big door into the children's area, huge windows, multiple fireplaces, private reading areas, and a teen area. They were advertising for great community events- including a Day of the Doctor event!

Halloween!

This year I went as Medusa for Halloween because I found this amazing foam wig at Target. Usually 20$, this one was damaged so it was even less expensive. I fixed it up, and fashioned the dress out of some fabric I had intended to use for another project a long time ago but never made.

Happy Halloween!

Eleanor & Park

Lately, I hear myself saying to people that I don't have enough time to read, or knit, or sleep, even. This is, for the most part, true.

It's also not.

There isn't much that I will not sleep for. School is one of them, but trust me, I'm doing everything I can to get my beauty rest and still pass.

Most of the time, it's true, I don't have time to read. Once in a great while, I'll fall into a book and fail utterly to pull myself back out again.

Eleanor & Park consumed me for a good eight hours. I vanished into this black hole, and only remerged when I had finished the last page. Yes, even though I'm not suppose to have time to read. I was consumed, and couldn't get enough, even when it was over.

So, I really liked it. You should read it too.

Library in Banff

I almost forgot that I snapped a picture of the public library in Banff. Perhaps not as flashy as the library in Calgary, but who am I not to take a picture of a library I see?

VLA Conference

I was lucky enough to attend the Virginia Library Association's conference recently in Williamsburg, VA.

The conference was great! I learned a lot- but I wanted to share with you what really surprised me: I came home with stuff!

I will never run out of pens of questionable quality!

Time Travel: Lake Louise

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Probably the most beautiful thing we saw while we were gone, was Lake Louise.

The water was this amazing blue, the mountains were just barely concealed in mist, and you could see so far up the canyon. 

Time Travel: Banff

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Jer and I drove into the Rockies for a few days before we left Canada. It is so beautiful! I'd also like to mention that these are mountains:

Guys, gals, seriously. These are mountains. Afton "Mountain" may colloquially be counted among the giants, but if you've ever seen both, you know there is no comparison. 

Banff was this adorable little town that really reminded me of home; of course there are differences, but small towns all feel at least a little alike. They also have really cool manhole covers. 

Time Travel: West Edmonton Mall

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

With some of Jer's old friends, we drove north to Edmonton, and visited the West Edmonton Mall, which I think at some point was the largest mall in North America, but isn't anymore. Who wakes up one morning and thinks, I want to build the biggest mall?

Regardless, it's huge. It's big enough that it has it's own pirate ship. Some lucky girl was having the craziest princess/pirate mashup birthday party on board while we were there. It also had a live seal show, and a hotel, and loads of other stuff. We barely scratched the surface.

Time Travel: Poutine

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Many of my american friends are bewildered by poutine, which I think was available in almost every single place we ate in Canada, from fast food to trendy hippy restaurants. Well, here it is:

French fries, gravy, and cheese curds. I'll admit, I was a little mystified too, until I realized that I couldn't eat it, so I'll never know what it tastes like. I have an out, what about you?

Oh, also, in true tourist fashion, here is a picture of me outside a Tim Horton's.

Time Travel: Penguins

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

So, you're probably wondering what my favorite part of visiting Calgary was, right? Well, I'll tell you. It was the penguins.

There isn't much of a point posting more pictures, because the lighting just wasn't great. However, I cannot emphasize enough how cool seeing the penguins was. We visited twice, and over post visits spent at least three hours with the penguins.

The Calgary Zoo has a plunge exhibit modeled after the St. Louis Zoo's penguin plunge. They have four breeds of penguins, the Gentoo, which are small and smart. The Rockhoppers, which have orange old man eyebrows. The Kings, second in size only to the emperor penguins, and who like to follow each other as you can see above. They also have Humbolt penguins which were outside, and not loving the heat that much.

This was just too much fun!

Time Travel: Badlands

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

Jer, his mom, and I all drove out to the Badlands to see the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur museum (AKA, the second coolest part of Calgary). 

The area is quite beautiful. We drove for hours with just farmland around us, then all of the sudden there were these eroded portions. 

I learned a lot, and it was the coolest kind of museum. They even had a garden they was carefully controlled to grow plants like the ones that grew naturally in this area when the Dinos roamed!

This town paints dinosaurs like Avalon painted Buffalo for a while (and like Los Angeles painted angels. We aren't alone in being weird).

But we don't have a giant towering buffalo, so there's something to aim for.

Time Travel: Calgary Tower

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

While visiting Calgary, Jer and I went up the Calgary Tower. Which at one point was probably more impressive; now there are several taller buildings within the city. Still, it was quite tall and both Jer and I had a problem with the glass floor. He admits his fear of heights (yet still volunteers to go into tall buildings with me), but I don't normally think I have a hard time with them. I certainly did with this, I could step onto it as long as I looked out, but not down.

Time Travel: Libraries in Calgary

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

The truth is, I can't go anywhere without looking for Libraries ore strange library novelty things. Here they are from Canada.

Time Travel: First Day in Canada

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them (and not always at the right time). Sorry!

We spent the first day running errands, mostly. Our room had a little fridge and a microwave, so I took advantage of it and planned to eat breakfast in the room most days. So, we went shopping! Apparently the Real Canadian Superstore is like Wal Mart. I think it sounds way cooler, though. This is also the first place I noticed gratuitous maple leaf placement. They are EVERYWHERE.

Also, there is apparently such a thing as underwater hockey. My mind is blown.

Forgiveness

Well, it wasn't my intention to go two months without blogging. I can tell you know though, it will be a few weeks before I jump back on this wagon.

See you soon!

Time Travel: Leaving Pittsburgh

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

This is a picture of all of us on our way out of Pittsburgh. Mom and Dad caught a flight back to California, and Jer and I drove back to Virginia.

Time Travel: Skating in Pittsburgh

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

We stuck around for a few days, and of course Dad wanted to find a skate park. He lucked out, we actually visited two! Of course, just a few minutes after this picture was taken, Dad went in for his first run, and physically separated his book from his plate, which made it hard to continue.

After breaking his skate, getting his skate fixed, and skating again, we were tired- so we tracked down the only place open, a Max and Erma's, which we'd never seen before. Mom loved the super cool barstools! The food was great, too!

Time Travel: Library Sightings

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

While in PIttsburgh, we found a few picture-worthy mentions of libraries around town. How cool!

They are hard to see, but we found both a bar called the library, and a road called Library Rd. I love it!

Time Travel: Karen's Wedding!

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

My cousin got married! Mom and Dad flew in from California, and Jer and I drove up and met them at the airport. It was great to see so much family again!

Doesn't dad look great? Jer fixed him up, and mom and I were pleasantly surprised! He was wearing a belt, too!

We all clean up well! Mom and I got our hair done today. I had mine cut, which of course means it won't look this good again until the next time I get it cut. Ah well.

Time Travel: Sun Flowers

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

I planted so many sun flower seeds, and only two plants really grew, but boy did they! I also harvested the seeds from the larger blossom, so I should have more next year!

Time Travel: Final Garden Spoils

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

Today, I pulled all of the carrots out of the garden. I had no idea I had so many growing! I know they look small, but a friend had convinced me the soil around here wasn't great for carrots, so I expected them to be even smaller!

I juiced up the carrots from my garden, and some store bought veggies to juice up.

These are store bought carrots because I wasn't sure what my yield would be. 

This little fellow is the most knarled sad looking carrot. I didn

Time Travel: Garden Overgrown

Time Travel: Life got a bit away from me this summer. I have been working on finishing up school, and with the addition of my lovely almost full time job, I haven't much time for anything else. Posts with the Time Travel disclosure were posted well after I intended to post them. Sorry!

This summer, I managed to keep my garden watered, but not much else. The lettuce quickly took over, and made my little plot look like a wild weed patch.

I spent some time and pulled it all up. It would have been nice to get more salads out of it (though we certainly ate plenty of salads), but once it flowers, it starts to taste bitter.

Stand up Desk

I've been reading about how bad it is for you to sit all day. People who sit all day at work, then go home and sit for more hours (independent of level of exercise) have higher risks for obesity and heart disease.

But stand up desks are expensive, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment just yet. I do know what sitting at my desk isn't amazing- I have terrible posture and I tend to sit on my legs, which my knees hate.

So I'm doing a kind of trial run.

That's a step stool and a few piles of books. If it works, I can look at a more permanent solution.

Cheers!

Itty Bitty Tomato

This little guy is the first tomato from my garden. I'm excited to make pasta sauce, but alas, I'll have to wait for his friends!