Some Good Stuff

Some good stuff from the last few weeks -

- My cute husband is definitely my hero!  When I went to go to a job interview yesterday I discovered my keys were locked in the car and Tracy rushed home to help me.  He also helped me with a big Young Women activity on Wednesday night (which my Mom also helped me figure out.)

-  I've had a chance to spend some time with both old and new friends lately.  For example, a couple of weeks ago Evevanne came down and we got to hang out for a Saturday, it was so much fun.  She got me the cutest flip-flops I've seen in in a long time - and I really needed flip-flops.  Michaele's in town so I have someone to commiserate with about the ups and downs of history.  Pam is one of the world's best writing buddies. And last month Becky Criddle and I got confused about the date we were having lunch - the great part - even though it wasn't the day we had e-mailed about, we both planned for the same wrong day.  It was funny and awesome!

- I'm reading books and writing again.  This is a good sign, when I'm at my most stressed I stop doing these things, so it's good to be back at it.  Though I've got a long way to go I'm just past the 150 page mark on the current novel I'm working on.

Yes, there are still some challenges going on in my life, and in my head, but it's great to look back and see the good things that happen.

Relatively Good News

Just found out that the Graduate School is nominating my dissertation for the Council of Graduate Schools Distinguished Dissertation Award.  Apparently they can pick one dissertation to nominate in the field of Humanities and Fine Arts and I'm fortunate enough that they've chosen mine.  Though I don't expect to win by any means the winner is announced in December and gets a $2000 award and  a trip to California in December (good timing!). 

Apparently the thesis editor who helped me get the manuscript ready for submission liked it and told the Dean of the Graduate School about it, which is how I ended up being nominated.  It's great that someone who doesn't really know me liked it well enough to suggest it for something like this.  Yay!

This Week in Our Life

It's been a bit of a long week, after a weekend of ups and downs.  Tracy did a great job of blogging about our last weekend in Boise.  So if you haven't already you can check that out here.

http://potrazeebee.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-week-of-ups-and-downs.html

I will add my own note about seeing Man of Steel.  First of all, like Tracy I think it's just short of miraculous that we got together my mom and John, Tracy's mom, Jeff and his family and Tom and his family all together on the same night.   It's odd that even as much as I adore Superman, I'm pretty open to people doing their own take on the story.  In fact, it's one of the things I like about it.  This movie was definitely Superman-as-gritty-science-fiction movie.  Almost everyone who went, including me, agreed there was just way to much mayhem for a Superman movie.  Seriously, since when does Superman randomly smash through building after building?  However, the movie makes an interesting choice with the way they handle the Lois/Clark dynamic and I really loved it.  I'm hoping for a sequel with more story and less smashing. (As Tracy just aptly put it "Less of a Hulk movie")

In my real life - I've applied for seven jobs in two days.  Four full-time history jobs (they're in Washington State, Washington D.C., Colorado and Massachusetts), one part-time online teaching position, and two local retail jobs, hoping that something will pop up.  I'm definitely dealing with some unemployment blues and at least applying makes me feel like I'm doing something about it.  I'm also taking a workshop next week at the church employment office.  Also, Tracy has been really good for me today, and in spite of our ongoing car repair saga, right at the moment I'm feeling hopeful. 

10th Anniversary

Friday was Tracy and I's 10th Anniversary.  We had made some okay plans, but Tracy surprised me both by getting off early and with reservations to a restaurant that just earlier in the week I told my friend Pam I was craving, clearly he knows me well.   We then went to Deseret Book where I used a gift card I got for my birthday (thanks Tricia!) to find a fun book.  Last we went to a park less than ten minutes from our house that turned out to be really beautiful (it was a good week for parks.)  In any case it was a wonderful day and I can't believe we've been married ten years.  Time flies when you're having fun.

Tracy posted a cute picture of us on his blog:
http://potrazeebee.blogspot.com/2013/05/ten-years-of-happiness.html

In an unrelated note we ended up with some discount tickets to Lagoon because of the book I bought at Deseret Book, so if anyone wants them let me know.  

Memorial Day Fun

Yesterday Tracy and I went on a picnic with his brother Chris, Stacia and Talon. Chris suggested a park in Bountiful which ended up being up in the foothills.  It was a beautiful park that had been landscaped to leave patches of scrub oak and shrubbery and it had an amazing view across the valley.  There was hardly anyone there and we really had a great time.  It led Tracy and I to go check out a park near our own house that we'd never been too, and it's really cute and has great trees, so I think we will be going back sometime soon.

Hobby Mania

I have too many hobbies.

Seriously -  here's a list of things I do, or am learning how to do, or feel like I should be learning how to do (at least the ones I can think of at the moment):

-Writing Fiction (though this should be a profession, but it's a hobby until someone pays me for it)
-Writing Poetry
-Reading Books
-Papercrafts (Cards, scrapbooking, etc.)
-Crafts (anything not falling into the above category, including jewelry making, decoupage, home decor DIY....I'm beginning to think this list would be freakishly long if it weren't for the word "crafts")
-Learning to play the Piano
-Crochet
-Gardening
-Cooking
-Baking
-Camping
-Postcard Collecting
-Watching TV
-Going to the Movies 

This list does not count the things -  like learning to play the guitar -  that I started enough to actually buy books for, but never did anything with.  (Though this is part of why Tracy talked to me after coming home teaching and asked me out on a date so I'm pretty happy about that one) It also doesn't count things - like playing volleyball - that my younger self was good at, but I can no longer really do.

Apparently I like projects and goals and learning new things.  However, I sometimes think that save item #1, my sheer number of hobbies keeps me from being particularly good at any of them.  Yet they also keep me doing things that are happy and productive.  (Even those last two have helped me make friends.)   I sometimes just wish I had a little better focus, and a few more hours in the day.

Graduation

Friday was graduation day for me.  I might not have even done the whole ceremony and party thing if it weren't for the encouragement of my family.  My Mom and John, Dad and Jill, and Tracy's Mom Tricia all came down for the day and came with me to graduation.  I got a little teary eyed at one point during the ceremony, still surprised that the day had finally come and so grateful to be sharing it with my family. 

 

 If you're interested Tracy caught a video of my part of the ceremony and posted it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moND1lfQqJk&feature=youtu.be

The party was also a lot of fun.  The theme of the decorations was of course Red.  When you graduate from the University of Utah and your favorite color is red it seems like the obvious choice.   Tracy brought me the gorgeous flowers below and I did some DIY to create the sparkly red letters.  The adorable little cap and tassel candy pops were my mom's brainstorm and they were really fun.  I really appreciated everyone who took the time to come to the party.  It was an amazing day!