Week in the Life: Thursday

Thursday turned out to be a good day.

Alex is pictured in his pajamas shortly after waking up. We don't always match pajamas for two reasons. First, Alex likes to pick out his own sometimes. Also, he outgrows the tops before the bottoms.

Alex is reading on the way to daycare. I needed to be at work at 7:30 A.M. and drop off Alex at daycare, which opens at 7:30 A.M. Problem. I am lucky to have a friend that I can text at 7:00 A.M. asking her to bring my "orientation bucket" to the ballroom for me. I was only 10 minutes late to work and ready for my 8:00 A.M. group. John was able to get an appointment at the eye doctor that morning for an eye infection.

At work, this is what we fondly refer to the "orientation bucket," which serves as a mobile office for group advising at orientation. I had 4 groups of 7 college freshmen throughout the day. After meeting with nervous parents on Wednesday, I was expecting nervous and difficult students on Thursday. Actually, I had well prepared groups and the day went smoothly. I had a "Keep Calm and Carry On" sign just in case the day was nuts. This was week 9 of orientation, and we have 3 more orientations for the fall semester.

After work, I met my mom at the rec center to walk the track. We try to meet once a week after work to exercise.

Before Alex goes to bed, we all brush our teeth in the master bathroom. I am not sure how this part of the bedtime routine started but it has stuck. Most nights, Alex is good about going to bed.

Week in the Life: Wednesday

Long day, short post. Once I got to work, I forgot to take photos.

I started my day with breakfast and reading some blogs. I did not get up until 6:30 A.M., so I was running a little late. This was the calm part of my day.

Alex is out the door and on his way to school. He likes the tools on this shirt.

I stole the term "five mile radius" from a friend, and I do not have to go outside of mine many days. From my driveway to my parking spot at work this morning was only 3.8 miles. My short commute averages out to about 10 minutes.

I have been listening to NPR lately on my morning drive into work. I am surprised that I did not discover NPR earlier in life.

Once I got to work, this became my mantra:

The last few orientations get extra crazy, and we have hit that time in the summer. I spent a lot of my day telling worried freshmen and their parents that "it will all work out."

One of the highlights of my day was having an impromptu lunch with my mom. I saw her having lunch on the way to buying my lunch. It is nice working on the same campus.

The other highlight of my day was having a potluck dinner with the book club ladies. I made some hummus. I am in the most laid back book club. There is no shaming if you don't get to finish the book. Since summer is busy for people, we are taking two months to read our current book and just had dinner and chatted this evening. I even went outside of my "five mile radius" and inside Loop 410 for the evening!

Good Night

Week in the Life: Tuesday

This project may just highlight bits and pieces of our lives, but I hope that it is still a good documentation of things that I have not shared on the blog and scrapbooked before this project.

John and Alex leave for the day usually between 7:15-7:20 A.M. Alex prefers to climb into the car seat himself. This can be a slow process and he says, "Alex do it!"

This is how Alex's room looked after he left this morning. He needed to take all of his t-shirts out of the drawer in order to chose one to wear. He also wanted to play with the fire station this morning.

My work bag:

Today at work:
I sent 12 emails, took 3 phone calls from students, called 3 other students, saw 5 students for walk-in advising, and prepped files for next week's orientation.

Here is what Alex painted yesterday at school. He did mangage to get paint on the paper and not just on himself.

Alex requests to listen to "Science" in the car. This is a good CD. We skipped their ABC's and 123's albums and went straight to Science. I think that it is ok because Alex can say his ABC's and count to 10 sometimes.

Sometimes Alex helps feed the dogs. He is getting better at measuring out their food.

Grocery List
It is a short one this week:
Bananas
Strawberries
Wine
2 bags of Pita Chips
2 packages of Pita Bread
HEB Lite Sausage
Bread
Rice Cakes
Brown Rice
Thin Spaghetti
Spaghetti Sauce
Crispix Cereal
Special K Vanilla Almond Cereal
Granola Bars
Aluminum Foil
Frozen Fruit Bars
Sweet Potato Fries
Yogurt
Milk
Creamer
Light Sour Cream

We tend to stock up at the beginning of the month, and then have shorter lists towards the end of the month. For a while, I was grocery shopping each week on Sunday mornings with Alex. As Alex has gotten a little older, it is harder to grocery shop with him for the big trips. He does well on the shorter trips, especially if he can drive the "truck" shopping cart. John shops once a week after work, which is a big help. The funny thing is when he calls me from HEB to ask were an item is located.

I did not end up cooking anything for dinner tonight because we were not very hungry.

At first, Alex did not want to take a bath. After sitting on the potty (he just sits for a minute, but it is a start), he wanted to take a bath. Afte he went to bed, this is how the coffee table looked.

Laundry! I try to do some loads during the week so that it does not pile up too much. We think that folding all of the laundry is optional.

What are we reading?
Alex

Sara

John

Good Night

Week in the Life: Monday

Welcome to my Week in the Life, a project pioneered by Ali Edwards. I have followed her blog since 2006 or 2007 and love all that she contributes to scrapbooking.

Preface
I am hesitant to take on a blogging and scrapbooking project at the time. We are in week 9 of Orientation at work, and I am tired. I don't know if I have the energy, but it is worth a try. I was drawn to the chance to document our everyday lives, especially during a busy time. The tasks that seem mundane now will be looked back upon with fond memories someday. Alex will not be little for very long. I wonder about the things that will change in our lives over the coming years. I want to be grateful for all that I have in my life. My initial idea is to take pictures and blog each day, and then make a photobook of our week.

Monday
I dropped Alex off at school this morning. John does the drop-off most days, but it was easier for me to do it this morning. I like that we have our routines, but also that they are flexible to change when needed.

Alex likes to read books in the car. He is wearing his favorite "car" shirt today. I read him two books in his classroom, and then I said good-bye.

I made three piles of files this morning at work. The first pile on the left are my new files to prepare for group advising next week. The middle pile are the files that are ready for advising this week. The last pile are the ones from last week that need to be checked and returned to the front of the office. I had a productive day and there were a lot less files on my desk at 5:00 P.M.

By mid-morning, I realized that I was not going to make it to lunch without a trip to Starbucks. We now have two Starbucks on campus, but I try not to make this a daily trip. Today, I needed some iced coffee!

I went to the bank over my lunch hour, and it was already 96 degrees at 12:30 P.M. according to my car's temperature gage.

After work I picked up Alex. They painted today and he had purple paint on his face, ear, arm, shirt and in his hair. I knew that it would be bath night and having spaghetti for dinner made for a messy toddler.

At around 5:30 P.M. my temperature gage read 104 degrees. This is the first summer that the heat of the summer is really getting to me. It got hot early in June, and the problem is that this kind of heat could last for another six weeks here. For now, I am spending a lot of time in the air conditioning.

Alex sat at John's computer after dinner watching the screen saver. The computer was locked and Alex tried to get in with no luck. John and I chatted while he did the dishes. Alex took a bath and watched some Elmo. By the time 8:00 P.M. rolled around, he was exhausted. He was a little cranky this evening but still went to bed okay.

I also want to highlight some general things about our lives this week. Here is Alex's school menu for the week. He likes to be lifted up to see in the kitchen window as we walk back to his classroom in the mornings.

Entry for Lawnscaping Challenge #14

I had fun playing with my inks and stamps the other night to "stamp a scene" for the current Lawnscaping Challenge. I experimented with some masking and am happy with the results. I used removable adhesive for my masks since I do not have masking paper.

Supplies Used:

Lawn Fawn
Stamp Set: Plus One

Stampin' Up!
Card Stock: Whisper White and kraft/Crumb Cake
Ink: Bashful Blue
Markers: Night of Navy and So Saffron
Tools: 1 3/8 Scalloped Punch (to make clouds) and sponges

Other Supplies
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black & Staz On Forest Green
Removable Adhesive: Dotto
Marker: Zig Black
Adhesive Eraser: EK Success

Vacation Highlights

Last weekend we took our third annual beach vacation in July. We only live a few hours from the beach, so a trip over a long weekend is a nice way to beat the heat in South Texas. This year, we stayed in Port Aransas, but also went into Corpus Christi a couple of times.

We arrived on Friday and ate lunch in Corpus Christi. As we pulled up to the marina, Alex kept saying, "That's a big boat!"

Friday's lunch at Landry's Seafood was delicious. We enjoyed the fish tacos, crab cake sliders, and the po-boy. They also have a nice selection on their children's menu. We arrived in Port Aransas and could walk to the beach from our cabin. Alex was a little hesitant to get in the ocean, but he got comfortable in the water after a while. One of his favorite activities was throwing the shells and rocks back into the ocean. We sat in the water and played, but we did see some sting rays!

Alex also enjoyed playing in the sand. I wanted to show him how to make sand castles, but he preferred to make sand cakes. The main goal was to smash the cake.

For lunch on Saturday, we went to the Port Aransas Brewing Company. Their acclaimed Stopher Burger did not disappoint! It was worth the wait, which can be part of visiting during peak season.

It was nice to have the grandparents along on the trip. The offered to watch Alex on Saturday evening so that John and I could go out to dinner. We had spent our first anniversary in Port Aransas in 2005 and discussed going back to a restaurant from that trip. Instead, John wanted to rent a jet ski. Neither of us has been on one before. After driving around, we found the place and went out on their last run of the day. It was terrifying an fun all at once! We were not prepared for how fast the guide went and how choppy it was out in the ocean. John drove and I held on for dear life. Once we made it out to the "play area" we slowed down and enjoyed ourselves. The highlight was seeing dolphins!

We visited the Texas State Aquarium on Sunday and had a great time. It is good to go early to beat the large crowds. Their new water park looks fun, so we will need to bring our sunscreen and swimsuits next time.

We also had some down time at the cabin, and Alex was funny in his sunglasses.

July is peak season in Port Aransas, but it is still a good time to visit. We plan to book early for 2012.

July Color Combo Blog Hop

It is time for another color combo blog hop. Welcome to all who arrived from Through the Camera Lens. If you missed any stops, you can visit Amy's blog for all of the details. Our color inspiration is the Summer Hues palette from the Design Seeds blog.

Of course, I made another card for this one. This "thank you" card is for a friend. (I may see her in person before I get around to buying some stamps...) I gravitate towards cards with these color palettes because I am a card stock junkie. I have a file drawer full of card stock in a rainbow of colors to make cards (and want to buy more). I also wanted to play with some new blue Copic markers.

Supplies Used:
From Stampin'Up!
Card Stock: Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, and Basic Gray
Stamp: Doodle This (retired)
Ribbon: Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain
Punches: Ticket Corner and Modern Label
Embossing Folder: Petals-a-Plenty
Buttons: Real Red

Other Supplies
Neenah White card stock, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Lawn Fawn stamp (gracias) and Copic Sketch Markers (B21 & B24)

The next stop on the hop is Helena's Creative Maven. If you would like to leave a comment, I am curious to hear what kind of inspiration strikes you when you see different color combinations. Do you think about scrapbbooking, cards, other crafts, fashion, home decor or something else? Thanks for visiting!

Detours (Part 2)

I wrote the first Detours post in April with the intention to highlight how my life took detours that I did not expect. It turns out that many of the best things that have happened in my life were not exactly what I had planned. (And I like to plan things!) I'll start with a little more background information for this post.

I do not blog much about my job, but I do throw in some bits and pieces. I work at a large university as an academic advisor for freshmen. I advise students for all majors, and I especially focus on science and engineering majors. Right now is our busiest time of the year with weekly orientations for new students.

As you can expect, I did not plan to be an academic advisor when I "grew up". I went through a variety of possible careers, including teacher and writer before my interests shifted to science in high school. By the time I was a college freshman at my orientation at Case Western Reserve University, I was pre-med with the intention of becoming a pediatrician or family physician. I was debating between majoring in Biology or Psychology.

My orientation was the week before classes began. Overall, it was a good week, but there were some rough patches. One evening, we had to meet with our freshman advisor (a faculty member) in groups for dinner. At the session, we received our official class schedule for the fall semester. I had carefully selected a schedule earlier in the summer and mailed in my registration form as instructed. That evening I did not have a schedule. What?! The campus offices were closed, but my faculty advisor, Dr. Gilmore, assured me that it would be fixed the next day. (He was very nice and helpful.) As the evening wore on, I headed back to my room instead of going to the activities. I was too stressed about my schedule to enjoy myself.

My schedule was located the next day. While my maiden name is not super common, there were two of us in the freshmen class that year with that last name. Maureen's advisor received her schedule and my schedule. When I received my schedule, it was just what I wanted, including General Chemistry and Calculus to start my pre-med requirements. I am sure that I told lots and lots of people that I was pre-med during orientation. (It seemed that everyone was pre-med, pre-dental or an engineering major.) I attended the pre-med information session and joined the Pre-med Society on campus.

Now I advise students each week with plans for medical school. For many students, their intentions are good like mine were as a college freshman. They want to help people like I did. They will often tell me what they want to specialize in after medical school. I smile, being a little older and wiser, and encourage them to get a good start on those science and math courses. I have no regrets about not pursuing medical school, but it was not an easy decision for me to make as a sophomore in college (more on that in another post). When I see stressed out students at orientation, I try to remember how I felt at my orientation. I was nervous, uncertain, overwhelmed and excited all at once.