Day 26: Your Week in Great Detail

I'm going to elaborate upon LAST week since I'm still not sure quite all of my schedule yet :-)

Tuesday: Worked ALL DAY on finishing up the research project I have been working on since November- I needed to do some more additions and change the reference structure to endnotes. This is actually quite a process- I generally use in-text citations so it took me about 3 hours to convert 175 citations into endnotes. I had no idea it would take that long. I helped my sister Sarah by editing the last chapter of her thesis (yea!!) and then I went up to the ballet (as earlier reported)

Wednesday: Taught class, had office hours (no one comes- this is always the case). At least at Brandeis I didn't have to officially hold them- it is just easier to have students make appointments when they need to meet with you. Read the chapter and sections for Friday's class. Nap. Went to Google for dinner since William had to work later. We had yummy pasta and wondered about the mass of balloons suspended from the ceiling

Thursday: Went with Inger up to the De Young Museum of Art for "Bouquets to Art." It was SO crowded by many older women- we were probably the youngest ones there (minus a few babies :-) I always love to attend this event- especially with someone who also enjoys it so that we can exchange our views about the pieces (or how we don't get it either :-) Here are a few of my favorites

This was the main display- it was so stunning with all of the purple ribbons and flowers

I loved how several of the arrangements were able to twist the stems into such unique positions without breaking

I also loved the crochet/macrame (?) creations

I thought that these two arrangements perfectly captured the emotions of the artwork behind them

And I thought that this one was so clever- the bread machine as the flower container. Brilliant! I can't imagine what the artist was thinking when they were assigned this piece

We then went to Jeffery's in Menlo Park for a hearty burger and fries- very good. I particularly loved the hanging chains you have to push through to go to the rest rooms. I then finished prepping for my class (it takes me awhile to get things how I want but I always have enough material :-) Had dinner and watched some tv with William :-)

Friday: Taught class, finished reading for next class, napped, prepared class for Monday, watched some tv, surfed Internet, waited for William to come home at 11:30 pm so that we could go to In N Out for dinner and hang out with all of the high school kids :-)

Saturday: Talked with the professor I work for, got ready, drove up to Sacramento. Began listening to "Portrait of a Lady" by Henry James. I am LOVING it so far- I've only made it through 3 cd's and only have 15 more to go (I think it will be awhile before I finish it :-) William and I then went to a session at the Sacramento Temple. It is so beautiful.

What it failed to make clear on the website was that the 1:30 session was in SPANISH. I speak Spanish, but William doesn't. Fortunately, several other people also didn't realize this so they were able to have English captions. It made me realize just how much I miss Spanish (I did a study abroad in Spain and minored in Spanish) but it also made me realize some of the vocabulary that I have forgotten. William even learned some Spanish which made him wish he would have learned it on his mission since it is MUCH easier than Japanese. We really enjoyed it ;-)

We then went to Chick-fil-a since we love it and the nearest one to us is 1 1/2 hrs away. We enjoyed it so much that we got one conservative order but realized that we needed to ensure we were full so we got another order. Yeah, it was kind of embarrassing. But well worth it. Their chicken is SO unbelievably good. We then window shopped for awhile but didn't find anything.

The main reason we went to Sacramento was to see the play that my friend Jacosa had helped arrange and direct the music for. Its called "One Voice" and it was an amazing show. The performance combined high school students from Sacramento with students from Turkey. Jacosa did an INCREDIBLE job of teaching these kids to the next level with their voices- it was so stirring. I was completely blown away by the level of vocal talent there. They also had a band, tap dancers, modern dancers, jazz dancers, and some acting. We really enjoyed the Turkish folk dancing and we even received a little packet of Henna tattoos (they just handed it to us). They also had a live sand art performance on a lighted screen that turned out well (I admit that I was a little frightened). We then stopped off at Wendy's and got a soda and Frosty for the drive back.

Sunday: (Already reported on yesterday)

Monday: Taught class. I actually am LOVING teaching introduction to sociology. There are so many interesting and fascinating topics that have managed to engage the students. I have much more class participation from the first day and they are contributing thoughtful insights and experiences. I have so enjoyed this and hope that the students have learned something (we'll see next week with their midterm!). I had office hours (no one came) and today did the reading and most of the preparation for my class. William and I watched Dancing with the Stars and laughed at Niecy's hilarious tango.

This week has been a little more lively than previous weeks which was mainly filled with working and I think that I need to keep this trend up :-) I am really really happy with my life right now and truly feel so blessed to have a job I love and a husband whom I absolutely adore and is perfect for me :-)