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Back on the Right Coast

Sorry for the lack of blogging.... but I am spending time on the "right" coast with friends and family. I will be back to blogging from the wrong coast after the New Year.

Merry Christmas.

31 is the new 29

I turned 31 yesterday. And, it wasn't so bad.

Now, to fully understand why my 31st birthday NOT being an issue is truly blog worthy, I must take you back to this time last year.

I was freaking out! I did NOT want to turn 30. Mostly because I am a thinker an over thinker. I was comparing myself to the people around me in graduate school and the friends with whom I had graduated high school and it seemed like they were all a little farther ahead in the game of life. Everyone seemed to be married. Most had kids. Many owned homes. And I was turning 30 while still in grad school, boyfriend-less, and renting a room in a house.

So I did what anyone would do... I went to CABO. My sister was in desperate need of a vacation as well so we packed up, found a warm destination, and spent 6 days in January reading, sunning, drinking, swimming, whale watching, snorkeling, eating and just NOT being a grad student (me) or an overworked, mom and wife (sister).

I know it's not healthy to compare myself to others. And, in this situation it was meaningless. I was still in school, but I was getting a PhD - pretty cool. I had owned a house... a house I loved. I sold it to move away to grad school. I had been in a couple long term relationships, but the truth is that I had just not found the right guy. And, kids... well, let's not go there, but suffice it to say I am thankful that I was able to go through the madness that is graduate school and academic job hunting without the worries of parenthood.

So my 31st birthday came yesterday and was actually quite enjoyable. (I think it is the "funnest" day to be on Facebook and enjoyed birthday wishes from friends and family.) I got to talk to my mom, my dad, my sister, and my brother (an an attempt at birthday wishes from my 2.5 year old niece). I had a great catch-up phone call with Claire Cook! I had a productive day at work with well wishes from colleagues. I got my hair cut and ended the day at dinner with friends.

God really does know what he is doing. Why do I insist on measuring him against some crazy, self-imposed timeline?

Brooke Fraser

Despite the hectic pace at the end of the term and the crush to both finish classes (read: grading) as well as have two papers ready for the Western region deadline (Dec 20), I have decided to try and have a life. Ambitious, I know. That meant holding to my decision to attend a Tuesday night Brooke Fraser concert at the Douglas Fir in Portland with my friend Trina. The show rocked! (And Brooke blogged about the show, too.)

As recently as October, I had never heard of Brooke Fraser. I committed myself to go to the show and then decided I should download some tunes so I would know what I had gotten myself into. Brooke is sometimes described as pop, but there is no way you can listen to her music and not know what she believes. If you don't know Brooke's music, listen to some and you will love her. She is multitalented - writing the songs, playing the keyboard and multiple guitars as well as providing the vocals on the songs. It was a true artist show. She is touring on her new album FLAGS. You should own it :-)

Sorry about the generic photos. I took some at the show, but with no flash photography, they didn't really turn out. And that is a shame because one of them featured the accordion.

Civil War

This weekend was the Civil War in Oregon... when the Beavers face their arch rivals... the Ducks. There is more hype for this game than most any game I have experienced. On the line this year was a birth in the National Championship game if the Ducks won. If the Beavers won, they became not only bowl eligible but also "Giant Killers".

This year's game was hosted in Corvallis and it was the College Gameday Game (apparently their are people on the planet who do not know about College Game Day so here is the explanation: The crew -Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso, and of course, Kirk Herbstreit - of ESPN take their show on the road and do nationwide pre-game coverage from a college campus. Students come, cheer in the background, and hold up some hilarious and borderline inappropriate signs. They commentators talk about all the big games of the day and predict a winner.

I did not go out to the quad at midnight when the fun apparently kicked off (though not officially until 4:30am), but apparently Beavers know how to do it up right.  While walking across campus on Friday, I did manage to catch Kirk on set shooting some early segments.

So the game didn't turn out like we wanted UofO won 37-20, but the Beavers definitely did not let the Ducks play their game. And I loved the new throwback uniforms....especially the gloves.

Go with the Flow

I don't want to stress. I don't want to wake up dreading my to-do list. I don't want to seem short and snippy with everyone around me because they are interfering with my ability to get work done. I don't want to lay awake at night - unable to sleep - because the term has reached that critical point where all the work needs to be done at one moment.

But I do.

I wanna be a go with the flow person. I wanna truly believe that it will all get done. I want to lay down at night knowing that I worked all day and was productive and that, even though it did not all get done, it was good enough. I want to be nice to people, even when I have a lot on my plate.

How do I do that?

My StengthsQuest results indicate that I am an Achieving, Deliberative, Focused, Competitive Learner. I think that people with this combination should come with warning labels. We are, by nature, focused on checking things off the to-do list and doing it better than anyone else.

NOTE: Among a group of my Missouri friends, we talked about "being a duck" and letting the small things just "roll off your back." Since we are in the middle of the build up to the Civil War game between OSU and UofO, and College Gameday is setting up out on the Quad today, I don't think I can use the term "Be a DUCK." I could say "Be a BEAVER".... but I don't know if it has the same connotation.

Wordless Wednesday is a go...

I follow a number of other blogs... and more than one of them uses the concept "Wordless Wednesday". I think it is a fabulous idea and I am officially using it. The idea is that each week I post something on Wednesday that needs no explanation. It could be a great photo or something I come across that is worth sharing. I will start tonight with my favorite photo of my niece Katie - who will turn one on New Year's Eve.