Recharging

I'm not going to complain.  I'm going to be grateful that I have refuge-- in people who love me, in martinis, in dirt, in baby smiles and in good guidance.

The following are some of my favorite Audrey Hepburn quotes (or excerpts from them) and pics of my favorite person on earth.

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."

Em believes that not making eye contact with the broccoli will make it go away.

"For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. "

strolling by the "nice kitty" with grandma's assistance

"Paris is always a good idea"
There is something so fulfilling about shopping for plane and train tickets. Dreaming of Mont Saint Michel and Ribera del Duero in dusty bottles and enjoying now.

Strong start to week two!

The website is being a poquito creepy- For some reason it deleted all of the blogs I was following... luckily there were only five of them and the most important ones haven't been updated in weeks for very good reasons: 1, my co-worker's mom who underwent a bone marrow transplant this week is home and doing well & 2, my grad school bff is slacking on her posting, but kicking butt on getting work done.

Speaking of goodness, I finished #3 today. I had a 40 minute skype conference this afternoon, after which I went over to the neighbor's with my laptop, had a swim, did all of the paperwork we needed to do and then had an amazing dinner. I love it when people cook for me!

We may need to do some revisions and add a form or two, but the hard part is done!

I think to celebrate, I'm going to try and lick #4 as well.

Little victories are what I need right now... because done seems so far away and there is something else that I really, really want, but I can't have... so I guess distracting myself with work instead of frivolities is the way to go :P

Enjoy your week!

Graceful

Grace is agility, finesse, courtesy, decency, goodwill, blessing and benediction. The verb has to do with honoring, dignifying, embellishing and beautifying.

I need to be flexible.

I need to be kind.

I need to be thankful.

I need to add good stuff into this world.

Week one and the pre 3 one list

When I started cake30 last August, I mentioned that I had three goals before I hit 3 oh, but never said what any of them were except for the baking one.  I had wanted to get in running shape and have submitted one of my stories to a publisher... I started running, but didn't get to where I needed to with either of the others, so I think it's time to come clean about my pre 3 one list... this are in no particular order.

Submit to a publisher

Start dissertation

Run a big race

Become a vegetarian again

Perfect some signature dishes and desserts

Be grateful for something everyday

See everything as a gift

Be graceful in every sense of the word

So, how am I getting there?

I've got a plan for the dissertation stuff- you read the first post, you know that.

I've got a nike+ and I think it may be time to challenge my bro to some mileage races to get me moving.

I've got the other blog- I know the next couple of weeks will be cheesecake and caramel between other adventures ; ) ... I'll fit in some cooking- I have a stack of recipes I want to tackle (Seafood fra diavlo anyone?)

I'm going to try giving up one animal at a time for the veggie thing. Oso buco sounds so good right now and so do ribs... so, I'll be done with chicken and anything else that flies- done.

Today I'm grateful for my family and friends- they come through in the clutch and they all have their unique talents. Mom took me to a museum on Tuesday to see this amazing exhibit on wedding dresses (no pressure, right?), Ker helped me get the wireless working, Miss sent the cutest pic of Em seen to date, Cup spent last night getting rid of my heinous front hall carpeting and Lau and I had a fabulous visit about a super secret project we're working on and vetched about boys. Quality. On the friend and co-worker front, I told my MS buddy, Risa about my weekly beach day and she kicked it up to a whole 'nother level- we spent yesterday on her "anti-gravity" chairs on her family's private portion of beach and had some of the best ice cream as she too listened to me vetch (I need to work on that).

On the portfolio front- I spent a couple of hours in A-burg this afternoon- helped Seems pack for a conference, got out a delightful book by the chair of linguistics at Cambridge (who I had the great fortune to meet last fall) on time and I finished the first draft of a letter of collaboration that will wind up in the portfolio. I'm stoked to have it done. Now, all that's left for the portfolio are signatures/ revisions on that letter, some sort of methodology section- either a revised version of a past class or stuff from one of the pilots and figuring out where the pilots go on my CV. Good stuff.

Off we go...

A starting point

I don't tend to do things the easy way.  If you've seen my other blog (cake30.blogspot.com), you'd know that sometimes I have to smoke the house out (multiple times) to remember to water bath or stick a baking sheet under what's in the oven.

Everyone likes to complain about what a difficult road it is to do whatever they're trying to accomplish.  I don't know if it's a form of self-masochism or self-gratification... maybe self-justification?  My response when I'm not being disconsolately whiny about my own to-do list is, "if it were easy, everyone would do it." And where would the fun be in that?

So, here's where I stand and what I need to finish- with your help.

1. Portfolio
2. Summer 11 pilot
3. Mods to continue Su 11 into Fall 11
4. Mods on Spring 11 study to start Fall 11
5. Proposal
6. Dissertation

The goal finish date for #5 is December 11 and 1-4 have to come first.
I have a packed schedule, so there's no time to waste on excuses, complaining, regrets, or anyone else's agendas.  I have ridiculously sweet plans each week this summer and on outings this fall, and I want to go into them with the reassurance that I'm above water with this workload.  I'll be updating you on scheduled grad work days (generally Thursdays) and whenever I get something done or need to jot down some thoughts in between.

It's going to be interesting.