Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Monday, September 26, 2005
Sunday, September 25, 2005
I always struggle before writing the first few words of whatever type of reflective writing I'm about to embark upon. Part of me wants to create some kind of opening to my life that will awe and inspire its readers to profundity, the other part doesn't want to get carried away in pretense. So this is just going to be me, with an uninspiring life update.
Like, Jennifer, I too am so glad to be encroaching upon the fall. There's something about the air and the ambiance that emminates repose and makes me want to breathe deeply. I hope that with our upcoming trips to Michigan to celebrate little Elinore that I get to experience the rest that nature is calling for.
Things at work started off with a bang, and have gone a little off-course this week with a serious of other bangs. The director, to whom I am the assistant, resigned rather suddenly on Monday, and left us scrambling around to continue the flow of the center while tying off loose ends. Unfortunately, still not even knowing all of the different policies and procedures and being the only one consistently in Naperville this week, has not made me feel really cool and confident. I feel a little bit like all these balls are up in the air-- I wasn't the one who threw them, I don't even know how many there are or how big they are, but they're coming down and I'm scrambling around underneath trying to catch them and feebly throw them back up. Headquarters has put together a team of experienced people who will support me in running the center and continue my training while they go through the process of hiring another director, but in the meantime, I have someone different with me every other day. The continuity is lacking, and I don't want to be responsible anymore!
Apart from that, I've been feeling kind of lonely lately. I'm still on the lookout for kindred spirits, but in the meantime it's hard. All my college friends are together in Austin which is sort of like a double injury-- they're far from me, AND they're all together. How do you make friends after college? I have yet to figure that out.
Hoping for a lovely fall, despite the predictions, and looking forward to patting Jen's belly--
Caitlyn
Like, Jennifer, I too am so glad to be encroaching upon the fall. There's something about the air and the ambiance that emminates repose and makes me want to breathe deeply. I hope that with our upcoming trips to Michigan to celebrate little Elinore that I get to experience the rest that nature is calling for.
Things at work started off with a bang, and have gone a little off-course this week with a serious of other bangs. The director, to whom I am the assistant, resigned rather suddenly on Monday, and left us scrambling around to continue the flow of the center while tying off loose ends. Unfortunately, still not even knowing all of the different policies and procedures and being the only one consistently in Naperville this week, has not made me feel really cool and confident. I feel a little bit like all these balls are up in the air-- I wasn't the one who threw them, I don't even know how many there are or how big they are, but they're coming down and I'm scrambling around underneath trying to catch them and feebly throw them back up. Headquarters has put together a team of experienced people who will support me in running the center and continue my training while they go through the process of hiring another director, but in the meantime, I have someone different with me every other day. The continuity is lacking, and I don't want to be responsible anymore!
Apart from that, I've been feeling kind of lonely lately. I'm still on the lookout for kindred spirits, but in the meantime it's hard. All my college friends are together in Austin which is sort of like a double injury-- they're far from me, AND they're all together. How do you make friends after college? I have yet to figure that out.
Hoping for a lovely fall, despite the predictions, and looking forward to patting Jen's belly--
Caitlyn
Apples
The year has rolled around again. Here we are entering fall, full of things that I love...bright colors on the trees, crisp cool days, apples baking into all sorts of good things to eat, sweaters, and this year Elinore. On Friday, Kevin and I headed to Crane's Orchard to pick apples with our good friends Megs and Alan. Its so satisfying to pick your own apples. To touch the trees they grew on. It almost makes you feel like you had a hand in their existence. Silly, but satisfying.
I made two apple pies today. Oh, were they good. We sent one next door to our neighbors and we took the other one to our church potluck. I tried a new recipe, and what a success! Only the dish came home with us.
My belly continues to grow. I've got about 6 weeks to go. As the days go by, my uncomfortableness grows (although I'm sure so many women have it much worse). It makes me long for her birth. How can we love her so much when we don't even know who she is?
Monday, September 19, 2005
Chicago
Kevin and I spent the weekend in Chicago. As you know, Mom and Dad got us tickets to Wicked (the musical) for our anniversary. After checking into our hotel room,
we had an early dinner at the Berghoff (a German restaurant only a couple blocks from our hotel) where I ate Weiner Schnitzel and Kevin had the trio of sausage plate with saurkraut. Our waiter was so European. He came, asked us what we wanted, and left. No smiles, no chit-chat. It was actually kind of nice, not feeling all buttered up by our server. After dinner we had a little while before our show started, so we wandered around the city a bit. The Celtic Musical Festival was going on this weekend and we managed to stumble across it. We happened upon a dance stage. It was children's classes that were performing. They were so cool! Kevin took a little video, but I can't seem to get it to load. I think it's too big. Maybe Kevin can mess with it later.
We also walked through Millenium park which has this very bizarre metal statue that is extremely reflective. It's sort of like a futuristic park.
We caught the beautiful evening sunset blazing through a city street and reflected off the buildings. The photo doesn't do it justice.
Wicked was lots of fun. Very creative, great characters (some of them hilarious), good story, wonderful singing! A really great weekend! Thanks again, Mom and Dad!!!
we had an early dinner at the Berghoff (a German restaurant only a couple blocks from our hotel) where I ate Weiner Schnitzel and Kevin had the trio of sausage plate with saurkraut. Our waiter was so European. He came, asked us what we wanted, and left. No smiles, no chit-chat. It was actually kind of nice, not feeling all buttered up by our server. After dinner we had a little while before our show started, so we wandered around the city a bit. The Celtic Musical Festival was going on this weekend and we managed to stumble across it. We happened upon a dance stage. It was children's classes that were performing. They were so cool! Kevin took a little video, but I can't seem to get it to load. I think it's too big. Maybe Kevin can mess with it later.
We also walked through Millenium park which has this very bizarre metal statue that is extremely reflective. It's sort of like a futuristic park.
We caught the beautiful evening sunset blazing through a city street and reflected off the buildings. The photo doesn't do it justice.
Wicked was lots of fun. Very creative, great characters (some of them hilarious), good story, wonderful singing! A really great weekend! Thanks again, Mom and Dad!!!
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Demolition
Just thought I'd give everyone a little visual update on the progress of Elinore's room. In the course of one day it went from looking like this:
to this:
to this:
Monday, September 12, 2005
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Boxes of Memories
As some of you know, I spent a couple days last week at Mom and Dad’s house cleaning out my old room. Don’t ask me why I still hadn’t done it. I knew that once Elinore is born, the chances of getting through all of it will get much slimmer. Caity now has a full-time job in Naperville, so she wanted to be able to use my room as an office, and Mom has moved her sewing machine in there and needs a bit more space.
It is always so strange finding old things - the rush of memories, the silly notes, the old sports mementoes. I was amazed at some of the things I had saved. A napkin from the restaurant I went to on a date, a particularly good fortune from a fortune cookie, dried corsages from numerous dances. It seems so silly, and yet I can remember thinking those things were so important.
There’s a high school girl I know right now whose two year relationship has just ended. Needless to say she’s really upset, and struggling to deal with it. She speaks as though it is the end of her world and her entire future life has been thrown into the unknown, and for her it has. I remember feeling like that…whether it was the cute boy I passed in the hallway, the next gymnastics meet, or the next test looming over me. It always felt like my entire fate rested on each of those things, and now it all seems so silly. Why didn’t someone tell me that I was being so dramatic?? Of course, maybe someone did, and I just couldn’t hear them…or laugh at myself. And when did it all fizzle? I’m sure there are still things that hit me today with the full force of the world, but they are much fewer and farther between. And of course, Kevin won’t hesitate to make me laugh at my ridiculousness.
In other news, Labor Day weekend was great. The weather couldn’t have been better! Mom and Dad came up to go sailing and we took a much needed break to go with them for a couple hours. We had a good steady wind for most of the time, and I got sunburned on my arms. Although their visits are always short, I always enjoy having them here! Kevin and I worked hard, and have finally finished (aside from having the floor carpeted) the spare bedroom that has taken us all summer. We used a yellow we had left-over from our room, and since neither of us are real fans of yellow (as in painted rooms), we had intended to sponge paint another shade of yellow overtop for a bit of “spice”. Once the room was entirely painted, Kevin and I were amazed at how much we really like the color. It is so warm and rich! We were hesitant to sponge, but decided to try a small section of wall anyway. Well, today I painted over what we had sponged because we just decided we like the plain golden yellow much more!
So, sometime this week we’ll start Elinore’s room! The good thing is that we have lots of motivation to finish this one!
I hope you’re all enjoying the blog here. Love to you all!
It is always so strange finding old things - the rush of memories, the silly notes, the old sports mementoes. I was amazed at some of the things I had saved. A napkin from the restaurant I went to on a date, a particularly good fortune from a fortune cookie, dried corsages from numerous dances. It seems so silly, and yet I can remember thinking those things were so important.
There’s a high school girl I know right now whose two year relationship has just ended. Needless to say she’s really upset, and struggling to deal with it. She speaks as though it is the end of her world and her entire future life has been thrown into the unknown, and for her it has. I remember feeling like that…whether it was the cute boy I passed in the hallway, the next gymnastics meet, or the next test looming over me. It always felt like my entire fate rested on each of those things, and now it all seems so silly. Why didn’t someone tell me that I was being so dramatic?? Of course, maybe someone did, and I just couldn’t hear them…or laugh at myself. And when did it all fizzle? I’m sure there are still things that hit me today with the full force of the world, but they are much fewer and farther between. And of course, Kevin won’t hesitate to make me laugh at my ridiculousness.
In other news, Labor Day weekend was great. The weather couldn’t have been better! Mom and Dad came up to go sailing and we took a much needed break to go with them for a couple hours. We had a good steady wind for most of the time, and I got sunburned on my arms. Although their visits are always short, I always enjoy having them here! Kevin and I worked hard, and have finally finished (aside from having the floor carpeted) the spare bedroom that has taken us all summer. We used a yellow we had left-over from our room, and since neither of us are real fans of yellow (as in painted rooms), we had intended to sponge paint another shade of yellow overtop for a bit of “spice”. Once the room was entirely painted, Kevin and I were amazed at how much we really like the color. It is so warm and rich! We were hesitant to sponge, but decided to try a small section of wall anyway. Well, today I painted over what we had sponged because we just decided we like the plain golden yellow much more!
So, sometime this week we’ll start Elinore’s room! The good thing is that we have lots of motivation to finish this one!
I hope you’re all enjoying the blog here. Love to you all!
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