Domino Thinking

I don't really have anything to write about, but I was thinking today that my blog hadn't been written on in awhile. And that got me thinking about how when I lived in New York there always seemed to be something to write about. And that got me thinking about how two years ago at this time I was on the road with my sis traveling back to Salt Lake. And then I remembered how a year ago I was getting ready to apply to grad school and was stressing about the GRE. And then I thought about how five months ago I was starting grad school.

And here I am, sitting in my living room thinking about homework, New York, dating (I'm watching the Bachelorette), traveling, and the future.

Time For Family, Friends, Home

With my abundant free time this past week, I was able to finally get face time with family and friends that had sadly fallen by the wayside in my end-of-semester overload. Last Saturday I spent the morning doing Race for the Cure with my fam. Sunday was spent at my mom's for Mother's Day. Thursday I visited my friend Pam and held her two-week old baby, Dane. Friday night I watched my talented friend Cat perform in Oklahoma. Saturday I had lunch with my old roommate Julie and then went home-improvement shopping with my sister, buying paint for my unfinished Ikea table and purchasing the two remaining chairs I needed to make it complete.

It feels good to have time again to do things other than schoolwork.

What a Week

This last week has been brutal. Now that I'm at the end of it, I'm not sure how I did it. Sometimes knowing that pretty soon it'll be over, that the deadline will come no matter what, is a nice motivator. I spent many hours and nights (and days for that matter) in the lab. I stayed up late working on papers (that I sadly procrastinated) and projects that were contingent on another similarly busy person. As I rushed and worked and wrote and created, I felt I had time for nothing else.

But now, it's done. I spent today without the worry that I should be doing homework instead. And it was nice.

With my free time this summer, I plan (hope) to do some things:
--read more
--make my home cute
--exercise (we've proposed a Family Biggest Loser competition...)
--get a bike
--visit with friends
--outdoor concerts
--date (if anyone wants to set me up....)
--summer movies!!
--blog more :)

And as I reflect on my first semester of grad school, I see that there are so many things I have learned. I definitely underestimated how much work it would be. I exercised poor time management and procrastinated a lot. I hope to be better next semester. I have all summer to work on it.