Creative Wanderings

Perhaps it’s strange to usher out a lovely fall month with people dressed in crazy costumes hoarding stashes of candy, but what a fun day Halloween can be! I will be posting pictures soon (of South Dakota AND Halloween) so you can all see my crazy costume. Ok, so the costume was boring. But the hair? Hands down I won any contest. All I will say is it involved a cup, hairspray, lots of ratting, and purple hairspray. And glitter. And I spent about half of a movie tonight washing it out. Yes, folks, stay tuned for those pictures! PS– thanks for your comments on that last funny post about readership. I think you’re all FABULOUS!

So I’m not sure who (if anyone besides me) actually reads what I post. I know I check back a few times during the week to make sure what I wrote last is as brilliant as I thought it was the first time. 🙂 Nor am I entirely certain that I want to increase my readership, but that’s neither here nor there. So, I attended a financial aid conference in South Dakota last week. Actually, it’s been a whole week since I’ve been home. Wow, time flies. I have reported on the conference 3 times now, and I have to say it feels cool to be a professional and offering my thoughts on what we do and what ideas I had from the conference. I’ve never sought out a career or really seen myself as one of the super career women, but I also give my best to whatever I Read more…

Well, with being out of town for my business trip and trying to get caught up afterwards, I haven’t had much time to update my blog. However, I ran across an old poem I wrote that I wanted to share, so here it is. I’ll update about my life soon, promise. “Untitled– 3/15/07” I came to a sign todayPompously presiding over a largeCrossroads.Bold letters and arrowsClamoured for attention– for followers–Yet each path looked the same…At first.I read the signs to see the pathsMy little life could take–Each one so appealing yet soDaunting.I pondered for a while,There amongst the signs,Confident I could handleWhatever I encountered.The call of the roadTugged at me, soI began to walk.

This Friday was the perfect day. Forget that I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch… not in the conventional manner… forget that I was busy at work all day and really just wanted to be home asleep… forget that I had lots of things to do after work in a very short time frame: Friday was FANTASTIC. Work was going well– one of the counselors who I assist with questions about financial aid had gotten me a Jamba (that was breakfast), we got some great peanut butter M&M’s in training meeting (that was lunch), and I was getting caught up and organized with my work load. As the afternoon drew on I was getting a little tired of being at work and wishing I could leave to run my errands. After working through a complex situation, I saw that I had unread mail in my inbox. I went to open it Read more…

So today I went and got a free strand of freshwater pearls— some promotional thing from Goldsmith Jewelers. Now this is significant for two reasons. #1: I love jewelry! I don’t know why, but I really like nice jewelery, and even jewelery that looks nice but didn’t cost an arm and a leg. With seven brothers I sometimes wonder how I turned out so very feminine, but I’m not complaining. My husband might though, if/when I get married. #2: Pearls are uniquely beautiful. That probably sounds so cliche, but trust me, it’s a deeper statement than it appears to be. Most pearls bought and worn by the average gal are cultured pearls, meaning they force the oysters to make pearls. They “feed” the oyster a round object, causing them to create a perfectly round pearl. Since this promotional offer was giving away a free strand of pearls I figured they Read more…

So, I am a HUGE fan of Indian food. I’m not sure why I got hooked on it, but one day I went out to Bombay House and came back a convert (to Indian food– the Hindu thing is too complex). I’ll get random cravings for that delectable dish of spices, which then urges me to hunt up recipes and gush over pictures of fantastic foods. Once or twice I tried to convert the recipes into actual meals, but I never had the success I was looking for. The garbanzo bean curry I tried to replicate was good, but it wasn’t anything like the dish that inspired my attempt. Anyways, I’ve been craving a good chicken tikka masala for the past few weeks, and I finally picked up a few things at the store (namely the main spice of garam masala) to test out. I checked out two recipes and Read more…

This is me flying across the world. Pretty much I love performing and dancing, and I’ve always had a secret dream to be a performer on stage for … well however I long I could be there. It’s absolutely wonderful to me that I’ve been able to get so much stage time, especially now when most people I know are starting to slide off into the grind of real life. I am a member of Foot Poetry, a local tap dance company made of people who just love to get together and tap! We make beautiful noise with our feet and have a blast at our Saturday morning rehearsals, breakin’ it down to some Funky Town grooves. (PS I am looking for a shiny disco costume, if anyone has connections.) Right now we are preparing for a show in January– still waiting to hear back about our November possibility– where Read more…

So today I had my first test as a post-graduate… I gotta say, I’ve still got the touch! Of course, I’m sure it helps that I only have to study for this one class, in which case I really should have gotten 100%, but I do have a life, so that accounts for some missed questions here and there. It’s been refreshing to have my Maya Art and Culture class so far, mostly because I love learning and also because it gives me a mental break during my days! Their religion and art are so fascinating, both in content and depth. Here’s a little taste of it, just so you can see what you could be learning too.

Busco mi media naranja. Todos que quieren applicar pueden preguntarme si quiero pasar tiempo con ellos. Me encanta que tengo bastante buenamigos, pero tambien espero el hombre que sea mejor que suenos. Un dia, un dia……

So, in my line of hobby, feet are vitally essential. They usually are rather calloused, which any dancer will agree is important for avoiding blisters and the like. Naturally, they look a little less than attractive, but overall I’m quite satisfied with my feet. I probably should paint my toenails more often to disguise the state of my feet, but I’d rather spend that time dancing. Suffice it to say that from the ankle down, my feet are a lovely conglomeration of scars and callouses, in dire need of some TLC. My heels have not escaped the fate of my feet, and they too bear lovely callouses and lines from the wide variety of shoes and straps rubbing against them. They’ve been getting better, after a round of ill-fitting shoes that quite literally rubbed them the wrong way, and I had hopes of them returning to a semi-normal state. Unfortunately, Read more…