A Perfect Saturday

Keeping Up

Things continue to be busy here. We are still moving forward with House Stuff but it's a long and complicated process. Nonetheless, buying and selling a home has taught us a lot and it will be much, much easier the next time around. Austin, true to his nature, started a spreadsheet that we've filled in with all the random things we've learned from our home owning experience to have handy the next time we're on the market. We have also secured a townhouse in IL after doing much online research, attempting to contact agents and property managers, and finally having Paula do some groundwork. That's a relief; we had no idea how saturated the rental market would be.

Austin's brother, Nick, and wife, Carrie, joined us Sunday evening until Tuesday afternoon for a visit. We we took them out for Salt Lick BBQ and traditional Austin migas. We also went to a screening of "The Big Lebowski" at our favorite theatre. Prior to the event and in keeping with the movie was bowling and White Russians but the lanes were full so we listened to live music instead. At the movie, we were issued props that included purple glow sticks, large inflatable bats, and some lucky folks received men's BVD underwear. At various points during the movie, the props were invoked quite gleefully. It was a fantastic visit and we were all stuffed with good eats and tired at the end.

Austin and I are Puerto Rico-bound in three weeks and my colleague and I are working on our presentation. We submitted our proposal long ago and I'm glad we allowed for our topic to include the research from my dissertation; this will be the first "up-cycling" of all the data I collected. We have several ideas of what we want to do but we will for sure be doing a tour of a bio bay at night. Yes, at night in a clear canoe no less. These bays are unique in that they contain bioluminescent organisms that light up as you paddle through the water. You can see what I'm referring to here; it's sort of hard to imagine without a photo and we're really looking forward to the real experience. Also on the agenda is touring a rum factory, strolling through old San Juan, among other things.

Given the busy-ness lately, a low-key weekend is on deck. As much as we're excited for our next adventure, it's nice to soak up some time in this home that we have carefully personalized and nested in.

Six Years

My friend and my beloved--with the deepest love and respect, I choose you to be my partner in life, in body and soul. I promise: to laugh with you in joy, to grieve with you in sorrow, to trust and be trustworthy, to be faithful to you in marriage and life, and to honor our differences for as long as we both shall live.

I choose you to be my partner. To learn and to grow with, to come to in both happiness and sorrow, to confide in and trust above all others and to respect in everything as an equal partner. I promise to love you and honor you as long as we both shall live. With these words and the words of my heart, I marry you.

Good Things

I thought I'd have a lot more time to blog and do different projects post-dissertation, but selling the house and keeping up on staging has gotten in the way. At risk of sounding cryptic, I'll say that things on the house front are progressing well and we're happy. It's been a good day here and Austin and Stinky got do a little afternoon reading and dozing.

I've also been doing some pleasure reading, relaxing, and lazing around this weekend. We'll be eating some (truly) yummy leftovers tonight and watching a movie. Tomorrow is our six year anniversary and we don't have any big plans but we will be cooking dinner together and enjoying a quiet evening. We will be traveling to Puerto Rico in early July for a conference I'll be presenting at and Austin decided to join me. We have deemed that trip our anniversary experience (we almost never do gifts--always experiences of some sort shared together).

So yes, things are good. Crazy, moving forward, and busy, but very, very good.