Plus it helps to keep a little gratitude in my attitude.
To kick it off, it's officially mid-August and all my teacher friends are officially going back to school (some have already begun!). I'm officially in serious class-planning and frantic chapter-writing mode, and it's kind of too much officialness to stomach after a month or two of ice cream dinners and weekday beach-bumming. We need some levity and happiness to offset this dwindling August! Summer4Evah!
Pop Culture Happy Hour. I may as well begin here! PCHH is a lively, slightly nerdy roundtable of weekly pop culture trends, fads, releases, and events. (You can also read the corresponding blog, MonkeySee). The hosts discuss everything from upcoming fall TV to board games to Revenge (one of my favorite shows from last year, not even guilty about it). I tend to listen when I cook. Yesterday I downloaded last fall's episodes while chopping green chili peppers (more on those later).
"Laid Back Beach Music" Pandora Station. I stumbled across this pre-set station early in the summer and have kept coming back to it ever since. Think acoustic man-guitar (Jack Johnson) mixed with enough Bob Marley to keep it from being eye-rolly. Soak it in while you can.
Rainy Mornings. This has been one dry summer so I was particularly excited to wake up to a good rainstorm yesterday morning. I anticipated a long day of storms, cups of tea, and writing, but the sun came out by noon so I shut the blinds and turned the AC back on. Summer!
Grimm. Another one of my favorite shows from last year is back on already! Do you watch? I think this is the only show that me, my sister, and our dad all watch. No spoilers from me but it's goood.
Gal Pals. I spent Tuesday night with friends drinking coconut mojitos, eating $1 tapas, and catching up. (Well, I stuck with water due to frugality, but who cares—$1 tapas!) It's so rare to find time to see each other, and even rarer to do so on a week night. Plus, $1 tapas! But mostly the gal pal time, was the exciting part.
What's making you happy this week??
I just want to say how glad I am to have your voice back via this new blog. I have followed you since your P-Chip days (and got married the same weekend as you, if I remember right?). I am also a 30-something grad student working on my dissertation in New England. I'm even named Elizabeth, too. So thanks for sharing your thoughts, experiences, challenges, dreams, etc....I can relate and do appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteHey Lizzy! You just made my day. I can't tell you how much your comments means- thank you so much for reading! What type of grad program are you in? Hurrah for grad camaraderie & commiseration!
DeleteI'm working on an Ed.D. in education policy. But I was an English major and got a M.A. in literature, and sometimes I wish I had continued down that lovely road that you are on...(I suppose the grass is often greener ;-)
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