It's all relative

As I'm writing this I'm listening to a super relaxing song that Jake put on a CD he made me before I left...if only I knew the name, I could complete my album!

View from the boat

Anyways, it's been a good, yet busy week. Classes all week, a professional seminar on Friday, a full day of shopping Saturday, and work all day today. The professional seminar was interesting, but it could've been over in 3 hours, instead of the 7 or so we were there...you can only talk about technology and oral history for so long before minds begin to wander. Afterwards though, a few first and second years all went on a ferry ride on the lake, and it was beautiful! The leaves in the mountains are changing, and it's so incredibly picturesque.

 One of these days I'm going to try and make time for a hike, though I have absolutely no idea when I'll actually find time. I think part of the problem is that I always over-think how long things (aka homework) will take me, and I don't take time to enjoy the smaller things. Point taken, self...

So, another big thing (this is pathetic) was organizing my shoes this week...I finally bought a shoe rack, and it's changed my life.

Before...

After! 

So besides my unhealthy excitement with my shoe rack, life is pretty low key. Mad Men will be on in about 40 minutes, and until then I'll probably hang out in the apartment with my chocolate and sit on the couch: see a typical post-homework life below. Chocolate, unhealthy amounts of tea, candles, and crime dramas...living alone and watching crime dramas probably hasn't been my best life choice. Lately, my door creaks at night, so I've put a chair against my bedroom door. Am I 5 years old?

More soon,
Much love.

It's been awhile

Hi all,

Sorry it's been awhile since the last post...I thought there was a lot of reading to do in college, ah!

Everything here is going well--I've been really sick the past few days, but other than that things have been going well. I'm lucky that my boss at Savor NY here is a sweetheart--I went home from work yesterday and she called to make sure I didn't need anything! It's nice to know I have "parents" away from home :)

Upside down street sign...on Main Street...

Other than that, another week has gone by in a blur. Class all week, worked all day on Friday, then was "voluntold" to work at Harvest Festival at The Farmers' Museum, so I worked with kids on playing old-time games and trying to get apples off of hanging wooden pegs. Watching kids with no front teeth trying to do it was hilarious! After that, we had a "game night" at someone's house, so a bunch of us got together there and went out for a bit afterwards. Kind of cool--while at Cooley's we me the owner of Ommegang Brewery--a local brewery, so that was neat.

Tonight, we have a class meeting about our semester long project. We're working with a local historical society to figure out if they should work to get their own building for a museum, or if they should be a program-oriented non-profit; kind of a consulting thing. Great experience, but lots of work!

Tomorrow, Glee's second season starts, so I think Emily and I are going to make some more vegan cupcakes and enjoy them during some singing and dancing...here's a picture from last week when we made some cupcakes for a class garden party--we made "Elvis" cupcakes, with banana cupcakes, peanut butter frosting, and banana chips, which were SO good! On to chai this week perhaps...

Anyways, on to finish my museum leadership paper, then do some more reading. It's been so nice out here that I have a couple windows open, but I wonder how much longer I'll be able to do that...

Labor Day

My apartment building

Well, no real holidays for grad students apparently--this morning I went to the library to work on the endless amount of American Cultures I reading, and learned all about the Native American museum in D.C., and all the controversy it has had.

Other than that, went on a short drive and took a few pictures, hope you enjoy! For all those who know and love the dragon, note the duct tape holding my glovebox up. UGH!!

Sad face for my glovebox

Driving into town--the black fence means it the Singer/Clark family property

weekend musings

Hello,

It's been quite a low-key weekend...I feel like an old woman, but I went to bed by midnight each night this weekend, even though there was a Sugarland (who are they anyway?!) concert here at Double Day field last night. It's been a great weekend too, though. Last night, Rebecca, Emily, and I all made dinner together and then watched The Graduate on TMC. It's interesting eating with Emily, because she's a vegan, so we always know exactly what's in everything, which is actually kind of refreshing!

On another note, I bought a bowl yesterday at the huge craft fair at the Clark Gym grounds. This is the Clark as in the family runs everything in Cooperstown because they were the people that helped start up the Singer sewing machine corporation...we're talking they started the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Fenimore Art Museum too...it's intense.

The Craft Fair 

My new bowl

Anyways, that's about as exciting as my weekend has been. Today, I'm going to a barn sale(?!) with Rebecca, then off to the NYSHA library for more reading, then Mad Men tonight!  Low key, but it's what I'm here for.

research week = I need to figure out my thesis topic? WHAT?!

Hi all,

Haven't written in a few days--it's research week, which means class and research and reading and listening to how to research (wait, didn't we ALL learn this in undergrad?!) from 9-5 everyday. Then we have about 100 pages of reading to do for the next day, in addition to filming/editing our class orientation video that all of the NY State Historical Association heads are going to see on 9/15. Joy..

Anyways, it's been a pretty good week besides the longevity of it all, and besides the fact that they're pressuring all of us to find a thesis topic. Unfortunately, my idea for my thesis doesn't work for the research prospectus we have to do right now, so I'm having trouble finding inspiration for the project I have to work on right now. Thankfully though, I did start thinking of a topic for my thesis: How effective are different methods of "forcing" or coercing people to assume identities or understand the experiences of the people(s) depicted such as those in the Holocaust or Civil Rights museum? A little ambiguous still, but I'm working on it.

Other than that, Emily's moving into my building for sure now, because there are mice in the house she's renting, and there's mold and the oven's broken and the landlord won't fix it...interesting. Anyways, it'll be nice to have a friend in the building, though I have started to REALLY embrace my alone time.  That could or could not be a good thing for Jake, haha.

Miss everyone, and love,
Elizabeth