A New Apartment (sort of)

So Jake is finally here! Yes! He got here last Friday, and it's been a whirlwind ever since (kind of). On Saturday, Jake, my classmates, and I went to Howe Caverns to explore...considering I organized it, I felt like Jake and I had to go, even though I knew he'd driven about 12 hours the day before. It was really cool though, and although the guide's stories and jokes about rock formations were less than thrilling because her deliverance bordered on awful, and the car trip was a blast...Speeding up before going up hills was also a thrill, everyone in my car, including myself, sat in constant fear that the Dragon wouldn't make it...thankfully, it did.

Other than Howe Caverns, Jake got all of his things moved into the apartment, so it's looking great and finally has some personality, which was apparently lacking, which I realized when he moved in all of his things. The bathroom is also more "manly" now...I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, haha. I guess as long as it means he's here I can't complain!

Lovely sink and knives...

On Saturday night we went to the bar with some of my CGP classmates, and Jake somehow got talked into running a 5K the next day, so he was a trooper and followed through while I had to work. Apparently he ran pretty well, he was even surprised with how he did!

Like I said, the apartment's looking good, but if anyone has an empty knife block they'd like to contribute to our cause, it would be more than welcome! If you see the picture below of the popcorn box, don't worry, we're not popcorn hoarders, we just needed somewhere to keep our knives...

Part of the living room

A Stinky Halloween

Hi all,

So, I ended up deciding to be a skunk for halloween. Classy, I know. But hey--you have to take into account a grad student budget, sheer laziness, and reality. I'm no longer in college, and even when I was, I didn't get into the whole super-skanky Halloween thing, so that part was easy. Unfortunately, I'm used to living with other ladies, so this year when I didn't have Aubree helping decide on a theme, and then guiding me towards a costume, I was at a loss. (Aubree is also the reason my apartment has very very white walls, and not much decoration...)

See, museum kids are fun!

Anyways, a few of us first years hung out, then we went over to the house where most of the second years live, which was awesome. Lots of great costumes. Jake had originally suggested I be a Chilean miner, but I was glad I didn't go with that because I wouldn't have been good competition for the guy wearing only an orange vest and looking very mine-dirty..he pulled it off a lot better than I ever could have. Instead, I wore black leggings, a black hoodie (courtesy of Walmart, $12), and got a tail and ears which I decorated with a white stripe. I was actually shocked by the packaging of the ears/tail ensemble--all that were left were kids costume parts, and the 8 year old on the cover was posing a bit seductively for my taste...anyways.

Below are a couple pictures, courtesy of my friend Eva's facebook, one is from the day we went apple picking and bought pumpkins. I hate to admit it, but I never got around to carving my pumpkin this year. Sad. It's still sitting in the backseat of my car, waiting for me to cut it open and bake those seeds. mmmm

Some awesome first years

Eva, Julie and I apple picking!

Well, no big news, I just finished interviewing Rebecca for our practice oral history projects...got to love those all girls school ladies!

Besides homework, life is pretty much normal, I'm just counting down the days until Jake gets here! Tomorrow's a busy day, class, meetings, assistantship, homework, dog/house sitting..whoo whoo. If anyone has an idea for my Halloween costume, PLEASE let me know! There's a party on Friday and I've got NO idea what to be...

That's about it for now, sorry I don't have anything more interesting to report!

xo

UPDATE: I've decided to be a skunk. Pictures to come...

A Month Later

Hi All,

Sorry it's been so long, talk about a busy month. First, my friend had to go to the hospital which led to a bit of a tumultuous week, then two presentations and reviews due, school school school then this week my class and I went to Boston with our material cultures professor.

Boston was great--Met up with my college friend Pat, and had a great time catching up with him. It's crazy how no matter how not-often you talk to good friends, seeing them again is just like you saw them hours before. I guess that's how good friendships work...

Matt (Fellow CGP-er), me, and Pat

Other than seeing Pat, I got to visit the USS Constitution with our class, meet the previous president of the American Association of Museums (AAM) Carl Nold, and meet other various museum professionals. Of course, at the luncheon with Mr. Nold, I sat next to him and my stomach growled the whole time, welcome to my life!

The only other big news is that my parents got a new dog which I'm DYING to see...they decided on the name Roxy (though I think they should spell it Roxie), and she is absolutely adorable. Here are some pictures my mom sent to me last week:

It's almost like they have a new child...haha


That's all for now, enjoy the pictures, and I'm going to go crawl into bed and watch The Mentalist on tv before I fall asleep and head to work again in the morning. Oh, and I need to re-stock my kitchen tomorrow, ugh.

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