5-25-13

Outside with the frisbee golf basket in the yard.

We had a birthday party tonight for Dan!

My mom made his cake. 

Benji and Jebby

5-24-13

 

This evening the doorbell rang and Dan said, "Who could that be?" and when he answered the door, he was shocked and confused--- "What are YOU doing here? Oh!" and the girls said, "Surprise!!!"

5-23-13

Happy 50th birthday to the love of my life. Today I assembled the photo album and presented Dan with Hearts from around the World. We went out to dinner with Squirt and had a nice evening. It's too bad I had to work most of the day. Oh, Dan delivered his kits to the university for the grant today. Whew!

5-22-13

Squirt took this picture of me roasting bananas. Have you ever had roasted bananas? We hadn't either. They are Dan's favorite fruit (NOT) so we thought it would be a funny photo for his birthday surprise tomorrow.

5-21-13

Frisbee loves his Daddy, and he is getting geared up for the secret birthday surprise.

5-20-13

It's funny when you catch yourself being "just like your mother" standing right next to her. I handed Dan the camera to capture the moment.

Migraine this morning... had to cancel my dentist appointment. Finally feeling OK by evening. I don't like this.

5-19-13

These are the only men left in the family with the family last name. It's all on Squirt to carry it on to another generation.
Can you see any family resemblance?
Squirt, Dan, Grampa, and Bon-Ron-a-Son

5-18-13

Yesterday I had meeting after meeting and forgot to take any photos. Today was better.

Dan's father and brother are visiting. I took them on a campus tour this afternoon. We walked all the way to my office building, around the engineering complex, downtown, and back. We stopped and had lunch at Price's BBQ. Here they are in front of Samford Hall.

 In the afternoon Squirt and I went shopping for a pre-birthday dinner for Dan and his brother and father who are visiting. Squirt made sushi, and I made a seaweed salad, edamame, and dessert.  

 

Dessert was fantastic.Chocolate ganashe, strawberries, whipped cream and mint on waffles. Mmmm...

5-16-13

I went for a run/walk on the beach this morning and brought my camera. This is right in front of our condo building.

The sky and water changed colors as I walked, getting deeper as the sun came up.

Looking back to where I had come from, I walked all the way to a nature preserve that was like Old Florida I remember as a child. On this walk I felt so happy.

Just look at the collection of colors here.
Running was actually fun.

Back at our condo... this is where we stayed on the 10th floor. Last night I had a soak in that hot tub you can see under a little roof there. I hope we come back some time. We left at 10:20 and were home mid-afternoon.

5-15-13

My writing retreat view!

5-14-13

After a day of productive writing I went for an amazing walk on the beach. The water colors were so vivid and the sandpiper birds were so cute and I felt connected and at peace.

Dinner at this seafood restaurant which was not good at all. Mom sent hers back and didn't eat a thing.

5-13-13

At the beach with my mom and friends.
Beautiful condo on the 10th floor. I went for a walk by myself before dinner- and wrote this afternoon productively. It's cool and the sounds of the waves are soothing.

5-12-15

When we lived in Kentucky I had an art studio that was on a loft overlooking Dan's office with windows everywhere.
Then I got kicked out and moved to the basement where there were a couple of small windows.
When we moved to Alabama, my office was so small I just had to use it for work alone.
Until today.

I cleaned out this closet that was formerly used for stereo equipment by a former owner. It has electricity and a nice work surface.
It's now my art studio. I'm officially the artist in the closet. Now to get some painting done this summer!!!
It was a good Mothers' Day.
My mom came over and Squirt cooked us homemade ravioli filled with spinach, pine nuts, ricotta, mushrooms... and lemon zest. Pure delicious.

5-11-13

 

Today was a writing extravaganza. I started working on a paper I'd been tinkering with for over a year and 15 hours later had it submitted to a journal.
These are the flowers Aza, sweet Aza, sent me for Mother's Day. She knows my favorite flowers! It was such a sweet surprise from a beautiful daughter.

5-10-13

 

My mom stopped by and gave me some more daisies for my little planting thing on the patio. They're pretty.
Today I had meetings most of the day-  it was meeting mania, and it ended after 4pm.

5-8-13

Testing friction

Testing it another way

Student built solar vehicle
Today I woke with a migraine and took a Maxalt and went to the high school to teach anyway. It was hard.

Came home and then had to go see the ENT about my tongue and waited in the waiting room for an hour as the migraine returned full force.

Had to call Dan to come rescue me.
I love Dan.

5-7-13

 

 

After my meeting at the university, we dropped off some colleagues at the airport and headed for the MALL OF AMERICA (emphasis exaggerated). The most fun was visiting Lego Land.

We spent most of the day traveling and got home  late, but not too late to watch the latest taped episode of Mad Men.

5-6-13

After a full day of meetings, I went out to dinner with the rest of the advisory board and had an exquisite dinner topped off by tiramisu in a chocolate tea cup and creamy decaf.

5-5-13

My sister-in-law is the shopping genius. She was my personal shopping assistant today and we went to Nordstrom Rack, Anthropologie, and Marshall's. We had a great time and I found some really nice new shoes, slacks, a skirt, and some awesome sweaters and shirts.

We had dinner together and then parted ways... I have a meeting tomorrow at the University of Minnesota.

5-4-13

May in Wisconsin! Where's the Christmas tree?
We flew in this afternoon for a visit with Dan's sister and her family. We had a nice walk around the neighborhood, a nice dinner, and a good time watching Myth Busters together. Snow was everywhere. It really felt like Christmas.

5-2-13

Today a renowned scholar came to work with our research group. We went out to dinner and gave her a tour of downtown. We showed her where the trees had been poisoned, and really enjoyed our dinner at Amsterdam's.

5-1-13

In case you're wondering what I look like teaching high school, here I am drawing on the SmartBoard before our motor activity. Today was awesome. The kids really got into the curriculum and I knew all their names and they started warming up to me. When I left some were upset I wouldn't be back until next week.

4-30-13

Eggs. Lots of eggs.

These eggs are symbolic- they represent the final step in a long two month process that Dan went through to assemble the kits for my grant. He put off making plaster-filled eggs until the very end because it was the least interesting chore. They are in boxes in our laundry room with a fan blowing over them. The plaster is still moist.

I taught at the high school this morning.

4-29-13

I drove by.
I drove by, holding my iPhone in my hand with my finger on the "shoot" button.
This is my drive by shooting of Toomer's Corner with the trees gone.
A pile of mulch and a gate.

I taught at the high school this morning.

4-28-13

Yard work results today... I worked on the strip next to the driveway and cleared out vines and weeds to let the lantana grow, and Dan worked on vines in trees and weeds in grass.

This is how the strip of ground looks now. I think I should plant some annuals in here so it always has color;

By popular demand, here is a photo of our two new living room chairs! Curtains and artwork have yet to be hung, but they will. Mom gave us the Chinese chest that sits between the two chairs.

Today I wanted to focus on three things: the yard, the house, and my work. I did all three. However, my manicure isn't looking so good anymore...

4-27-13

Wow, today sure was different from yesterday. I started working this morning and got a majority of a course revision done before my grad student and her husband came over to work on curriculum with me. We played with gears and capacitors and motors all afternoon and into the evening. We got a lot done, and then after dinner I finished the course revision document.

I just don't know what makes some days flow and others act like clotted milk.

4-26-13

This is Dan's office on nice days. Today he is gluing wires to solar panels. He has been soldering and super gluing and hot gluing.

Today was a bad bad day. I had two meetings that did not go well and they put me in such a foul mood that I wished I had a job like Dan even though he says it's monotonous. It is without conflict.

We watched Dr. Strangelove tonight. We had never seen it, and it was really very interesting.

4-25-13

Placeholder until the photos are published.
Today I was awarded with the Outstanding Faculty Early Career Award in the College of Education. I took Dan and Mom and two of my graduate students to the ceremony. We got our pictures taken. I'll post them when they are available. I got a cool plaque and some cash.

4-24-13

I have a really bad habit of picking at my nails and cuticles. It has to stop. I've tried crochet, but I can't carry yarn with me everywhere. I used to have a ball of really awesome clay called Floam and I'd play with it to keep my hands busy, but really, I just cannot keep my hands from mutilating each other. They are like angry twins.

So today I took these nails to a salon and had them "silk wrapped" and painted pretty. The bonding of the fabric with glue to the nails makes them stronger so hopefully they will grow out a bit. I need to now stop harming them. Harming me.

4-23-13

The trucks are there. I don't want to see what is next. Ghosts of Auburn past.
I taught my last class of the semester this evening. We had a pizza party. It was good and bittersweet.

4-22-13

This morning I helped a group of teachers and administrators from the city school system write a several million dollar grant with my curriculum modules as the centerpiece. If funded, it will be an amazing thing to see.

I was invited to a special luncheon today with four faculty members and four people from the Office of Sponsored Projects. We talked about grants. I think I should apply for an NSF CAREER grant.

This photo is symbolic of all things Alabama. Stately, tall pines who don't care if the other trees are prettier or more floral or have more precious wood. Tall and proud, but not haughty or boastful. This pine knows that it is part of the circle of life, and that's enough.

The oaks are spending their last day on the corner. I don't think I want to see them gone.