Go do something. It's Earth Day!

I ordered a test run of postcards for work and fell in love with Artifact Uprising. The paper quality is sumptuous!

I hadn't planned on writing a post for today. Reading a few lines of text is the last thing we should all be doing on Earth Day. However, I took on a "green" theme for the month of April and couldn't let today pass without sharing at least a little.

I struggle to write about the environmental side of my life. While I'm incredibly passionate about it, I spend 45-50 hours a week swimming in it. It wakes me up in the middle of the night and sends me driving three hours on a Saturday morning to help a local group with an event. It's evenings speaking at a public meeting because that's when everyone else can participate. I love every minute of it, but burn out is a real thing. Self-preservation means I tend to choose to leave that part of me at work. Plus, I tend to have a lot of passions, and they need their air time, too. :-)

So, no discussion on what you should be reading or watching or listening to. Instead, I think it would be awesome if we all spent 30 minutes today thinking about how we can level up whatever we're doing for the earth. You recycle and bring those cute bags to the grocery store. Can you pick up one more good habit this year?

December Daily 20 + 21

I left the house on Friday for the first time since I arrived in San Angelo, and evidently, I was into it because we were barely home today (lots of errands largely centered around putting together our meal plan for Christmas week and securing the groceries). I ended my temporary hibernation yesterday with lunch out with my grandpa. He took me to Chef's Corner, a local place he and my mom like. If you can't tell, we also got some rain. In West Texas, that's akin to manna falling* from heaven.

Speaking of manna from heaven, we had Whataburger for dinner tonight. Basically, if you're ever in Texas, try Whataburger. Enough said.

My grandpa went to watch the college girls' basketball team play earlier today, and we picked him up from the arena. Is it just me, or does that ram have an abnormally large pair of balls? Does everything have to be bigger in Texas?

Finally, new phone!

*In a weird juxtaposition of thoughts, I accidentally typed 'following' at first, and now I feel compelled to mention how excited I am that The Following is back on in January!

December Daily 17 + 18 + 19

In Texas. Yes, we eat salsa on our spaghetti.

December Daily 15

Today will go down in fame as the Sunday I grabbed the bull by the horns and got all kinds of productive. I had alarms (yes, it took more than one for me to force myself out of bed at this hour on a Sunday) set for 7AM and a calendar that had every hour plotted out. We're talking everything from write (webinar) PowerPoint to clean apartment to wash hair to pack Christmas cookies.

Not only did it all get done, I crammed in some last minute holiday time with friends before I flee for the southwest on Tuesday. After years of seeing the Mormon temple loom majestically over the beltway, we finally headed up to check out their holiday festival of lights and followed it up with burger (and serious conversation ;-)) at The Counter.

December Daily 14

Today was an overcast day filled with snow that didn't really stick. It was also my last weekend in Virginia this year, making it the perfect day to record the last 2013 That's What She Read podcast (Friday Night Dinner will be up tomorrow!), make Christmas cookies with Ravena, and watch a few more episodes of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (love). I made a ton of German slice cookies that I'll share photos of tomorrow.

December Daily 13

Okay, so life isn't all the work :-) Tonight I headed to Annapolis to enjoy a very chill holiday celebration at Vin 909 with these lovelies.

December Daily 11 + 12

The process of taking and posting these photos has led me to rethink whether I should share these. I'm afraid endless photos depicting some facet of me working* will bum you out. Fear not, friends, for I am lucky enough to drive pass this abundant display of holiday decadence almost every day! How is that for holiday goodness? Also, in other exciting news, I decided to grab The Gobbler sandwich from Wawa for dinner last night on my way home from a meeting. As someone who celebrates Thanksgiving with others and usually doesn't indulge in leftovers, it's a nice post-holiday treat. It's how I imagine Ross's "moistmaker" sandwich tastes.

*Seriously, though, if you find yourself feeling like all I'm doing is working, just remember my two-month paid sabbatical in January, and that will clear any pity right up. Plus, I go to Texas next week, and work photos will take on a bit of a homey twang.

December Daily 10

Today began with the loveliest of snow storms. It seemed so innocuous (which it actually turned out to be) that I headed to work without turning on the news or any other outside media. Imagine my surprise to discover the federal government was closed, and no one was in the office. Cue a quiet, productive day. The sun made an appearance this afternoon, and by 3:30, I'd decided the lighting and book collection in the kitchen would be perfect for staging a photo. I did promise to up my game.

The top photo is a postcard from Scarlet. It finally came! I love a good postcard, and the Royal Mail stamp on the back of this one was particularly charming.

December Daily 09

I'm clearly going to have to step up my game. This photo (look up just a smidge...it's a bit boring, so your eyes probably swept right past it) could be my daily photo 88 percent of the time. While the contents of my day can vary widely, there's still so much of it that happens right at this very desk. This is a river-saving desk. Let's pretend this is a "what's in my bag" post, and I'll take you on a tour of the photo.

1. Magnets that I've collected or been gifted over the years. My favorite is a hologram of a river in New Hampshire. Typing this totally reminds me that I have magnets I need to mail my mom.

2. Large before and after photos of restored rivers. I had blueprint copies made of a few project photos and mounted them on black foam board. I spoke at an event at a museum in June, and these prints made a nice backdrop for people to wander past before the talk started.

3. Forum ribbon. This was from a National Trust for Historic Preservation conference badge three years ago. I just like ribbons and the word 'forum'.

4. The timber scrap and three rock-like objects are all salvaged bits from dam removal projects. I can't decide whether it's a sign of old age (or that they all look similar) that I can't remember which piece is from which project. I know one of these pieces of concrete is from the Elwha Dam removal in Olympic National Park in Washington. 

5. My latest notebook. I take copious notes at meetings, jot endless lists, and doodle incessantly. I have a stack of notebooks full of years of work off to the right of my desk. They're some of my most prized work possessions.

Some little girls dreamed of kids or of houses with yards to take care of. I dreamed of a desk of my own.

December Daily 08

Coffeesmith. The second local coffee shop I frequent a lot.

That's not dust on the camera lens, people. We have achieved snow! Actually, we have achieved snow followed by sleet and ice, but I'll take it. I know I'm weird, but I really, really hope this doesn't interfere with my ability to get to work tomorrow. I have a long list and will be so much more effective if I'm allowed to attack it from the comfort of my office chair.

December Daily 07

I settled back into my Saturday morning routine with a dirty chai and some writing. I managed to snag a sunny spot by the window. Other than a few hours of writing, I spent some quiet time making a few lists, updated my calendar and read some of the birthday book (Monument 14: Sky on Fire) Steven got me. I ended the day by watching a British dance movie (turns out they should probably stick to Sherlock) and meeting a friend's new cat. Well, that's meeting in the "take a photo of him hiding" kind of way. All in all, it was definitely a relaxing day. I've promised myself I'll do things like unpack and dust and write real blog posts tomorrow. Maybe :-)

December Daily 06

I know I wasn't actually gone for that long, but being disconnected for two and a half days felt like at least a week. Had my days not been scheduled from 8AM to 10PM, it would have been the perfect place to write. As it stands, I have many, many thoughts about being an introvert, the nature of crowds and organizations, and other rambling thoughts. I'm just not sure they're ready for prime time yet.

I took the photo above today, the last day of the retreat. 

December Daily 05

Thoughts on today before I crawl into bed: fun but I'm so glad to be heading out tomorrow. Tonight's scheduled fun was a scavenger hunt (sat out and hung out with the planning team), music (it's a given), and Cards Against Humanity with co-workers (tricky but worth it).

December Daily 04

The onslaught of less-than-ideal cell phone photos continues. This is my home away from home for the next three days. This message is brought to you by an ethernet cable in the rooms for brief evening missives.

December Daily 03

We have a staff retreat at work this week. We're headed to West Virginia for three days of eight-hour meetings, scheduled evening fun, and no cell signals. Part of my team came into town early and headed out for a team dinner tonight. Laura's husband is known for his restaurant recommendations, and he sent us to Family Meal, one of the Voltaggio restaurants in Frederick, Maryland. The food was spot-on. I had some of the best brussel sprouts of my life, a tasty meatloaf, and a cocktail called crisscross applesauce. Head to Frederick, people.

December Daily 02

I almost forgot to be festive today. Every now and then I feel a bit like a creature of the night during the winter, arriving at and departing work under the cover of darkness. An overcast sky meant my office was darker than usual. Death to fluorescent--I refuse to turn mine on. Coworkers usually begin to comment about 4:30 on the potential damage to my eyesight. I tell them it's a familiar refrain from my childhood. I'm a low-light reader from way back.

The dearth of daylight reflects not upon my soul or how my day actually went. It was a Monday, an expense reports and timesheets are due kind of Monday. It was a staff waffle breakfast, here's a free afternoon cookie kind of Monday. It was a plan that holiday dinner with your favorite Maryland colleagues, stop for an eggnog milkshake on the way home kind of Monday.

December Daily 01

Jireh, one of my local coffee shops.

I decided to participate in December Daily on a whim today. I'm not really a create an album kind of girl (much admiration, very low commitment), but I feel particularly compelled to commit to something that will force me to slow down and take the time to soak in my surroundings this month. Earlier today, I sat in front of my computer, hyperventilating a bit over everything I need to get done in the next 30 days, and realized that there is no time for Christmas or the magic of the holidays in all of my plans. Much of this stress is over the fact that I begin a two-month sabbatical in 31 days. This means that I need to wrap up/assign/get to a good place all of my work that needs to continue without me during January and February. This doesn't even take into account that they're asking a control freak (me) to trust other people to handle my babies (projects). Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly blessed, lucky, etc. that my organization offers me this opportunity, and it will be amazing. However, the days leading up to it? Panic attack material, my friends.

Anyway, I probably won't be putting together an album, but I do want to take and blog at least one photo every day this month as a way to remind myself to find and create some magical moments amid all the craziness that December brings.

Sunday: Week in the Life

Fieldnotes
It's Week in the Life time again! Personally, I enjoy the chance to throw up photos of my week and keep the posts simple. The challenge, of course, is to seek out variety in my day-to-day life.

I started this morning off with a quick trip to Maryland to check up on some volunteers. The rest of the day was spent tooling around my apartment, reading, cleaning and prepping fruits and veggies.

Day in the Life, 07.23.13

I got the wild idea the other day to document my daily activities a la the well-known Ali Edwards project. I usually get distracted by these type of projects because they remind me of how beige (the colors, not what I'm actually doing) day-to-day life can be. Still, I love peeking into others' lives when they do them, so I thought I'd offer a look behind the veil at my Tuesday.


I spent a few minutes in the early morning catching up on email and Twitter. If shared stories or links on Twitter catch my eye, I usually allow myself to read a couple before really buckling down. One of the first things I tackled on Tuesday was reviewing a map of boring locations for one of my projects. You wouldn't believe how much back and forth was involved in finalizing the location of just one of those dots. At least they're pink ;-)

I usually fill whatever water bottle I have laying around a few times during the day and, lately, have been swearing by the Mio that has caffeine. I convinced myself it was enough of a pick me up to review a sediment coring plan on another of my Maryland projects followed by more emails back and forth with the engineer, geomorphologist, and partners to finalize things.

Sometimes I forget to take a break and make sure my plants are watered.

This is one of my coworkers. She wasn't really a fan of this particular photo, so let's keep it between us. We met to discuss prep for our yearly audit. Because I have a number of federal grants, I always like to make sure my files are in order :-/

Later that afternoon, I headed to Crownsville, MD and the Maryland Historical Trust. My intern forgot to put some important archival photos in the mail, and it was pretty urgent that our state historic preservation officer get these.


I ended the day by swimming a few laps at the gym. This is the gym buddy.

What does an average day look like for you? I want to see your day in the life!

You're my shining star: Las Vegas' Neon Museum

One of the few things on my "must see" list was the Neon Museum (aka boneyard) in Las Vegas. I'll never forget stumbling across photos on Flickr several years ago that someone had taken at the boneyard (back before it was open to the public) and immediately falling in love. Needless to say, I was happier than a little kid at Disney once there.

It was everything I wanted and more--typography, rusted bling and a one-hour tour chock full of Vegas history. If any of those things appeal to you, escape from the strip and seek this museum out. I still get a giddy feeling thinking about the tour.