Moving Sucks… New House Does Not

I know, I know… It’s been a long time since my last post… but I have legitimate reasons. Or at least one. Since my last post, we moved and that ate up of all my free time. But I love the new place and pretty much all the hard stuff is done now. Also, today I learned that the new place is very safe and (for all you burglars out there) very difficult to break into.

So, at 6:30am I woke up to take the pups out. And simultaneously locked myself out. Along with my keys, my cell phone sat inside … so there I was in my pjs, Kevin’s giant-on-me sweatshirt, and Uggs with Gus & Sam (who by the way looked about as ridiculous as I did with her goofy post-surgery donut thing),. I proceeded to try every conceivable way to break into my place…. unfortunately (for me this morning) this apparently is impossible.

Post surgery Sam... this is not how she wanted to meet the neighbors.

After about an hour of attempting to break in, I heard some noises inside my neighbor’s kitchen. Thankfully, this is one of the two neighbors I have met. (Besides it being way too early to knock on anyone’s door, I was also terrified that since I had no proof that I actually lived here and barely know anyone in the neighborhood no one would help me). I knocked on the door and the neighbor and his wife (and their sweet dog) proceeded to help me for the next 30 minutes or so. Finally, along with the help of the one other neighbor I had previously met, I got back into the house! I repaid their kindness with Starbucks cards and homemade blueberry muffins (with a modified-on-the-fly recipe that surprisingly turned out well!).

So… what lessons did I learn? Well, for one listen to Kevin (he warned that by doing what I was doing I would lock myself out) and two, I apparently live in Fort Knox. So, that’s my excuse for not blogging recently. I’ll pick up my normal posts next month as the quarter finally starts to wind down. For now, I’ll continue grading and enjoying a glass of wine.

Beginning a New Adventure

This fall I am returning to school for the second time (I went back for my Masters three years ago). I am taking a much larger step this time, since I am going to be working toward getting my PhD.
Since this is the second time at grad school for me, I am a little more prepared at what to expect. My first go around was filled with a great deal of hard work and as much crying. I had high expectations for myself and found it difficult to sometimes meet those goals. This time around, I still have the same expectations for myself, but I know what I’m getting myself into. I am also uprooting myself from the place I’ve lived my entire life and moving to northern California.
Due to the change in location and the amount of work I anticipate, I thought maybe it would help to document my life as a grad student. So for fellow grad students, feel free to follow along and share your crazy experiences. For all others, either this might inspire you to return to school or be incredibly thankful you never made this decision!