Antiques Roadshow Treasure

I took a nod from my father the other day and watched Antiques Roadshow on PBS. I had to take a screen shot of my monitor when the above gem of a rug was being shown. I knew it was "special" even before they said it was worth upwards of $100,000.

Seriously? Sometimes I don't get it.

Slow Runnings

This morning since it was a whopping 60 degrees outside (!!) and wonderfully sunny I decided to go for a run. The good news I suppose is that I ran from my current apartment to my first apartment in NY and back again. The bad news is that it took me 45 minutes to run a whopping 2.5 miles. Now, in order to save face just a little, I am going to say that I am not exactly sure when I left, so I may have run the distance in slightly less time than that. Also, it seemed as though every light I came upon I had to stop and wait for traffic, which also slows a person down a lot.

Anyhow, despite my amazingly slow speed, I feel really good about the running I've been doing these past few weeks. I've been watching this silly YouTube channel that features an overly enthusiastic guy giving his all to lose weight (for real this time, he swears!) and I've found it really motivational. One thing he keeps saying is to not give up, and to just try and do better than you were doing the day before. The idea of being proud of what you did accomplish and not upset with what you don't is a really good way of looking at things, I find.

So instead of being sad about how slow I run, I am going to repeat my new mantra: "At least I went for a run!" Yeah, I did. :-)

Circus Cirkör

This is the circus I saw. Awesome! Especially the music.

Inspiration at the Circus

Recently I've been thinking a lot about what to write about for this super long grad school application essay I need to complete in under two weeks. One of the questions they want me to address is my most interesting failure to date, and I just had no idea what to say!

Don't get me wrong, I am by no means perfect. But I think in order to feel like you've failed you have to regret what you've done... and while I've definitely made my fair share of mistakes, I don't regret having made them because each time I've learned from them and grown as a person. I don't look at my life kabobbles as failures, but rather learning experiences.

The more I thought about writing this essay, the more I thought about why I was even applying to this grad school anyhow. For one, it is an insane amount of money, and I have no idea how I'd ever be able to afford it. They also don't allow you to defer your acceptance, and you can't go part time so I'd have to quit my job (which I adore) to go to this school. All of these downsides make me question if I really want to give up so much for this particular program. I think the courses sound fun, but is fun really worth giving up my job and financial security?

Then on Sunday I went to see a Swedish circus (which was amazing, by the way). The theme of the circus was conquering your fears, and the director wrote the following in his note:

We all carry fear within us, which can be good, because it reminds us of life's frailty. But fear also limits us and makes us live as if half-dead instead of fully alive.

I thought about this some, and I think what he said can by applied to my situation. I think I know that the school would be worth the sacrifice and the effort, but it's scary to give up everything familiar and safe in pursuit of academia. It's even scary just to apply (this is a really competitive school, so I'm preparing myself for rejection)! But I realized on Sunday as I watched the circus performers fly through the air and perform stunts that wowed the audience that sometimes you just have to suppress your fears and take the leap.

Still, it's scary.

Blog Revival

Well, I think it's time to revive this blog. For real.

This means that I should tell you about: the guy who spit at me the other day as I walked down the road; the guy who thought I was a movie star; the amazing quiche I made; the arduous grad-school application I am working on filling out; the cats I am sitting for; my recent boot acquisition; my awesome Halloween costume; my super-exciting Thanksgiving plans; my new-found love for the Bolt bus; how much I dislike that "I can't do it" girl in guitar class; my new running regime and water intake for cramp control; the possibility of moving to Boston; and how I ate a whole container of cashews in under a week (among other things).

Where to start, though? My life is so interesting and filled with excitement around every corner! Get excited, because I am going to recommence the documentation of every sordid detail.