What We Did Sunday #14

sent out some thank you notes//waited not patiently to play//super soul sundaaaaaaaay

What did you do Sunday?

currently reading

"I mean, I think it's out of the question that the devils will forget to drag me off with them when I kick the bucket.  But then I think: what about those hooks? Where do they get them from? What are they made of? Iron? Where do they make them? Is there some sort of factory down there?"
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

What We Did Sunday (#13, super late)

Hello everyone! Er, here's what we did on Sunday, brought to you now! Oops. 

Sat pretty//Hung my first plate//Prepped for a meeting

What did you do Sunday (or Tuesday)?

What we did Tuesday? Sheba - napped, attacked the blinds, chowed down.  Me - phone calls, emails, writing, work.  The usual, for both of us :)

library in november

life lessons from sheba

Hello fellow blog-readers.  What's doin'? Happy, happy Tuesday-nearly-Wednesday.  These past few months have been doozies (moving, living with family, moving again, unpacking, meeting new people).  Having Sheba around again has slid certain things in place which earlier seemed totally hard, confusing, and not at all in place.  Has anybody else had that experience before?  Sheba is mostly a zen master when it comes to life and life changes, with the exception of evenings (when she gets a big burst of IT'SBEDTIMEEEEEELET'SDOTHIS) and...when her toys get stuck.  Mornings are mostly napping time.

I've realized I have a lot to learn from the fluffster, namely:

1. Most days, what you need in order to feel better is 1) a nap and 2) some perspective.  Ohhh how often I wish I would take this advice.  Is there really more that needs to be said?
2. Play more. Since Sheba's been back, there have been moments when I'm either working, or cooking, or cleaning, or just-getting-back-to-that-one-last-person, when I hear a plaintive mew and feel a kitten body rub against my leg (or, ok, kitten claws that need to be trimmed piercing my skin).  When I look down, I almost always see this little pink ball that she wants me to throw around with her.  It only takes a few minutes, but watching her race after that little ball, or (my personal favorite) watching her little butt wiggle as she concentrates before pouncing, brightens my mood.
3. Sometimes a vacuum is just a vacuum.  There are a lot of disturbing and dangerous things in this world (toxic people included), and they make a lot of noise and take up a lot of space.  In my experience, there are days when it can be very hard to keep that noise out of your face.  It takes a lot of effort every day (day after day) to keep focused on the things that are important.  Sometimes, (most times), there isn't a lot of substance behind all that noise.  It's just a vacuum.  A vacuum makes a lot of noise - but it won't kill you.  And probably won't suck your tail into its vortex...at least not forever.

 What about you? Any life lessons learned from your small(er) fur friends?

What We Did Sunday (#12)

 

 top to bottom: basked in the glory of our reunification//had brunch with family//went walking

What did you do Sunday? 

review of the week

(Taking this format and concept from many, many talented ladies around the internet and claiming it for this corner of the starch as well.)

clockwise from top L: neighborhood walk//latke eating at synagogue this week//tulips on my fridge//this week in cats

to read

• sheba is turning one this week (wha?!!), so this story seems both fitting and lovely.
• the lovely oak and oats, where I got the first idea for this post, and where I decided to continue this blog's growing pains.
• the expat experience of expecting one thing and getting another - I have been there many a time.
• absolutely incredible photos from Turkey at gutenblog, y'all.

to watch

• the voice - I am a huge sucker for the audition videos (I start, and next thing I know, days have gone by), and this one was particularly fantastic...ok, here's another.
• this video from Jimmy Fallon.  every time I watch clips from that show, it brings a smile to my face.  this one's on photobombing unsuspecting tourists with Jon Hamm from Mad Men.  go watch it now.

to chew over

• this article on James Kugel, a sometimes controversial Bible scholar, is worth a read - I found it really interesting. 
• another one - an article/podcast on hasidic students who try to go to college and find the gaps in their education striking.  can't wait to see the documentary that comes out. 

How was your week? What have you been reading and watching lately?

currently reading

"There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,  A Study in Scarlet

around these parts

Hello!

Long time no see! Well, yes.  Here we are, one week post-craziness, and I for one am ready for the blessed weekend.  The past week has had me in four cities and at multiple events, leaving the house at 6:30am and not getting back until close to 10pm.  Exhausting.  Ruh-diculous.  But also wonderful. 

How the heck have you been? What have you been up to lately? 

I haven't had the chance to sit down to write a book review in ages, but here's hoping you're just as happy to see some pictures from some of my escapades.  Here we go.

^^I volunteered at the Young Women of Achievement Awards hosted by the Women's Information Network at the Carnegie Institute of Science on Thursday.  This was the only shot I got out of the night, but it was absolutely one of the best things I've done lately.  I grabbed some awesome cookies, mingled with the nicest ladies, and was incredibly impressed and inspired by the work that all of these women are doing.  Go check out their profiles! Added bonus? All of them are in their 20's and 30's.  Incredible.^^

^^New York City, best city in the world, hands-down, was where I went for a graduate student open-house weekend, and again, this was the only picture I took (what?!).  This was the hilarious gum they gave out our first day, and it actually tasted pretty yummy.  I saw some wonderful family friends who are more like family, got to visit with friends from Israel that I haven't seen in months, and managed to nearly talk my face off about philosophy, theology, and pedagogy.  I also came back with five extra books, but what I lost in packing space I gained in upper-body strength. ;) ^^

^^I visited my alma mater for the first time since graduating nearly three years ago, which was very weird.  The same, and yet not.  I went for a meeting and wished I could have stayed a bit longer, but - who am I kidding - the best of all worlds would have been to have had the old gang gallivanting around campus catching up and laughing.  Another few years till then! ^^

^^I moved! I am still in the "I don't know where anything is,"/"I think there's an axe-murderer in my closet" phase, but things look much better today than they did two days ago.  We managed to semi-reconstruct my Ikea furniture, and let me tell you...nothing brings out the cray in people more than trying to figure out how to put together anything bought a year ago from Ikea.  This does mean, however, that the countdown till Sheba returns to the premises is whittling away.  We're talking single digits here, people.^^

I'm off to buy some shower curtain rings (I know I packed them, I saw them in their bag before we got here, and yet...gone.  Totally, completely disappeared.) and get things straightened up before Shabbat.  Enjoy your weekend!

Yours in sweltering apartment heat,
Cornelia