Ice Cream and Concerts (or, what I did this summer)

A.  I have eaten a ridiculous amount of ice cream this summer.  I have never been one to avoid ice cream, but it has never held any particular hold over me either.  But, that was before I lived in New England.  New England knows how to do ice cream, y'all.  I kicked off the summer by attending The Scooper Bowl.  For those of you unfamiliar with this remarkable event, an event that is, I'm sure, a uniquely American tradition, let me explain how it works.  For a nominal fee ($10, I believe) you are given a plastic spoon and ushered into an enclosed outdoor arena.  Within these bounds are about a dozen ice cream vendors with little cups of ice cream to which you and all the other spoon-wielding attendees have free reign.  It is a tradition to, as you finish each cup of deliciousness, grab another cup to add to your stack. The size of your stack is a testament to the breadth of your palate and the strength of your stomach.

What I learned?  I am weak sauce.  I could only handle 7 cups.

One girl I was with?  21 cups.

I was, and still am, speechless.

2. This summer, I crossed off a bucket-list item of mine (okay, so I don't really have a bucket-list because, let's be honest, how can I possibly include all the things I want to do on one single list!  Let's just say, I know a bucket-list item when I see one…).  Anyhow, one bucket-list item that really has been on my list for many years:

Watch John Williams conduct his own film scores with the Boston Pops Orchestra.  Check.

The highlight?  They played Jurassic Park.  As the first strains of that all-too-familiar theme floated up into the rafters of Symphony Hall, my mind was flooded with memories and my eyes filled with tears.  I know it seems crazy that a theme for a fantastical movie about an amusement park with live dinosaurs could invoke such a reaction.  In high school, my friend Jeremy and I loved those themes, Jurassic Park being a favorite, and we would listen to them for hours as we drove around Spokane in his Ford Probe talking about anything and everything. It had been years since I'd really listened to it and I was amazed that I remembered all the cymbal crashes and it still gave me chills.

D. When I lived in Nebraska, I lived without a piano in my home for four years.  To say that this was a challenge is a huge understatement for my soul that longed to play the piano when I needed to any time of the day or night.  And sometimes, my soul needs to play.  Thanks to the magic of Craigslist and a very kind woman named Peg, I secured this beauty for my new Boston home last Fall.

Since that time, I have delightedly been able to play to my heart's content, thanks to the fact that our upstairs neighbors reportedly don't mind my playing/pounding/tickling of the ivories anytime of the day or night.  They are good neighbors.

Early this summer, I got home from work and, since I was home alone and my neighbors were gone, and I was feeling particularly happy and giddy, I let myself go and played.  I enthusiastically pounded out a peppy Scott Joplin tune during which I am certain I bounced on the bench and smiled goofily.  As my hands came down for the final satisfying chord, I was startled by an enthusiastic, "Bravo!!" outside on the front sidewalk.

I had completely forgotten that the windows were wide open.

I laughed and replied with a, "Thank you?" to which my sole audience member hollered back, "You're welcome!" before going on her merry way.

Perhaps I have unwittingly played other concerts this summer as our windows are still wide open (they will have to be closed soon, I'm afraid it's getting too chilly…), but that is the only time the audience has ever applauded.  It still makes me smile.

D.  Seriously, I have eaten a ridiculous amount of ice cream this summer.  I'll tell you what, I'm going to make a deal with you (Yes, you.).  If you (yes, you) will come and visit me in New England, and if you happen to come in the summertime, I will take you to my all-time favorite ice cream stand for New England's finest home-made ice cream.

Hello, Gorgeous.

I will probably suggest you try the chocolate peanut butter, which is pure heaven in a cup.  But, I am certain that if that is not your cup of tea, er, ice cream, you will find that one of the other bajillion delicious flavors that Kimball Farm has to offer will fill the current void you may not realize is in your life.  I will probably sample at least one other flavor but will likely decide that chocolate peanut butter is where it's at for me.  The real question is, what flavor will YOU choose?

Intentional Living

First things first.

Boston is pretty great.  A brief smattering of just a few adventures…

Sea Kayaking in Casco Bay, Maine - a super fun weekend camping trip with a truly random gathering of new friends

Cheering on the Red Sox at Fenway Park...

Walden Pond on a Fall afternoon

Messiah Singalong at Dunster House Dining Hall at Harvard - the fact that the conductor had a delicious British accent  plus this amazing setting almost convinced me that I was at Hogwarts...

On a related note…

Recently, I sat visiting with a coworker about weekend plans and several events I was looking forward to. This is not an uncommon topic of conversation as we eat lunch together, go for afternoon walks, or just stop by each other's office for a quick midmorning chat.  In the midst of our conversation, she made a comment - something along the lines of…

"It seems as though everything you do, you do with so much purpose.  I'm impressed with the way you seem to, I don't know, really live intentionally."

First off, let me say that I think she is way generous with her observation of my life.  The real story is that I love to play.  Like, I really love to play.  And Boston has proven amazing at providing an endless stream of options of awesome ways to play.  There are just so many things to see and do!  Concerts, camping, musicals, kayaking, museums, sporting events, countless historical sites, bike trails, fantastic food every which way you turn.  I just can't stop playing!

All that aside, her comment has stuck with me.  I'm not sure whether I fully deserve this complimentary assessment of my life (hello, I spend more than my fair share of time dinking around...on the internet, at home, doing who knows what.  Let's just say - time wasting?  Oh yes, I have that "skill").  I wish I could say that every activity I do has purpose, that every activity is a conscious act of embracing life to its fullest.  Heaven knows that sometimes a girl just needs to veg on the couch and chill.  But I can say that this is something to which I certainly aspire!  To live intentionally.  I want to be the person who seeks out and engages in activities that teach me new skills, provide me new experiences, build new neural pathways in my brain.  

In any case, this is what I have been thinking about.  It's a New Year - a time of year that I frequently contemplate where my life is going, what I'm doing to ensure that I am actually living a life and not just letting life pass by.  Here's to a year of living intentionally - can't wait to see what adventures are ahead in the next little while - Happy New Year!!

The Next Big Adventure

My life has been a series of adventures the past little while.  I won't bore you with mundane details of travelogue-ing nor a week-by-week play-by-play of my day-to-day existence (I do wish I could think of more ways to put a hyphenated phrase in that sentence...).  But, here are a few highlights.

1.  I finally graduated.  

It is official.

2. My fabulous parents and sisters trekked out to Nebraska to celebrate my graduation with me.  My sister flew in on May 2nd during a ginormous snowstorm that included 8 inches of snow and thundersnow (a super cool phenomenon I only experienced twice in Nebraska).  Luckily it had all melted off by graduation day 3 days later, but 'twas a little chilly.  Hence the coats and hoodies:

Stopping by the UNL dairy store for a delicious treat.

3.  I spent a fantastic week at Girls Camp with fabulous folks.  I've been able to go the last 3 years here in my stake and oh, will I miss it.  

We were on a giant swing.  Despite pictorial evidence which would suggest the contrary, I was not at all terrified - there was a lot of laughing and it was crazy fun.  But the juxtaposition of the two of us in this picture never fails to make me crack up.

4.  I moseyed some 5,000 miles to play in Europe for a bit.

Playing on a great little bike tour on a chilly, rainy day at Versailles, France.

Waiting for the Flamenco show in Barcelona. Ole!

5.  I drove 1,500 miles to Washington to spend 2 glorious weeks with my family.  

We did a lot of weenie/marshmallow roasting.

And Just Dance'ing.  (sidenote:  watching 10 nieces/nephews simultaneously dancing to Just Dance to the same song is a singularly delightful experience.)

6.  I packed up my car in a most obnoxious fashion...

Easy-ish access to the cooler...(and yes, that plant made it, though 'twas a little iffy for awhile there)

The cart added essential and phenomenal space...

Now that is a ridiculously full trunk.

...and drove/camped 4,000 miles across the country with my sister.

4,000 miles later and we still never ran out of things to talk about...

We stopped at a plethora of places along the way.  Here are a few:

- Insert Fantastic Yellowstone Picture here that may or may not have been accidentally deleted off the camera :-(  -

  

Yellowstone to see Old Faithful and the Paint Pots.

AND 

Gettysburg.  What a beautiful, sad, and sacred place to be.

AND

Niagara Falls (and a Wookie made by a friend of mine back in Nebraska.)  The Falls really are stunning.

AND

Palmyra, New York: Smith Family Farm.

AND

Walking into The Sacred Grove, Palmyra, New York.  A beautiful and truly sacred place. 

I feel like that last picture there is rather symbolic of my foray into The Next Big Adventure.  I've moved myself to Boston, Massachusetts to start a post-doctoral research position.  The girl in that picture is walking steadily forward, her eyes on the road ahead.  But, I am well aware that there is trepidation in her step, not because of fear per se, but mostly because of the uncertainty in her world at the moment.  There is a lot of new.  There is a lot of unknown.  The road is steep and the learning curve is high.  While change is not my forte, I am also well aware that all of this trepidation and newness is exactly what makes this life an adventure.  And so, here we go adventuring!  Wish me luck...

:-)

So much good.

A few months ago, I stumbled across a delightful video about Caine's Arcade, an imaginative arcade hand-built entirely out of cardboard by an innovative nine-year-old boy.

Today I stumbled across a follow-up to Caine's story.

This video reminded me, again, that there is so much good in the world.  I am a worrier by nature.  This is not to say that I am not hopeful, I am not happy, and I am not faithful.  But I have learned that, unless I am careful, it is easy for me to become overwhelmed by the uncertainty and unkindness that seems to pervade our society.  The good news is that, by and large, those things only seem to be pervasive.  Yes, there is unkindness.  Yes, there is uncertainty.  But I am certain that there are far more people than we realize who are in it to encourage others and help them recognize their value and true worth.

I am grateful for that reminder today.  :-)

Unexpected

One of the unexpected challenges I found in writing a dissertation was the isolation of the process.  I am a person who thrives on collaboration, the sharing of ideas, and feeling the camaraderie of being with people.  By design, doctoral training becomes increasingly isolated as you delve further into your own area of study.  By and by, you have forged into a territory that is relatively uncharted and you are largely alone both professionally (not many others are studying exactly what you study - you are creating a unique niche for yourself...) and physically (people leave you alone because you're dissertating...).  For me, this was compounded by the fact that most of my closest doctoral friends graduated ahead of me and moved on.  I was the last of a particularly unique cohort of students to finish.  A few weeks ago, I selfishly worried about the fact that, God-willing I finished this degree, I would have no one to celebrate with.

I should never have worried about a thing.  I have been stunned by the outpouring of love and support I have received from so many.  This support has come from both those I was aware of and those I had no idea were following my progression in my little corner of the world.  It has truly been incredible.

A few days before I defended, my younger brother sent me a text in which he hypothetically asked, were I to receive a delivery of some sort, when would be the best day for such a hypothetical delivery to arrive.  I responded and went along on my merry way.

Sure enough, the day I had designated, a guest buzzed at my apartment asking if there was a Dr. in the house.  Indeed there was. :-)  I met the florist deliveryman halfway down the stairs and thanked him for the flowers.

As I carried it into my apartment, I noted it was a rather beautiful bouquet.

And then a small little detail came into focus.

And my jaw dropped.

I was stunned to see this ridiculous little button.  Let me back up about, oh, eleven or twelve years.

Many moons ago, I was gifted this button for some occasion long forgotten.  Perhaps it came from a visiting teacher?  A coworker?  I have no recollection of where this button actually hailed from, but I do remember I passed it along to my brother telling him that I was giving it to him because he was, after all, a very special person.

He politely refused and indicated that I needed the button because I was just as special, nay more special than him, and should probably declare it so to the world by wearing it proudly on my person at all times.

I tossed it back his way.  He frisbee'd (yes, I made that a word) it to me.  I threw it at him and ran out of the room, yelling all the way, "But you're just SO special!  You deserve it!!"

The next morning the button was unexpectedly pinned to my backpack.

I dropped it in his coat pocket on the way out the door.

He left it on my pillow.

And thus began the passing back and forth of the button.  I remember putting it in his lunch bag.  He put it above the visor in my car and it plopped into my lap when I flipped it down.  The frequency with which I've seen the button ebbs and flows.  At one point, I realized I hadn't seen the button for several weeks.  I assumed he still hadn't discovered it tucked into one of his books on his bookshelf.  Imagine my surprise when I flipped my couch cushion over one day to see it happily pinned to the underside of the cushion.  Who knows how long it had been there?!

Now, the last time I was physically at my brother's house was about 2 1/2 years ago.  I saw the button sitting on the back of his kitchen counter in a cup full of knickknacks.  I just assumed that after 10 years of passing it back and forth, perhaps he'd had enough and I didn't say anything.

But, no. He was just biding his time until he pulled out the big guns and mailed it to Nebraska so a florist could shock me with a button I hadn't seen for more than 2 years with a note that said, "Today no one is more special than you."

Well played, Patrick.  Well played.

Never forget, Patrick, that it is actually you who are so special you need a faded and weathered purple button to remind you.  When you least expect it...

p.s. It has made me wonder, though, do other people have a random object they keep passing back and forth???    

What a week

So, I defended my dissertation this week.  After spending, quite literally, thousands of hours thinking about, writing about, collaborating about, analyzing about, and talking about this research I've been doing the last few years, I presented it to the powers that be and they made sure I had an inkling of what I was talking about.

And, just like that, I became a Doctor.

After a friend of mine defended her dissertation, some asked her if she felt taller and she declared that she actually did. After I defended, I totally understood how she felt - I, too, actually felt taller.  I think it had to do with the combination of the lifting of a proverbial burden that felt very real, especially during these last few stressful weeks, and the ability to finally breathe a completely relaxed sigh of relief that literally made me stand just a little bit taller.

It is an interesting thing to put so much focused energy into one particular field of study and dwell there for so much time.  After awhile, you forget that your knowledge is unique or special in any way at all.  It becomes so commonplace to you, you are certain that everyone knows everything there is to know about phonological deficits in children and that there is nothing special about the years you have spent acquiring new knowledge.

And then you stand before a bunch of professors you hugely admire and answer the questions they have about your research.  At some point, you realize they're not just asking you questions to test your knowledge, they're asking you questions because they want to learn from you.  And, if things have gone according to plan, it turns out you actually know a thing or two that you can share with them.  Who knew?

Standing tall with my fabulous mentors

It's been a great week.  :-)

A Happy New Year...

I love the New Year.  Yes, I like the anticipation of what is to come, the realization of possibility that comes with setting new goals.  It is great fun to think about who we want/need to be and the seemingly small changes we can implement that will get us there.

But I think I equally enjoy the process of looking back on the past year and seeing who I am now in comparison to who I was at the beginning of the previous year.  If things have gone according to any semblance of the plan (because, let's be honest, they never go entirely to plan...which is, in my estimation, a great thing - think of all that we'd miss if there weren't surprises along the way??), it is exciting to see the growth that only seemed a distant possibility at the beginning of the year.

In January 2003, I randomly wrote a list of 22 things I had learned in the year 2002, because I turned 22 that year.  Here are a couple of things I had learned that year:

"#3 - I have learned the importance of following the Spirit the first time it prompts you."
"#11 - I have learned how to put one foot in front of the other, face the music, run the gauntlet, and keep from totally freaking out even when I'm standing before a particular task, person, supervisor, or client totally scared spitless."
"#18 - I have learned more intensely my serious love of Muddy Buddies."

I didn't know it then, but thus began a really fun tradition.  Every January, I sit and write what I learned the previous year - I think of enough things equal to the number of my age.  I now have a firsthand account of 10 years of growth and change, change that spans my 20's and into my early 30's.

Today, I went through and found each of these entries.  It has been interesting to see what has largely stayed the same...

  - almost every year, there is an entry that goes something like:

"#5 (2005)- I learned (again!) that I LOVE being an Aunt."

...and it has been interesting to see what has changed...

"#19 (2004):  I learned that cooking main dishes scares me."

#8 (2007):  I learned how to cook: a duck, pesto lasagna, meatloaf, and chive/cheese cornbread."

"#21 (2002):  I learned that I love being in the Singles' Ward!"

"#1 (2010):  I learned that...it's time to leave the Singles' Ward.  Ugh."

Generally speaking, the learning spans the seemingly mundane...

"#2 (2005):  I learned how to drive a clutch."

"#8 (2004):  I learned that having a Master's Degree pays off, literally."

"#4 (2006):  I learned that car accidents are a big inconvenience."

"#27 (2011):  I learned that I can survive a hello hard statistics course."
"#28 (2011):  I learned that I usually don't start crying over this hello hard statistics course until after 8+ hours have gone into the assignment/project.  Or it's past 11:00 p.m."

...the delightful...

"#3 (2006):  I learned that roadtrips with friends and/or family are loads of fun."

"#14 (2011):  I learned how to collect brain data - and saw my own brain waves!"

"#5 (2008):  I learned how to kayak!"

...but there are usually some weightier matters too...

"#22 (2003): I learned the importance of remembering that God loves everyone, not just me."

"#18 (2011):  I learned that I hate suicide."

"20 (2008):  I learned the pain that comes from watching people you love turn away from Truth."

"#2 (2004):  I learned that I can appear confident, even when I don't feel confident."

These yearly reflections have created a unique measuring stick for progression in my life.  I wasn't aware of it until I looked at these lists altogether in the same day, but I'm relieved to see that there is a relative degree of balance in the things I am learning from year to year.  I hope I am never satisfied with focusing all of my efforts in one single area of my life.  Here's to well-roundedness!

And so, today, I will add another list to my little stockpile of Things I Have Learned.  As per usual, I did actually set some goals for 2012.  I printed off some little placards at the beginning of the year to remind me of my goals throughout the year.

I'm happy to say some have been achieved...

Done.  May 12, 2012.

Done.  Yippee!  Now, to go again... 

Did 2!

I'm 2/3 there.  Trust me.  That counts. 

This picture always makes me laugh.  Because it's kind of true. 

While I'll just have to keep working on others...

Here's to 2013!  

Happy New Year, everyone!