Reverb13: Joy

What gave you joy during 2013?

• My family
• My husband
• My cat who is turning 14 in 2104, Maximus
• My dear friends: we hiked together, we read together, we laughed together, we watched movies together, we cooked together, we loved and we laughed together.
• Snow. Wow, we got a lot during the winter of 2013 (and we end the year with some too). Snow brings me joy. It brings my husband joy. We get out into the woods and we have fun
• Good health. Something I will never take for granted
• the strong pull of standing back and watching Karma do what Karma does. Amazing. 
• Being strong, getting a good review at work
• My students at my day job, at my volunteer mentor job, and the children as always enjoying the farm I volunteer at
• Music. 
• A new kitchen made on our own. Hard work but much joy has resulted. Wok on, my love, wok on!
• weddings: one on the beach in CA and one at a winery and distillery in NH. So happy to be part of both!

Reverb13: Plans

What are your plans for 2014? Do you have any goals you set for yourself? Who are you going to work with to achieve your goals?

I'm going to be applying for a 0 residency requirement (never on campus) PhD program in Innovation and Leadership (or the one that involves policy if I decide to go that route instead). This will tie in with my volunteer work at Drumlin Farm (Mass Audubon) that I've been doing for nearly 14 years. This will also meld well with my mentor work at Babson College (#1 Entrepreneurship program in the USA--hollah!).

Career wise this program requires you to have a full time job. So, I let my boss and others know that I have NO intentions of leaving my job that I love. My goal is to get my transcripts from graduate school and undergrad, get letters of recommendation from my volunteer jobs listed above. I keep my insurance licenses for life as long as I stay up on the CE and I'll always be doing that no matter what.

But what if 20 years from now I want to work at Babson (even part time?) that would mean I'd need a PhD. What if I wanted to work at Mass Audubon in a greater capacity (doing a huge research project now, so who knows). I'm ready to learn more. I'm ready to keep my career strong. I'm ready to "chip away" at a PhD over the next 10 years. I'll finish at age 47 if all goes well. (47!!) and the primary mortgage will be paid off too (as my Grandmother would say "God willing" (she's so sweet).

I just met a really important person in my work kitchen who travels the country speaking. (he's a dentist in NC so he's on our board and is a wonderful man). So much inspiration this week.

I did my master's degree while working full time and it took me 4 years. What the heck is another 10 in the grand scheme of things?

Here's to a fantastic 2014! and wish me luck with my application....I guess I'll submit it sometime this winter. Best to ask for references during winter break. :) I start work travel again in February...can't wait!

Help Planning Germany Trip?

So here's what I have so far:

1. Sept 13 fly to Frankfurt via KEF, Iceland. Breakfast in Iceland (win!) and lunch in Germany (woo!)
2. Sept 14 is when we land in Frankfurt.
1. I need a suggestion of a hotel in Frankfurt
2. I need to know how to get to the train to Dusseldorf that will take us to Berlin
3. We plan on renting a car in Berlin and heading south.
4. We already have a hotel booked (and paid for) in Munich for Oktoberfest. So that's 3 days, two nights of 'fest (and you can walk to a castle from our hotel and it has free parking and free SKY TV so...that's cool (TV in English without subtitles).
5. I'd really like some suggestions on hiking, breweries to see on the way south to Munich.

Flying out of Frankfurt on the 24th of September, it leaves in the afternoon and gets in to Boston for 6:30pm the same day.

Thanks for any help you can provide! For those of you that have been...I'd love to hear from you!

We've rented cars in Europe 4 times before so it's not a big deal to us (only in Scotland where it was a standard and you had to shift with your left hand--yikes).
(photo source, Lonely Planet, click for page)

Reverb13: Day 3, Revising that Bucket List

Well, it's official. I get to cross something of my bucket list!

Post here

That would be item #2. Go on a yoga retreat. Heading to one with a friend and fellow blogger (blog-ess?) and I'm really looking forward to it. That will be in February and we booked it already.

So.

#1 still stands. #3 still stands.

Travel wish list will include crossing off Germany in September (since we are in the process of booking a trip there--the hotel in Munich is already booked during Oktoberfest!!)

So now I need something new.

I'm going to go with #2, read the entire Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

:)

Here's to the ebb and flow of a Bucket List. Here's to taking time to take care of yourself and book that retreat and just BE.

Reverb13: Day 2: Routine

Last night in yoga we talked about learning to JUST BE. If something is uncomfortable or you have trouble getting through it can you control your reaction to the situation? If you are in a yoga pose that's really tough--can you just be? I had another instructor (who happens to be a brain surgeon in her day job) that always reminded us "This is only temporary" (translation: push through that pain, this is good for your body).

Day 2: Routine.

What is your routine? Why is routine important?

My routine is to eat breakfast and lunch at work. It's important to my morning routine to have lunch packed (or planned) and have breakfast stored in my office (oatmeal or muesli--something I can make at work with milk, water or the microwave).

My after work routine is to get dinner started (or to have a plan, or to run errands) and workout for an hour at some point. If it is yoga, zumba (which I hope to get back to soon...health-wise it has not been possible since October), or even some cardio. It helps me "forget" the 8:30-4:30 I spent sitting at a desk. Typing. Answering phones. Crunched up in a ball. It also helps me make better food choices and maintain my weight (challenge for me).

My routine for weekends is to get some volunteer work AND some yoga in if we're in MA. If we're in Maine I try to get in a walk or a hike each day we're there (a MUST, no matter the weather). I ease into my Maine days (2 weekends/month). I kinda rush into my Massachusetts days...it's a Boston thing I think. :)

Routine keeps me grounded. I just wrote "routine" and thought of poutine. hahaha.

Here's a photo of poutine. Mmmmm.

(photo credit: The Canada Cheese Man)

Reverb13: It's that time of year again!

So just as I did last year I'm going to Reverb at random. Not every day. Just when the mood strikes. But through the end of the year just like the last few years.

Today's word: Health

It's easy to take our health for granted. As many of you know I spent a week in the hospital (plus 2 days outpatient) for an infection. I was on the wrong antibiotic for 5 days and it was pretty horrible. So here I am.

A new month. A fresh start. FINALLY feeling like myself. Had a bad cold for a week recently too, so now I'm BACK to yoga. I'm back to enjoying life. I'm back to cooking and baking and doing laundry and "keeping house." Much to the relief of my husband, I'm sure (he was my nursemaid and helping hand--love you honey!). Sickness and in health.

Being out of the hospital and well enough to be in a dear friend's wedding meant so much to me. (shout out to the newlyweds Grey and Bri for such an amazing wedding that was creative and fun--it for me was the first time I'd felt normal in so long after being so ill and it was just a great weekend  in NH that I so needed).

Don't take health for granted. You can have the fancy cars, the multiple homes, the good friendships, and wonderful relationships, and the GREAT job. It all goes to shit if you don't have your health. I know this now. Yoga retreat scheduled for February. I started (and kept going with) writing every day while in the hospital--and I'm sticking to it--writing every single day (not in this blog, but still stretching that writing muscle).

Cheers! To good health and a fun and exciting 2014! 2013 was exhausting (just ask anyone that lives in the Boston area--ending on a good note, a happy note. I need 2014 to have more fun (go Red Sox) and less worry and bad things (terrorist attack on Boston). There's going to be daffodils blooming the entire marathon route (that runs through my town). I can't wait for 2014 to begin!

My First Time Cooking with Farro

Farro!

I bought a small bag of Trader Joe's Farro a while ago. It sounded interesting and there was a recipe on the bag to cook it up with sausage and apple. I finally decided to give it a try last night since I had extra chicken broth to use.

I filled a pan with chicken broth, dumped the whole bag in once it was boiling (there's directions on the bag on how to cook it in broth). I cooked some asparagus on the stove top (what is with Whole Foods selling GIANT asparagus right now--where is the tender wee asparagus?). Once the farro was done cooking I drained off the extra broth and added in the asparagus and a can of kidney beans (drained) along with some sea salt.

At that point Tyler and I decided it tasted good but needed to be treated like fried rice. The farro cooked up light and fluffy and did not look at all what I expected it to look like. I cracked two eggs into the mixture, stirred around until those were cooked and added the whole thing to a large fry pan with some olive oil. This gave Tyler a chance to show off his flipping skills and admire the new gas flame (we recently converted to gas during the kitchen renovation).

The purpose of this very strange combination was to have a "first course" before going to our local brewery (Jack's Abby). We had one goal in mind: eat something quick and head out and taste the newest local brew. It turned out to be tasty so we got a growler and also sampled a summer beer (had citrus and spices). Once home we each had our individual leftovers from earlier in the week. I ran out to the gym to torture myself on the arc trainer for 1/2 hour before watching The Office finale.

That's just a typical night in our house. Also, Tyler was able to finish up the tile work on the wall (I'll post some more photos this weekend for those of you that follow me on Google+.