And growing up continues to suck...

Over the weekend the professor I would have easily picked as my favorite professor in all of college died. She had been hospitalized with liver and kidney failure and then died from complications of pneumonia. She was young. She had two small kids.

I had her for three classes. I loved that she was a very no-nonsense teacher with a great sense of humor. She didn't give anything a false sense of grandeur, but she could explain things so well.

I went to a Christmas party at her house in Munds Park my junior year. She invited all of her students to her house and had cider and cookies and I'm pretty sure she even made a ham dinner.

She was young. She had two young kids, or at least they were still in elementary school. At the Christmas party her son took a liking to me and she would always joke in the rest of her classes about how he missed me.

This semester I suggested that my supervisor work with her and her classes on a PR project. She was hospitalized about five weeks ago and another teacher had to take her classes.

The thing that bothers me the most about this is that if I wasn't working here, I never would have known. I would have had my happy memories of her classes and her family and her, and it never would have been tainted with this sick feeling that I have right now. I can't help feeling like I'm a little bit stuck in a part of my life that should have already reached its natural conclusion.

I wish I would have thanked her for making school more tolerable. I hope her kids are ok and have good people in their lives to get them through this time. I don't know what other good thoughts to think at this point.

And we thought Ted Danson was a big deal

Ellen DeGeneres is coming to NAU on Friday!

Where will I be while she is filming in the dorm right outside my office? I will be in Tempe for a conference. Lucky me!

A Very Pottery Barn Christmas

Steve and I started decorating for Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend. We have a tree with white lights and deep red and soft gold ornaments. Our new mantle has stocking holders that spell out PEACE, a vase of cranberry branches, and a small wooden, one-piece nativity. It's beautiful, but I had to agree when Steve said, "I always thought I'd be more of a fun decorator for Christmas."

Our place feels a little bit like stepping into a Crate and Barrel catalog (or a Target rip-off of an Crate and Barrel catalog). It's simple, neutral with a few bright accent pieces, sparse wall decorations, and only one photo displayed in the whole apartment. It's definitely the clean, simple, zen look we were going for.

It's a huge contrast to my room in high school. Anything that could be thumbtacked to a wall was displayed proudly, including shopping bags, posters, photos of my friends, and the shorts that Tom Delonge signed at OBC. My comforter was covered with monkeys and palm trees, and I had a collection of tacky, beach-themed items including my prized pink flamingo clock. And the best part was that every morning I woke up to my boys:



Now it definitely didn't look like your typical Pottery Barn Teenage Girl Room A, but it was mine and I loved it. Every part of it, good or bad, was a reflection of me.

Maybe that's why I blog now. I'm sure Steve wouldn't be super keen on waking up to Mark, Tom, and Travis, but I do have this virtual space that is mine to express myself authentically, even if it's a little raw sometimes. Good or bad, it's a reflection of me. And just like my room, I don't care if it's what other people think it should be. It's mine, and I love it.

Minor Setback

The position at Steve's work was not filled from this group of canditates (translation: he didn't get the job). Obviously this means that the higher ups at Steve's work are a bunch of stupid wankers who can't see that he is the best worker in that crummy place, but he doesn't get credit because he doesn't whine about how hard he's working all the time. Big middle finger to you people.

However, this is a great reminder that we're young. We have lots of years ahead to stress about careers, but right now we should be working just enough to pay for our travel, hookers, and blow. I mean, neither of us really even know exactly what we want to do with our lives. We should be taking this time to figure it out rather than working like madmen to achieve some kind of status that doesn't mean anything to us.


And now I'll tack on a Thanksgiving post for good measure:

I'm thankful for...

Steve. I can't even describe how much I love him or begin to list all the reasons. Anything I say just sounds cheesy, and I hate it because that's not how we are. It's just right.

The fact that Becca and I are really friends again. And that she's happy.

Steve and I both getting to be with our families on Thanksgiving. Hopefully I'm still thinking it's a good idea tomorrow night.

Good friends. I only have like three, and I'm completely fine with that because I genuinely care about them and I know they genuinely care about me.

The city of Fort Collins.

Me likey

Missing My Steve-o and My Tivo

So after being gone for 10 of the past 14 days, I never plan to leave the house again. You'll have to pry my cold, dead fingers from the door. In the end, I'm glad that every once in a while I can show myself that I can be a world (or regional) traveler, and survive. But I really don't enjoy it. I don't like flying, I don't like staying in hotels and drying my face with towels that have touched millions of people's nether-regions, or eating fast food for every meal, or hanging out with "conference people."

I'm a lame home body, I'm willing to admit it, so by the end of this last trip I could barely hold it together.

But when I got home, Steve had an immaculate house waiting for me, with pizza, cookie dough and cherry coke inside. Then we watched The Office and Scrubs which he swore he hadn't watched without me. And everything was ok again because Steve is hands down the most amazing person in the world.

Being at the conference was a good reminder that I really need to set my priorities. And becoming a higher education marketing executive really isn't at the top of my list. Where that leaves me I'm not sure, but I'm sure I'll figure it all out.

Also, think good thoughts for Steve who is clawing his way up the corporate ladder. He should find out about his job early this week.

Pictures

I finally activated my Flickr Pro Account (thanks Schulz family) and uploaded some more Colorado trip photos. My goal is to take more pictures and organize them in sets for easier viewing.