Summer Done List

When I looked back, I was surprised to find that this will be my 5th year posting summer done lists (2017, 2016, 2015, 2014). For me, it's definitely a helpful way to reflect on the summer and celebrate it, even though I always have a hard time letting it go and getting back to full-time work in August. One thing about being the program director, though, is that the placement testing process really forces me to hit the ground running--I can't drag my feet when the new students are arriving and there is so much work to be done. It means that August is a blur, and I don't have too much time to mope about summer being over. Instead, I look forward to being on the other side of those busy weeks, and getting into a new routine for fall, which is where I am now--after two weeks of classes--yay! Anyway, here are the highlights from summer 2018:

Work

Since I've continued as the ESOL Program Director, I had a summer contract to work a set number of hours through the summer, plus additional time for placement testing. It seems like a lot of my time was spent keeping up with email--just answering whatever questions came in--but I also did a few important projects. Preparing for placement testing was a major undertaking, too, in part because I directly oversaw our testing for International Teaching Assistants (ITAs), which our Assistant Director did last year, so it was all new to me. We have a new Assistant Director, so she and I spent some time discussing how we'd divide up the admin work between us and catching her up on changes in the program (she's been at BGSU for a long time, and was Assistant Director for a year before, but spent the last 2 years teaching in China).

Besides admin work, I always try to take advantage of the summer to invest some extra time in professional development, so I did a lot of reading (sometimes at the pool!) and watched a few webinars. I also drafted an article about my first year as an administrator for a newsletter; it's with the publisher now, and I'm waiting for feedback. If all goes according to plan, it should be published in October.

Early in the summer, I submitted two proposals for TESOL in March 2019; one on my own about applying the science of teaching/learning to TESOL, and another with my colleague about working with models when teaching genre-based writing. I also read proposals in July, as I've done for the past few years. I hope to find out within the next month or so if either of my proposals got in--last year's conference had about a 25% acceptance rate, so it's pretty competitive!

Home

During the school year, it seems like I always make excuses to avoid doing projects around the house. So I tried to take on a few this summer. My list of potential projects is longer than what I got done, but I did some cleaning out at home (including our file cabinet--lots of shredding!) and a few other areas that had gotten cluttered or disorganized. I also did some extra chores/cleaning, we got a repair done on our car, and we took a big load of books to the used bookstore for store credit. Mark and I met with our insurance agent to make some updates to our policies (and because we'd never met him before; our original one here just retired in the spring). I also made sure to spend some time out on our balcony, which seems like a space in our home that is underused. Mark and I had dinner out there a few times, and I spent some time working and reading there. I'd like to remember to use it through the fall, too.

Travel

I've already blogged about our three trips, but travel is definitely one of my favorite things about summers. I can't resist re-posting a few pics from each of our trips:

Disney World and Disney Cruise in May:

Niagara Falls with my parents in June:

Las Vegas for Damon & Jill's wedding in June:

Friends

Once we were home from all that travel, I wanted to make sure I was intentional about connecting with friends through the summer, which can be hard for me because I'm usually also content to hang out at home with Mark or doing my own thing. 

A few friends came to BG for a visit, so it was great to spend time with them. Angela and I had an afternoon at the pool which felt just like old times. Julie came over for a nice conversation at my place, and one of Mark's friends from grad school stayed with us for a night when she came to town to work on her document. 

Two friends moved this summer, one out of Stadium View into a house, and another into Stadium View (if you can believe it, actually into my other friend's old apartment!). I helped each of them a bit with unpacking and organizing, which I enjoyed. 

And I coordinated an outing to the Swan House and hosted my own open house, both of which gave me a good chance to see people and introduce some of my friends to each other. 

Entertainment

This summer, we made it to the drive-in again to see Ant Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2. More recently, we saw Christopher Robin at our local theater. We also got a free month of Netflix, so I took advantage of my chance to catch up on and start a couple of their original series: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and The Crown. Meanwhile, I've been borrowing some TV shows from the library: Once Upon a Time, Golden Girls, and New Girl. And I even watched a couple things on network TV: the new season of The Great British Baking Show on PBS and the summer competition series World of Dance on NBC. I also spent some time coloring while I watched some of these. 

And I read a ton of books for pleasure, some non-fiction and some summer fluff (like a couple Jenny Colgan novels, including Cafe by the Sea and Endless Beach. Like past summers, I started a series; this time, Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. I only got about halfway through the series, but I've got a hold on the next book and plan to keep reading. I also read a novel about family who moved to Alaska, which inspired me to reminisce about our trip in 2015, look back at pictures, and finish reading the guidebook I bought on the cruise ship. I really hope we go back some time.

And I tried a few new podcasts, finding some flops and some keepers. I still listen to a lot: when I workout, walk to school, cook, and do chores. I'm glad I got into podcasts a few years ago!

Miscellaneous

And there are a few other things that come to mind:

Mark and I had a quick meet up with Julie and Ben at Shatila Bakery in May, when they were visiting his family in Michigan. We also went to a few graduation parties for HS seniors Mark worked with in the band at Wauseon, and we went to the town's homecoming weekend and pageant. We watched BG's July 4th fireworks from the lawn in front of our building. 

I've been going to the Farmer's Market most Wednesday afternoons and enjoying the fresh produce and the local vibe (I almost always run into someone I know). And I did some shopping with birthday money--finding lots of good deals at Goodwill, some new sandals to wear at work, and a couple finds at a department store going-out-of-business sale. 

Now it's definitely fall, and I'm trying to embrace all that means. It's getting used to a new routine at school, and this fall, it's teaching an extra class and figuring out how to work enough but not too much. It'll come together. It's cooler weather (finally!) and the beginning of apple season, which is one of my favorite things about this area. We'll see what else fall brings, but for the moment, it's been fun looking back on all the things we did over the summer!

Summer Open House

Today I hosted my annual summer open house, which is such a fun way to connect with friends and treat us all to some delicious food. I had friends from work/school, neighbors, and folks I know through Global Connections. To drink, I served infused water (2 kinds: mandarin kiwi and sparkling cherry lime), decaf iced tea, and a pot of afternoon escape hot tea. For savories, we had veggie & cream cheese tea sandwiches, roasted red pepper and cheese dip (in the mini-crock pot), veggies, pita chips, and crackers to dip, and parmesan pesto scones. On the sweet side, we had pumpkin chocolate chip bread, chocolate zucchini bread, toasted hazelnut cookies, lime bars, and fruit. I have some delicious leftovers to enjoy for the next few days, too. Really, I'm so thankful to have people I enjoy spending time with and a home to invite them to.

the spread

tea sandwiches

scones and fruit (some is dipped in chocolate : )

breads, cookies, lime bars

veggies, crackers, dip

cold drinks

hot tea (not very photogenic...)

from one of my guests

10 years of blogging!

Just a quick post to say that it's been 10 years since I started this blog! I can hardly believe it's been that long... This also means it's been 10 years since Mark and I moved away from ABQ. I started writing here as a way to keep family and friends posted on what we were up to, and it's turned out to be such a fun way for me to reflect on and share our adventures. To my handful of very faithful readers--thanks for reading! Here's to more to come!

Las Vegas Wedding: Damon & Jill

Well, June has just flown by! We were home from Niagara Falls for about a week, then we left town again to go to Damon's wedding in Las Vegas. This trip came together quickly, as Damon and Jill just got engaged while we were on our Disney trip. It was pretty impressive that they picked a date when all the immediate family and quite a few of their friends could make it!

Mark and I got there mid-afternoon on Wednesday, and Dad & Damon picked us up at the airport. On our way to check in at the hotel, Treasure Island, we bumped into Mom & Jill, and had a very quick introduction to our new sister-in-law to be. By dinner time, Heidi and family had arrived, and we went together to the food court across the street in the Venetian to have dinner. After that, some of us walked around the strip to explore a bit. We checked out Caesar's Palace, saw the Atlantis show (kind of cheesy and in poor repair, but with fun pyrotechnics), made our way down to the Bellagio to see their fountain show (really fun!), and caught the volcano show at the Mirage (lots of fire and drums) on our way back to Treasure Island. The Bellagio's show was by far my favorite of the three, and it was fun to catch up a bit with everyone.

view from the walkway from Treasure Island to the Venetian

inside the Venetian

in front of the indoor gondola ride in the Venetian

I had a sushi burrito for dinner

exploring the strip--this is a spiral escalator in Caesar's Palace

Fountain of the Gods

Atlantis Show

Atlantis show

at the Bellagio, waiting for the show

Bellagio fountains

Mirage volcano show

Thursday was the day for the bachelor and bachellorette activities and the rehearsal dinner. Before all that, we spent some time hanging out with family, including more time exploring the strip. This time, we walked up the opposite side, weaving in and out of the casinos/hotels, making our way up to lunch at Taco Bell. In the afternoon, the guys started their activities with a visit to a deluxe shooting range, where they could shoot automatic weapons, grenade launchers, etc. It sounded like they had a good time. Around 4pm, we all made our way to an address we'd been given for the rehearsal/dinner, which was meant to be a surprise. Turns out, we were headed to Denny's, where "Elvis" met us in their "wedding chapel" for an unofficial, pre-ceremony. Of course, he performed a bunch of Elvis songs, too. Apparently, Damon's always wanted to get married by Elvis in Vegas, so this came pretty close to fulfilling that dream. And "Elvis" did a great job! After, the happy couple treated us all to dinner, and they each gave a very sweet toast honoring their parents' marriages. Mark and I got to sit with our favorite niece and nephew. In the evening, the ladies met up again to go to the show Baz (named after the director of the 3 movies retold in the musical--Romeo and Juliet, Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge); the guys went to David Copperfield.

we got some treats here, at the Cake Boss's bakery

walking along the Venetian

at the shooting range with the guys

in the "wedding chapel" waiting for the others to arrive

Elvis!

the t-shirts came with the package:
"we go together like [bacon & eggs]"

at the show with the girls

On Friday, we spent most of our time getting ready for the big event, but first, we found a few minutes for Mark and Mom to try out the "penny" slots. :-) Later, we were off to the wedding at the Little Church of the West, a small chapel on the opposite side of the strip. The wedding package came with a limo, so some of us family got to ride along with the bride and groom. We waited for a bit outside the chapel, and got to say 'hi' to some of Damon's friends we'd met at other times. Before long, we got settled in the chapel and waited for the ceremony to start, taking a few selfies to pass the time. I didn't take any pics of the ceremony, but there's a video available here (not sure how long it'll be up, though). The officiating pastor wss from Damon and Jill's church in LA, so it was a very sweet, personal ceremony. After, we took some family/wedding party photos, then the guests showered the new couple with rose petals as they left the chapel. We took a few group pics, then the bride and groom had a few more of them alone together before we made our way over to the reception, at an Italian restaurant very close to our hotel (it was so easy to walk back after!). The food was absolutely delicious! Mark gave a great, funny toast, and we enjoyed more time with the family.

it doesn't take very long to lose $2...even at penny slots!

in the limo--Mark's first limo ride, my second

me, with the "man of honor" 

in front of the chapel

inside

loved the rose petals! 

Mr & Mrs
(this may be their first selfie as a married couple)

wedding cake

Mom & Dad

cutting the cake

Mark giving his toast

Jill & Damon during Mark's toast

We left around mid-day on Saturday, getting home pretty late our time, but not feeling too bad thanks to the time difference. It was a whirlwind trip, but I'm so glad we were able to be there and celebrate with Damon & Jill! I'm also looking forward to a chance to get to know Jill better sometime soon, hopefully at Christmas in Missouri.