Working on Working Out

I had my second of two free personal training sessions at the gym tonight, and I am feeling awesome. I have skinny arms and shoulders, but otherwise I am fit as a fiddle! No really, I passed all the "tests" with flying colors. Here's a sample of what she had me do:

• Balance on one foot with my eyes closed for 30 seconds. I made it 29 seconds on my first try--so close! It's way harder than it seems, but on my second try I felt like I could've stood there for minutes.
• How many pushups could I do in one minute? Answer: 30. The challenge was to do as many as I could with proper form while on my toes (real pushup position), only dropping to my knees as necessary (for "girl" pushups--and I am calling them that only because that's how other people describe them, not because I think girls can't do real pushups). I didn't ever drop to my knees. My last five pushups were pretty minimal, but at least my form was good.
• Running on the treadmill to get my heartrate to its target maximum rate. And happily, that took a while. The trainer asked what kind of exercise I usually did and how often, and I said I tried to run a couple times a week. She then had me run sprints and inclines on the treadmill and commented that she could tell I actually do run, since my heart rate stayed low. Apparently people often lie about how much they exercise, and their heart rates give them away every time. :)

Other than that, we spent tonight doing exercises with hand weights (lunges, planks, squats) and machines, including rowing. She told me that I may be small, but I shouldn't let anyone relegate me to the coxswain's seat! The one depressing part of the night was when she told me to try the seated press, starting with 10 reps at 20 pounds, and I could barely handle that weight. It made me so sad to hear her revise her instruction to "Give me 10... if you think you can." Of course I can! I may not be able to move tomorrow, but I did it, and now I have a clear fitness goal. Stronger arms. So I can move my own stuff when my lease is up in July.

In other gym news, I have been steadily making my rounds through the classes. I tried a new spinning class last night, and for the last two Mondays, I've been going to Body Jam, which is like Zumba but with hip hop instead of Latin flavor. Any workout where you get to shake it like Beyonce sounds good to me. I also tried a barre class (which was not at all related to a ballet barre class but seemed to be an excuse to play with exercise props) and a ballet class (which was related to ballet). There are still several other classes I'd like to try, like Zumba and pilates and Nia dance, so my schedule is going to be happily jam packed from now until... forever. But it's so much easier to go to work on Monday mornings when I have gym class to look forward to that night! I still haven't worked up the courage to try out the 8 a.m. pilates class on Mondays, though. That's another goal: become a morning person, go to morning pilates at least once, and start getting myself into the office before 8:30.

And, well, I guess that's enough resolutions since it's not even the new year yet. Strong arms, morning person, office by 8:30. I'll let you know how I do in a few months. 

(Almost) Four Years Later

The setting: a conversation with Colin on Friday night, reminiscing about Michigan.

Colin: Can you believe it's been almost four years since we started dating? That's like... almost long enough to have a bachelor's degree in Claire.

We both laugh. A minute later:

Colin: So, would you say it's a B.S. or a B.A.?

Me, thinking: Hmmmm. A B.A. Dealing with me is definitely more of an art than a science.

*     *     *

(I then asked what letters a degree in Colin would earn me, and he suggested that there might be some B.S. required when responding to his goofiness. I'd agree with that, although again--more art than science!)

Ready, Set, Go!

Well, after writing my last post, I gave myself a big-girl pep talk and joined the fancy-schmancy women's gym down the street. My pep talk basically went like this: The spinning and yoga classes that I was able to try for free were really fun, and I don't even love spinning or yoga. I've spent two winters saying "I'll just do floor exercises at home!" and then I never do anything other than maybe ten push-ups twice a month. The gym is expensive, but I get some money back from my insurance company, two free personal training sessions, a free 25-minute massage, access to a hot tub, and access to as many of these classes as I want:

That's a lot of classes. I can barely count as high as all that.

See?! I told you a million class offerings wasn't much of an exaggeration!

The class schedule was what really convinced me. I get tired of treadmills and ellipticals quickly, but now I can just go to a class in the evening after work and never have to run on a machine if I don't want. I tried spinning and yoga last week before I officially joined, and I went back to spinning tonight. I'm hoping to check out their barre class tomorrow night, or maybe zumba. Other classes that I hope to try at some point include several pilates classes, a dance class called Nia dance ("Nia blends dance, martial arts, yoga and healing arts"), a "yoga beats" class that does yoga to pop and hip hop music (that sounds way more my style! I just can't get into the whole Om/breathing thing in normal yoga), and even a ballet class on Sunday mornings.

I'm so excited, guys! If I can't be running and boating outside, this sounds like a pretty awesome way to stay active. Especially since it's only two blocks from home, and I have friends from work that go.

Catching Up

Oh my gosh, I can't believe how long it's been since I've written anything here! I have all these ideas for blog posts in my head (trust me, they're good). Inevitably I have tons of energy and dream of writing witty and entertaining stories during the day, then I get home from work and am too tired to even think about typing. That makes me sad.  I really enjoy writing, but hopefully one of these days I'll have more time (or more energy in the time that I do have). In the meantime, though, here's a quick update.

I made lasagne for the first time this week. The spinach is definitely my favorite part, and this one proved to be delicious... other than the top layer of noodle and sauce that always gets crunchy and I just hate that. But other than the spinach, the best part is that it's a ready-made lunch and dinner that will last for an entire week or more!

New recipe alert! I'm expanding my repertoire to include spinach lasagne.

And then Colin showed me up in the cooking department and suggested we make spanakopita for dinner. I (being the lazy chef that I am) suggested substituting crescent rolls for filo dough since filo dough sounds super intimidating. It was a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. And it only took half an hour or so to make! Who knew fancy cooking could be so easy.

Colin taught me to make spanakopita. It was a super duper easy dinner.

They were delicious. I was only sad that the leftovers got soggy so quickly.

And here's my desk partner, Violet!

Check out my violet! She just exploded with flowers over the last couple months.

Doesn't she look beautiful?! It's the same flower that was a favor from my good friend Aaron's wedding last September (2012), and it flowered almost exactly one year after her wedding. I took that as a sign that the universe approved of her marriage, so I texted her a quick photo letting her know she was doing okay in Mother Nature's eyes. I think Violet also really likes her new window seat in my cubicle. But here's a quick question for all you green thumbs out there: is it normal for African violet leaves to turn brown and translucent? It only happens to one or two leaves at a time, and they're always the ones on the bottom, and it's been going on for months. That all makes me think that it's just the plant's way of shedding to make room for the new leaves, but I have no idea. I only water her in her saucer and don't water her very often, so I don't think it's an over-watering thing. I just know nothing about plants, and Google didn't seem to be very helpful on this one.

What else is new in my life? Well, sailing/kayaking/paddleboarding season is over (I actually have a bunch more photos of my last couple trips, but that's another post...). It's not quite wintry yet, so I've been enjoying my last few weeks of running outdoors. I've been trying to do one loop around Fresh Pond each week plus a run to the river or somewhere else on the weekends. It makes me so sad to think of how soon it will be too cold for running... so I've been considering joining a gym for a few months. A couple friends from work go, and they have a million (that's not much of an exaggeration, actually) class offerings, so it would be fun. The gym is between home and work so I would be more likely to go than if I had to make a special trip out in the bitter winter cold. I just don't know... gyms are so expensive... sometimes I miss all the perks of being a student!

Oh, and in other news, tonight was IEc's biannual trivia night. The company provides pizza and drinks and brings in a trivia leader, and the winning team gets a happy hour paid for by the company. It doesn't seem quite fair, but the team that has always won before consists of the company president and an invitation-only, select group of senior staff. (On the other hand, maybe it is fair. I certainly hope the company president is smarter than all the rest of us.) Well, guess who defeated the undefeated tonight??? That's right. Yours truly and her team of not-usually-good-at-trivia, who-else-wants-to-play-with-us junior staff. We had six associates and one RA; two Brown alums; two SNRE alums; and we were all between the ages of 21 and 29.

It was actually quite a nail-biter. We were trailing for a few rounds (although we only missed three questions the entire night), but by the last round we were within one point of the leaders (which, incidentally, was not the president's team). For the last round, there were two questions: one on U.S. history, which happens to be my worst subject ever, and one on music, which is a close second. For each question, you could wager between 2 and 10 points. The first question: which U.S. President made the most famous White House telephone call ever, to the man on the moon? Well, that was way before the lifetime of any of my team members, but luckily I know that Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon on my birthday in 1969. My teammates knew their presidential history better than me, so they listed all the presidents back in order and we counted down the years until we got to Nixon in 1969. Wager: 10 points.

But the leading team got it right, too, and we were still trailing by one point! Last chance: which musician released Brainwashed, his final album, in 2002 and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2004, and was also inducted as part of a group? We weren't entirely sure about this one, but thank goodness we paid some attention to pop culture in the 90s. George Harrison? Wager: 10, because, well, go big or go home. We were one of only two teams to get that one right, and the leading team missed it--and you know what that means!! Winners! Sweet, sweet victory of the underdogs. And best of all, our team happened to be an awesome group of people that I am thrilled to get to share a happy hour with.

So, yeah, it was a pretty cool night. :)

Happy Belated Halloween!

Argh, I have so many things to catch up blogging about! But in the meantime, I hope your Halloween was full of:

SILLINESS AND GOOD HUMOR,

The pumpkin I carved for our work Halloween party.

EMPOWERING ROLE MODELS,

Rosie the Riveter made an appearance this Halloween.

MINIMALISM,

Colin's all for low-stress costuming, like drawing a stick figure with duct tape.

AND GOOD FRIENDS.

Colin and me on our way to the Yale School of Forestry Halloween party.

More Sea Creature Stories

As I mentioned before, I have a friend at work who goes fishing every chance he gets. Last weekend was apparently fantastic tuna-fishing weather (although you wouldn't believe the ones that got away! Two other tuna and a swordfish!). As a result of his success, I ended up with a huge chunk of tuna steak. I cut it into three meal-sized portions and attempted a new recipe last night.

Last time he shared his tuna with me, I opted for a garlic and herb sautee. This time, I opted for something spicier--a crust of black pepper, cayenne pepper, coriander, salt, and paprika, with a dash of lemon juice for good measure. And a side of wild rice. Unlike last time, I didn't freak out about cooking the fish and remembered to prepare a side dish. The meal would've been better with a vegetable, too, but I hadn't gone to the grocery store in a week so I went without. (And there you have the second perk of the tuna: not only was it delicious and unexpected, but it saved me from having to go to the grocery store that night!)

Yum yum yum. I had leftovers tonight, and I still have one more piece for tomorrow! Then a trip to the grocery store will be in order, and I'm sure whatever they are selling will just pale in comparison.

Save the Turtles!

Just before the government shut down and work got really weird, I went on vacation. Surprisingly, work sort of followed me to the beach.

It was a normal day at Mexico Beach, and I was out for a walk to the pier when I saw two grandmotherly women digging in the sand. Not just in the sand--in a sea turtle nest. The nest was one of about six between the hotel and the pier, and I'd passed it every day. I'd been seeing them for years--the little metal grates covering the sand where eggs were assumed to be, the orange tape blocking off the area, the bright yellow sign informing beachgoers that it was a federal crime to disturb endangered species. So when I saw these little old ladies digging up the nest, I was too shocked to know what to do. How dare they?! While my coworkers were analyzing the costs and benefits of loggerhead sea turtle conservation in the Gulf of Mexico, probably at that very minute, those horrible women were digging up eggs.

Well, as I walked very slowly by to see if I was somehow mistaken about where they were digging, I noticed this little sign: Turtle Patrol of St. Joe and Mexico Beach, Florida. I guess these women weren't deserving of my wrath after all, but still--what were they doing?

Answer: rescuing sea turtles! A few days after the eggs are assumed to have hatched, volunteers like these women drive from nest to nest, checking for any remaining baby turtles or unhatched eggs. (Sea turtles, you may not know, lay their eggs under the sand and the hatchlings dig themselves out, then following the light of the moon to the sea. They make the journey by night to minimize the risk of predation, but unfortunately baby sea turtles have very high mortality rates.) By the time the volunteers get there, most have escaped, but this bucket-full of turtles was trapped under a hard layer of sand. The women would take the bucket to the turtle conservation department, and they would be released under cover of night. In the meantime, though, they were available for admiring by curious beachgoers like myself!

From this whole bucket of baby turtles, only one is expected to survive the transition to the ocean life. Nature can be brutal sometimes. It's just not fair. They're so cute!!

I mean, look at those tiny flippers! And the tiny shell and cute crackly head pattern. (I am 95 percent sure these are loggerhead turtles... any ecologists want to confirm that?)

We weren't allowed to hold the turtles since they are endangered, but the volunteers took one out for us to look at more closely. They seemed particularly willing to humor me, the smallest girl around, probably thinking I was a kid. Then Grandaddy spilled the beans that I have a master's degree in environmental science (meanwhile Rebecca was wearing the SNRE shirt I bought her--maybe they thought we were a whole family of environmentalists). The whole time I was thinking, how long until I can retire and volunteer to play with baby sea turtles???

Sadly, although the women were able to rescue this bunch from under the sand, we watched them dig up another nest where three little ones hadn't survived. Mother Nature can be awfully tough on these little cuties.

Going back in time... Santorini

Things got busy around here last month, and I left off blogging about Greece. (Santorini! The highlight of our trip! How could I leave out Santorini?!) And then I realized that the Groupon I bought for the express purpose of creating a photobook about the trip was expiring soon and I would have to hurry to pull the book together. I did, and that book arrived today, and it is beautiful. So with that as inspiration, let's go back a couple months to summer in the Aegean...

After a few days on Naxos, Colin and I took the ferry to the "party island" of Ios for a one-night stopover on our way to the "resort island" of Santorini. There are two sections of town on Ios: the port area, and Milopotas, the beach area. We opted for a hotel farther from the port but right by the beach, and talked ourselves into enjoying a fun night on the town. Even though I tend to think of "nightlife" as happy hour and bed by 11, how could I not experience this world-famous party spot?

We arrived by ferry in the afternoon, dropped our bags at the hotel, and immediately headed for the beach. It was beautiful, and huge! Plus, the snorkeling here was the best of almost anywhere. Colin and I saw an OCTOPUS. In the wild. While snorkeling. It was incredible.

Since the sun stayed up until almost 9, we were in no hurry to leave the beach. At the recommendation of our hotel concierge, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner at a seafood restaurant that was pretty much right on the water. Seriously, this was the view from our table:

It was a little windy that close to the water, but so worth it. The food was delicious, and since the Greeks never rush their meals, we lingered over ouzo for hours. We watched boats coming and going and listened to the raucus dance party happening just down the beach. And then, as the sun began to set, we realized something was a little strange. Something sounded a little funny. It was so... quiet. Was the party over already? Colin and I didn't believe that the party ended at 9 on Ios, so we assumed everyone had just moved to indoor bars.

Well, we were wrong. While leaving dinner and looking for a fun bar to check out that night, we noticed that Milopotas was eerily empty. We only figured it out when we saw lines of college-looking kids waiting for the public bus: apparently the party happens at the beach until sundown, and then everyone relocates to the port (which is a couple miles away) for the real nightlife. That seemed like too much work, so Colin and I settled down in this beautiful but practically empty bar for a quiet game of backgammon.

It was a pretty lame party experience, but we definitely have a funny story to tell. And I thought the decor in this bar was so tranquil and inspiring that I'm sharing another photo from that night:

The next morning (after being woken up by the partiers returning home at 5 am or so), we had a quiet breakfast of yogurt and fruit on the beach. We had the beach all to ourselves since no one else woke up before 10. We actually had trouble finding a store to sell us breakfast since the whole island operates on "party time," or something. So our day on Ios ended up being the quietest of the whole trip, ironically. :) But then it was off to Santorini!

Santorini is a famous resort island, so we had splurged on a nice hotel. The driver picked us up at the port, and this was the view that greeted us from our hotel room. Unbelievable, right?

Also unbelievable were these mussels that I had for lunch soon after we arrived. The problem with resorts is that they tend not to be very close to town, and since we were starving when we arrived, we opted for lunch at the hotel restaurant. And it was oh-so-worth-it! I will never, ever find mussels as delicious as these were. My mouth is watering just remembering them!

Santorini was gorgeous. The island definitely deserves its reputation as one of the most idyllic vacation spots. The island is actually the caldera formed by a giant prehistoric volcanic eruption, although the volcano is still active and erupted as recently as the 1950s. Our hotel was located right in the center of the crescent-shaped caldera, so we had a great view of the volcano in front of us and the rest of the island encircling us.

Santorini had lizards, too. I think Colin ought to do some experiments here.

Our hotel had an idyllic pool that we sadly didn't use very much. There was just too much else to see on the island! (But that is Colin in this picture; we did get in one afternoon of swimming and lounging.)

Santorini architecture is traditionally very colorful, in addition to the classic whitewashed buildings and churches.

The small village of Oia, built right at the northernmost tip of the island, is known for its beautiful sunsets over the ocean. Our first night in Santorini, we took a bus trip to Oia to watch the sunset. After quickly determining that "watching the sunset" mostly meant elbowing hordes of other tourists out of your way, we opted to watch the sunset over dinner. I was getting hungry (and therefore grumpy), so we just wandered into the first restaurant we saw. Turns out, that restaurant had a rooftop deck with a totally unobstructed western-facing view of the ocean.

When the sun started to set, everyone on the deck got up and crowded against the railing to get a good picture. Once the sun had set, Colin and I scurried back to our bus and spent the rest of the night hanging out at our palace of a hotel.

The next morning was our big adventure day. We signed up for a boat tour of the island--since Santorini is such a touristy island, we had probably better do what all the tourists do, right? The boat left from the main port of the island and first sailed us to the volcano, Nea Kameni. This photo shows the raw, volcanic rock really clearly. Santorini is in the background, and you can just barely see the white buildings lining the rim of the caldera.

We climbed to the top of the volcano, where our tour guide gave us a brief history of Santorini. We had plenty of time to wander around the many trails on the top of the volcano, taking in all the sites. Like, here, Colin hangs out with some fancy seismological monitoring equipment. (The volcano is expected to erupt again in the next 20 years, so if you want to see Santorini, you might go sooner rather than later...)

And here is the crater. If you look closely, you can see people standing on the opposite side to give you a sense of scale. You could fit a skyscraper in here:

The rest of the boat tour was also great, although less picturesque. We stopped at hot springs behind the volcano for a quick swim, and then boated over to Thirassia, the island behind the volcano that was separated from the rest of the caldera in the eruption. We had a leisurely lunch and an ocean swim there, then returned to Santorini. And in case you're curious how people get from the villages at the top of the caldera to the port, check out this two-lane, switchbacking road! Now imagine driving it in a giant bus. There is also a cable car, although Colin and I never had the chance to take it.

After our long day of exploration, Colin and I decided to walk the mile or so into town for dinner. As luck would have it, we were walking just as the sunset, which made for prime photo-ops. Colin was determined to get the perfect panorama, so we stopped every few blocks to take more photos. After a while, about 100 sunset photos later, I opted for taking photos of Colin instead.

But then we got to the town of Fira, and the colorful architecture against the dusky sky was just too beautiful. I had to keep taking pictures, too.

This is one of my favorite photos because I love how the volcano seems to be melting into the sea. The Greek islands often look like this: a little surprising, as if they aren't quite sure whether to be land or sea. But of course, you have the opposite, too: all those picturesque steep cliffs!

One advantage of being in a really touristy place is that there are plenty of English-speaking tourists to take your photo. This is one of the few we have of the two of us together!

The following morning was our last on Santorini. We toured the prehistoric city of Akrotiri, which was buried in a volcanic eruption thousands of years before Pompeii. It's currently an excavation site (or not currently, since Greece's economy collapsed and they have no funds for science, but maybe again one day) and the vast majority of the city isn't excavated yet. What is excavated is impressive, though! Just think, people had water pipes, sewers, toilets, and multi-story buildings 4,000 years ago! They were sort of just like us, but without Facebook or iPads.

And with that, our vacation-from-vacation was over. A ferry ride back to Naxos, a last day of swimming and shopping on Colin's home island, a last fresh seafood dinner, and then it was back to Boston for me. When my plane landed, it was 100 degrees with near 100 percent humidity in Boston, and I would have given anything to hop back on that plane to Greece, where sea breezes and sunshine are nothing special. But, hey, Colin has plenty of work left to do on his dissertation--maybe I'll get back there yet!

The Great Outdoors

Photo overload warning! I've been making the most of the last days of summer by spending as much time as possible outside, and I've checked a few more things off my Boston to do list. Here's the rundown.

Two weeks ago, Rebecca and Peter came to visit me in Boston. (I also convinced Colin to come at the last minute, although I am pretty sure he was coming more to hang out with Peter than with me.) The weather was perfect, so we took a ferry out to the Boston Harbor Islands. Spectacle Island, specifically. The tour guides sell Spectacle Island as having the highest point in the Boston Harbor, and therefore the best views. What they don't tell you until you're on the boat is that the island is so tall because it used to be the city's landfill. And then the Big Dig happened in the 1990s, and Boston dumped all that dirt on top of the dump, cleaned it up, and turned it into a "pristine" wilderness that opened to the public in 2006.

Colorful history aside, the island was beautiful! The restoration really worked.

I love that this photo, taken from Spectacle Island, captures the city skyline, the boat traffic, and the airplane traffic all at once. You could sit on the island watching the harbor activity for hours!

Rebecca and Colin watch sailboats and yachts dodge container ships and tour boats.

That was the first trip to the harbor islands for all of us, so it was a good thing to check off my list. I'd love to explore some of the other islands in the future! And it's so convenient: for $15 and a 15-minute ferry trip, you can spend the afternoon on an island. Next up: Boston Light, the last Coast Guard lighthouse with a lighthousekeeper in the country? I actually have friends who volunteer for the Coast Guard giving tours of Boston Light, so maybe next spring I'll go.

Then the next weekend (Labor Day weekend), was Colin's belated birthday weekend. Yes, I know that his birthday is actually in May but he had the good sense to be in Greece then, thus postponing the celebration. Anyway, for his birthday I bought tickets to see NPR's live taping of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!" at Tanglewood, a famous outdoor music venue in western Massachusetts. (It's normally home to the Boston Pops.) Colin is the second biggest NPR fan that I know (after my Mom; probably tied with my sister). By pairing those tickets with a campsite reservation for three nights in the largest state forest in Massachusetts, which is conveniently located 10 minutes from Tanglewood, I think I won the prize for best birthday present ever.

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate particularly well. Thursday night at Tanglewood was perfect--luckily, since I bought us the cheap lawn seats. Friday was in the 80s and sunny and humid, which didn't bother me (I still think it's funny how Bostonians freak out about anything over 75), but it did apparently bother the friends we were camping with. Then, it started thunderstorming early Saturday morning. Our tents kept us warm and dry, and the rain stopped by breakfast time, but the soggy air made everything a little less comfortable. We spent Saturday exploring the nearby towns until the weather forecast began to look dire: thunderstorms approaching with potential hail, and flash flood warnings in Boston. We packed up, donated our leftover firewood to the lucky people staying in yurts instead of tents, and drove home.

Before the stormy end of our trip (which also happened to fall on September 1st, the biggest moving day in Boston--so glad I wasn't toting boxes and mattresses in a downpour!), we had a great time. We hiked about six miles on Friday, and saw tons of newts, toads, and salamanders. It was like a little present from Mother Nature for my herpetologist boyfriend!

Picnicking at Tanglewood before the show started.

The Tanglewood grounds had a beautiful view of the Berkshires. Also impressive people-watching: note the tables and champagne flutes. 

I bought lawn seats (better for picnicking!), so we couldn't really see the stage (the green lights inside the Shed). But the show was projected on large screens, so it didn't matter.

Friday was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods. 

I spotted the first newt, thinking it was a neon plastic toy dropped by a previous hiker kid. 

Colin picked up the newt and we all ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the adorable, tiny, polka-dotted  creature. We then saw so many during the hike that we lost count.

This is the marsh we hiked around. The cool thing is that those beaver dams  created a drop of 2-3 feet in water level here. You can't really tell, but I promise you the water in the background is vertically above that in the foreground.

Silhouette of Colin with a beaver dam in the background.

So now I've checked off the Harbor Islands and Tanglewood and hiking in the Berkshires! It was great to be camping again; I haven't gone since sometime in Michigan. My poor tent doesn't get much use now that I'm not jetting off to Africa every other year. But it is always fun to explore your own neck of the woods, so here's hoping next summer is filled with more mini-expeditions.

Checking Things Off

Remember when I posted a few weeks ago with my goals for the coming year? I thought I should update you with my progress because, yes, believe it or not, I have made progress!!

I learned to paddleboard about a week ago, and it was great. I was skeptical about this "class" that CBI requires you to take. Don't you just, well, stand up and paddle? As it turns out, the class was about five minutes long and consisted mostly of "Here's where we keep the paddleboards. Here's how to carry them. Don't forget to put on the ankle leash. Get on. Stand up. Paddle."

I don't have any photos, but it was a beautiful day on the water and I loved paddling around. It was totally comfortable, and I didn't fall in. You get to sort of sneak up on ducks, and the people watching is way better than in a kayak, and you don't end up with a wet butt like you do in a kayak, and for a level of added difficulty you can switch between standing, kneeling, sitting, sunbathing, whatever. Anyway, now that I have my CBI SUP rating (I'm really racking up those ratings now! Solo, helmsman, kayak, SUP), I can take out a board whenever I want. Too bad there are so many fun water sports and so little summertime left!

Hello, world!

Guess who just upgraded to a window desk?! That's right--after two years at IEc, I now have enough seniority to be worthy of a view. And oh, how I love it!

Today was my first full day in my new cubicle. I moved most of my things Wednesday afternoon (mostly because I was tired of working and, well, impatient). My computer and phone were moved yesterday afternoon. I thought it would be weird not to walk to my old desk this morning, but it felt completely natural. It was clearly meant to be.

But the decision actually didn't come easily. My new desk is only five feet away from my old desk--that made moving simple. Sadly, my new desk is also sandwiched between two of the loudest people at IEc (this pronouncement would not be news to them--I think they were hired to be loud and assertive), and they are constantly on the phone. It's hard to think straight when both are talking at once. But my choice was either to stay sitting across from them, where I could still hear every word, with no window... or I could move between them and gain a window. I took the window.

So the volume hasn't really changed, but the lighting has. My new cube also seems bigger, but maybe that's just an illusion since it's so well lit. I've offered up my extra chair to friends who want to work on their suntans. As an added bonus, I am almost always freezing in the office, and many people complain about how hot it gets sitting by a window. (Really? I'll take it!) I figure this upgrade will mean I spend less time wishing blankets and sweatpants were work-appropriate attire.

Without further ado, this is my new home!

You may notice that my African violet (yes, the violet that traveled from a wedding in Cleveland to Florida and Georgia to Boston) is still doing well one year later. You may also notice (or not; you can barely tell in this photo) that I have a beach photo as the background on my computer screens. Then just to round out the comfortable atmosphere, I have a Japanese-style fish painting that I've had since freshman year of college, a snapshot of Colin and me in St. Louis (other photos that used to be tacked to my walls haven't been put back up yet), a Koosh ball, Buckyball magnets, and a dish of rocks that used to house the air plant that I killed. My sweaty running clothes and the gigantic pile of snacks that keeps me going every day get stuffed in my drawers to keep up appearances.

And on the other side of my cube, I have what I like to call my "reading nook." I love the appearance of books on shelves, so long ago I brought in my relevant text books/style books/reports. I've also acquired a few in my two years at IEc, so that all makes for a happy (if really uninteresting to anyone not interested in environmental economics) bookshelf. Also making an appearance in this photo is my IEc fleece. I am apparently not the only one who freezes in the office because last year the principals handed out thick blue jackets emblazoned with our logo. And since I am tiny and Lands' End doesn't make jackets in extra small, wearing my fleece is pretty much like wearing a blanket... which is not conducive to productivity, actually.

If I look a little tanner next time you see me, it's probably from all the extra sunlight in my life now. And hey, if it takes two years to get a windowed cube, how long does it take to get a corner office with a door?

Bringing Greece Home

I have a secret. I really, really enjoy reading home decor and home improvement blogs and magazines. To borrow Grandmother's description of reading cookbooks, I read them like fiction. I love imagining myself painting rooms, refinishing furniture, building things, crafting, and ultimately living in a magazine-like house. But do I do any of those things? No.

Partly, of course, because I'm a renter. And partly because I have no idea where I'll settle down geographically, but I'm 100% sure it's not this apartment in Cambridge. So when Colin decided to commit to staying in his apartment in New Haven through the end of his PhD (which is about three years away, unless I jinxed that by announcing it to the world), that felt like long enough to decorate a little. Have I mentioned that I also enjoy decorating much more when it involves other people's things...

What Colin wanted for his apartment, other than upgrading from leftover-from-college furniture, was the bright, calm feel of Greece: crisp white buildings with blue roofs against the clear blue Aegean. He thought painting a blue accent wall in his bedroom would do the trick (and by only painting one wall, he would minimize the repainting effort when he moves out). I immediately volunteered to help. Finally, I had the perfect chance to try out all the techniques I've been reading about for years!

We were both very pleased with the result. Unfortunately, my love of decor blogs has not translated into immediate talent. The next wall I paint will go smoother, I'm sure... and in the meantime, I can keep reading painting tips! Hooray! I am guessing that I will be invited back when it's time to repaint the wall white in three years, so I'll get more practice before busting out my decorating skills in a house of my own. And for now, Colin can fall asleep in his lovely handpainted oasis of Aegean blue.

In love with the bright blue! 

First stroke of blue on the white wall... no turning back now!

I used the roller while Colin edged around the ceiling and trim.

The finished product! Eventually Colin will hang art or something, too.