1. We are in the middle of two days of spring-like weather. It’s absolutely gorgeous here right now, and I wish I had the time to just be outside all the time and enjoy it. I am going for a run shortly.

2. I have a favor to ask. I want you to try using google maps and then another maps app or system online (i.e. apple maps, waze, something else). Get directions from Amigo Joe’s on Southwest Avenue in St Louis to Chava’s Mexican Restaurant on Geyer Avenue in St Louis. On my Google maps, for over two years, it will not direct me to use a certain part of interstate 44, ever! So I want to see if it works for you, and if it doesn’t, and you would like to be helpful, please submit this as a problem. Do make sure that the other app tells you to use Interstate 44, also. Please report back in the comments if you are able to see if this works for you!

3. I went to visit my friends Eliana and Alex’s baby yesterday. I even held the baby for a bit, and luckily nobody said “you’ll be such a good parent”. I used to avoid being excited about babies because it annoyed me so much when people said that sort of thing. Can’t I just hold a little baby because they are squashy and cuddly and they let you hold them they way you WANT to hold your cat? I’m looking forward to meeting my nephew in a few days, and will probably hold him as well.

4. There was an article in the NY Times about how women still have to do more work around the house (duh) and how women with a male partner have extra work to do and yet how people still judge women when a house is dirty. I think we all need to collectively agree not to do that. When I first moved in with Louie his house was a mess. I know he was dealing with a lot of stuff when I met him, but he is a very disorganized person. Yet he will spend a lot time cleaning the kitchen…on occasion. I digress. At one point, I remember being worried his mother would judge me for not having cleaned up the house, and then it hit me: it wasn’t my fault. IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT. So I hired a cleaning service and now our house isn’t super clean (except parts of it right after the cleaning service comes), but I can direct my energy to other stuff. I try to keep the areas my students come to relatively clean (there’s a lot of clutter in the house, and some of it is mine, and more of it isn’t, and it’s just not my fault and I can only do so much) and that’s all I can do. And I’m mostly okay with it. I don’t want a minimalist house—I really want a house filled with books and music and knickknacks from stupid places we’ve been. But all somehow organized, or at least, all on shelves, and that’s the challenge.

5. Sort of a part two to the above…but…clutter. Louie and I both struggle with what is junk and what isn’t. We both have things we struggle to get rid of (me: personal items such as cards and concert tickets, him: old electronics and tools) but we both think we want those things later. I have no issues getting rid of books and clothes, but I often DO look back years later and wish I’d kept something. I tell myself it’s cool because the space it would have taken wasn’t worth it (I HAVE bought a piece of music again though, so that’s dumb, and now I try to hoard it all, even stupid things like mandolin books when I have a “want to play the mandolin” idea again…). I think I understand the idea of the kon-mari method and the idea of decluttering, and I’m lucky enough that after having moved four times in four years, I’ve been in one place for nearly 5 years now! So my things piles up, but I think we are getting better and better at knowing what we like to keep and what we can get rid of. I suppose people might look at my house and judge me, but that’s okay. Judge away!

6. I’m excited that I have a published review coming out in a magazine in August! This is my second one for the magazine, and while it’s just for fun, it’s always lovely to see one’s name in print. There’s another potential article I’m a part of in another magazine as well. Sometimes I ponder if I missed my calling by not getting a PhD, but I think it’s okay to do these things outside of academia. (I’m technically in academic I suppose, but as a part-time or adjunct, with no path to a full time position in front of me.)

7. I sometimes dream of Miles coming back but I don’t see that path either. Unless he gets picked up and brought to a shelter and they contact us. Who knows though, maybe he will just show up some day.

8. Did I mention the fireworks already?  Every year a nearby park puts on a fantastic fireworks display, the Saturday after July 4, and we have a barbecue (fun fact, that was a spelling bee word for me back in the day) and have all our friends over and then people watch the fireworks, and it’s been an annual tradition for Louie since he bought this house. And this year we found out the fireworks are the weekend AFTER the Saturday after July 4th, and we will be out of town. So we are thinking maybe we’ll just have the barbecue anyway, and there just won’t be any fireworks…to keep the tradition going? But I’m a little disappointed. I’m not actually a huge fan of fireworks but the whole event is a lot of fun and there’s such great people-watching!

9. I had a great post on facebook (not that what I posted was great, but I loved the engagement) over plastic bags. I’d read this article recently which made me think, but I also am concerned it just made me feel agreeable about things I already though (confirmation bias) which is that we hand pick things to control that we can. I do use plastic bags for house hold uses and enjoy it. I also remember a time when I should have stockpiled aerosol contact lens saline solution, because it was going away and I thought, nah, there will be something better and THERE ISN’T. I had a can of saline that lasted for about 8 more years and then it ran out and now I have something less good that needs to be thrown out after 6 months, which means I’ll go through 16 of them in the same time, just to rinse my contacts occasionally (I can’t use some products due to the preservatives which give me eye problems). I also know I have a stubbornness though and want to think (as we all do) that we are doing the best we can. Some of my friends are definitely more environmentally conscious though, or at least they made me think they are!

10. How is June flying by so quickly? It will be fall before we know it. I am trying to make the best of my summer! I already know I won’t accomplish it all, but I’m trying to make it a good one. Hikes, books, conversations, shows, operas, travel, relaxing…so much to fit in!