Moving on up...

I tend to include lots of pictures in these blog posts because, let's be honest, that's what people like to see and I don't want to disappoint. However, I don't really have a lot of pictures to share with this one. We had a lovely time in MN over Christmas and a great New Year's Eve in Madison with friends, but somehow the camera just didn't come out. But that doesn't mean that super exciting things aren't happening! Here is some stuff-

1. At the beginning of December I went on a field trip to Chicago with a bunch of Art and French students. We went to Navy Pier and the Institute of Art. I normally shy away from field trips- taking responsibility for teenagers in public is nerve-wracking! But it was a great trip and I was so glad that I put on my brave pants and went. Plus, I got to doing lots of chatting with my colleagues and see some awesome famous artwork. +10 Artsmart points if you recognize them.

Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte
Georges-Pierre Seurat, 1884-1886

Water Lilies
Claude Monet, 1906
(Apologizes for the crooked composition)

Self-Portrait
Vincent Van Gogh, 1887

American Gothic
Grant Wood, 1930

2. Since September, I have been working on finding better ways to handle stress and anxiety. One of the things I've been doing is attending a class through our health insurance and in January, I 'graduated' from the program. It was a big deal for me and something I have wanted to tackle for almost a decade. I'm feeling better physically, emotionally, and mentally than I have in a very long time and I'm so thankful that I took the time to work on this. Since sharing my experience with friends, I'm finding lots of people that I know that also struggle with these issues. My best advice is to look for whatever works best for you, but you have to start somewhere. I have really enjoyed resources (books and cds) from Jon Kabat-Zinn and have been trying to meditate more often and just generally be a more mindful person.

3. Jordan and I started looking at houses! I didn't know that going to open houses was so fun! It's weird to poke around in other people's stuff but it's fun to see how others organize and decorate their space. Also, we learned that houses in Madison/Verona are expensive. It was shocking to see what a 200k house looks like- it seems like an astronomical amount of money to me, so shouldn't we see an astronomically huge and beautiful house too? Yeah, not necessarily. But we're on the path to being home-owners and that's exciting!

4. I finished my first semester intact and am still (relatively) sane! We are one week into second semester and between the holidays and snow days, we haven't had a full week of school for over a month. This upcoming week is supposed to be a full week but there are some nasty forecasts in the next couple days so it's possible this will be another short week. I actually haven't minded the cold as much this year, usually the gray skies and freezing temps have me in a funk by now, but I'm still feeling okay about all the snow. My friend Whitney has a favorite quote from Albert Camus in The Stranger:

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger- something better, pushing right back. 

I think this is a good quote to remember, especially at this time of year.

5. And finally, since I like multiples of five, here is one of the rejected Christmas card photos. Looking good, Parkers!