I'm taking some time off for a family vacation. Posting will resume on August 17.

I'm taking a little time off  writing for the holidays. Normal posts will resume the first week of January.

I will be sharing some stuff in my newsletter while I'm on break. Check it out and subscribe here.

Thirsty Mermaids
Kat Leyh

This was a delightful graphic novel that was parts heartwarming and zany. It's a great story of friendship and acceptance.


Classic Calligraphy for Beginners: Essential Step-by-Step Techniques for Copperplate and Spencerian Scripts
Younghae Chung

I mostly perused this for the pretty pictures. While I find most calligraphy books are similar, I liked that this one chose to focus on two specific styles of calligraphy. 


The iPhone Photography Book
Scott Kelby

This is my current read. The author’s somewhat snarky attitude is getting to me, but the tips are sound.  The book includes both technique and technical information and that makes the advice well rounded and actionable. ​It makes me want to get our there and take more pictures.


*Titles shared here use affiliate links for Bookshop.org

Changing things up on this weekly post again.

Instead of breaking down my projects by work/personal and then overarching category, I'm just going to list the top three projects I'm focusing my bandwidth on each week.

I find that I can only really manage three major "things" at once but what they are varies from week to week.

Here's what's on my list this week.

1. Reference Assignment Design - I have one more interview to code with the first iteration of our joint codebook. It has gotten faster, but I still feel like I am missing things. When I'm done with my first round of coding, I want to give the excerpts a once over to see what I missed. Also, we all realized that we have a poster due about our initial results in just a few weeks. We are starting the scramble for that. October snuck up on us.
2. Website Usability Testing - I tested out the script with a colleague and now I want to beta test the actual material and notetaking on someone who does not use our website regularly. Assuming that goes well, we'll start recruitment and testing. We need 10 students and 5 faculty members. We're bribing/rewarding them with Starbucks gift cards.
3. Condo Logo​ - Our condo needs a new logo and we're trying to do things in-house. I joined a small group of folks working on this. Right now, I've done my first round of mock-ups. I'm going to go photograph our building and then put together a few more. We're getting together soon to discuss what we like and where we want to go.

I spent the past week pondering what I wanted to write in a Friday post.

I tossed around the idea of a lengthy essay... and then tabled that because I know my bandwidth limits. I liked the idea of making a weekly recommendation... but then recalled I found that to be a chore most weeks over on my old blog. I thought about pivoting and writing a post deep diving into a single search process... but the thought of writing that bored me.

So, I turned back to the brain dump planning document I created when I wanted to get back into blogging. I reread my ideas which drove me to focus on what I like about blogging. I like sharing. I like being upbeat.  I like the little happy things we encounter.

Thus, the idea for this new weekly post arose. 

On Fridays, I will now share a list of "Just Good Things." These will be posts of all the good things I encountered, saw, used, or experienced. The goal of this post is to share gratitude and the bright side of life.

To kick things off, here is my list from this week:
​

• I returned to the office on Monday and got to see students in person. I probably gave far too many overly enthusiastic greetings.
• In order to provide social distancing (and unmasked time), our director rejiggered who's in what space. That resulted in me having my own office. It may be temporary (until we move to remodel), but I am going to relish this experience. I've never had my own office before.
• Dinner this week included a recipe with pickled red onions. I love pickled onions.
  
• I did daycare drop-off three days in a row this week. It's a two mile walk with a slow incline most of the way. I ended up with that good kind of soreness in my calves.
• Before bedtime one night this week, my kid ran at me so fast for a hug that she knocked me over.
• Went to the zoo last weekend and the clouded leopard came right up to the fence. Also got to see the cheetahs tussle with one another. Oh! And it was the baby panda's first birthday and we got to seem him knock is ice sculpture treat over.
• I got to switch back to my "work purse" and it's a gray Kate Spade design that I adore. 

​What are your good things of the week?

The best part about having your own blog is that you get to make the rules.

After my vacation last week, I realized that I did not miss writing this weekly post. Since I'm trying to Marie Kondo my life better (and remove things that don't spark joy), I've decided to end this feature. 

I'll come up with something else to post on Fridays but the topic/theme is TBD. 

No posts this week. We're on vacation enjoying some beach time, family time, and a toddler free date night... or two.

Regular posts will resume on August 16, 2021.

I used to post regularly over on Blogger. (You can read my old blog here.) But then I had a baby and a pandemic hit. 

Now I'm ready to get back to writing regularly. I missed it. 

Well. If I'm being honest - I only missed some aspects of my old blog. All that time away gave me some perspective on what I like about writing and what I am ready to keep in the archives. 

Soon, I will get back to regular posting. I'll share what I'm working on, highlight my recommendations for the week, and give you an insight into those everyday things we look up. I will also post the occasional essay when the mood strikes. 

I spent some time thinking about what I want this fresh start to be.  In the end, I decided that I want this blog to do is encourage readers to indulge their curiosity. Daily life has constant moments of learning which we can share to grow both personally and professionally.

Feel free to comment regularly! I love learning. I also love seeing what others are excited about.