Random Round Up: Country Time

A weekend away in the country at my parents' house was just what the doctor ordered. A quick 24 hour total time away, but sometimes a brief change of scenery is all ya need to get recharged for a (really, really, really) long week ahead.

A family friend knitted the most adorable octopus for Baby J - I promptly named him Oggie.

The hazards of living with a crafty person...

My mom's beautiful heirloom tomatoes.

The amount of smoke and haze from the fires over the mountains in Eastern
Washington was unreal. It's getting really scary for my beautiful state.

A butterfly feeds on the marigolds keeping pests away from the tomatoes.

I've got some 10 and 11 hour workdays coming this week, and Nate is starting school again, so wish us luck as we enter the fray! Cheers, guys.

Tragedy Comes Home

I'm a proud graduate of Seattle Pacific University, and in the face of extreme tragedy, can say I'm prouder still of the way the university and students have handled themselves.

Thursday my jaw hit the ground as I watched every local news channel cover a shooting in an SPU building. The phrase "tight-knit community" isn't just a newscast catch phrase on this one. I can say from first-hand experience that SPU is a seriously tight-knit, home-away-from-home, community-oriented place. And to have it shattered so ruthlessly was beyond shocking.

I couldn't believe the cross that appeared in my Instagram #PrayForSPU search.

We won't talk about how long it's been since I graduated, but we definitely weren't running terrorism drills in class. I was shocked to hear a student in her senior year being interviewed say she knew what to do because of drills run twice yearly. It's both amazing and terribly sad to me that those are now an expected part of collegiate life.

Please, keep SPU as a whole in your thoughts and prayers. The story may be fading in the news, but for the students, faculty, and alumni the moment has not nearly passed. If you'd like to contribute in any way to the victims, you can do so by clicking here and choosing the SPU Rise Above Fund from the designation drop-down menu, created specifically to support those affected by this tragedy.

Thank you, from this alumna, for any good vibes of all sorts. They're felt.

Random Round Up: College Game Day

In my last post, I told you about College Game Day coming to the Udub campus... And it was everything we hoped it would be!

The library was the perfect crack-o-dawn backdrop - Gorgeous!

Watching the show from our truck bed.

Every detail covered for the big game.

The band was in fine form at every commercial break:

And of course, Corso's pick - Not popular with the tailgating crowd!

So much fun. Here's hoping the first time isn't the last time they visit!

Game Day, Baby!

This whole 'real life' thing is really getting in the way of my blogging schedule this week. Sorry kids!

Now: I have news.

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If you're a college football fan you know and love (or hate but still know, so either way...) College Game Day on ESPN. Every Saturday morning at 6am PST, the guys appear on screen and give their 2 cents on odds of winning, stats, and upset alerts on, well, college games. They travel around the country to broadcast from the school of the notable game happening that week, and it's all capped off by Lee Corso putting on the head of whatever mascot he thinks is going to win said notable game. "The Pit", an area for students and fans to gather behind the broadcaster's table, gets packed with drunk excited college kids waving signs and wearing their colors proudly.

And this whole dog and pony show is broadcasting from the University of Washington because the Huskies vs. the University of Oregon Ducks (boooo!) is The. Big. Game. this weekend. A-woohoo!!!!!

Thankfully we won't be there when the lines open, but probably still early enough to be called crazy. ...And I'm okay with that. Go Dawgs!!

Bragtastic.

Skip this if you don't want to hear a proud wife brag. You've been warned.

Nate has officially begun the engineering degree, and the kickoff is calculus. Just spelling out the word makes me gag, let alone looking at the numbers. But the hubs is good at math, and is proving it by being officially an A student.

I really could not be prouder. Bursting!! First assignment: A. Second assignment: A. First exam? A.

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After working hard all day he comes home and hits the books for at least 2 hours - Longer on the weekends. The class is a distance course, meaning it's 100% online and is pretty much self-taught. The professor assigns the homework, Nate does it, scans and submits his work, and waits for feedback while starting on the next assignment. He finds lectures and examples by searching YouTube and other internet sources, and takes notes from those and his textbook. The tests are timed, meaning I got to "help" on this first one by firing up the iPhone stopwatch and answering every time I heard a "how much time have I got left?" from the dining room.

His dedication and focus are just amazing to me. Proud, proud, proud of you, babe.

This week's Random Round Up will be coming a little later in the week - Had to mix things up to make room for my pride!

Random Round Up: New & Improved

I didn't take a ton of pics this week/end, so mixing it up a little for today's Round Up. Some of this info is newer then the rest, but all will hopefully improve us. Too cryptic? Let me break it down.

We've been suddenly more active outside of the house of late. Nate and I have both been athletes in some form our whole lives, and I've been jealous as he gets to play soccer in a men's league. Lucky for me, I finally broke into a volleyball team in a work-based league! It's not as high of a competition level as I'd ideally enjoy, but it's been great (here we are in week 7 and I've forgotten to mention it thus far) to get my hands on a ball and play with a team again.

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I also finally pulled the trigger and signed up for my first 5k race. It's been a goal of mine for years, but since I loathe running, it took a lot for me to actually think about really, truly, doing it. Nate and I singed up for The Color Run in May, leaving me plenty of time to train. It was my second session of two-runs-per-week this last week, and I hit the two mile mark. It's not a lot, but it's a lot for me!

You can see if it's headed for your city here.

Last and most exciting: Nate has been accepted into a distance civil engineering program through the University of North Dakota! He won't start for about a year, due to timing of the web-based schedule, but it's a huge deal. I think he's so brave for committing to it and going all in. PROUD WIFE!!

Funnily enough my father-in-law graduated from the engineering program at UND as well (he attended in person), so we're keeping it in the family. Go Sioux!