Some Stuff I Did

This post is just a lot of things I've done over the last two weeks that were awesome, but that don't get their own blog posts, because I either don't have pictures and/or a whole post worth of things to say about them.

+ Fake Mood. My sister is in her last semester of her fashion design program, and is getting ready to send her collection down the runway in this year's fashion show! Rachel is still working on her garments though, so when I went up to visit the other weekend, she took me to this wholesale designer fabric store in Dallas called Golden D'or (pronounced "Dior," according to her). And because I've seen so many episodes of Project Runway, all I could think about was designers running through Mood (the fabric store they use on the show). Except that this was less stressful, and we spent more time waiting around for people to come help us with the giant rolls of satin. (I tried to convince her she should make a dress out of this lovely, soft white faux fur I found, or something really bright with sequins, but it's probably a good thing that she never listens to me.) There were so many beautiful fabrics, I don't know what I would have chosen if I'd had a project to make!

+ The Primaries. I volunteered to be an election worker for the primaries earlier this week. I loved the idea of being able to contribute and do my part in our country's democratic processes, and was excited to be there, but I was kind of bummed that I was working in such a remote precinct. I was there for seven hours and we didn't really have all that many people turn up to vote, which was disappointing.

+ Salsa Dancing. A few weeks ago, while Matt was working on his dissertation, my friend Amy invited me out to go salsa dancing. I hadn't gone out dancing in a really long time, so thank goodness the night included a class so I could remember some of the moves! There was a good mix of guys and girls there, so there were plenty of people to dance with (some better than others). I actually had a guy — that had clearly been taking lessons for a long time — tell me to stop trying to lead and let him do it! Ha! I'm used to dancing with Matt, and he doesn't mind when I lead because he doesn't know what he's doing. :) After the lesson, they opened up the floor for freestyle salsa and merengue, which is much easier than salsa since it's basically just walking in time to the music. I'm really glad Amy convinced me to go, and hopefully we'll get to go again sometime.

+ Visiting My Grandparents. Again, on a day Matt was hunkered down over his keyboard, my grandma invited me and Rachel to come to visit her and my grandpa. Rachel wasn't able to make it, but I went anyway and had lunch with them and hung out for a while. My grandma showed me her wedding album, which I had never seen before; even though I'm no longer blogging about weddings, I still love looking at pictures of them! I also went on a bike ride with my grandpa, though not too far since I had been out of practice and it was pretty warm out. It was so nice to get outside. I love getting to visit them. :)

+ Graduation. A few months ago, I found out that Rachel was going to be graduating with her B.A. in May. Fantastic! It's been a long time coming for her, and I am so proud of her. But I was also concerned, because Matt will also be graduating in May with his Ph.D., and both commencements were scheduled for the same weekend. In waiting for the actual graduation dates and times to be released, I agonized over what I would do if they fell on the same day, or even at the same time. Rachel wants me to be at hers really badly; Matt says he doesn't mind if I miss his, but a Ph.D. is a really big deal and I want to be there to celebrate with him! Last weekend, I finally found out — they're on the same day. Rachel's will be first, and Matt's will be six hours later. It's a four-hour drive between the two schools, if traffic ceases to exist that day, which on a graduation weekend is — let's face it — extremely  unlikely. I don't mind celebrating Rachel's the day before and leaving as soon as her name is called and truckin' it down to College Station again, but since doctoral candidates usually go first during commencement, I would worry that I would accidentally miss Matt graduating, and that me driving like a bat out of hell wouldn't be worth it. So I've booked a flight back to College Station. It's less than an hour long. Dear air travel, I appreciate you, even though I hate flying.

What's going on in your world?