Playfulness

In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen;
in small things they show themselves as they are.
Nicholas Chamfort

I don't ever want to stop playing. Life is as fun as you make it. Why not have a fuckton of fun? My favorite of the moment: old school sleepovers. Have a real, I-want-to-win pillow fight. Play a board game in bed with breaks for making out. Split a bowl of popcorn with someone and then start throwing them at each other's face into their mouth. Watch Spaced episodes back to back. Guess what time you think it is based on what it looks like outside. Make out some more. A lot more.

How I Like My Improv

Having been a student, performer, instructor and audience of improvisation for five years, I have developed a taste for a certain sort of improv.

FUNNY It may seem obvious, but it isn't. Every once in awhile I'll see an improv show that is serious just for the sake of being serious. Much in the same way some troupes will have an improv character fart, just for the "joke" of bodily function. I don't want to see your character have an abortion, get raped, die of cancer or have an abusive, drunkard boyfriend. That's real life, and that horrible shit happens to people. I want my improv to be an escape from reality, a blip of hilarity, poking fun at how we humans are.

VARIED I want my improv to be a collection of short and long scenes, big hearty laughs and tiny giggles, two person scenes and group scenes, game intense and character-based scenes, innocent and sexual, realistic and silly, twisting common ideas and pushing the line, lots of mime and talking heads. Give it to me: all you've got, every tool you have.

ENJOYABLE My favorite moment (when I'm watching improv) is to see a player have a hilarious scene or monologue staightfaced, and then, as the player walks to the side line, crack an amused smile. Not a laugh, but a smile. Something that tells me she's enjoying the comedy she's creating. Because then I just love the show even more.

Improvisation is good for you. It frees your mind. It lets you imagine and play. It demands quick thinking. It provides an outlet for fears, desires and your inner crazy. Plus, it's a great way to meet your husband and ensure a playful, hilarious life.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

As soon as Bryan's birthday comes around, it's that time. That wonderful, wonderful time of year. Holiday time! Fall vacation, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, Christmas, New Years! I love decorating for each holiday, and I love all the treats and parties that come along with them.

This holiday time will be my first without the warm, Southern weather, without family in any sort of driving distance, without long time friends, without the comfort of familiar territory. But I am still really, really excited. This is our first year experiencing the holidays as a married couple. While it is sad to be away from family, we're very excited to be creating our own family traditions this year.



There are only 93 days until Christmas. I'm excited about a snowy Christmas. I'm excited about buying our first Christmas tree. I'm excited about decorating our home for Christmas. I'm excited about making Christmas cookies for all the ladies in my office. I'm excited about watching Christmas movies. I'm excited about using our fireplace for heat - and for hanging stockings! I'm excited about buying presents for all our family and friends. I'm excited about pies, mittens, fluffy socks, eggnog, hats, mistletoe, Christmas cards, Ursinus holiday parties, plane trips to visit family and most of all, I'm excited about Bryan's and my academic holiday vacation which is exactly the same.

Week 1 Highlights

My first week in admissions is over. I got a chance to wear a bunch of my favorite clothes. And now it's time for some awards.

BEST BOTTOM - BEST TOP - BEST SHOES

I wish I could hand out awards for best high school club, best email username and most awesome essay, but I think it would break my confidentiality contract. I'll leave you with one last BEST award.

BEST METAPHOR: Like a cannonball in the pool, sports made a big splash in my life.

World of All Ladies

My office runs on estrogen. There is not one man in all of admissions. Well, that's a lie. There is the director of all admissions and he's a man. And one of the admission recruiters is a man. But neither of them ever come into the main admissions wing. So, as I was saying, there are no men in admissions.

And it's wonderful. Everyone is asking about your evening. They offer advice on great side dishes for dinner. They tell you where the good restaurants are. They encourage breaks of walking around campus. They are often coming by my desk to show my pictures of their grandkids and to oooh and aww over my wedding pictures. The bathrooms are spotless - and have automatic everythings! The supply of post-it notes, fancy pens and colored paperclips is bottomless. And each of them are married to a man working on campus - whether he's a professor, an IT guy or a dean. It's the cutest little bubble of a world.

And I suppose I fit in. I'm college educated, married to a professor, interested in these students, easily amused, a fan of womanly conversation and excited to find the best and most brilliant students to bring to Ursinus. (Plus, like I said before, it's wonderful to have the same hours, same commute and same world as Bryan.) If only every office could be full of women!

I wonder if men feel the same, in that they wish for the opposite.

I want a wife.

Recently, I switched from being a housewife to a real full-time job. The reasons were many, but it mostly boiled down to the fact that I was bored.

I was really happy in my job in North Carolina, but I am in love with this new job. It's fun to read the student applications. The admission ladies are so funny; one of them is obsessed with paperclips and another collects stickers. The hours match Bryan's. I'm thinking. I'm challenged. I'm watching students file and put stickers on folders - while I eavesdrop on the campus gossip. It's great.

But, I wish I had a housewife. The best thing about my being home often (with a few breaks for tutoring) was the awesome home I had. Everything was clean. The fridge was always full of wonderful, fresh food. Lunches were packed. Dinner was always executed an hour after Bryan got home. I even had time to pick out sweet gifts for friends and family birthdays. Now, my home is cluttered with papers, clothes and shoes. The laundry baskets are overflowing. Our suitcase is not yet unpacked. We really need groceries. And I bet the dinner pot and skillet are still dirty on the counter. Maybe I can convince Bryan that we need a housewife. Especially now that I'm banking. I'll be accepting applications on the down low. And you better be a fan of Laughing Cow cheese.

Your Sinus Add Me Ski Ons

"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work."
-Richard Bach

I started my new job at Ursinus College today. Not only am I pumped about working so close to our home and getting to wear my new heels, I really enjoy reading these applications. Unfortunately, I signed a confidentiality statement and am not allowed to post snipits of their essays, honors, email usernames or club listings as I had planned to.

Although we're encouraged to read the application from front to back, I like to read the essay first. It's hard to get a feel for someone from just their name, school, address and racial boxes. Reading the essays is like listening to these kids. Some are really intelligent with complex sentences and genuine discovery. Others are totally lame and you can tell they just copy and pasted the name of the college into this template essay. It's always funny to me when these students write with this overly dramatic tone, this my-life-was-useless-before-this-moment, this I'm-so-enlightened voice. They probably have been reading a lot of great works by authors who do write in that tone. The difference, though, is in the content: great works authors have incredible things to say; these high schoolers are just bullshitting.

Thus far, the most popular sentence variation I've read is: "That's when I knew, I had to help people." Which I find incredibly interesting.

Old People Pranks

My grandparents are adorable. They are still very much in love and still very much the spoil-my-grandkids grandparents (no matter how old we get). Bryan often tells me that if I turn out exactly like my Grandma, he would be so pleased. They are a wonderful pair and adorable on their own. Here's one example of my sweet Grandpa.

Last night was my sister's birthday party with the family. We skyped in to watch her blow candles, cut the cake and talk about presents. We also got to talk with everyone there (love technology!).

Soon after the skype call, I get a phone call. I answer it. On the other line, a voice says, "Turn that music down! It's too loud." And I just laugh. Because Bryan and I are watching tv together, at a normal, American volume. The voice says, "That party racket has got to stop!" I'm about to say something when the voice says, "Just kidding, it's me, your Grandpa!"

Oh, it would have been such a good prank call - except my cell phone has caller-id. I guess back in the fifties this would have been a killer joke.

Sugar Lumps

This is one of my favorite songs from Season 2. Seen it, own it, loved it.

Awesome design quotes

Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order.
Victor Papanek

Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.
Robert L. Peters

I think design covers so much more than the aesthetic. Design is fundamentally more. Design is usability. It is Information Architecture. It is Accessibility. This is all design.
Mark Boulton

The life of a designer is a life of fight: fight against the ugliness.
Massimo Vignelli

A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense.
Bruno Munari

Bed Bites

Beds are pretty personal. I, for one, always get a little awkward showing people our bedroom when they ask for a tour of our place. We all know what happens in a bed. And, everyone is very particular about their beds: the size, the shape, the firmness, the pillows, the sheets, all that. I have one friend who hates to travel just because she loves her own bed so much. I have another friend who has a twin size bed, so she ensures she stays over at her boyfriend's place. And I have one married friend who told us that a king size bed will save your marriage.

I read this article the other day written by an author who was excited to have a doctor back her up on sleeping in separate beds. Sleeping with someone is pretty intimate, and you have to know what you're in for. Obviously, no one wants to sleep with a snorer and no one wants a cover-hog in bed with her. But, this is the person you are in love with. There are ways to deal with it - if you happen to be sleeping with an intolerable slumber buddy.

I'd have an even bigger problem than Bryan's drooling if we wanted to sleep in separate beds. There's no way you're going to be cuddling, talking about silly things before sleep, enjoying the bed that cost you a good amount of money and certainly not hiding the sausage.

I am a firm believer in bed sharing. It's good for your relationship, it's great for the winter and best for sexercising.

Closet Therapy

It's pretty common for women to get pleasure out of shopping for new clothes. I'm right there with all the other women. I love new clothes, and I love the process of picking pieces, buying them and ripping off the tags.

But, hold the bus, I've come to love something even more: purging my closet. Purging means going through everything in the closet and deciding what you wear a lot, what you love and what hasn't been out of the house in six months. If it's still in good condition, it goes to Goodwill. If it's old or ugly, it gets trashed.

Yesterday, I purged. And my half of the closet looks wonderful. What's best about a purge is you can tell what you're missing from your wardrobe. For instance, I have four pairs of jeans that I just love. So I'm good on denim. But, I have only one pair of trousers. Not good. I also have several short sleeve work shirts, and only one long sleeve, button up shirt. Now, when we hit the stores today, I'll be best prepared to buy things that I need, not just what I crave.

Holla

I've been thinking. Mostly because I've started reading again, but I've been thinking nonetheless. Sometimes you just need to write. Maybe you don't, but I do. I've taken about a year off from my last blog, and I'm ready to write again for all the eyes of the blogosphere. Or just my mom. Regardless, I'm back.

As I experience moving 1000 miles from my hometown, as I begin my marriage, as I develop myself outside of college, as I continue to work in the "real world" and as I embark on adventure far from friends and family, I will start this new blog and fill it with thoughts from a lady brain.