So it arrives again, an Adventure Day that I will not allow to be 'normal' under what I would consider to be typically so. With that, my lil brain got thinking and I came up with this: A picture EVERY HOUR of my Adventure Day. And not just any picture--a headshot. I realize that more often than not, the blog pictures are not of myself but of differing aspects of my day (usually the food I eat or some other mundane photo subject). With that, I shall get us started from my wake-up hour to the hour before I went to sleep (I didn't quite snap a pic after midnight--my bad).
7-something AM: I'm up and awake! This smile is so genuine--I'm a morning person and proud of it! Not only that, but lately I get extra excited just thinking about how soon I will be heading home to see my family and Brian. Every wake-up is one wake-up closer to Friday.
8-something AM: A surprise left for Aeryn! Yep, the night before I had Alissa and Hannah over for some fun chick flick watching times, and Hannah brought cereal wreath treats. There was a leftover one, so I snagged it for Aeryn and labeled it for her so that she could enjoy the surprise (perhaps for breakfast?) Also, let me introduce you to 'cheese face.' This easily identifiable facial feature is one first created by my brother Zach. It was his go-to smile when he was younger, and while it looks very fake, it is at times deceiving because a true smile can be concealed within. I will use cheese face often in this post--it's up to you to determine its genuinity.
9-something AM: Obviously since it was a Tuesday, I was allowed to delay the getting-ready-routine and could busy myself with other things for awhile. This morning's project: make cookies for the generous Geoff, who saved the day and agreed to drive me to AND from work (carpool chaos--long story). But yeah, below is my attept at being successful with a bag cookie mix. (Spoiler alert: they weren't that great. I can succeed at complicated recipes, but these were just a mess and should have been easy. Oh well.)
10-something AM: I got ready for the day and could head outside for my ride to work! And look--baked cookies got all wrapped up on a foil-covered plate (to hide their uglyness?). My smile here is a little strained...carpool was causing stess yesterday morning, let's just say that.
11-something AM: I made it to work and was crunching numbers for my monthly expense report. Not the funnest thing in the world--excel and I don't get along, and at times numbers don't like me eitiher...
12-something PM: Time to eat some foods! Yum! Green pepper!
1-something PM: Pretty sure I was texting Brian...or collegians...or something. Definitely used my phone (as I always do on work days for texting capabilities), but I didn't use it as much as usual since the battery only went down one bar over the course of the day.
2-something PM: Hard at work prepping for the next day's Boys & Girls Club workshops, I noticed that earlier that day while baking I had burned my hand. Ufortunately in the picture you can't see the burn at all. Just know that it exists. Didn't even hurt, but I'm a drama queen at times and my 'smile' might be tapping into that need for sympathy, haha.
3-something PM: I don't think I talked on the phone to any students yesterday (it's their winter break, and I feel guilty for doing that, so I've been sticking to Facebook chat and texting), but I talked to my program manager and CoFo's tech guy Andy, so the office phone got a lil use. Oh yeah, I checked my voicemail once too...the sad news is that there weren't any messages for Coach Ali.
4-something PM: Holy chapped lips, Batman! It might not be cold and balmy here in Texas, but that doesn't mean I don't still use my ancient Bronco Bash chapstick that I once hoarded in a small quantity from a couple years ago. Good stuff!
5-something PM: The day started dragging. This week at work is not especially busy for me, and I tried to keep myself motivated and working with a lil music from my iTouch (don't ya love my screen saver?! It's DUNCAN!).
6-something PM: The day is wrapping up! But...I had to re-do my expense report that I had worked so hard on earlier in the day because it didn't print right...and then to my dismay it also didn't save right so I had to re-do everything. Of course there were extra errors and struggles along the way, but the positive is that it kept me busy and focused on something for the remainder of the hour.
7-something PM: Getting home from work took quite awhile, and while I wasn't in any hurry, I was glad to be back in my apartment and not leaving to go anywhere for the rest of the night. Do I look a little frazzled? It was time for me to get some dinner!
8-something PM: Post dinnertime, I got my clothes ready and set for the next morning. I was sure to track down my CoFo shirt, since it was finally the big workshop day for the Boys & Girls Club, and I wanted to represent CoFo in the best way I can by wearing the appropriate attire.
9-something PM: Do I look a lil more genuinely happy/more cheerful in these evening hours? Well, I figured out a potential itinerary for February grad school interview travels, which had been worrying me a bit earlier in the day, since dates weren't quite working and expenses were adding up. I talked it out with Brian over the phone, and we have a pretty legit plan in the works (more updates on that during another blog post).
10-something PM: While Skyping Brian, I usually find myself wanting my sweet nighttime snack foods, and last night was no different. I chowed down on half of a Hershey's special dark chocolate bar and found myself to be pretty happy and full of sugar.
11-something PM: And of course the chocolate wasn't enough sugar because I needed to consume a Blow Pop as well. I had reached my sugar max at that point (well, not really, but I think it's good that I stopped, haha), and by midnight, I told Brian good night and got ready for bed. Not much more to report on after that. Was that mildly entertaining perhaps?
Oh and hey--Friday is exciting because I'll be headed to NoDak for some holiday family fun times! Get excited, folks!
