Find a Quiet Spot and Breathe

I have been complaining too much about the weather.  Today, it was time to look at the situation differently. This morning was a decadently slow Saturday morning. I made myself a homemade latte and oatmeal and actually sat at the kitchen table to eat my breakfast. 

 The colors in this picture soothe me. I love the vibrant green of the plants and my chitangi material, the bright yellow of the lemons. Although the picture doesn't show it, our Saturday snowfall had begun, and fluffy tufts of snow were swirling outside the windows.  

I am undeniably a warm weather woman. A perfect day, in my opinion, is one when the sun is blazing, windows and doors can be thrown open, and shoes are optional. Even in wintertime, I can't help but open the windows sometimes, just to freshen the air. A Swiss friend of mine told me that her family opens the windows for a few minutes every day, regardless of temperature, to bring in fresh air. I like that habit. I read that that we inhale 12,000 liters (that's over 3,000 gallons) of air into our lungs. We inhale and exhale 20,000 times each day. However, 90% of our day is spent inside.

That "90%" must be a cold climate percentage. When I think back to my childhood in Zimbabwe, I'm sure that my time spent outdoors was significantly more than 10%!

My kitchen is a peaceful little place for me. It isn't quite the spacious gardens of southern Africa, but it's a start. It's my little oasis of green in a wintery grey world. 

Did you know that NASA began considering using houseplants for air purification on space stations in the 1980's? I started reading an article about their top ten choices. They include aloe vera, peace lilies, African violets, and spider plants, which are all in my kitchen! :) 

Pinterest is one of my favorite websites for quotes, projects, recipes and ideas for just about anything. I recently came across this "Manifesto for a Simple Life." I don't know the author, Kelly, or anything about her, but I like her words! This Saturday, my part to remember was to find a quiet spot and breathe. It helped to turn my complaining into thankfulness, to remind me to be thankful for green plants, warm coffee, candles, and even pretty snow.

 

Portland

I registered (well...sort of!  Keep reading.) for three conferences between the 16th and 29th of March.  The first was last week, and the last two are both on the West Coast.  I flew to Portland via Chicago yesterday, arriving at 11:30 p.m. (Pacific...2:30 a.m. Eastern!).  Fortunately, the airport shuttle driver Ryan was prompt, and my conference buddy and I were soon checked in, unpacked, and asleep.

I awoke at 6 a.m. to my cell phone ringing.  A student was calling to tell me that she couldn't come to class today.  I took that to mean that she hadn't remembered that I wasn't teaching class today!  Not long after that, we managed to make our way to the lobby, meet some other conference go-ers, find our way to the Max (Portland's trolley system), and arrive at the conference site!

Once we arrived, I had a little shock.  Apparently, I either forgot to register for this conference, or my registration got lost!  There is a little bit of humor in this, considering I was co-presenting a session at this conference with my advisor!  My name was printed in the conference program, but I was not registered to attend!  Haha.  I'm inclined to think that the error was on my end.  It is very plausible that when planning for this trip, last November, I thought I would register later and just never got around to it!  Either way, the same day registration rate was only $5 more.  My account can handle that difference.

The day was packed with good sessions, but by the end of it, my introverted self needed some silence.  As much as I have enjoyed the last week, it hasn't allowed ample time for solitude.  My roommate had plans for dinner and I made plans of my own.  I found a Starbucks, got myself a latte, walked in the drizzly rain for a little bit, and then went back to a quiet hotel room.

It was great! :)  Portland is already blooming and it's a delightful temperature, which has come to mean "not freezing."

Tomorrow is the start of the last of my three conferences.  This has a whopping 6500+ attendees.  The program book is quite literally a book.  Speaking of the book, I need to decide on my sessions for tomorrow!  Just to be clear, I am definitely registered for this one!

Fasnacht Day

Yesterday flew passed in a blur. I started off my day with my first early shift at the bakery.  I had to be there by 7:30.  It's been a long time since I have had to leave my house by 7, so I was a little worried I might oversleep.  As a result, I woke myself up at 5:30, long before I actually needed to be awake.  

I made it work ten minutes early.  

My shift was four hours long.  Considering that it was Fasnacht Day, we sold mostly fasnachts and wow, did we sell them.  I'm pretty sure we served over 400 customers in the four hours I was there.  One woman I helped was picking up a previously placed order of 17 DOZEN fasnachts.  

Overall, I did pretty well.  I'm technically still in training, but Thursday (Valentines Day!) will be my first day completely on my own.  My worst mistake was almost giving a woman incorrect change.  She needed $0.45 change.  I pulled out two dimes and a nickel.  In my mind, the currency was British pounds and the dimes were 20p coins!  Had we been using the currency I thought, my change would have been correct!  Thankfully, someone standing next to me caught it before I handed it to the woman.  

The morning was flat out insane.  By the afternoon, I was struggling to focus on my homework because I really wanted to go to sleep.  At six, I went to a friend's house to babysit her three kids until midnight.  By the time I got home, I wanted my bed so very badly!  Overall, I'm enjoying the bakery.  It is a busy job to have, but that makes time go quickly. 

In other job news, I just called about the teaching English job I mentioned.  I hadn't heard from them beyond a confirmation that they received my resume nearly two weeks ago.  As of this morning, they have not yet selected a teacher for the position.  I don't know that I have a strong change of getting the job, but at least I know it's still an option at this point.