life lately

now that we are both adult working people who come home exhausted and/or stressed, i sometimes wish i had my carefree student life that didn't seem so carefree to me at the time. it was. so if that's you, savor it, ok? i know, like a billion people told me that and i didn't listen, so listen. i guess i just didn't realize how much life is dictated by jobs and vacation time and sick days and did you know that you get very little vacation time when you first enter the work force? i didn't. my english degree did not include that detail.

i'm not trying to be a downer though -- life is good. i went to my first teacher in-service this week with the funniest african american women you've ever met. our staff meetings are hilarious. people just stand up and sing or shout or say "praise jesus" or yell or dance. they asked me why i wasn't drinking coffee or tea one morning and i told them i'm a hot chocolate addict. the next morning there were packets of hot chocolate in the teacher room and my heart melted. next week we're having a soul food potluck...fried okra, fried catfish, fried chicken, and collard greens. gotta love it. this is where my days will be spent the next two years...

last night we did our favorite thing: walking downtown. we walked down the magnificent mile that really felt like 26 miles. but really, we love the city at night. it's beautiful.

i go to grad school two nights a week in the sketchiest neighborhood i've ever seen. we have security guards with bullet proof vests that escort us to our cars since the satellite location for our university is in the #2 highest crime area in chicago. really, it's not that bad but i laughed when my mom said, "do you feel safe walking out to your car?"

my lovely paris friend brittany sent me this today.
amen.
so beautiful that these are actually sold.
{that's dark chocolate}

i know, this is all random. but, cheers to anti-stress.