Life is good.

This past week has had its ups & downs as I began resuming responsabilities after my week off post-Spain. Jobs are hard to find, GRE stuff is scaring the stuffing out of me and Grad school apps are giving me PTSD-esque flashbacks to the hellish experience of college apps. (Do I really want to do this all again? Yes, Kate, you do.) (Do I?) (Yes. Maybe.)

But life has been mostly sunshine when you look at it:

*I had a great and much-needed catch up session with my best friend Elise over delivery Chinese food and a movie. We talked through the movie and drank a succession of Shirley Temples until I went into a happy sugar coma.

*My nephew continued to be cute--in fact he GREW in cuteness. True fact. Need proof?



*We celebrated Father's Day early with a delicious breakfast at The Egg and I and followed it up with a viewing of "The Invention of Lying" (Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Rob Lowe, etc.)--my parents picked it up for $5 at Target and it was actually super cute.

*My sister and I continued to be awesome. I'd tell you more about it, but you'd probably look at me like I was crazy and I'd just say "you had to be there." (Right, Jen?) ("Why are you talking to the baby about venereal diseases?")

*I fixed up my room and hung some new pictures.

{The sketch in the bottom-middle is of the library on the Rhodes campus. At graduation each Senior was allowed to pick a sketch of a building on campus and naturally I picked the library--heck I lived there! Anyway, you can tell I am a dork and love libaries since I actually framed and hung the thing.}

Here's my reading corner where I spend a lot of time, natch. The print I hung above the chair is one I bought in Palma de Mallorca. I was in love with the artist's work and we chatted it up and became friends. I ended up buying a piece of her art for my nephew/sister, my friend and one for me.

I wish I could get the details more clearly, but it's an ant being carried away on a lasso of words right up to the moon. Perfect for me and perfect for my reading corner.

I also re-did the space above my desk so I could hang the gorgeous picture Chris got me from Japan on his last deployment (top left). Isn't it lovely? I also cleaned off the clutter and updated a few photos.

*I finally got to bake again! I love Emma the Joy's blog in general, but I especially love her recipe index. I've basically been bookmarking recipes from her blog all year while I was living sans oven and now I finally get to try them all out. I started with Homemade Oreos ...yum!

*I've also finally gotten to cook with an oven again. Tonight I made my favorite comfort food: Baked Mac 'n' Cheese. It was perfect for this rainy cold Colorado day. No pictures of that 'cause we just ate it right up.

*And last but most definitely X 1000 not least: I got to chat with bestie Tina for a good hour the other day...and then today she texted me to say she got us tickets to see The Colbert Report when I'm in NYC! Thank you so much Tina, you are the best. She knows I LOVE Colbert.

So, I guess the moral of the story (oops, was I not telling a story?) is that while I am feeling stressed and a bit worried at my state of life lately, I am also very happy and trying to focus on that.

What have you been up to? Please share.