A Unique Week

The past week was mostly just out of the ordinary. Matt and I don't have much of a routine at all, but even this week was strange.

First-- I had a hard deadline for my dissertation proposal which I have to go to Lubbock and defend next week. Basically I have to get a-okay from my committee that I should proceed forward with my research as I have it planned because the next time we meet as a group I will be defending the whole thing. You can fail your prospectus so I was nervous. I also realized that there were some components I hadn't yet considered so I needed to get to work. I went to Stillwater because I love working at the library. This experience was a little reminiscent of my comps experience so it was also stressful and draining.
I had also just finished a weekend of planning and entertaining for Matt's birthday and Easter so I was already starting off tired.

The next day was Earth Day which is one of my MOST FAVORITE holidays. Or celebrations. I'm not sure. But the point is, I am always excited for earth day. So the question becomes "What kind of idiot schedules her dissertation proposal to be due on one of her favorite holidays???" This one, apparently.  To finish up my proposal I went to UCO (University of Central Oklahoma) and on my way I got to visit their Earth Day festivities. I really like the UCO campus. I would also like them to hire me. 

Wednesday I had all kinds of last minute work to complete.

Then Thursday was particularly unique. First I took Matt's cousin who is in middle school and lives very close to us to school. He is a good kid and I was more than happy to do it but it was also a little different for my routine. I learned that school traffic kind of stresses me out.

Then I come home and the storm shelter people are waiting on me so they can install our shelter. After the Moore Tornado events last year and my own tornado experience we decided we should install one. It wasn't one of our more exciting home improvement ventures but it needed to be done. Maybe in 2015 we will do something cool.

These guys took all of three hours from start to finish. Unbelievable.

And Matt had to come get Pistol and take him to the groomer because he was looking like a homeless dog.

And throughout the morning I was preparing my PowerPoint presentation to teach Ms. Stewart's second grade class about the importance of water and plants as part of her earth week discussions. They were great and much more active learners than college kids. This was a lot of fun and I hope Ms. Stewart asks me back in the future. 

So I come home and get Pistol and then Thursday night is date night. It was so pretty outside we had to spend some time on the patio visiting since I had been so distracted this week. We enjoyed the wine that Sarah and Andrew got Matt for his birthday. If you're looking for a good wine-- "Educated Guess" Cabernet Sauvignon is a good pick. 

And then we took our wine down into the storm shelter to check it out. As long as we have no more than four guests during a catastrophe we should be fine.

And then we branched out in the food department. We went to a Peruvian place called La Brasa in OKC which was terrific. We will definitely go back.

Ceviche Mixto

Delish-- and plenty for left overs!

Matt had Friday off. He had a golf tournament with work and I felt really not great. I am concerned about my upper back and the tension it is causing all the way to the base of my head. I figure that yoga and a good massage may fix me up but I stretch all the time and I'm not getting much relief so I might need to have it checked out.  After a good nap we went to mail off the Kindle Fire Tablets (6!) that participants in my survey won. It is so much fun to email people and tell them they won such a cool prize.  I also sent off a very special gift that I'll blog about once the person receives it. I hope they are stoked because it's been a long time coming and the symbolism (for me anyway) means as much as the value of the gift. Actually... much much more.

On Saturday we had several friends come and stay with us because they were running in the OKC Memorial Run Marathon and Half Marathon. What champs. I do not aspire to ever run a marathon. I just don't think it's for me. But their hard work makes me want to really kick butt at the upcoming Warrior Dash 5K that Joe and I are doing in May.
We had some friends over and watched the Thunder game (win!) and then Sunday was race day. There was torrential down pour the morning of the race. I thought we were going to have to cram everyone into that storm shelter after all.

Hannah is a marathon running person of greatness. I think she said this was her fifth.

Look at her. She is like the ridiculously photogenic guy. Especially if my phone took better quality pictures. 

Bryan ran the half marathon (which we unfortunately missed) and Larissa also ran the marathon. Go them. What an incredible achievement. 

Matt and I just spectated and were supportive. 

There were also some incredible people running the race. This is Cassie's family doing a relay as a team pushing her the whole way. That'll make you tear up.

And after the race we came home and took a nap because watching people do exhausting things is exhausting. Even Pistol was worn out and he didn't even go.

All in all it wasn't a bad week. It was a good week which sort of started with stress and then wound down into relaxation and fun. Back to routine this week and I must complete my grading and then write that PowerPoint presentation for my proposal defense. 

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