Evening canoe trip

The great thing about Daylight Savings Time is that we can now do things after work! We went canoeing yesterday on Lake Mendota!

Warmer weather = Canoe trip!

Out on Lake Monona


Mark's canoe is the silver one behind us

The lake was still frozen in spots!

Yesterday I went shopping with Erin and Mark went and got groceries and went to drop off the canoe at Tenney Park. I called him to tell him I was home and we planned to meet up again. About 30 minutes later he came to my door and announced that he had canoed there from Tenney Park (there's a little park at the end of my street that's right on the lake). So we hopped in the canoe and canoed back to the park. It was a beautiful sunny day and with the sun beating down on us 48 degrees felt pretty nice. The lake is mostly unfrozen along the shore but we still ran into some icy patches. We saw a muskrat swimming at one point, and saw tons of ducks. It was fun seeing my neighborhood from a different vantage point. I'm sure this will be just one of many trips.

Spring!

If you scroll down and look at the last picture I posted like this you can see how much more open water there is now!

Mark pretending to hopscotch

These flowers are everywhere!

Top 5 Things I love about Spring!

1. The return of birds. I must admit that I only partially realized that so many birds had left for the winter. There were still lots of sparrows around and I couldn't really remember all the varieties of birds that had been here in the short stint of summer that I actually was in Madison. BUT...now that spring is here the air is filled with an almost ridiculous amount of bird song- whole choruses of all different birds. Mark and I first noticed the difference a few weeks ago. We heard a morning dove outside my apartment (that morning dove likes to hang outside my apartment every day now and I always here it around 7:30). Actually I can hear it now. Later that day coming back from skiing there was almost a deafening amount of bird singing coming from the park at the end of my street - cardinals, sparrows, other birds I didn't even recognize. The amount of songs has only increased since then. Seagulls, robins, hawks- they're all back because it's spring!

2. The weather. We've had a beautiful week of weather. That kind of perfect weather where you walk outside and you just feel excited to enjoy it. The kind of weather where you can wear 1 light sweater and cotton socks, and the sun feels good beating down on you. This is nice because you don't have to spend 15 minutes in the morning getting dressed in layers. It's funny because my definitions of "warm" and "cold" have definitely changed. Coming out of winter temperatures 45 feels warm and 65 feels almost hot. On the playground a couple days ago I was wearing a t-shirt and pants and was pushing the kids on swings. I wished that I was wearing shorts, and it was 65 degrees! The other plus of the weather is it makes my job MUCH easier. We can go outside without forcing 20 kids into snow pants, boots, jacket, hat, gloves...which takes AWHILE and some convincing. Now we can go outside without any jackets and everyone wants to go outside.

3. The extra hour of sunlight because of daylight savings time. This is the most wonderful thing. I didn't realize how much I missed the sun. Now after Mark and I leave work we can walk around and see things...in the daylight! We can also do things like go for a bike ride after work or play bocce ball. Soon the lake will be totally unfrozen and we'll be able to do things like go for canoe trips after work!

4. Green growing things. This is possibly one of the most exciting things for me. The great thing about seasons and being more tuned into things like the farmer's market is that you really notice life cycles. All this week I've been noticing tiny green shoots poking their heads out around the dead leaves and brown grass. Then a couple days ago I saw my first flowers! Now they're appearing everywhere. Cute purple, yellow and white flowers in everyone's front yard! It puts a skip in my step as I walk by each person's garden.

5. The reappearance of everyone outside. Now, I have to admit that even in winter I saw way more people outside than I ever saw in Florida- walking, running, even biking. But now that we have nice weather ago this number has at least quadrupled. It's fun to see that everyone else is excited about the spring weather. We see lots of people walking and biking. Kids are outside playing a lot more. Sidewalk chalk coats the sidewalks once again. Everyone has smiles on their faces. I can't exactly explain it, but it seems like you get more a sense of community and being together because we're all outside sharing this great weather. You see a person beaming and you can smile back at them and even though you've never met you both know the other person is reveling in the beautiful weather. It's a good feeling.

And one more

I have the inexplicable urge to can and make delicious jellies and preserves...mmmmm.

Probably because I found this website::

http://www.foodinjars.com/

Now I just need a canner. Sigh.

P.S.

In case there wasn't enough excitement included in my last post...the Eastside Farmer's Market on Tuesdays is moving to the Wil-mar Center...guess how far that is from my house...253 ft according to Google Maps...and you can walk there in 52 seconds. How's that for convenience?

In Between

I'm in a weird mental state where I really miss the snow and all the snowy activities you can do with snow, but am also LOVING seeing the grass and being able to ride bikes and wear just 1 sweater and no long underwear!!!!

SPRING IS OFFICIALLY HERE!

I guess the good thing about seasons is that it will be winter again in a year.

In other news 13 days until I'll be visiting Florida. Yay!

And WOW! I was just going to write 2 months until the outdoor farmer's market returns which would make me the happiest girl in the world, BUT it's only 1 month! WOW WOW WOW! So happy! I cannot wait! Hahahahahahahaha.

Spring has sprung

Or at least winter receded for the weekend. It got up to 45 this weekend so Mark and I went on a bike ride Saturday and Sunday! Tons of people were out enjoying the nice weather. There is still snow on the ground, but I'm sure after this week (there's supposed to be lots of rain) it'll be pretty much gone.
Brunch Sunday....MMMMMMMMM!

Last Winter Weekend

Last Weekend Mark and I:


Friday:::
Watched Stranger than Fiction
Went Ice Skating at Tenney Park for the last time and played tag (and of course brought hot cocoa)
Ate a spinach and feta pizza at Greenbush bar and played I Spy and 20 Questions while waiting
Made chocolate chip and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Saturday:::
Went CC skiing at Kettle Moraine
Had lunch with Mark's friends Jeff and Jamie and their two adorable kids Emma and Isaac
(We split two sandwiches...the walnut loaf who's name is unappealing was quite delicious and we had a tomato dill soup with chunks of tomato in it)
Drove around enjoying the local scenic beauty so I could warm up
Did another ski loop at Kettle Moraine

Sunday:::
Made artichoke, spinach, feta omelettes for breakfast
Cleaned
My friend Jennell came up to visit and we went out for coffee and went for a walk
Made tempeh, mozzarella, pasta sauce hoagies

It was a wonderful weekend and I'm glad we got out and enjoyed our last winter weekend because all this week the snow has been gradually melting and with temps above 40 this weekend and rain in the forecast I'm sure we'll lose the rest of the snow.

Mark and I have been playing pick-up sticks a lot since we started dating. Mark won a crazy amount of games in a row putting us at something like me: 2 him: 9, but our current score is me: 8 him: 11. I'm making a comeback! We're playing best out of 1,000.

:-) :-) :-)

Graduate School Update

Well the past few weeks have been interesting with all my grad school news trickling in slowly. Now I've heard from all the schools, but I still feel like I'm on the edge of my seat and still approach my mailbox with excitement each day (even though there's no more news coming and I generally just get junk mail).

So the final tally:
Rejected from: UW and UTexas
Waitlisted (again) at UGA
Accepted!!! UTenn and USF

What this means...

Even if I end up getting into UGA (which I probably won't since they accept 2 people) I probably wouldn't get financial aid and thus would be unable to go.

USF offered me a tuition waiver and 10 hours of work a week at 12 bucks an hour with the printmaking professor. However, as far as the program goes USF was my last choice.

UTenn didn't offer me anything, but I really want to go there so I did further research on scholarships/financial aid and ended up applying for an assistantship through the Student Success Center. I did the application pretty last minute and after so many dead ends in assistantship attempts did not expect to hear back. However, a couple days ago I was contacted to schedule a phone interview for the position! It's next Tuesday. I need everyone to cross their fingers for me. Even though it's just an interview and there's a good chance I won't get it, it's hard to keep from getting excited. The more and more I've thought about and researched UTenn I think it's a really good fit for me, better than UW (though I love Madison). IF I got the assistantship that would provide me with a tuition waiver, a $13,000 a year stipend, AND health insurance. It'd be a pretty sweet deal. Though I don't know if it'll pan out I've started looking at apts in Knoxville and have developed an obsession fro googling how far random things are from Knoxville. I am most excited about Knoxville's proximity to the Smokies. It'd make for lots of fun camping!

I'll keep everyone updated about my plans for next year. Currently in Madison everything is melting. The temperatures are going to get up to 43 this weekend (which sounds downright warm to me)! I will miss all my fun snowy adventures...but am sure this new weather will provide other fun activities.