Life

  • Book Love,  Holidays,  Life

    What’s Up, Thursday?

    Because we’ve had a bunch of pre-scheduled posts in a row, I wanted to do a quick “currently” post yesterday (The title “What’s Up, Wednesday?” just sounds SO MUCH BETTER), but I kiiiinnnndddd of let yesterday get away from me. It all started when I started trying to find the text of the eyewitness testimony by John S. Smith about the Sand Creek Massacre to share with my students. Then before I realized it was happening, I found myself in the middle of a four hour primary document bender. Historian problems. Psh. But anyway, better late than never, I guess. Currently I’m… …working on: some book reviews for on here.…

  • Book Love,  Life,  Other Crafty Stuff,  School School School

    Magpie’s Adventures in Bullet Journaling

    Bullet Journaling has really fascinated me ever since Jenn from With Luck Blog brought it to my attention way back when I posted about planners. The concept seemed to work really well with the system I was currently using for my to-do lists, but there was one big issue with it – the inability to plan ahead by more than a month or so. As a freelance musician, I sometimes book weddings and masses months and even years in advance (funerals, not so much), so the lack of a static monthly calendar in the system was a major flaw for me. But everything else seemed so great… so I decided…

  • Life

    Get To Know Me Better Reader Questionnaire

    Emma over at BluChickenNinja posted this reader questionnaire last week, and tagged everyone who felt like doing it. I think it’s a neat little survey that got me thinking about my reading habits and preferences, and it’s been a while since we had a “Get to know me” kind of post, so here goes nothing! In turn, I also tag anyone who feels like completing this survey – I’d love to read your answers! 1. What is your favourite book? Oh god, starting with a difficult one here. I’m not sure I could actually narrow it down to one single favorite book. If we’re judging by number of re-reads, it…

  • Life,  Other Crafty Stuff

    So I Guess I Scrapbook?

    So a few weeks ago after I saw this post on A Beautiful Mess, I re-caught the photo album bug. I’ve never liked calling what I do “scrapbooking.” When I hear the word “scrapbooking” I think of those aisles upon aisles full of (often super cheesy) stickers at Michael’s. I think of hundreds of dollars worth of supplies and countless hours going into a single page that highlights a single picture. I think of albums that quite honestly are more embellishment than photo, stuffy, formal, and TOO perfect. And I’m just not down with that. I don’t have the time, I don’t have the money, I don’t have the patience,…

  • Holidays,  Life,  Lists,  Pet Related Posts

    I’m Thankful For…

    So… uhhh… I guess it’s a week and a half into December? What? When did that happen? But… uhhh… I haven’t even made my Thanksgiving thankful for post yet. Whoops. I SWEAR Thanksgiving was just yesterday. SWEAR. But anyway, this year I’m thankful for the little things. My schedule has made for a very overwhelming semester, and as we wind down I’ve had to try REALLY hard to remind myself to take joy in the small things. Because when I remember, oh boy does it help take some of the weight off. So this year I’m thankful for… … pink “kitten” noses.* …a good cup of coffee and a dash…

  • Book Love,  Holidays,  Life,  Movies and TV,  School School School

    Monday Update

    It’s been a looonnnnggg but boring and busy few weeks, with minimal time for creating bloggy material and content happening in my life, so I figure it’s time for a quick update on what’s been keeping me occupied. I’m… …working on: grading research papers. I’ve got 105 five to seven page papers to work through. Even just looking at the stack is overwhelming. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s all for the greater good. And that the massive amounts of unpaid time I use notating and commenting on their writing will help them in the future because they’ll take what they learn from this experience and apply it…

  • Life,  Movies and TV

    Monday Update

    I know I’ve sort of dropped off the radar lately – it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, and I just have not been good about keeping up with things. So here’s a little bit of what’s going on with me to at least let me feel like I’m not COMPLETELY neglecting by bloggerly duties. I’m currently… …working on: Powerpoints. Powerpoints, upon powerpoints, upon powerpoints. I’ve never gone the powerpoint route for the class I’m teaching this semester – but now that I’ve started I’ve gotten myself into a jam, because I’ve set a precedent. So now I have to make them for EVERYTHING I cover this semester. And let…

  • Life,  Magpie Runs

    So I Guess I’m a “Runner” Now?

    So, I haven’t really been talking about it on the blog here, because talking about the fact that I’m working on something can sometimes give me a false sense of accomplishment (which often results in me slacking off on exactly that thing I’m working on), but this summer I started a Couch to 5k program. Now, I’ve been going a bit slower than even the program suggests – It’s been an awfully long time since I ran regularly, so I’m taking it one baby step at a time. I was also about 25-30 pounds lighter last time I did this, so I didn’t want to stress out my joints too…

  • Life,  Pet Related Posts

    New Addition…

    We got a new addition to our apartment last week. Blogosphere? Meet Olive. The apartmentmate got her last week, and we all fell in love instantly. She’s about four months old, and seriously one of the most energetic, friendliest cats I’ve ever met. And this face! The only real problem is that she’s VERY hard to photograph. Between how dark she is, and the fact that the only time she’s sitting still is when she’s fast asleep… it’s pretty much impossible. Except, sometimes I get lucky.