Almost finished... thank goodness!

I reached a state of near burn-out a few weeks ago, and it's all I could do to make sure my classes go well every day. I have not had energy for much else. To make it worse, the weather continues to be miserable. In the next 7 days, it won't top 65F, and it'll be raining most every day. I've been wearing sweaters and jackets, in Janurary! I now understand why people dress the way they do around here, though I hope to never see the day I wear a summer skirt with stockings and sneakers :)

Speaking of clothes, one of my girlfriends here (from the NYC area) wanted to get together for dinner and out to see Sex and the City. I wouldn't have gone otherwise, but it's fun to go out with my girlfriends. It was fun to see all the fancy clothes and shoes, and since most of us are east coast girls, we reminisced about dressing fancy, and all had similar feelings that we draw too much attention to ourselves around here if we pull out a cute outfit and fancy heals.

So back to the burn-out issue, the quarter is finally nearly over. Tomorrow is the last day of classes, and I am giving finals on Wed and Thurs next week. Nearly done now! I am so glad. I think classes have gone well this quarter, I'm hopeful for good evals, and have been able to try some new things and refine some of my teaching ideas I've been working on all year. I am VERY VERY glad for summer to start soon though... now if only the weather would make it FEEL like summer :)

(Did you notice the slip - I typed that it was January in the first paragraph - it's june!!)

"June-u-ary"

I have a friend here who is from Alabama (oddly enough, she knows one of my cousins well!). She calls June "Juneuary". I now understand why. I was fine with the weather here most of the year, but the last few weeks have been really rough on me. I'm sitting in my house typing this, wondering where the sun is, wearing a winter sweater, jeans and thick socks. It's not quite 60 degrees, and the air feels cold. We have only had 3 warm days here all spring! Happy June 1st everyone!! I need a vacation, and somewhere hot and sunny!

On top of the weather, I'm feeling quite burnt out, and am very ready for the school year to end. There's one week of classes to go, and then finals. I'm leaving town as soon as grades are in! I wish I could leave town today, but I have to force myself to buck up and end the school year well.

On the brighter note, yesterday's weather was better (70 and sunny by the afternoon - the morning was cold), and I totally cleaned the front year, and with Ryan's help, did a decent job of doing the biggest cleaning needs in the back yard. The back porch is now totally nice to sit on, and the path through the yard can be walked without needing to push branches aside. I bundled up and enjoyed the yard with breakfast on the porch this morning - totally worth it :)