There's just a feeling in the air!

Spring is coming!

I'm in such a terrific mood today! It's a nice reversal of last week when I was horribly cranky for absolutely no reason at all. I'm convinced I was channeling the moods of friends and family.

I went to work today from 8:00 to 1:00, which should have sucked because, a) I don't usually work Fridays, making this a very long week (particularly after last week when I worked two days and the week before when I worked two days, LOL), and, b) I usually go in at 9:00 and mornings and I are not traditionally friends.

Today did not suck, however, for which I'm quite thankful. Work flew by, and I've spent the afternoon working on my research assistantship (and surfing the web). I'm being quite productive, amazingly, and I'm happy to boot.

I was just reading this book, An Epistle to Posterity by Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood, for the research assistantship I'm doing. In the chapter I just finished, MEWS describes a trip to Switzerland that she took in the 1860s... and it sounds majestic and enchanting. I'm enamored, and I suddenly have a burning desire to visit Switzerland and much of eastern Europe. Dorkily enough, her passages remind me of the non-creepy passages of Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. I get the sense (and rightly so, I think) that eastern Europe has an immense, rich history that is greatly complimented by the lush beauty of the region. I wonder if I could do a semester abroad there?

Speaking of semesters anywhere, I'm still trying to decide where to go to graduate school. It's between Simmons College in Boston and University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I love Ann Arbor, but I don't love the idea of being in the Midwest. I think Boston could be a great adventure and an excellent horizon-widening experience for me. Plus Simmons DOES have study abroad in the MLS program... I'm really leaning toward Simmons lately. I can't really pinpoint why, but I guess I'm just drawn to the intellectual scene there (in Boston and Cambridge), plus its proximity to my family and friends is deeply appealing.

I've just been imagining summer in this apartment, and I love what I've created. It's nothing special, but the sliding glass door to the balcony is open with a fan in front (it's hot!), and Sarah and I take long walks in the evenings (it's light out past 4pm!). I'm hugely sad that I'm not going to live here for longer. I need to go elsewhere, though, just for the experience if nothing else... and of course for grad school. I strongly suspect I'll come back, and perhaps not too far in the future. Imagine... I could work at Dartmouth... it could be wonderful.

In other news, Tiggs and I have officially made up after our falling out of last week (she peed into a suitcase of my clothing because the door was shut to the bathroom when she needed the litter box - excuse me for showering!). She's snuggled up to me now, probably mostly because she misses Sarah, who is away on a sales retreat in South Carolina (North Carolina? I should know this...) for a few days.

Next week is Birthday Week 2010 as I've dubbed it. Monday is my birthday (and I even have the day off!) and Wednesday is Sarah's. We're going out for a nice dinner on Tuesday night, and tomorrow my mom, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece are coming to visit me for dinner. They're bringing me a homemade carrot cake! Yum! And my mom got me a new yoga mat and blocks and a strap as b-day gifts; she seems to have rightly predicted my growing obsession with yoga!

I guess I've rambled on for long enough now... off to do more reading and writing!