Flowers, Sticky Toffee

Things got better. I apologize to anyone who talked to me on January 4th or 5th because I was kind of a mess. But teaching section on Thursday perked everything right up. We worked on tableaux, which was really fun for both me and the students, I think. They read Trifles by Susan Glaspell and then picked the parts of the play they felt were most important, then performed five tableaux. From there, we talked about stage pictures, levels, and blocking. We also talked a bit about the edited script, and authorial intent. And somehow, I left section feeling suddenly a whole lot better than I had earlier that morning, when I'd been seriously questioning my life choices. Thursday continued to perk up; we had a PhD coffee with a job candidate and I got steamed milk with vanilla and almond syrup; Sarah (my gourmet chef friend) brought me pasta to heat up for dinner and, because it was Sarah, it was no ordinary pasta-- it had shallots, crumbled pecans, parsley, feta, and parmesan.

But the best part was returning home to find flowers outside my door!!! Zan sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses and carnations in bright reds, yellows, and oranges! I was so happy I got all teared up and it was very humany-wumany as the Doctor would say.


Aren't they beautiful? So cheerful! So I put away the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and put up the bright flowers in its place-- a small reminder that spring-- AND ZAN!-- is on its way.

Friday continued on an upswing. We had seminar to make up for missing it yesterday, which kind of sucked, but after seminar Liz and I went to Smith, the gastropub we visited before first quarter started. It's so wonderful to spend time with human beings, and I really enjoy hanging out with Liz. We sat at the bar and had cocktails-- mine was called Curtain Call (how appropriate), and I got a hamburger, macaroni and cheese, and best of all, Sticky Toffee Pudding! It tasted so incredibly British! Thank goodness I've found a place to get Sticky Toffee Pudding! It's what I crave most when I'm not near the UK. Next time I'll remember to take a picture of it before I devour it in a matter of minutes.

And today-- the grocery store! And reading!...in French? Hooray!