Foto Friday: Fall Faves

 1. Foliage 

 2. Boots and Sweaters

 3. Hiking

4. Pumpkin anything

 5. M. - a perennial favorite

What are some of your fall favorites? 

Foto Friday: Pike's Place Market

While in Seattle last week, I spent a fair amount of time walking around Pike's Place Market. Since my hotel was only about a 15 minute walk away, I ate lunch there twice, indulging in fresh seafood and other market goodies. I also stood in a long but swiftly moving line for a cup of coffee from the original Starbucks.

Foto Friday: Camino de Santiago

Four years ago today, I set off on a journey that changed me.  I took a train from Madrid to Leon and then a bus from there to Astorga.  I spent the next ten days walking across the north of Spain to Santiago de Compostela, following a route that pilgrims have followed since the Middle Ages.  It was walking about 30 km a day for so many days straight that gave me the confidence to take more chances, to have more adventures, to train for and run my first marathon.  I met a number of incredible people from all over the world (New Zealand, Mexico, the Netherlands, France, Australia, the U.S., Germany, and Japan just to name a few) on the Camino.  The camaraderie and fellowship on the Camino de Santiago was one of the most amazing things that I have ever experienced.

Leon Cathedral

Ye Olde Crone

The Church in O Cebreiro

33K from Santiago

I can't get back to Spain this weekend to do the Camino again, but I will commemorate it with a trip to Madison and a half-marathon.  What are you up to this weekend?  I hope you have a weekend full of fun and adventures!  As pilgrims say on the path: buen camino!

Foto Friday: Friends and Inspiration Edition

My friend K has often inspired me.  K and I became close friends through yoga classes and also a writing group.  We first met at an academic gathering, and because we lived in the same neighborhood we would occasionally run into each other at coffee shops or out at bars.  We might have simply remained casual acquaintances, but a Facebook status update about yoga caused us to connect on a more meaningful level.  One day she posted an update about feeling serene after a yoga class, and I commented on it.  It turned out that we went to classes at the same yoga studio.  For several months we were mysore buddies, getting up to hit our mats at the yoga studio at 5:45 am a couple days a week.  When the term got stressful and early mornings became more difficult, we squeezed in afternoon and weekend classes.  K can magically float into poses that I'm not sure will ever be in my reach.  Though I try not to ever compare myself to other yogis (or runners), I do try to gain inspiration and insight from them.  I'm thankful for those mornings of sweat and serenity that we shared before we both moved.  I'm also grateful for the many conversations that we had walking to and from class and the friendship that developed as a result of sun salutations and sleepy confidences.

Foto Friday

Seville from the Cathedral Santa Maria de la Sede, July 2005

Foto Friday and March Goals in Review

Boats at the Buen Retiro, Madrid August 2005

I am longing for Madrid and hot weather today.  Perhaps in part because March has been kind of a disappointing month for me.  With the exception of my time in Louisiana, the weather has pretty much sucked, and I didn't accomplish most of my monthly goals.

My March goals were:

- Be more consistent with journaling all of my food intake.   This one was hit or miss.  Some days were good.  Some days were not.  I think making a greater effort to plan meals ahead of time would help.
- Run 70+ miles in March.  Between travel, a stupid cold, and my back injury, I only ran 54 miles in March.  I'm pretty bummed about this because during the first part of the month I was sure I was on track to reach this goal.
- Drink more water during the day.  This one has also been hit or miss.  I've been good most days, but I noticed this past Tuesday that I drank one glass of water between the hours of 9am and 9:30pm.  Not good.
- Focus on one yoga pose in particular each week in March.  As with my running goal, this was going really well during the first half of the month, but illness and injury caused it to peter out during the last two weeks of March.
-Get the transcript of the project I'm co-editing off my desk by March 15. - I didn't quite get this done by March 15, but I finally got this off my desk during this past month.
-Translate 15 pages of the transcript into English by the end of the month. - The translation part of this project is actually now up in the air because of some debates about the formatting of the transcript.  So this has been put on hold for the time being.
-Organize my campus office and clean my writing desk at home.  I did have my campus office organized at the beginning of the month, but over time it devolved back into a state of some disarray.  I did not clean my writing desk.  And currently M. has taken over my other desk.
-Acquire everything I need to revise and resubmit an article. I did not get to this.

I did, however, accomplish a number of things this past month that I hadn't set out as goals.  I set a number of April Fools' pranks into motion.  I helped put together a panel for a conference and wrote an abstract for a conference paper.  I wrote up a course description for a new class that I'm proposing.  There just never seems to be enough time in the day....

How did your March go?  How are you coming along on any long term goals that you've set for the year?

Foto Friday

Spring has arrived in Louisiana

Foto Friday

I had a rough week.  M. surprised me with flowers.

Foto Friday

The Alhambra, July 2005

Foto Friday

Tomb of Abelard and Heloise, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, August 2005

Foto Friday: Happy Birthday Edition

Happy birthday, Mama!

My mama and me 1/22/10

Foto Friday

Roman Christmas, December 2006