catching up, or, our friends jeff and linnea

Hello world. I've missed you.

I was doing so well there for a while, wasn't I? Humming along, almost keeping up with my resolution to blog once a week. But then it happened. Summer.

I'm really, really hoping to make time to post individually about all of these adventures, but just in case here are some of the things we've been up to since oh, you know. May:

• A week (for me) and a weekend (for Ross) in NYC
• I said goodbye to the kids at Prospect Learning Center (I've worked and/or volunteered there for three years!!). Their school is closing and they're all getting sent to other schools. It's a whole big, stupid thing
• We hiked the Billy Goat Trail over Memorial Day weekend
• We went camping in a new and extremely surprising campground
• We celebrated Swedish Midsummer (my new favorite holiday)
• We visited Ross' grandparents and parents, my sister, and one of my dearest friends in Chicago
• We celebrated the 4th of July with BBQ, Hungarian dancing, and fireworks viewed from the 12th floor of an apartment building

And this is just the fun stuff, folks. This summer, I'm also wading through a list of 50 books in preparation for my qualifying exam, which I'll take at the end of August/beginning of September. For work, I've been doing some dog walking. I have three regular clients, and I frequently do weekend pet-sitting, as well. Ross just started a six month long construction rotation for his job, which means he's no longer in the state highway administration office but out on a site. Mostly it's been great, although he's no longer allowed to do four ten-hour days, which means he's working Fridays again. 

(Side note: I knew we were busy, but it really sounds like a lot when I list it all out like that!)

Like I said, I'll try to post more on all of these things soon. Before I do that, though, I want to go even farther back in to April (although like any good story, that means going farther back still. I was born on a hot day in July of 1986... Just kidding. But I will go back to February)

Back in February, our  friends, Jeff and Linnea, moved into our church congregation ("ward" for the uninitiated). I could write a long "getting to know them" story, but suffice it to say that they live just a few blocks from us and we quickly realized that we *love* them. How could we not? 

Photo by Rachel May Clarke

Many of the above-mentioned activities were experienced in Jeff and Linnea's fine company. Friendship bonus: Linnea is a really talented photographer (and her post about the questions/comments she hears all the time is required reading for all). Friends with a sense of adventure and a keen photographic eye: it's a good combination. 

I imagine Linnea's work will feature here frequently in the future, but I quickly wanted to post two of our April adventures. Linnea has already written great posts about these, so I'm mostly just going to share the photos.

Cherry Blossom Parade

Three years in, and this was my first cherry blossom parade! Here are just a few photos (again, all of these were taken by Linnea); see the rest on her blog. I will point out that I left early and got us the awesome seats! Just sayin'.

Shakespeare's Birthday

Guys. I live down the street from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and it's amazing. 364 days out of the year you have to have a reader's card to get into the library proper (guess who has one!), but one magical day, anyone can come explore the library and celebrate Elizabethan culture (in ways both scholarly and gleefully anachronistic). That day is Folger's birthday, and it was the BEST (I'm told I overuse the word "favorite," but this really was my favorite day. So fun). Again, see Linnea's (much more thorough) write-up here. I'm just borrowing pictures :)

We learned about Renaissance-era combat techniques and fighting schools from the Most. Passionate. Person. In. The. Universe (the gentleman on the right holding the stick*).

*"Stick" is surely not the right word for this.

We explored the reading room! I work here, guys! 

In the newer reading room we got to make "lace" ruffs.

Outside the theater, the Renaissance Man had us (and the assembled kids, but honestly mostly the grown-ups) dying. I want to make up an event so I can hire him.

Thanks so much for documenting these adventures so beautifully, Linnea. Mostly, thanks to you and Jeff for being such adventurous friends. I'm thinking Harper's Ferry next. Eh? 

emails with spouses

Greetings from the other side of finals! As always, it was a rough few weeks (maybe someday I'll figure out how to keep finals from being a tortuous and miserable ordeal?), but it all ended well, with a 4.0, some really kind and helpful comments on my papers from my professors, and a trip to New York (pictures forthcoming). And even the misery of actually writing and slogging through was eased somewhat by my fabulously funny and supportive spouse. As an example, here's an actual email exchange, reproduced here for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.

Monday, April 29 at 1:01pm  

Haylie Swenson to Ross Dewey

Subject: Hey you

Email me, okay? It would do me good to hear your (digital) voice. 

Love lots, 

me 

Monday, April 29 at 1:43pm

Ross Dewey to Haylie Swenson

Subject: RE: Hey you

Uh…you’re really putting me on the spot. You know how that shuts me down. I never know what to say when I’m asked to say something, but I’ll give it my best shot. I’m reminded of one of my childhood memories. It was last summer, and we were celebrating the joyous day commemorating the birth of my spouse. As you may recall, in fact, you were my adoring spouse at the time. There was good food and good company to be had in plenty at the ever-busy Good Stuff. Having already given up the cow for some time, you may not recall just how good Good Stuff can be when augmented by the succulent flavor of bacon, beef, barbecue sauce, cheese, and onion rings combined in the Coletti style. I digress. As I was saying, a very special birthday occasioned the event, and indeed there was nothing to disappoint. Following the main course, of course, we enjoyed the immensely enjoyable artistic stylings of the Brothers Cohen in the form of the classic Homer’s Odyssey, accompanied by very well-intentioned yet lackluster brownies. Lest, however, by my own selfish elocution I entirely miss the window of opportunity for spousal communication and support given me by the distant plea of my favorite little voice, I must now draw on the powers granted by the underrated god of brevity as I come to my point. Which is thusly: such good times as were had then, must surely increase tenfold in less than the time it takes the moon to cycle from shy to bold. In more universally known terms, your time of bondage will be interrupted by a brilliant burst of freedom in less than 388,800 seconds. With this in mind, and with the remote yet powerful support of your beloved, you must now persevere. And so onward. Huzzah!

Thanks, Ross. I couldn't have done it without you. Onward to summer! Huzzah!

morning mnemonic

As I biked to campus very early this morning I found myself frantically worrying that I would forget one of the many things I have to do today (finals are upon us, DUN DUN DUHHHHH). Biking is hard that way: it's not like I can write things down as I think of them. So, naturally, I made up a song. Enjoy.

To the tune of "Hello Muddah, hello Fadduh" (or "Dance of the Hours" if you're fancy like that)

Email Jeffrey.
Email Jason.
Email David.
Email Ali.
Email France
Re: the request
Fix the syllabus and then you're done, I guess.

Happy Wednesday.

 

resolute. late, but resolute

For the past two years my resolution posts have featured images by Anne

Marie Musselman, a Portland photographer. Musselman works a lot with

animals and conservation in her photographs, and I especially love her

series on the Sarvey Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It makes me feel hopeful.

Even though it's a bit delayed (sorry about that), I'm excited to post my New Year's resolutions here. As I've said many times, I love January. For instance, last year I wrote that January "feels set apart from the other eleven [months] somehow, a month of new beginnings and hopeful futures." Well put, self. And even though a lot of people find New Year's resolutions to be futile, the fact that I've been faithfully posting these for a long time now means I can look back and see actual, honest-to-goodness progress, and that feels nice. In case you're curious: 2012, 2011 (here and here), and 2010 (I didn't post resolutions per se in 2010, but I did post a book list and a sort-of bucket list). 

This year, I've been thinking about a lot of things I'd like to keep up with or change. So many, in fact, that I divided my resolutions up into two lists: one personal, and one professional. 

Personal List: 

1. Drink enough water. This is my always-and-forever goal. 

2. Eat more produce. I read a suggestion once that at least half of your plate should be filled with fruits or veg. I like that. 

3. Learn: A) To can; B) French. The French goal is a semi-professional one, since I have to take a language exam next October. Did you know medieval England was bi- (and even tri-, if you count Latin) lingual?

4. Perfect homemade pizza and crepes. I make these all the time, and always struggle. No longer!

5. Keep in touch. I made some (small) strides at keeping in touch with friends last year, but didn't do so well with family. I'd like to change that. Part of that keeping in touch will be blogging here: my new, not-crazy goal is once a week. Here's hoping I stick to it. 

6. Grow spiritually. I'm still figuring out what I mean by this. 

Professional List:

1. Increase digital presence by: A) Starting a professional blog; and B) Using Twitter and Facebook more professionally. I've already had some success with both of these. I started my blog and I was active on Twitter during a digital humanities conference. Now to keep it up. 

2. Limit internet idleness. Again, some success here! I use Safari, and I recently altered my home page  so the sites I see are professional ones. I'm embarrassed by how much of a difference this has made. Now if I'm feeling idle, I'm more likely to read the Chronicle of Higher Education than, say, the A.V. Club. 

3. Publish. My first paper is coming out in postmedieval this year, and I'm hoping (this feels scary to say out loud) to line up another publication by the end of the year. We'll see.

4. Apply to (at least) two major conferences.  

5. Get more work out of each day. 

6. Write daily. This doesn't necessarily have to be Writing, with a capital "W." I think blogging, either here or on my professional blog, Facebook and Twitter can all count. 

That's it! No big deal, right? Here's to a 2013 full of adventure and accomplishment. Happy New Year. 

2012 in review

Long-time readers know that I am an incorrigibly inconsistent blogger. Sorry about that. However, there are a few things I try to do every year... I try to blog on my sister's birthday (sorry about missing this year, love!), I post New Year's resolutions, and I always, ALWAYS write a post in January reviewing the previous year (except for when I don't). Behold.

January began in the best possible way: celebrating with friends (and Cassidy!) in Portland.

(Congrats on your engagement, Jess!). Resolutions were also made, I was offered a research assistantship (complete with office!), and I began to hear back from PhD programs.

In February thank-yous were extended, mushrooms were harvested...

Valentine's day was celebrated with chicken/veggie pot pie...

and Leap Day was celebrated in an appropriately 30 Rock-ian fashion ("Real life is for March!). February was also my most successful blogging month, with four (count 'em!) whole posts. Sheesh.

March was nuts. In March I traveled to Orlando for a conference, to Buffalo to visit a PhD program there, and we got to see the cherry blossoms at their height:

While in Orlando I was able to meet up with some of our dear friends for a whirlwind day at Disney:

In April I posted a recipe for happiness (I highly recommend it), and we celebrated springtime in Laurel by cuddling with Creature:

April was stressful because we didn't know what was happening with school for me. I'd been wait-listed at GW, and there were some issues with finding a funding line for me. However, this was resolved in...

May, when I was able to officially announce that I'd been accepted into GW's program. Whew! This freed us up to do some fun things, like celebrate my newly acquired Master's degree with dinner at our favorite restaurant in Baltimore...

and build rock pylons and take a hike at Harper's Ferry:

June was busy, too, but in a fun, adventuresome kind of way. In June I started working at the Maryland Zoo, Charlotte sent me a sweet gift from my beloved England...

we went to Truckeroo and Moonrise Kingdom...

I was able to be involved with the DC Pride Parade...

and we had an amazing camping trip on the Eastern Shore...

June also brought us the derecho and a fridge full of other people's food (which we did not eat, to our great credit):

In July we celebrated the fourth of July with our second year on the Mall:

My birthday was an embarrassment of celebration in 2012, with an outdoor movie party with friends (O Brother Where Art Thou, natch)...

A picnic in the park with Ross...

and an amazing trip to Charleston and the Disney resort at Hilton Head with friends:

Even the elephants got presents on my birthday:

Later in July Ross went to visit his parents in Chicago, and then our dearly beloved, fabulous friend Heather came to stay! We walked and talked without break for two days. I think she might have been trying to kill us, but it was worth it:

While we were waiting for Heather's flight to arrive we visited the air and space museum, which was SO COOL.

In August we celebrated Ross' birthday with duck fat fries and ice cream cake...

...we found our dream apartment in DC and started to pack...

and we played mini golf at the National Building Museum with some of our favorite friends.

In late August I started school (again) as a full-fledged PhD student and teaching assistant.

In September we bid (a surprisingly bittersweet) farewell to Laurel and moved to DC!

Later in September I traveled to Boston for a conference where I got some unexpected good news.

In October we celebrated our third anniversary with another camping trip and a pumpkin patch adventure...

and we celebrated Halloween by dressing up as, naturally, a gentleman and a scholar...

and carving pumpkins with friends...

Photo from my darling friend, Kim's, fabulous blog.

In November I totally failed as a blogger, we had grasshopper tacos at Oyamel before going to the Kennedy center to see War Horse...

went camping again...

and had an epic solo Thanksgiving, if I do say so myself. Which I do. 

December was filled with all kinds of adventures, which I will blog about in the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's a taster: 

Happy New Year! Here's to an equally adventurous, exciting, busy, packed-to-the-gills-with-life 2013!

Psst: Previous Years in Review: 2009, 2011. So maybe I don't ALWAYS do it. Hush.