My feeling of being insanely busy with work continues, as I fully expect at this time of the year, but I’ve found myself with a few spare minutes to sit here with my laptop, old episodes of Parks and Rec in the background, and a cute hound dog at my feet. I’m feeling chatty. So let’s see, what’s been going on lately?

I finally got the new paper planner I ordered (from here) and it is very nice indeed. I had been working from a highly complex system of multiple notebooks, post-its, and lists, which I’m sure will continue to some degree — but isn’t it so much nicer to be able to view the week like this in my snazzy new, personalized calendar? There’s also a month view and spaces for to-do lists and goals. It’s pretty fancy. Will this be the magical key to keeping my life together, working smarter and faster, schooling my students, finding more time in the day, and finally achieving a chip-free manicure? Will it make me coffee in the morning and iron my blouses? I firmly believe all of this to be true.

.

In a football update, I did attend last week’s game after all on the promise of cooler evening weather and a marching band halftime show. It was much more fun! It was late enough in the evening for me to have time for a couple of beers beforehand, which allowed me to mitigate my anxious and vertiginous feelings. That, friends, was the hoppy, malty icing on the barley cake.

I checked in with my PT guru this morning due to some pain I had in my hip after Friday’s five-mile run (longest distance yet!), and he gave me some more strengthening exercises to focus on. I was worried that I might be hurting myself again, but he checked me out and said it wasn’t a real setback, just a warning to focus more on repairing the weaknesses on that side. I’ve got some new core, glute, and hamstring things to do. Soon enough I expect to have one damned fine ass, I tell you what.

Egon has been doing great lately. He’s a happy, cuddly little guy and he gets so excited for our regular neighborhood walks in his wheelie cart. It’s adorable. I recently made him a Facebook page so I could put all the dog updates over there instead of on my own timeline. (If you’re on Facebook and want to follow him there, you can.) It’s funny, because every now and then, people who only know me through work will find out about Eegs through something on Facebook, like today. One of my colleagues came by my office and told me she’d found his page and she just loved him and thought he was so awesome. People just love the little guy. Is it just me, or is Eegs just especially great? I think so. But I’m biased.

In fashion news, today I wore boots and a dress with knee socks under the boots and the top two inches of the socks were visible. On purpose. They were cute, Scandinavian patterned socks. This is a thing, right? Anyway, I tried it. I also went to Old Navy on the advice of my friend Brunbec, who advised me that the bright colored skinny jeans there were plentiful and cheap. I came home with a mustard yellow pair. I normally do not think I can pull off mustard yellow, but if it’s not next to my (pale, yellow-haired) face, I think I can. I’m thinking they’d look good with some combination of navy, grey, and white. Maybe they’ll show up in this week’s casual Friday pic? The whole point of this paragraph is to say that I think maybe the women’s fashion stuff on Pinterest is going to my head. Send help.