Thursday, December 31, 2015

2015 in Review

2015 was a crazy year for me. When the year began, I had just signed a lease for a new apartment 2.5 hours away from my family and was three months into my first year as a library director. Now, as the year comes to a close, I'm living in a different house in a different town over an hour away from the library and contemplating even more career changes. 2015 was a whirlwind, and at the same time it seemed like the longest year ever.

I was noticeably absent from this blog for most of the year. I thought about you all often, and longed to be back here sharing with you on more than one occasion. But living life always seemed to get in the way of documenting it. No posts were written, no project life pages were completed, and very few journal entries were made.

As I look forward to 2016 and all the potential changes that year will bring, I know that I will need a place to come to, to share the ups and downs, the successes and the failures, to help make sense of it all somehow. I can't wait to share that journey with all of you here. There is no better support system I know of than a community of creative-minded individuals like those I have found through blogging. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

But before the year is over, I thought I'd share some of my favorite moments from 2015 as a way of filling all of you in on what you missed.

January



January's cold days were best spent cuddling on the couch with the dogs whenever possible. The rest of the time I had to make do with comfort foods, like this gluten-free pot pie (my first attempt!). 




February



February brought a visit from my mom, sister, and little niece, Brilli. It was wonderful to get to spend some time with them, just us girls.

March



By March I was finding it pretty hard to be away from J and the dogs so much. Living apart has been very difficult for me. So I soaked up the puppy cuddles when I could...and Foster is always happy to comply.

April


April brought the chance to spend time with old friends and enjoy some great music together. Better weather meant more time outdoors with the pups. 



May


May was a slow month at the library as we did some last minute prep for Summer Reading. This gave me time to attend a conference in New Harmony, Indiana, and take in the beauty of that place. We also managed a quick getaway to Lake Michigan for a weekend. I can never get enough of that place!



June


June was full of library work and the Summer Reading Program. But I did manage to take time to visit my family in Kentucky and see my niece again. She had grown so much!



July


July brought more changes. One of my best friends got married (and had a fabulously fun bachelorette party). And Jesse started a new job...but not before taking a few weeks to travel with the dogs.


August



The summer craziness was finally over at the library, and I managed to take a whole week off to travel to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with J, the dogs, and some good friends. There's nothing like sunset beach campfires to calm the soul. 




September


September brought a move (and the beginning of a never-ending DIY saga) for me, and a new member of our little family.

October 


J had to travel to Denver for work over Halloween, and we decided I should join him for a mini vacation. We spent the first day downtown, then traveled to Breckenridge, Vale, and Avon the next day. Our final day was spent in Boulder, before heading back to the airport for our flight home. We saw some beautiful sights, ate some fabulous food (those are duck fat fries in the picture below), and even managed to take in some good music. Overall it was a very successful trip!



November


Most of November was spent in the throws of the aforementioned DIY saga (plenty more on that to come), but thanks to another conference I was able to join J and the dogs in Noblesville for a few days where we enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather and plenty of time playing in the fallen leaves (it's Abi's favorite).

December



 
 December was spent with family, mine in Kentucky and J's here in Indiana. We had a wonderful Christmas together in Noblesville, and even managed to make it to the Star Wars premiere. :)



And that's 2015 in a long, very picture-heavy nutshell. We had some great times, but I can't say I'm sorry to see it go. 

Until next year!


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Thank you, Mr. Burton

ALA MW 2015 Vendor Logo


I didn't have the opportunity to attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting this year, and I really wasn't that sad about it...until my colleagues started posting about LeVar Burton's speech. How did I not know he was going to be there?!

Like many of you, I grew up watching Reading Rainbow. The local PBS station was one of the only channels we could get in our little rural Nebraska town, so it was a staple of my childhood. My brother and I never missed Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers...and if my mom forgot to turn it on, my brother would scream until she remembered.

So to hear a childhood favorite like Mr. Burton speak with such admiration about another childhood favorite, Mr. Rogers, well, it nearly brought tears to my eyes.



Thank you, Mr. Burton. And thank you to all of the people who made, and continue to make, these wonderful shows available to children like myself.

P.S.

I couldn't write a post about Public Television without a shout-out to another favorite show, Once Upon a Time. It's about a librarian who gets kidnapped by a witch and is forced to tell her stories. It's even better than it sounds. See for yourself:



Honestly, I can't figure out why it took me so long as an adult to realize that I should be a librarian. It seems so glaringly obvious to me now.