back to school
Whew! Crazy full weekend. Saturday I drove up to Mt. Rainier to shoot a wedding and then on Sunday I took photos of a proposal at a coffee shop! Lots of love and excitement to capture. Fall is most certainly here, and it rained most of the weekend, but thankfully it held off for the important parts of the wedding. The proposal was inside a coffee shop so it didn't matter that it was raining, but holy cow it was a monsoon outside!
The end of summer has left me feeling unorganized. Summer is so carefree, and then fall comes in and all the conditioning from a couple decades of "back to school" make me feel like organization is nigh and I'll be getting syllabi and assignments and deadlines and a locker where all my things go. But alas, no such thing exists, just this feeling of wanting all that structure and organization, with no outward framework to bring about such things. TxSC had that effect, and I'm glad it was near the end of summer, rather than in the spring. I'm still feeling inspired by TxSC, which is great going into this time of wanting more structure in my life.
Perhaps it's more deeply engrained than just "back to school," though. When you think about it, with fall's arrival, we realize that food and shelter won't be as easily obtained. We need to start preparing our lives to make it through the harsh winter months. We harvest and plan ahead. We're biologically designed to crave organization and planning at this time of year.
The end of summer has left me feeling unorganized. Summer is so carefree, and then fall comes in and all the conditioning from a couple decades of "back to school" make me feel like organization is nigh and I'll be getting syllabi and assignments and deadlines and a locker where all my things go. But alas, no such thing exists, just this feeling of wanting all that structure and organization, with no outward framework to bring about such things. TxSC had that effect, and I'm glad it was near the end of summer, rather than in the spring. I'm still feeling inspired by TxSC, which is great going into this time of wanting more structure in my life.
Perhaps it's more deeply engrained than just "back to school," though. When you think about it, with fall's arrival, we realize that food and shelter won't be as easily obtained. We need to start preparing our lives to make it through the harsh winter months. We harvest and plan ahead. We're biologically designed to crave organization and planning at this time of year.
dress/via swap :: jacket/modcloth :: scarf/courtesy of earthquake state
For us adults who are no longer privy to the pleasures of fall school induced structure, we have to force ourselves to adopt structure if we want it in our lives. Since I work from home, it's even harder when working can be done while munching on chips and salsa, or Dusty wants to play (and who can resist that?). I have a few things I'd like to do in the coming month to get some more structure in my life. I want to start budgeting again, which is a wagon we fell off of a while ago. Budgeting is a way to pretty much instantly create some structure in life, at least when it comes to how we're spending our money, which dictates a lot of other things, like what we do and where we go. I stopped working out on a daily basis in August, mostly because I was burnt out and it was so hot that I was tired of being a sweaty hot mess all the time, but I do like having a regular work out schedule.
I've been climbing quite a few times per week, and it's nice to get back to doing that consistently. One of my little goals is to compete in the bouldering competition at the end of October. I haven't ever competed in a comp before, but it looks like a lot of fun, and even though I know there will be 12 year olds kicking my ass, it's still bound to be fun. The bouldering comp at our gym is right near halloween so they usually have costumes and it's a blacklight comp, which is really fun. Afterward they typically have a party with beer for 21+ folks, so even if I suck I can at least soothe my wounded pride with beer.
Do you guys have anything you do to organize life during this season? I seriously miss the school routine. Getting school supplies, getting ready for class, walking to each building, learning stuff. I don't miss high school at all (not a morning person, and never understood why I was forced to learn at 8 AM when my brain was still 90% asleep), but I really miss college. I miss assignments and due dates, walking through crunchy leaves to class, books and book bags, eating at the cafe, studying at coffee shops. I know I'm idealizing it a bit in my mind, but I feel like I was made for school. I love learning and college was one of my favorite times.
If I had a million dollars I might just go to school forever. Of course, with todays tuition I'd probably have to settle with going to school for only a few more years. The problem with going back to school is that I have no clue what I'd go back to school for! I would want to do like 5 different programs. I was an art major in college but I loved sitting in on sociology and other classes. I took an African Life & Culture class one term and it was so fascinating and enlightening, even though it had almost nothing to do with my major. I was glad to go to liberal arts college simply because there were so many other classes available than just those in my field. Being forced to take Gen Ed classes felt annoying at times, but a lot of those classes I had to take for Gen Eds ended up being really interesting and I'm happy, in retrospect, that I got to spend time learning those things.
I've been climbing quite a few times per week, and it's nice to get back to doing that consistently. One of my little goals is to compete in the bouldering competition at the end of October. I haven't ever competed in a comp before, but it looks like a lot of fun, and even though I know there will be 12 year olds kicking my ass, it's still bound to be fun. The bouldering comp at our gym is right near halloween so they usually have costumes and it's a blacklight comp, which is really fun. Afterward they typically have a party with beer for 21+ folks, so even if I suck I can at least soothe my wounded pride with beer.
Do you guys have anything you do to organize life during this season? I seriously miss the school routine. Getting school supplies, getting ready for class, walking to each building, learning stuff. I don't miss high school at all (not a morning person, and never understood why I was forced to learn at 8 AM when my brain was still 90% asleep), but I really miss college. I miss assignments and due dates, walking through crunchy leaves to class, books and book bags, eating at the cafe, studying at coffee shops. I know I'm idealizing it a bit in my mind, but I feel like I was made for school. I love learning and college was one of my favorite times.
If I had a million dollars I might just go to school forever. Of course, with todays tuition I'd probably have to settle with going to school for only a few more years. The problem with going back to school is that I have no clue what I'd go back to school for! I would want to do like 5 different programs. I was an art major in college but I loved sitting in on sociology and other classes. I took an African Life & Culture class one term and it was so fascinating and enlightening, even though it had almost nothing to do with my major. I was glad to go to liberal arts college simply because there were so many other classes available than just those in my field. Being forced to take Gen Ed classes felt annoying at times, but a lot of those classes I had to take for Gen Eds ended up being really interesting and I'm happy, in retrospect, that I got to spend time learning those things.
