five reasons to smile today

beantown prepster has inspired me today ... here's a list of the five highlights of my tuesday. :)

1. i had a super productive day at the office -- i got some important reading done, graded every paper i had with me in my bag, and finished a project ahead of the deadline. and i even had time to say hello to some of my awesome colleagues!

2. i managed to buy groceries for the rest of the week for a whopping fifteen bucks. project "save for the summer" is going swimmingly!

3. i wore a pashmina to work that i bought at a market in florence (the same one in the pic!) during my semester abroad in college, and i got to remember that fabulous trip every time i caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

4. i made more plans for the beach weekend with the fam over the phone -- so excited! i've decided that i'm going to get my hair chopped off while i'm there so the preppy sis can give me her expert follicular opinions at the salon. :)

5. i'm heading up now to hop into my cute pajamas, have a snack, and curl up in my comfy bed. does it get any better than that? ;)

hanging in there...

two more days to go before i get a break, and i'm still chugging along! but i have decided that i'm going to buy this shirt in preparation for finals week later this semester. so hilarious! (and so appropriate for those post-crunch time moments, ha!)

dateline: midterms!

ah, midterm week: alternately the best and the worst week of the year. i always get a ton of stuff done this week, because i'm under so much pressure from deadlines ... but i also have to get a ton of stuff done this week, because i'm under so much pressure from deadlines! :) at least my classes got their papers back last week, so that's one less thing to worry about!

right now i'm working on a research grant proposal. one of the toughest things about academia is the way that money is distributed; instead of giving everyone more on a regular basis, they hold more competitions and scholarships that you have to apply for. i've got a great project going right now, something that could definitely be publication material, so fingers crossed on this one ... now i just have to get the write-up done on time!

but as a distraction, of course (of course!), my brain is going all full-steam-ahead on dreaming up the world of the persuasion-inspired novel. picture it: a girl just like you, who loves a really sweet boy, with misunderstandings, love, romance, reconciliation ... all set with the kentucky derby and the horse racing industry as the background. and the hero looks like this:

swoon! love henry cavill. ah, someday soon i will get this written! and it will be amazing, and you will all love it. ;)