Tuesday High Five, Copycatted!

{Lucy is ready to be tucked into a suitcase for our weekend trip.}

Last Friday, Chrissy posted her Friday High Five, and I immediately started writing a copycat post.  Then my to-do list intervened, and Paul and I left town, and whoosh, it’s Tuesday and I still haven’t finished my post!  So today I bring you Tuesday High Five, with a nod toward Chrissy and the inspiration.

I’ve been feeling a bit absent from this space in the sense that I haven’t been writing about what’s happening in my life.  That feels wrong to me because this is a personal blog.  I want to give you a few glimpses into what’s up these days.

{1}  Today Friday I began the bureaucratic process of starting a new job.  Yes, A NEW JOB!  ANUSTART!*  I’ve decided to work part-time in a honeybee lab in the Entomology department here on campus.  It’s actually in a friend’s lab, so she and I will be forming a professional relationship in addition to our personal one.

* Sorry, I couldn’t find a good ANUSTART clip. So how about a montage instead?

{2}  In addition to my part-time job, I have started working as a private tutor for biology and writing students.  It’s been great so far!  My first students found me last month through a tutoring site called WyzAnt Tutoring.  The site does some of the work of vetting tutors and it takes care of the billing painlessly—in exchange for a cut of my tutoring rate.  For me, as I’m starting out, I think it’s worth it.  I’ve also been posting ads on Craigslist to advertise my services, but so far, all I’ve gotten are spammy responses.  What’s great is that when I do receive spammy-sounding responses, on the off-chance that they are legitimate, I can just refer them to my WyzAnt profile.  It’s much safer for me that way.  I’m pretty pleased with that solution to the Craigslist dilemma.

{3}  Over the weekend, Paul and I visited his parents at their new house.  For the first time, I saw a photo of Paul’s dad, taken when he was a bit younger than we are now.  Paul’s dad, John, passed away when Paul was a little boy, so I will never know him.  It’s sad to think that that connection is now lost to us forever.  But in the photo, the resemblance between Paul and John was unmistakable.  What’s even sweeter is listening to Paul’s mom, Pam, tell the story of falling in love with John.  They met over computers and felt an immediate spark; they married six weeks later.  They were together for seven years before John passed away.

Pam and I talked about character, about how sometimes you meet a person and they are honest and kind and genuine.  They are exactly who they appear to be, and it’s easy to trust them because they just seem so pure of heart.  That’s how Pam felt about John, and it’s how I feel about Paul now.  So it seems to me that Paul has more in common with his dad than just his dashing good looks.

{4}  Part of our weekend trip was a drive over to Galveston for the Moody Gardens Festival of Lights.  Paul and I are not religious, so we’re feeling our way through the Christmas season, trying to decide if and how we want to celebrate it.  I’ve always loved holiday lights, and to me, it feels appropriate during this season of darkness on my part of Earth.  The festival was lovely and low-key, and we both enjoyed strolling through the exhibit.

{5}  Paul made his now-famous tofu migas recipe for his mom, and she loved it.  She was really open-minded about the tofu and other vegetarian ingredients and cooking tricks.  I think the next time we visit his parents, we’ll make a Middle Eastern-influenced dinner.  I can’t wait to share that with them!  I felt very loved and welcome in their house, which is just about the best feeling in the world.

I’ll be sharing Paul’s migas recipe soon.  He’s gotten several recipe requests, and he even let me photograph him making it a few months ago.      

{BONUS}  The winner of last week’s Saved giveaway is my dear blog friend Chrissy!  Huzzah!  Chrissy, I’m going to drop that book in the mail for you this week.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

{There was a full moon that followed us on our drive back to College Station.}

Have a great week, y’all!