Getting older...

Living so far away from family, when family has always been such a huge part of Chase and my life, is hard. I hate that I miss things - have for the last 6 years missed things - that are milestones in the lives of my family members. I've actually caught myself being very envious of friends we've met out here whose families are a short road trip away. As we are already making plans for our Christmas trip home, their casual trips home seem excessively easy and convenient and cheap considering what we're going through!

But thank goodness for the advent of the internet and digital cameras! It's nothing like being there, but at least I get glipses into the lives of our family back home every now and then. Here is my sister who turned *gulp* 15 this week! I can't believe it... you know she was just tiny not that long ago. It's cliche, but the years do seem to go faster the older one gets.

So I realized in looking back through some pictures on the blog, that I'm rarely in the pictures because I'm usually behind the camera. Lately, there has also been a lack of regular posts because things are settling into a routine. So, here's me doing what I spend a lot of time doing every week:

That's me on our couch reading one of the books for the week, "Bowling Alone." But don't get all excited, you bowling fanatics, because it's not actually a book about bowling... It's a book about politics and the changing political culture of America. Thus far this semester, I think I've read something like 8 books, with about that many yet to go. A standard week has 600 to 800 pages of required reading, plus usually a couple of short papers. The end of the semester will be more heavy with papers and (I hope) less heavy with reading.

The couch and I have a difficult relationship when it comes to reading. It's a comfortable place to read, but almost TOO comfortable, so during the course of a reading day (like today is... can't you tell, since I'm blogging? :)) I usually start upstairs in the loft on the leather chair, move to the floor of the loft (which keeps me awake because my tailbone falls alseep and the dogs cuddle with me), then I take a bubble bath and read in there, then I move to the couch, then maybe to the recliner, I might spend some time at the kitchen table... All in all, I'm doing better at keeping myself awake while spending days reading, so that's a plus! Speaking of reading, I should definitely get back to it. Another 250 pages to go today!