June

12 Books

In June I once again read two books. The first was a young adult novel called Looking for Alaska by John Green. It was a short, easy read, and I loved it. It’s the story of some high schoolers dealing with the sudden death of their friend in a car accident – something I can really relate to. It was beautifully written.

The second book was 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It is about a man who goes back in time to try to stop the assassination of JFK. I could not put this one down. It was fabulous. It has its gory scenes but it’s not a horror novel. I really recommend it.

12 Recipes

I made chicken enchiladas, which I totally loved. 

12 Blog Posts

Click here to read about some secrets!

12 Ways to Meet People

I took a one-night writing seminar at Story Studio Chicago. It was a good experience. I didn’t meet anyone I plan to see again, but I did get a sense of the studio, and I really liked it. I am planning to take a longer term class there in the fall or winter, and hopefully I’ll meet some people that way.

12 Small Steps Forward in my Career

I did two things this month that will be good resume builders. First, I negotiated to spend part of my time working on a grant project that has been funded by NSF. Having a funded project on my CV should help with future funding. I also took responsibility for filling out the HSIRB forms for another project, allowing me to list myself as the lead contact and learn a new, valuable skill.

12 Fun Events in Chicagoland

To celebrate my 10^th anniversary of moving to Chicago, I went with my friend and my goddaughter to Rainbow Cone. It’s an ice cream parlor on the south side that serves cones with five layers of ice cream in rainbow colors. My goddaughter proclaimed the Rainbow Cone to be “deeeeelicious.”

I also returned as a volunteer leader to the Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon. I led a group of volunteers to paint four murals on the walls of a deserving school. It was a fun day! I was a leader for several years and then took a long hiatus. It was good to be back.

12 Crafts and Creations

I made this iPad holder for my dad for Father’s Day. It was fun to cut the copper pipe! It was a lot different from the things I usually make. I made a few modifications to the design so that it’d work to hold the iPad portrait or landscape. Only a suped up version would be worthy of my dad.

I also finished another sleeping mat! I love this one.

12 Pretty Things for My Apartment

I mounted my mosaics in these pretty shadow boxes.

12 Things that Help Me Feel Good about My Appearance

I did two things in this category. First, I changed my workout plan to include three 5-mile runs and four strength workouts for my arms and abs. I’m hoping this will kick up my metabolism and help me cut a couple inches off my waist. I’ve got a bigger gut these days than I’ve had in a while, and I’d like to lose it.

I also got rid of three dresses that I had to reluctantly admit are too young for me.

12 Grown-Up Things

I did a number of things that I’ve been putting off for a long time. I took my dry cleaning in. I washed a big pile of bedding that’s been on my floor for a month. I took some extra plastic bags to be recycled. It’s sad that these things are a big deal to me, but they are. They are normal grown-up chores that I stopped avoiding.