quick thoughts from the back of the room

i start my fall semester (officially) next week. but i have been back in marion, settling into life, for a couple of weeks now. i'll post my set-in-stone schedule later, but here are the major things i will be doing:

2 classes (research and appraisal)

an internship (working with the honors college freshmen)

leading my breakout group (i have transfer students again)

grad assistant position with the office of student engagement and retention (this is new)

grad assistant position with the honors college (i did this last year)

so this week, we are doing training for the peer facilitators (each breakout group has a faculty member (me) and a student peer facilitator). part of my ga position with student engagement means working with these students...the ones who are connecting with other students.

and i am really enjoying it. i have not been super involved in the training...i am mostly observing...but it is getting me so excited. i was already excited for the semester, but this is really good.

we have been talking about a culture shift on our campus (if you knew how students feel about this class, you would understand why), and there is a general sense that revival is coming to iwu. i talked about that in july, and it is pretty cool to hear other people are feeling it, too. this idea of culture shift is something i am going to dig into and develop more thoughts on throughout the semester/year.

so i'm curious...how are you feeling about the next few months? leave me a comment and tell me what you're excited about...and what might scare you. i'll start...

30 by 30 update: let the crazy commence

once again, i have been a negligent blogger. i won't make excuses, but i will apologize. some of you missed my shenanigans. then again, some of you were part of my shenanigans. so whatever.

i am pleased to say i crossed a few things off my list since my birthday...

11) considering the amount of running around i did in the past month, it is kind of crazy i actually made a meal. but here it is.

18) i went rock climbing with my friend matt in colorado! woot! ok, i guess what we technically did was bouldering, but i wore the climbing shoes, and it made my arms ache for days, so i am counting it. i wish i had a picture of the cool stuff we were doing, but all i have to prove i went is this picture (and i am sad to say you can't even really tell how scary red my fingers were):

24) i went skinny dipping. i do not currently have the proof (no, there are NOT naked pictures to prove this) because miranda took the picture. but i have jennifer's whole bridal party to testify that i went skinny dipping at okoboji.

29) i finished three more books (snow crash, forgotten God, and scouting the divine) to bring my total up to 27. this one is actually proving more challenging than expected, just because i have had to do so much reading for school.

the monthly cooking segment: even better than fish sticks!

so here's a tasty little meal i whipped up for myself: potato-crusted cod fillet on a bed of spinach with fresh mushrooms, sliced pears, fresh bread, and brie.

it was all kinds of delicious.