The walk home from school

This is my time to think, catch up with people, bitch about school with friends, etc. My mom is always curious about what it looks like because I almost always have something to say (i.e. the first leaf color change, the first snow, the first time I thought the wind felt like knives against my face) regarding the weather. Living over here in the northeast has made me a weather channel fiend. Love it. So anyhow, here is a photo of my walk home everyday, taken on a nice Thursday afternoon this week where it was actually -1 F outside. But beautiful.

On another note, I start school tomorrow, as well as the ULI (Urban Land Institute) Design Competition, which should be pretty intense. Two weeks of staying in the basement working on concepts and designs. Yay. And, I already have homework due before going to class. I guess it's really just to read Obama's urban policy proposals and then write about it, so not too shabby. Well, back at it, I guess. I am anxious. Very.

January is Cold and the Sun is Shining in Ithaca

This week has been different but I like it. Since returning to Ithaca last Thursday night (scary drive home in the snow, we ran into a snow bank after slipping around on the interstate!) I've had more time than normal to get my life in order. So I've been biding my time until school starts next week by purging the apartment of stuff and dirt, organizing, cooking, and catching up with the steady stream of people trickling back into town. I could almost get used to this life. Almost...

It's nice to be lazy, but I think I would drive myself crazy thinking too much, and wasting too much time getting addicted to television shows that I don't really care about (i.e. Weeds, which I've almost finished the 2nd season in two days.) But I've discovered that making butternut squash soup is really yummy and that Pandora is the best internet radio ever, and I have contemplated some theology questions I've had lately--debating which book to read this week: Christianity and the Social Crisis (Walter Rauschenbusch), The Great Divorce (CS Lewis) or The Art of Loving (Erich Fromm). I feel like I have to finish one, because once school starts I can say goodbye to reading for fun until May.

But this is what real winter is like! I actually love that it is 5 degrees and sunny outside, forcing me to stay in and curl up on the couch and read and cook soups and make our studio more homey, and play board games at night. A friend the other night said that we Californians don't play board games well because we don't have winter. Au contraire! Scotty and I play a mean game of Sequence and we are mustering our skills on Scrabble. So challenge us all you want, eskimos of the northeast.

Well back to life here. It is really great to be back. I actually missed Ithaca. I think California is still home, but not my parents' house, not Kingsburg really, and I don't know about Fresno. I loved seeing everyone, but I am really content with life here in Ithaca. I know Scotty is dying to be back in California, but I could stay here for at least a few more years. Maybe because the winter doldrums haven't come, or I haven't experienced -20 degrees yet. Which I will this week. Yippee.