Falmouth, MA

I just spent a fabulous weekend on the Cape. I was invited to give a talk on Saturday morning to the Falmouth Genealogical Society. Since my life has been super-stressful lately, I thought I would take a "mental health" break and take a 3 day weekend. I already had Friday off so that worked well. I have only been to the Cape once--about 6 years ago, so I was excited to go back.

I was so impressed with Falmouth. It is beautiful.While I did take some pictures, there is no way to do it justice. [Blogger is being uncooperative and won't upload my pictures]. The homes are quaint and there is so much green space. The downtown area is nice without being touristy. Friday evening I explored and ate at a Mexican restaurant. Saturday morning I gave my talk--I love the members of the Falmouth Genealogical Society--they are so friendly and welcoming. After the talk I just had enough time to tour the museums sponsored by the Historical Society before it started pouring. Perfect timing as I retreated to my hotel for my thesis-related research.

I spent a lazy Sunday morning in my hotel and left around 12:30. Perfect weekend!

March & early April News

The most exciting thing (at least for which I have a picture) is that I get to say good-bye to the March pillowcase and try out the April pillowcase. I love the pastel colors.

In other news, I gave three genealogy talks last week. One was at the Winchester Public Library and two were at the New England Family History Conference in Franklin. I absolutely love giving genealogy talks. They are a lot of work to develop (about 20-40 hours per class), but then can be given many times. I talked about beginning genealogy, social history in genealogy, and MA library e-resources that can be accessed from home. A couple of people came up to me after the talk and said I was a very engaging speaker and they could tell how much I loved what I did. However, it does take a physical and emotional toll--probably because I love it so much and put much of myself into it.

Work has been very stressful lately--far too much work to do in too little time. I have made some great progress in getting projects finished and out the door, but always still more to do. Because of that, and because of the physical and emotional toll of 3 talks in one week, this week I was so NOT productive at home. I paid the price yesterday and this morning. I spent all of yesterday running errands and decluttering my house. I did  a week's worth of dishes this morning.

This weekend I am very much looking forward to General Conference, where Mormons can spend the entire weekend listening to the inspired words of the prophet, Apostles and other leaders. Love it!

New Orleans

About a month ago I went to New Orleans on a business trip. I spent a day sight-seeing. There were two things that I especially loved: the history and the architecture. Something I did not love was the food---spicy and seafood are just not my thing.

View from my hotel room, overlooking the Mississippi River

View across the street from where I was staying

The architecture/buildings were so fun. I really enjoyed walking around and taking these pictures. Examples of some of the architecture & Mardi Gras leftovers.

 

I also spent some time at the Louisiana history museum & a pharmacy museum. I blogged about the pharmacy museum on my business website. I love history and medicine, so especially loved the pharmacy museum.

March pillowcase

I love my March pillowcase--it's so colorful and happy and GREEN. Maybe all the Irish charm will bring me some good luck this month :)

Love the cultural diversity at work

One of the great things about where I work is the range of cultural and ethnic diversity. We have people from all over the world and from most major religions. I came into work this morning and found this from one of my colleagues in the kitchen. They were pretty yummy.

Reminds me of the potluck meal we had several years ago at work. Everyone was supposed to bring a food that reflected their ethnic and/or cultural background. My last immigrant ancestor came over in the 1850s and food traditions weren't passed down in my family. So I decided to make a joke of it by focusing on my Mormon ancestry and made jello salad, since it seems to be a Utah thing. The funny thing is that some of my co-workers thought I was serious and asked why green jello was preferred to red jello and why jello was a Mormon favorite and seriously really wanted to know.

I absolutely HATE shopping

I think it is the worst punishment possible. Clothes and shoe shopping are the worst. Food and general merchandise shopping is a little more tolerable. Book shopping is the only kind of shopping that I find fun. After talking to my mom I realize this runs in the family. She put off buying jeans as long as possible until she absolutely had to when she went to visit one of my sisters.

Me--I also put off shopping as long as possible. See these boots? They have been like this for most of the winter. They were functional (except for when it was wet outside), so why would I need new boots?

The only thing that pushed me over the edge? A week of wet feet every day because of all that Nemo snow melting. Love my new Wellies!

Very rainy day today and my feet stayed nice and dry until I did some serious puddle jumping to relieve some stress. They only got wet when the water came in over the top of the boot.

Friends

I am so grateful for good friends. Friends at work, friends from my church and community, friends on Facebook....Just this week one of my friends went with me to the funeral of another friend's mother (the 2 friends did not know each other) because I was having car problems. Another friend unexpectedly gave me this beautiful stained glass window because it was gathering dust and he knew I had been to Egypt and loved Egyptian things. Friends on Facebook help me with technical computer/software questions and learning what a "pinne and webb" is (an eye disease) and show interest in the things I am interested in. Thank you to all who are such good friends to me.