"The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great, that I thought I was in a dream."--Kerouac

I am in such a good place right now. I've been listening to Joni Mitchell and wrapping super-belated Channukah presents all day for my trip to Florida tomorrow (!!!). Combine that with a morning walk around chilly, sunny DC and some cinnamon-infused oatmeal and baby, I'm unstoppable!

Oh, and did I mention that I'm finished with the semester? Well, I am. I'm finished and it feels so good. Last night, I fell asleep while reading in bed and it was glorious. I haven't been able to read for pleasure in so long. Winter Break, you really know how to spoil a girl.

So what have I been up to since last Tuesday?

Well, Zan visited last week and we saw Judy Gold's one-woman show. And it was hilarious, and it was so nice to see Zan and even though we hadn't seen each other in a while, it was as if we hadn't missed a beat! I also appreciate that Zan gets most Jewish humor. The show is based around Judy's life as a gay, 6'1, Jewish mother of two. It reminded me a lot of Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays but not as polished--which makes sense, since the show just started its run a week prior.

Anyway, like I was saying, I cannot wait to get home to Florida. Monday night I'm seeing the Simmons and we're having a bbq and on Tuesday I'm going to visit Grandpa Schaeffer and hopefully see Stacey and Sarah. I miss them a lot, and I hope Sarah ends up in DC next year. It would be great to have her as a roomate/at arm's length. Oh and Jenn is home and I'm really hoping we can spend some one-on-one time together to catch up. Our lives, somehow, are at a very similar crossroads right now. We're each in long "distance-y" relationships and it's comforting to be "going through it" with someone who you can be so candid and open with.

Oh, and New Years Eve should be too much fun for words.

I'm hoping that by blogging about paper-writing, I'll feel more motivated to make this one final push and be done with it. Overall, I've been feeling really lazy and unproductive lately. Maybe it's the holiday season or the overall feeling of restlessness that's been pumping through my veins since November, but all I do lately is look at travel blogs and plan make-believe vacations to beautiful (and warm) hiking spots and far-off ...states.

But I really need to get going--get going on this final paper, get going on cleaning my apartment and doing laundry, get going on meeting new people, get going on figuring out when I'm going home.

I didn't realize how much I needed this break, but I can't wait to relax and not have to worry about classes and readings.

Have I mentioned that teaching is the only thing keeping me grounded? Well it is, and I'm thankful.

"The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine." - Hippocrates

December, I love you.

Last night, I took the "long way" home from campus. I walked through Georgetown's neighborhoods, and, like the voyeur I am, peaked in stranger's windows admiring their Christmas trees and lights. There's something so magical about this time of year and I feel so thankful to be able to enjoy it.

I also have a TON of gifts that need, at some point, to be sent on their way via US Postage. I know Hannukah is pretty much over, but unfortunately friends and family of all creeds will be getting their gifts probably sometime late next week. It will be worth it, though. Oh yes.

Tonight, after turning in paper 1 of 2 (almost there!!!) I went to Trader Joe's and bought winter butternut squash in celebration of December, my favorite month. And, oh my lord, was that a good decision. I chopped it up, added a little olive oil and S&P, put it in the oven at 350 and I was set. Luckily I also made enough to have leftovers to take me through the blizzard (?) that's taking over the nation's capital as we (you? and I?) speak!

I'm not sure why I've been so adventurous in the kitchen lately. It's probably a form of paper-writing procrastination. If you know me, you know I'm a creature of habit. Give me a big bowl of oatmeal, some soy milk, and an apple doused in peanut butter at every meal, and I'm a happy camper. There's something more "grown-up" though about cooking "real" food, and maybe that's something I'm needing to feeling right now.

I also went to temple, again. It was nice, but I was so out of it from writing all day and then rushing around in order to get dinner in my belly and myself out the door in time for services. I'll probably go again though--the Rabbi did a sort of "close reading" of the Torah portion which reminded me of my English courses. I liked that--way more than the preachy-sermons I am used to.

Oh, and the other day I was officially accepted to the TESL program and got to talking with a Lingistics grad student about the course. Sounds like it'll be fairly more intense than I thought--especially for an online course--but I'm still looking forward to it. I felt a little funny though filling out the language proficiency section on the application and it got me thinking about Hebrew again. There have been two points in my life that I've felt "proficient" in Hebrew, and both times I've let it slip away. The first, I can't really blame myself for. It was after leaving Donna Klein and transferring to public school (gasp!) Lord knows that awkward 13 year old needed to focus on taming her 'fro and putting in contact lenses more than studying verb conjugation. (amen) The second time was in College. Even though I took the bare minimum (2 years) it was amazing how everything from years previous just sort of came back up to the surface so easily. But other classes and priorities took precedent over Hebrew again, and now, while I can understand most of what I hear, I really can no longer speak it...coherently.

Anyway, this snowy weekend I plan to enjoy some TJ's dark chocolate cocoa (!!!) and plow through (...) my LAST paper of the semester!