Lazy weekend
It's been a very serene weekend thus far. I went out to New Buffalo yesterday to see Jamie for the first time in over a month, after a serious falling out during Danielle's Week of Idiocy when my job first started. It was really, really good to see him. He looks great (down to 175 lbs. after hitting a high point of 210 and some serious dentistry procedures that have left him with a really awesome smile), and he's been seeing a girl named Candice (who was a leading member of BATGLU back at UI, because the world really is that small), not mention his continued 4.0 GPA at the end of his first year of grad school. So life has been treating him really well, which makes me happy. It sounds like we'll be able to see a bit more of each other this summer since he'll be making fairly regular trips to Michigan, so we can hang out here and do all the Indiana summer activities, like Deep River Waterpark or minigolf at Zao Island. We're trying to organize a Sox game in July, which would be AWESOME, because I haven't been to a game yet this summer, which makes me feel like a seriously bad fan. So I'm glad that our friendship is on the mend. He's been an important part of my life, and I'm glad I didn't totally ruin our relationship by my stupid actions six weeks ago.
I think I have officially picked out living room and bedroom colors for my new place. Move-in day in 13 days and counting! I'm going with a rather bright palette, as the apartment is an inset groundfloor unit and thus does not get much natural light. The overhead lighting in the ceiling fan helps, but I want as much brightness as I can get. So I picked a light blue for the living/dining rooms, which may just consist of an accent wall or two, and then a light gold-ish yellow for my bedroom, which should go well with that green and gold comforter set I have for that double bed. I'm excited about having my own place, even more than before. I find I spend a lot of free time at the studio just because I like the privacy that I can get at home right now. Having my own space is going to be a luxury that I can appreciate fully after living at home for the last six months.
Also, here's the latest painting! "Still Watching," acrylic on canvas, 14x18.
I'm quite fond of it. I feel like I'm finally starting to get a little more sophisticated in what I'm working on, if there is such a thing as "sophisticated" when working with acrylics. I've been doing a painting per weekend on average, and Sunday night tends to be the night I work, so we'll see what I end up with tonight.
Now, off to the gym! Aaron gave me some tips on how to best utilize my workout time to improve my dancing, so I'm going to give it a shot. I'm a little hesistant to work too hard, as I'm still battling some sort of virus-type sickness. I woke up on Thursday with no voice whatsoever, though I didn't feel at all sick at the time. Friday the voice was starting to return, but it was countered by the onset of a few coldlike symptoms. And this weekend I can finally talk like a semi-healthy person, but I'm all kinds of congested and I have a wicked nasty cough. So I'm not going to push too hard on the cardio end of things and do some more muscle toning instead. I would love to get back into the habit of at least 2-3 workouts per week. I think it would be really good not just for my dancing, but also some stress relief during these really hectic weeks at work. I'm finding it hard to balance the two sides of my job, but I know it's still going to be a couple of months before I can fully transitions out of the receptionist part. Aaron has promised more support from a managerial perspective, which is good, but I really wish I could focus all my energy on building up a student body and being a better dancer and instructor. But I'll have to take things a little slower than I'd like until we get the studio administratively in shape. Until then, I'll keep doing things on the side that will make me more ready to shit into full-time teaching, like today's trip to the gym!