IHE Ladies' Night with Origami

Now that I have my own place, I can finally entertain! Woohoo. I love entertaining! So, I invited all of the ladies in my PhD program to dinner and origami. The main reason for the gathering was to celebrate Stephanie & JayneFrances passing their final exams (yahoo!) But, I gotta say that the combined energy of strong PhD women in one room made for a loquacious evening of exchanging valuable information and connection. All of us women in the program are close to 30-something in years, hence many of us have sacrificed a great deal to be here. We commiserated on the normal "break-downs" and also the "break-throughs" that are a normal occurrence of pursuing a PhD. Everyone brought salad toppings to create a healthy dinner of champions with red wine on the side. The girl scout cookies, thin mints and samoas, chaperoned the origami making. Despite, many pieces of origami paper in the recycling bin, the ladies went home with jumping frogs, flowers, cranes, ghosts, and smiles on the face.

My New Home...in Athens, Georgia

It's funny to say that this is the first time I have lived alone. But, it is true. My entire life, until now, I have always lived with other people: from my family, to roommates, to boyfriends, to my sister, and even undergraduate UGA students (in Oxford). After about a month of living by myself I have come to LOVE it. I do not need to clean for anyone or clean up after anyone and I can do yoga in my living room at all hours of the day. Plus, I really love the apartment with bright orange paint and funky IKEA closet units. I am living in a residence hall , or as some people call it a "dorm", on campus. This is a special arrangement, as I have a 2-bedroom apartment that is surrounded by 160 undergraduates. I am used to the noise and late night techno music because I experienced this while living in Oxford. However, the additional noise from the steam pipes (screaming and banging at night) has been something I have had to adjust to. But otherwise all is good, especially the location; the on-campus location allows me to walk pretty much everywhere (woohoo!), even to the yoga studio. In exchange for living here, I do have additional responsibilities such as hosting a weekly cookie night and teaching a class which offers opportunities to mix with the students. So, yes...all is good with the living situation!

Chocolate & Wine!

Valentine's day was lovely! I surprised Charlie with a chocolate and wine tasting...and we ended up buying half a case of wine and about one pound of chocolate. Nice! Some people say that chocolate and wine cannot be paired. I tend to disagree with this philosophy. But, then again these are two of my favorite things in the world...so, how could they not go together? There is a local wine shop here in Athens, named Shiraz, and they host fun wine tastings. Of course this one was scheduled close to Valentine's day. We tasted 9 different wines, including white, sparkling, red, and espresso. Each wine was thoughtfully paired with a Dolphin Belgian chocolate. Imagine eating a chocolate with orange peel or earl gray and then drinking a fine red wine. Delicious! Here is a photo of some of the wine/chocolate that we bought.

Valentine's weekend was rather heavenly...this time Charlie surprised me! We went to Atlanta for a delicious dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant, Baraonda, and he surprised me with tickets to Mama Mia at the swanky Fox Theater.

The Day After...Beautiful!

UGA to close at 3:30

Yep, another snowstorm in Athens, Georgia. How I love thee... The ground was not even wet when the email hit my inbox, "The University of Georgia will close at 3:30 p.m. today, February 12, 2010". For many of us this is simply bizarre, but considering the lack of snowplows, shovels, and even gloves in the area it is understandable that any amount of snow shuts down the city. Let it snow...

Surprise Birthday Party...for Three Friends.

Somehow we managed to pull off a surprise birthday party for not just one person, not even two, but three people. Charlie, Sarah, and Adam, all PhD students in IHE, gained momentum in the aging game this past weekend, so we decided to celebrate accordingly. It is a small miracle that they were all surprised and no one spilled the beans. After the guests of honor walked through the door and we all jumped up and down while screaming, "surprise", we ate from the smorgasbord of potluck goodness and enjoyed authentic tres leches cake. Happy Birthday kids!!

Reverse Culture Shock

I know it has taken me almost a month to finally reflect on coming back to reality, but a lot has been going on...transitioning back to the US, the South, Athens, and life as a PhD student. I will be honest my transition has not been the most graceful as I have dug my heels in a bit and resisted the adjustment. You see, there is a phenomenon called reverse culture shock. This is when you come back to your home country and feel out-of-place because of the amazing/transformational experience you had in a different culture while others at home are living the same life you left. You have a different lens and become more critical of the way life exists in the homeland. It is hard to share your experience because of a general lack of interest from others or a fear that others will see you as bragging. Now, you would think with all of my experiences living abroad that this "re-entry" would get easier. Wrong! The reverse culture shock still surfaces and makes me question life in the U.S. and how we live life. I also think that this time around was especially hard because I came back to a life that I do not absolutely LOVE. PhD life in Athens, Georgia is hard and not as exciting as living in a foreign country or in Colorado. But the good news is that I am settling in and finding my way through this transition.
Photo: Watson Mill Bridge, Georgia

Reflections on 2009

Top 12 Memorable Moments/Experiences of 2009:

1.) Rang in the New Year with my Colorado buddies in Breckenridge and reconnected with about 20 high school friends at a mini-reunion in Colorado. Go Raiders!

2.) Joined my father as he “flew South” like the retired snow bird that he is…we had quality time together as we road tripped to Arizona to visit family friends. My father bid farewell to me at the Phoenix airport as I flew back to Georgia to start the spring semester.

3.) Continued my cultural edification right here in Georgia with the Kite Festival at the BAPS temple in Atlanta, an authentic Southern step show, the amazing Whirling Dervishes, and a wicked drag show. All highlights of my spring semester.

4.) Experienced a winter wonderland in Athens on March 1, as a spring snow storm shut down the State, City, and University. We played in the snow like kids and watched students "shovel" snow with pots and pans.

5.) Taught and chaperoned the UGA at Costa Rica spring break program. Incredible campus right in the middle of the cloud forest.

6.) My sister and Dan attended my yoga teaching certification graduation at Shoshoni in Colorado. Namaste.

7.) A week in California allowed me to hang with my little kid brother in San Diego and attend the NAFSA conference.

8.) Was offered a graduate resident position with the UGA at Oxford program. To Oxford July-December. Woohoo, definitely the academic and personal highlight of 2009!

9.) Traveled and experienced many more European adventures with some of my favorite friends...Ali in Scotland, Kristi, Shane & Jason in Oslo, the Breccia's, Charlie, and Martina in Italy, and Preet in France. I love you all!

10.) Spent a week with my mom, dad, Julie & Dan in Oxford. More love...and lots of wine.

11.) Christmas time was memorable, as I reunited with Charlie, my family, friends, and one bad-ass Santa Clause. We had another Weimers holiday vacation in Winterpark, Colorado and I skied four days. Ahhhhh yeah!

PHOTOS: Taken in the Appalachian mountains in Georgia. The location where we rang in the new decade.

A Bridge to Athens, Georgia

Back to Athens! After an amazing six months in England and an entertaining holiday season in Colorado, it is time to get back to reality.

So, I packed up two fifty pound bags and headed South to the land of academia. A week before school/work resumed, we decided to explore Georgia nature at its finest. I was pleasantly surprised by our first adventure. We visited a state park known for the longest covered wooden bridge in Georgia, Watson Mill Bridge, circa 1885. While the surrounding area was brown and dull, the chill in the air put a little extra kick in our step and we went for a hike. Despite the beautiful blue skies and no snow on the ground, we were the only people on the trail, which we soon realized was a theme to Georgia trails in the winter.

A-Wicky-Wicky-Wack!

I will be the first to admit that my family is rather dramatic and animated year around. But at Christmas time you can only imagine how the heightened holiday energy plays out in Weimer fashion. This year a few new traditions were conceived including a new Christmas rap-off (everyone had to write lyrics, compose the music, and perform it in front of the family). The NEW Weimer Christmas rap-off was such a hit that my brother visited Dan's (Julie's fiance) recording studio to "lay it on wax".

View at your own Discretion: Santa Exposed!

I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Santa. It turns out that the tattooed Santa is taller, funnier, thinner, and a little more rogue than the Santa in my childhood dreams. But, he sure did bring joy to the Weimers, Russians, Walkers, and Lees household. Beware, this video may potentially crush all perfect fairy tale images of the real Santa.
View at your own discretion.

The Boulder Flatirons: A Winter Playground!

On our way from Winterpark to Julie & Dan's (my sister & fiance) home in Loveland, Colorado my brother & I made a stop at the lovely Flatiron mountains in Boulder, our old stomping grounds. It had snowed the day before, so the mountains were stunning under the blue sky. After it snows, the Flatirons, Chautauqua Park, becomes a winter playground with sledders, snowshoers, cross-country skiers, and trail runners. Even though we did not have our winter gear to enjoy the winter wonderland, we did have a camera and lens...which turned into an "action" photo shoot!

Weimers Christmas Retreat in Winterpark

The Weimers Christmas tradition goes like this: pack up the cars with ski gear, Santa hats, food, lots of wine, a few $5 gifts from the second-hand store, and drive up to the Rocky Mountains, Winterpark, for a good 'ol mountain retreat. Skiing, laughter, snow, joy, and traditions. A few years ago, we decided as a family, to forgo gift giving. I know we are not being good little American capitalists, especially during this economic downturn when the general sentiment on the street is to spend, spend, spend to stimulate the economy. After too many years of giving and receiving gifts that eventually showed up at second-hand stores, we decided it was time to stop consuming and find the true meaning of Christmas. Yes, almost as good as the Grinch's ah-ha moment in How the Grinch Stole Christmas:

"Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"

So, through the years of no gift-giving we have implemented some fun traditions including an annual wine-tasting (complete with at least one cheap BOX of wine), a night of charades and spoons, and of course an

epic Christmas dinner. This year we added a few more traditions including a "rap-off" which consisted of writing lyrics and performing the "rap" for the family. Yes, we did agree to stimulate the economy a little bit with a frugal gift exchange: we had to buy a second-hand gift under $5 that the receiver could don with glee (see top photo). This year we also had a special guest appearance by Santa, himself (see bottom photo). He is one funny dude.

Divas' Ski Weekend!

The sassy and forever entertaining Ann Sullivan was my co-conspirator in taking care of that ski fix. In the a.m. I woke up to one of my favorite morning rituals: dressing in layers of ski gear, a stop off at Moes Bagels and Vic's Coffeehouse for ski grub, a 2-hour drive out of the front range and into the beautiful snowy mountains, mustering up energy to squeeze my large feet into the snug ski boots...celebrating with every micro-movement, throwing the skis over the shoulder and walking to catch the shuttle to the base of the mountain. Ah yeah! The ritual, in itself, is a beautiful waste of time. Being surrounded with like-minded, active, outdoorsy mountain freaks just adds to the beauty of the experience. Not to mention how amazing it feels to fly down the mountain.

We skied two days at Copper Mountain. Our friend, Christine, from Boulder county joined us for the overnight in Dillon and the second day of skiing. Good girlfriend fun all around...laughing as Ann got taken out (from the back end) twice, catching up on life, and revisiting past adventures.

Thanks Sully & Christine...for a lovely girls' weekend!

A Happy Hour in Boulder

My older sister is the BEST! She hosted a happy hour in Boulder at the posh St. Julien T-Zero bar with many of my favorite Colorado pals. Ah, hanging out with those friends that I have shared so many adventures with filled the soul with much love and positive vibes. I was quite honored that the Denver crew drove up and Christy & Jay, who just returned from three months on the Semester at Sea ship, joined us. The conversation jumped from memories of traveling in Peru, to re-living a few of our emergency search and rescue mountain hut trips, to wedding plans and yoga postures (see Lion's breath photo at bottom...go Brent!)


I love all of you mountain divas and dudes...and no matter how far away I am you are always in my heart!