Peeks from the Week

Friday already!!! We had a nice break in the middle of the work week which definitely helped speed the week along.  We've been far too busy lately so a no-commitment Saturday sounds really nice.

Wishing...there was a holiday in April for a free day off

Hoping...I can get my act together this weekend and catch-up with meal planning and grocery shopping.  Lunches are getting really pathetic lately. 

Thinking...I should investigate making freezer meals

Praying...Dan is able to get everything arranged and settled for his sabbatical so he can really check out for awhile.  Just a few more weeks!

Planning...on sorting through everything in the spare room this weekend to start getting ready for the move.  I want to take this as an opportunity to purge a lot of junk.

Dreaming...about carefree days of summer.

This week Dan and I took a day and a half off from work and hopped on a bus to Philadelphia.  My good friend, Stephanie, was defending her doctoral dissertation on Wednesday at the University of Delaware and we wanted to go and support her.

Taking a bus to Philly is super easy and super cheap (2 hours, $20 total for both of us round trip)
 
Stephanie and I have known each other since undergrad when we were the famous Stephanies of the History Department at Cornell College.  She was a year ahead of me and gave me a lot of advise when I was applying for the extra history scholars programs our advisor encouraged us to pursue.  She and I had several classes together and we even lived together for a month in downtown Chicago during an off-campus class.

When I moved to New York and she was in Delaware she started coming to visit.  We've toured the city and seen lots of shows.  She even came out to help us host our local reception after the wedding.   Most recently she came to visit in the fall and we did apple picking.

We've stayed in touch really well and I've been hearing about her dissertation for years.  So when it came time for her to defend, Dan and I jumped to attend.  Neither of us had seen a defense and were pretty curious.  We met her in Philly, where she works and recently moved, and had a nice dinner of Vietnamese food.  The next morning we all got up early and she drove over to Delaware.  It was both Dan and my first time in that state.  Stephanie did a great job introducing her dissertation and fielding questions from her committee members.  She passed with no revisions and is now officially a PhD scholar in history!!! So proud of her.

We celebrated at lunch with some of her colleagues and then she treated us to a visit to Longwood Gardens.  It was a beautiful botanic garden that was in full bloom when we visited and the weather was perfect. 

I took a lot more photos but I feel like I've dumped enough here.  We had fun.

Happy weekend!