Feeling a little thankful for my geekier side today!

It feels so good to feel good at something! And that’s what math did for me. It has somehow always been my strongest subject, my favorite class and my source of puzzling entertainment. I can remember many great math teachers who influenced me (most with interesting names such as Mrs. Yawn and Mr. Goodbar) but there was one particular teacher in my small high school, Mr. Loofbourrow, I had for FOUR years! How wonderful is it to not only love the subject you’re learning and the teacher who’s teaching it, but to luckily work with that teacher for four years? To most students, Mr. Loofbourrow was a monotone and boring teacher, but to a few of us that caught his jokes and dry sense of humor, he was highly entertaining!

I can recall an inside joke that started in 9^th grade, when we as a class decided that we didn’t want to simplify fractions so instead Mr. Loofbourrow allowed us to “smallify” them, because that just sounded so much cooler. And in 10^th grade Geometry, we were going over proofs, and he was just laughing at how much of the class was complaining about having to include a=a, the reflexive property. I remember thinking that it made absolute logical sense to me. I have no idea why this memory is what sticks out in my head. Maybe it was the good humor my math teacher had, or the feeling that I just got it when so many others didn’t, or just the love I have for geometry and algebra, logic, conclusions, and step-by-step processes.

Sadly, I’ve forgotten nearly all the pre-calc and calculus from my junior and senior year, but I do remember truly feeling like I had earned my grades in his class. There was no subjectivity, only right answers and wrong ones. And because we had to show our work, write neatly and follow his particular format, he could always figure out where we dropped a negative or misplaced a decimal. He taught me math and to be detail-oriented and double-check my work. My goals were always to be perfect: 100% before the bonus points, and of course to also obtain all the bonus points. I received the math award from him both my junior and senior year (a huge honor to me!) and actually ended up going to the same college that he had attended. I looked up to Mr. Loofbourrow because he loved to teach, he loved math, he loved (as I do now, too) our TCU Horned Frogs and because he helped train me to be the disciplined, intelligent and logical problem-solver I am today!

The Etsy Bracelet

My Aunt Cathy made a beautiful bracelet for my mom for Christmas! I thought it'd be a nice addition to my Etsy shop because making jewelry can be something I do while watching tv to help keep my hands busy (as I have relapsed recently into my nail biting habit...). 

I have made a few now, and I'm playing around with the beads, colors and materials, but I hope to have several of these in stock in my Etsy shop soon! 

They are currently taking me an embarrassingly long amount of hours to make (I got all the way to the end of the last one and did something strange with my beading wire, causing it to lose some of it's integrity, so I took all the beads off and started over!), say from 4-8 hours. I'm thinking I can get it down to 2.5 after a few more. 

Here's the first one I made as a gift to Sarah--I love the pearlescent colors!) 

Second try, a little shorter forbSarah's tiny wrists. White pearl plus an earthy purple combo for the accents. 

The first one I put in the shop!

I ❤️ Parks and Rec

I don't watch tv often, because it is an excellent productivity killer. But when I do, it's typically because my brain is fried and needs a reprieve. Or because I've had a crappy day and need a dose of good story telling with a happy outlook. 

My favorite show is Parks and Rec. I don't remember how we got started on this show--I think it followed The Office and Community, two other great ones, so maybe that's how. But anyway, it's so strange how much I am Leslie Knope! 

I don't really want to draw the parallels. Those who know me can easily see them. But I will speak about one of the episodes we watched last night (maybe spoiler alert--especially if you're like me and don't watch TV for weeks then play catch up all at once...). Leslie lost the recall election. She puts up with shitty people all the time. She stands up for what's right even when it's unpopular or not in her favor. And the episode I watched last night (not sure of its air date), despite having the freedom to write it however they want, had her lose the election. But Leslie still manages to give an amazing concession speech about how she's going to make her last 30 days count. 

I love that. I needed that. Because life has felt like a huge loss lately. I want to bounce back just as strong as Leslie's character did.