Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

When I look at the calendar, I'm amazed that we're in week ten with the semester. In all my time teaching, I've not had a semester just seem to zoom by like this one is. I think a big part of why I feel like the weeks are slipping by so quickly is I'm teaching two hybrid sections, so I only see the students of each section once a week. After our once-a-week meeting, the students are sent on their way to complete the work online. I love this approach to teaching, and I hope to continue teaching the hybrid courses, but they definitely do make the semester go by in a blink. And with the weeks passing, the cooler weather seems to be here to stay. Which I am perfectly okay with. Though I do need to buy some long johns to wear under my clothes if I'm going to continue biking to work. And a good pair of winter boots, ones that are stylish yet practical and warm. I've been searching for the just-right pair of boots for a couple weeks now, and I think I've narrowed...

Over the weekend I went shopping with Lovely Beautiful Daughter. I really hadn't intended to buy anything, but since we ended up at one of my favorite stores, I thought why not look for a dress ? I made the decision to change up my wardrobe quite a bit: in with dresses and out with jeans (though I must confess I did just buy a very comfortable, just-want-to-wear-all-the-time pair of overalls). So I checked the dress rack and found four to try on (which is also a new thing for me per orders of Lovely Beautiful Daughter; no more buying an article of clothing and taking it home without trying it on). When LBD saw I had four dresses she was quite impressed though she did laugh at the range in sizes: one small, two medium, and one large. She's the one who also told me to stop selecting a piece based only on size, so I took her advice. When I walked out of the dressing room, I found Lovely Beautiful Daughter waiting to get in line to pay for her purchases, so I joined her. "...