"you're eating leaves"

welcome home to me

how on earth is it the middle of june? i swear that nick and sarah just got married - or that we were running dam to dam just a couple of days ago. it just doesn't seem possible that i'm already freaking out about all of the things that i wanted to get done during june that are still solidly on my "to do" list. and now that job applications are lingering in the near future, that's even more sad. . . and scary.

once i made the billion-hour drive home from lawrence, i slept (of course) and then immediately went and got myself both groceries and some flowers. when you return home to an empty apartment, it is super hot, and you are weeks worth of super exhausted, sometimes you just need a little splash of color. don't get me wrong, i still think my tiny little abode here is absolutely adorable. it's even totally bearable on these 90+ degree days thanks to my amazing fiancé. however, if you all wanted to keep me hooked up year round with a bouquet of color, i wouldn't be angry. these just make me smile for some reason, even now as half of the flowers are moving into an "early wilt" stage because it's been so freaking hot and humid this week, it adds a little humor for those of us who also feel like we might melt away at any moment.

i've spent most of the last couple of days trying to get caught up - both at home and at work. monday and wednesday got scheduled as almost entire days of meetings and in the interim, i'm trying to write and get going on some new analyses for whatever my next project is going to be. i did find time, though, to recreate this amazing salad that i had when i was in lawrence. if you can get past the fact that the purple leaves in these mixed greens look brown, you can trust me that it's surprisingly delicious. it was originally one of those things that i thought might not be good as a salad even though i liked all of the constituent parts. thankfully i was wrong. what are the constituent parts, you ask?

mixed greens

a few tomato slices

dried cranberries

slivered almonds

& shaved parmesan cheese

another lawrence delicacy

top it off with some balsamic vinaigrette and you've got yourself something pretty amazing. and nice and fresh for these super hot summer days. thank you, lawrence, for this treat.

i finally got back out to run today (although i had to wait until 8pm, when the temperature finally slipped back below 90). the humidity makes things a bit tough, so i'm making a mental note to keep my inhaler filled. other than that, it's just a matter of learning to deal with being disgustingly sweaty.  bets are still out on whether i'll actually be more comfortable with the heat and humidity first :)

i also went to the salon next door for my first facial today. matt's been giving me a (good-natured) hard time about it, but they're offering all of their skin services at half price (and rumor has it that they will be for a while, as the esthetician is new and is still building up a clientele) and with the wedding approaching i thought, "why not?" i wasn't sure what to expect exactly, but it was pretty wonderful. part gentle massage and part a series of face masks, i found it delightfully relaxing. plus, my skin feels amazingly soft (and actually moisturized, for once). so if any of you lived here, i would send you to taj immediately. PLUS, she actually complemented my skin, affirming yet another way that my 30s are totally better than my 20s. because the 14-year old version of me definitely did NOT see that coming.

p.s. the quote in the title of this post comes from the daughter of my friend kristi, who i met for dinner (along with her family) in wisconsin dells on sunday night. part way through my salad, i looked at samantha and found her giggling at my "meal."