new beginnings on the horizon

Last week, I traveled to NYC to begin getting oriented in my new job. It was a real eye-opener! I think I was very naïve when I accepted the position, and now I have a much better sense for what the real demands of the job will be. In short, I felt extremely stressed and totally overwhelmed. How can I possibly manage the administrative workload alongside the obligations to develop new courses for my own teaching portfolio and publish, publish, publish?

I don't have any answers, and I think how I learn the answer to that question will very much govern my experience over the next three to four years. A few important things I already know: I will need to learn how to handle a stressful job without bringing it home, without allowing it to make me unhappy or worried all the time. I will need to learn how to set shorter term, more manageable goals – baby steps, if you will. I will need to learn how to use the resources at my disposal to be a more effective leader and to trust others to help me with the work. And I will need to learn to be brave.

As overwhelmed and torn as I felt last week, it was not all doom and gloom. Campus was looking beautiful in the spring sunshine:

This building is my department's home. Sure, it looks stately from the outside, but on the inside, it sort of looks like a cross between a high school and an asylum. Ah well.

I stayed with my lovely friend Benet and got a little taste of Brooklyn life – running in Prospect Park, watching hipsters on the L, trying in vain to find a U.S. Mailbox. More to come, I'm sure – I'm mulling a new blog, one for my post-bridal life!

Graduation

I finally did it! After seven years of school, I walked in my graduation, way back on May 3rd. I was surprised by how emotional I felt. In my department, graduation is generally pooh-poohed. Although four people in Archaeology walked, I was the only representative from Classical Studies. Here I am freshly hooded and diploma-ed:

I got to shake hands with President Mary Sue Coleman, my first time meeting her!

The last person to receive a degree was this elderly man who needed help getting out of his seat, up the ramp, and across the stage. He received a PhD in Chemistry, a standing ovation from the audience, and a bear hug from Mary Sue (zeugma, anyone?). I don't know what his story is, but I felt so moved. In my department, if we had to fill in the blank in the phrase "my ___________ PhD," we would all pick the same modifier, "my worthless PhD." It's almost as consistent a pairing as "hardy mums." And yet here was an old man who clearly DID think there was worth to his degree, and never gave up until he achieved it!

The whole Lu clan came to town to celebrate:

 

Proud parents

 

Big brothers

New additions

 Where I get my "famous" sense of humor

The one who dries my PhD-induced tears

We had gorgeous weather the whole weekend! We visited nearby Chelsea, shared dinner with my advisors, played in the park, and walked around town. It was actually really nice to mark the close of these years, my life in Michigan, and my formal education (let's hope!).

Brilliant Earth, reviewed (spoiler alert: I'm mad)

You know what else gets two thumbs down? Brilliant Earth, a jewelry purveyor that specializes in conflict-free Canadian diamonds. I was excited to find exactly the wedding band I had imagined on their website, the Whisper Diamond Platinum ring. I also found almost exactly the same ring on Blue Nile, their Petite Cathedral Pave Diamond ring. They're both 1.6 mm wide, but the ring from Brilliant Earth has three more gemstones, larger carat total weight, and costs less! What could possibly go wrong?? I ordered both, as the wedding day draws nigh and I hadn't seen either in person.

Both rings are sparkly on top and platinum on the bottom. Both rings are quite thin. And yet...the Brilliant Earth ring is not even close to being the same size as the Blue Nile ring!

The Blue Nile ring is on the left; the Brilliant Earth ring is on the right.

The Blue Nile ring is closer to my hand; the Brilliant Earth ring is closer to my fingertip.

A comparison against a ruler reveals that the Brilliant Earth ring is barely 1 mm, if that. When I called customer service, a young woman put me on hold to consult her colleague, and when she returned, she informed me that the ring is, indeed, 1.6 mm as advertised. Except that it's not. 

How strange, then, to discover that the Brilliant Earth website was updated in the few hours between our phone call and Dave's email to customer service! I bet when you visit the link to the ring above, the website will tell you it's 1.3 mm! But don't worry, I've screen-capped the earlier advertisement of 1.6 mm that fooled us. I can't tell whether I'm more pleased at the prompt, more honest update of their site, or annoyed that they haven't updated the rest of the ring's statistics – I believe that the carat total weight must also be revised down, given the even tinier width of the diamonds. So much for your "ethics," Brilliant Earth! I know that all of this isn't the end of the world; we're returning the ring and getting a refund. But this episode reminds me of how much I've come to trust online shopping: I expect that the ring on a website really is the width advertised, or really does contain the weight of diamond promised. It's not Ebay or Craiglist; this is supposed to be a somewhat reputable company! Could we have imagined ten years ago that we would have such high expectations for the trustworthiness of basic online shopping?

the world is full of imperfection

Yes, yes, I know that the world is inefficient, broken, and full of typos. And I'm not supposed to get worked up about it all the time, but move through life with a Zen-like acceptance of imperfection. But sometimes, I just can't handle it.

Take, for example, this Cooking Light cookbook that I'm looking forward to using. It's a lovely wedding gift from family friends:

Eager to identify some new recipes I want to try, I opened the book and began to flip through the pages. Imagine my horror when I discovered this:

Yes, the cover was bound upside down on the cookbook, and the whole thing is backwards. Oxmoor House Publishing, I give you two thumbs down!

a wedding errand weekend

Everyone knows that wedding planning demands a great deal of time and requires a lot of decision-making. It's particularly difficult when planning a wedding from a distance! My mom has done an awesome job of helping us plan, but some things simply must be done in person. Right after my eye surgery (which I think went okay? At least I'm not yet "One-eyed Klu"), we drove to PA and arrived very, very late. Up until last week, it was practically still winter in Michigan – it snowed heavily last Wednesday. So I was delighted to see life and blooming flowers on the East Coast!

On Saturday, we headed to New Jersey for my bridal hair/make-up trial! No pictures here, but I liked the work of the ladies at Mane Stop Salon. Looking forward to getting gussied up with my bridesmaids there on the morning of the wedding! We headed to the cake tasting next at DiBartolo Bakery:

If you click on the link, you can see what the Bakery used to look like, just a few weeks ago. Apparently its makeover will be featured on the Food Network's "Bakery 911" show sometime this summer! The cake was okay.

And speaking of blooming flowers, here's a sneak peek of the Florette in her flower girl dress! We found a ribbon at Michael's that matches the bridesmaids' dresses – voilà! a sash:

After a meeting with the DJ on Monday, we hit the road again for Michigan. I graded the last of my students' final papers in the car, which nearly became the proverbial straw on my camel back. Because I taught two writing-requirement courses back-to-back this year, I've had a pile of papers to grade every week since...early September. I don't know how Dave survived 10.5 hours of my moaning "EGGGHHHHHHH" and throwing my head into the window. My favorite line from this batch: "As demonstrated by the actions of the Gettysburg Museum of Los Angeles..."

Only a few days to squeeze in some work before graduation festivities begin later this week!

Woe to the Blind

I still haven't forgotten the feeling of helplessness that overwhelmed me when I failed my first test: a vision exam at the nurse's office in elementary school. When I went to the optometrist afterwards, he slapped me on the knee and proclaimed, "Welcome to the club!" "What club?" I asked, desperately hoping that it was the Cool Club. "People who wear glasses," he replied jovially. How disappointing. And thus I became the first person in the whole third grade to wear glasses.

Dave scanned this picture for the wedding slideshow because he said it "was not too bad."

My glasses-wearing years were not exactly the best. I took more than one basketball to the face during that time, permanently skewing my glasses frames. When my parents let me get contacts(!) in eighth grade, one of my best friends exclaimed, "Whoa! You're pretty??" (HAHAHA!) I thought that was all bad enough, but the worst was yet to come. I am so near-sighted that my retina is stretched dangerously thin over the back of my eyes, leaving me at risk for retinal detachment. I had my first laser surgery just over ten years ago to sear the retina against the back of my left eye. My doctor shot laser beams from a headset into my eyeball. The future is here! From my perspective, it looked like a climactic battle from an episode of Transformers – pew pew pew!

I'm thinking about all of this because I have two eye appointments tomorrow. The first is for an updated prescription from my optometrist. Last year, she told me, "Well, the bad news is that your vision's worse; the good news is that you're not legally blind, yet." The second is with the retinologist, who will be doing a quick laser procedure, again on my left eye, to seal off a new little hole in my retina. Dave will pick me up from the appointment, and we'll immediately hit the road for PA/NJ for a weekend of wedding appointments. (My student health insurance cuts out in less than a week, so I'm trying to squeeze in all kinds of healthcare.) This will be my favorite kind of roadtrip: Dave drives, I nap!

the bachelorette

What a great weekend! Shuen and Julie flew into town on Friday, and we had a whirlwind weekend of good eating and drinking, chatting, and exploring! Though Julie's flight was severely delayed, we still enjoyed a relaxing evening at home on Friday:

On Saturday, we tried out the new Wafel Shop in Ann Arbor. The process:

The delicious result:

After that, it was time for our horseback riding lesson. We drove out to Rushlow's Arabians for a group lesson. The lesson was in an indoor barn:

Safety first, everyone!

We each rode a different horse (Eli, Hostess, Keebler, Rampage) and learned how to direct our horse to walk, trot, stop, and turn. No action shots, though – cameras weren't allowed during our lesson!

 

Here I am with my horse, Rampage. He was described as a grumpy old man who hates being around other horses. No one will be surprised to hear that we really got along:

 

Rampage is looking at you, and no, he is not amused.

It was really fun and totally unfamiliar and we all said we'd love to go back and do it again!

Then it was off to a wine tasting, paired with some snacky foods at Everyday Wines in Ann Arbor. We learned that a good Pinot Gris can, in fact, be paired with baklava with resounding success.

There was more eating and drinking and dancing with my friends from school – Beth, Brianne, Emily, and Charlotte – before collapsing after a long day.

On Sunday, we made a solid brunch at home (more waffles, please!) and spent the afternoon shopping at the outlets. Thanks for a great weekend, girls! Can't wait for the big one in May. =)

peanut butter overload

I bought a chocolate cake mix from Trader Joe's 2 or 3 years ago, but never made the time to bake it. As part of my clear-out-the-pantry efforts, I decided to make it to share with friends this week. Dave is a huge peanut butter-chocolate fan, so a flavor profile was chosen! I baked the whole mix in a single spring-form pan (which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do), and then sliced it into three layers (a slight dome had to be shaved off the top). I got to use my new cake decorating stand, a wedding gift from my friend Anna!

I filled the cake with peanut butter frosting from this recipe. I didn't have enough to make a crumb coating, so it ended up with a more "rustic look" (read: total n00b):

The presentation was not the most elegant, but once I sliced it up, it seemed to matter less! Stephen and Grace gave me their old ice cream maker, so we fired that up, too. I paired the cake with a peanut butter honey ice cream that was pretty good.

Alas, this combination was simply too much peanut butter. I couldn't finish my serving! Even Dave, the great lover of all things peanut butter chocolate, admitted that it was too much. I'll try to remember not to overdo it next time.

There was someone who didn't seem to mind: TUCK! Tuck, the world's greatest dog, has appeared on this blog before (here and here). Sarah and John were house-sitting again, and we enjoyed this dessert together. (You can see them preparing tea for us in the background.)

No cake for Tuck. Plenty of hugs, though!

miracle bread

I hope to be posting more with cooking results in the next few months. There are several reasons for increased cooking activity:
– I finally have time and mental space to think about learning new things, now that the job hunt and the dissertation are completed.
– I'm moving into Dave's place soon and am determined to cook/bake through my refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Not that it's so hard to move these items to his place across town, but I'd like a fresh start, as it were.
– We're receiving all of these nifty and intriguing kitchen gadgets as wedding presents, and I'm really excited about learning how to use them.
– Although I consider myself "someone who knows how to cook," I'd like to be more efficient, experienced, and confident. I'd like to be the kind of person who can buy an ingredient for a recipe and know how to use up the leftovers over the course of the week. I'm sure I'll be more stressed out when my job officially starts, so now is a good time to improve my skills.

I'm a little late to the party, but I finally tried my hand at making a loaf of bread! I used the popular Jim Lahey/Sullivan Street Bakery recipe, via Mark Bittman's old Minimalist column. Baking continues to astonish me – it always seems like a minor miracle is occurring. You start with flour, salt, yeast, and water:

And progress to dough that has all these air bubbles in it!

Pop it in the oven, and then out comes this:

And when you slice it open, it's like a loaf of nice bread! It was a bit wetter in the center than I would prefer, so I might add a little less water next time. But the crumb was delicate and flavorful, and the crust had enough heft and crackle without being difficult to chew.

This bread was pretty delicious. I served it with homemade chicken soup (made with stock from the new pressure cooker). I'd definitely make it again, but would like to jazz it up next time – maybe with some cheese and herbs.