Unplugged

Well it's been awhile since the ole' JasonLeahRun has been updated. After the defense last week I just wanted to unplug for a bit as the weight of that PhD was finally off my shoulders and it would be a week until my new job started. So that's just what I did.

I first want to thank everyone in my family for coming to support me and watch my dissertation presentation (usually no family goes to that, and I had both parents, step parents and inlaws there) and hang out with Jason and I in Bloomington. It was so nice having all of you there. A big thank you to Rick, my adviser, as without his help, guidance and patience there is no way I would have finished the program. Lastly...of course Jason, thank you....you are my everything.

So there, now that I got my awards speech out of the way, what else has been happening in LeahC's world....quickly as it's been awhile!

After the defense Jason and I stayed in Bloomington by ourselves and walked all over campus and went to check out the dorms we had lived in our freshman year and all the places that we loved so much while we were living there. The weekend after the defense was my cousin's wedding which was awesomely fun although I think although the shoes I wore completely completed the dress outfit, I think they also completely broke my toes....ah well, as my aunt says, it's painful to be beautiful sometimes (especially for those of us that usually walk around in Converse and patagonia flip flops). My cousin had a whole wedding weekend with a brunch and a cubs game the Sunday after the wedding which was really fun....after the Cubs game Jason and I came home and passed out around 8pm.

Monday I had planned on doing nothing, but with me that always lasts for about an hour. For the rest of the day I walked around the city and headed to Borders to get some Photoshop books as my dad got me the Creative Suite 3 for my graduation present (I'm *so* excited about it...but oh so much to learn!). Tuesday morning I headed out to Michigan to my aunt and uncle's lake house which was a total blast! I just played with my little cousins for 2 days including taking the 8 year old (she's almost 9) on a walk around the lake to go to the candy store....it's about 5 miles around. She's quite the little trooper though and made with only minimal complaining :-)

Thursday I helped my dad and Sue run some errands as they were leaving on Friday morning. Friday I really did nothing until about 2pm when I went down to Wicker Park to sit there and read for a few hours while I waited for Bridgette to come into town for the weekend.

We have had a good time with Bridgette these last few days. She's still sleeping and so I am thinking that I successfully wore her out yesterday like I had hoped to do. We got up early and went to get manicures and pedicures, then headed downtown where we walked through millennium park over to the lakefront path and then onto the architectural tour which although expensive...was really really fun even for this Chicago native. From there we jumped onto the bus, back to our apartment to change, then walked through West Fest a few times and then back to Ashland to get back on the bus to go East. Off at the brown line, then we walked through our new neighborhood and showed Bridgette our new apartment...seriously we are going to be arrested for stalking soon enough as we keep doing walk by and drive bys. From there we walked into the thick of Wrigleyville, noticed that we are really close to a Penny's noodles, and then had a beer at a bar. From there it was off to Matsuya for dinner with Bridgette's aunt who is awesome and bought us dinner AND gave us a ride home. THANKS VICKI!!!

In sad news, Jason's grandfather is very very sick and so he headed to Fort Wayne today to be with his mom and to hopefully see his grandfather. I think he might have gotten a little better yesterday evening, but I'll know more when I talk to the JMan.

So that brings us to today. Sunday. You know what comes after Sunday. Monday. And this particular Monday is super special because I start my new job at Obtiva. I'm pretty nerved up about it, but as the people that work there are some of the nicest people that I have met I'm guessing they will make it pretty comfortable when I start. So that should be a really really exciting and fun day.

So that's it. Bridgette just woke up and so we are going to walk to a diner to get some breakfast and then we are heading back downtown for some shopping and some beach time!

Oh running...yeah not so much. I don't care though, I have been basking in the glow of being finished with graduate school. Running will be getting going again shortly. Maybe the name of this blog should be, jasonleahneverrun.....well maybe not.