Couple of Crumbs

Summer Lovin’: One Girl. Four Countries. Twenty-Five Days. (Part 1)

”Fight the future” is a shy cupcake who lives in her own little world. A pop culture geek, lover of languages and different cultures, and professional daydreamer, her mind usually takes her to mind-blowing places. She is fearless. If she sets her heart on something, she knows she will get it… or that’s what she likes to believe. 

This summer, I decided to make one of my wildest dreams come true.
 
It started when my sister and I bought tickets for not one, but two music festivals - one of which included sleeping under the stars for three nights. But a suggestion from my sister turned it into something much different. I took the plunge and decided on a detour. Or a series of them.
 
Going on an adventure throughout Europe to see the sights I’ve always longed to see.
 
Solo.

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Summer Lovin’: Back Where I Come From

By: Funfetti

If someone had told me that I was going to start feeling nostalgic on visits to my hometown, I would have laughed at you. Thought you were crazy. Possibly given you the stink eye. I never thought this day would come. But lately, it has. Every time we pull into familiar territory, my heart drops a little bit and I’m scared I will start kicking and screaming when it comes time to go. You may remember from past blogs that I decided to go to college far away because I needed to get out, and then I even moved to another state with my now-husband. I don’t know. Maybe it takes like two years or so for you to grasp the changes in your life, and realize, holy shit, my mom is no longer making my dinner and I am sleeping in bed next to a boy! Every night! Possibly in lingerie. Sometimes in less!

I guess this goes back to me saying to Mr. FF recently that I wished I was in middle school again. You know, things must be rough if I am wishing for those “good old days”. I honestly hated middle school. I didn’t know how to dress. I felt uncomfortable in my own skin. I took it upon myself to “fix” my unibrow. Things were tough. I was struggling to stay friends with people I had known since kindergarten and figuring out how to trust new ones. But for some crazy reason, middle school sounds pretty awesome right now. Factoring in a three-month break from school, sleeping in, and the possibility of a summer vacation in a beautiful place, it sounds like heaven, doesn’t it?

Ah, summer vacations with your parents. When you didn’t have to pay for a dime. Soak it in, kids, because when it ends – It. Is. Rough.

I was a lucky kid. Since the time I was a little girl, my parents would take us to the beach for a week or two. We stayed in hotels, started renting cottages and condos, and then they bought one. Soon after that we went on road trips, and then plane trips. It was pretty much easy living, with the occasional fight thrown in, of course. And just like I never thought I would be missing my hometown, I probably never thought about the day when I would no longer take vacations with my family.

Or maybe I did and I was too blinded by future independence and going away with my boyfriend and friends. Totally not realizing I wouldn’t always be able to have both. Even the logistics of the trips have just hit me now. My parents taking off time from work, paying for four people to eat 2 times a day for five days. Not to mention the activities associated with vacation and the souvenirs. My parents didn’t even spoil us. They were very conservative, but we were also really well-behaved children. But still multiply anything by four and it can get expensive. It’s a lot to consider.

Then there’s the family time. I had a lot of it before I moved out. But not even that much since I was working full-time and commuting. Vacations were always a nice escape from the real world. We could focus on having fun together. Not all the other crap. It’s been almost four years since I’ve been away with my family, and that was only for a few days. It’s hard enough for us to find time to get together these past couple of months which is sad. What I wouldn’t give to be able to just drop it all, win the lottery (not much, I’m not greedy), and take us away so we can just laugh and talk for awhile. Without tolls or traffic or worries about money. Have a drink, scarf down a nice meal. Make some new memories together.

We have just about everything going against us when it comes to this actually materializing. My dad is still unemployed. My mom and sister are both working multiple summer jobs, not to mention Mr. FF & I have limited vacation days to take and can’t afford to take another unpaid break.

I’m happy my parents have still found a way to take a vacation together this year. They will be celebrating a huge anniversary, as well as giving my mom some down time from juggling so many responsibilities this year. Maybe it is the pick-me-up my dad needs to inspire him to do more than talk to the television, who knows? (This sounds like a joke and it partly is… but I’m getting worried.)

As luck would have it, Mr. FF and I will be going away within a few days of my parents and I just wish we would have been able to coordinate it so that we could be together in the sun for a few days.

But alas, not this year. My mom and I had been talking about, at least before my dad’s lay off, possibly taking our first true family trip next summer after my sister graduates college. Here’s hoping we can make that happen. Mr. FF hasn’t had the PLEASURE of seeing my family in action on vacation, and after our multiple years together, I think it’s about time! (Don’t be scared, hun!)

So what am I saying exactly? 1) I miss a lot of things. 2) I wish I had unlimited cash and unlimited time. 3) I’m thankful for what my parents have done all those years prior when it came to vacation, ballet lessons, etc. 4) Even if my parents are a little crazy, I still would like to swim in a beautiful pool with them, have them take multiple ugly pictures of me, and at the end of the day, share a beer (or in my mom’s case, a glass of wine).

Until then, I can go to this hometown that has become somewhat majestic in my eyes (even the old pharmacy where I used to work – a landmark!) and spend whatever handful of hours I can with my family. I don’t think there will ever be a time I don’t miss what used to be, in any respect, even if it all wasn’t a fairy tale, and hope the stars align and we can recreate some of those summer memories at a later date. And make them even better.

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Back Where I Come From is part of our Summer Series.

Summer Lovin’: Summer/School

Pecan Praline is a self-deprecating cupcake who really does enjoy her “job” and is trying to get started with some creative hobbies to lessen her tendency towards workaholism. Circa 5th grade she thought she would be a writer and yet for some reason, she now only writes creatively when Funfetti asks her to.   Talk about a positive influence….not to mention inspiration.

Rather than following the Western calendar, like most people I know, I follow the Academic calendar.  To me, next year means next school year, not January 1, 2012.  It begins August 25, ends May 15 and the limbo in-between is that grace period known as summer.

I am teacher and student, boss and minion; you Gregorian aficionados would recognize me as a graduate student.  So as the undergraduate population melts away, I am left with my fellow grads haunting empty halls and trying to make every minute count by working on the projects that will finally set me free with the blessing of three letters:

PhD

Paradoxically, summer is actually my most productive work season.  I know pop culture is fond of stereotyping us grad students into a caricature of liberal, argumentative, socially alcoholic, beater car owning, dreadlock sporting man-children who mooch off our parents while wearing thrift-store hipster/dork clothes just to make sure you know we care about our research more than anything else, unless of course it’s social injustice!  I’ll admit that the stereotype exists for a reason. I don’t sport dreads, but anyone who knows me will nod their heads at liberal, argumentative and beater car owning.  What pop culture misses, however, is the insane level of self-motivation required of any grad student who actually hopes to finish someday.  Yet it’s not a “real job”.  I wear shorts and tank tops to the office, frequently argue with my boss and am daily subjected to TMI from my lab-mates.

(Source)

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to work in a 9-5 where people dress like adults, defer to their superiors and leave work behind when they leave the office. Even if I’m not actively doing science, I can’t let it go.  Discussions pop into my head; I re-write papers and plan the logistics of experiments I want to do.  I’m not saying this is a good thing.  I fear it detracts from time I want to spend developing real hobbies that are NOT science.

But is this really a possibility?  Grad students may be depicted as procrastinating slackers; but professors are always characterized as the epitome of obsession.  All science, all the time.  But I guarantee you, that same professor will also say they love their job.  And it isn’t a lie – they talk about science all the time because they love it.  Is that what it means to have a job you love?  That it becomes both your work and your hobby?  Or are those just the kinds of people who are drawn to science?

Or maybe my daydreams of “real jobs” are really just fantasies. Mostly they involve me wearing elegant office-chic outfits in my corner office where I verbally spar with my equally chic colleagues about the latest court ruling. Law & Order anyone? But this is usually only on days I’m supremely frustrated by (a) my failed experiments, (b) my PI (or boss to all you real-jobbers out there) or (c) the guidance of said PI resulting in failed experiments (double argh!).   My brightest dreams involve graduating, spending 2-3 years working as a post-doc in an exotic locale and eventually becoming a professor, where I will proceed to wear elegant outfits and verbally spar with my colleagues about the latest scientific findings.  

Until then, I am trying to balance my school life with real life.  I’m attempting to train for a triathlon, planning a garden, and spending quality time with my husband, who dutifully listens to all my school-related venting.  But I am still curious - to all of you out there who have “real jobs”, what is it like?  Do you really love your work?  Does it seep out of the office and follow you home?  Feel free to share any juicy office gossip; or your work-fashion – its summer after all, and I need to procrastinate a little.

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Summer/School is part of our Summer Series.

Thursday Throwback: The List

Happy Thursday! I don’t know about you guys but this week has been dragging for me in the worst way. So glad there is one more day of work and I can embrace the freaking weekend. I NEED IT.

Anyway, lots of new stuff coming to the blog soon! RV and I are very excited to share it with you, and should be ready in oh, about 2 weeks. :) Nothing like some suspense, right?

This week, I close RV’s entry from last summer. When we used to embarrassing wade through our old journals and write about the entries in them, she found a “to-do” of sorts. The list included 1) live in NYC after college, 2) ride a rollercoaster, and 3) learn how to swim. She wrote it about 8 years ago during her sophomore year in college. Check it out here: The List. (I chuckle because RV always wanted to kill me when I brought up doing a journal revisit. haha. The olden days!)

P.S. Have you liked us on Facebook yet? Our page is looking a little sad since our re-do.

Throwback Thursday: Mood Music

It’s been another busy week for us, and we are both more than anxious to get to a three-day weekend! The summer is finally upon us! Today’s throwback is not an oldie, but certainly a goodie. I was so impressed with Red Velvet & S’more’s Mood Music post that I thought it just HAD to be posted again. In this particular blog, both gals break down their “go-to” songs from their college days and presently.

And for just for fun, here is the song that perfectly fits my mood today:

It also kind of fits in with the crowning of the new American Idol winner, which I could totally care less about. ha! BTW, What is Jason Castro doing these days? (Remember when he was on that Cheyenne reality show on MTV? And now they are both semi-famous… [she’s in a band called Gloriana now])!