a visitor!!

mom's ohio visit

during the first part of march, i entered into a kind of funk. i was missing home, warm weather, friends, family and yes, even the sunshine! to make things worse, i was frustrated with my job(s) and so was matt. it seemed like everything was crashing down around us. it was during this time that my mom offered to schedule a visit during the middle of april -- after tax season, of course. so we made plans and i trudged through my days here in columbus. then, the friday before mom was supposed to fly in (she was coming on sunday), matt and i did some serious research and had some very constructive talks about our future. matt and i had found very sobering information about professors and the odds of *anyone* every getting a full-time position in his chosen field of study (the answer -- not good!), add to this that matt was becoming increasingly more frustrated with his less-than-stellar (read: lazy and disrespectful) students and we began to discuss the prospects of looking for jobs outside academia. and then, everything seemed to click together, and by the time mom got here two days later, both matt and i were in the best moods we'd been in since moving. luckily for us, and mom, this meant her stay was loads of fun (not that it wouldn't have been anyway). but we were able to really enjoy her visit because so much stress was gone! so, that's the backstory...but here's what we did while she was here:

despite my best efforts to find fun, social, touristy things to do around columbus, mom and i both opted for a low-key week. mom was staying sunday, april 18 - saturday, april 24 and she had just survived another "taxing" tax season as a self-employed accountant. so instead of spending the whole week traipsing around columbus, we mostly stayed at home, watched movies, enjoyed tasty foods, starbucks and each other's company. it was a lovely week! i wasn't lucky enough to be able to have the whole week off, but i did manage to swing it so i only had to work on the days she flew in, and out and the thursday in-between.

i would usually do a day-by-day breakdown, but since the week was so low-key, there isn't a ton to report (nice!). so instead, here's a list of stuff we enjoyed doing while mom was in town:

- purchased and drank the following types of alcohol: margaritas, bailey's, beer

- shopped for patio furniture for our little apartment patio. the weather is so nice right now, i wanted to take advantage of it. mom and i diligently searched at home depot, lowe's, sam's, and meijer's before finally finding the coolest rocking chairs, ever! they are wrought iron and almost look like something out of a fairy tale (and apparently they are impossible to find in texas!)

- had a ridiculous amount of caffeine in the form of starbucks

- toured the OSU campus so mom could witness the enormity of the nation's largest (by land area) university and see where i work.

- spent countless hours utilizing the awesomeness of the new rocking chairs, and sometimes, the alcohol, too!

- helped matt turn his CV into a resume, search for non-academic jobs and apply for them

- went to the franklin park conservatory and enjoyed the butterflies, flowers, and sculptures

- watched the following movies: the blind side, law-abiding citizen, fired up, cars, thank you for smoking, transformers

- enjoyed panera, easton mall and spending time together

all-in-all it was a totally awesome week, and i am very thankful that the timing was perfect. if mom would have come a week or two sooner, i'm not sure we would have been able to have as much fun. a week later, maybe matt wouldn't have felt as supported in applying for new, different jobs. of course, God's timing is perfect.

we had a wonderful week and it was a nice stay-cation for matt and i, providing a nice break from our usual routines.

thanks for coming to visit, mom! we love you!!!