Um, hello family!

It's been a while. So here's the mini update.

I'm up to my eyes in Jane Austen Ball planning. I've been waltzing around the apartment to string quartets for a week. Tomorrow we have another planning meeting and I'll teach all my committee the regency dances. It is the height of nerdery, and oh-so-fun.

I'm also working on grad school applications. I submitted my application to Liverpool's MA in Irish Studies program this Saturday. On Nov. 1 I'll submit my application to National University of Ireland-Galway's MA program as well. I've got to schedule GRE exams, the start applications for stateside PhD programs: Carbondale, Boulder, Notre Dame (yes, you can roll your eyes at my hubris).

I'm also preparing to teach another British literature course next semester: Neoclassic and Romantic literature. That's Austen, Wordsworth, Swift, Shelley, and all that good stuff. But a new class takes a lot of new prep.

Both the ball and the grad apps and new course deadlines are coming up soon. It's kind of daunting. Okay, it's really daunting.

Here's my new mantra: Lot's of great things in the future, brilliant things happening now. I have decided to take at least a few moments each day to make sure that I don't lose sight of the fact that I am the luckiest girl in the world. Life is so good right now.