Team Smith

Nine seconds of bliss :-)

There is a rather large amount of professional associations one can choose to be active in if education is your career. The acronyms are worthy of the best tongue-tying competitions! I've only dabbled in a few, but my favorite is the Association of College Unions International (ACUI).  When funds are tight and you can only choose one conference to attend, or I'm looking for a volunteer experience, I choose ACUI. It feels like coming home- I love these people! There is something to learn for anyone, not just union peeps. It's pretty awesome. Recently I was asked to volunteer at the IPDS conference. (Yay, more acronyms!) Long story short, it's a summer conference hosted by ACUI for people who are relatively new to student affairs or student unions. It's a week long crash course with people from all over the country. I was so excited and honored to be invited to participate!! I made a new friend and colleague in Vinny from University of Delaware. We co-presented a

Each day this past week we have worked on establishing a routine, a new schedule. In the mornings after Sesame Street we venture outside. There is so much to see and do! We eventually meet Matt for lunch at his building, then come back home for nap time. I usually try to clean while they sleep and once awake we read and play some more. When the weather cooperates we hit up the fountains or sprinkler park hidden by the Marianos on Randolph! These pictures are from my phone. Not the greatest quality, but cute all the same!

Today is June 5. Savannah is 8 months old today! And today was my first day not having to go to work because I don't have a job. That's right! We made the decision back in January and started to really try to make it work. Remember that Sunshine blog entry a while back? Well, it is bright and sunny and the only clouds in sight are the real ones outside offering much needed shade :-) I submitted my resignation letter earlier in the semester then worked to ensure whoever came in after me would be set up for success by creating how-tos, writing manuals and cleaning stuff up. I am so happy I made it through the entire semester! I wasn't sure I could do it, but I feel like I really had a lot of support. I don't know who's happier to not be driving in the car 3.5-5 hours a day, me or the girls! So it was a bittersweet ending made mostly sweet by the fact that I get to spend an entire summer with my babies. Yay! There's still much to do. I am excited about a presen