Beeston love

This morning I had to run a few errands before class and walked out my door to discover my little village main street all in a flutter. There was a mini circus happening in the park across the street. Walking a little further, there were people walking in and out of all the little shops and calling out to their friends ("Oh Sheila is that you?!"). To give a more accurate picture, I should specify that the majority of those chatting it up in the middle of the pedestrianized street were probably over the age of 70 (my happy borough seems to be the preferred part of Nottingham to retire in - and also to start a new family as there seems to be a high proportion of young mothers about- but of course these observations are probably just a result of what time I usually walk in the street). The organic grocery store was selling giant pumpkins. The multiple flower shops had their wares out, providing a little extra color to the scene. There was a gentleman playing an accordion, supplying the tunes. The public works projects that have been fixing up the brick street since I arrived finally got rid of their ugly metal fences, and I found a new cement monument instead (of a man sitting on a bench next to a hedge). The town seemed very much alive and people seemed pretty happy- I felt it was contagious and found myself in a good mood as well.

I am pretty proud of the lunch I made myself today, and more broadly, the improvement in eating habits that it represents. I heated up some perfect-for-autumn butternut squash soup and paired it with some buttered toast and a spinach salad with balsamic vinegar for dressing. Of course I can't leave out the tea (today happened to be twinnings blackberry and nettle tea). As I sat there practicing my calculus and eating this tasty lunch, I felt a confidence starting to emerge that has generally been lacking- namely that I have the ability to play hostess, and do it fairly well. As background I should say that I've been cooking many more complete meals than I ever did at UConn, that I try for a nice balance of colors and nutrition, and that I'm no longer just eating to get some calories in my system. I'm enjoying my food a lot more. Perhaps it's all the cooking shows we've been watching here!

Well my program continues to be challenging. At this very moment I am procrastinating some serious studying, but I am justifying it by the fact that I haven't posted in a while. My goal is to work through several questions from past years' exams, so I know what I need to do as I continue to go along. I would also really like to pick a topic for my data analysis project. If you have any suggestions on what might make for an interesting cross-sectional (aka one time period) data source or some relationship between variables that you've always been curious about, do post a comment!

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by. Stephen's flight to England leaves 3 weeks from today!