Going on vacation!

Even though I have been "on vacation" (aka, unemployed) since July 31, I am leaving for parts unknown on Saturday morning.

Having August "off" has brought forth a few changes in my life.

First, I feel like a "real" teacher, resting up for the 9 months ahead of screaming primary students.

Second, I have finished the rewrites of the first chapter of my dissertation (finally!) and I began writing the second chapter. I have always been a very fast writer - finishing my MA and PhD exams in record time, finishing term papers in one day, whipping up a blog post in 7 hours (err.. ok, blog excluded) - so I wrote my first chapter like everything else: quickly and without much editing. When my adviser returned my chapter with the dreaded "Start again, please," I feared editing, but it turned out to be a great process. I started formatting my dissertation properly, learned that you only use one space after a period for MLA (and not two) and began enclosing my punctuation "within the quotation marks," instead of "outside the quotation marks". The second chapter is coming along much better because I am setting smaller writing goals and only write one section at a time, instead of pages and pages over one hard day. I should be finished within a month, and I'm certain that this chapter will be much stronger than the draft of Chapter 1. Yay!

Third, I have a had a lot of time to work on my Etsy shop. I've been working with new patterns, buying new yarns, and creating adorable little things. My favorites of the month have been, hands down, these crochet ankle boots, these adorable elf hats with matching leg warmers, and headbands!

I have finished skeins of yarn - a huge accomplishment for someone who, throughout most of her life, has had a problem finishing projects - and I think it's because it's really rewarding to add to my projects on Ravelry and to see my shop stats grow on Etsy.

So, after a great fortnight, I am headed away from Madrid! I will be spending a week in Olombrada, a very small town in Segovia, with my Spanish boyfriend's family. They have an amazing house with a private patio, and my puppy loves to walk off-leash and be outside all day long. I also get to meet Aunt Reme, and I hear that she loves to play Parchis (my new favorite Spanish board game) and cinquillo, an awesome card game. I taught my boyfriend to play "Go Fish!" and will teach his family there.

After a week in Olombrada - where the nightly temperatures call for a jacket! - we head to Calpe, a beach area in the Mediterranean. I am really looking forward to going to the beach and have had lots and lots of fond memories of beach trips with my own family over the past few weeks. We will be staying in a small apartment (so that the puppy can join us) and I'm sure that we will have lots of adventures!

While I'm gone, I am going to dar de baja - or close - my Etsy shop, because I would hate to have someone order and not be able to ship until September. I hope that when I get back, I will be able to list lots more adorable items... and... I will be debuting a few patterns that I have been working up over the past month!!

The best part about going on vacation is spending it with people you love and experiencing new sights, smells, and tastes, but it's also very exciting to come home from vacation with new and exciting projects... and a brand new job that I begin on September 4!

Yep, August is shaping up to be a pretty awesome month! :)