back to regular life

Now that the Vagina Monologues are over--after months of planning, a week of events, three mornings of tabling, a true test of my ability to handle stress in the pre-show preparations, and two wildly successful shows performed this weekend, if I do say so myself--I feel like I can finally get back to everything that was put on the back burner in favor of V-Day business. For the past few weeks, pretty much everything I normally do/could be doing was conveniently replaced with a myriad of activities (ordering T-shirts or chocolate vagina lollipops, hanging posters, designing programs, organizing volunteers, etc., etc.--the list could seriously go on so far you would get ridiculously bored). So now I can:

---get caught up on quite a bit of schoolwork that wasn't ignored per say, just put on reserve in the back of my mind.

---start planning for SEWSA, which Kaylee and I got a paper accepted into called, "Heather has Two Mommies and Other Children's Books: Queer(y)ing the Natural Family Unit." This will be my first time presenting at an academic conference, and I'm really excited to say the least. A couple of other major pluses: the conference is being held at Appalachian State in Boone, NC, this year's theme is "Ecology of Feminism and Feminism of Ecology," which among other things means delicious gourmet all-natural food, and our good friend Taylor will be there!

---plan our spring break trip! Some friends and I decided to venture to Boston (never been) and New York City (can't wait to go back) over the break, and really, there's nothing better than a good road trip, even if it is up north in the first week of March (chilly).  

---get into some actual work on determining my Bachelor's Essay topic. Some (very general) ideas I'm exploring are: intersectionality in various forms of women's writing, feminist blogging/some sort of exploration of feminism on the internet, violence & sexuality (a la Jane Sexes it Up), or postfeminism in some form. Clearly I have a lot of narrowing to do, but I finally feel ready to dig in. 

---get ready for my mom's visit to Charleston this weekend! I don't often get to play tour guide to Charleston visitors, but I really like doing it. I'm looking forward to taking my mom to some of my favorite spots here, and maybe even trying out a few I've been waiting for an occasion for. 

And I hope everyone managed to have a lovely Valentine's Day weekend! Kaylee and I had brunch Saturday at The Glass Onion in West Ashley, and I would highly recommend it--they use all local and organic ingredients to put a new spin on southern comfort food with oh-my-goodness, really incredible results. Definitely going back there.

Here's my favorite thing right now. Three cheers for the return of Lily Allen--finally!!