i've decided my fall look is young molly weasley professorial chic...killin' it, right?

i have spent the majority of the day arguing with the illinois tollway and completely understand most of dante's circles of hell...especially eight and nine...which led me to want to engage in seven. apparently years ago in one of my drives i missed one toll...they sent a bill, i paid what they sent me and told me on the phone that even though i paid $64 dollars for missing an eighty cent toll that i now owe $150. now, this is ludicrous to begin with but they wouldn't issue me an ipass until i made the payment. i wanted to ask the supervisor how she slept at night but resisted the urge.

i'm sitting at a whole foods in naperville waiting to meet up with eric wilberg for dinner. it's funny that me and a good friend from denver are currently both working in, 'the thrill'.

tonight are student voice placement auditions and i couldn't be more excited. it's like christmas for me. what are they going to sing? will any of them bust out queeny riffs? will i hear at least one stephen schwartz song? hopefully awesome show tunes will erase the rest of this day.

i went to a job interview today for a part time voice teacher position in northbrook and ten minutes into the interview i realized that the woman was interviewing me for the wrong job...so that was awesome. yes, it would indeed be a necessity for a music director to play piano...i'm here for the voice teacher position...sorry.

saturday i went to the barrel of monkey teacher training...it was awesome. i know there's a lot of mixed feelings about the teacher's strike. but, i don't think that some of the things the teachers are asking for are all that incredulous. air conditioning in school...that should be a given. i dare you to throw 40 eighth graders in a room that's about 120 degrees and try and teach them. it's not just good for the teachers, it's good for the students. schools that have stronger support staffs have stronger performing students...yadda, yadda, yadda. i do feel like people are perceiving this as being a financial issue but honestly, the teachers have said that's not the biggest of their issues and despite karen lewis' sometimes overly aggressive nature i think she's only a third of the problem...rahm and jean claude rounding out the other two thirds. let's just try and put down bruised egos and do what's best for the children.

joliver, out.

so let the wind blow hard and wear the falling stars.

last night i got a whopping thirty  minutes of sleep...thanks to my sleep tracker i know just how little sleep i actually got.

as i sat staring at the ceiling this morning i decided that i should get up and go to the gym before work as opposed to afterward. i figured regardless of when i was going today it was going to be one of those workouts where you just slog it out...which was totally the case.

i had a moment where i was getting frustrated in the midst of the workout and gave myself an internal verbal smackdown. yes, this workout was most certainly not me in peak performance mode...but, i got up and got my ass there and did it. it wasn't pretty, but i did it.

then, as i was on the rowing machine i realized it was the first time since starting crossfit in december that i didn't have to move my knees out into a plie-esque position to accomodate for my stomach. it's funny that even in the midst of frustration the little things can bring you such joy if you just stop and realize that everything is a process.

i have been hesitant to weigh myself in this journey because i don't want to obsess over numbers. this change was started because i wanted to take better care of myself and try and become the best version of me that i can be..that being said, i DID weigh myself this weekend. i am officially 72 pounds down and i think that my goal of 100 at the year mark is totally attainable...but, if it doesn't happen, i'll still get up and go to the gym...because really, that's the victory.

in other news...

i went to st. louis and it was wonderful. seeing friends and having farm to table feasts...pretty much perfection.

it's raining, i'm listening to trampled by turtles, and drinking pumpkin flavored d&d coffee...it's almost autumn, y'all.

i start my teaching job at north central as of sunday and couldn't be more elated.

i love chicago. i feel so much more myself here.

i think faceinhole.com should pay me to make funny awesome things...i made one yesterday that's pretty great but i'm waiting for the person i made it for to receive it in the mail before posting it publicly.

i am really hoping this one night of insomnia is an isolated case and not something that will become habit. (i found myself in the car saying, 'don't sell this farm ray, you gotta keep the farm'...you know, my brain thinks in field of dreams quotes when exhausted)

the highlights of the dnc for me: the last five minutes of obama's speech, biden being tough but gracious, michelle obama reminding people that she is in face a lawyer, elizabeth warren giving us all an economics lesson, bill clinton basically being politifact, and the castro smile...dang those boys are cute.

bruce covey poetry is beautiful.

i'm being terrible at finishing the book i'm reading. which is weird because i love it...i think i just don't want it to end.

i need to find a tap class.

alright, time to shower and get to the office.