Spatial-sequence : or being a weirdo

I have self diagnosed myself recently with an interesting condition.

Synesthesia.  Ever heard of it?

According to research, ahem...aka wikipedia, it is a "neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway".  The most common form is color synesthesia where letters or numbers are perceived as intrinsically colored or even have personalities.  

Another form of synesthesia is called spatial-sequence, where numbers, months of the year, or days of the week have precise locations in space or may have a three-dimensional view.  

I'm pretty sure this is what I have.

I've tried to explain how I view numbers, years, and weeks to others and I usually get strange looks.  I never realized it had a name until a few years ago when I stumbled across synesthesia on the internet.  Researchers say that many who have synesthesia have excellent memories, trouble telling left from right and its common for them to have a poor sense of direction---umm yup that's me.  

I decided to draw out what I saw in my head.  Its not easy and even my drawings aren't perfectly what I see.  Its all in a three dimensional space but 2D will have to do for today!

I read my days right to left.  Sometimes Thursday is brown and sometimes a dark navy blue.  Sunday is more of a "glass" or clear color.

Starting at 7, I go "uphill" until I hit 11.  For some reason this range of numbers makes me happy. 11-20 are very dark. 40 and numbers after follow the same pattern of right to left

Because this is the first time that I've ever written and drawn what I see it makes me even more curious to know why I see numbers and time like this.  I do not have dyslexia so why do I read so many of my numbers "backwards"?  hmmmm...

I'm sure there are a million more studies I can read, but for now I'm kind of enjoying this small exploration into my brain :)

CD Release Party

Last night was the result of hours and hours {and hours} of hard work.  The band Palo! held a concert for the release of their latest cd that Bobby mixed and mastered.  They always put on a great concert and last night was no exception. 

I brought my friend Juan along and we had a great time-- seeing Bobby in his element, watching all of the Cuban women (young and old) in their stilettos dancing with their cigar smoking husbands, standing under twinkle lights on a perfect Miami night--

Nope.

Let me tell ya', this week has been nothing but one irritant after the other.

Do you ever have those weeks?  Where one blah day turns into another, then another.  You would think with a holiday on Monday I would be starting my week of right.  4 days of work is always a good week!  But Tuesday morning started off with a bang --left the carpool keys at home, made myself and co-workers late to work, lost my coffee mug I've had since my sophomore year of college {so sad}, spilled coffee on my dress,  broke the office toilette--you know, your typical Tuesday. The rest of the week I just haven't been able to get myself together.  I looked in the bathroom mirror this afternoon and gave myself a silent pep talk, " P U L L yourself together K A T E!"  And then I looked down and noticed the sweater I was wearing all day had a nice big hole near the elbow.

print by Gemma Correll

I'm not one to just live for the weekends, but it is happening this time.  This week is almost over and I'm yearning for Saturday.  My boss may find me on my office floor tomorrow like this and I'd be just fine with that.

A little history lesson

Any history buffs out there?
No?  Well you should watch this short documentary anyways because it won an Emmy...juuuust kidding.

The media department of the Tribe put this together using the archival and archaeological research that my colleagues did.   You'll also get the pleasure of seeing some of my staff in the lab and some of the artifacts from our collection (8:34) 

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Sunset : Moonrise : Sunrise

Our mini vacay was short and sweet.

Here are some more photos from our 24 hour trip down the road to Fort Lauderdale.

{Sometimes I am in complete awe of the beauty of where I call home}

Staycation

A much needed relaxing day and evening on the beach

We headed into the city for a little staycation this weekend.  It was so nice to spend time on the beach, soak up some sun, watch a beautiful sunrise from our balcony, snuggle in bed watching a movie, and just spend some quality time together.  No distractions.  No computers.  No work.  No responsibilities.

Lovely Day.

Sending out lots of L O V E and Sunshine today.

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Lizard Love

Aurelia has discovered that she can perch on the windowsill.  

Its not an easy feat for her to get to the window.  Someday when she becomes more agile I imagine she will do impressive leaps from one side of the room to the other, but for now she trundles along, trying to delicately maneuver my glass lamp and obstacle course of lotions and alarm clock on my nightstand. Once she reaches her destination she is content... that is until a lizard scurries by. 

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Annnnd....just in case you care about my cats weight loss journey, here is an update:

Beginning weight: 15 lbs.

Current weight: 14.5 lbs

Annnnnnd....in case you've wondered about my own health goals I have have lost 5 lbs. since Christmas and I've been plucking my eyebrows on a regular basis!

Winter Sky

Passing through the Everglades on my way home from work

Oliver Lawrence Backos

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Graced us with his presence on 2/9/2014

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High five to my amazing sister who is already such an incredible mama---  Welcome to the family little man!

I don't like change.

Do you ever just feel like you are doing a bad job at life?  

Recently I've just felt tired and lonely.  Work takes away my patience and "pep" and when I walk in the door at night I'm just left with the tired, worn down, and often times snippy me. 

It doesn't help that I've spent no more than a collective 5 hours with my husband for over a month and a half.

I have a friend who's husband lives out of state.  He is finishing up school and she moved down here for a job at the museum.  We were talking over coffee the other day about which is worse:  Not seeing your husband because you live a thousand miles away---  Or not seeing your husband but still living together under the same roof?    

Bobby's recent work projects have taken a toll on his schedule.  Now instead of two nights off a week and our 30 minutes together when I get home from work, it is 0 days off and he is already gone when I get home.  I usually won't see him until I roll over in the morning to turn my alarm clock off.  Hit repeat for the last 1 1/2 months and this has been our life.  

I long for balance and I long for stability.  I long for the simple act of eating dinner with him. I have never done well with change and I usually go into super grumpy mode and become embarrassingly stubborn.  

Flashback to my early years to when my parents took out our swing set so they could landscape the backyard (which by the way turned out beautiful).  I pouted for weeks, cried, and snuck tiny swing set trinkets i.e. screws and splintered wood, and hid them in my sock drawer so I would always have a piece of them.  Obviously its quite a stretch to see why I am in the museum field...hehe

Anyways, I digress.  To say that I have matured greatly from my 11 year old self would be a lie.  Why am I not able to grow from this and to be a better person when situations like this happen?  Why do I always think things will stay the same forever and never get better? 

The thing is though, I feel like we are having to figure out this recent change in our life by ourselves and not together.  Because we don't see each other it becomes difficult to have those normal conversations over the phone or at 3 am (don't do it! its never a good idea).  Throughout the day a million things run through my head that I make a mental note to tell him.  I panic, not feeling the luxury of having hours to tell him these things, so in our 10 minute conversations throughout the day he gets word vomited all over by me.  

Did you go to the bank? Did you remember to take the trash out? The car is making a weird noise, can we take it in next week? We have to send the rent tomorrow and pay the electric bill.  Aurelia lost 1/2 of a pound!  I can't find my brown slip on shoes, have you seen them?  I went out to lunch today and got a salad, but the cheese tasted weird.  Who sings that song that we heard on the radio the other day when we were driving to the store? When will you be home tonight?  Do you get a day off this week?  My sister is starting to have contractions!  Our niece was asking for you the other night on Skype.  blah blah blah blah

Lets just say boys don't like this and it makes them grumpy too.

Anyways, I don't even know what I'm really trying to say.  Life is a work in progress and so is marriage.  I know we'll figure it out, but for now its just a little bit harder.  And hopefully my 29 year old self will grow from these times and use them as a learning tool.  And hopefully I won't treat my husband like the old swing set in the backyard and start hiding his things in my sock drawer... cause that would be super creepy.

:)

Miami Boheme

I don't brag about my husband enough on here, but today I'm going to!

For the past few months Bobby's life has been engulfed by several large projects.  And even though I never see him (*tear) I am so proud of him.  The final push for the completion of these projects is upon us and there is one in particular I wanted to share!

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"A PBS documentary film about Miami's original Latin-fusion bands and the cutting-edge scene surrounding them. The film takes you to the clubs, where the beats of bands such as PALO!, Spam Allstars, Locos Por Juana, Suenalo, Elastic Bond and Afrobeta get you dancing!"

He is now super famous and can also be found on IMDb.  

:)

Bobby works closely with the band PALO! and is also mixing their newest album.  They're a great Miami band that you should all check out!

Ok, that's all for now.

Count Down

My older sister is nearing the last few days of her pregnancy and we are all anxiously waiting to meet the newest addition to the family.

A new baby!  I cannot wait to hold my tiny and precious nephew in my arms, kiss his baby nose and fingers, and daydream about who he will become.  

Shoot Out

This past Saturday Bobby and I headed out to the Big Cypress Reservation to watch a 2nd Seminole War Reenactment.

 (because we're cool like that)

Its a great event and I always enjoy going places where people are in period costume.  I think if I could live at Williamsburg I would. We watched the battle, ate some Indian burgers, and said hi to some of my co-workers working the event.  I would complain that it was quite toasty out, but I don't think I would receive much sympathy with the rest of the country in a blizzard :).

 This guy on the right didn't make it.  He actually died in the first 2 minutes and I kept thinking about all the bugs living in the grass that were probably crawling on him :)

Things got brutal there at the end

An Indian Burger = Fry Bread with ground beef inside.  I paid for it later, but it was good.

 And just in case you were wondering, the Seminoles won!

Banana snack

The other day I was looking for a snack and stood in front of the pantry for a good solid 6 1/2 minutes.  Nothing.

I meandered over to the fridge, opened the door and stared at the milk, my least favorite yogurt flavors, and condiments.  Nada.

I saw the bananas sitting on the counter and sighed.  

But then I remembered a childhood favorite snack that my mom would make us with bananas!      

Its d e l i c i o u s

  

Banana Snack Ingredients 

(acceptable for both a 5 year old and 29 year old)

Bananas cut in half and then cut in half  again

A dollop of cool-whip

Sprinkle with sunflower seeds

A perfect combination of salty and sweet.

  

Enjoy!

A foggy day on the Reservation