January 20, 2015

Today, I unfortunately had no time for a walk.  It was an early dismissal day for students at the high school where I student teach, but it was meeting day after school for teachers.  I didn't get to leave until 4:30, and consequently had no time for a walk before it got dark.  However, I could sense a good sunset coming on because there were fairly attractive clouds and lighting as I was pulling up to my apartment. I went ahead and made the trek up the street to snap a couple pictures.

Abnormally Warm Weather

Well, it's seemed almost like October 2.0 around here recently.  For the past several days, it's has been 50+ degrees (sometimes around 60).  As a result, I've temporarily ditched the indoor workout schedule to take advantage of the opportunity to take long walks.  Since it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today, I had a three day weekend and many chances to take various routes around Lincoln.  If this is what winter was always like, people would feel far less depressed...  However, it is strange not to see any snow.  I feel like we haven't had a truly nasty winter since I was a sophomore in college.

Christmas Break

Well, I haven't posted in about a month and a half largely due to extreme busyness during finals.  I was absolutely swamped with assignments.  It seemed like every teacher required a paper, portfolio, or project that was incredibly time consuming.  I wish I knew how many trees I killed from printing so many things.  However, since the digital age and Google Docs are taking over more and more, I saved myself some paper and ink by simply emailing finals to my teachers.

After finals ended, I essentially did nothing for three weeks in terms of school-related tasks.  I was so burned out that I really just needed time to hang out with my family and boyfriend.  I hopped between Omaha, Grand Island, and Lincoln for much of break and pretty effectively hit every holiday gathering I could.   It was great to be able to have so much time to decompress, especially since student teaching is likely to be incredibly hectic this semester.  I've only gone to the teacher workday, but I can already tell my classes will be a handful...

Anyway, the weather varied between sunny, no-jacket weather (on Christmas Day) to extremely cold and snowy conditions after Christmas.  Below are several pics taken throughout the break in various towns.  The location of each picture is labelled.

Downtown Omaha all decked out for the holidays.

More lights in Downtown Omaha...they must have one heck of an electric bill...

Sunset on the way back from Christmas in Genoa.  

The Lincoln Haymarket in the New Year.

More of the Haymarket using a long exposure shot.

Closer to one of my classic skyline shots...the Capitol Building is actually in this one.

It was t-shirt weather when we went to celebrate on Christmas Day in Genoa, NE.  Here you can see my brother outside messing around with the new boomerang I got him as a gift.  

Another of my brother chasing his new toy under blue skies.

Railroad tracks near my grandfather's house in Genoa.