You know you live in a cold climate when 30 degrees makes you think of spring...

For the first time this year, I am starting to feel as though spring is on its way.

Don't get me wrong, it's still very much winter here, and it will be for awhile yet. But I am starting to really notice the days lengthening, and I can feel the sun getting higher in the sky. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. Usually in the dead of winter, the few sunny days we have are also the coldest, but yesterday the sky was perfectly clear and the sun was shining brightly, there was not even a breeze, and the temperatures got above freezing (if only barely).

This morning I went on a walk. I bundled up because it was chilly, but it wasn't an unpleasant kind of chilly, and even though I was skirting occasional patches of solid ice, the sidewalks were clearer than they have been for awhile and it was a nice walk. My Sunday morning walks are one of my favorite things in the world, and I'm so excited to be back on the afternoon church schedule, and to have accommodating weather again. It's really nice thinking time, and it's just good to get out of the house and outdoors for a little while.

I've had a good weekend, I think. Yesterday I was in a wonderful mood, for no particular reason. I didn't wake up feeling any different than I normally do on a weekend morning, I wasn't very productive during my first few hours of the day, my mid-morning run wasn't the best run I've ever had. But sometime around midday I just started to feel very positive about everything, and my mood just got better and better. I'm sure there were some things contributing to it, like the fact that I am taking the weekend off of school completely before I begin my prelim examinations on Monday, and therefore didn't have to feel guilty about not getting anything done. Or that it was such a beautiful day. But for the most part, I think I was in a good mood just because. Just like sometimes you feel down for no reason. (It's a lot more fun to feel up for no reason, though.)

Tomorrow I receive my questions for my prelim examinations (this is a two week process in which I write two papers, one theoretical and one practical, that I will then have to defend before a committee of three math education professors), and then on Wednesday I leave town for a conference in San Diego that seemed like really good timing back when I thought I would be on spring break this week, and seems like really bad timing now that I know my spring break will be taken up with prelim examinations. But it will be nice to get some warmer weather and see my parents for a few days, and I should be able to get my plane ticket reimbursed since I'm actually presenting something. It will, however, make for a crazy week.

Anyway, that's about it. Just wanted to check in since I haven't blogged in a couple weeks, but I'm afraid my life isn't terribly exciting at the moment. Not bad, just not exciting...