In other news

1. In the nanoseconds of free time that I've had in the past month, I've been studying and celebrating old school Celtic traditions and holidays with my mom and Gram. Yesterday we ate blackberry tarts and drank wine for Michaelmas (and then had soup and homemade bread and cake for my birthday on Monday). I also celebrated the coming of the equinox, and my mom (the ultimate subversive pagan) had her kindergarten students create Equinox Crowns for themselves out of construction paper and sparkley leaf confetti. "They celebrated and didn't even know it."
2. Purple coneflowers (or Echinacea, to those of you who are botanically-minded) are dead and ready for de-seeding if you haven't gotten to it already. Take the cone part, cut it off the stem, and comb through it with your fingers to release the seeds. Make sure they're dry before you store them. They can be planted again next year or brewed into tea.
3. Everybody else is getting married or engaged right now, and it's really throwing me a loop. Andy and I talk about it a lot, since it's been over three years and I'm almost halfway through with my Masters and well on my way to real life. We're thinking of engagement next year and maybe getting married the following (we'd be 25). I hope he does the thing properly. I've officially fucked up most of the major landmark events of development in my life: I made prom into a complete joke by wearing an electric purple 80s flamenco dress and turning my hair into a whitegirl afro; I forgot to walk at college graduation... but this had better be done the right way.
4. Tomorrow is my birthday. 23. Officially mid-20s; how frightening. My middle schoolers still think I'm from the high school though, which for now I'll take as a compliment.