Assistant Professor
NAU Occupational Therapy Program
Describe your morning – what time do you get up, what do you do first, next and what is for breakfast?
In thinking about describing my morning I think of what I probably should say and should do. I should say I start my day with 10-15 minutes of meditation, or journaling, or exercise, but I don’t do any of those things. Mornings are my favorite part of the day. I enjoy the quiet of the morning and sitting with a cup or 2 or 3 of coffee, while I read through the news on my phone app or check personal emails. I usually spend about an hour doing this before I get ready for the day. I am an early riser by nature, and this has been reinforced by needing to leave the house by 6:30 (pre-COVID) to miss the worst part of traffic as I drive from south Gilbert to the PBC campus. Pre-COVID, after I got ready I packed breakfast, which I ate on my hour commute, and packed lunch. While working from home, I eat breakfast, which is some form of protein, while starting work around 7 or 7:30.
What happens next? I work from about 7 to 11:30 or 12 at which time I find something to eat for lunch, which usually consists of yummy leftovers my husband prepared for dinner the night before. I have a bad habit of eating lunch in front of my computer. This is a habit, which I developed when working on campus, mostly to keep from working an 8 ½ or 9-hour day and having to drive home in heavier traffic. Working from home, I take several breaks during the day, so I don’t feel eating in front of my computer is too bad. I work until about 3:30 or 4:00. When the weather is conducive, I go for a bike ride. If not, I stay inside and do resistive exercises.
What do you do for dinner?
Early evening, I usually spend focused time visiting with my husband while he prepares something tasty for dinner. He is a wonderful cook and enjoys preparing meals. For him cooking is a creative outlet.
How do you end the day and what time do you go to bed?
With work being primarily a mental exercise, the evenings are generally spend watching a Netflix or Amazon Prime movie or something else that does not require much mental energy. Sometimes my husband and I will listen to music or watch a concert video.
I feel like work takes so much mental energy and requires mostly a left-brained effort that my creativity is sporadically nurtured. I primarily do my artwork on the weekends. Since my undergraduate degree in art, my creative pursuits have always been small-format collages. I am fascinated with the process of bringing together handmade papers, assorted objects, and found items all with their own stories, and assembling them into an image reflective of past and present. Within the last few years my husband, also an artist, and I collaborate on sculptural pieces. His ceramic pieces combined with my love of collage are brought together in sculptural wall hangings.
I have always enjoyed reading to learn rather than fictional stories. The downside of this is that I read so much for my job that I generally do not have the mental energy to read for leisure, regardless of it being non-fiction or fiction.
My streaming involves mostly movies or programs like HGTV which do not require much mental energy or that allow an escape from the day to day. HGTV shows I enjoy are Caribbean Life or House Hunters International. I think I romanticize living in another country and enjoy seeing what homes cost in other parts of the world. Aside from HGTV, one series I have really enjoyed is The Crown. I think the production on that series is well done. I have enjoyed watching Outlander, but haven’t finished, because it seems to be dragging on. On a lighter side I enjoy watching the Feed Phil series, The Kominsky Method, and have really enjoyed the Grace and Frankie series. Some that my husband and I have enjoyed watching together are Game of Thrones, Ozark, Goliath, and Blacklist.
I feel like my academic journey has increasingly taken me away from my creativity and down a left-brained road of doing research and writing up that research for publication. While I feel my creativity has taken a back seat for the past 20* years, I am finally getting to a point in life where I can make decisions that are in my best personal interests rather that those made out of necessity. The new journey focused on creativity and fulfilling personal needs begins soon!
The first thing I want to do after we no longer must socially distance and isolate is TRAVEL!
I love seeing other parts of this country and other countries. While I consider myself to be somewhat of an introvert, the social isolation has been difficult, and I really miss being able to get out and about and interact with others. My husband and I will celebrate our 40th anniversary at the end of this year. I had hoped to be taking a trip to celebrate, but that celebratory trip will have to wait until sometime in 2021.
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