Tuesday, November 30, 2010

It's Done

This was what I was finishing up last night:

My "hybrid" (deemed this by my dean) tenure portfolio

And this is what I'm doing tonight to celebrate turning in what I was finishing up last night:
Leftover cashew tofu and a glass of wine

I'm watching a little trash t.v. right now, and Henry is napping on the floor by my feet. Trevor is at the opening of Art Miami; he left early (6:45 a.m. flight) on Sunday morning, installed the gallery's booth yesterday, and was hanging around South Beach today before he and Cathy had to be at the opening. I'm leaving to meet him on Thursday afternoon, and I can't wait. The weather in Chicago today is getting me down, and it's currently 82 in Miami. Ahhhhhhhh, that sounds good.

And now, I must re-fill wine glass and watch more trash t.v. I should do some work, but it's just so nice not to. So, I won't. G'night.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trevor and I have a visitor for Thanksgiving this year: our friend Adam, who's in town this weekend for his cousin's wedding. While Trevor grabbed him at the airport Thursday morning, I started cooking. The boys kept me company in the kitchen with a game of Trivial Pursuit, and then later on in the afternoon, we sat down for a Thanksgiving supper. It was all pretty good, if I do say so myself.

It was a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal, starting with a goat cheese and pumpkin dip snack, baked macaroni and cheese as a main entree, and sides of carrots with dill butter, candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, "Harvard" beets, jellied cranberry sauce, and crescent rolls. Here are some pictures (though please be warned that the jellied cranberry sauce looks a bit like liver):


Adam, getting ready to eat



We ate until we couldn't eat any more, and then Adam, Henry, and I took a nap while Trevor, amazing husband that he is, cleaned up the dishes.

Or we thought that he was doing dishes; he was really taking candid pictures of us sleeping.

When we woke up, we played a game of Scrabble while snacking on Maurice Lenell cookies (I got a tub of holiday cookies, which are almost worth it, but only almost, because they seriously skimped on the jelly stars...) and then some of the Indian rice pudding I'd made first thing in the morning.


We ended the day by watching a couple of movies and then heading off to bed. Today, Trevor's back at work and Adam is planning a lovely morning running around to the galleries and museums of Chicago. I am looking forward to a day of working on my tenure portfolio, which is due on Tuesday. I'm about ten pages into the narrative, with maybe another ten to go, and I have to organize and link up to all of my documentation, most of which I scanned in on Tuesday night before leaving campus. I plan to only leave the house twice more this weekend: once for my appointment with Bob, the personal trainer at the West Loop Athletic Club (I joined a gym in October. Yikes.), tomorrow at 10 a.m., and again to drive Trevor to the airport on Sunday morning (his flight is at 6:45 a.m., so I'm guessing we'll leave about 5, or even before because Cathy likes to get to the airport early. Gross.). But since the Sunday morning trip will be so early, it barely counts. And then I'll be up and awake and ready to start working when I get back home.

Before I sign off here to do some work, I'd like to show you all some of the Halloween pictures I forgot to post up here last month. Sadie and Bosco were both styling in their devil and pumpkin costumes, respectively.

She's also wearing a cape (because that's what devils do...)

Sadie, trying to figure out a glow-stick before Sean adds it to his awesome Halloween lawn display)

Trevor and me with the jack-o'-lantern, courtesy of Paula

So I guess that's all for now. I have two more weeks of classes and then one week of finals. I'm behind on my grading, and I wish I could use the tenure portfolio as an excuse, but I can't; I'm just behind. I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to this winter break. While on break, I might blog a little more, or I might just sit on the couch, sip a cup of coffee, and stare at the bookshelf.

Trevor leaves for Art Miami on Sunday (the 6:45 a.m. flight), and I'm going to join him on Thursday afternoon for just a few days. We'll be seeing Rachel and Letty, too, and I'm really looking forward to some post-tenure portfolio (but still grading) relaxation. And hopefully I'll post the pictures we have from the trip up here right away. But no promises.

Happy after-Thanksgiving to you all, and here's hoping no one gets trampled while shopping today!