GET READY!
All right, I'm going to try to recount all that we've done so far this fall, since I think July was the last time we updated in full. These will be in no particular order...
1. THE WEDDING: My brother, Greg, got married! This is the wedding we've been celebrating in one form or another since May, so we were terribly excited to have it come and be a huge success, which it was! I started early that morning, getting my hair done with the other 8 bridesmaids, harassing Trevor because I forgot part of my dress at home (it was a sash, and the bride was totally prepared with a spare), then doing some fancy make-up, and finally, taking a limousine 2 blocks (literally) from the bride's parents' condo to the church. And it was on time! It was a Greek Orthodox church and ceremony, and I walked down the aisle while three hundred guests whispered, "That's his sister!" which was totally bizarre, and then I got to giggle while I watched my brother dance around the altar with a wreath on his head while my mother and aunt, and the mother of the bride and the bride's god-mother, hurled rose petals at them. If it hadn't been his own wedding, I think he would have had to leave the church to laugh out loud on the street. But, the ceremony was really lovely, and the bride was beautiful, my brother looked very handsome in his tuxedo, and I held back some tears.
The reception was so much fun. If nothing else, Greg's friends know how to have a party, and they led everyone else in dancing, drinking, and all around merriment. The father-of-the-bride had the country club set off fireworks after dinner; and no ordinary fireworks. Not only did we get to see a top notch fifteen minute show that my Southern cousins said rivaled any town fireworks they'd seen, the finale consisted of a giant sign on the lawn exploding into Greg and Paula's names, all in little sparklers. Seriously.
When Trevor and I had danced our last dance (I coerced him to dance three slow ones with me, which I thought was a success), we took a taxi back to the hotel where we were staying, the Burnham. And it's just about the neatest place I've ever been. It's an old office building that was rebuilt after the Chicago Fire, so it's mainly marble and iron and all Art Deco. They left the office doors on the rooms, which was very neat, and we got to wake up in the morning to a sunny view up State Street to the north, and millennium Park and the theater to the east (we had a corner room.). We really didn't want to leave.
All in all, the weekend was a success: Trevor looked dapper in his new jacket and tie, I was kind of gold, and the happy couple was, well, happy!
2. THE CAR: Just over a month ago, Trevor and I went to the Volkswagen dealership in town to check out the new Rabbit. We'd been talking about getting a new car for a while, so we went to browse. And we ended up driving the car out of the showroom. Yep, we bought a new car! It's a silver two-door 2007 Rabbit, and it's just a button of a car. But it's fast. They gave us some loose change for my one-eyed purple people eater as a trade-in, so I had to say goodbye to her. She's been a good car to me, for nearly eleven years I've been driving her, and not once has she broken down, or ever gotten me in an accident. Trevor took my picture with her before I said goodbye. But on to bigger (not really, smaller, actually) and better! The new car is solid and speedy, has two (count 'em, TWO!) working headlights and two (yep, TWO again!) side mirrors, power windows and power locks, a CD player, and a jack to plug the I-Pod into the glove box! It's pretty high-tech. I've just finally gotten used to fact that after Trevor gets in, he doesn't have to lean over to unlock my door. And because it's a hatch-back, Henry can hitch a ride without having to be in the back seat. Although he's only ridden in it twice. I'm not too keen about his muddy paws pawing up Harvey's nice carpet and sticking his wet snout all over the inside of the windows. Oh, yes, we decided to name the new car Harvey. So, I've got something reliable and nice to drive me to school during the week, and Trevor has something he doesn't have to be embarrassed driving!
3. WORK: Trevor's time at Pettersen has greatly improved since they promoted another assistant to an account representative; the new girl (our friend, Jessica) will be the primary contact for Home Depot, which means that Trevor will no longer be working with them and dealing with their insane antics. A big, fat, WHEW! His job has become so much more pleasant, and he's started learning the ropes about Swiss Colony, one of the studio's oldest clients, from the rep. who's going to retire in May. When this fellow retires, Trevor will take over Swiss, and he's already found them quite pleasant and sane to deal with. It's sort of a relief. Not sort of, definitely. Although we do feel bad for poor Jessica; she's a very nice girl and we'd rather she not have to deal with Home Depot...but as long as it's not Trevor...
4. SCHOOL: Well, I'm around the mid-term point with all of my classes. About five weeks ago, I added two more classes at East-West University to my load. I started later with them because they're on quarters. It's a hugely different experience from the two community colleges; about 90% of the EWU students are black, and a small percent are Hispanic or Eastern European (odd...) and, of course, the fact that they're all city kids instead of suburban kids makes them much more diverse in experience as well as ethnicity. My morning class (7:45 a.m.) is full of terrific kids, ready to learn and pay attention (you can only imagine the dedication these students must have to sign up for a 7:45 a.m., Monday/Wed./Friday class for their very first quarter in college). Now, the noon class is a whole different ball of wax. There are a lot of good kids in there as well, but there are a couple that are used to being the center of attention, and they're young, I don't even think they're nineteen. Also, because it's in the afternoon, they've have a good three or four hours to wake up and eat some sugar or drink something caffeinated, so they're bouncing off the walls by the time they get to me. They're a bit more challenging. But I like them a lot. I've already got one class at McHenry lined up for next semester, and CLC is holding off on the schedule because of contract negotiations with the Union, so I should know about those in another week or two, and before I started classes at EWU, the department chair offered me a third class (which I couldn't take because of scheduling conflicts with McHenry's Monday night class), but she mentioned that if I couldn't take three this quarter, hopefully I could next quarter. Damn straight! Also, there's a full time position opening up at McHenry, so I'm going to throw my hat into the ring. Although it's the furthest away of all 3 schools, if I were full time, I'd be a 9-ish to 5-ish worker, so I'd most definitely be able to take the train to Crystal Lake and the rush hour bus from the station to campus (which I couldn't do this semester because of the odd time of my classes). Meaning no more driving commutes, solid benefits, and a four-course class load instead of 5! Now, of course this is wishful thinking, but you never know!
5. MISCELLANEOUS: Trevor is just now getting over a pretty bad cold (which, by the way, I was not responsible for giving him), so we had to forego a trip to Madison to celebrate our friend Kate's 30th birthday. Instead, we've been camped out, watching movies (scary and otherwise...), doing laundry, and not much else. I bought some candy for my students to bring this week in honor of Halloween, which is exciting. And there was a Halloween Dog Parade in the neighborhood yesterday that Trevor didn't let Henry participate in. Next year I'm making him. And, this weekend is the one year anniversary of us moving into our own place! We're still very happy homeowners, though we haven't done much more home improvement after we fixed the bathroom tiles. The kitchen counter is getting pretty bad (it's made of tiles...awful idea for a counter), so that might be the next to go. Although Trevor matted a bunch of photo prints and hung one of the three up, and he traded one of his prints for a painting our friend Dan did, which is hanging up in the bedroom. It's so nice to have art on the walls; it feels more homey!
Well, I think that's about it! This may have been the longest blog we've posted so far. Next time I promise not to pack it all into one!
Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeen! Until next time,
Bork Power
