Taking Inventory

The other day in a fit of organization, I cleaned out my bag shelf (a very large shelf where I keep all of my handbags, purses, totes, and satchels) and got rid of a few things.

During the process of figuring out which bags I'd be keeping and which I'd be donating to Goodwill, I emptied them of all of the bits and bobs that get left behind when one switches bags for the day/night/weekend/season. Here is what I found:

Ephemera

• One spray can of 45 SPF sunblock
• Eight assorted lipsticks, glosses, and liners
• Two bobby pins
• One round-bottomed safety pin
• One "book worm" lapel pin
• Eleven writing instruments (two pencils [one mechanical] and nine pens of various colors)
• One key fob
• One bone-shaped paper-clip
• One mini Tootsie Pop
• One apple flavored Jolly Rancher
• Two peppermint Lifesavers
• Two sticks of (stale) Big Red
• One stick of (even staler) Black Jack
• One pack of Extra spearmint containing three sticks of gum
• Three Band-Aids
• One ten-ride Metra pass (all ten rides punched)
• One ticket stub to Star Trek (May 2009)
• One ticket stub to a Barcelona/Chivas soccer game (August 2008)
• Two dollar bills
• Three cards from art galleries (all with various artists' names written on the backs in shaky ball point as though I'd used my thigh as a writing surface [and I probably had])
• One hand-crocheted change purse (made by Linda Prieto) and decorated with two buttons (made by Trevor Power), one of which is a pen & ink portrait of Stephen King (whose book 11-22-63 I'm currently reading and loving)
• One postcard for Mefisto Theatre Company's 2003 production of "The Boys Next Door," starring a pre-Veep Timothy C. Simons
• One box of matches from Fado's Irish pub on Grand Avenue
• One button, origin unknown

And more more thing:

There's something different about me, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

• One red clown nose

I have no recollection of where I got this. But I'm very excited about it and will almost certainly be using it come Halloween, 2013. Or maybe even for the first day of the semester on Monday. In fact, yes. I'll absolutely wear it on Monday.

An Air and Water Show Baby Shower

Yesterday was our "Stock the Bookshelf" baby shower for Baby Nickels, who is estimated to be around 6.5 lbs and Julie is hoping that he holds that weight steady until his due date in two weeks. Lisa and Rebecca hosted us at Lisa and Matt's "Pub Neenan" (the best pub in town) so we got to enjoy each others' company and the Air & Water Show.

Jeremy, Julie, and Baby Nickels (he's in there, you just can't see him)

Mary, Lisa, Julie, Rebecca, and me

Caren, Julie, Rebecca, and Mary

Lisa and Matt cooked us up an amazing meal of crawfish cakes, a fresh greens salad with walnuts, goat cheese, and new potatoes, and grilled corn on the cob. Delicious. Rebecca made a gorgeous fruit salad and brought the best mini cupcakes I've ever put in my belly. I didn't take any pictures of the food because I was too busy eating it. Sorry.

We ended the night hanging out on the Pub Neenan terrace, eating pizza (that's what happens when your hosts feed you at 2 p.m. and you are still at their house at 8 p.m.) and drinking beer (or white wine spritzers...whatever). It was a perfect day and night and it was just what I needed to relax before classes start on Monday. Oh, wait. Monday is tomorrow. Crap. Gotta go.

Leftover Miami

Guess what I'm supposed to be doing? Working on my syllabus!

Here are a couple of leftover pictures from my last day in Miami when Rae and Letty were in town; I forgot to post them here after I'd come home.

Rachel, Letty, and Trevor next to the CEG booth

One of the many, constant crowds around the Gregory Scott pieces at the CEG booth (and there's T's head in bottom left corner)

Okay, so...I guess that's it. I've already eaten breakfast, worked out, made a number of appointments for eye care and lunching dates, answered some e-mails and voice mails, bought a new calendar for the new year, bought me and T. some movie tickets for Thursday night (The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest!), and eaten lunch. And now. Now. I guess. I should work. bye.