This is not an official post!

It's just a few random thoughts and pictures from the last few weeks. I have to grade some papers before going to sleep and since I'm an obsessive maniac who can't just rip something off quickly (but rather spend an hour editing and revising each word and then still missing a typo or three), I've got to stop myself. But here's something fun to look at.

The cabana in Las Vegas during our early October weekend tribute to Julie P.'s soon-to-be marriage:

Preparing my office for the holiday:

Me being harassed by some skinny fellow at school:



An awesome lipstick blot made on my Chipotle napkin after eating some pre-Richard III tacos:



Me and Henry before going to dinner with Trevor at Neha and Bhupi's place:



Some weird teacher scarecrows in the elementary school garden down the block from Neha and Bhupi's:

Okay, that's it for now. More to come later!

Tomorrow, I go to Las Vegas!

My friend Julie Papadia is getting married in November (on my birthday. it's, like, the best present ever.) and we're having her bacherlorette party this weekend in Sin City. I've never been to Vegas and I am so excited that I forgot I still have to go to class tomorrow. I said "Have a great weekend!" to my officemate, Lisa, and she was a bit confused. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about the trip when I get back, but I wanted to leave you with some fantastic images of Henry's new Halloween sweater. Trevor does not approve of it. But Henry told me that it's his favorite piece of clothing, so we're ignoring Trevor.

Last Saturday afternoon, I had supper club with Angie and J.C. at Fat Willie's. We'd gone a while back but Angie wasn't able to get the brisket (it'd sold out), so we took another trip for Hogaritas (yes, they're as good as they sound), brisket (for Angie and J.C.), and ribs (for me). It was scrum-diddly-umptious, though after dinner we hallucinated some flying porkers. Maybe we ate too much?

T. and I also celebrated our two year wedding anniversary on Tuesday (last night). He surprised me with a dinner out at the West Town Tavern after my looong day at work. It was a wonderful surprise and a great dinner. We started with spring rolls and peanut sauce, then T. had the tilapia and grilled sprouts, and I had the special entree butternut squash with couscous, wilted greens, mushrooms, and marscapone cheese. My, my. Yum. We didn't have room for dessert (though this 'peach tart' the waiter spoke up was mighty tempting), and we used the few block walk home to digest our meal. He also surprised me with a tote bag full of yarn! Cotton is the two year anniversary marker, so the tote and the yarn were all cotton. Plus, the tote has a picture of me and Trevor on it!

I had an uplifting teaching day today as well. My honors Comp 1 class is pretty much the best thing since book mobiles. Not only did we have a great Banned Books Week discussion today, but we're working on the chapter on faith and religion, and we had a thirty-five minute discussion full of respectful and thoughtful discourse on organized religion, morals, faith, and God. Yeah, did I mention that these are eighteen year olds? And we were talking about religion? It was glorious. I wish I could have these fourteen students for ever and ever and ever.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'm finishing laundry so I can pack tonight, and I'd like to paint my toenails so that I don't have scabby green polish for the trip. But what else would expect from a lettuce-headed farmer woman? Not much.

Have a wonderful weekend, and everyone send Trevor a text message or e-mail, or call him because I'm sure he will be so lonely without me that he'll cry on Henry's shoulder all four days. Sure. That's what will happen.

School Has Never Been This Interesting!

Check out this link about the college. We just found out about it this morning; the board president sent out the e-mail late last night. Ugh. Double-ugh. I'll let you know how it all pans out.

Three days of not much...

...equals a pretty nice weekend. Some really wonderful news we got just before the weekend kicked off is that there's a whole new baby in the world: Gabriel Newman! Ann and Daniel had their little baby, and he's pretty adorable. So far we only have a few pictures to tell just how great he is. Check him out.

Isn't he a peanut?! We might not be able to meet him for a while, the Newmans living out in New York and all, but I'm hoping that we can get out there pretty soon. Ann had quite a time of it, and ended up needed a c-section, but mom and Gabe are doing well, though I imagine that they were all pretty tuckered out.

After such a nice beginning to our weekend, I had my normal Friday, and then Trevor and I went over to Dan and Simona's for dinner that evening. Maya was awake and cute, cute cute. She opens her little eyes and stares, though I'm not sure how much she actually sees. Everything about her is so small and fantastic.

Saturday afternoon I got my haircut, though it's still longer than I'd like. I wanted shortish short (I got longish short. Yes, there's quite a difference) so I might have to go back sooner than anticipated. The cut is, as usual with Bridgid, perfect, but it's still a bob. Ah, well. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday night, we went to Destiny's birthday part and had some pizza, beer, ice-cream cake (be jealous because it was delicious), and about half a round of Catch Phrase. We got some nice "pregnant Angi" pictures, although my favorite, this first one with Destiny, looks like my camera is haunted. This haunted camera-look happens every now and again, and of course, it always happens for all of the good shots. The girls still look nice, though.

Today was spent watching an amazing nail biter of a Manchester United v. Manchester City game (United won [yahoo!] 4-3 in the last minute, literally). We ate some lunch, I did some laundry, and then we headed over to the Downtown Bork's new place for dinner and picture-hanging. They've done much to the place since our last visit, and certainly since our last posting. So here are some pictures! (and Neill, these are for you.)

(The last picture is the view from their back balcony, and the two before that are the views from their front balcony.)

And now, while I'm supposed to be lesson planning, finishing the ironing, and sleeping, I'm watching The Mighty Boosh and blogging. But not for long, because...goodnight!

I had to share these two pictures with you all. The first one was taken on Friday night, and the second was taken quite early in our relationship (most likely within the first few months). Isn't it weird to see Trevor again without his beard? He loses about ten years! Unfortunately, I do not lose that many years. I only have a slightly different hair cut.

Happy hump day!

Camp Power

Last weekend we had a Labor Day holiday at Camp Power in Door County, Wisconsin. All of the Power siblings, their spouses, and John and Fran Power rented a house and we spent a nice long weekend visiting Grandma and Grandpa Madel and Jim, jetskiing, eating, hammocking, bonfiring, fireworking, and puzzeling.

Thankfully there are no pictures of us jetskiing. We had a wonderful time, although I walked like Frankenstein for the next three days (I kinda, sorta, hit some major air before coming down hard on the lake and spilling both me and Trevor off our waverunner...). For more pictures, check out Trevor's photo page.

Although it was a short week after the Labor Day holiday, it was a tiring one. School went well, though my body was still recovering (I really need more exercise). This weekend was an opening at T.'s gallery (some photos are forthcoming), and our friend Adam came to town to visit us. He's currently getting his Photography MFA in Fairbanks, Alaska, and is doing a tour of the lower forty-eight for the week. He flew into Chicago, went up to Milwaukee last night for a friend's wedding, and tomorrow he leaves for up-state New York for a workshop on Collodion, another friend's wedding, and a lunch with photographer Doug Dubois. I got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with him, shopping and breakfasting while Trevor was at work. Tonight the three of us went to dinner at The Publican, which T. and I have been wanting to try. Sunday night is their fixed-price dinner, and while it was good I'm more interested in going back to try something from the regular menu. It was really fish-heavy and the main dish was lamb, a meat that I'm not a huge fan of. The heirloom tomato salad, though, was absolutely gorgeous and unbelievably tasty.

We took the train out last night for my friend Julie's stock-the-bar bridal shower. There were about fourteen of us on the train, which is quite a different ride than my usual solitary commuting experience. The party was a lot of fun, and Julie and Jeremy (the bridegroom) got us all an Escalade limo for the ride home. Yes. I rode in an SUV limo. It was ridiculous and a hell of a lot of fun.

(Trevor does not look thrilled about me and Lisa snuggling with him. I can't imagine why.)

Trevor took some video on his phone of us singing to Pat Benatar. I will not be posting it anywhere. Ever.

It's now twenty to eleven at night, and I have yet to prep for tomorrow's classes. Adam has had me investigating lanyards and watching the U.S. Open. I must now go to fix up a powerpoint and an assignment for my honors class. Enjoy these last days of summer!

School is IN

So the past three of weeks have been buu-ss-yy. Sorry for the lack of updates, though. There is no excuse for that. None.

Today was the first day of the second week of the semester, and I'm starting to settle into the routine. The first week is always the most exciting--fresh-faced freshmen staring up expectantly, waiting for me to pour information over their spongy grey matter--but also the most erratic--former students popping in to say hi, last minute copies, meetings, changes, and everything else to maneuver around. Plus, with more than eight hundred new students due to the MCC Promise, the parking lot was full of eight hundred more cars than it usually has the first week of school. Hmm. Problematic. I'll be able to take the train on Mondays, and Tuesday through Thursday I'm at school by 7:30 a.m., so it's not a problem for me to park. Although I did park at an off-site location and take our college shuttle bus (which they asked us to do if we could) and got a cafeteria buck! So, tomorrow's coffee is free!

And classes are going well, so far. Because of the Faculty Development stuff I'm doing, I've only got four classes, which is a nice break. And my honors composition class actually does the homework I assign. It's kind of amazing, and I'm still waiting for them to rebel.

Other things are going well, too. We spent the week before classes started at Greg and Paula's house while they were out of town on a work/vacation trip to California. We hung out with the girls

and Henry had to get used to a smaller bed.

Trevor and I had a wonderful time watching the Harry Potter movies 3 & 4 on Greg and Paula's fantastically huge t.v. with a wondoriuous surround sound system. It was like being at Hogwarts! Only we were at Dogwarts! (I broke that one out while we were there. Trevor did not think it was as hilarious as I did.)

And the gallery is going well, too. Trevor is working on a new blog for them, and I'll post the link here when it's ready for public readership. It's called Cyclops (Trevor thought of the name).

This Saturday I went shopping with my cousin Erica for some delayed back-to-school gear. We really didn't get much that was schooly, but she had some success at the Alley and Belmont Army Surplus. Plus we ate at the Clarke St. Diner: she had pancakes and I had a grilled cheese and vanilla shake. So. Good.

Oh, WAIT, and DAN AND SIMONA HAD THEIR BABY!

Okay, wow. I can't believe that I didn't start off with that news! Maya Emily Segar was born on August 11th around mid-day. She was 7-ish pounds and beautiful. See for yourself:

(This is the day she was born)

(And this is more recently. As you can see, she's gained a little weight and has started playing X-Box. She's obviously brilliant.)

In other baby news, Ann Boger's due date is...in two days! I think she's pretty ready to have their little nugget, and we can't wait to see him. I wish they lived closer so we could see him in person (oh, and Ann and Dan, too. We'd like to see them.), but we'll hopefully visit them soon. Dan and Trevor are playing Scrabble together on the X-Box right now. What's funnier than the fact their board game is crossing over one thousand miles is the fact that their X-Box avatars look nearly identical. The hair color is a bit different, and Trevor's avatar is wearing a suit (I have no idea why). But otherwise, Ann and I could easily switch avatar-husbands and not know the difference for weeks and weeks. Ann, let me know if you're up for it.

Well, papers need to be graded. By Henry. He's got a lot of work ahead of him tonight. I'm going to make him a pot of coffee. And to leave you all with a giggle in your throat, here's a comic Trevor found for me.

Today's Pros and Cons

Pro
Getting to meet the eighteen new faculty my co-chair and I will be leading through their first year. They all seem lovely (especially my new officemate, Lisa), even though the fact that I will be leading them through anything gives me a case of the willies.
Con
Waking up at 4:30 a.m. to be on campus by 7 to meet the new faculty for their day-long orientation.

Pro
Kicking fashion ass in my awesome three inch purple leather wooden-heeled wedges.
Con
Foot, toe, ankle, leg, and, for some queer reason, shoulder pain after nine hours of standing in my three inch purple leather wooden-heeled wedges.

Pro
Listening to two solid hours of my latest audiobook, The Girl Who Played With Fire, which is turning out to be quite good.
Con
A solid two hour commute home in a torrential downpour and the resulting stop-and-stop traffic on the Kennedy.

Pro
Trevor's gorgeous suggestion to order takeout from Butterfly and then watch the Man United game that he taped at our house (we're staying the week at Greg & Paula's, house/dog-sitting while they're away).
Con
Getting chicken instead of tofu in my order of Pad Thai With Tofu. I have never eaten a Pad Thai with chicken. Ever. It was a little weird.

Pro
Watching the game with Trevor while picking out the chicken in a still-decent dish of Pad Thai and drinking a cold beer from a frosty mug.
Con
Watching Man United play one of the most embarassing games I have ever seen. The 1-0 loss to Burnley, who's just come back from a 30 year relegation stint (yes. thirty. years), was just plain awful.

Pro
Curling up in bed with Trevor and the gaggle of dogs--one ours, three borrowed--for sleep as soon as I finish posting this.
Con
...nothing. That will be the best darn thing I've done all day.

Updates, Updates, Updates!

I don't quite know where to start! I don't think I can go chronologically, since the most exciting part of our update doesn't come until tomorrow at 6 a.m.: Maya Emily Segar! Dan and Simona's newest edition is coming tomorrow, and we're thrilled to our toenails. She's the second of our seven babies, and I can promise that there will be a ton of pictures when she arrives (hopefully Simona and Maya will be resting comfortably by mid-morning).

Yesterday (Sunday), we took the train with Angi and Sean to meet Neill, Fran, Destiny, Fran's sisters, their kids, and Fran's dad at Arlington Park for a little gambling and horse watching. The afternoon was hot, but we had a nice shady table on the terrace and some frozen drinks to keep us cool.

(You can clearly see baby #7, a.k.a. "Poppyseed," a.k.a. "Girl Power" in this shot of Angi)

Saturday (the day before Sunday...looks like I'm going in reverse chronology), while Trevor toiled away at the gallery, I took a day trip to Madison. My college friend Anne and her husband, Matt came into town from New York, and some of the old gang was spending the weekend to see her.

Although I only came for the day, I think I made the best of it. I met everyone at Nick's around noon for Bloody Mary's, then we wandered State Street for a couple of hours, shopping, browsing, and getting sweaty (the early morning rain did little to dry out what felt like 139% humidity and 95 degrees).



One of my favorite new (new to me) Madison stores is Anthology, where I found a yellow onesie (for Maya, of course) that read, "Born to be a Librarian." I also got a gnome ring (yes, that's right) and a couple of greeting cards (you'll know what they say if you get one in the mail).

After shopping, we spent a few hours hanging out at the Terrace, drinking beer, eating ice cream, and just having a wonderful time.

And we stumbled upon an impromptu break-dancing competition on the Mall:

While everyone was freshening up for dinner, I stopped at my old shop, Paul's Book Store, and dropped a bit of cash on a sack full of books. Caryl, the owner, wasn't there (I think I'd just missed her), but hopefully I'll see her again soon. The shop was just as fantastic as it always is. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't want to freak out the guy working there.

It was so good to see everyone, but especially Anne and Matt, who I hadn't seen in about five years. I'm hoping that it won't be that long until the next time.

Last Thursday, Paula and I went to my grandma's place for a cake baking lesson. The cake baking was fun and successful, but the best part (aside from grandma's company) was the huge lunch of salad, mostacolli, meatballs, and garlic bread. We topped it off with spumoni ice cream and cookies. My Lord, Marie, you made our day.

(Although Grandma mixed, poured, and baked these babies, Paula and I frosted them. We worked so, so hard.)

Okay, I think I got us all up-to-date, but for more photos of everything, check this out.

I've got two weeks before classes start for the fall, but unfortunately I won't have too much time to do nothing (one of my favorite vacation activities). But what nothing I do, I'll be sure to document it and keep you all in the loop. Sleep well, all, especially you, Maya. It's your last night in the warm wombiness of Simona!