Spring Means...

...new jobs!

Last month Trevor started his new job as photo editor for the Modern Luxury publishing company, which publishes, most notably around town, Chicago Social (or CS as it's know to the cool kids) magazine. Trevor's working on four of the magazines: Manhattan, Washington D.C., Miami, and Hawaii, in addition to some of the special "brides" books each of those cities do each year. As soon as he knew which books he was working on I said, "so you'll get to travel to these wonderful cities, right? Right?!" And he said, "No. All of my work can be done through the Internet." And I said, "booooooooo."

But, this is very exciting. As he put it, he's worked in studio photography, fine photography, and now editorial photography. It's a great move for him and we're really excited about it. Plus, he gets a full hour for lunch! And the fact that we're so excited about that says maybe a little too much.

...a mini-vacation, courtesy of Greg and Paula Bork!

For Christmas, 2011, Greg and Paula got us a ridiculously wonderful gift of a weekend away at the American Club in Kohler, WI. We finally used it this month and went away the weekend after Trevor's birthday (April 12, in case you don't already have it on your calendars). When I made the reservation I told them that it was his birthday, so there was champagne waiting for us in the room when we checked in, and everywhere we went people wished him a happy birthday. He was both embarrassed and pleased.

We didn't do much on Friday night except check in and eat some dinner.

Friday night we ate dinner at the Horse & Plow

The hallway to our room

On Saturday we had a lovely breakfast in the Wisconsin Room

 
and then drove to Sheboygan to check out the John Michael Kohler Arts Center for a dose of culture.

I didn't see the sign about not taking pictures: the security guard made me delete all of them. I only pretended to delete this one.

Trevor snuck this one to avenge my honor. Silly security guard.

And he couldn't resist taking this one. Another T. Power

After the arts center we popped over to beach and pier in Sheboygan to enjoy a bit of the lake.

The birthday boy

We headed back to the American Club to get ready for our spa day, which included amazingly soft robes, a whirlpool, all the almonds and yogurt-covered raisins, lemon water, and tea we could consume, and a couples massage. Oooh, yeah, baby. That's luxury.

There were no pictures taken.

That evening we had a nice dinner and then drinks at the hotel's library. Fantastic.

On Sunday morning before heading out we visited the Kohler Design Center to check out the stunning kitchen and bathroom designs and, of course, the wall of toilets.

...the end of the semester!

This semester my students have been up to some cool things, so I thought I'd share some with you before the semester ends.

My creative writing students got to hang out in MCC's Black Box Theatre while they worked on their 10-minute plays

Here are two little videos from the day my learning community students watched our ceramics instructor firing raku ceramics. They're doing their own projects this week (and writing about them), so they got to see the process first.

This is what the pieces started as:

And this is what they looked like when they were fired:

Cool, huh?

So, that's our spring update. Two more weeks of classes and finals week. And then. Nothingness. For two whole weeks before summer school. Nothingness. Fantastic.

The Lighter Side Of This Month

Trevor and I were hugely thankful to have something wonderful to celebrate this month: Neill and Fran's wedding! The two got married on Saturday, March 17, St. Patrick's Day, and the same day the Power siblings' dad, John, married their mom, Maureen.

Maureen on her wedding day

The wedding was truly perfect--the weather was beautiful, the couple was beautiful and didn't seem to stop smiling all day and night, and I danced until my feet were numb (I even got T. on the dance floor for three [three!] slow dances).

Here's the day in a pictorial nutshell.

John and Fran Power (we'll now call her Fran Power #1)

Fran's mom and Rachel, lighting candles

Trevor, ushing

The groomsmen and the groom

Fran's nephew Devin, the cutest ring bearer

Sadie Power, the awesome flower girl

The groom, watching his beautiful bride come up the aisle

Some lovely words from the pastor

The vows

The kiss!

We're married!

The new Mr. and Mrs. Power with the other Mr. and Mrs. Power and Fran's parents

Fran, Destiny, and Neill

The new Power couple with Power siblings

Rae, T., Neill, Sean

The flower girl and her parents, Angi and Sean

The groom shows off his new jewelry

Letty, hanging out at the reception

Sadie took the dance floor ASAP

Letty and Rae with Jim and Grandma & Grandpa Madel

Introducing the new Mr. & Mrs. Power!

Neill steals a kiss from his lovely bride

The cake was beautiful and delicious

First dance

Aren't they perfect?

After dinner we spent about three solid hours doing this. Then we all collapsed.

We ended the night by filling up bags of candy from the candy table (which I got a picture of that night but can't find now; just picture a big table covered in huge glass containers filled with candy: gummy bears, Skittles, M&Ms, Tootsie Pops, Blow Pops, Swedish fish...). I ambled up to our hotel room and Trevor hung out with the post-wedding crew, which included the bride and groom. They hung out until the wee hours, playing cards, eating pizza, and having a wonderful time.

So, raise a glass (or a mug if you're still on your a.m. coffee like me) and toast to the greenest St. Patrick's newlyweds in town. XO.

Henry "Paul Rudd" Bork

Trevor and I are unhappy to have to break the news that Henry, the best dog in the world, passed away on March 8, 2012.
This past May, Henry developed cancer, and although he beat it and got better, his health was never quite the same. He was diagnosed with a bowel disease this winter and, after a couple of months of losing weight and inconsistent eating, his health deteriorated further.

We didn't write about this immediately because, frankly, it was too hard. But over the summer we didn't tell many people about Henry's cancer, and that didn't feel right, either; so we figured we'd let everyone know and show some happy images of Henry doing some of his favorite things.

Henry especially liked it when he got to get dressed up. Although Trevor liked to believe that Henry didn't like this, I knew the truth. Does this look like the face of a dog who didn't like to be dressed up? Please.

Just doing a bit of reading.

What's up, player?

Yes, I can do your taxes.

Does this make me look fat?

Shark Face!

Henry also liked to be outdoors, and he made a lot of trips to Door County with me and Trevor.

Hi.

No, I absolutely did not eat any snow. No way.

But, although Henry had boundless energy, he also liked to relax and enjoy the quiet moments.

With his cousin, Pepper

At Jim's cabin in the Door

After a giant Thanksgiving dinner with Adam

On a Tuesday...

Wednesday...

Thursday...

What do you mean I "won't fit"?

Henry was always happy. In fact, he got so happy that he developed "Happy Tail Syndrome" and we had to dock his poor tail into a nubbin. But that nubbin never stopped wagging and he was always trying to give everyone giant slurping smooches and looking to cuddle up with someone.

What is that, a camera? Can I kiss it?

Um, Maya, can I have that blue guy, please?

Happy Tail Before, Nubbin After

Smooch attack

Henry also liked art.

Well I like that sculpture, but this horse is quite nice, too.

These are part of my collection. Yes, you may photograph me with them.

Poster art is art, too.

And graffiti is some of my favorite. Irreverence is valuable.

And Henry was irreverent himself, too.

No, I won't look at the camera.

Comin attcha, man. Look out.

 But more than anything, Henry liked to pose for pictures. He was handsome and he knew it.

I realized, after going through the blog archives to look for some of my favorite pictures, that Henry made it into almost every single post I  have written over the past six years. So, even if you didn't know him in person, odds are that you have read about some of his hijinks. And if you did know him, you remember his Chewbacca like yawn, his giant head, and his wagging butt (and if you ever spent the night at our place you remember his tongue in your eye at six a.m.). We miss Henry more than anything, and there will never be another dog like him. Thanks for sharing him with us.