These happen to be on my camera. And, I like them.

Weekend Review

Friday: Read, went to school to listen to Natalie Zemon Davis and Jonathan Spence, (famous historians of early France and China, respectively), read at a coffee shop, watched The Return of Martin Guerre (starring Gerard Depardieu) at school and listened to Davis talk about the work she did on it, went out with the video store gang.

Saturday: Slept in, spent a billion hours at the mall helping Tess look for a suit jacket, read briefly, celebrated Elizabeth's birthday with the girls by eating at Mellow Mushroom and going ice skating!

Sunday: Read, read more, went to church and the grocery store, watched the Oscars, read a tiny bit more.

Did I tell you?

I don't know if I've shared this with you, dear internet readers, but the truth is...I have a thing for old men. Not a romantic thing, just an I-think-they're-awesome thing. I like to watch old men, and talk to old men, and I especially like portraits of old men.

I don't really know what it is about old men that makes me like them. But I do. Once in college I played Bingo at a retirement home and this really great old man next to me kept making jokes, like "B4 what?" I laughed every time. Then he told me stories about his logging days.

Only this other time at a different retirement home I played the piano while some folks ate dinner and afterwards this old man came up to me and said his wife used to teach piano so he heard every mistake I made. He was an old man I didn't like.

Another time I saw a whole slew of old men in cute white sweaters lawn bowling at a park in London. I hid behind bushes and took pictures.

I think my affinity for old men might also have something to do with my love for history. I could spend hours looking at presidents at the National Portrait Gallery.

P.S. I hope that my writing "old men" isn't offensive. I definitely mean no offense. I think "awesome old men" sounds much better than something like "elderly men," or "senior men."

Headed to the Big Apple!

Remember when my brother Ryan won a free trip? Well, fancy beach resorts were already full during my spring break. Then we thought about Tokyo, but that was when his hotel tried to take his free trip away from him. We were mad. But Ryan made a deal with them, and our new (and booked and flights-paid-for) plan is to go to New York City! And according to my guidebook, the hotel where we're staying is listed as the number two best hotel in New York. Upper East Side by Central Park. I'm just sayin'.

Ryan is the best brother in the whole world. He could give two flips about visiting New York, but he's taking me there because he knows I love it. He'll have fun, too, though. I hear there is a museum where you can walk on ships. That sounds awesome. And my friend Celia lives there, now with her dad and sister (Ryan went to school with her sister), so we'll get to see them and have good times. You may recall what happened last time I visited Celia in New York...

And now, in preparation for mingling with the rich and famous at our fancy hotel, I think I'll need to run my purple Converse through the wash.

Weekend Review

Friday: Worked on shortening my conference paper some more and practiced reading it slowly. Went to the art museum, just for fun. Went to school and helped set up for the conference for three hours. Home to watch a movie.

Saturday: Up early to get to the North Carolina Graduate Student History Conference. Ran the technology for Tess's panel, listened to Gabriel's panel, ate lunch, and ran the front desk (about three people walked in) during the third session. Then it was my turn. This other guy read a paper, then I read my paper, then the commentator talked for so long that there was no time left for questions. But it went well. I got good feedback from people and it was a good experience. After eating some cheese and veggies, helped take down the conference by moving a bunch of furniture around again (and breaking three nails in the process). Home for a nap and dinner, then out to Mitch's with lots of students, and then out on Glenwood with the girls. Home late.

Sunday: Slept in a lot, generally lazed about, went to church, watched another movie.

Did you hear the one about the "toe" truck?

A handful of cash and an entertaining ride to Cary with the tow truck man later, I am now back in possession of my car! And that lot across from school where I've been parking occasionally for the past semester and a half? Well, maybe I won't park there anymore.

some things I like:

Oreos
fields of tulips
temporary tattoos
croissants
bluegrass
portraits of old men
hot pink
Shirley Temple drinks
big windows
lobsters

it's the little things

This weekend I got some work done! I wrote five pages which finished a rough draft of my section on the California Trail, so that was not a lot but still exciting.

Then to reward myself I went for a drive in the country! I saw cute little towns and a sign for a strawberry patch and a sign for goat milk soap for sale and a sign for pancakes! I also saw real live buffalo! And it was a beautiful day, topped off with sharing a cinnamon roll the size of my head.

Today I got a new tooth. When you're a kid and you lose a tooth you put it under your pillow and wake up with money! But if you're me, and one of your baby teeth never falls out or gets replaced with an adult tooth, not only don't you get money under your pillow but you take many months and many dollars and many dentist appointments to finally get a tooth. Now that process is finally over!

tonight's dinner:

pistachios
apple sauce
chips and salsa
Skittles
coffee

When you think about it, that covers several important food groups...

Never Have I Ever

Back in the day I had the nickname Miss PP. I'm talkin' junior high days. While PP might conjure images of something entirely different it actually stood for Propriety Police. I kept the other kids on their toes. No littering, no talking with your mouth full, no bad language. Writing this makes me think I must have been pretty obnoxious, which was probably true, but I also know it was all in fun- they liked calling me Miss PP and I didn't mind it either.

The thing about being Miss PP, however, is that you automatically set yourself up on a dangerously high pedestal.

Take, for example, the day we played Never Have I Ever. In case you don't know, Never Have I Ever is a game in which lots of people sit in chairs in a circle, and one person stands in the middle and says something they have never done before (like "never have I ever beat Super Mario Brothers," or "never have I ever been to Topeka"). Anyone else who has done that thing gets up and runs to another seat, and the person left standing takes a turn saying something they've never done. During one particular game of Never Have I Ever someone announced that they had never...I hesitate to write it...peed in a swimming pool. Now that I think about it that person must have been lying, because what little kid has never peed in a pool? So naturally everyone else got up and ran for a new seat, and making the conscious decision not to be a liar myself, I got up and ran.

Only I ran too slowly. Sure enough, me, Miss PP, was the only one left without a seat. I was mortified. And ironically, my nickname became doubly fitting.

Weekend Review

Friday: Woke up (in Richmond) and worked on my conference paper, went to an Indian buffet (my favorite ever) for lunch with the grandparents, a little more work on the paper mixed with puttering around, went to First Fridays and Cafe Gutenberg afterwards.

Saturday: Slept in, visited with Uncle Richard, learned to play a song on the ukulele, had everyone over for a big fancy lunch that included special spoons for digging marrow out of bones, took a nap, saw Strange Wilderness and really miss those 8 bucks, ate at the Waffle House, had a dance party in aunt's kitchen.

Sunday: Slept in, ate lunch, went to ukulele store and almost bought a tenor but will save the idea for my birthday, hung out with the young folk to watch the Superbowl and play Scrabble.