Christmas 2011

This year, Mike and I had our first Christmas tree. We loved it, and so did Simone.

This is my beautiful Christmas present -- a used piano, picked up in Utah and delivered by my parents a week before Christmas. I looooove it (and Mike claims to love having music in the house -- I think he'll love it more once the piano has been tuned).

I made several gifts this year, including these six flowered headbands. Cute, huh?

We spent a few days in Idaho with my family. Highlights included:

Getting to know 4-month-old nephew Seth (a truly magical baby)

Snowshoeing in Strawberry Canyon

Bowling at Logan Lanes (Robert is a little bit competitive)

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Simone in the Sink

This morning we found Simone hanging out here:

Simone says, "I'm here for a nap, not a bath."

Rita Dove at Purdue University

Last night we had the pleasure of hearing and seeing Rita Dove at Purdue University. (The picture is awfully dark -- my bad.) Our good friend Karl, who is a student at Purdue, invited us for the evening and it was fantastic. Dove, who I studied back in "Women Writing Poetry" in the English department at USU, is a very accomplished poet, and was actually the U.S. Poet Laureate for a couple of years in the '90s. Last night she read from her new book, Sonata Mullatica, which is a book of poems (including a farcical play somewhere in the middle) that tells the story of George Bridgewater, a mullato violinist to whom Beethoven dedicated a violin sonata. Dove has a wonderful reading voice and stage presence and the reading was just lovely. One of her most interesting comments was about learning to play music and learning to write -- they're very similar, in that one must learn very good technique in order to play/write so that it looks effortless. Very interesting.

We spent a bit of time with Karl in Lafayette, then (thanks to Karl) listened to Neko Case's new album Middle Cyclone on the drive home. I highly recommend the album. The song "This Tornade Loves You" is incredible.

Finally, here's a very cute kitty, keeping me company while I read Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer:

Happy V-Day

I hope all of you reading this had a lovely V-day yesterday! Mike and I had a great V-week. On Wednesday evening we got to give a presentation to the young women at our church about healthy relationships and marriages. It was a lot of fun to prepare together -- recalling how we met, what we used to do together when we were dating and engaged, and then reliving our wedding day through the (literally) hundreds of photos we have. We had a good time with the girls, talking about what makes family relationships and friendships most rewarding. One of the girls decorated these cupcakes for us with our names on them:


(After I took the picture, Michael ate all three of these cupcakes in a matter of about 5 minutes.)

Yesterday we had a hot date and exchanged small V-day gifts. This was part of Michael's gift to me:

He's so thoughtful. A few weeks ago I said something silly about needing "all the chapstick in the world" in order to have a stick in every necessary place (in all my bags, pockets, drawers, etc.). So I got this sweet "I HEART U" Valentine.

For our hot date, we had a yummy dinner at Milo's, went out dancing, and then saw Coraline (in 3-D) with some friends. Very fun.

Work-related news: I'm working on a project right now to test the usability and usefulness of library video tutorials at University of Illinois, and it's keeping me really busy. I usually work about 20 hours/week (plus classes and homework), but last week I worked almost 30. The usability testing is going well so far, and I'm learning a lot about what students think about our online instruction materials. I'll be reporting the results of this study at ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) next month in Seattle.

Weather-related news: we had a few days this month of abnormally high temperatures (highs near 70), but now winter is back. Simone uses our desk lamp as a heat lamp to get through the winter months. :)

Packing

I just pulled out our suitcases to start packing (we're leaving for Cache Valley tomorrow!) and Simone wriggled into one of them. She's going to be so disappointed to find out that she's not going with us . . .

Food, Glorious Food

The new documentary The Hollywood Librarian was released last week to coincide with Banned Books Week. The film was released at libraries and library schools nationwide and Mike and I got to see it at GSLIS -- a fundraiser for the Library and Information Science Library at UIUC. The film juxtaposed images of librarians in movies (Party Girl, The Desk Set, It's a Wonderful Life, The Music Man, etc.) with real librarians talking about their work: what they do and why they do it. I really enjoyed the film -- it was more serious than I had expected and actually brought a couple of glistens to my eyes. The filmmaker spoke with very dedicated, very inspiring public librarians who work hard every day to keep their doors open to as many people as possible, to have storytime for children, to have literacy programs for prisoners, and more. It made me very proud to be a part of that community.


Before we went to the movie we tried a restaurant called Milo's that has been recommended to us several times, ever since we first visited town. It was magnificent. Really. If and when any of you come to visit us here, we'll take you to Milo's. I had apricot stuffed chicken breast and Michael had pan-seared scallops in a creamy pepper sauce -- so delicious.

I'm very pleased to report that I am once again a member of a knitting circle! A few library students decided to get together weekly on Saturday afternoons to knit and yesterday we were at Anna's house with a delicious quiche, apple bread, and a couple of hours of dedicated knitting. I'm working on a brown cabled cardigan for which I bought the yarn one year ago at a little-bitty store in Driggs, Idaho, where the yarn was on clearance. Now I'm just hoping that I have enough yarn to finish. If so, this will be a VERY cute sweater. :)

Speaking of knitting, I got the most exciting package in the mail this week. My dear sweet friend Wendy sent me a beautiful graduating/going away/getting married present that she made:

A lovely lacy pink wrap that I will wear as soon as it gets below 70 degrees. We're having unseasonably warm weather here and actually set a record this weekend with temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s. By mid-week, though, it's supposed to be "below normal temperatures" according to the guy on the morning radio. But what is normal?

We enjoyed staying home and watching General Conference this weekend. We were reminded and inspired to be a little kinder, more patient, and especially more grateful for all that we have.

The coming week should be calmer than last week was, for which I am grateful. On Friday I did a presentation in my reference class (on biographical resources) that went really well and tomorrow morning I'm doing a group presentation on research ethics. Now I don't have another really huge assignment due until November.

Still no sign of the handsome Dobler. I miss him very much.