there's more to life than candy, but really, come on, who doesn't love candy?

Sad sacks of apologies aside, there's lots of things that have been happening these past weeks, and a few summaries will have to suffice.

This past week I read two novels. To say I am pleased would be quite insufficient. The first was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It has more than affected my speech and writing, but I am bound to return to my crass city girl angst patterns soon. The more recent was The Lovely Bones by Anne Siebold. It was a swift paced first person narration that I couldn't tear myself from. I have an agreement to read one book per week and have been off to a terrific start.

I finally wrote two thank you notes to people who sent me gifts for my birthday that I had not seen in person to thank. One was a lovely satchel from the country Kyrgyzstan, which is making headlines as it becomes a democratic state, the purse has an ornately scrolling symbol on one side of it's wool exterior. The other was a very kind gift card for Barnes and Noble where I purchased a book about Knitting, no, not Knitting for Dummies, it was a large book with a spiral bound inset that has very detailed examples of how to knit. I have begun to knit a scarf with a crazy rainbow yarn my mother gave me (it gradually changes colors every half foot or so).

We are going to Massachusetts in two weeks to a surprise thirtieth birthday party for one of Eric's good college friends, who I also adore. His wife and daughter are lovely. I will get to see Eric's parents and their dog Max, who in my opinion, are reasons sole enough to marry the boy. Eric's brother Matthew will be able to visit us in Albany and give us a hand to the train station and it will be a wonderful time just seeing him. I am looking forward to the trip. There are plans for another two week trip to Cape Cod in September, and I am very much excited to go.

I wrote a very long paper about the evils of Shrek 2 for my Culture, Race and Media class, which is like a student teacher war zone full of bright students who have made a long history of charming their teachers into complacent submission, and since our teacher does not bend, expletives and angry speeches are made nearly weekly in class as to the unfairness of the work assigned. I often leave that class with a very prominent headache. I am excited about creating five, possibly six, diaramic style biomes as a final project for my Environmental Science class. They are sure to be lovely little things.

I have burned nearly thirty citrus smelling tealights in the last month. I saw Sin City in the theatre. It was lovely and dark. I made my mom's beef stroganoff for Eric. He loved it. I helped my friend Pete replace light bulbs at the coffeeshop and we ate ditto dinners of french fries and "hamburgers with cheese and bacon" together. I babysit weekly for the most wonderful people on the face of the planet. The kids say I'm really good at reading bedtime stories. The parents are thankful and drive me home. I have become a Trader's Joe enthusiast. I'm considering giving up meat and becoming a vegetarian. I am reinspired by my Environmental Science Class to become a warrier for the environment once more. As a kid I terrorized my family on the perils of the Greenhouse Effect and a world filled with garbage. I want to build a compost pile in the backyard. There are six likenesses of giraffes on my dresser, and two pairs of giraffe earrings in a bowl in my top drawer. At work, there are new people, finally, so I have become more comfortable and more familar and it is good. I took a nap today. Tomorrow I will visit my mother for Mother's Day. The other day I took my friend and I out for impromptu ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli's off of Michigan Avenue.

thanks for listening...