I like it here.

A few days ago Stephanie asked me, “what in your life are you happy about.  Right now?”
The question–so simple, yet so deeply complicated–caught me off-guard.  And of course I didn’t have an immidate answer.  I’m in one of those “so close but not yet” stages: awaiting the end of the semester (stress…) and a completely [...]

This Girl: Watched re-runs of Jon and Kate Plus Eight during of middle-of-the-night insomnia.  She was joined by her roommate.

Watch: “watch out”. Warning: “one has been spotted”.

A little known fact about this girl: when I was little I was deathly afraid of storms. I remember spending a lot of time hiding out with mom and dad and Chris in our unfinished basement and I’m still unsure if it was because it stormed a lot when we were young, or because [...]

Mary, I’m so glad I’m Thine.

Last Thursday Sandy and I (and all our faithful friends) managed to move our belongings into a new apartment.  We’re still getting used the the space (and continue to unpack…me more than her) and find the abode to be endlessly quirky but somehow quite wonderful.  This morning I studied and ate a scone on the [...]

register’dd

Yesterday Sandy and I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to shop wedding gifts for the entourage of showers and weddings forthcoming this summer.
I had two registries to pick up–one wedding in a week, one for a shower and wedding later in the summer.  I became hopelessly overwhelmed by the whole thing, mostly because I [...]

Thanks, Mary.

About an hour north of Champaign, a car full of Chicagoians, and nearly through the fourth decade, my phone started to vibrate.  I ignored it and continued to lead the Hail Marys.  It rang again.  And again.  The other passengers started to shuffle–turning off the rings from their phones as well, attempting the maintain focus.
“Alright, [...]

“First we’ll make snow angels for a two hours, then we’ll go ice skating, then we’ll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookiedough as fast as we can, and then we’ll snuggle.”

Sandy and I spent the last 24 hours celebrating Christmas in all its joy. After I worked all day on my paper we took the train into the city to watch and discuss Elf with nuns. It is one of my top Christmas movies and I laugh at it as if I am [...]

spreading Christmas cheer ALL over this place

I was at my brother and sister-in-law’s yesterday as they took down the autumn decorations and hauled the Christmas boxes out of the  crawl-space.  They first bought the house from what my mom calls “some dead guy”–but what she really means is that the previous owner pretty much left the house and all his belongings [...]

girlsmovienight

Do you remember when we used to make Thursday night our own? Stop the world! It is time for a movie.
We’d always try to kick if off with a few laps at the indoor pool, followed by a jaunt to the caf where we’d serve up bowls of cereal or pop a bag [...]

reverse psychology?

I’ve been told by my landlord that I’m not allowed to talk to the neighbors to the west because they “have a long history with him” and “are trashy” and “no one in the neighborhood likes them.”
But let’s be frank (or Johnny, or Billy–yes, actually, let’s be Billy because the neighbor’s name is Billy.  I [...]