I seem to always get sick right before I leave to go on vacation. At Christmas time, I had a bad cold which I got to sleep off when our flight was delayed. And the same thing happened this week -- I had a bad cold and ended up needing to sleep many, many hours yesterday!

But now I am feeling almost 100% better. I'm still feeling a little sniffly, but at least I'm not super tired.

My big goals for today are to go grocery shopping for the upcoming Easter dinner, do laundry, and send some wedding pictures to Target or Walgreens so I can bring them along with me to Minnesota.

I'm heading out for the Twin Cities on Tuesday for ten days of work and vacation. I'm pretty excited for the conference -- PLA was really good two years ago, and this time there is a whole bunch of workforce development related programming. It should be fun to be in the Twin Cities too -- I've got plans to get together with some college friends and staying with my sister for a few days. I'm planning to bring one of the Ugly Dolls -- probably Jeero -- to take some fun pictures of to post on Flickr! :) He definitely had fun last year when we went!

It's Thursday!

I can't wait until Friday is done. Work has just been busy with lots of desk hours. I don't have any real big fun plans for the weekend, but am looking forward to having time off. Two days in a row! Actually, I think our most fun plan is making Trip's checking account a joint one! Woot.

But I have fun stuff coming up -- my trip to Minneapolis/Wisconsin is coming up in less than two weeks! So I've been trying to figure out what I want to do, where to eat, and what sessions to attend. Plus I should get in touch with friends to see when a good time to go out for dinner or whatever is.

We're also working on plans for Trip's family reunion, which is also being held in the Twin Cities. Minnesota is getting a lot of love from me this year! We're going over Memorial Day and staying at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. Gambling fun! I'm also looking forward to spending a night with my sister -- Trip hasn't ever been to her super cute apartment and neighborhood, so it'll be good to sell him on the awesomeness of St. Paul.

Lately it's been mostly vacation dreaming...but I'll be on vacation (kind of!) in just two weeks!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me! I got back on Sunday from a trip to Boston for a work conference. The conference was really fun, albeit small. So there wasn't really the opportunity to sneak out and explore Boston. Luckily, I've been to Boston a few times before and didn't feel like I missed out on a whole lot. Plus it was pretty cold on Wednesday and Thursday, which didn't make me want to go exploring! I did end up going to this fabulous Italian restaraunt near Fenway. I had a delicious dish with shrimp, scallops, and mussels in a tomato and garlic sauce with angel hair pasta. The seafood was spectacular!

I also got to spend some time with Jenny H. She met me on Wednesday night for dinner at a fancy French bistro -- very, very tasty as well! We saw Kiki and Herb: Alive on Broadway -- a very funny cabaret-esque show. It was even nominated for the Special Event Tony. Unfortunately, it lost out to a ventriloquist. After the conference, Jenny and Jon picked me up and we went to Salem, MA for the day. It was quite entertaining seeing all the witches and seafarers stuff. I've got photographic proof up on my Flickr page. Then we went back to their new apartment and Jon cooked up a super delicious lasagna. I also got introduced to the joys of I <3 has said, Katamari is totally addicting. It took me a little while to be able to pick things up (and I'm not quite optimizing my abilities either), but it was quite entertaining. Can't go wrong with Japanese video games!

We also saw a really, really good movie in Boston called Once. It's an Irish movie musical about a busker who meets a girl and ends up recording music. It's mostly about the music -- super beautiful songer-songwriter stuff -- but has a tiny plot too. It's really hard to describe, but it was a really innovative and entertaining movie. I liked it so much that I bought the soundtrack on Monday. I'm planning to take Trip to see it sometime in the future.

As for upcoming plans, tonight I'm planning to make some cherry jam. I successfully made freezer strawberry jam a few weeks ago (super tasty). This time I am planning to make regular jam that involves cooking! Must be more jam-like and not so runny!

I had Monday as my day off, so I get to work both Friday and Saturday (huzzah!). But it's okay. Sunday is the big 5K which I hope I am ready for. I'm planning a long run tonight to make sure that I can do 3.1 miles without making a total fool of myself. Trust me, I feel like it could happen! But I'll be running with my friend Angela, so at least I'll have company. I just hope I don't slow her down too much. And maybe I can get Trip to take pictures of us! That would be fun.

This week has been busy, especially at night.

Trip and I got our pictures taken for our church directory last night. We're having them put in together, even though when the directory comes out in September, we won't be married yet. But it was fun. I found out that I really don't like pictures where people are staring off into the distance. It reminds of the poster from the 40-Year-Old Virgin where Steve Carrell is staring oddly off into space. It's just kind of creepy. But we get a free picture for ourselves -- how pretty!

We've also started to look at apartments. I think it'll be an interesting process, trying to decide where to live. There are just so many factors to consider -- if we live in the city, car insurance would go up, but the cost for my commute would probably go down. If we live in the county, we need to be near public transportation AND an easy way for Trip to get to work. Plus I really want to live somewhere with a washer and dryer in the unit and ideally we'd like a fitness center (this is if we go with an apartment complex). It's enough to drive me crazy!

I'm starting to get excited for my trip to Boston. It should be fun -- I'll have the conference on Thursday and Friday and will get to spend time with Jenny H. over the weekend! I've been to Boston before, but this time I'll be on my own for a bigger portion of time. So I'm working on familiarizing myself with where things are located in relation to my hotel. Fun stuff!

Also, TRAVIS put out a new album and they are touring! They're in the D.C. area in July, but tickets are $40 (a little pricey). Trip says they're in Philly a little earlier and tickets are only $27.50, but I wonder if the drive to Philly will be worth the extra $12.50 we'd save on tickets. I don't know... But yay! Travis!!!

Here's a fun goal for the month of June/July: I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series. I've already made it through the first one and started the second one. I should also watch the third movie, since I've never actually seen it. The books are quite entertaining!

What a day!

Work has been crazy lately. I feel like I haven't had any time to really do anything. It's either been programs or meetings or stupid projects that need to be done NOW.

But it's almost Friday. Huzzah!

I have big plans of going to see Knocked Up this weekend. And attending a surprise birthday party for one of Trip's college friends. Plus a trip to the farmer's market. Yum, produce! And better fruit! The apples that I have been having in my lunch lately have been terrible.

I also have decided that I should use my favorite sundress as a template to make a new one. I keep looking for a sundress very similar to one that I already have, but in different fabric. But they don't seem to have this style in stores! So I was looking at it today and though, y'know, I could just make a pattern out of this one. It's a pretty simple dress too -- basically six panels sewn together to make the dress. The bodice looks a little more complicated, but I bet I can figure it out! Plus I have Jenny and my Mom (sewing experts!) to help me over the phone. My other clever idea regarding the sundress is to make the straps bigger so that I can wear an actual bra (instead of a strapless) with it. Strapless bras make my back hurt!

I'm going to go read my book. I'm tired of looking at the computer.

(Oooh, Boston in less than 3 weeks!! Yippee!)

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

I've got a meeting in about a half an hour and I'm seriously sleepy right now. Not good!

But in other news, I'm going to Minnesota/Wisconsin soon! Like less than a week! Bridesmaid dress shopping! Wedding dress shopping! Catching up with my girls! Very, very exciting! Getting to see Jenny's apartment and cubicle at the U of M! Eating at a Swedish bakery! Taking the bus! It all gets exclamation points!!

The downside being that tomorrow is my only day off until I leave for Minneapolis. I get to work the whole weekend. (No exclamation point.)

But tomorrow should be a nice day -- I'm having a friend over for homemade pizza. I'm trying to decide what kind of pizza to make though. I usually make two: a regular pizza and a BBQ chicken pizza. But I feel like I should try something different. Any suggestions? I have to go shopping tomorrow....maybe I should go to Trader Joe's and get some of the delicious chicken sausage that they always have. Mmmmm...tasty!

The wedding planning is coming together pretty well. We've confirmed the organist and done a tasting. Trip and I haven't decided on the entrees yet, but we will soon-ish. The one thing I have to do tomorrow is fill out the engagement announcement for my hometown paper.

Otherwise...nothing too exciting going on here!

But! I did read this really awesome young adult book this weekend. American Born Chinese is an award-winning graphic novel that tells the stories of three seemingly unrelated events: the myth of a monkey, a Chinese-American boy in school, and the story of an American boy visited by his charicature of a Chinese cousin. It's short, very entertaining, and has really beautiful artwork. I'm usually not a huge graphic novel fan, but this one was really easy to read and had some awesome art. But I did love Peanutbutter & Jeremy's Best Book Ever. That graphic novel was super entertaining. Mostly because the cat wears a tie and a hat. Hee!

Seattle was AWESOME. The conference was okay, but getting the opportunity to travel all the way across the country made everything (including two full days of just travel!) worthwhile. Kelly's parent's house was very nice and relaxing, especially since it is right on the water. I spent time in Tacoma relaxing (staying in my pajamas until 2 pm!) and doing a little sightseeing. Including the Museum of Glass where I saw real live glassblowers doing their craft! Neat! We also went and saw Snoqualmie Falls, the "NO!" and "CAUTION!" site of the week.

Seattle was also really fun and included some delicious dining (the Palace Kitchen, a Tom Douglas retaurant), lots of walking around, a trip to the top of the Space Needle, and a tour of the entire Pike's Market. And yes, I did see the flying fish. And it was lots of fun. And included lots of delicious samples of honey, jam, tea, and chocolate covered cherries. Additionally, there really is a Starbucks on every corner. Quite tasty!

I will have pictures up soon to illustrate the fun that I had.

Meanwhile, I'm getting used to Eastern Time again and am back at work. I was so relaxed when I left, not worrying about anything, and last night/this morning I started worrying about work and the wedding and everything. Oh well, back to reality!

Some news in the wedding planning: we've got appointments with a couple potential reception sites this upcoming Tuesday and next Tuesday. I am hoping that one of them works out well. Both are within the budget for the reception and sound like interesting places. We'll see!

It's practically Christmas! Well, it feels that way at work. Honestly, does anything really get done this week? I have done a few things -- lots of emails and things getting put up on the web, but I still have a lot of major things to do.

But in more fun news, I have wrapped all my presents and given away a majority of the Christmas cookies that I baked last Friday.

I went out for dinner last night with Trip, Angela (a friend from church) and Mark (a new pastor who is dating Angela) for Ethiopian food. It was super delicious, and extra good because I got to eat with the injera bread. Yum! We got a big sampler platter and Ethiopian beer (which was good, even if it was a little pricy). I tried lamb, which was a little spicy, beef tibs, which was my favorite, two kinds of lentils, greens, tomatoes, which were fabulous, chicken, and yellow peas. Then we went over to Angela's apartment and had cookies and tea. I had this vanilla red tea -- it was Celestial Seasonings tea with the lion on the cover so we called it Aslan tea. Trip tried the blueberry tea which I didn't like as much. He didn't either.

My biggest excitement is that I will be going home for five days starting on Saturday. I'm really, really psyched to be off of work until next Wednesday. Not a super long holiday, but long enough. I don't really have any plans for my vacation -- just spending time with the family and maybe seeing Paul from high school. I've also got next weekend off as well -- so while I don't have any plans for the New Year's weekend, I will have it off!

Other big news is that I am going to Seattle in January! There is the ALA Midwinter Conference starting on the 19th. So I'll do meeting stuff for a few days -- through Monday -- and then I'll be spending time with my friend Kelly and her family. So I'll be on the West Coast for a week! Very exciting! I've never really been out there before -- we stopped at the Seattle airport when we flew to Alaska, but that doesn't count.

I feel like I need to look back and do another round up of the year like I did last year. It was fun and a good way to make me think about what I've been up to. Since I haven't been the most consistent of blogger....oh well!