I should come up with a synonym for "small"

Paul and I are both still dealing with the lingering cough. Neither of us feels particularly bad--we just can't stop coughing. I'm not as bad as he is, much to his chagrin. I'll still just have a couple of really bad coughing fits but even those aren't too bad. Yesterday was the worst it's been in a while--I woke up several times during the night and then had a couple of really bad coughing spells during the day and this was with medicine. Last night, I took more medicine and did OK until about 4:45, when I woke up coughing. I needed the bathroom as well and then I wandered over to look out the window at the great big bright full moon. In that time, I stopped coughing and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 8:30, when Paul came into the bedroom to talk before we got up for the day. Both of us fell back asleep until about 9:45--I think we needed to catch up on sleep. I've done pretty good today--I've not taken medicine, although I will before going to bed, and I've not really coughed. Hopefully, I'm on the mend.

This afternoon, I attended one of the JLA personal development day sessions. These are scheduled every couple of months and they are just a fun way to spend an afternoon with other women doing a variety of things. I've gone to a yoga class and signed up for a cooking class that unfortunately was cancelled. Today's class was learning how to bead:
I didn't make the glass bead but I picked out the other beads and figured out the pattern for the necklace and the bracelet. I'm excited to know how to do this, especially since it was much easier than I'd imagined. I have another beaded necklace that I loved that broke several years ago. All the parts have been in a baggie in my closet since then--if I'd been thinking, I would have brought it with me to restring. I think beading would be another fun hobby to do since it wasn't hard at all and it would be fun to make pretty things for myself and as gifts. And, just as with knitting, I think it could be as expensive or as cheap as I'd like it to be depending on the materials I purchased. Paul and I are trying to figure out how to rework the guest room to make it more usable during the 95% of the year we don't have guests. It's always seemed a bit extravagant to have 100 sq. feet of space in our little house that we don't use much at all. It's a small room and the current set-up with the double bed and small dresser don't leave much room for anything else. I've found a small desk that I'm going to order for the room to have for my own use. Especially now that I'll be starting classes, I'd like to have a place to keep all my stuff and do work and I've not had that since we move into the house. We're also thinking we'd like to switch to a daybed with at pop-up trundle to use when visitors come (I love this one or this one at Restoration Hardware but I'm not going to spend that much on the guest room; so the search is on to find something similar but cheaper.) The daybed would leave the floor space available to set up the card table to do crafty things like sewing or beading. We'll see if I continue doing this but it's was a nice way to spend the afternoon and it was interesting to learn.

This evening, Paul and I had dinner with friends at their house and then played board games. Paul got Jason and Jenny hooked on some of his board games and they are about as competitive as we are. It made for a fun, and lively, evening. Surprising, because didn't think I was doing that well, I tied for first place with Jason with a last minute purchase I made that thwarted his planned purchase. I didn't know I was blocking him--I couldn't figure out what else to do. When we finished that, we played a couple of rounds of another game that plays really quickly.

So, a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon and evening that will hopefully bode well for a good week at work.

Today, I was especially glad for my new slacker attitude

I had a dental appointment this morning. I always try to get an early-ish appointment--before 9:00 or so. Since the appointments typically take less than an hour and because the dentist office is just five minutes from work, in the past I've gone to work at my regular time (about 7:45 a.m.) and then go to the dentist office at the needed time. Because this year I'm all about slacking off at work (which still means I'm doing more than many), I decided to not go to work before my dental appointment but hang out at the house until I needed to leave for my 8:50 appointment. I figure that's still better than some of my coworkers who've been known to take a full day off for a dental cleaning.

And I'm really glad I didn't go in early. I knew our neighbors were planning on leaving this morning for their drive to St. Louis. We'd intended to head down to their house last night to say good-bye but got sidetracked by shiny objects and didn't make it down there. I called her phone this morning about 8:00 to see if they'd left. I left a message that we had a little gift for them, that we hoped we could see them before they left, that I'd be home for a bit more, blah, blah, blah. Paul left for work a little later and shortly after he pulled out of the garage, I heard a knock on the front door. He'd seen them heading out and stopped them. So we were able to say goodbyes and give hugs and give them a little going-away gift (a half-gallon of salsa from Sadie's which is one of the places they said they'd most miss in ABQ). We enjoyed getting to know them. Their house hasn't sold yet and they left all their furniture in the house. So, they'll be back at least once more. Hopefully we'll be able to see them when they visit ABQ. As I told them, our home is always open to them and they already know how to get here.

And some random vacation pictures just because I haven't posted pictures in a while. The first three are some Mom took and I downloaded because there wasn't a lot of photographic proof that I was actually on this vacation.

Paul and me with Dad during The Witchery Murder & Mystery Tour in Edinburgh. Dad is wearing his Irish wax cap purchased in Adare, Co. Limerick, Ireland.
With Mom in the Lake District of England near Grasmere
This might have been a sweet moment between the two of us. Or he was trying to shut me up. While it's probably the latter, we'll say it's the former.
If these two guys wouldn't have put my luggage over the 50 lbs. weight limit, I would have had myself a couple of donkeys. I want a donkey. They're cute. And easy to anthropomorphize since Paul and I entertained ourselves doing just that during much of Ireland. Our donkeys are happy, eager to please, and not that bright.
Someone got the boot in Dublin. Just because you drive a BMW doesn't mean you don't have to pay those parking tickets.

The Weekend

Saturday morning was the first official meeting for the 2008-09 Junior League Board, a half-day get-to-know-you get-together/meeting/retreat. I will be serving as the Placement Chair this year--overseeing members to make certain everyone meets the various requirements and meeting new transfers and assigning them to committees. I vacillate between thinking this is going to be super fantastic and wondering how the heck I got myself into this. I like the president but she's not the easiest person in the world to befriend. And it's not as if I'm wanting to be her best friend. I merely would like to have a non-awkward conversation with her. I've now been on a committee and the board with her and that non-awkward conversation has yet to happen (although we're getting closer). The mix of the other 14 women on the Board is interesting--from very gregarious to very reserved. This year will either be fantastic or it is going to suck rocks. I'll let you know in May.

Nattily attired, we headed out for the wedding yesterday afternoon. The wedding started at 5:30--Paul, who was still a wee bit reluctant about going since we didn't know anyone, wanted to leave as late as possible. We didn't leave until 4:15 to drive to Santa Fe which takes a good hour even going the 75 mph speed limit. Yeah, that might have been cutting it a bit close as we slipped in just before the grandmothers were seated. Surprisingly, someone else slunk in after us just ahead of the mothers. The wedding itself was lovely--flowers, music, dresses, etc. The priest performing the ceremony did such a nice job with it too. I don't know if he was a local clergy or a family friend but it seemed to be a personalized to them, with enough humor to keep it light but a reverence befitting the occasion. (Then again, he could do the exact same service for all couples and how many of would actually know).

After the ceremony, everyone walked from the church to the reception site following a mariachi band which also played during the cocktail hour where we tried to not look COMPLETELY anti-social. Thankfully, some family members took pity on the poor couple standing by themselves and chatted with us about the weather for a while. We were seated next to the only other people from ABQ at the wedding as well as some college friends. The man from ABQ is the same age as Paul's brother and attended the same middle school as Paul and Alan. During the reception, rather than the (in my opinion, highly annoying) glass-clinking to get the bride and groom to kiss, each table had to sing a song with the word "Love" in it. Our table opted for "You Lost that Loving Feeling" (Paul gamely went up with the rest of us but did a "Pips" routine with another man from the table rather than actually sing). Dinner was good, cake was good, introduced ourselves to the bride's and groom's fathers (mothers were out dancing), chatted with bride and groom and then headed towards home. We got caught in traffic coming from the monster truck rally at the casino between Santa Fe and ABQ so Paul started calling me "Darlene" the rest of the way home because he thought it sounded like the name of someone coming from a monster truck rally (no offense to anyone named Darlene who abhors monster trucks and all that nonsense).

This morning, we joined my in-laws at church for the make-your-own omelet bar at the church before services. It is also my father-in-law's birthday today so he got the combo birthday/Father's Day gift--a copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys which he thought looked quite interesting and entertaining. I hope he does enjoy it. It's become one of my favorites to flip through in the library.

When we got home from church, rather than doing things I need to be doing in anticipation of our upcoming trip, we spent the better part of the afternoon periodically checking on this little guy in our backyard: It's a wee bunny rabbit who spent time munching on the day lilies, hanging out in the shade of one of the planters, and napping in the sun on the little sliver of rocks next to our patio.
It's not totally visible in this picture but Hippity-Hop was taking a nice little nap here with his back legs are kicked out behind him. After a bit, he rested his head on his front paws and napped there for about an hour or so before heading off to parts unknown. Laundry can wait. Wee bunnies are only wee for short time.