Buttered

OK, for the record, I've had an awful lot to drink and I can't quite see the monitor. I'm waiting to jump in the shower. I'm in IA. I left work early to come here and I after a long drive I had a lot of fun going out with my future brothers in law. Crazy. It sounds so adult. It's sad that I'm meeting so much of Pedro's extended family during a funeral,but I'm guessing it's better to meet them now than never at all. I had the pleasure of sharing a first bar bought drink with Pedro's littlest bro (he's 18) and it was great. Butch survived the ride across the Mississippi with little incident. We're staying at Pedro's grandparents house. They don't know we brought Butch. Surprise! OK, it's time to shower. I have a funeral to go to tomorrow, and it's Catholic, so chances are we'll be drinking again. I don't know if I'm going to update or not. Better than being at work! Yay!

Butterdoodles

Pedro is in Chicago for the weekend for a bigdeal Moot Court tournament. He didn't win, but one of the judges told him he has a scholarly aura. I'll take that. This means that I've been a single dogmom this weekend. It's been nice, actually. Friday Butch and I walked to the bank and the dry cleaners (I LOVE that I can do that in this neighborhood). Then we went home and ordered a pizza. After a bath for Butchie, I hung out and embroidered. Saturday I decided to get ambitious after prompting from one of my future brothers in law and baked five dozen snickerdoodles using Emeril's recipe. The music on TiVo was my background noise, and I had a lot of fun making them. Every single batch came out perfectly, and now GSH, MEL and MCH will have fresh cookies delivered to their dorm room/fraternity house/apartment (respectively). This morning I've decided to extend my domesticity by baking a Challah (I don't care if it's not Shabbat) and maybe making a lasagna so Pedro has a homecooked meal to come home to (that NEVER happens). DWHS said that he will mock me when I have children, but you know, I don't need kidlets to have a great cookie recipe or a desire to bake bread. I was so involved in the baking yesterday that I even forgot to eat dinner-- just a couple of cookies. I'm proud of myself and my cooking skills. I'm even more proud of myself that I got ALL of my ingredients to make the cookies at Target-- and it wasn't a SuperTarget, just a regular one. The one downside to baking is that I think I still have cookie dough stuck in my engagement ring. La di da.

Professional Roll

Today I went to my very first professional conference (as a professional, that is). It was here in town, so I didn't get to make it into a mini vacation, but I still enjoyed myself. I was the only librarian in the building, so that made lunch conversation fun. This conference was for economics professors, so the first presentation on productivity and the second one on economic outlook made me feel like I was back in graduate school (bored out of my mind) but the second half about using resources was sweet. The 40 or so other participants were mostly from the deep south-- I enjoyed hearing a MS accent. Now I'm hanging out at home for about an hour before I head to work (stupid late night-- if this was on a different day of the week I'd be able to call it a day). Butch is enjoying seeing me at this time of the afternoon (a real rarity for us both). And it's nice out, so I gave him a good little run. I think it's going to be harder and harder to go to work when it keeps getting nice outside. Why can't I be a cruise ship librarian? I guess if I was on a cruise ship I wouldn't be able to go to fun conferences. Ah, it's always a give and take in librarianship.

Bouquets for Butter

I had such a nice weekend. On Friday, Pedro spent hours cooking me a gourmet meal. We started with a cheese spread, went on to a marinated portabella with three kinds of mashed potatoes over wilted spinach, and homemade chocolate mousse for dessert. We of course had wine pairings with all the food, and it's always so cute to see Pedro in his black apron. Saturday we had Barrister's Ball. Typical Pedro, he realized at 5 that his black dress shoes were in Butterapolis-- meaning that we made a trip to DSW in our formalwear. It's always fun to get compliments from strangers, especially when we were obviously in a rush. We made it to the hotel with plenty of time, so after a drink at a swanky bar, we entered. And danced all night! I felt really good in my dress, my hair was behaving, and Pedro's custom made tux looked better than all the rented deals on the other guys. Yesterday, we took Butchie for a nice long walk in the park-- the weather is finally nice-- and we saw wild turkeys. That was exciting and unexpected. We also went to brunch, wandered around Borders and Whole Foods, and updated our registry at Crate & Barrel. I love that place. And registering is the best-- we spent an hour there, and not a dime. I can't wait to get all the stuff I picked out! This morning, while Pedro was at class, I did some laundry and took Butch for a big walk. He has a big deal interview this afternoon, so I made sure he looked perfect before jetting out the door. As far as V Day is concerned, I let him know he's totally off the hook (as he proposed with a sizeable ring just 6 weeks ago) but he's meeting me for my dinner break tonight at work. I really do like my work schedule, I know everyone at work is looking longingly out the window, wishing they could have the morning doing what I did: walk and get mango iced tea, window shop, and just enjoy my neighborhood. Days like these help remind me that I'm NEVER moving to the 'burbs-- it's weird seeing the tourists from the burbs oohing and ahhing over my turf.

Butter's Butt

So not to be too graphic, but my colon is really messing up things. I dutifully woke up and went to work, and on the way I felt really gross but figured it could be fixed with OJ from McDonald's. I ambled into work, right at 8, and by 8:10 I was on the phone to my GI guy. Of course the office doesn't open til 9, so I sat for an hour, feeling weak and wondering just how much blood was collecting in my insides. At 9, I was back in my car, heading home. Now I have another RX for 6 pills a day. That, and I'm so terribly weak, typing and watching TLC is about all I'm up for.
On a good note: I think I finally have a budget from REL, and a date on hold at my favorite wedding venue. To keep the date longer than 30 days, we have to put down a $2000 deposit. Well, nobody told me this was going to be cheap.... but it is very exciting!

Bah Bah Butter

It sure does feel good to be home from work. I'm on Pedro's couch, he's taking Butch outside, and I'm supposed to figure out what we're doiongn for dinner. I love that this is the most important decision I have to make for at least the next 12 hours.

Today at work I created a prototype of a newsletter for my constituents. That was fun, hopefully the kids will give me some good feedback. I started a new book, given to me by an accounting instructor: Michael Moore's "Dude, Where's my Country?" I haven't started it yet, but I'm sure I"ll at least find it mildly entertaining.

Tomorrow I'm going back to Butterapolis. We're checking out three venues (I think) along with FL's 80th birthday bash at a steakhouse. Nothing like being vegetarian at a steakhouse. I'm sure Pedro and I will be feasting on mashed 'taters and spinach. At least I'll get to see MEL and possibly RJT.