The Wedding Awards

This past weekend, The Steel Magnolia and I were in a friend's wedding (great to see you again, girl!). It was a beautiful event in Savannah, GA, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here are the highlights:

Best Wedding Attire: The bride wore green! No, not her dress, but her shoes. She had the loveliest emerald green open-toed heels on under her off-white dress which cascaded in a ruffled pattern down the back. The shoes were an unexpected shock of color that set off the entire attire. I wish I had thought to do that at my wedding.

Best Moment of Individualism: The bridesmaids all wore the same green dress, but the bride gave us each a different elegant brooch to wear on the belts of our dresses. I love that idea! And because the bride knew I am The Diva, I love that she gave me an antique starfish with lots of bling!

Most Anticipated Moment (ceremony-related): When the groom sees the bride for the first time. Everyone always turns to look at the bride when she comes in, but I figure, I have the entire ceremony to look at her. I like to see the look on the groom's face when he sees for the first time that day the woman he loves. It's always nice to see tears from the beloved, but no such luck this time.

Most Anticipated Moment (non-ceremony-related): Going to eat at The Lady and Sons. I love Paula Deen! I even went to see her when she came to Biblebelt city (though I got no food for my trouble). So, I was not passing up an opportunity to go to her restaurant. Actually, the bride said she had to have her rehearsal dinner at Lady and Sons because she knew she would lose a lot of people to it if she had the dinner elsewhere. Paula Deen did not disappoint. The food was scrumptious. I had fried chicken, rice and gravy, greens, creamed corn (and I don't eat creamed corn), and peach cobbler. I wanted to go back for some macaroni, but I was just too stuffed. That would have been just gluttonous.

Most Surprising Moment: It was cold as sin out there! The ceremony was outside. On Friday, it was nice, sunny and warm. No such luck on Saturday. DH and I got out to go to buy the Popcorn a sweater and hat because the weatherman said it would be in the 60's. When we got out there, the wind whipped us to and fro and I cringed at the idea that I would be wearing a sleeveless dress later that day!

Most Surprising Moment II: There was a Carter's Outlet store down the street from my hotel! Anyone with a kid knows that Carter's makes all the baby clothes. All of them. Except for a few onesies they let Gerber make. And they're always so cute. So, in our quest for a sweater, we stumbled upon the outlet stores and Carter's, in particular. I wanted to shop so badly, but I was with DH who hates the word "shopping" and so I could only "ohh" and "ahh" as I passed by beautiful, affordable spring fashions on my way to finding a sweater. At least I got to buy that.

Most Symbolic Moment: As cold as it was, the sun came out from behind the clouds when the minister announced them as husband and wife. It's like God smiled on them. Then the sun went back behind the clouds.

Coolest Moment: This one is tied. The first was hanging with my girls. Life is such that we only get to see each other together like once a year when something big comes up. Between jobs, kids and other family and social obligations, we don't often get to cross state lines and just hang. We should make more of an effort to do that. The other coolest moment was showing off the Popcorn. This was the first non-family event that we have taken her to ( we haven't even taken her to church because of her health issues) and the first time that my friends have seen her. They loved her! Everyone did. I was pleased. (I would have been more pleased if someone--anyone--thought she looked like me, but I still can't get anyone to say she does!)

So, that's the weekend's awards. (Did I miss anything, SM?) It was fun and beautiful and special and I'm so happy for my friend.

I should do this every weekend

Interestingly, I participated in a thirty-something friend's wedding this past weekend, just as I did this time last year. It was another beautiful (and shockingly brief) ceremony and a rocking reception. We had a lot of fun, especially my children, who ran free and danced like they couldn't help themselves! I got to dance with my husband, too. It was a wonderful weekend, full of good vibes and slap-your-mama good Southern food.

And now it's back to work. Um, yay . . . ?

Thanks again today

So, after positive feedback from students the other day, I had a class observation today and the feedback was very useful and positive. I really feel like I'm getting better and better at this job, becoming more effective. Clearly, there are things to work on, but there are more days when I feel like I'm not just droning on to my own nerdy self. Thanks, God and God's universe, for more affirmation that this work is meaningful. And that my efforts are not (always) invisible.

This, AND, a neighbor in my new neighborhood is bringing us cheesecake this weekend! Yippee!

Saying thanks again

Over at academic writing, the discussion was about saying "Thank you." That's been on my mind again lately, so I'll repeat what I wrote on her page

I asked my class to do a check-in exercise that I like to do at mid-term. I asked them to write down what they thought was working in the class and what they thought was not meeting their needs. That lead us down a series of paths and they started to talk about graduating. They were so moved and spoke with such angst about leaving that one of them had to leave the room. This institution, they said, has nurtured them and helped them grow, taught them and pushed them. Their friendships and their professors were important in ways that they would never again experience in quite the same way. They didn't want to leave. (Incidentally, my daughter asked last night why babies had to leave come out of their mommies's tummies. Can't they just stay in if they want? she asked. I thought my students seemed to be asked a similar question.) It was gut-wrenching. And yet, I felt so proud to be playing any small role in the experience that was shaping these students. And to top it off, more than one of them said that they really liked my class and were learning a lot.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you to my students today! I needed that!

The DMV Diaries

• Part of the moving chaos of this week is trying to cram in all of the required paperwork telling everyone who demands to know where I now live. That includes the DMV folk, for starters. As always, it was an adventure. As soon as I walked in, an . . . "older gentleman" sauntered in behind me and immediately started talking to me. He asks me questions about which line to go to. How to do this. How to do that. Then he tells me--totally unsolicited--that he had a DUI and now that he's paid the "bread" (his word) he wants to get his license back. Now, it's 11am and he's chugging a Coke like it's got the antidote, and belching every 30 seconds. He stops his rambling long enough to very obviously check out a young woman walking by. This man has got me by at least 20 years--and I've got him by at least 5 teeth--and the passerby was younger than me. So I'm thinking, "Dirty old man!" Not to mention that he's clearly giving me his best efforts in what he must think is flirting. It's not pretty. After he checks out the girl, he turns back to me and explains that I shouldn't be offended because he was still talking to me. Indeed, he was flapping his jaws to me the entire he time he was spinning his head around to ogle this woman. I told him to take all the time he likes looking at other women. Fine by me. You could even follow them and go talk to them instead.

But here's the kicker: 11am, right? DUI, right? Why does he smell like liquor?

Please, please, lady at the counter, tell this joker that the only way to get his license back is with a note from his sponsor.

• Here's the other thing: Hubby was parking the car while I was fending off the dirty old man. I step in line and the worker in the first line gives me a ticket . Hubby comes to rescue me and gets the next ticket. It's one number after mine. We wait for half our lives and they finally call my number. Right after I go up and get the address change completed, we think Hubby must be next. Right? Wrong!? Why are there about 900 hundred people called next? Does that make any numerical sense?
• Perhaps the worst part is that they made me take another picture. I had the cutest ID picture ever! At the closing for the house I had to use my lisence and my agent commented that it was a really good pic. I was always happy to whip it out. The new one turned out pretty decent, but I'm grieving the loss of that one great ID photo. Oh well.

Trying to Stay Relevant?

Are you kidding me?!?

I didn't think of Lohan once during this commercial.

(Nearly) The Ides of March

Yippee for starting Spring Break with absotively no grading to do! I only had a small class of exams and essays and I've managed to knock them out over the weekend. Now all I have to do is completely move and unpack my entire family's lives into a new house. The house that makes me giddy when I think about it. The one that I love more every time I see it. I am soooo in a happy place right now!

This Is What I Think About That

1. I am really sad to hear about Andrew Koening who played Boner in Growing Pains. It's sad that he was in such pain in life that he felt he needed to take his own.

2. I am saddened and horrified that Dawn Brancheau was killed by a killer whale and the animal will live to tell the tale. I don't fault Brancheau because she was doing her job and it is important that humans observe and study the animal world. I do fault Sea World for keeping this animal around even though this is his third killing. Humans--who have a conscience and can therefore theoretically be rehabilitated--have been killed for less victims. Wild animals kill; it's in their nature. Have we forgotten that they are animals?

3. I know you love the Olympics, SM, but I am glad they are over. Now, NBC can get back to showing other things. Like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Wait, his guests this week will be Olympic athletes. Will it never end?

4. Can a woman sleeping with a married man (with two kids) reasonably expect fidelity and honesty in the affair? Apparently, one of Tiger Woods's mistresses, Joslyn James, held a press conference after his public apology (Why was that news? Why was it covered by major networks and not just the E! network?) and with her lawyer, Gloria Allred, requested an apology from Tiger for herself as well. C'mon, Slim, you knew what this was!

5. Spring Break is coming! Woohoo!