last weekend i:
- watched as Myndi became Mrs. DeVore(!)
- was overwhelmed by the number of friends and acquaintances who made an appearance in my weekend (after my year of scant social interaction) including former fellow camp counselors Ryan and Joe, high school classmates Megan and Monica (who came as dates to the wedding - woah!), an entire table of former FARCers whom I hadn't thought about in a year (Channing, Shiraz, Adam, Danesh, Jeff, Wilson...) - and those are just the people I wasn't planning on seeing.
- twirled my skirt on the dance floor.
- made a gastronomic tour of Columbia's great downtown cheap food (Ernie's, 9th Street Deli, Panera).
- spent most of an entire day in the Artisan.
- disucssed the finer points of the use of lines in magazine design with Erin.

today i:
- will see Après Vous for the first time since the Phoenix Film Festival.

this weekend i:
- will post pictures from the wedding.
- will begin house-sitting for a friend of the family.
- will float in said friend's pool with visiting Emily.
- will wish Megan "happy one year anniversary of living in London" by trying to immitate the explosion of fireworks over the trans-Atlantic phone line.
- will write a post about purchasing a hybrid car. (Look for it.)

[myfirstname] . [mylastname] @ gmail . com
I got a Gmail address this week, so I could be like all the cool kids. Actually, I wanted it because it's pretty and I can send disgustingly huge attachments to myself.

obligatory dateline post
Columbia, Mo. - Hello from the remodeled Ellis Library. More later.

blast from the past
In anticipation of Myndi's wedding:


Natalie, Myndi and Sam freshman year in FARC 

go bogan!
So, I'm a little late with this news (who really reads the Missourian, anyway?). Our head professor in London got a big UM-System award.


Bogan chillin' with a waxy Darwin and my copy of All The President's Men at Warwick Castle.

last weekend:
- Got new A/C. Whew. Just in time for the heat wave. The past couple of days have been so hot that you almost have to remind your lungs to expand because the heat presses in on your body. It's also been humid. What? I thought this was supposed to be a dry heat here.

- Went to a local band's CD release party. Lisa and I were the only ones not buddy-buddy with one of the four bands there. Opening band lead singer's eyebrow movements cracked me up. Sang a song with lyrics like, "(first stanza:) There's a tree in a forest and it doesn't know what to do... (second stanza:) There's a drop in the ocean and it doesn't know what to do..." Guitarist tried hitting on us. Drummer of the third band looked like my eighth grade life sciences teacher, including the paunch and the balding head. Didn't seem to fit with the other younger members of the metal band (not my type of music, honestly). Ten Dollar Outfit (the band we went to see) was quite enjoyable. Lead singer reminded me of John Mayer, guitar faces included.

- Saw Phantom of the Opera for the third time in my life. Performance in San Francisco was still the best ever, but watching those candles rise through the stage floor always amazes me. Some day I'm going to inspect the stage and figure out how they do that.

- Watched The Life Aquatic. It was O.K. I like The Royal Tenenbaums better. But, wow, was the color gorgeous.

next weekend:
- Meeting up with Emily in KC.

- Myndi's wedding(!!!!!)

- Columbia-bound in a rental car. Meeting up with Kate, JDub, et al. for breakfast at Ernie's. Hanging out with EZP. Visiting old haunts on Campus. Grabbing a mocha chai at the Artisan. Lunching with Crowley (now Gibson) and Ann (possibly Luke and Jeremy as well). Returning to KC with Kate and Adam in tow.

94º
That was last night's temperature in our house. We ate dinner sitting around the edge of the pool, dangling our legs in the cool (92º) water.

thanks...
...for all your book suggestions! That was fun! I had forgotten about many of my favorite childhood books. Did anyone else love Cam Jansen, the girl detective who would say, "Click," and store a scene in her photographic memory? Or Harold and the Purple Crayon?

are you missing election season?
Then check out HottestUSSenator.com, set up by Elise and vote for - you got it - the U.S. senator you believe to be the hottest (not counting Barack Obama). I've been wondering if the winner has to be selected based on his/her current appearance. Because, certainly, 20-something John McCain beats out the competition:



speaking of hot...
Not only is it supposed to get up to 110º in the next few days, but yesterday our air conditioning went out...and it probably won't get fixed until Tuesday. Our house was 86º this morning before the afternoon heat wave hit.

help a sistah out
The Mizzou alum club here has "adopted" a school in the poorer district of Phoenix and is helping them build a library. I have been given the duty to spend the $500 grant we received on children's books. How awesome is that job? The library will be getting all the Harry Potter books, of course; and since much of the school is Hispanic, I'm going to try to find as many books related to their culture as I can. My request from you is this:

What was your favorite childhood author/book? What should I be sure to buy tomorrow?

:(
The Suns are out of the tournament.
I'm home sick.