Indianapolis

Dave and I spent Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis. It was great to get away. I will post more pictures later and give you a run down of the trip. We basically wandered around downtown Indy and then went to the Zoo on Saturday morning. The hotel we stayed in (thanks, Hotwire!) used to be the old Union Station. You can even rent rooms in the old pullman cars!

Making the Bed

My mom made the bed every day of her married life that I can remember. Dave and I are not so good at that. The best way that I have found to actually get me to make the bed every day is if I have European bedding. That means all I have to do is fluff the duvet and my pillows. Germans actually fold the duvet in half and just fluff the pillow. I love it, I've never been so consistent with making my bed as when I've lived in Germany.

Needless to say, neither I nor Dave are good at making our bed. If we don't make the bed then all of the pillows that belong on top just sit in front of my closet and it is impossible to find clothes. So, we made a goal to make the bed every day. Dave made the bed Saturday morning. This is what he did:

I was grateful that he helped us reach our goal of making the bed, cuz we for sure didn't make it on Sunday. I guess that would have been my turn. Oops!

Dave's Birthday Party

Well, it's official. Dave turned 30. He is now the same age as I am. He has mourned his 20s and is now embracing his 30s. To help him transition I threw him a bday party on Saturday night. We just sat around and slept on his actual birthday.

I love planning parties, so Dave's birthday was the perfect excuse. The concept was simple: come and hang out, play some guitar hero, and bring Dave 30 of something. People got really creative. Giles gave Dave 30 chicks (donated through Heifer International), Amanda gave him 30 Starburst, he got 30 pencils and erasers, 30 bandaids, 30 3 Musketeers bars, 3o popcorn kernels, chocolate chips and almonds, etc. I have to say, when you put 30 of something in a baggie, it doesn't look like much. I guess Dave isn't that old after all.

I enjoyed planning and making the food. We had 7 layer bean dip, bruschetta dip and cupcakes. I was quite pleased with myself when I made the 7 layer bean dip...I made it all in my springform pan. After letting the flavors meld (aka sit in the fridge) I just pulled the sides off and it looked like I was a layer-stacking genius!

Lots and Lots of Grading

I keep trying to think of something witty and amusing to share on my blog. Unfortunately, I don't have any kids like Ella, Owen or Varinia to do crazy things I can write about. I do have a husband, but he's pretty normal most of the time. Dave has a really good friend, Caren, who is a gemini. She and her other gemini friends invented what they call "Gemini Games." Dave considers himself an adopted Gemini, and as such he loves to play gemini games. That means he likes to do random things in a repetitive way: He gives high 5's 10 or 15 times in a row, he uses his hand to sing me songs (picture holding your hand horizontally in front of you and use your thumb to imitate a mouth moving) and other things that I can't remember right now.

Besides playing gemini games with Dave every once in a while, I have been doing a lot of grading. The course I am teaching this semester is GER 250: Grimms Fairy Tales in their European Context. It's an English-language course we offer in the department. It's been fun to read the fairy tales in their various versions (they are nothing like Disney, if you didn't know). This is a writing-intensive course, so I do nothing but grade. A few weeks ago the students--all 40 of them-- handed in 6-page essays. I'm still grading them. Here's hoping I finish them eventually!

Sonic Onion Rings

I just got a major craving for Sonic's Onion Rings. Maybe it's because I worked there for so long, but I haven't found better ones at any restaurant. The batter is a little bit sweet, it is light and flakey and you can still mash your OR to fit in the ranch cup you are dipping in! I can't stand onion rings where the coating is like a flack jacket...it's so thick that you can't even find the onion!

What foods do you crave?

Beginner II

I am in adult swimming lessons. Ashley has mocked me, but I think it's a lot of fun. We meet every Tuesday for 45 minutes. I got a few friends from the singles ward to sign up with me.

I learned that if I were in better shape I would probably be able to sign up for the advanced level. Most of the participants seemed to have only recently learned to swim, and were afraid of the deep end. Not to say that I'm an amazing swimmer. We had to do the freestyle the equivalent of maybe 6 lengths of the pool. I thought I was going to have an asthma attack and my legs were sore. But it was a great feeling!

Thanks, Ashley!

So, Ashley took up my cause and helped me with my blog. What do you all think?