Lots Happening

I am about to go to bed--it's a shade after 9 pm and there is something immensely reassuring about retiring when the day is still bright. It reminds me of being a kid. As I'm in my childhood room (the bed was long replaced with at least two new ones), the feeling is doubled. So far, I've seen my college friends, travelled home, gone to a conference in Glasgow--which was a feat given that tracks were washed away and my train cancelled, so I got in at 2am rather than 2 pm-and made it back home. The conference was great--I didn't hear a bad paper, I met lovely people and it made it easy to overlook my exhaustion. I was a tad antisocial on Saturday night, though, taking to my room with dinner, strawberries and the Guardian and Mirror, before having an early night. Since then, I've seen old college friends and celebrated my niece's birthday today. I met my high school friends for coffee this morning (hot chocolate and an apricot croissant for me), then went swimming, which exhausted me and I suspect that's one reason why I'm so tired now. So far, I've had some rest. But I received an email two hours ago from my editor. I need to do a few more revisions for my book, this time courtesy of the series editor. The good news is the feedback is really positive. The bad--or somewhat stressful and difficult--is that they want the book to go into production next week so I have to complete them remotely--and I only have my iPad with me. So I'm hoping I can borrow my brother's MacBook and get most of the work done this weekend. I was asked to submit a proposal for another book series this weekend--admittedly a shorter one, a monograph really--so best to keep on a tight schedule, or so I'm telling myself. It will be worth it if I get everything done--three books, a monograph and a few new essays should hold me in good stead if I can do it all over the next year or two. I just hope my tiredness abates soon. There are a lot of thing I have to do in the next 5 months or so before something really big arrives. Apologies if this entry appears as one large paragraph. For some reason blogger doesn't seem to respect the formatting when I try to publish.

Off Home

Tomorrow morning, bright and very early, I leave for England. I'm spending a few days with close University friends and their beautiful children, heading (briefly) home then off to Scotland for a conference (I have to cut five pages out of my paper on the flight or somewhere else in transit). Then it's time to relax, enjoy being with family and friends, do some research, visit museums, and meet my new niece (and see my slightly older one at a big family celebration later in July). I'm home for almost a month and cannot wait. Alas, I don't enjoy the early mornings and I'm not a huge fan of American's international service (couldn't get onto the BA morning flight), but if I get home safely, preferably in an aisle seat, I will be super happy.

Next updates will be from elsewhere--unless I post another cat picture tonight...

And here's another one

When I post pictures of my cats, I usually favour Peeps. Blue is a total sweetheart and a beauty (or, rather, handsome boy) and here's a picture of him in all his glory. This little guy does not like to wear clothes but he does like dairy, pastries and catnip.

My Girl

Images speak louder than words. Peeps likes her clothes.

IBKC Fundraiser

Sorry for the long, long silence. Much to report but I will get to all the news soon. In the meanwhile, I wanted to alert anybody who is interested to the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee Fundraiser for the cats and kittens at the Humane Society of Tacoma. You can read more about all the good that they are doing and be thrilled by the beautiful kittens and wonderful surprises involved in this really great event (it goes on for another 30 days). I donate every year in thanks for all the pleasure Laurie, her foster kittens and Charlene Butterbean give to the world and in support of all those other animals they help. If you are interested, head over to http://www.theittybittykittycommittee.com/ and squeal in delight at the new kittens working the telethon set...

Back to work

I'm in that point in the semester where not all the papers are in and therefore grades can't be submitted. It's tempting to see this week as one where you can relax, catch up on house cleaning, perhaps take a day off to see a movie or window shop. But I'm increasingly aware that these days are precious and today started work--writing a paper proposal (and hopefully, soon, a chapter) on D.W. Griffith and Progressivism which has meant a day watching Biograph shorts and taking notes (at this point, 17 pages). Notes are not papers, of course, but it's funny how quickly my appetite for real work has returned after about 6 weeks of teaching/grading and little time to write or research. I hope to have the proposal in over the next couple of days, but in the meantime it is so good to work and I am just hoping that this energy stays with me and helps me to finish the chapter and article revisions that I'd like to have done by the end of May/very early June.

Peridot

Last week, my four wonderful fashion tutorial students presented me with an amazing gift--four bottles of Chanel nail polish (Delight, Holiday, Black Pearl and Rose Exuberant). Translated these are a wonderful gold/pale bronze, orange, opalescent black/blue and fuchsia. I'm wearing the Delight now and it truly is one--it dries fast and looks like a professional manicure so a bottle actually works out as a pretty good deal.

On the way to a graduation event yesterday, I dug up an old Bloomingdale's gift card and inspired by this gift, I hit the Chanel counter and bought a bottle of Peridot--a limited edition shade from the fall (green/gold with a touch of blue) that has sold out in Bergdorfs and the city's Chanel boutiques. With five bottles I'm set but it was a nice treat that didn't actually come out of my bank account.

My new frugality is going relatively well--it's funny how the less you spend, the less you want. Even though I hope it doesn't have to last forever, it's amazing how cutting back really makes you question whether you need something or not and, in turn, makes you appreciate relatively small treats.