My staff meeting ended at about 10:30pm on Wednesday and I crawled into bed with Ry. He'd already been dozing on and off for a while and was a bit out of it. I said something about my litany of responsibilties that day and he responded, "just think, in addition to all this craziness we need to find you a job and buy a house." After saying this he nodded off for the night and I was stricken with a surge of panic. I got out of bed and decided to watch a video cassette of the previous night's Lost episode. Since I have nightly meetings on Tuesday I cannot watch Lost and we tape it on a give-away VCR with stickers all over it that I got from a friend in grad school. Channel 12 comes in worst of them all and nothing makes me feel out of the technology loop quite like fast-fowarding a tape. I watched the episode, felt better and went to sleep.
Most of what I've been working on is reading RA candidate files (to choose six new staff members for next year), preparing for the Cobeen 4th Annual Swing-A-Thon (a 36.5 hour swing marathon to support an eating disorders clinic) and advising a three day, campus-wide diversity awarenesss program. If you are interested in supporting the Swing-A-Thon we are collecting donations for Rogers Memorial Hospital. Just contact me and I will clue you in about the event. We've raised over $13,000 in the last three years.
By the time I reached Thursday was thankful and felt accomplished! If I can make it to Thursday night, the end is in sight.
Ryan and I celebrated Valentine's Day early. After I came home from several hours of candidate file reading Saturday morning, Ryan surprised me with a bouquet of a dozen fair trade roses. They are just lovely:
Though we were both feeling a bit under the weather we decided to go out for a love-filled sea food fest at the River Lane Inn on the far north side of Milwaukee, near Brown Deer and River Hills. We drove up I-43 in the dark and made our 7:30pm reservation. The restaurant has been there for thirty years. And though updated and welcoming, it had a distinct old fashioned feeling. We each had a cocktail at the bar and moved to our table in the red dining room decorated with Valentine's colored balloons. I am just a sucker for balloons. There must be something in me that secretly rejoices in prom decor. Here's a run down on what we shared:
Wine - Bottle of the house Pinot Grigo
Appetizer - Rare sesame encrusted ahi tuna and salads
Main Course - Garlic Shrimp with lemon butter, argula and sundried tomatoes over linguine (Megan) & Cajun scallops with andouille sausage and potatoes (Ryan)
Dessert - Raspberry chocolate mousse & creme brulee
We were by far the youngest people there, but we rejoiced in the delicious food, company and the salacious senior conversation happening around us. Some of my friends and family know that I am an expert eaves-dropper and I can't stop it. We decided that we are very spoiled in the culinary realm, but as long as we keep cooking magical things at home we have to up the ante for special meals out.
This morning my Ryan woke up with a full blown sickness. So we took it easy, lounging on the couch, enjoying coffee and watching CBS Sunday Morning. They had some great Valentine's themed segments with the best by far being one where Mo Rocca served as a male escort for some old rich lady. We exchanged cards and Ry surprised me with a bar of black currant dark chocolate. Mmmm, mmm, do I love currants. I went to mass at Gesu, while Ryan stayed at home. There was a lovely blond haired Polish boy in the pew behind me who kept driving his cars along the cathedral floor making a ton of noises. Distracting but endearing.
Next we are off to visit the newest addition to the Hetzel family: Chloe Renee, born Friday February 12th, 2010. We put together a little mommy and daddy gift bag consisting of some high end liquor and soothing post-pardum mommy products. Ryan baked a delicious loaf of wheat bread for the family as well. We're off for our visit but will keep our distance, so as not to infect the little one.
After that we are going to see two more house showings today. I'm slowly learning that realtor photos can make any old, crappy little thing look nice on a computer screen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more luck today than yesterday. We've at least agreed that if we are going to stay in Milwaukee we want to move into something that is reasonably priced and ready to roll. No labors of love for us in the city.
Here are a few other choice pics from last week:
Cecina tacos with avocado, green onions, cilantro and red salsa from El Rey. A quick Wednesday night meal for us:
A ridiculously large churro that happened to make my poor stomach ill:
My blooming spider plant:
I obtained this spider plant by stealing a baby spider off of a plant in the carillon ringer's office while I was taking a tour of the Marquette bell tower. I secretly snipped the baby off, took it home and rooted it in some water. After I planted it, it's grown like crazy. I wasn't even aware these plants did flower, but discovered a couple of months later that they sprout out these delicate white flowers that last for only about a day. I haven't seen any on my plant in a while, but low and behold, some arrived this week. Hooray for small blessings.
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