Stuff that's really good

Drinking a cup of iced coffee on a sunny, crisp morning.

Two of the world's best cookies.

Sitting in the coffee shop, upstairs, writing quietly with other quiet people.

Talent.  Here it is.  None for you.

Downstairs, music is playing.

Several folks are picking up their orders and getting muffins.

At home, I'll be making pumpkin and pecan pies.  I am talented, rest assured.

My parents will be here this afternoon.

My Mama!

My Dad!

LOVE THIS.

Someone told me that she reads what I write.  I don't know who she was.  I felt really honored.

I'm making Christmas plans.

I get to talk to a favorite writer and thinker.

Another friend gave me an ideal gift.

Sweet, hot green tea.

Eating the bits of pie.

Making turkey and learning from my mom's skills.

Have a look at this.  No, really, have a
look.  This is a delicious part of the turkey
gravy maker.

 My Dad brought box after box of delicious food.

I don't feel like listing the food.  But it's good.

And now, the Stuff That's Really Good from my Dad:

This is Alison's dad.  If you think Alison is smart, you should see how smart I'm.  

Lots of good things have happened today:

Naked turkey.  Hello, turkey!

• The Mom is making a super-turkey that cooks at 180 degrees for four days.  
• She's making giblet gravy, but it's too gross to look at.  Tastes good, but we hate watching her. 
• Alison is typing this, and her hair looks good--I don't care what she says.  
• Brian has gone to get us yummy tacos.  
• The house smells like turkey, and we have two pies:  pecan and punky pie.  My children Aaron and Trey and their significant others, Mary and Olivia, get no pie.  
• We have cookies and raspberry swirl pastries and carbonated water, but we keep that away from The Mom.

(Says my Mama, "You know it's all lies.")  (Says my Dad, "You hear her snorting?")

NWSA, day 3, and I'm exhausted

I left the hotel this morning at 7:50am, and I haven't been back here until now.

Now, people!  At 8:00pm!

I'm not sure how I could do it.  Honestly, I'm so tired right now that it's an effort for me to blog about today.  But I'll do the quick, picture-laden approach.  We took 7,000 pictures, but they weren't on my phone, so we'll have to wait for them.

Taylor and I worked together since my first year at the College of Charleston.  She kicks ass.  She'll have a Ph.D. soon.  Two other WGS students I got to see today were also very close to having their Ph.D.s soon--Rachel in May, and Lindsey in another year.

Heather Hewett, Rory Dicker, and I were snuggling together in the snacking-drinking bar we've been at every day.  This was our third evening there.  I'm a bit on the sick side of the food (they only offer five snacks, and we've eaten all of them at least once), but, as always, it was great to see my friends.

And finally, an important component of the conference:

I'm handing something out, and I love the way I'm striding.  Karlyn took the picture and agrees.  There is Alison Piepmeier, walking through the room, ready to hear what you have to say.

National Women's Studies Association, day 2

Today was exhausting.  In lots of good ways.  I just left the big event early tonight because I was exhausted.  Of course, according to my body it was 9pm when the person was speaking, and that's just too late.

I came back to the room and ate six Fun Size Snickers, an excellent way to end the day.

Since I don't have the energy for my descriptions of my day, I'll give you some pictures.

Chris and I are presenting as part of an excellent discussion that I'll tell you about tomorrow.  Tonight, Chris got to meet a lot of my NWSA friends.  Here we are.  It looks like we should be discussing biology and WGS tomorrow morning.

We're in Milwaukee, so cheese is a big deal.  Here we got cheddar cheese squares, cheddar cheese blue cheese, and other cheddar cheese.  Plus some olives.

I've have more pictures soon, but apparently we didn't get as many pictures as I wanted.  So have a look at this.  I was cleaning out my purse to find the Vaseline lip stuff, and here's what I got out of the small part.  Do you see what's significant?

I have a rubber band to pull back my hair in a pony tail.

I haven't been doing it for about a year, and I won't need it again for another year if I keep letting it grow.

Finally:

That's where I'm going.  Right now.

National Women's Studies Association, day 1

Alison, Karlyn, and Rory with a great big selfie. I am
waiting for my food to emerge.  Come on, food!

I ran twice today to get to the airplanes I was riding.  I sat between two very nice people in both flights.  When I got there, I headed to the hotel I'd reserved, but I changed my reservation because now I'm a block or two closer to the conference.  The windy, freezing place.

And here I am!

Today I have eaten a bowl of cereal, a medium sized bag of M&M peanuts, a small bag of popcorn, and the random stuff they give you on the plane (two cookies, one tiny bag of pretzels).  Finally, after I'd gotten to the conference and had made my first presentation, and after I'd gone back to the room and reemerged to the bar with everybody, I got some food:  cheese and crackers.

Cheese!  Because we're in Milwaukee!

At the cheese-loaded bar, I got to hang out with some of my best National Women's Studies Association friends.  I've been attending this conference for about 15 years.  Two years ago I was at another conference and couldn't go (let me assure you that NWSA is much cooler than the place I went).  Last year I wasn't able to go to NWSA--at the last minute I withdrew because I was just too tired rising up from the radiation.  I wasn't fully functional last year until December.

This time, though, I think I can do it.  It's been two years.  I want to be here.  I'll rest--I'll take it easy--I promise.  This is an opportunity to practice communication and to get hugs every time I turn around.  I have three presentations (maybe not the GREATEST thing, but still) on three different days, so I'll have time to rest.

I'm grateful and excited.  Let's see what happens.