49

I'm in St. Louis right now for the American Veterinary Medical Association's annual convention and, folks, it is hotter than all hell here right now. And it's only going to get worse.

Anyway, I flew down here a day earlier than I needed to for one particular reason - so I could scratch this off my list:



I know you're all thinking WTF right now, and trust me, I wouldn't go to Arkansas without a good reason. Or at least a good enough one. And the reason is that Alaska is now the only state I have left to visit.

I don't even know when exactly I decided I should visit all fifty states, but I do know that it came about very organically. I grew up in a family that did road trips, so it was natural for me to keep doing them as I got older and started living my own life, or at least when I still had enough time to do them and not enough obligations to keep me from it. And at some point within the past 10 years, I did a tally and realized I only had Hawai'i, Arkansas, and Alaska left.

Hawai'i got crossed off the list 5 years ago, and Alaska would have been on my list of places to see either way, so Arkansas kind of came down to finding a good enough excuse to get there. A conference within a few hours seemed reasonable enough, so I rented a car and went.

Suffice to say, I don't have a reason to go back now, but if any of you should ever find yourselves in Jonesboro and in desperate need of a civilized, lefty-artsy fix, I recommend the Echo Coffee House, which is in a cozy converted residence and where they play NPR. And if you happen by there when they're having a pottery sale, I recommend picking yourself up a little souvenir.

Um, O Hai! I Can Haz Blog?

Jeez, Louise, it's been a long time!

So here's what happened, in a nutshell: Nobody entered into the Iceland tour drawing, then April was really busy, then on May 1, I moved from nights to a day schedule at work.

That's actually been a really good move, on the whole, because I finally get to sleep a pretty regular schedule. I still have some sleep issues, but on the whole, my body has really been grooving on it.

The downside is that I don't seem to be able to keep up very well, anymore. E-mail, blogrolls - I've fallen behind with all of them. I got a Droid-based phone in May, though, so I finally figured I should try to use it and catch up with all the things I write in my head and never seem to manage to commit to "printed" form.

Not much knitting going on now that the weather has turned to stinkin' hot, but I finished that lopapeysu in just 17 days and got to wear it quite a lot in our gloriously cool spring, including even a few days in June.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this sweater. I do believe it's my favorite ever!

Aside from that, we went to Boston over Memorial Day weekend for an overnight getaway and met up with my cousin Liz, who was filming a movie in Worcester at the time. We were so busy catching up and seeing the Museum of Fine Arts (If you're in the area and haven't been to the Chihuly exhibit, GO!), that I only snagged one unflattering photo of her, which shall remain for family viewing only. So instead, you get this:



We also had a visit from Ragga & her family the weekend of the 4th, which was mjög skemmtilegt, but far too brief. David's parents were also visiting at the time, for the first time in almost six years and the first time since they boycotted our wedding. It was quite likely the best time we've had with them, though, and it was a little sad to see them go. Progress happens, but it takes time.

Tomorrow, David and I are heading to MA to get hugs from Amma, which are very much needed, and then I'm off to St. Louis for a week for a conference. I'm looking forward to the time away from work, which has been mostly hectic this summer, but I'm not at all looking forward to the heat. Seriously, I fully expect to melt and become part of the Mississippi floodwaters. The forecast is for 99F/37C on Saturday. Beyond gross.

If only I could bottle Iceland and take it with me everywhere!