Mall of America, baby!

Yesterday we left the conference after it was over and went to the Mall of America. Lynne went to the mall with us a bit, then headed off to visit family for a day or two. You can't really wee it, but Lynne and I are standing under the sign.

This is the amusement park in the center. I think it's so cool. And it's sooooo quiet! Nowhere near as loud as outside amusement park rides. I have to say though, I'm a bit disappointed in the mall itself. I thought it would be bigger.
There is this cool Lego Land area where kids can make their own Lego creations, but there are also "professionally" done ones. Here's a plane hanging from the ceiling.

This morning Sheila and I are off to do a bit more shopping, visit the Underwater Adventures Aquarium there and then tomorrow we're on our way home.

PLA, day 2...but first day of programs

Wow, I went to two amazing sessions this morning...so I think I'm jaded for the rest of the conference. I'll be judging all other sessions by those ones! I won't blog about those here. If you really want to know about them you'll have to check out my other blog, Librarian on the Loose.

This was a cool look at part of the Minneapolis skyline. I thought the old church, the new mirrored building and then the brown one behind it was... pretty. And then in front is the skyway. The skyway is a glass-enclosed pedestrian bridges at the second floor level. It's over five miles in length and connects over 50 blocks of downtown. 'Cause it gets c-c-c-c-cold here you know!
Tonight we went to another vendor reception, Midwest Tapes. It was muuuuuuuuch better than last night's one by Overdrive. It was really a full dinner with drinks, desert, and a LOT more room to sit.

Lynne, Sheila and I are having a "flair" contest. You know, flair, from the movie "Office Space"? I figure if we have to be geeks to wear those huge ugly badges/lanyards, I'm going to fly my freak flag and embrace my tackiness! So...we're seeing who can put the most "stuff" on them! So far Sheila is winning...but not after tomorrow!!!! :)

PLA!

Well, we arrived in Minnesota. PLA is exciting so far. Of course we've only seen the exhibit hall and gone to the Overdrive reception...but pretty good so far. Here are a couple pictures, but check my PLA gallery for all our pictures. More will be added as the days go by. Here's Sheila, the national conference virgin, checking in.

At the entrance to the exhibit hall there was a polka band playing! It was GREAT!!!!!! :)

And perhaps the best thing we've seen so far is the cart escalator at the 2 story target store across the street from our hotel.

Off to the land of ice and snow...

I leave at 4:45 tomorrow morning for the Public Library Association's annual conference, this year in Minneapolis. It's going to be fun! There are quite a few programs I want to see, and Minneapolis looks interesting too. The conference is Wednesday-Saturday. I'm flying home Monday, 'cause flying home Sat or Sunday was about $200 more expensive! So instead Sheila and I are flying back Monday and going to go to the Mall of America on Sunday.

I'm not really that interested in shopping...I want to see the aquarium and the indoor amusement park and all that! I will do some shopping though...I want new knee-high boots. I will do some blogging from the conference. Minneapolis in March, here I come!

Hoppy Easter!

Every year my friend Cheryl hosts an Easter brunch, and it's always TONS of fun. Great food, good drinks (although this year we only managed to finish off eight bottles of champagne, whereas we finished off eleven bottles at Easter last year), and great friends. It's too bad we didn't have it Saturday... it was such a nice warm day. Oh well, we love it inside or out. Here are just a couple pictures. To see the rest check here.

Lynne, who couldn't be here got Cheryl this lovely Easter wreath to greet us at the door. I guess she got it at an action at the Oregon Library Association Board's retreat last year. LOVE IT! :) It's got eggs and feathers! I mean, how much better can you get! Hee hee. We did miss Jimmy and Lynne and the kids though.

Again, as usual Cheryl went crazy and made such amazing food! A turkey, a ham, this great vegetable dish, these fabulous beans, and fruit, veggies and dip, breads etc. Rachel brought her "famous" scalloped potatoes (which ROCK), Paige brought a quiche, and Colleen brought more fruit. Since we couldn't sit outside because of the weather we were a bit scrunched... but it all worked out perfectly. Here's April in the food line:

After dinner we played our usual card game, spoons. Know that one? Everyone gets four cards, and then you pick up and pass along cards that you don't want...the object is to get four of a kind, surreptitiously grab a spoon, and the last one to get a spoon "looses". Kinda like musical chairs but with cards and spoons. It came down to a showdown between Colleen and Kevin. Can you guess from this picture who won??? :)
However, in Cheryl's house no one is a looser...so the person each round that did not get a spoon, you get a prize! April and I choose the wind-up Peeps! they were so cute. We had Peeps races. Guess April just wanted her Peep to know who was who!

Sheila was trying to take a picture of one of the many candy bowls, but wound up taking this very cute video. The laugh that starts it off is Cheryl's awesome laugh! :)

Here chicky, chicky, chicky

On our way to the Summit yesterday we saw these chicks in the window of Donner Flowers. They're there for EWaster, of course. They're SOOOO cute! I could sit and watch them for hours. That one lying down in the back isn't dead...we thought it was for a moment, but it woke up. He's just sleepy.

Had a good St Patricks. A couple beers and a ruben sandwich....it was nice.

Something BIG this way....went

Sunday morning I went for a walk with Barrie and Izzy. We came across these HUGE paw prints in the muck! I mean HUGE! Izzy very considerately put her paw right beside the print so you can see the sizes. now, Izzy is a black lab. She's not small. Look at the size of those! Can't be cougar, since they retract their claws and this print has definite claw marks. I'm not sure Great Dane's or St Bernard's have paws that size...and bear feet are not that round. They're longer and more...well, more like our own footprints. What do you think it could be?

Izzy is SUCH a cutie! Here she is with all of the sticks I gave her. She felt she had to shred them. Silly girl.

We started our walk just past the Entrada Lodge and walked down to the river and then along the Deschutes River Trail for a ways. It was just gorgeous out. Nippy when we started but we were both sweating by the time we headed back. Simply gorgeous day.

Chugging along

Well, I've done nothing exciting 'cause I've been sick. This cold has just tired me out! I did watch a great documentary called Double Dare, about two stunt women. It features Jeannie Epper, who was Wonder Woman's double and has been working as a stunt woman for over 50 years. She's currently in her late 60's and STILL working! The other woman they profile is Zoe Bell...who I think is just the bees knees! :) Yea, love her!

It's a very interesting movie. Talks a lot about the stunt/movie industry, what it takes to make it and what it takes to make it as a female in such a male dominated field. The Eppers are evidently the Flying Waldendas of movie stunts.

My book club just finished reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. The book was....ok, pretty good but not AMAZING! However, the story around the life of Irene Nemirovsky is! In 1942 when she wrote Suite Francaise she was already a well-recognized and regarded author in France. She was a Russian Jew, so was arrested and taken to to Auschwitz where she soon died. Even though she had converted to Catholicism in 1939! Her husband fought to get her out, without realizing that she was already dead. In response to his requests they arrested him too, sent him to Auschwitz where he was executed immediately. :( So sad. but their two daughters survived and had with them the manuscript for Suite Francaise. It's a fascinating story.

For Sylvia....

I made an appointment for the 14th! :P

Weekend visit

Well, I had a great weekend with my parents...other than being sick, that is! :) They arrived Thursday and left this morning. We had a really good visit. Friday I took the day off work and we went skiing. This was my first downhill skiing since my surgeries. I only did 5 runs, because I didn't want to overdo it. I did two runs before lunch and then three after. I could have done a couple more, but I was also happy with what I did do.

The rest of the time I spent in the lodge reading and doing crossword puzzles. I was getting sick, and I could feel the work my legs were doing, so I was happy to rest. Then Saturday my cold got pretty bad so I spent the day on the couch and in bed and my parents went snowshoeing. They had a great time! Wish I'd been able to go with them. Then Sunday we just hung out and went on a walk. I still feel pretty rough, but I'm hoping I'm on the mend. I don't feel like I am...but I hope I am! :)

Last week I got some more catnip and it came with this plastic ball with holes in it. So you put the catnip in the ball and the cats go crazy over it. I gave it to them on Sunday, and pretty soon, guess where it wound up...