Tomorrow night is the International Banquet! Can't Wait!! I'll post pictures later so y'all ;) can see everyone dressed up and eating amazing food and enjoying good company. Come join?

Once upon a time we went to Olean to go iceskating...

Last night Paul and I met up with my cousins Amy and Trisha, and Trisha's husband Jonnie in front of the Walmart in Olean to go iceskating. When we arrived in Olean everything was black. No street lights. No stop lights. No store lights. Except we didn't realize it right away (my comment toward no stop light where there ought to have been one: "Why are they taking that stop light out??? There's enough traffic that goes through there!"). We felt like something was out of place, but couldn't quite put our finger on what it was until we arrived at the plaza where all the big stores are located, and not one of them was lit up. It was then that we noticed the no street lights etc. We got out and talked to a Walmart clerk who told us that someone had seen a flash of light at the power plant and so they figured that a transformer had blown. Electricity was out throughout all of Olean and the neighboring town of Portville. hahaha What a night! Thankfully we managed to find my cousins and decided to drive to the rink to see if there was any possibility of skating that night. There were some generator-run lights on here and there, but no such luck for the rink lights. No skating for the night. :( Jonnie suggested driving over to Wellsville (which was certain to have electricity) and visiting the new art center or getting a bite to eat at Texas Hot (which is also reputed to have excellent coffee). So off we went. We had a great time talking over french fries, hot drinks, apple pies, and of course the infamous "Texas Hot", and as our food was disappearing and conversation was winding down the lights flickered and went off. grins We laughed. Each table was given a flashlight while a waitress went to look for candles, and about 15 minutes later (right after the waitress found the candles), the lights flickered again and came back on. What a night. :) Then we had our nice waitress take a picture of us. Slightly blurry, but it works.

Paul, me, Amy, Trisha, Jonnie

It's snowing... and cold. GRINS

I miss REAL winters.

Like this!

Me and Amy collapsed in exhaustion after hiking for almost an hour in knee-deep (sometimes THIGH-deep) snow. Sam took the picture. :)




Almost at the top. :) And looking behind.



grins You may all hate me for wanting WINTER to come, but you can't because there's no snow yet. :P (Actually, I'd be content with frigid weather for a good couple of weeks so I can go iceskating on our pond.)

*sigh*

Wet clay has that affect on me. ;)

So today I met up with a local potter who'd been talking with my mom since last winter about me coming and visiting her and sharing clay knowledge once I returned from Japan. I was FINALLY able to meet her this morning. We talked for an hour or so. She looked at some pieces I brought to show her; she showed me around her studio barn (small - don't picture anything big. cute. quaint. just right. with a wood stove to keep it warm in the winter. :) ). Then she asked me a wonderful question: "So do you want to get your hands dirty?" She needn't have asked. grins My answer was somewhere along the lines of: "Of course!" I wedged a good sized ball of cold soft warm brown clay and sat down at the wheel for the first time since August. Heavenly. :) She wanted to see a little of what I could do, and later wanted to see how I pulled handles, so I made a bowl, stein, mug, and a pitcher that was supposed to be another mug but I kind of messed up the edge and so it became a pitcher. grins Tomorrow I'm going to run over with Paul (he's coming over :) ), pull my handles, and introduce him to Stephanie and Steve (the Marshalls). Fun pair. Backwoods hippies of the best sort. Perhaps who you might expect to find at the Pollywogg Holler. Or perhaps who you might expect to build a place like Pollywogg Holler. grins So now my hands have that wonderful feeling I get after having worked in clay for hours.

It's a beautiful thing.

:)

Hot Date

Yes. I give you permission to have a hearty laugh. :)

So after 2 weeks and a day of dating (the great majority of that time spent being a part of weddings), Saturday night after Paul and I left Chi Desai and Sarah Richard's wedding (now Chi and Sarah Richards-Desai), we went on our first date.

It was awesome.

We went to an Asian (Japanese/Korean) Sushi bar (corner shop in downtown Ithaca) and ate tempura and miso soup, and talked about linguistics and cultures. hahaha A man after my own heart. ;)

Did I mention that Paul makes a pretty hot date. ;) I imagine that if he's reading this he's probably turning a little red... grins

And now I need to finish that last grad school essay :P because in another hour or so a certain special someone is going to call.

I like Paul. grins

yuppers! It's true. :)

Michelle and Mark's wedding was a blast (and beautiful!).

And even better because I had a hot date. ;)

M & M M. (Mark & Michelle Morrison)

Some beautiful girls!

grins