Thanks for all the suggestions on what I should wear! I think I'll probably have to take pictures of my sassy outfits just to impress all of you and to reassure you all that I am, indeed, sassy.

I'll be in Tucson the rest of the week so expect a full report when I return. None of that fancy schmancy blogging from a conference for me!

On a side fashion note, I got new glasses after wearing the same old prescription for four years. My eyes thank me but the glasses are making me a bit nauseous. I'll see how I like them in the desert...

Next week is my professional development trip (still can't believe it is happening) to Tucson AZ. It's been awhile since I've attended anyhting remotely professional and the style of dress I usually don for ALA has never been too formal (except for my first conference in San Francisco back in aught one). So this brings up the question: what do I wear? I want to be comfortable without being sloppy. In my past experience most librarians are not fashion plates, so maybe I shouldn't worry too much?
What would you wear to a desert conference? I was thinking linen shirts, skirts and sandals. Is this too sassy? I don't think I can be too sassy though!

Nothing like a list of hot literary men to get my mind working on a rainy April morning. See Mental Floss' list of Literature's Most Desirable Leading Men. I concur with all of them.

On another mentally astonishing note I was the only one if the library who could correctly describe the term: Haussmannization yesterday. Call me a Francophile and I will not deny it.

In case you didn't already know, I put our pictures from London and Sweden up on our Flickr page. Along with pictures of our new lights. If the weather is inclimate this weekend I plan on spending a few hours scanning older pictures from our trips so hat the full record of our wacky travels are visible.

This week is Passover so here are some things I plan on making for Martin and me:
grilled salmon salad
Brisket with roasted potatoes and spinach squares
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Macaroons (these are for work actually)
Pesto chicken with pasta sauce & potato pasta(It was weird)
Matzah pizza
egg salad (for me!)

Living in the Chicago area we often make jokes about what people think of our city. "Chicago Bang Bang" is actually a running joke especially when we see pictures like this one. So it should come as no surprise that quite a few people actually still get killed in the Chicago. It's a big city, things happen. So it makes perfect sense for the news to keep a running tally of how many school children get shot. We're in the 20s and it's only April! Apparently to be counted as a statistic you need to actually be enrolled in school, but you don't have to be killed at school. Case in point is this sad occurence in a South Side alley. The article actually makes a point of saying he was not a student in he Chicago Public School System. My point? Big deal! The kid was 16. He's dead now and whether he's enrolled in school or not he's still a sad sad statistic. It's almost as if the news is saying, "See, he's not a school attendee! It's not a big deal. The number doesn't go up and we will only make a big deal out of a child's death if they were enrolled in school."

The more I watch the local news the more I see that they don't have a clue about much. Just two days ago there was a cougar in a local neighborhood. At the same time one newscaster reported that a cougar had been spotted and another said that the cougar had been shot. These two were being broadcast at the same time at the gym so I probably looked like a loon laughing on the treadmill at the discrepancy. Then don't even get me started on the guy who insisted on calling it a mountain lion when everyone else on the same newscast was calling it a cougar. I know they're the same thing, but it was funny.

The rest of our trip revolves around a short jaunt to see our friend Mandie and her daughter Holly in Sweden.

This makes it our third visit to Sweden since 2004. We like Sweden, it smells nice and it is very scenic. We would probably never have thought of goingto Sweden if Mandie didn't live there so a big thanks to her for introducing us to the country of so much more than IKEA and Volvo.

We flew on SAS from Heathrow to Gothenburg. Our flight was delayed two hours, we ate in the airport and wandered around waiting for a gate to be announced. Ten minutes before scheduled departure, one was put on the board. I am not sure what it is about Heathrow but they seem to really enjoy making passengers sweat it out over gates and wondering what the heck is going on in general.

We got in late, but Mandie still picked us up and we drove back to her sweet, stylishly decked out apartment on the second floor of an old house on a hill. That doesn't do justice to how unique this place was. Of course she won't be living there much longer since she and her beau have bought a really cool house.

All day Monday we spent enjoying the food and surroundings and spending time with Mandie and Holly. We visited the public library, which was truly an interesting experience. They have books in many languages and a good selection of English books. they also have storytime in Arabic as well as Swedish which we thought was interesting. The best part was the children's sized fake check out desk they had set up in the Children's section.

We ate hot dogs with mashed potatoes, something we have enjoyed on each of our trips to Gothenburg, at a cute little stand near the library. We then went walking all over downtown and the shopping district. We enjoyed a decadent afternoon snack at a beautiful coffee house. We also walked through the historic district to this adorable little toy store to get Holly a jump rope. That evening, after stopping at the grocery to buy snacks and candy for Martin's work, we ate again (!!!) at a pizza and pasta place and then headed back to Mandie's. It was great fun just to chases Holly around and talk with Mandie.

The next morning we headed very early to airport to head to Frankfurt and then home. SAS had not provided us with any sort of freebie snack (even charging for drinks!) on our flight from London. Lufthansa outdid them with a free drink and a little cheese sandwich. The perfect snack for the little over an hour that we were on the plane. Frankfurt, which is not nearly as bad as I expect it to be, was easy enough to navigate, the check in was friendly and fast and we relaxed until the flight was getting ready to board. Strangely enough, the gate that we left out of was the gate they use for Israel flights since all around the waiting area were big posters of Jerusalem, Jaffa and Netanya.

We flew home, watched Persepolis and I wastched Gone Baby Gone while Martin watched the Bourne Ultimatum. persepolis was very cool and different. And in French!

We also FINALLY got new lights in the dining room, entry and stairwell. We took a long time finding the right lights, but they are a perfect fit!

Thinking of breaking my trip into multiple posts. Good thing I write down things we do on these trips because sometimes it is just a big blur.

Okay, first stop, London via Heathrow. Stayed in Holland Park at a Hilton on Hilton Honors points. Lovely neighborhood with a tree-lined street and a huge crescent of townhouses across from the hotel. Hotel was quite hideous on the exterior, but quite fun on the inside.

Things we did in London:

• ate pistachio macarons.
• met Jason & Robin at Piccadilly Circus
• ate "Fook kin Fried Rice" - lest you jest it was delicious.
• saw protestors yelling at each other over the Olympic Torch relay
• Wandered around the completely awesome Tate Modern
• ate a Buffalo Mozzarella salad at a tiny bistro neasr Harrod's
• walked through Hyde Park in the drizzle
• ate delicious Indian fare at Zaika in Kensington
• toured the Cabinet War Rooms & Churchill Museum
• finally saw inside Westminster Abbey
• walked in the snow past the London Eye

Our main reason for visting ever more expensive London was to see our friend David, who had graced us with his presence at our infamous tropical storm wedding 3 1/2 years ago. Along with his ladylove Gita, David showed us a marvelous time by spending some time with us on Saturday for lunch and dinner and then later took us to their local pub where we all enjoyed a beverage and cupcakes.

We took the Tube everywhere except for the night we had dinner with David and his ladylove, Gita. We took a cab due to foul weather and being guilty of watching three episodes of "Futurama" in the hotel room while it rained.

One of the highlights to the trip was taking the tour ofthe Cabinet War Rooms and seeing where Churchill and the gang hung out during the Blitz. The audio tour gave a special insight to the entire situation and the rooms themselves were amazingly decked with actual furnishings left there at the end of the war. It was a little pricey but well worth it and Martin even wants to return and visit the museum again!

Movies I saw on the flights:

• Juno
• Gone Baby Gone
• Persepolis

My trip to Tucson got approved today so I'm finally getting to go somewhere for professional development. This is a happy occasion but a little depressing because I never think that anyone should get so excited about professional development.
In other news, we will hopefully be leaving the country tomorrow provided United can get their 777 airplanes up and flying.
We finally bought new lights for the entry, staircase and dining room. We will get these installed soon!
Thinking about the summer and taking another class at Harper College. So far it's a tie between figure drawing and oil/acrylic painting. I'm leaning more towards the painting one actually.