L'aventure américaine

Oh, chocolate bread. How I love you. I love your soft texture and nearly crunchy exterior. I love your gooeyness right out of the oven. I love your intermittent chocolate chunks. I love the way that my face is covered with chocolate after I've finished a hunk of you. I love you with milk. I love you without. I love you warm. I love you cold. I love you as breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack or dessert. I love the way you turn a mediocre day into a great one. I love you, chocolate bread. Yes, I do.

This post is for you. I'm avoiding unpacking. Even though I have "The Amber Spyglass" to help me through (I should be listening to my lecture on the endocrine system... blah...), I still can't seem to get motivated. I loved your green pants. They remind me of this poem: The Cure -Ginger Adams Lying around all day with some strange new deep blue weekend funk, I'm not really asleep when my sister calls to say she's just hung up from talking with Aunt Bertha who is 89 and ill but managing to take care of Uncle Frank who is completely bed ridden. Aunt Bert says it's snowing there in Arkansas, on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been able to walk out to their mailbox. She's suffering from a bad case of the mulleygrubs. The cure for the mulleygrubs, she tells my sister, is to get up and bake a cake. If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress. I was having a mulleygrub day until I received your pictures. Thanks. I think that I'll go make some chocolate...

http://my.barackobama.com /portlandrallyvideo

Of course, I meant to send this Wednesday morning when I was basking in the glow of Obama's insurmountable delegate lead caused by his huge victory in North Carolina and Clinton's weak victory in Indiana. But classes started and I'm moving and now I can post this knowing that, for the first time, Obama has a lead in Super Delegates. He's on the cover of Time as the winner of the Democratic Primary and briefly, all is well in national politics (or as well as it can be). We're now so focused on the next president that I think that we'd rather forget our current one. He seems pretty interested in forgetting that he's the president of the free world as well, preferring to dodge serious questions to talk about his daughter's wedding. Man... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/washington/10bush.html?ex=1211169600&en=666c8882cbb29577&ei=5070&emc=eta1 I can let myself get worried about the national election though. Working the polls was an educational ...

I'm getting up at 4:20 am tomorrow morning so that I can be at my polling precinct at 5 am. Doors open at 6 am and close at 6 pm. We're expecting record voter turn-out. It will be my first time working the polls and Dad guarantees that it will be quite an experience. That's right. Tomorrow is the Indiana (and North Carolina) Primary Election. It's been a whirlwind of a week leading up to this with events across the state. I even got to meet Mr. Obama and his wife last week when I greeted them at the airport with a group of Obama campaigners with whom I have been working. It was an incredible experience and he was just as personable as I had imagined and hoped. I think that we need to reflect on our current state of the Union, not just today, but also what it will be in November and 4 years from now. I think that we should consider who will be best able to bridge the gap that exists in this country. I think that we should elect Obama. Vote. Please vote.

Ivan has arrived! Actually, this posting is a little delayed, since Ivan actually arrived in the States on Tuesday and in Indianapolis on Wednesday. It's good to have his smiling face, his errant sarcasm, and his ability to eat an inordinate amount of food back with us. Mackenzie and I threw a surprise "Welcome Home" party for him today, which was a rousing success. Ivan had not a clue and we had quite the showing of family and friends. I'm sure that Talia will be putting up some pictures and I know that I'll be stealing them soon after. ... It's a busy time in Indy for all of us. My finals are trying to conclude; it feels like I've been testing for weeks, but I think in real-time, it has only been since last week. My last final is Wednesday and I have a whopping five days off before Summer I starts and we begin again. I'm so happy in nursing school though and I've been amazed again and again with my classmates and how well we get along. I'm a ...

I'm waiting for Mackenzie to come home and join me for a run. Except the weather seems so crazy outside that I'm hoping that we can opt out of it. Kristi, Mackenzie and I celebrated Valentine's Day in style on Friday. We had some delicious food, drank some fabulous wine and watched "Sex and the City." It was the ideal girl Valentine's Day. I do love my friends. Ivan got Mackenzie flowers, even in Russia. He's good. These are the flowers in the top picture. As the designated messenger, I had to laugh as I went to the florist at 4pm on Valentine's Day. It's rare to see so many stressed out, uncomfortable men all together. I was the only female there. I think it could top out as one of the worst places to pick up men. Midway through February, all is well here in Indy, as is evident from the pictures. As I was typing this, I heard a poem on NPR by E. Ethelbert Miller. You have to listen to the story to get to it, but it's worth it: http://www.npr.o...