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Hello and Howdy, readers! I've returned home from what was a very FULL visit to Hometown. A very good visit, but wowza - lots of visiting. Some highlights:

• I saw my 88-year-old Italian Great-Aunt, who noted both that I've gained weight and that I really need to get busy with finding a husband and having a baby. She also cheffed up some sausage and peppers for lunch (not exactly assisting with my weight, we should note), and told the story of her First Love (not my uncle) and showed us his picture (Hottie McHotterson), and then told us of the INSANE way that my uncle proposed to her. (Apparently he "tormented" her (teasing, being annoying) for over a year, then one day asked her to go for a ride with him and PROPOSED - before they'd even had a real date. He said he'd give her three months to think about it. Apparently she laughed in his face, but by way of explanation when I was all, "What the hell?" she responded, "well, you know he had no upbringing." Her mom was totally in favor of the engagement - even though my aunt had never actually gone out with him. This is also a woman who loves poker (though no longer plays because everybody but one of her cronies is dead, and the only one left has alzheimers), swears like a sailor and says hideously politically incorrect things (example: she's got a grandson who married an Asian woman, and my aunt showed me pictures of their kids and made a point to note that these were the "oriental" grandkids, though she's pleased that their eyes aren't very slanted?!?!?!). It occurs to me that if I married MY first love that my aunt would totally endorse this, not because of my happiness but rather because he is Italian (even if he is West Side Italian, which is, as we all know, not ideal).
  
• I saw my grandmother on my father's side, for the first time in years. It was a very nice visit, and I'm glad to have seen her. She gave me lots of pictures from when I was little, including some oldies of my dad and my mom (who seriously looked like she was 12 when she had me). If I can get it together to scan them, I may post a few here.
• I saw my Tayta (step-dad G's mom) and that was good, although she talks in Arabic and I talk in English so a lot is lost in the translation. She fed me kibbeh and lubyi bi zeit and hummus (and yes, I have perfected my hummus so that it tastes like hers! huzzah!) but she's had such a hard life and the loss of G's brother a couple of years ago is still really hard on her. She just worries so much. I wish she were happier.
• I went shopping with my mom and hit MAJOR sales at Dillards and Macy's (spent only like a hundred bucks and got a ton, including two Wacoal bras which cost only 11 and 8 bucks respectively - score!)
• My mom and I went and had a mani/pedi together.
• I hung out with A. all Saturday night, and we gossipped about fashion and family and friends and work. And I got to meet her new puppy, who for the purposes of this blog is named Biscuit (the name I wanted for the puppy, as opposed to what they chose).
  
• I hung out with my cousins and their kids (four daughters - ages 11, 8, 6, and 3 months - this was the first time I got to see the new addition to the family!) and it was AWESOME. I love little more than a 3-month-old baby. She's just at the age where she's all about holding onto a finger and she laughs and is DARLING. That said, other ages of babies are nice, too, but I love a baby that is not yet toddling and crawling and yet also not super-duper infant tiny. And it was fun to be able to tell the other girls what they were like as babies, too, for they were all so different and yet all were great with me. My mom is hilarious with a baby by-the-by in that she has absolutely no interest in babies until they are walking and talking. My mom held Sarah for only five minutes and then totally lost interest. This was great, as it meant I got to hold Sarah for longer :)
  

And that's about it. Now I'm back home, and tomorrow morning I have a meeting with the Committee That Has Grown Out of the Super Intense Committee - in other words, it never ends. That said, I volunteered for it because our department should really have representation as things move forward, and well, apparently I'm into serving in this particular way. I've also got to finish revisions on the Collection Article that Has Languished for Five Years (I'm actually beyond the initial deadline, but I made the executive decision that it was ok to get it in a few days late - after letting the editors know, though, so I'm really not as big of a jerk as I feel like I am for making that executive decision), finish the revisions on the Journal Article that was accepted with minor revisions, and revise the book review taking BFF's insightful feedback into account. I've also got some stuff to do around the house. And then, a week from Thursday, I go to visit FL for my 35th birthday weekend! Huzzah!

In other words, the next week promises to be busy, and then I have a mini-break, and then the school year gets into full swing. During my 8 hours in the car (4 hours to hometown and 4 hours back) I had some Deep Thoughts about my aims for my 35th year as well as about entering my 6th year of blogging, and I promise to post about those soon (once I've gotten my head on straight and gotten all of my other stuff done).

Now I must attempt to wade through my bloglines. Dude, you people post a LOT!