Hooray!

Yesterday I finished and shipped the portfolio for National Board Certification. Hooray! I am finally finished. Now, hopefully I won't be such a raving lunatic any more! See you soon.
NKB

This is a picture of my sister-in-law, Margaret, wearing one of Joey Cheek's medals in Turino last month. How she ends up in these random, extraordinary situations, I'll never know. But I sure love to read the emails.

Have you missed me?

I am almost ready to return to the land of the living since I am just about finished with the nightmare that is National Board Certification.

In the meantime, here is a picture from my cousin Erin's wedding. Isn't she beautiful? Congrats Erin and Tom! (See more photos by clicking on the flickr badge below. Edited to add: There are two album sets from the wedding. If you click on the albums in the right column you can see the images as a slideshow. View one album and then the other if you want to see all.) Also, if I have mortified anyone by posting a picture of their hilarious dance moves, please let me know. (Don't know if I'll take it down...but maybe.)
NKB

Best...Game...Ever...

So addictive. If you have any photos saved on your computer go here and do the celebraty look alike thing. It is really fun. And interesting to see how with different pictures you have different matches.

Slainte...

Yesterday was the Southside Irish Parade. Since Joel had never been we decided to go. Mostly we just hung out at my aunt's house and people watched. Here are some pictures:

Hooray!

Do you think the weather today means it's spring? (Of course not, this is Chicago.) Still, what a beautiful day.

I was all set to give a very snarky post-Oscars post, but then they were super boring and I didn't have much to say. I tried relying on General Sarcasmo (nephew Donovan) for some facetious quotes, but he said, "I am way to busy to make any comments for my aunt and her blog." (Imagine smart-aleck thirteen year old making quote marks with his fingers where the italics are.) So... I will piece together what I am left with:

-Ugliest dresses: Charlize Theron and Naomi Watts, though Hillary Swank's was doing a great job yanking her boobs down to her stomach.

-Jon Stewart- Really funny, too bad most of the audience doesn't have a sense of humor. I totally loved the Gay Cowboy Montage...

-Nicole Kidman looks more and more like a hairless cat


-I loved Walk the Line and Reese as June Carter Cash, still her speech irked me. I just sort of get the feeling that if you went to school with her you would have hated her. And maybe her role as Tracy Flick in Election was not that much of a stretch.

-George Clooney is dreamy and charming and perhaps the only actor present with a personality.

-What was up with all the interpretive dance?

-Dolly Parton is scary.

-The female producer of Crash totally had a fall on. Go fake hair!

My sister Jen wants to add: maybe Larry McMurtry was wearing jeans (odd!) but did it seem to you like maybe Diana Ossana washed down about 10 mg of valium with 4 dry martinis after having a double treatment with botox? I mean she was talking slowly and weirdly...

And I loved Crash, but I am not positive about best picture. I just watched The Constant Gardener and thought it was incredible. Also, again, Walk the Line was great. But, what do I know? I did, after all see most of these on DVD, and as the Academy was kind enough to point out multiple times, you can only really experience a movie in the theater.

In which I got to go out...

Yay! I finally ventured to the north side. I hadn't seen Liz and Ellie in a month and a half. It was fun to go out again. I love some Margaritas! Emilio's isn't my favorite place for Tapas, but it was nice to eat out. Also, I hadn't been to Black Rock in a while and they played great music. All that and a surprise visit from Beth and Mike.

Carry Out Queen

I used to be good to Joel. I would cook him dinner. He would then turn around and cook dinner for me. Lately, we are the king and queen of carry out. I am looking to break this bad habit, but I just seem fresh out of ideas on what to cook. If you know of any dinners that aren't too complicated and involve meat and veggies please give me some suggestions. You could put it in comments. Our waistelines and budget implore you.

Nora

I was here...

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I love a good human interest story...

Ok Team Hot Feet... go check this out. Make sure you watch the video!