Glad you're getting to cool off a bit, Hil.

Oof, Nora, what a shitty situation (and Seska, yours too). I agree with everyone else that your grandmother gave it to YOU, and your cousin will just have to live with it. And I'm so sorry for the loss of your grandmother, and doubly sorry that you have to put up with this bullshit when you're missing her so much.

So I just got back from a weeklong trip to New York and Ireland! It was a wonderful little vacation (well, the New York part of it was a work trip, but even then I got to see friends & family & Buffistas!), but I'm feeling kinda down tonight because I'm exhausted from traveling (I've been up since 6am Dublin time, which is midnight Nashville time) and I miss M (he's still in Ireland until next Friday) and it's weird to be in our apartment alone. I wish we had some closer friends here. That's been the hardest part of moving, for me anyway, making new friends and being good about maintaining old friendships back home in Massachusetts. So while M's away this month I've just spent a lot of time on my own, at home, wishing I had someone I could just call up and say "You want to come over and watch Say Anything and eat ice cream?"

Well, I shouldn't be complaining after such a great trip. The comedown is always tricky, that's all.

Laga, thanks - I'll throw it away.

Went out to dinner, then went to Barnes and Noble until it closed, and now I'm back home. It's maybe slightly cooler, but just slightly. At least at night time there's no sun coming in -- during the day, I couldn't decide whether to shut the windows and curtains to keep the sun out, or open them to let the air in.

I've just spent a lot of time on my own, at home, wishing I had someone I could just call up and say "You want to come over and watch Say Anything and eat ice cream?"

Oh sweetie, I wish we had a teleporter. I finally have good friends in LA, but they usually work opposite shifts, so I feel like this a lot when Drew is traveling. I would totally watch movies and eat ice cream with you.

Pix, seriously! Man, I would love that -- the teleporter, but mostly just getting to hang out with you more. (BTW, there is a chance that we might be coming out to LA sometime this fall! Mostly to visit my brother, but we would for sure want to see you & Drew too. I will let you know if/when I have more details!)

I feel like this a lot when Drew is traveling.

I've been thinking of you a lot this month and wondering how you deal with it. This research trip is just a month; I really don't know how I'd handle it if he was gone more often.

We're home from the Berkshires. It was a wonderful weekend. Mass MOCA had some great exhibits, and The Mount, Edith Wharton's estate, was awesome. I have always been a fan of her literary work, but I didn't know much about her life. She received a medal for all the work she did both for soldiers and civilians during WWI in Paris.

~ma to Typo Boy and to Maria's uncle.

So those prints I was talking about yesterday from my grandma? I. Can't. Find them. And I'm kind of freaking out. I thought they were in the attic, but I've gotten all my stuff down, and emptied the top of my closet, and I'm kind of having a freakout. I hope they turn up.

amyth was a rock star today helping me pick up boxes and labeling packages to mail. I have a weird block against labeling and mailing packages - weird, I know. But tomorrow, to the post office! Woot!

Then I went to visit friends who just moved to a farm, and the dogs ran all over, and we waded in the river, and ate on their wraparound porch, and yay.

OMG packing. YIKES.

When are you gonna be coming down here?

smonster, I keep meaning to tell you how excited I am for you!! I know there's a huge amount to do before a big move like this, but you've got awesome helpers and you'll get it all done one way or another, and then you'll be IN NEW ORLEANS! Woo!

I think I've told this story here, but possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me was when I was moving out of my apt in Massachusetts and moving down to Nashville, and I'd been living with this sort of weird grad student dude who cooked constantly and never cleaned anything, and all the dishes & kitchen things were mine, and I just could not deal with the thought of washing all of his nasty dirty dishes and then packing them. So my friend S came to visit for a night and WASHED ALL THE DISHES and packed them all up. She seriously wouldn't even let me in the kitchen. Man, I will never forget that.

When are you gonna be coming down here?

Nora, looks like I'll arrive 6/11? Stuff will probably get here a day or two later. And Zenkitty might still be coming with!

Thanks, Kate. Hope to see you and meet the husband before too long.

Xanax kicking in. Bed time.