Massive catch up post (or ketchup post. Either one.)

Okay, it's time to stop the non-posting madness.

The last day in Ann Arbor was great - I spent lots of time in the amazing used book stores around the city, which meant that I ended up with a really stiff neck when I ran around the airport the next day, because there were an extra 6 books in my bag. I thought I exercising great self-control. (And just to let you know how long I've really been home without posting - I've already finished two of the books I bought, and I'm starting on third. Awesome.)

Here are some pictures, as promised. 

Katherine and me at the Toronto Cenotaph

The best name for any muffin place ever, and it was right across from our hotel.

A very cool war memorial.

Us at the Toronto Times Square equivalent. 

Kjerstin by the mushroom house. 

A cool vine-covered building at the university in Toronto.

The amazing High Fidelity-style record store in Ann Arbor, which had at least 3 dogs wandering around in it. 

A nifty mural on the place where I had lunch - it used to be a bookstore. 

The courtyard of the law buildings on the University of Michigan's campus

After I got home, I had a little freak out session about money, and I emailed Drew's girlfriend, who is a student in Bloomington. She gave me some really good info about that campus and area, and even a lead on a possible roommate/apartment situation. This all made me feel better, because at least I feel like I do have two good options, even if I end up feeling like I have to go with IU for financial reasons. We'll see how it goes.

Nothing much exciting happened after that except the Festival of Colors, which was lovely. I think I've finally stopped blowing my nose and coming out purple now. 


Also, Miri came to visit us on Sunday because she was in town for Mike's sister's wedding, and we had a good (if too short) chat with her.

On Monday, I was driving to work in some light snow that didn't seem to be making the roads too bad, but there were some patches that were a little slushy on the freeway, and on one of these the car in front of me slowed down a little more quickly than I expected. I put on my brake and started spinning out, and instead of getting control over my car, I ended up doing a 180 on the freeway and slamming into the retaining wall at about 55 mph. I was really happy about the 6 am thing meaning that there weren't too many people on the road, because that meant no one hit me and I didn't hit anyone else. Anyway, once I was stopped by the wall, I pulled back onto the road and decided that since Stella seemed to be doing okay, I'd just go and take care of things from the warmth of the Five Star building rather than on the side of the road or off the next exit.
I got really lucky and am feeling incredibly blessed about the whole thing, because I slammed into that wall pretty hard, but only my bumper has any damage (i.e. one section is just gone now) which means I can just replace the whole bumper (my dad found someone who has some for my car for $200 - we'll just need to have it painted and installed, which won't be too horrible.) My trunk, side panels, tail lights (and also, you know, bones) are all completely fine. It was terrifying, but it could have been much worse. My parents drove down that night to give me a hug and bring me thin mints and look at the car, and Dad said he didn't know how I could have done less damage in that kind of accident.

Some other successes, discoveries, happenings in bullet point form:

• I've started subscribing to some podcasts, and am particularly enjoying the New Yorker's short story podcast where authors read stories by other authors and then talk about them, as well as Stephen Fry's hilariously British podgrams. I've got a few NPR podcasts as well - This I Believe, Science Friday, All Songs Considered, and I have a BBC Global News one (which I was listening to when I crashed, actually.) It's kind of fun, especially when work gets really boring and I want to feel like I'm learning something while I do really repetitive tasks. If any of you have good recommendations, please pass them along. (Thanks to those of you who already have.)
• I discovered while I was visiting Katherine that I secretly love Hummus, that snootiest of snooty spreads that you can still get at Macey's for under $5. I bought some the other day and wanted some pita chips, but alas, there were none, so instead I bought regular pitas, and then, at Amanda's suggestion, turned them into my own pita chips. I put a little vegetable oil on a cookie sheet and drizzled just a little over the top of some sliced up pita pieces, and then I put a little salt on them and baked them for about 5 minutes at 350, and they are glorious. Seriously. I'm going to have to buy more of both soon, becaue my roommates are fans too.
• Whitney and I went to the library the other night to get a movie that we're going to be missing at IC the other night, but amazingly, someone checked it out between my looking it up online and us driving there. (Really? It was a movie about female circumcision in Africa. How is there a demand for that?) Instead we picked up the new Masterpiece Theater version of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and we're LOVING it. We've been watching it one episode at a time because we both have to get up early and we have incredible self- restraint, but seriously, I don't know how you could make a more perfect movie of that book. Tess even looks right to me, and Alec is sufficiently charming and scummy, and Angel is kind of goofy-sweet and likable (although I'm dreading the next episode) and it's just great. Also, we rented this excellent German film called The Tunnel, which we watched at Mushie night last night. It's about some people escaping from the GDR in the sixties, and it was fabulous.
• We found our skirts/shirts for Amanda's wedding!

Okay. I think that catches everyone up for now. I'll post pictures later.