First, from the BBC: a headline from the 17th century?  

Sure might’ve been, but they didn’t exactly post things on the internet back then.  Nope, this is a headline from today, 2009.  I still can’t quite get over it.  Kind of makes all those pirate jokes whose punch line is something that rhymes with “yarrrr” seem kind of insensitive.  

Next, I’m not usually much of a youtuber, but this is actually really worth a watch: 

I first read the article on the BBC and then checked it out – now with over 8 million hits and counting, this woman, Susan Boyle, is both fascinating and inspiring… watching the looks on everyone’s faces change from bemusement to shock to awe is totally entertaining, and even Simon Cowell, like, smiled and said nice things.  I don’t watch American Idol, but I know enough about the world to know that that’s rare.  

Next, on a totally different note, LVC, the volunteer program I did last year, came up in an article in USA Today!  But not just any article… 

… an article written by our very own first lady Michelle Obama.  Now that’s pretty cool.  

And finally, from the BBC, the most eye-catching, no-that’s-not-a-joke headline I’ve seen in a long time: 

Apparently, the 13 foot long python actually dragged the man up a tree, which we apparently didn’t really know snakes could do.  The man smothered the snake’s face with his t-shirt, and, as you probably guessed from the title, bit it.  The whole thing lasted three hours.  Yikes!  

Ok, that’s all you need to know about what’s going on in the world today.  Oh, and pay your taxes.  Unless you’re Timothy Geithner, of course.

You guys.

I said there were a lot of pictures.

(I said it to someone, might not have been you.)

Well.

There are a lot of pictures… though none of them are satisfying my craving for another bite of that wedding cake…

Megan Woods is a wedding cake goddess. Write it down. Goddess.

I tried uploading all the pictures here, to the blog, and it was just too many, too much… and your page would’ve taken forever to load, longer than usual, even. And I would’ve been so stressed by the process that I wouldn’t have had the mental energy for clever comments. We can’t have that! So instead, I threw the pictures on facebook, where it’s easier and where I’d also wanted to put them anyway. And you don’t have to be on facebook to see them, you can just click here: Megan Makes Wedding Cake

You know, there are a lot of decisions to make when you’re getting married, even if it’s just a big old family wedding and you don’t care about swarovski crystals or chair dresses that were shipped in from somewhere fancy to coordinate with your napkins. This was an easy one.  Mac and I are trying to stay on top of everything else, and we’re doing pretty well… no, we haven’t registered anywhere, we haven’t reserved a block of rooms at a hotel for our out of town guests, and we haven’t looked at wedding rings… we’ll get on that… next week, I think.  In all of this, it feels really good to know that our cake is in such good hands.

Think about how great a wedding cake is. Now think about how even much more great it becomes when it’s made by one of your best friends. What makes Megan a wedding cake goddess is not only her culinary genius, but her happiness at opening up her home and her kitchen while she spends seven hours making cake… for five. Next step: cake for 175. We’ll have to dig up a few more pans… and maybe a few more hours…

Shout out to Jill, who was also there to “help” (see photos) and generally share the love, and to Alex, this guy we just met.  He’s a friend of Megan’s so he’s a friends of ours.  Mostly, a big bravo to Megan, and a big, big thanks. Can’t wait for August.

… AND with us having crossed that oh-so-certain but sometimes oh-so-far-away line that is March 21, I cannot help but endorse: Spring. 

As if we have a choice, right?  It’s not like you can choose Spring, so I don’t know that I can technically endorse it, but wow, I’m so ready I don’t even care.   Our weekend in DC really got me in the mood – warm weather, birds chirping, daffodils, crocuses, tulips, farmer’s markets and flower stores, heavy coats and scarves left in the back of the car… man oh man, Mac even got a sunburn on the back of his neck Sunday afternoon!  Here are some pictures from our completely lovely time at Frager’s Garden Center (those in DC should check it out, if you haven’t already) minus – don’t worry – any kind of photo documenting of the back of Mac’s neck: 

Oooooh, you want it, don’t you?  It’s sooo pretty.  Right down the street from your house, don’t you want it??  Colors!  More than just “dead grass green” and “dirty white” and “really dirty white”!  Pink!  Red!  Blue!  And that’s just the watering cans!!!  Oooh, you can just taste it now, can’t you?   Your mouth is watering now, isn’t it?  Well, that’s weird of you, because you can’t eat watering cans.  

At any rate, back here at home, crossing from March 20 to March 21 means that the days are now longer than the nights, and that we will, for the first time since we moved here in October, get sunlight in our north-facing windows (which far out number our other-ways-facing windows).  Once it stops being so cloudy, the cats are going to love it.  Cloudy and cold.  And rainy.  Once it starts actually feeling like Spring… 

Here in the Midwest we know to be patient, and we know not to let little set-backs take our eyes off the prize of a yard full of daisies and falling asleep on a picnic blanket while reading a book out by the lake… technically, snowstorms are totally fair game through about the end of April, and technically, we’re not supposed to complain, because that’s what we signed up for when we move to the Midwest (or never moved away).

So I guess if I’m actually endorsing anything endorsable today, it would be hanging in there, though it’s 48 and raining right now, though even next week’s weather forecast – next week where we finally get to see April – only has highs in the low 40’s.  Soon enough, soon enough, we’ll be dancing our way through our first farmer’s markets of the season, right here in Chicago, drinking our first iced lattes – outside with no gloves on – and popping our first allergy pills, but not minding one bit.  Hang in there, everyone.  The flowers are peeking up out of the ground already – grab your umbrella, your parka, and maybe your snow shovel, and see if I’m not right.  Soon enough. 

For the record, I am secondarily, but still very enthusiastically, endorsing “Frager’s Hardware,” “planting a flowering tree,” and “taking a vacation to a place you love to visit people you love where you’ve all got enough fun, free time to wander around together through a gardening store, reminiscing about all your favorite flowers-coming-up memories.”  And allergy pills, I’m also endorsing allergy pills.  

More news of our DC trip will be sprinkled throughout this week’s posts, I’m sure… we took a boatload of pictures, as would be expected.  For the record, “Spring” and all things associated just barely won out today over the very strong candidate, “having your good friend Megan Woods bake your wedding cake.”  Intrigued?  That just might pop up on Wednesday… stay tuned.