So I haven't posted in two weeks, and it has been a doozy of a two weeks. It included a trip to Seattle, and my parents coming up here. Thus I will give you the details in a bulleted list format that allows me some laxity in chronological order.

• Went to Seattle to see my sister get graduated from University of Washington. She is now the proud processor of a bachelor's degree in math. Go Susan! Graduation was a bit of a spectacle though.
  
• While in Seattle with my whole family, we went to a winery tour. Drank lots of yummy wine. And we saw a beautiful peacock at full spread. He was showing off for some lady friends and it was quite impressive.
  
• After trying and trying to find a restaurant after graduation with less than a three hour wait for dinner, anything not big and chainy, not that there is anything wrong with those restaurants, we just wanted something more special. But we also were very hungry. And we eventually ended up at... Olive Garden. Oh well, it was good.
  
• Mom and Dad left early Sunday morning to catch a train to Vancouver and their Alaskan cruise. John left a little later for Kansas City, leaving Susan and I there to play.
  
• Susan and I shopped, and I enjoyed the variety of stores not available here. I got some clothes, shoes, and kick-butt sunglasses.
  
• One of things about being in Seattle with my sister was the chance to see the Sex and the City movie with her. We'd waited to see it with each other. It was a ton of fun. I didn't love every minute, but it was good. Definitely a movie for the fans.
  
• Also in Seattle was my friend Jeff. Jeff is a friend from library school who now lives in Texas. He was in Seattle to go to a library conference. We met up, saw the space needle, and ate dinner.
  
• It turns out I like guacamole and sour cream. I have always thought I disliked them and requested them off of tex-mex or Mexican food. Or I scraped them off. I tried them, and I liked them. Very much. Coolness. I would make my own guac except produce is ridiculously expensive up here. I will end up doing it some time though.
  
• Came home Monday evening from Seattle. Proceeded to work my butt off Tuesday through Saturday. I also cleaned frantically Saturday night and was up a bit later than intended. That made my early departure on Sunday a bit more painful.
  
• Left early Sunday morning to drive to Seward (2+ hours south of Anchorage) to pick parents up from cruise boat. I used my super cool coffee cup that plugs into the cigarette lighter and thus I had warm coffee the entire drive. It was a pretty drive, but also very windy around cliffs and it was raining so I was focused very much on not going off the side of the road. Picked up Mom and Dad no problem.
  
• We did some stuff in Seward. Ate lunch at a little diner that was sadly out of caribou burgers, went to a quilt store, etc.
  
• We went and explored Exit Glacier and they we took an "ididaride". In an Ididaride we explored a kennel of a family of Iditarod racers. We took a ride in a wagon behind a team of dogs. Our lead dog was a three time Iditarod finisher. Then we learned about the equipment at the Iditarod and got to play with some adorable puppies.
  
• Took mom and dad on the long drive back to Anchorage. Got back to Anchorage, explored the city a teensy bit, picked up some of mom and dad's lost luggage from the cruise, etc.
  
• Monday morning we headed to Denali in hopes of seeing Mount McKinley. It was rainy the entire time so we couldn't see the mountain, however it was a really nice bus tour we took. (They only let you drive in so far into the park.) Saw lots of pretty stuff.
  
• The Denali trip was a birthday gift from my parents. It was great. My actual bday was rather a bust. I worked and one of my last patrons of the day was a complete jerk who cursed me out and called me names. It happens. We also celebrated my bday and father's day as well as Susan's graduation in Seattle. And both Denali and Seattle were awesome.
  
• We stayed in Talkeetna at an adorable Bed and Breakfast. I slept in a loft.
  
• Drove back Tuesday morning in time to have lunch at my apartment and for me to work the afternoon while parents played around. We picked up a halibut pizza from Moose's Tooth (an Alaskan specialty) and ate dinner at my place while parents packed. Drove them to the airport and came home and collapsed.
  
• While I worked the rest of the week, I collapsed each day. After sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night for five nights I am beginning to feel normal again. Those two weeks really and totally took it out of me.
  

Perhaps I really didn't need a list to tell that story. But I like lists so I used one.

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm now 24. That's fun. Thank you to everyone who sent cards, ecards, calls, and other messages. I was basking in well wishes all day. At my library we have a button that says "It's my birthday" that birthday staff wear. So I got wishes all day from my patrons. I worked all day and that evening I had to be in an online class discussion. My parents tried to figure out how to do a dinner between work and class but it just wasn't happening. Sunday night I went over to my parents to eat takeout Chinese food for father's day (it's what he wanted) and there was cake and presents. I got some lovely things. On my actual birthday, the other youth services staff gave me a gift card to a scrapbooking store. Added bonus, huckleberrycake brought me flowers and yummy German chocolate right before she went to Bible Study and I started class. They're gorgeous flowers and very much filled me with warm fuzzies.

One of the funniest parts of my birthday, I was doing a tour for a summer school group. We were in the back work area and I was explaining how books are processed. One of the little girls saw my button, asked if it was my birthday. They all wished me a happy birthday and then the little girl said she didn't think I should have to be at work on my birthday. I laughed, all the clerks laughed, but sadly my boss' office door was closed. Some places I know do give you your bday off (what if it was another holiday like 4th of July or Christmas? do you get a comp day somewhere?), and I could have taken a floating holiday, but I'd rather save them for something else.

Now that I'm older, I'm waiting for the wiser part to sink in.

I had such an amazing weekend. It started Friday. My dad and I went to go hear Harold Ensley the Sportsman's Friend talk. He is this very famous television personality. He had the first radio fishing show ever, than the first television fishing show which ran for 48 years nationally syndicated and was the longest running television in the world. He is a member of my church, and I'd never seen his show, but thought it would be neat to hear him speak. We had two ex-governors of Kansas, some people from the Chiefs, the owner of the Royals, and various local television and newspaper personalities. I really didn't understand how much of a celebrity he was. He was such a character, just really funny, told fabulous stories. After that there was a ham and beans supper in the church basement. It was really good.

I have been planning this cowboy weekend for months. For my birthday one of my coworkers gave me a pair of spurs, not real ones, but very shiny and funny.

Saturday we did family house cleaning type things. Then Sarah (a friend from both high school and college) and I went to the official Professional Bull Riding (PBR) after party at the host hotel. It wasn't much fun, a barely passable band (if you define band as one guy playing guitar and one guy playing drums) playing not country. There were cowboys but no dance floor, just drinking and milling around. So we went to the country/western club in Westport that was supposed to be the host of the party before it got moved. There were tons of the refugees from the official party. It was so much fun, cowboys, dancing, country music, flirting with boys. It was fun to flirt again which I donn't do so much. (Most boys I meet are just that, boys under the age of ten.) Sarah and I both ran into people we knew. We just had such a good time.

Sunday was my birthday and fathers day. I went to church, then Bible class, led book club. Ran home, changed and ate lunch. Sarah picked me up and we went to PBR. I may be a convert. It is a very exciting sport and the cowboys are quite impressive athletes. And they look damn good in their tight blue jeans. Sarah and I were commenting that we just lead such nice safe lives that it is fun to break out and do something exciting like that. We grabbed dinner at Pizza Shoppe where the crust tasted like saltines (which wasn't bad, just different). Then the Toby Keith concert. It was Shooter Jennings, LeeAnn Wommack, and the man himself. Such a fabulous concert. We had lawn seats and were hanging out with some girls from church. We were really early. An employee came by and asked us if we wanted to bump up to real seats. Free upgrade! The concert just got better from there.

I went to the dermatologist today and got the report on the little bump on my arm he cut off. It is something called something that is really rare and totally harmless. He gave me a copy of the report, but it was in greek or something. It shouldn't come back.