It's official!

On Monday, Boss +1 sent an email to our regional gift officer team announcing my departure from the University (and Ann Arbor)!

My last day at the Office of University Development will be Friday July 9. Then I'm headed to Charlottesville, Virginia, specifically Cleveland Avenue, sometime in early August.

I'm on a rollercoaster of emotions but it's mainly a mega-excited happy rollercoaster with some nostolgic dips and sort-of-sad twists.

I don't get excited about shoes but...

I AM EXCITED ABOUT SHOES.

My dad has owned Jack Purcells for as long as I can remember. Two very ratty pairs are still in his possession, and I believe he thinks of them as "slippers." I have my own pair of ratty Jack Purcells, which he bought for me when I was in high school. The oldest picture I can find of them is in the fall of 2003, and they look kinda dingy there, so I'm guessing I got them in 2002.

Today I got a new pair. And I bought them from SAM'S, which is the best store around.

Website Magic

One thing you should know about me (besides the fact that I just made a roux with olive oil) is that my mind is often full of little projects that at some point I would like to start, but don't have time to take a first step. Included on my current list are things like making a french memory board, new pillows for my couch, making a headboard, and learning how to take better pictures.

But, there is one idea that is wiggling its way out of my brain and into reality. I am learning (with lots of help from Aaron) how to make my own website. There are so many parts of this plan that are taking up space in my head right now, it's taking all of my note-taking, list-making, organizational detail oriented powers combined to keep track of it all. Because part of this website is a business, part of it is a resume, part of it is design, part of it is cascading style sheets, and part of it is content. That is a lot to plan and kind of a lot of fun.

Stay tuned, dear reader. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, what do you think of this quote?

"But love and disease are both like electricity, Weetzie thought. They are always there - you can't see or smell or hear, touch, or taste them, but you know they are there like a current in the air. We can choose, Weetzie thought, to plug into the love current instead."

from 'Weetzie Bat' by Francesca Lia Block

Barack Obama

Barack Obama came to speak at UM's commencement ceremony today at the Stadium. He was here, in Ann Arbor, and we waited with 80,000 other people and listened to Musical Theater students sing show tunes and a rousing musical theater-y version of The Victors. His speech made me excited to be a college graduate, proud to be a citizen, and happy to be so lucky in what I've accomplished. It was cloudy, but the mood was joyful.

I rode my bike in the rain to meet Max and his family, and then got to sit by my family. I asked a volunteer where I could lock my bike up, and she motioned to the movable steel barricade and said I could leave it there. When I came back onto the street...it was gone. I was mad. I may have cried a little.

But it's just a bike. I contacted Ann Arbor Police, and the UM Police, and even the Secret Service, but no one had an answer. Sigh.

Overall, good day.

..........

EDIT!!!! I called DPS Monday and they said that Secret Service didn't give my bike to them, so they told me to file a theft report. I did, and they called me back Tuesday and told me that OOPS the Secret Service did take my bike, and now I have it back! I will pay this forward.