Hello blog!

It really is true that time flies when you're having fun...  This week work has been focused on the Society's annual Anniversary St. Andrews Day Feast in November including drafting auction letters to potential donors for the silent auction.  Over 500 letters went out involving lots of copying, packing them with a magic letter folding machine (which jammed a lot and I can only assume is powered by temperamental hamsters), and sending them out to the big world.  Hopefully they will find their way home again with huge donations attached.

On a roll with the drafting and after over a month of phone calls, I've also been writing polite but firm letters chasing credit card payments from the Highland Games.  Isobel Bell also spent a lovely afternoon with me on Wednesday working on an e-mail blast for the Anniversary Dinner.  In amongst this there has been filing, cleaning and a lot of eating- we've been bringing treats in for lunch ranging from ice cream pie to ice cream cupcakes, to ice cream towers to cake and ice cream.  I'm sensing a theme developing.  Anyhoo, a gallon of ice cream spilt three ways (there are only three of us in the office just now) goes a long way and sufficiently fulfils daily sugar intake quotas.

Last weekend I visited the Harry Potter Exhibit currently at the Museum of Science and Industry.  My friend had been reading the books as they came out but I only began them last year (somewhat under duress) yet the exhibit was brilliant. It was really fun and the day was topped of with some great shopping in the afternoon and spectacular fireworks in the evening as part of Venetian Night in the city. 

On Sunday I hit the Field Museum which is the place for natural sciences.  There were fascinating exhibits on people from around the world which I should have been drawn to as an anthropologist but with just two hours I had to prioritise and headed straight to the pirate exhibit.  Afterwards there was just time to find out about the history of the people living in America before meeting my friends and heading to Navy Pier for some food and banter.

Several evenings this week have been spent at movies and friends houses soaking up suburban culture but the highlight has probably been my second Sox baseball game (think I'm becoming an official fan) on Friday night.  In a pretty awesome game the Sox won against the Yankees, I ate a lot of peanuts, and a rocking fireworks display to 60s and 70s music brought an end to the evening’s festivities. 

Yesterday was the Scottish Home's Annual Picnic which is a fundraiser for the Society’s principal charity the Scottish Retirement Home.  We were manning a stall and selling merchandise and memberships whilst enjoying the home baking and watching Tom attempt to win a pie eating contest.  He maintains that he beat the girl next to him who took home the honour and glory associated with being the fastest pie eater at the picnic.

This week will be my last at work and I get evicted from my dorms a week today but staying in the US for another week and half and being in complete denial about the need to pack makes moving out seem a little less scary and a lot more distant.  Better boost, the sun is shining and we’re headed to a barbeque, yippee!!