Whoo-Hoo!

Mother, Father, Family, Friends, it has been over a week since my last confessions... I apologize:
It's been a whirlwind of a week. In the middle of last week, I managed to get a terrible cold that was traveling around the village and actually FELL ASLEEP at work!! I finally broke down and started medicating with Benadryll and ibuprofen to make the sinus headaches, sore throat, and drippy-ness go away. Ick!! Slept every moment I wasn't eating or working!
Glad to report that I'm much better now!
Yesterday was our village-wide installation art show, deemed "Install Me". Artists of various kinds submitted their works to a small committee (which accepted everyone, of course). Then for an hour last night (8:30-9:30pm) after Vespers, the works were displayed and viewers of the show picked up little maps of the village with notations on where everything was, what it was, and who created it (these were drawn by moi and copied for everyone). We made 55 copies expecting the show to be semi-well attended. It ended up that someone took down the poster and created a bunch more copies of the map because nearly the entire village got involved! Everyone who wasn't doing a show (some happened last minute and were pinned the the poster), was walking around and participating! It was awesome! For my part, I burned a quick CD ranging from a talk of Martin Luther King Jr to Bad Plus to Dean McGraw to Imogen Heap to Ani Difranco to Jolie Holland and did a little improv dancing for the hour. I was amazed at the crowds who developed to watch. We're planning to do another show like this in the near future and I think my experience will make me want to do something a little more planned. Also, I thought, "dance for an hour, sure! of course! I've done it before!", but I was quickly reminded that my body is not as used to dancing for long stretches as it used to be. By the end of the hour, I was pretty well exhausted. Much more work to do for next time. I'll probably put up art, as well. So many possibilities!!
We're also planning a Rocky Horror Picture Show performance to happen sometime in the next week or two. It will be at midnight complete with all of the activities, dress-up, and sing/dance along that are appropriate for such an event.
Have I mentioned I adore this place??
Said goodbye to another friend, Jon on Sunday morning. Again, it's always a bit sad. I'm starting to get nervous about Mid-August when I will have to say goodbye to three of my closer friends, Caleb, Andrew, and Nick all on the same day! There are others leaving that day, as well. I think it will be a toughie!
I spent the day working in the bookstore today, and unloaded another three boxes of books, got them onto the computer, priced, and onto the shelves that will be their homes until they catch someone's eye. It's been really fun to get to see everything that comes in. I'm now well-versed in the art of placing book orders and am helping Steph keep up on this job. It's a never-ending one. I get to see where everything goes so that I can be more helpful to the customers, and sometimes (shh, don't tell), I get so interested in a book that I start reading it off the shelf in my moments of free time. I try to move from one copy of the book to another so I don't crease the spine, but some of them are very fun. If you have any questions about good books to read, please ask! I know a lot about theology, prayer, fiction, memoirs, poetry, environment, children's and some GREAT specialty cookbooks including smoothies, vegetarian, and other artful cooking! :)
Last Sunday, I spent seven hours reorganizing the Children's bookshelves. They get horribly mussed up while people paw through them. I was reminded of great childhood memories with Tommie DePaola, Shel Silverstein, The Lupine Lady, Old Turtle, On The Day You Were Born, The Velveteen Rabbit, and SOOOOOO many others. I could have sat and read there all day! I found an amazingly interesting book about the historical developments in underwear called, "How Underwear Got Under There". For anyone interested in costume history, it's a surprisingly wonderful approach to the history of undergarments! So many funny and fun things hiding on these shelves, it's hard not to read all day!
Other big sellers in the village right now include: Mountains Beyond Mountains, Take This Bread, The Brothers K, Atonement, and Manna and Mercy (by Daniel Erlander out of Augustana Press, hard to find, but worth it!). More to come as the lectures this week get going and new books are pointed out to the populous.
Love to you all!!
Lauren