Hurray for Loquita!!!

Ok, ok, since I've not only been bad about blogging, I've been bad about emailing as well, I decided I better put my congratulations to Ker here so that she knows how proud I am of her....

Her article, "Madison's Minimum Wage Ordinance, Section 104.001, and the Future of Home Rule in Wisconsin," which is not just an interesting topic, but one that actually means something for people working in Madison, is being published in the Wisconsin Law Review!!!

Isn't she brilliant? I definitely think so!!! And if that wasn't enough, the article won the 2006 William Herbert Page Award for Best Article on a Specific Topic in the journal!!! And she's now going to be the Senior Notes & Comments Editor for the Law Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS, KER!!!!!!!

You're the best!

I think it reflects positively on me that I have such smart, lovely, and incredible-in-every-way friends.

Ok, back to work with me. Just wanted to share that bit of Loquita love since I now know that she reads this.

apologies and birthday wishes

I was just re-reading some of my Costa Rica blog and realizing how much more interesting my life/blog was last year. Apologies to those of you who have bothered to read silly posts from the UK about...well, about nothing really. I guess that's why I'm so terrible about updating this...no monkeys, no local gossip, and the visitors are far and few between.

I wanted to make one more apology because chances are you won't hear much from me in the next weeks since I have a deadline looming in June (for a thesis which, I am reminded, still needs an argument)....So, either you'll hear nothing from me until after that, or I will write lots of nonsense in order to stall on the thesis writing....either way, I apologise.

On a lighter note, happy birthday Abbey! I can't believe my little sister turns 15 tomorrow! Wow! I remember the day you were born (mostly because I got to skip school and hang out watching TV at Janie's all day). You were tiny and pink and you had shockingly dark hair and you were a girl, which made me soooo happy (not that I don't like having a brother too). And now you're 15!

I hope you are enjoying the early birthday gift I got you while you were here (don't expect anything else; you know how bad I am with the mail!) and that you've figured out some sort of celebration that meets your expectations of coolness (though this is high, I know) and fun.

Miss you. See you soon!

Madrid, where Jen C never sleeps!

I'm back from a long weekend in Madrid, visiting Jen C., my favorite illegal immigrant to the E.U., and now I need a vacation to recover. It was a shock to my system after being so used to my Cambridge schedule, which is mostly sleeping, writing, and eating. Lots of fun though. The weather was gorgeous and Jen's life is full of drama, antics, good wine, and great friends - so it made the weekend highly enjoyable and gave me plenty of good stories to retell now that I'm back to my boring routine here. So, if you like gossiping about random Spaniards you don't know, ask me about JuanJo (pronounced Ho), the fake Italian, salsa dancing (or lack there of), and, of course, Annie's stories about Maria...

Just one month to go till the thesis is due...am still working out an argument, but my advisor doesn't seem to think this is a problem... Though I am concerned about fitting in all this writing between formal dinners, garden parties, and, of course, dvd marathons of Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and everyone's favorite telenovela La Madrastra with Megan and Leo...perhaps I should stay on for the PhD just so I have some more tv watching time!