news.

{4-9-07 removed photo of sara's license - yes, it was a bit too much information for the web!}

yes, sara is now a member of the driving class - woo hoo sara, way to go!

five years ago this week, katie took her test, and for whatever reason (i thank the georgia officials who made this change happen) compared to that, this time was a piece of cake. we didn't wait in a long line outside the building. we were the only ones on line when we arrived. so amazing that i made a joke with the woman at the reception desk about 'are you really open today?' and she assured me that they were. and then she proceeded to process sara's paperwork...and we were out of there in 45 minutes. with a learners permit. woo hoo sara! (so now marc and i have to figure out whose car she'll drive 'learning' and my vote is 'not mine' and maybe that means she'll get her own car?)

we celebrated with starbucks (of course, since it was only 9:45 a.m.!) and then a quick trip to perimeter mall. love how you can find what you're looking for when you aren't really looking. sara got madras shorts, a skinny hairband (no link found?), jeans and other shorts (i think this is the link - hard to tell!). and i picked up a pink pashmina and a few michael stars t's.

later, we had lunch at brio - love love the caprese salad (that they've taken off the menu, but you can ask for it special) and the wonderful creme brulee.

other news. chicago is going to have record cold temperatures starting tomorrow and continuing through the weekend. so i'm taking my fur coat and sara will have my warm wool winter coat. and omg - why does cold weather follow us on spring break? this is like the freak cold weather snap of the century (chicago might break the the low temperature record set in 1920 - yes - almost 100 years! this weekend) and it's our spring break. next year, i'm thinking we need to go someplace where it never gets cold, but now i'm afraid to name that place :-)

sara's picked out a top 7 list of O.C. dvds for the trip. i've decided to watch them with her. which means i need a knitting project. and i decided to try that felted bag from cathy zielske. i went to only ewe and cotton two (what a cute store, just 3 miles from home, and elise was nice, and helpful and so different from that 'other store' in roswell that i will never again visit). i took photos to show lydia and katie:


...and the two balls of yarn were $15.00 - by far the cheapest new project i've ever started. so very limited (maybe no?) guilt if i abandon it on the trip!
also - reading beautiful dreamer - very disturbing - hate that my country was (is? that's scarier - but i think 'is' is true) such a place where racial hatred (even typing those words is hard) could survive and flourish. wonder (hope) it's changing...

other reading i've queued up for the trip:

• music for landing planes by, eireann lorsung (katie, i bought you a copy too)
• the year of magical thinking, joan didion
• the new york trilogy, paul auster
• man walks into a room, nicole krauss
• memories of my melancholy whores, gabriel garcia marquez
• marie claire, april 2007
• vanity fair, april 2007 (very scary, but also enticing, photo of james gandolfini, aka tony soprano, on the cover)

i've decided i will not be taking my laptop to chicago. i want to focus all my attention on the experience...with sara. stay tuned for an update on sunday.

in closing - a photo of sara and marc 'hanging out' from yesterday - i would have gladly traded places with either of them on the couch!