Dr. T got married on Maui this Monday. (How's that for alliteration?) After 14 hours of traveling to get there, four days there, and traveling 14 hours to get back I had some idea of what the contestants on The Amazing Race are up against when they hit what TWOP calls killer fatigue. (Which reminds me, the season of The Amazing Race that my cousin Dan worked on is just starting. Everyone watch!) I arrived on Maui Friday night, and Saturday morning we were up with the dawn and on a snorkeling trip to Molokini. One of the boat's staff came up to me towards the end of the trip and said I had a huge grin on my face. I pointed out that since the other place I could have been that morning was freezing my butt off in Illinois and studying, where I was now was pretty good. That evening we went to a teppanyaki grill and then out for a night of dancing. The most entertaining part of the evening was getting to watch D practice the "final bow" that she'd like to do to make people remember her if she ever leaves academia. Dr. T's suggestion involved lots of twirling.

The next day we were off to the spa for a little pampering. I got a body scrub that left me feeling super-soft and smelling delicious. That night we had dinner with some late arrivals and Dr. T and I stayed up late talking. The day of the wedding a few of us went and walked around Lahaina and stopped for some Hawaiian food for lunch. There was a minor crisis when the reading I was supposed to give didn't get printed out, but a last minute run to the Marriott Wailea's business center saved the day, and we got to the wedding just before everyone went out to the ceremony spot. The ceremony itself was lovely and the sunset afterwards was stunning.

On our last day in Hawaii we went to the beach and got a little sun. I tried logging in to class, but the lack of a good Internet connection sabotaged the effort, so I sat back and enjoyed my mai tai. I left Maui at 10 that night and three flights later I was back in Champaign around 3 Wednesday afternoon. After a couple hours rest I grabbed my neighbor and headed for the Mountain Goats show over at the Canopy Club. They rocked the house and put me in a great mood.

The next morning I headed up to Chicago, courtesy of a ride from my neighbor. He dropped me off at the Art Institute and I walked around there and Millenium Park for a while before going up to join S and Baby G for a few hours. G is my new buddy after I let him wear my hat and played a few games with him. Two year olds are awesome. Who knew that "cracker" was the funniest word ever?

After dinner T&J picked me up for the Mountain Goats concert at the Empty Bottle. It was just as good as the previous night's one and they even did "Quito", which is one of my favorite songs. Afterwards we went and hung out for a bit at L's place and it was just like old times, which was pretty awesome. We stumbled in to T&J's somewhere around 1 or 2, and I made use of their sofa bed and the warming power of their cats, Sanford and Davey. I got up when T left for work at 7 and headed out to catch the El to downtown and then walked to Union Station. One very sleepy train ride later I was back in Champaign, where I managed to keep myself awake until 6PM before succumbing to 12 hours of sweet sweet sleep. This morning, H, S, and B took me for a lovely birthday lunch at the new Carmon's, where everything was so delicious I can't wait to go back.

And thus ends my crazy week. Now it's back to the pressures of final projects, but before I go, let me leave you with this...

Hawaii Pictures

and this...

Birthday Pictures

but most of all, this...