Cohen Magnus Whitesell was born 8 lbs 15 oz. very healthy and cute as a button.
more later.

My blog has gone waaayy downhill. But oh well. I just haven't had a way with words recently. And I haven't had much motivation to post, even though I frequently check other blogs and love when they update.

It's a beautiful day in Madison. The sun shining, the snow still white on the ground outside. A perfect day for a walk through the neighborhood, but I am content for now just to sit in the living room and stare out the front windows at Hoyt Park and blue sky. Yesterday I was not so enamored with the snow. At a remote bus stop I waited for 25 minutes for a bus that never came. It was snowing heavily, there was no sidewalk to wait on--just about 2 feet of ground at the bottom of a hill, covered in snow. I walked to the stop and noticed that I was the first (and probably only) person to be there all day. The snow was untouched except for some bunny tracks hopping along. I made my own tracks through the snow and stomped down a little spot to wait. It started snowing harder and I zipped up my jacket to the fullest. I wasn't too cold, fortunately I had on a tshirt, sweater, down jacket, columbia sportswear jacket, a hat, hood, gloves and jeans. Plus my shearling fur leather warm Costco-brand fake Ugg boots. After thirty minutes of admiring the rabbits frolicking around me, watching cards go by, and admiring the dedicated bikers pedaling past me, I decided to walk the four blocks to the busier street with a great hope of a bus actually getting me to work at a reasonable time. I should have biked...I would have been there much faster! Blizzards/snowstorms here are amusing, annoying, and cold. Yikes, I wonder if I'll ever get used to this. It will be nice when there is a bit more snowpack on the ground...then we can use our snowshoes and xcountry skis.

Thanksgiving was fun. We spent it with paul's extended family (minus his parents and bro) in Wheaton, IL. I love that paul's cousins have babies and small kids to gush over. :o) I participated in my first ever Black Friday shopping (don't worry, I didn't get up at 6am like others did, after I sleipt in until 11am I only hit one store for about 10 minutes and just bought a cheap flash drive). And the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I went to job shadow Erin for a day. Pretty neat. Now I have a bit more insight and hopefully will be able to find an environmental job in Madison in the near future.....my DNR job (which is going well) is only a 6 month LTE gig.

Random information:
*My hair just grew past the shoulders. I can now make a mini ponytail!
*I broke down and bought a hairdryer. I need tips on how to use it. I've never used one before.
*Our electricity bill is shocking, but I guess to be expected. I still adore our new house, but sometimes I wonder why we aren't in a free heat apartment. :o)
*You can't purchase alcohol after 9pm here in grocery stores. This seems silly to me. As most people know, I don't drink alcohol very often, although I do like the occasional drink at pubs or dinner parties. In fact, I don't think I've ever bought beer before (at the store). But two nights ago I found the New Glarus Spotted Cow on sale and attempted to buy it for our dinner party that we hosted last night. Too bad it was 9:31pm and I was turned down. Silly liquor laws. But the checkstand lady told me of the one place in Madison to buy beer up until midnight....it's on the east side though. I am excited to head back to Portland in 18 days....winter ales await. I really like Jubelale. In fact, it was the first beer I ever finished and enjoyed.
*We hosted our second dinner party at the house last night. A simple meal: homemade minestrone, 4 loaves of the best homemade (and easiest) bread ever, and salad. Plus wine & beer of course. It was a bit more manageable than our first dinner party (where 25 people showed up), with only 11 for dinner. I let paul do all the food preperation and all I had to do was clean the house. This time it was a little easier to clean because we decided to throw all of the still-haven't-found-a-place-for-this junk into a bedroom upstairs and close the door.
*I am still super excited, and getting even more so, over the fact that Cohen could arrive at any day! I am giving him a radioflyer red wagon as his shower gift, and purchased the cutest silver baby duck spoons ever for his Christmas gift. It's so easy to spoil babies, especially when it's your best friend's first kid. Seriously, when I come to Portland and meet him for the first time, other people better wait in line, because I am going to snuggle and gush over him like crazy. I can't wait to hold him!