Sarah & Co.: Last Weekend

was a quite a story. Thursday, March 20, to Wednesday, March 26.

It involved:

the birthday of Reija!
grading 28 3000-word term papers
some sleep
a rock-paper-scissors tournament (best two of three) that I lost, alas
making and helping to decorate approx. 60 cupcakes and 60 miniature cupcakes
Melville's hosting of a one-hour cupcake/birthday party for Reija, with lovely guests and tulip-ed/tiered cupcake display
missing the Friday midnight deadline for my journal work
some sleep
a Saturday (early) morning temple session with roommates
a breakfast at Southern Kitchen with roommates, at which we all ordered biscuits and gravy and the original hot chocolate with sprinkles (among other things)
getting an extension on my journal work (blessed ABCW)
a lovely trip to the park
realizing that our friends hiking in Yosemite were going to be late to visit us
beginning to copyedit and bluebook four journal articles (approximately 200 pages of legal academic text)
temporarily "stealing" three folding tables and sixteen folding chairs from the institute (thank you, thank you, BC and JS)
realizing that our friends hiking/backpacking in Yosemite still hadn't contacted us and were going to be really late visiting us
calling the park rangers at Yosemite
a late-night Saturday trip to Safeway, in which, as expected, I saw other Mormons (in this case, three)
some sleep
Easter!
the birthday of Michelle!
a lovely birthday morning for Michelle
calling the mothers of our friends missing in Yosemite
teaching Relief Society about fruit (fruit in the scriptures/fruits of the gospel/Christ as "firstfruits") with the help of Ashli, our resident sage/arborist
exchanging phone calls with the park rangers at Yosemite, as they found our friends' car and began to make flyers and search plans
making 10 lbs of mashed potatoes, 16 cups of apple juice-rosemary-cream chicken gravy, 12 lbs of chicken, one pan of roasted garlic cauliflower
finally hearing from the missing friends (no longer missing!), who'd gotten lost in the ice and snow and who'd fallen down an icy mountain but were, in all long-term ways, fine
overseeing the making of 5 lbs of sweet potatoes, fruit trays, tomato wedges, 2 lbs of asparagus
eating the most unbelievable oatmeal-date scones
eating such beautiful torte-type desserts and pear-ginger pie
chatting with such delightful people
100% avoiding doing the dishes (thanks, JW and BC and KT)
a trip to Emeryville to rescue a returned (and tired) hiker
a late-night tour of campus and Palm Drive
some sleep
a breakfast of more scones, bananas, English muffins
the beautiful half-shade of a Palo Alto morning
a rock-paper-scissors tournament (best two of three in best three out of five) that I totally won
lunch for four from Pluto's
a lovely, perfect trip to the park
some experimental explorations with Woody, a plastic figurine with a parachute
a night tour of campus
a failed trip to The Counter
a typically marginally successful trip to Wahoo's
a typically mad rush to the airport
eating in a booth (man, I love booths)
some wrong turns back to the parking lot
a midnight return to Melville
missing even the extended deadline for my journal work
some sleep
a 4:30 am wake-up to finish my journal bluebooking and copyediting
the grading of 156 finals (well, only two questions of the final)
the giving of 28 final grades
meeting my noon grading deadline (thank goodness)
more trying to finish my journal bluebooking and copyediting
a lunch of leftovers (such great leftovers)
more trying to finish my journal bluebooking and copyediting
a dinner of leftovers (SUCH great leftovers)
super fast and wild packing
a late-night trip to the airport (ah, RM and JW--thank you)
some practice flirting with the ticket agent, who told me he would "work [his] magic" to get me out of a middle seat
unexpectedly landing in an empty row on a 100% full plane (note: practice flirting may have paid off)
finishing my journal bluebooking and copyediting at 1 am, PDT, approximately 30,000 feet over the earth
stretching out on my empty row and, with coat as cover, getting some sleep
an early am arrival in NY
hugging my cute and late-to-school family
an early am uploading of my journal bluebooking and copyediting (finally, finally, unbelievably done!) (ish)
and then, Wednesday morning, finally, some recuperative, happy, post-end-of-quarter sleep in my sister Rachel's soft and brightly colored bed.