i've been around the world, in the pouring rain

"Feeling out of place, really feeling strange
Take me to a place, where they know my name
Cause I ain’t met nobody that looks the same"

I've been on the road the past two weekends. One trip with Mr. Beeton and Ella. And one trip without. The premise of the first trip to Atlanta was that I was presenting a paper on blogging in the feminist, writing classroom at the National Women's Studies Association. But, in actuality, it was our wedding anniversary. So, we decided to celebrate in Georgia - the state we visited two years earlier on our honeymoon.

The first day was devoted to the conference. Our panel went well. My talk was fine. And, Angela Davis, the keynote speaker, showed up during our presentation. Afterward, Mr. Beeton and I celebrated with my fellow panelists at Terrace where we treated ourselves to some really good local and regional food.

The next day, though, was when we really celebrated. We had made brunch reservations through Open Table at Eno where Eli from Top Chef cooks. But, after trekking through town, we arrived at Eno to discover it's not open for lunch on Saturdays. So, we settled for bloody marys and frittatas at Baraonda, which wasn't really settling at all. Later that night, we had Kung Pao "Lollipops," lobster and king crab legs, and Lychee sangria at Straits (for all you Ludacris fans). We followed that up with a $17 glass of champagne at Eno and a few glasses of wine back at Fandangles with Brucem, our bartender. We definitely engaged in some difficult dialogues with him.

My solo trip to New York City to talk about chick lit at NYU was not as eventful nor was it packed with good food like on the Atlanta trip. It was pouring. A Steely Dan superfan sat on the train next to me. And, seeing successful chick lit writers made me really want to quit my job. But, it was filled with one good old friend and lots of little new ones.

I'm glad to finally be home.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Watched The Hangover, Bottleshock, and Slumdog Millionaire.

the fabric of our lives

brushing the dusky window

Fall is here. It's chillier. The sun feels different. It's dark when my last class ends at 5:30 pm. Halloween came and went. With homemade costumes and trick-or-treat.

And now, we're headed - full force - into the most hectic time of the semester. Students are frantically researching, furiously writing, and often sighing loudly when I ask, "And how are you adding to the conversation?" Soon it will be Thanksgiving. Their papers will be done, and life will get a lot simpler.

I'm in the midst of working on my own paper -one that I'll be presenting in Atlanta next week. It's about using blogs in the feminist, writing classroom. In reading about blogs, it occurred to me, "Hey. Wait. Don't I have a blog?"

Generally speaking, I don't care for colder weather. I like summer. The hotter, the better. But, I do love food in the fall, particularly this Chickpea Hot Pot recipe from 101 Cookbooks. It's one of the best vegetarian recipes I've ever eaten, too. And, since I know one of my only loyal readers doesn't touch meat, I thought it was a doubly appropriate post for November.

Don't try this one in summer. It just tastes weird; I'm not sure why. We made it the other night after crunching through the leaves with Ella. Perfect for fall.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Trying to read Twilight. Took about 15 college students to see Where the Wild Things Are.