Please note his adorable fatness! The stuffing has settled near his hips, giving him delightful little love handles and he is just oh so squirrely! I am also a fan of his perfectly white little belly! He was in our living room for a while, but had to be moved to make way for my nativity set. Now he perches atop our dresser, snuggling with the Haverford black squirrel, and watches us as we sleep. Sigh... he is just the cutest thing.
You may recall Haverford being mentioned on this blog previously. Their mascot is the black squirrel, and I already have a beautiful plush black squirrel from their store. Well, E's father was at Haverford the other day and saw this awesome shirt with a cartoon squirrel and acorn. (Side note: Nothing tickles me like when a squirrel is depicted with an acorn. It's adorable, and reminds me that it isn't exactly normal for all squirrels to carry around bits of moldy pizza, which is what most squirrels around here seem to eat.)
This is from our nieces M and H. You may recall that I lived with some of our nieces over the summer, and they were all quite supportive of my little squirrel obsession. Nevertheless, I was surprised to open a squirrel Christmas ornament on Christmas morning. Surprised, and thrilled! I stuck him as close to the top of the tree as I possibly could (we still don't have a tree topper) and he sits there now and observes my every move. I sure do love that little rodent.
B came running into the bedroom when he heard my screaming; he probably thought I had accidentally stabbed myself with the scissors, but in fact I was screaming with joy. The host of this tiny, masterful little laptop program? A squirrel. I was so excited I turned it off and on a couple of times just to see him come in and out of his tree and greet me and say goodnight.
But I wrapped a bunch of presents last night and placed them under the tree, and wow, they do look special with my fancy wrapping paper.
And he is damn adorable. I made him thinking that I would give him away, but yesterday I tried to stuff him in a little box to ship him and his sad little embroidered mouse eyes just wouldn't let me do it.
Having come from Washington, I am very familiar with vestigial buildings of the Seattle World's Fair held in 1962. The Space Needle, the monorail, and much of the Pacific Science Center is leftover from that particular event. Most of those things are still in decent condition (even though the monorail keeps breaking down... but we don't talk about that in my household). New York City seems to have not cared for its World's Fair souvenirs quite as well. For instance, there is supposed to be a Fountain of the Planets, and I was very excited about this because I love the planets. But it turned out to be a big pond with an ugly square building in the center.
It's in almost total ruin, kind of sad to see. That ceiling apparently used to be stained glass, but they destroyed it a long time ago and in the process mutilated what was apparently a beautiful map of New York City on the floor of this building. I'm told that the remains of this map are currently in a museum, but they're not in good shape.
They do have some statues still in good shape, like this one, which I first thought was Apollo but I'm really not sure what he is supposed to be. And of course the Unisphere, of which I took many pictures but I did not post here as those are posted all over the place. (When I got home I even realized that our Queens phonebook has the Unisphere on the cover.)
This thing is clearly not a squirrel, not even a mammal. And it's a ridiculous bright yellow which makes no sense to me. It also seems to be the mascot California's state parks, but I'm not sure about that so don't quote me.
We saw not one squirrel in the redwoods, but we saw a banana slug.
We had wandered around for a bit and I actually had to use the facilities very badly. We ran into the local public library and thought it would be a good place for a pit stop. The public library in downtown Portland is surprisingly ornate, but maybe I just say that because I'm used to the crazy Seattle Public Library. While waiting for B, I looked down and saw that I was standing on top of a squirrel! 
Take this marmot for instance (yes, a marmot is a type of squirrel... look it up, damnit!). I found this guy in Glacier National Park at the visitor center at Logan Pass. In life, he was probably a little fat, probably waddled a bit, and the tourists all had a good giggle at the round little marmot. He just looks like an idiot now, buck teeth all over the place and kind of unnaturally hunched over. Of course this didn't stop me from taking a picture of him, but I collect these sorts of things so I kind of have to. I have fans with expectations, you know.
These little ground squirrels actually turned out okay. They were kind of cute, still a little fat, and the taxidermist captured their beady little black eyes brilliantly. Still creepy, in my opinion.
Of course it was I who spotted the squirrel after uploading the pictures onto my computer.
Yeah, he's plastic. I found him in the Yosemite National Park Visitor Center and took this picture on the sly. I've had a few people start to compliment me on the excellent squirrel photo before they realize that there is something not quite squirrely about him. He was actually in a display with a selection of other adorable rodents, but I'll spare you the joy of those photos.
The funny thing is that I don't think we saw even one squirrel the whole time we were at the Grand Canyon. Sure, we were only there for about 24 hours, but still. It was probably the least squirrely part of our trip (well, Vegas and Death Valley were pretty low on squirrels, too). Anyway, I'm glad the interior designer of the visitor center had the good sense to put our favorite rodent on the wall.
I had a much easier time getting squirrel pictures of the inanimate sort. And yes, there are other lovers of all things squirrel out there. This picture is from Yellowstone National Park. It decorates the porch of what seemed like ranger housing. We ran into this after our hike to the Beaver Ponds, a hike during which we saw exactly zero beavers. So this was a welcome little surprise back at the trailhead.
Oh yes, you read that correctly. I went shopping with my grandmother one day in October and we ended up at a little kitchen store that sells a wide variety of cookie cutters. And they had a squirrel cookie cutter! I do have a policy of not buying squirrel stuff for myself (mostly because that would get out of control really fast), but I made an exception and bought it.
What a great purchase! I rolled out some delicious squirrel cookies that very evening using my family's recipe for Best Butter Cookies. They were both delicious and adorable.
We decorated them with frosting and they were gone within about two days. I've got the squirrel cookie cutter here in New York now and I surely do intend to use it again. I suspect that future guests at our apartment will be welcomed with a warm plate of squirrel cookies! Lucky guests!
It was the best day of my life. Okay, well, my wedding day probably technically ranks higher than the day I first held a baby squirrel, but still. It was an amazing three minutes in my life. I should mention that I was able to hold this little squirrel because he was rescued by some close family friends. He and his brother are being kept in a cage and fed every 3 hours by this family destined for sainthood, and we happened to show up around feeding time. They're absolutely adorable, with tiny little bushy tails and soft fur and tiny little ears. Perfect specimens of squirrelness! 
Luckily the van (or "Westy" as I've been affectionatly calling her) has lots of good storage space so I think we're going to be very comfortable. 
Like most children of the 90s I was not safe from the Beanie Baby craze and I have at least ten of them, as does my sister and mother. I mean, they are cute, but they sure didn't turn out to be the investment that 8-year-old Casey had hoped they would be. Oh well, I was still happy to find this guy. His little black and white stripes are so charming and so almost accurate. Perhaps this was even the first squirrel item I purchased as a young not-yet-blossoming squirrel lover?
Unfortunately I try to not post pictures of people's faces on my blog so you'll have to instead admire the pretty centerpiece and table number. And the red can of Pepper, MD.
The dessert was especially good (it's that little brown bar on the lower left) and we never found out what it was called. Also, there was a dish that had large chunks of cheese in it. It's not in the picture because I inhaled it before I managed to get my camera out.
The Catholic ceremony was also lovely, as was the reception. Also, there was a new color theme for this ceremony and reception, a nice green and yellow and black.
And we changed table numbers. Crazy, eh? It was really like attending two separate weddings in one day. All in all it was a fantastic day for all of us guests, and definitely worth the little side trip to Ohio!
They are famous for, obviously, their chili. We sampled some chili fries, among other things, and the chili was way different than any other I've tried. Also they put tons of cheese on top. TONS OF CHEESE. Even more cheese than I would put on something and I'm cheese-crazed!
Next we tried what was advertised to us as the best ice cream in the United States. Graeter's Ice Cream was started in the Cincinnati area and is made using the "French pot" method or something like that. I read about it in the pamphlet at the store but am too lazy to go look it up online and verify that fact. Sorry.
I had peanut butter chip ice cream. It was very good, although I would hesitate to call this the best ice cream in the country. I actually had some Mitchell's Ice Cream in San Francisco earlier this summer and it was definitely one of the Ten Best Things I've Ever Eaten.
Oh, and there was Funfetti cake, and I love Funfetti cake. My sister-in-law makes it for all the kids' birthdays so she's a Funfetti master. And I am a fan of the Funfetti, or, as B pointed out, a "fanfetti."
The inside of the church was just gorgeous, but my camera doesn't do well in lower light so you'll have to make do with the pictures from the outside. I was very pleased to see how they did the ceremony. Both the bride and groom stood at the altar with the officiant, and both sets of parents and siblings stood right there with them. The parents wrote beautiful things to say to the two of them and it was quite touching. Later, as they bride and groom exited the church, we tossed lavender at them, which smelled wonderful. I thought that was a nice touch.
I didn't partake because I don't drink liquor, but I loved watching the little coffee beans float around.
I admit, though, that I never noticed centerpieces at weddings until I got married. Now that I've planned a wedding I notice all sorts of details at other weddings that I would've never noticed before.
I think the current students playing ping pong at the table were a little annoyed that us old people were walking around and giggling and taking pictures while they were trying to concentrate on their game. But I think it's just fantastic that Macalester has taken its ridiculous Kofi obsession to a new level.
And they attempt to incorporate natural light into the building with things like these fantastic skylights (which we hear doubles as a sundial).
I was so impressed with how the campus looks. It actually made me anxious to get the next Annual Fund mailing so that I can send them all my monies. The college is doing a fantastic job, in my opinion, with these new buildings and I'm excited to see what they have in store for the new art building someday.
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