Quick post to say that I’ve been hit with the first nasty bug of the season and it SUCKS. Duck, cover and hold, bring on the Kleenex and cough drops. It’s truly nasty — fever and chills, congestion and sore throat, coughing has just begun…poor me. (cue violins…) Just wanted to let you know why I’m not doing much of anything today. However, I did watch Lost in Translation and March of the Penguins last night. LIT = 9; MOP = 2. I have a pile o’ movies to watch. We’ll see how it goes. I also just finished Arundati Roy’s The God of Small Things and that was a…

…or it is catsup? What I mean is — time to catch up, har har. Update on thank-you notes: slow going. Update on putting away wedding presents: hasn’t happened. Living room looks like a tornado, which is why the Husband invited the entire softball team over for a BBQ next Saturday — to give me/us a deadline to clean up. You know me: deadline-driven, always. Update on married life: fun! Better every day! It’s great being married to the sweetest, handsomest, sexiest man in the universe. (Stop gagging. It’s true.) Except for this sort of funny happening: I’ve been cleaning up at the Sun offices, which have been a little…

Been getting some good ones lately — lots of people loving the Backyard Bliss column as well as the monthly Muse column in the Sun. However, not everyone is thrilled to read about me, for which I can only say, thanks for sharing: “Julia, please stop writing about yourself; no one cares…It’s bad enough you’re monopolizing all the local papers and even The Monthly. Every article lately from you is practically all “I, Me, My Family.” Heartwarming, huh? Mmmm. And yet. That’s what we writers do, so unfortunately, that’s what we’re gonna have more of. No one’s holding a gun to your head and saying “Read or die.” So stop…

We just got back from a family vacation at a lovely cabin in the woods at Lake Tahoe (and, boy, are my arms tired). It was our honeymoon-slash-summer vacation-with-four-kids, and if that doesn’t make for real romance, I don’t know what does. (Here’s a photo of the Upper Truckee River that I took — looks peaceful, huh?) This wasn’t our first vacation as a family, but it was our first since we became legal last month and starting sharing a last name, and it turned out to be the bonding experience I had been wishing for. And more.There’s a name for families who say they enjoy being together – liars.…

Here are some of the actual processional and wedding pix, with a few after during reception: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=loz3klr.26aucnrb&x=1&y=1xmpbv Wow, big hair, huh?!