Cookin', and hangin', and wishin', and dreamin'

I have so much in my head that's just begging to spill out onto the page, but it will have to wait. I've got somewhere between 15-20 people coming to my house for Easter lunch on Sunday, and I've got tons to do to get ready for it! I absolutely LOVE hosting people at my house, and can't WAIT to have everybody here together. Most of the people, besides my immediate family, are other single people from church whose families are out of town and needed some place to go. It has become a tradition to host at least one random person at our family holidays, but this year is definitely a new record! I figure, the more, the merrier! I'm so happy to have friends take part in a special celebration. Plus, I like an excuse to cook for hungry people.

And in true Bethe-the-overachiever form, I am determined to have a well-decorated dinner party! So my good friend is coming over to help me hang curtains on Saturday (the ones that have sat in a box since they arrived in early January), I need to plant some spring flowers in my garden, and I need to figure out how I'm going to seat 15-20 people in my rather small dining room. I have purchased perfectly color-coordinated placemats and napkins for the occasion, and even found some of my discontinued dishes on E-Bay so that I could increase my collection from 9 to 15. I'm not sure what the other 5 people will eat off of, maybe a paper towel or something. I'll be sure to buy the 2-ply just in case.

In other news, I found out that my research article is going to be published next month in a major academic journal! We got the official approval this week, and while you normally have to wait months to see your work in print, ours just fell into place and it worked out that it's coming out in the very next edition! Ten months and 28 pages later, I think it just might be worth it! My professors are happy to have a student get published, I got a free trip to Miami out of it, and I learned a thing or two along the way. Of course, the next time I get published, I'd prefer to actually get PAID for my work. But that's the beauty of academia.