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Of all the souvenirs to bring back from a vacation, I would recommend NOT bringing back a chest cold. It’s awful. Try getting the “I went all the way to ____, and all I got was this crappy t-shirt” shirt instead. Trust me, though it says its crappy, this is worse. Going into my first week back after spring break having driven for sixteen hours straight with a chest cold has been rough. I want to be super productive and start new work, but its hard when you feel like you have baby Alien about to burst out of your chest. Where is Ripley when you need her?

The trip was great. The kids and I went to an indoor bouncy house place called Monkey Joe’s. Since my kids are four and under, that meant that I got to play in all of the bouncy houses with them. Up there on the list of best outings I’ve had with them. The wedding was awesome. Being the Maid-of-Honor’s date is pretty cool, even if you don’t get to see her as much as the bride does. My folks took the kids overnight, and—I still cannot believe this—we closed out the wedding. Weird, right? I know! I honestly don’t remember ever dancing so much. As an introvert, I’m still a little shocked.

Now that we are back, I’ve been playing massive catchup. I picked up Jim Lindburg’s Punk Rock Dad as part of my research. It’s written by Pennywise’s frontman, and it’s about his experiences as a punk rocker turned father of three girls. I can honestly say it is the most relatable book that I have ever read. Ever.

As for getting back to class, its been a struggle as well. We didn’t get in until around 5am on Tuesday after driving pretty much straight through, so Tuesday’s class just was not going to happen. Yesterday in In & On the Page, we dove into making paper. That was great. We mixed up a blend of Russian Hemp and cotton and just made paper. It was so great that I am actually more enthused to start my next portrait drawing/pulp painting. Hopefully I can get in to the studio on Friday and spend some time I there. There are few things as peaceful as papermaking.

And then there is the New Admitted Student Day today. That should be a ton of fun. I really am looking forward to hearing all of your questions and putting faces to some of the emails that I have received from potential new students. Plus free dinner and a visiting artist lecture by Andrea Polli. It’s going to be great. I can’t wait!