Well, tomorrow is my first day at L'Ecole Culinaire and I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! We had Orientation last Thursday.  It was three hours of pep talks--what a great decision we've made, what a wonderful industry, etc.--and rules and that stuff and I thought I would pull my friggin' hair out. We didn't get our loot. We get it all tomorrow except uniforms. We get some utility shirts and aprons and maybe hats but the rest will take a couple of weeks. I don't know what the hold up is--maybe that our names are embroidered on the jackets (cool). We wear jeans or our own chef pants if we have some (of course I do from LCB) and a plain white shirt with the utility shirts that they will provide in the meantime. I was disappointed to not have my new knife kit and new books to play with over the weekend. We are encouraged to personalize the cases of our kits so we can tell them apart easily (and will be able to engrave our names on the blades of the knives in class). I assigned Julianne with that task. She's very excited and even wants to pay for puff paint herself to do it. Actually, she's thinking about getting a Bedazzler! There is no telling what I will end up with but I can't wait to see! I'll bet nobody grabs mine on accident! My plans are to finish the degree program in Culinary Arts and then to go back and get a degree in Culinary Management. I can't remember how long that takes but not nearly as long as Culinary Arts but it will help a lot with the job prospects. I get more excited all the time about the career possibilities. I need to dig out my class notes from LCB and study them.

Our Blue Devils are in playoffs AGAIN this year! They won their District game against The Principia last week and play Brentwood in the Regionals game tomorrow night. It's a home game for us and I am working in the concession stand for the first half of the game. I hope the weather is as gorgeous as it has been for the last few days! I have short sleeves and open windows today. It's incredible! The sun is shining. At the last couple of football games I shivered until my back ached! Maybe it won't be as bad for this one. The Principia section of the stands was packed and their fans were on fire! That's cool. There was a bunch, though, that thought it was real clever to come sit in the middle of us. Then they seemed a little put out by our cowbells and very enthusiastic fans! Whatever! At least they are a very polite and civilized group and nobody waited around to "shank" anyone after the game!

Andrew was home for Halloween weekend. He & Julianne bought new fish and a new frog for her aquarium. One of the black fish is dead already! Since she set up the tank last January she has lost two frogs (keeps replacing them), a couple of big snails, and a couple of suck-uppers. The angel fish and a pink fish are the only two original residents. She started with two angels and several pink ones. We both like the angel fish. He (she?) will follow your finger against the side of the glass. It makes us imagine he likes us and wants petted. We're goofy.

This dude has been at every game that I've been to for three years now. He's great! He yells instructions and encouragement with his autographed megaphone. The players probably can't hear him but he makes me feel better!

I love this kid's spirit (and his hair)!

Did I mention that we won our Trans-Siberian Orchestra tickets this year? My friend, Linda, entered an essay contest and she & I won. It's so cool! I didn't know how I was going to be able to afford to go this year and I so badly want to! Thank you, Linda!!!  Thank you to all of our Facebook friends who voted for us!