07.25.10
Summer Fun – a Lily and a Weiner
Lily is growing like a weed!
Summer always tends to fly by so quickly, and this summer is no different. It’d been over a year since I’d visited my good friend Renée, her hubby Dave, and their little girl Lily. So long that when i walked in and saw miss Lily i thought she must have been a cousin as she was running around and looked so big. I quickly realize my mistake and go to say hi. We enjoyed catching up over the next 3 days and had fun doing some of our usual outings – champaign’s farmers market, the library for play time (and photos), and even a movie.
Part of our plan was heading back to ISU for our Walker Hall reunion. We signed up for a picnic lunch and headed up to Normal on Sunday morning. It ended up that none of my good walker friends were able to come (besides Renée) but we did get to see some of her friends from long ago which made it worthwhile. It was so amazing to see the campus and how it has changed over the years. Our old Walker Hall has been torn down and been replaced with a new rec/activity center. There are new big buildings where there used to be lawn, and there are some crazy changes in the downtown area with huge hotels and children’s museums… a slight change from the dance bars I remember.
A Meeting with Jennifer Weiner
As fate would have it the same weekend I was visiting Renée, one of our favorite authors happened to be coming to town – Jennifer Weiner. Most people are aware of the film “In Her Shoes” with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette which was based off of Jennifer’s book of the same name. I’ve read a few of her books (and am reading more now) and Renée’s loved her books from the very beginning so we were quite excited when we found out it might fit into our plans – and it did!
After a quick ride back from ISU we went to the Champaign Library. I was so glad we were seeing her there as I could only imagine the chaos that might happen in and around chicagoland. So we grabbed our seats and met up with Renée’s friend. After a few minutes of waiting everyone was seated and Jennifer came in. She’s quite the joker and tells many good stories. She did a quick reading from her new book “Fly Away Home” and then signed everyone’s books which was awesome. I even had her take a self portrait with me 
