371.2912 (School completion) - Part the Last

A quick update...

So, I graduated! Whoo hoo! It's over and done. So why haven't there been more posts? Well, my husband and I bought a house the same week in which I graduated and I've been moving things, painting things, fixing things, and generally taking care of things for the last few weeks. I JUST unpacked my computer on Thursday night. It's been a wild ride. Things are starting to settle again, so I'm coming back to do a quick post about graduation.

No worries - I'll finish the Adolescent Lit posts over the course of the summer along with my most recent reads as well. House updates will happen here, too, as soon as things are "finished" and all unpacked. Yes, we're still unpacking. We just finished the bathroom today. We have a lot more to go.

As for graduation? It went smoothly... and I conquered my nerves to sing a little ditty in front of everyone. Yes, I sang for graduation. The ditty is below, as is a picture of me singing it. That's really it for this post. Let it be known that more updates should happen over the course of this week and next, but not a lot. We're hosting a party on the 21st. Eek!

My Library Things

(to the tune of "My Favorite Things" from Sound of Music)

Metadata, cardigans, and people in glasses,

Hot tea and coffee through all of my classes,

In Allison's classroom, everyone sings,

These are a few of my library things.

Dorothea taught me it's cool to be geeky,

Rebekah's reading lists never left me sleepy,

Rubel, Smith, and Senchyne's theory left me spinning in rings,

These are a few of my library things.

When RDA seems far too tricky

and Drupal has me sad,

I simply remember my library things,

and then I don't feel so bad. 

Photo courtesy of  UW-Madison SLIS (via Facebook)

421.1 (Alphabets -- English language)

Edible book festival time has come and gone and there were some really fantastic entries this year, and quite a few more than last year, too. My entry this year was based on Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Billy Martin Jr., John Archambult and illustrated by Lois Ehlert. I thought my entry looked pretty stunning when I put it together in the morning...

But the room was SUPER warm (a warm spring days plus a still running heating system 'cuz we don't turn those off until summer in Wisconsin) and everything started melting. By the time the photographers and social media people for the library got there, it looked something more like this...

Photo from the Library News coverage of the event

See the not so hot top? The leaves kept falling out because the cake and frosting were too warm to hold them. One of my fellow librarians texted me each time a leaf fell and I did some emergency surgery a FEW times throughout the course of the day. I was bummed, I tell you! Thankfully, it didn't stop me from being one of the winners for Best Visual Presentation. The judges understood that cake disasters happen.

More coverage of the event and photos of ALL the entries can be found at the UW-Madison Libraries News & Events website. My personal favorite? The entry based on The Book Theif done by a co-worker at the library. I did quite a bit of giggling.

The head of my department at the library forced the winners to have their pictures taken with their entries before they were destroyed (mine fed the "boys" at my husband's weekly guy night and other parts ended up in the trash). So here I am smiling with my entry to end the post. Not to shabby if I do say so myself. Next year? I'm feeling a little Seuss-y. You'll just have to wait and see!

741.642 (Children's Books)

UW-Madison hosts an annual Edible Book Festival where groups or individuals make representations of books out of edible materials. A few of my colleagues at Memorial were directly responsible for putting the festival together and I decided that I should probably create an entry for the festival.

I had a tricky time choosing a book to work with - I was torn between two different books - but my students at the elementary schools where I work and my fellow SLIS grads helped me decide to go with my favorite picture book of all time: "We Are In a Book!" by Mo Willems.

I decided to go a little punny with my cake and change the phrase "We Are In a Book" that is shouted by Elephant and Piggie to "We Are On a Cake" and my little punny turn-o'-phrase ended up winning me a prize! I won the "Funniest/Punniest Cake" award and took 2nd place in the People's Choice vote!

My cake also became famous, getting coverage on Eating in Madison A to Z and I was quoted in a UW Library News & Events article written by a fellow SLISer! Oooh, and a Flickr set of all the entries! Without further ado, the cake!