Marsden Retires

George Marsden is one of the "greats" when it comes to American religious history, and Heath has been fortunate enough to study with both him and Mark Noll since coming to Notre Dame.

George, however, is retiring, leaving just Mark to carry Heath's academic burdens. The university held a retirement party in his honor — complete with toasts and roasts — this past Friday.

Heath and George.


Laure and George (with George looking somewhat suspicious of Laura).

NYC | 25 Years

Not ones to waste a trip to NYC, Heath and I saw a ton of people...James, Marty, Gilbert and Rachel, and our new friends, Adam and Amy.

Rachel, in particular, went out of her way to make me feel special. Sprinkles cup cakes were baked at midnight — enough said.

There was guitar hero, brunch at the Spotted Pig, strolls in SoHo, chai, a bird pooped on Heath, old books, new books, drinks at the Art Bar, tasty appetizers, and a very special birthday dinner at the Blue Ribbon in Brooklyn. Fantastic!


And, to top it off...Heath and I got to live out our coffee shop fantasy on a rainy day in the city. We rarely get to just sit at our own cafes in Chicago, so this was a real treat. Heath wrote lectures and I finished reading "Jesus for President."

An all together fabulous trip.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Well, we did...sort of.

We can't tell you what happened — legal documents were signed — but we can promise to tell you when to tune in. it should be around January 19-20.

What we can tell you is that we had a blast at ABC. My fellow on-air companion, Jerry, was a great conversationalist. He was there to cheer on his wife, Sue, who was in the back bonding with Heath over their pop culture knowledge deficit.

Meredith was beautiful in person and very kind. The comic "warming up" the audience was crude but effective. The stage was smaller than you'd think, but still quite intimidating. Heath was very cute while shooting his promo. :-)

VP Fact Check

I love the Associated Press. For a very helpful fact check on last night's debate, click here.

Apples for Alli

I've always wanted to go apple picking in the fall. There's something very storybook about it. Well, this past weekend I finally had the opportunity.

(Heath would have come too, but he had 146 books to read. Yes, 146 is the correct number.)

But back to apple picking...

For our friend Alli's birthday, we wen to the All Season Orchard in Woodstock, IL. It was a great afternoon. Not only did I get to buy some tasty apple butter, but there was an apple canon, wagon ride, juggling (thanks, TK), and rows and rows of beautiful apple orchard.











I split a 1/2 bushel (trust me, a lot) with Hauna, TK and Sarah. They were excellent picking buddies and McIntosh, Gala, Cortland and Shensu were very tasty. I see a pie in our future...



For more beautiful photos, see Sarah's blog or the Daigle's blog.

Meet Nala

Lisa Cockrel's mom, Lois, sent Violet a new toy, a very cute lion we've chosen to name Nala.



Violet LOVES her.

How Heath Spends Most of His Time...