The worst thing about going several days between journal entries is that there's no way to fit in all the stuff I want to talk about from this weekend - especially since it was a really good weekend, full of interesting trips, good news, good books, and more. I have a whole bunch of photos I wanted to share, too. Gaah, not enough space! As it is, I'll just link you guys to my flickr account for photos from yesterday's walk on the canal path by Kirkstall Abbey, and condense this into a "highlights" entry.

So, the very best news and discoveries from this weekend:

• My application for British citizenship has been accepted! As of August 21st (the day of my citizenship ceremony), I will be a dual American-British citizen. This feels so, so cool. I love that I can be a citizen of the country I live in without giving up my citizenship in the country I grew up in. Even when I was a kid, that wouldn't have been possible - my best friend had one parent from each country and was told she'd have to make a decision when she turned 18. (Luckily, the laws had changed by the time we turned 18, so she's a happy dual citizen now.) I could never give up my American citizenship, but I'm really excited to add British, EU citizenship to the mix.


• We went out to see Mamma Mia! yesterday afternoon, and I absolutely loved it. I am really baffled by the humorlessness of the critics who slammed it in their reviews...one review from a British paper really summed up the critical attitude in this phrase: "unredeemed silliness"! For heaven's sake...why should anyone need to redeem silliness? Why is silliness considered so wrong that it should need redeeming (and apparently so "inappropriate" for great actors like Meryl Streep)? Mamma Mia! was extremely silly and 100% fun, much like ABBA music in general, and left me feeling incredibly happy...and hoping to have even a fraction of the vitality and sheer sexiness of Meryl Streep when I'm her age. I loved, loved, loved that it was Meryl Streep who was the main romantic heroine of the movie, not her nubile young daughter, and I loved the film. I'm probably going to buy a copy when it comes out on DVD - a great cheer-me-up movie to keep around the house.


• This PhD comic made me laugh like crazy...not only did the student/advisor dynamic ring horribly true from my years as a grad student, but it works equally well for the way unpublished writers interact with editors and agents. (Quick note: my own former PhD supervisor is a wonderful and approachable person, as is my agent, and neither of them is at all like scary Professor Smith in the cartoon. But I've certainly interacted with others who were, and I thought the cartoon was hilarious.)


• This Daily Coyote photo may be the very cutest one yet...


• This morning I got a fantastic package from the magnificent Ysabeau Wilce: an ARC of Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) (the sequel to Flora Segunda), which is absolutely AWESOME so far - even better than Book 1! Better yet, the package also contained a gift for Maya from Ysa's own border collie mix, the Amazing Bothwell: two fantastic and very dashing doggie bandanas! I've posted some photos of Maya in one of her new bandanas in my flickr account.

I could go on about so many other things - the fascinating biography of Dodie Smith I've been reading, the nightmare of trying to find a baby car seat that will fit our car (who knew that could be so hard?), my latest writing obsessions...but I'll leave it there and just say it was a really good weekend. And now I'm going to make a late lunch and curl up with Flora's Dare. Bliss!