Living It Up in the Land of Lincoln

Springfield, Illinois truly is the ultimate place to live if you love Abraham Lincoln. I have been in Lincoln heaven during the past week. I absolutely love working with Linda at IHPA. She is such a cool person, and in just four days I have already learned many, many things. I have been helping her catalog the collection items from New Salem, and the other day we got to move all of these really old clocks up to the vault in the Old State Capitol where the real Gettysburg Address used to be stored. The neatest thing we got to do this week, however, was attend the ceremony at the Old State Capitol on Thursday when the four new Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial stamps were unveiled by the Postal Service! It was so cool. There were tons of people there, and they had a whole program with speakers, songs, and little kids dressed up like Abraham Lincoln. The official Abraham Lincoln impersonator (who happens to look like Mitt Romney) was even there with a lot of other people dressed in period clothing. They had a big countdown, and then they pulled the covers off of the four framed stamp designs. The stamps will be issued on February 9, 2009, and Springfield will be the official "First Day Issue" city! Here's a surprise--the governor was not at the ceremony. At least the rest of Illinois is proud to claim Abraham Lincoln, even if the governor isn't.

Happy Halloween yesterday! I loved seeing the pictures of the girls' Halloween costumes! Instead of carving pumpkins this year, Greg and I created Mr. Pirate Pumpkin Head. He guards the candy dish on our table.



On Thursday, my good friend Catherine arrived in Springfield! She came for the Illinois History Conference where she gave a presentation about a project she worked on while we were at EIU. It was so fun to see her. I picked her up at the train station, and she stayed with Greg and me. We were a little lacking on guest accommodations here, but on Wednesday we got a futon, so now we can host visitors! It was fun to see Catherine and catch up on everything.

I was especially glad to have Catherine here when Greg had to leave for Louisville, Kentucky early yesterday morning to pick up a deceased person. Catherine and I went to Springfield together, then I dropped her off at the conference and went to work for a while. Later in the morning I attended her session, then we went to lunch with Dr. Reid, and I went back to work with Linda for the afternoon. Yesterday evening, while Greg was recovering from his long trip, Catherine and I went on the Lincoln Ghost Tour in Springfield! It was totally cool.


Look at all of the orbs in front of Abe's house!!!






The coolest Halloween activity I've ever done was two years ago when Mom and I went to the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana--the most haunted house in America--on Halloween! I will never be able to top that, but the Lincoln Ghost Tour definitely made for a memorable Halloween night. We even got to see an ambulance come pick up a passed out drunk guy. Good times. And, I sort of got a job offer! :-) The ghost tour guide and his wife were talking with us after the tour, and when they found out about my interests and that I'm living near by, they offered me a job as a tour guide when they begin their tours again next March. I would get to conduct some Lincoln ghost tours, but mostly I would do the "Lincoln Bicentennial Tour" that would take people to all of the Lincoln sites in Springfield. And I would get paid for it! That would be fun to do if Greg and I are still here next spring.

Yesterday I got some other great news--I get to come home to Utah for a few days in December! Arcadia contacted me and said that the Barnes and Noble in St. George wants me to come do a book signing on December 13. Arcadia even said that they would pay for part of my travel expenses! My publicist said that she will be setting up one other book signing for me while I'm out there from December 11-19. Hooray!

This morning I took Catherine back to the train station. It was so fun to have her here. Then I found the most wonderful antique store in the entire world! It is located in Williamsville, which is only about seven miles from Athens. Greg and I will definitely be spending some time there.

This afternoon Greg and I went for a fun fall drive over to New Salem State Historic Park. It is in a beautiful setting, and the leaves on the trees looked awesome! It's easy to imagine Abraham Lincoln wandering the streets of New Salem. It was the perfect fall afternoon.

Don't Shoplift

Yesterday I went with Greg to the crematory in Springfield to pick up someone's remains (or "cremains" as they're called after they've been to the crematory). It was an enlightening experience though I opted out of actually seeing inside the room where the cremains are created. When the man handed Greg a cardboard box with the deceased man's name on it, I started thinking about the essence of human life. It seemed strange that a person--their ambitions, their hopes, their accomplishments, and everything that they became--could all end up as a pile of ashes in a small cardboard box. An Abraham Lincoln quote came to mind: "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." I didn't know the man whose ashes sat at my feet as we drove back to Athens, but I sincerely hoped that he had enjoyed his life. I am grateful for the knowledge that life continues on beyond the cardboard box--that we are able to take our ambitions, hopes, knowledge, and relationships with us after we die.

Anyway, speaking of Abraham Lincoln, the director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was fired today for his three shoplifting arrests. I don't know why he bothered to shoplift since he made a freaking $300,000.00 per year! Maybe part of the museum director's salary should be donated to the rest of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency so that the other employees don't get laid off. Memo to self: if you are the director of one of the most visited presidential museums in the country, don't shoplift! (Well, don't shoplift anyway.)

Speaking of IHPA employees, today was my first day as an official IHPA intern! I had so much fun poking around in the state historic site collection housed in the basement of the Old State Capitol building. It was wonderful to see Linda again. She is such a kind person, and the fact that she is on schedule to be laid off in November breaks my heart. I still have my fingers crossed that some miracle--like the governor being impeached--will save Linda's job and the jobs of her co-workers. In talking with a number of IHPA personnel about the current state of affairs, I got a better idea of just how deeply the Illinois state government is rooted in corruption. It makes me feel bad that the hard-working IHPA employees have to suffer for the selfishness of other people. But I'm glad that I get to work with Linda for the next month, and I'll try to help her as much as I can.

There are some crazy cool things stored in the depths of the Old State Capitol building. My favorite was this gigantic golden Lincoln statue that I came across on one of the back shelves. It kind of scared me at first because all of a sudden I just saw this huge Lincoln face staring at me. I was in Lincoln heaven all day. Dr. Small agreed that if I work 40 hours per week for the next month, she'll call it good on my internship--so I won't have to find something else to do for just a month. Hooray!!!

Linda introduced me to the acting IHPA director and told him that I'm from Utah. He wondered where in Utah, and when I answered, "Orem," he said, "Oh, I recently received some correspondence from someone in Orem, Utah, but I don't remember what it was about." I said, "It was probably something from me." Linda then said, "Tiffany is the one who wrote the petition." He said, "Oh yes! That was it! You wrote that?" It was quite funny. Good times.

Good Times

The past two weeks have definitely been the most eventful of my whole life! It has been a whirlwind, but a good whirlwind. I feel kind of like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz." Only instead of "I'm not in Kansas anymore," it would be, "I'm not in Utah anymore." I miss everyone there, but it's been good to get settled in here. And I do love Illinois in the fall with the leaves changing color and the corn harvest taking place. I really enjoyed meeting everyone in the Springfield ward yesterday. They are very nice, and the bishop and his wife invited us over for dinner this evening. Bishop Andreasen works at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum--so we had many things to talk about. Speaking of which, just the other day the director of the museum was arrested for shoplifting! So he is currently on "paid administrative leave." The funny thing is that this isn't the first time that said director has been arrested for shoplifting--it's the third time! It seems funny that they won't fire someone who keeps getting arrested, but they will lay off other hardworking employees. It sounds like this guy needs to be replaced, and I can think of the perfect person for the job. Her name is Linda, and I'm pretty sure she would need an assistant. :-)


Yesterday afternoon Greg and I picked up his two dogs at the doggie hotel where they were staying. It was fun to see Big Spike and Little Spike again. Little Spike is extremely intrigued with my battery-powered toothbrush. Greg and I are getting along well as a married couple. The only problem we've discovered is that I'm always cold and he's always hot. :-)

Here is a recap of the last couple of weeks:

On Thursday, October 16, Susan and Harvey Black took Greg and me to dinner at none other than the famous Chuck-a-Rama restaurant! I hadn't eaten at Chuck-a-Rama for about eight years. Let's just say that I lost a lot of weight after I ate there the last time--but I had no stomach complications this time. It was fun to have dinner with them and some other BYU friends Dr. Anderson and Jeanne. They offered us a lot of good marriage advice.

On Friday, October 17, Grandpa Dick and Grandma F.T. arrived from St. George! It was wonderful to see them. Then Greg, his parents, Mom, Dad, and I had a delicious lunch at Chef's Table.

That afternoon, Mom, Lindy, Camden, Riley, and I went and had our nails done! We had a great time. Here are the girls with the wide selection of nail colors.









On Saturday, October 18, we had the wedding! It was a beautiful fall day, and it was so fun to see everyone there. Having Grandma F.T. and Grandpa T. there was especially special. Here I am with Mom and Dad in front of the temple after the wedding. More wedding photos will be coming in the near future.







Here we are at the temple.











And here we are at the White Willow for the wedding luncheon.








After the luncheon, Mom and Dad helped Greg and me pack the car, then Greg and I took off for Sundance where we spent the night. This is a picture of the back of Timp on Sunday morning. It was so beautiful there! We had an awesome brunch at Sundance. My favorite dish was the eggs florentine.




The next stop was Four Corners. This was the first time I had ever visited Four Corners, and it was definitely fun to stand in four states at once.






That evening, as we passed Shiprock in New Mexico, we could see a sunbow around the sun--it looked pretty cool. We spent Sunday evening in Grants, New Mexico, and then on Monday we drove to Gainesville, Texas.






On our way to Gainesville, we passed the infamous Route 66 town, Moriarty, New Mexico. That is where Mom and I were marooned for a few days back in 2007 on our way to Natchez when my car decided to break down (which was very unusual for my car!). Greg and I blew past Moriarty because, as Mom, Sarah, Joel, Eliza, and I discovered, the town is cursed. Some kind of weird vibes in the air cause your car to break down. Sarah, Joel, and Eliza decided to stay there on their way back to South Carolina--but when they went out to the car in the morning, it wouldn't start! Weird. So here is a picture of Moriarty from the freeway. It's a fun little town, but never stop there to eat or fill up your car or stay overnight or anything.

On Tuesday morning, we met one of my favorite people, Ayne McKay, for breakfast. She is my dear friend who I worked with in Natchez. Her husband Berle was another of my favorite people, but he passed away earlier this year. Ayne is so sweet, and it was fun to spend time with her.




Then we drove to Natchez! Greg and I actually stayed across the river in Vidalia, Louisiana, which was really nice. Here is the sweet view of the Mississippi River from our hotel room. We had a fun BBQ with Nathan and Kate that evening.





On Wednesday we toured Natchez. Here we are in front of Melrose.







Of course we had to have lunch at Mammy's Cupboard! Greg agreed with me that the blueberry lemonade and banana caramel pie were about as good as it gets.









That evening, we had dinner at King's Tavern. We ventured upstairs where the ghost, Madeline, is said to live. I took this picture of her mirror which, if you look closely at it, is kind of creepy. You see the thing that looks like a hand print? If you look very closely, you can make out a face. Weird.







Here is the Natchez gang: Greg, me, Jessica, Sharon, Tim, Donna, Kate, and Nathan. Sharon's husband Justin took the picture. It was so much fun to see all of them!






On Thursday we left Natchez and headed up to Vicksburg. Greg liked the cannons :-) It was quite rainy that day, but we had fun nonetheless. Greg also enjoyed seeing the Cairo--a Union gunboat that sank in the river and was recovered back in the 1970s.





We spent Thursday night in Memphis, and then went to Graceland on Friday morning. Graceland was so cool! Elvis definitely had good taste--though the pool room with the carpeted ceiling may have been a little eccentric.





Here is the table in Elvis' TV room. I thought that the monkey was random and funny.







So we had all kinds of good times on our trip, and Greg got to see why I love the South so much. Although he didn't try any grits--we'll have to work on him. Donna said to him, "What?? I didn't know you could have breakfast without grits!" Now that we're back in Illinois, Greg and I are enjoying real life together too. Greg went back to work today, and I'm finishing unpacking all of my stuff. Tomorrow I get to head into Springfield to start working with Linda! There is a chance that if I work with her for 40 hours a week, I might not have to do an additional month of internship somewhere else after Linda is laid off on November 30. Dr. Small is thinking about it. Life is good.

Quick Update

Whew! Greg and I made it back to Athens, Illinois after our long but very, very fun 2,500-mile road trip. The wedding last Saturday was splendid, and it was wonderful to spend that special occasion with family and friends. On Saturday night we went up to Sundance--which was beautiful. On Sunday morning we had the Sundance Sunday brunch which was freaking awesome. I've never seen that much good food together in one place at the same time. Then we took off for Four Corners and spent the night in Grants, New Mexico. Monday was our biggest driving day. We made it all the way from Grants to Gainesville, Texas. For some reason my GPS does not like Texas, so we got a little lost in Gainesville, but everything turned out okay. (One time when Mom and I were in Texas, the GPS sent us to what was supposedly a BBQ restaurant--but it was a forested field. The GPS seems to only fail me in Texas.) On Tuesday morning we had breakfast in Gainesville with my dear friend Ayne McKay who I worked with in Natchez. She is so sweet, and it was wonderful to see her. We then drove through Texas and Louisiana to Natchez! On Tuesday evening we had a fun BBQ at Nathan and Kate's house--two of my best Natchez friends. Then on Wednesday I had fun showing-off Natchez to Greg. The highlight of our Natchez tour was lunch at Mammy's Cupboard. On Wednesday evening we had an awesome dinner with all of the Natchez friends at King's Tavern. Then on Thursday we visited Vicksburg on our way to Memphis. Vicksburg was Greg's first (of many to come!) Civil War battlefield visit. We spent Thursday night in Memphis and visited Graceland on Friday before heading up to Athens. Today we've been unpacking, grocery shopping, and trying to get me settled in here. Tomorrow I will add pictures and go into greater detail about the wonderful wedding and honeymoon trip, but for now I must go to bed--I'm pooped!

Taking a Blog Break

Today was both a good and bad day. It was great in that Mom, Rich, and I got to enjoy one last J-Dawg hotdog (the best in the world) before I leave town, and we saw the funniest movie in the whole world: "An American Carol." Other than that, it wasn't a very good day--and it ended this evening with me getting shot in the eye by a tomato during dinner. But, tomorrow is another day. . . .

I'm going to take a little vacation from blogging. There's too much else to be done with the upcoming wedding. (Greg is flying in tomorrow--hooray!) So the next time you hear from me will probably be when Greg and I are in Illinois. Or, if we take some cool pictures on our road trip to Illinois via Mississippi, we might post something next week. And, you'll be happy to know that from now on my blog is going to return to its original, pure form--being used strictly for sharing photos, funny stories, and interesting happenings with you. I've realized that opinions can get people into trouble with those they care about the most, so while I'll still have opinions, I'll keep them to myself and you won't have to read about them. Be sure to check out our wedding website next week to see pictures from the big day.

Since this will be my last blog post from Utah, I thought I would close with the same words I shared in one of my first blog posts clear back in April 2007--when I was leaving Utah to head to Mississippi and then to Illinois:

I hope to stay in touch with everyone, and I am excited for the adventures ahead. I figured that since I'm going to end up in the "Land of Lincoln," it would be appropriate to take my farewell message from an address Abraham Lincoln gave in Springfield, Illinois before going off to Washington. I echo everything he said:

"My Friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. . . . Without the assistance of that Divine Being . . . I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."