I was a little worried about how Christmas would go this year. Coming from a large family, I have just gotten used to having quite a few siblings to share the holiday with.
However, this year was different because I only had one other sibling home for the holidays. Of course spouses plus mom and dad were there.
I am happy to report though that Christmas was still awesome! I had a great time with my family as well as Nathan's. In fact the two families got together twice (Christmas eve party and joint birthday party).
Some highlights and memorable moments include:
shopping with dad (never got to shop with mom, don't know how that happened!)
shopping with in laws and Sherry
Christmas Eve party
Christmas morning breakfast/gift opening
shooting guns at the gun range
being awesome at shooting guns ;) By awesome I mean I hit my target a few times.
birthday dinner at Costa Messa (I didn't misspell Messa, the restaurant did)
birthday dessert and rock band party
Nathan trying to play the didgeridoo
Spending time with some old friends
Going to see Sherlock Holmes with the family
home made cinammon rolls
Taco Zarape
In short, it was a great holiday. Pictures will have to wait a litle while. They were taken by my brother and I haven't recieved any as of yet.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
What's Utah got that I don't?!
This week I lost another friend to Utah. In case you don't keep up with my personal life ;) that makes three of my best girlfriends now living among the Wasatch mountains. Now I realize that circumstances may lead people to less than ideal places. Even Nathan and I had a brief stint up there. But honestly, enough is enough. For my good friends and family living in Utah due to "circumstances" I think I'll just take a moment to remind you of reasons you may want to give yourself a timeline to get out, aka the cons to living in Utah. Now in the interest of fair and balanced reporting, I'll also include a pros list.
pros: Cafe Rio,great skiing, LDS church HQ
cons: eateries like Taco Time and Taco Bueno, winters that go on FOREVER, Utah drivers, Judgey McJudgertons, inversion, the smell of cows, backcombing (aka-teasing) hair is considered a good fashion for ladies,and of course a surprising number of people who consider any place outside of Utah the "mission field". I mean really.
By the way, this is one of the images that came up when I googled "Utah hair"
After reading this I highly suggest you sit down and create your exit strategy. No one is saying it must be immediate, but really, how long can you live in a place where people thought it was a great idea to build houses on sand. (If you don't know what I'm referring to, drive by the point of the mountain. Literally the houses were built on SAND!!)
I'll be here to help every step of the way. You may also need some suggestions on where to relocate. I'd be happy to help on that front as well.
pros: Cafe Rio,great skiing, LDS church HQ
cons: eateries like Taco Time and Taco Bueno, winters that go on FOREVER, Utah drivers, Judgey McJudgertons, inversion, the smell of cows, backcombing (aka-teasing) hair is considered a good fashion for ladies,and of course a surprising number of people who consider any place outside of Utah the "mission field". I mean really.
By the way, this is one of the images that came up when I googled "Utah hair"
After reading this I highly suggest you sit down and create your exit strategy. No one is saying it must be immediate, but really, how long can you live in a place where people thought it was a great idea to build houses on sand. (If you don't know what I'm referring to, drive by the point of the mountain. Literally the houses were built on SAND!!)
I'll be here to help every step of the way. You may also need some suggestions on where to relocate. I'd be happy to help on that front as well.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
All in a days work
For better or for worse, the following are just a few of the routine things that occur during a regular workday for me.
Must report by 7:10 a.m.
check email
make copies
must make sure to use the bathroom before the kids arrive, otherwise I'll be outta luck for a while.
Kids arrive....
answer questions about the assignment, the homework from yesterday about whether I like transformers or pokemon or webkinz etc.
tell kids to get back to work
help a student with the math assignment while keeping mental note of who is on task, off task, in the room, at the bathroom, in the library, at the nurse and/or at the office
tell kids to get back to work
start the lesson
teach my heart out
give an assignment after asking if ANYONE has any questions before starting the assignment
pass out assignment because no one had questions!
give all the kids who now rush at me with the assignment and all their questions the stink eye
I tell them to sit back down and figure it out. I've usually already answered their question and if they "had been listening (they) would already know what to do"
REPEAT THE LAST 6 ITEMS ALL DAY LONG
get a hug (repeat approx. 20 times during the day)
take away a student's toy due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's eraser due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's pencil due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's string due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's paperclip due to playing with it during instruction
(repeat approx. 20 times during the day)
have a total of about 10 minutes of conversation with an adult
sit down
grade papers
go home
:)
Must report by 7:10 a.m.
check email
make copies
must make sure to use the bathroom before the kids arrive, otherwise I'll be outta luck for a while.
Kids arrive....
answer questions about the assignment, the homework from yesterday about whether I like transformers or pokemon or webkinz etc.
tell kids to get back to work
help a student with the math assignment while keeping mental note of who is on task, off task, in the room, at the bathroom, in the library, at the nurse and/or at the office
tell kids to get back to work
start the lesson
teach my heart out
give an assignment after asking if ANYONE has any questions before starting the assignment
pass out assignment because no one had questions!
give all the kids who now rush at me with the assignment and all their questions the stink eye
I tell them to sit back down and figure it out. I've usually already answered their question and if they "had been listening (they) would already know what to do"
REPEAT THE LAST 6 ITEMS ALL DAY LONG
get a hug (repeat approx. 20 times during the day)
take away a student's toy due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's eraser due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's pencil due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's string due to playing with it during instruction
take same student's paperclip due to playing with it during instruction
(repeat approx. 20 times during the day)
have a total of about 10 minutes of conversation with an adult
sit down
grade papers
go home
:)
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Back in the Day
Over the Thanksgiving Break (for which I had one week of vacation...teaching aint all bad);) I was looking at a store advertisement with my three year old niece Katie.
I was almost shocked at how young the desire for a toy starts. I guess I just don't have any recollections of wanting a toy so bad that young. When we got to the doll page she audibly gasped (so cute!) and pointed at a doll and told me, "I want that!"
When I was about seven I would have killed for a Magic Nursery Baby. Watch the following clip to see why...
Awesome. I know.
If I remember correctly Santa wasn't able to give it to me at Christmas because he had run out of them by the time he got to our house. So after checking in SEVERAL stores in the days following Christmas I finally got my beloved toy.
It may very well have been the most exciting day of my life up to that point.
Once I found out my doll was in fact a girl, I filled in her "birth certificate". I think I named her Mitsy. How 90s.
I was almost shocked at how young the desire for a toy starts. I guess I just don't have any recollections of wanting a toy so bad that young. When we got to the doll page she audibly gasped (so cute!) and pointed at a doll and told me, "I want that!"
When I was about seven I would have killed for a Magic Nursery Baby. Watch the following clip to see why...
Awesome. I know.
If I remember correctly Santa wasn't able to give it to me at Christmas because he had run out of them by the time he got to our house. So after checking in SEVERAL stores in the days following Christmas I finally got my beloved toy.
It may very well have been the most exciting day of my life up to that point.
Once I found out my doll was in fact a girl, I filled in her "birth certificate". I think I named her Mitsy. How 90s.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Funk
It's not that I don't want to write... I've just been in a funk.
I just thought I'd get back on here to spur the desire to write. It's kind of like my going back to the gym... even if it was just to sit in the steam room or hot tub. Hey, at least it got me there. And I've been pretty good at getting back there ever since.
Don't worry. There is method to my madness (usually).
More to come-
I just thought I'd get back on here to spur the desire to write. It's kind of like my going back to the gym... even if it was just to sit in the steam room or hot tub. Hey, at least it got me there. And I've been pretty good at getting back there ever since.
Don't worry. There is method to my madness (usually).
More to come-
Friday, August 14, 2009
Blarney Boyfriend
(I don't think I ever really posted anything about my Ireland trip this past March. Well inspriation has finally struck)
Our day of driving through the BEAUTIFUL Ring of Kerry had been picture perfect. Bright sunlight, warm weather, birds singing, flowers blooming... you get the picture.
As our drive through the ring concluded, the weather turned cold and cloudy. This would make our drive to our final destination of Dublin all the more tricky. It would have been wise to just hit the road for Dublin, but our proximity to Blarney Castle was too alluring. We of course would have to take a slight detour to check out the castle and of course the famous Blarney stone.
The ominous change in weather should have tipped me off to what was awaiting me there.
We got into the castle grounds about thirty seconds before they closed. Rebekah, Stephanie and I made our way up to the top of the castle where the "lucky" stone awaited. I was determined NOT to kiss the stone for fear of catching a disease, such as herpes or scampis. (see previous post for more on scampis.) Naturally I was talked into it after all the trouble we'd gone through to get there.
The keeper of the Blarney stone helped each of us kiss the rock. We took pictures and made small talk with some other tourists. The three of us lingered slightly longer than the other groups there but eventually decided we had better get going. It was apparent as we were thanking the Blarney keeper and saying goodbye that he was perhaps a lonely man, as he chatted us up just a bit. At any rate we finally made our way down the treacherous castle steps. 
All of that work had made us hungry. But where to go eat in Blarney? If only there was a local we could ask about a nearby restaurant or pub. Just about that time, Blarney keeper was seen just ahead of us, locking up and walking the grounds. I caught up to him as the other two finished taking a couple of pictures of the scenery.
Perhaps he mistook my running up to him as flirting...
Me: Hi again. Is there a restaurant nearby where my friends and I could get some dinner?
Creepy Blarney Man: (in thick Irish accent of course) Ah yer hungry now are yuh?
Me: Ya, it's been a long day and we still have to drive to Dublin so we were hoping there was a place close by.
CBM: I could make yuh some dinner.
Me: (fake laugh) oh that's ok.
CBM: I don't live far. You should have dinner with me.
Me: (awkward/creeped out laugh) no, that's ok.
At this point the other two join us.
Girls: What's going on. Have you figured out a place to eat?
Me: (trying to make the CBM's comments not creepy) Not yet, but I think I just got asked out on a date.
Girls: (laughing) oh really?
CBM: (talking to me) so you want to have dinner?
Me: (thinking I'd rather make out with the Blarney stone than continue this conversation) I don't think my husband would like me having dinner with another man.
CBM: So yer married?
Me: Yup. (show my ring)
CBM: What does yer husband do?
Me: (thinking- doesn't make his living by guarding a rock, that's for sure)
At any rate with the help of the girls I got out of that awkward line of questioning and were just about to leave... but not before Creepy Blarney Man asked...
CBM: Can I take a picture with yuh?
Me: Um, sure. Do you have a camera?
CMB: No
This is where Stephanie comes to the "rescue". How weird is it that he wanted
a picture on one of our cameras??
Steph: I'll take one of you guys.
CBM moves very close to me and says (I'm not making this up)
CBM: I'll make sure to keep me hands in me pockets.
And voila.
I had almost made a "what the heck is this creepy guy doing" face. I suppose it was good that I had not because immediately after the picture was taken he asked to see it.
Somehow we got outta there. I remember, as we were walking back to the car and talking about what the heck had just happened, wanting to look back to make sure he wasn't following us- but too afraid to, in case he was.
We ended up driving pretty far from the castle. We found a Domino's Pizza in a strip mall type of place. Our encounter there was only a bit more pleasant than Blarney Castle. They didn't have a bathroom there, and the pizza sauce tasted like the smell of horses. We ate our personal sized pizzas in our car, in the parking lot.
Our day of driving through the BEAUTIFUL Ring of Kerry had been picture perfect. Bright sunlight, warm weather, birds singing, flowers blooming... you get the picture.
As our drive through the ring concluded, the weather turned cold and cloudy. This would make our drive to our final destination of Dublin all the more tricky. It would have been wise to just hit the road for Dublin, but our proximity to Blarney Castle was too alluring. We of course would have to take a slight detour to check out the castle and of course the famous Blarney stone.
The ominous change in weather should have tipped me off to what was awaiting me there.
We got into the castle grounds about thirty seconds before they closed. Rebekah, Stephanie and I made our way up to the top of the castle where the "lucky" stone awaited. I was determined NOT to kiss the stone for fear of catching a disease, such as herpes or scampis. (see previous post for more on scampis.) Naturally I was talked into it after all the trouble we'd gone through to get there.
The keeper of the Blarney stone helped each of us kiss the rock. We took pictures and made small talk with some other tourists. The three of us lingered slightly longer than the other groups there but eventually decided we had better get going. It was apparent as we were thanking the Blarney keeper and saying goodbye that he was perhaps a lonely man, as he chatted us up just a bit. At any rate we finally made our way down the treacherous castle steps. 
All of that work had made us hungry. But where to go eat in Blarney? If only there was a local we could ask about a nearby restaurant or pub. Just about that time, Blarney keeper was seen just ahead of us, locking up and walking the grounds. I caught up to him as the other two finished taking a couple of pictures of the scenery.
Perhaps he mistook my running up to him as flirting...
Me: Hi again. Is there a restaurant nearby where my friends and I could get some dinner?
Creepy Blarney Man: (in thick Irish accent of course) Ah yer hungry now are yuh?
Me: Ya, it's been a long day and we still have to drive to Dublin so we were hoping there was a place close by.
CBM: I could make yuh some dinner.
Me: (fake laugh) oh that's ok.
CBM: I don't live far. You should have dinner with me.
Me: (awkward/creeped out laugh) no, that's ok.
At this point the other two join us.
Girls: What's going on. Have you figured out a place to eat?
Me: (trying to make the CBM's comments not creepy) Not yet, but I think I just got asked out on a date.
Girls: (laughing) oh really?
CBM: (talking to me) so you want to have dinner?
Me: (thinking I'd rather make out with the Blarney stone than continue this conversation) I don't think my husband would like me having dinner with another man.
CBM: So yer married?
Me: Yup. (show my ring)
CBM: What does yer husband do?
Me: (thinking- doesn't make his living by guarding a rock, that's for sure)
At any rate with the help of the girls I got out of that awkward line of questioning and were just about to leave... but not before Creepy Blarney Man asked...
CBM: Can I take a picture with yuh?
Me: Um, sure. Do you have a camera?
CMB: No
This is where Stephanie comes to the "rescue". How weird is it that he wanted
a picture on one of our cameras??
Steph: I'll take one of you guys.
CBM moves very close to me and says (I'm not making this up)
CBM: I'll make sure to keep me hands in me pockets.
And voila.
I had almost made a "what the heck is this creepy guy doing" face. I suppose it was good that I had not because immediately after the picture was taken he asked to see it.
Somehow we got outta there. I remember, as we were walking back to the car and talking about what the heck had just happened, wanting to look back to make sure he wasn't following us- but too afraid to, in case he was.
We ended up driving pretty far from the castle. We found a Domino's Pizza in a strip mall type of place. Our encounter there was only a bit more pleasant than Blarney Castle. They didn't have a bathroom there, and the pizza sauce tasted like the smell of horses. We ate our personal sized pizzas in our car, in the parking lot.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Hot Tamale Train
My favorite show, So You Think You Can Dance, ended this week. It's definately a minor obsession with Nathan and I, and by that I mean that we still have each episode on our DVR. One of these days I'm sure we'll learn some of our favorite dances from the show and bust the new moves out at a wedding reception or something like that.
Luckily the show is moving to the fall line up so a new season is not too far off. Since I was thinking about how much I like the show, I thought I'd take some time to expound some of the best parts about it (according to me) for you non believers.
1)The judges: Forget the bickering and snide remarks of American Idol judges. The SYTYCD judges are FUNNY,FUNNY,FUNNY and actually seem to like each other (novel idea) as well as the contestants they are critiquing (pretty sure I spelled that wrong). They are a breath of fresh air
2)Mary Murphy: She is one of the judges. Some people love her, some love to hate her. I'm in the love her camp. She is wild, she is crazy and she is LOUD!! The dancers live to be put on her "hot tamale train" which means nothing more than a lot of screaming from Mary.
She also reaffirms her statements a whole lot, which I find to be an addicting characteristic of hers, yes I do. :)
3)the DANCING: I've never been in a dance class. Well, aside from my brief stint as a flocorico (sp?) dancer back in first grade. My sister and I were the only white girls in the class. It was awesome. At any rate, I've always enjoyed dancing despite my lack of training. It is incredible to watch the creativity that goes into the choreography as well as the physicality needed to dance the routine. PLUS, I never realized until this show that dance can evoke quite a lot of emotion. Below is my favorite dance from this past season, titled "Addiction". In the dance Kupono is the addiction and Kayla is the addict trying to fight against her addiction. LOVE IT!
4) The group routines: When all the contestants participate in a dance it is actually good, not gag inducing like the American Idol sing alongs produced by Ford.
5) It's interactive: By that I mean that during the commercial breaks, it's hard to resist getting up to show off your own awesome dance moves, or at least your best replication of the dance you just saw... not that I do that.
So there you have it. You now have five wonderful reasons to check out the upcoming season of this wonderful show. You know I'll be watching... and dancing.
Luckily the show is moving to the fall line up so a new season is not too far off. Since I was thinking about how much I like the show, I thought I'd take some time to expound some of the best parts about it (according to me) for you non believers.
1)The judges: Forget the bickering and snide remarks of American Idol judges. The SYTYCD judges are FUNNY,FUNNY,FUNNY and actually seem to like each other (novel idea) as well as the contestants they are critiquing (pretty sure I spelled that wrong). They are a breath of fresh air
2)Mary Murphy: She is one of the judges. Some people love her, some love to hate her. I'm in the love her camp. She is wild, she is crazy and she is LOUD!! The dancers live to be put on her "hot tamale train" which means nothing more than a lot of screaming from Mary.
She also reaffirms her statements a whole lot, which I find to be an addicting characteristic of hers, yes I do. :)
3)the DANCING: I've never been in a dance class. Well, aside from my brief stint as a flocorico (sp?) dancer back in first grade. My sister and I were the only white girls in the class. It was awesome. At any rate, I've always enjoyed dancing despite my lack of training. It is incredible to watch the creativity that goes into the choreography as well as the physicality needed to dance the routine. PLUS, I never realized until this show that dance can evoke quite a lot of emotion. Below is my favorite dance from this past season, titled "Addiction". In the dance Kupono is the addiction and Kayla is the addict trying to fight against her addiction. LOVE IT!
4) The group routines: When all the contestants participate in a dance it is actually good, not gag inducing like the American Idol sing alongs produced by Ford.
5) It's interactive: By that I mean that during the commercial breaks, it's hard to resist getting up to show off your own awesome dance moves, or at least your best replication of the dance you just saw... not that I do that.
So there you have it. You now have five wonderful reasons to check out the upcoming season of this wonderful show. You know I'll be watching... and dancing.
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