a fantastic wedding and newly married friends

Chris and I kicked off this year's wedding season with a bang. We have 8 weddings to go to this summer and we are so eager to see all our wonderful friends marry off. In fact, I'll be in Austin next weekend seeing my dear friend Camille get married and my besties, Megan and Polly will be marrying this fall! So anyway, we headed to Chandler Vineyards for Ben and Liz's wedding. The ceremony took place on the beautiful deck over looking the vineyards and while it was anything but cool out, the wedding was beautiful. I've include a picture of the bride and groom and their bridal party lined up on the deck. One fun surprise of the night was pizza brought in just as the dance party was getting started. The happy couple also had a cute photo booth set up for guests to document their presence. Liz is one of the most creative individuals I know and her wedding was a reflection of all her imagination and creative genius!

Buy a Pair, Give a Pair

My sweet pair of Tom's just arrived literally minutes ago. I put them on and did a happy dance. If you're not familiar with Tom's they're a company that matches any pair of shoes you buy, providing shoes for kids in Argentina. These "flamingo orange" shoes were a gift from my thoughtful brother-in-law for my birthday. Thanks David!

Sending them off

I'm sending my students of two years off in a few days. I have a lot to say and no words to use. More on this later. Still in process.

Insect vs. Human Part I

Yesterday I watched a little beetle casually crawl in and out of this small space between our bathroom baseboard and tile. This is also the entry for the mass exodus of ants that I wrote about earlier this year. This little space is the gateway into our apartment and I was sick and tired of seeing their free and easy passage.

To plug up the hole temporarily, I pushed toilet paper down into the crack so there was nowhere for the bugs to crawl out. I thought this was a pretty resourceful idea and vowed to later buy some caulk to fill in the hole for good.

So imagine my surprise this morning when I come in for my shower and there is a small beetle sized hold in the middle of my toilet paper levy. Damn those hard exoskeletons! Well, I quickly plugged the hole back up with fresh toilet paper and issued a verbal warning to all insects in the vicinity. I told them, "This is my house. I will make it my mission to single-handedly hunt you down and exterminate you." Insects you may have won the battle, but you sure as hell, have not won the war!

Chris turned 26!

We had a great birthday weekend. Chris's parents and David came in town. We had some tasty dinner at Sycamore, ate some cold stone creamery (thanks Bonnie and Tom) and had a great weekend with friends. These pictures are some highlights.

Hey soap scum, eat this!

Free trip of the day. Bounce dryer sheets will take the soap scum off your tub. Just wet it a little and scrub away. It works!

Yet another classroom lesson learned the hard way...

Doing an advertising assignment. Needed magazines so I brought some from home. Seventh graders are like magnets to inappropriate pictures. One student would find an ad for something with a woman in a bikini and then flash it for the whole class to see, careful to be as loud and obvious about the fact that it's a "bad" picture in a magazine at school. I quickly realized after first core that I needed to go through each magazine and rip out all the Victoria Secret ads, scandalous pictures, and casual sex references. We're talking about hours of ripping out pages last night. It kind of shocked me how much sex is everywhere. I've become desensitized. My students, however, are hyper in tune with anything inappropriate in the classroom and very eager to share their discovery with their classmates.

LOST! No He Didn't!

Fell asleep watching the two hour LOST last night. Not because LOST is not a captivating program but because I fall asleep most nights before 9:00. Anyway, just got caught up on Lostpedia and I am SHOCKED!

Who saw that one coming?

Burned

So I just finished this young adult book. It was a page turner and it certainly helped that the entire book is written in poetry format. While I enjoyed this book, there is NO way I would ever recommend it for a young adult in my classroom.

The book is about a Mormon girl who is breaking away from her faith and I learned a lot about the Mormon belief system as well as some shocking information about "down winders" in Nevada in the 50's. Apparently the US government did research on people who lived in the Nevada area, encouraging them to come and watch their test bombs and then followed them to see what affect the radiation exposure had on them over a lifetime. Pretty twisted.

Anyway, this book will not be recommended in my classroom because it borders on the line of erotic. There is quite the romance between the protagonist and her love. I could just hear the moms now. What kind of emails would that elicit?

But, if you make it a habit to read young adult fiction, check this book it out. It's incredibly raw at moments and you empathize with the hopelessness of the main character. Just when things are looking up, Ellen Hopkins takes things for a turn.

Our moms ROCK!

Happy Mother's Day Barb and Geri!

Chi-town

Chris and I went to Chicago with friends this weekend. Had a great time, visited a wonderful coffee shop, had some delicious soup at the Soupbox, and then had a tasty Italian dinner at this restaurant where you all order something different and then share. This was a stretch for an only child but you know what, I loved the variety. Our friends, Adam and Mary Kate, were so hospitable and Mary Kate even made cupcakes to celebrate my birthday (which is tomorrow).

One random city thought: The bus. The great equalizer. While we rode to Michigan Avenue a man in a three piece suit sat next to a woman who threw popcorn at patrons as they passed and giggled to herself, all while adjusting the sweatpants draped across her head. To each his own.

P90X- One down eighty-nine to go...

Did my first P90X workout last night. Still alive, hanging on by a thread. We did plyometrix which is just like crazy jumping and squats. Tony Horton is quite the entertainer so when you think you can't possibly do another rep and you're cursing yourself for agreeing to do something like this, you can laugh and keep pushing through. The whole sixty minute workout felt like an infomercial for the "recovery drink," but in the end, plain old water did the trick.

My legs feel strong but my spirit feels even stronger. Thank goodness I could follow the modified moves Pam (but Tony calls her Blam) did in the back corner. More on my workout status to come...

Late night project

Chris and I were up late last night perfecting a invitation for our Young Life Trivia night. I must say I am proud of our work and it is always good to work on something together. Chris is a perfectionist and Sara likes to cut corners at 11:45 PM.

Put our trivia night on your calendar and come!

June 5, 2009
Doors open at 6:30, Trivia starts at 7:00
Reservations can be made through comoyounglife@gmail.com
It's $160 for a table of 8 ($20/person)
(I know $20 may sound like a lot for an evening, but you get snacks and beverages and you're supporting Columbia Young Life!)