back to the grind.

I put off this post because I didn't know what to write.  School was back with a vengeance on Monday the 9th.  My kids were a little bit nuts, as were the teachers, as we all tried to readjust our sleeping schedules after vacation.  It's amazing how two weeks off can really throw you off.  I had been going to bed later (despite me telling myself I would stick to my routine...ha) and eating lunch whenever I was hungry.  Not anymore!  By the time we were all getting back into the swing of things, we had a 3-day weekend last weekend (not that I'm complaining).  It was nice, really...a sort of easing back into school.

Like I said, though, school came back with a vengeance.  We immediately had to plow into reviewing everything they had learned prior to break and forgotten in those 2 weeks off.  After squeezing in as much review as possible, I had to give Winter Benchmarks.  Which I was nervous about.  Because, at the school I'm at, test scores are King.  One of the first things I heard was "Don't let your high kids drop."  Oh, great, no problem...and no pressure.  As I'm looking through the tests prior to being scored, my hopes weren't terribly high.  I'm not really a "teach for the test" kind of person, but am being forced to be to some degree.  I guess you pick your battles depending on the school you teach at.  On top of all that, I had round one of my BTSA stuff due this week.  Oh, and I also had my first evaluation with my principal.  Tomorrow evening and much of Saturday I have 10 hours worth of a math curriculum training.  And Monday and Tuesday evenings I have 6 hours worth of Classroom Management Seminar.  Awesome.  Let's do everything in one week!  (Sidenote: I'm definitely going to need something fun Saturday night and/or Sunday to recover from my training.)

On a positive note, my birthday is 6 weeks from tomorrow.  I was just telling my mom that it seems like not that long ago I was teasing my sister about hitting the "quarter century" mark.  Now it's my turn.  It doesn't really make me feel that old, especially with how often reminded how "young" I am and hear, "oh, you're still a baby."  In every circle, I'm always the youngest...I guess that just means I'm mature. 

Alright, I have work to do, so I must go.  Until next time...

another la day.

I took advantage of my last weekend of freedom and headed to LA one more time.  This time I went to Burbank to hang out with Lindsay and our cousin, Jessica.  We got there Friday evening and went to dinner, had Yogurtland for dessert, and walked around downtown Burbank a bit.  We spent the rest of the evening playing a new version of Clue (who knew?) and Phase 10. 


Saturday morning we had a late breakfast in Burbank and then headed to our ultimate goal for the weekend: Mood Fabrics.  It was nowhere near where we imagined it to be, but so fun to be there and check out what they had.  We had to buy something to use the Groupons we had purchased, so Lindsay got some fabrics for her apartment, like to cover her dining room chairs and make some pillows. 

In what context would one actually use a button with the Mood logo on it?

We definitely found the fabric that was used for these looks...either that or it was almost identical.  I choose to believe the former:



We were really close to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive, so we decided to head that direction and check it out.  Apparently we've driven down it before, but I was too young to remember, so it was fun to see.  Of course, the shopping on Rodeo Dr. is a bit out of our budgets, but the area around it was fun! 

We were walking down another street when we spotted someone with a Sprinkles Cupcakes bag.  We knew it had to be around there somewhere...thank you iPhone for helping us navigate the two blocks to get there.  It was both mine and Lindsay's first time tasting their cupcakes.  My favorite was the Red Velvet, but all (well, the 4 kinds I got to sample later) were quite tasty! 

We decided to walked actually walk down Rodeo Drive on our way back to the car. 

Proof we were really there.

I decided that since I was taking pictures, I should take some with us in it.

Lindsay and Jessica...and yes, I do think Jess looks like she is growing out of Lindsay's shoulder/neck/head

Oh, you know...Just hanging out on Rodeo Drive.

A short ways down the block and this is what we saw:

Thank you, random man, for getting in the picture too

It was getting to be late afternoon so we decided to head out and back to Burbank.  Of course, there is no real fast, direct route out of the area, so we wound through Hollywood.

Actually a decent picture from my phone considering the distance and amount of haze/smog that day

We had Porto's for dinner.  If you're keeping count, yes, that was the second time for me that week, but still delicious!  It was back to her apartment from there, and back to Bakersfield for me...to celebrate one last day of vacation until reality sank in today.  It was fun while it lasted, though!

Question: Did you read the title as "LA" (as in Los Angeles) or "la" ( as in a note to follow so)?  Just curious.

a long-awaited day.

A little less than two months ago I mentioned wanting to go see Wicked again to some friends.  To my delight, they were ecstatic about the idea and quickly jumped on board.  I bought the tickets the next day.  And then the wait began.  Thankfully the Christmas holiday season allowed for some distractions because I didn't want to be too excited to go.  But yesterday was finally the day!

We left town midmorning and headed straight to our lunch desination: Porto's Bakery and Cafe in Burbank.  Lindsay had introduced us to it a couple of years ago and, while we haven't been there a lot, it's definitely a favorite!  It's Cuban food and each sandwich comes with plantain chips.  They also have delightful potato balls that have meat inside.  They sound disgusting to me, but taste delicious!  After a fairly quick stop, having just beat the lunch rush, we hit the road again and headed to The Grove in Beverly Hills.

We had all afternoon to spend shopping at our own pace, which is exactly what we did.  We went past J. Crew first, which is always a must.  My mission was to find a shirt for my mom (per her request), but they didn't have her size in what I was looking for.  It took much self-restraint to not buy the beautiful(!), but expensive scarf I found in there.  Onward we marched to Anthropologie.  That place is wonderful.  Seriously.  I love it every time.  When I have my own home...watch out.  The rest of the girls all made a purchase, which I so willingly helped talk them into.  "You definitely need those dishes.  They look just like you and match your home perfectly."  (If you want someone to talk you into buying something, take me with you.  I can be quite persuasive...although I'm not sure they needed a ton of convincing...)  After spending a good hour or maybe more, I really wasn't keeping track, in the store, we moved on. Our next  stop was Sur La Table.  My big purchase was magnetic measuring spoons for my mom.  She already had an identical set from there, but we had a casualty over the holidays when one of the spoons stuck to the side of a cookie sheet and baked/melted in the oven.  Very tragic.  We were ready for a small break.  In need of a boost, we hit up Pinkberry and sat down for a bit.  We walked back through Bath & Body Works, Crate & Barrel, Gap, and then Athleta. 

After all of those stores, we were all getting tired, but had to keep moving. By then it was around 5:00 and we headed back to the car.  We manuevered our way through Beverly Hills (Literally. The street I turned onto was so narrow I couldn't pass oncoming traffic.  I had to do some fancy manuevers.  The other girls didn't say anything, but I could feel the nervousness.) and into Hollywood.  We parked right next to the Pantages but our first destination was Dillon's Irish Pub.  We had a leisurely dinner and dessert there, all of which was delicious, until it was time to go to the show.  Wicked was just as awesome the fourth time around.  I still love it and want to go again! 

The worst part of the day was the hour in which we got home...actually worse was the hour I finally fell asleep.  Thank the Lord I didn't have to wake up early (sorry Maggie!).  Thanks again, girls, for a really fun day! 

hello 2012.

Oh my, another year.  Honestly, where has the time gone?  I remember last year at this time so vivdly, it doesn't seem possible that an entire year has passed.  Last year at this time our house was full of family, just a couple of days after Papa's funeral.  I was getting ready for my trip to Slovenia in mid-January.  I was in school and life had so many unknowns about what was coming next.

Of course, there will always be those unknowns in life.  As hard as last year, or really the last 2 years have been for different reasons, I cherish that time.  It's a time in my life when I saw God working distinctly in my life.  I learned a lot about life, growing up, and what it means to trust.  The Lord walked me through difficult times and brought me through to the blessing of a full-time job.

As many lessons I learned through this time, I'm thankful to be through it.  I wrote it a few weeks ago, and honestly still can't explain it, but I feel like life is about to change.  Maybe I'll always feel that way as I continue to get older because change is inevitable.  Maybe it's the new year making me nostalgic.

I pray for each of family and friends many blessings in 2012.  I pray that you know the Lord's comfort and guidance and that we all continue to trust Him this year!

The holidays this year were different.  Different than last year, of course, since we spent all our time in the hospital.  But also different than other Christmases in the past.  It was relaxing and quiet.  It was just my immediate family and my great aunt and uncle.  Christmas Eve was quiet.  We all pretty much did our own thing.  Dad and I went to the Christmas Eve service, while Mom and Lindsay stayed home and made our traditional Christmas Even pasties (meat pies) for dinner.  Christmas morning we woke up, did stockings and exchanged presents, then had breakfast (which we didn't finish until after 11, so that's probably more like brunch).  After breakfast we actually took naps.  We were having porkchops for dinner, which don't require hours of preparation, so it was actually relaxing to not have to be cooking all day.  Taking a nap on Christmas was definitely a first!  I ended up staying in pajamas all day (although I did shower), which was a nice change.  That evening I played a little with my Christmas gift: A new camera!  I still have MUCH to learn, but I'm excited to play with it. 

The day after Christmas we went down to my aunt and uncle's house to have Christmas with them.  On our way down, we made a few stops looking for new chairs for our media room.  We also had to make a stop at the outlet mall to return a couple of things that came from outlet stores.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Only one word can describe the outlet mall on the day after Christmas: Insane.  You couldn't even pull into the parking lot because there were so many people.  We ended up parking on the street behind the mall, literally pulling into the last spot we saw anywhere.  After some quick shopping and making our returns, we headed to their house.  It was fun to see everyone.  I mostly watched my sister and cousins play Rock Band (I wanted to play, but was only invited to sing, which I quickly opted out of) and played a game of pool with cousins. 

The week after Christmas through today has been quiet.  I've crocheted more than I have all year (which isn't saying much).  I was housesitting for some friends until yesterday.  Yesterday I cleaned up my room some and I can now see more of the carpet than I've been able to for awhile.  The plan for today is to dust and vacuum and probably do some work for my mom, again in my pajamas.  Tomorrow I plan to leave the house again.  (I love relaxing and doing nothing, but I'm missing feeling productive and a routine...that's just the way I work, I guess!)  On Friday someone hacked into my Gmail.  Google disabled my blog because they detected "suspicious activity."  I had a minor heart attack when I logged in and read "No Blogs Found."  Thankfully all was restored by Saturday. 

Wednesday is the big day: Wicked!  Too bad it's supposed to be 80 degrees in Los Angeles...seriously? 

bingo.

Today was, hands down, one of the best days I've had with my students!  It's funny, because I really expected this week to be challenging.  And, really, it has been until today.  (As in, I had to write referral #2 yesterday morning.)  In part it's due to the fact that my BTSA Support Provider came in to observe me.  I told my students she was observing them.  Worked like a charm, because they were awesome.  They participated, worked hard, were quiet and didn't disrupt me.  Oh, it was like a dream.  I rewarded my kids by playing 52 rounds of Preposition Bingo with them.  Or maybe it just felt like 52 or 522 to me.  I don't honestly know how Bingo can be so fun, but we rarely do "fun" things, so I guess it doesn't take much.  They are also pretty competitive, so I can really use that to my advantage, too.  In fact, they were begging me to do math review today because we made it a competition last week.  Seriously.  Maybe they didn't realize what they were asking...

I really do love my students.  As much as they wear me out, they crack me up even more.  It's really, really hard not to laugh sometimes...

as promised.

I have not forgotten.  I promised picture of my classroom and I finally took some this week.  Here you go:

The door with a little Christmas cheer.  The kids were so excited to make those snowflakes.  I have another huge stack to put up around the room.  I made them do them in all colors so they can stay up all winter.

These pictures give a pretty good look at how long my classroom is.  I'm pretty sure I do 100 laps around there each day.

Another picture.  You can see snowflake remnants on the ground, the random screen that appeared in the back of my classroom last Thursday morning...and that some of my students have yet to master the art of pushing in their chair *sigh

Everyone's favorite part of the classroom

A view from the other side

You're welcome.  Sorry it's not more exciting!  I still have a lot of wall space to cover...

weekend recap.

"Life just feels like I'm on the edge of everything changing."  I didn't know when I wrote those words how true they would become this past weekend. 

Friday evening was one of much fun and celebration!  I ran a few errands after work and then headed to my Bible Study's Christmas Party.  It was an Ugly Sweater Party, which I failed to find, even after braving Wal-Mart.  I did bring the pizza, though, so at least we had something to eat!  As we ate the said pizza, we watched The Muppet Christmas Carol.  That movie was definitely a favorite growing up and I hadn't seen it in such a long time.  We paused the movie and got ourselves set up to create gingerbread houses.  I actually don't remember the last time I had done this, so it was pretty fun.  We used graham crackers for simplicity's sake.  (The last time we made houses we baked gingerbread, which only led to frustration because it was weak and misshapen.)  Anyhow, we had quite the array of candies...and the fun began!  It became apparent very quickly who had skills at making gingerbread houses, and who did not...ok, some of us had moderate skills.  Or maybe that was the perfectionist coming out of me.  We spent quite awhile on them, long enough to finish the movie once and watch it again another whole time. 

Our Gingerbread Village

Noah's Waterfront Home, complete with raft

A Mobile Home

An outhouse with solar panels.  We're very green...ha.

Maggie was creative in the fact that she used lots of different candy...and she finished quickly so she could eat candy.

Courtney's was a masterpiece.  That's all I really have to say.

Tad and Alisa joined forces to create this pirate ship.  It not only won the "tallest" award, it has a stockpile on that back roof full of candy..."just in case"  

This is mine.  I decided after the fact that it looks like a barn.

Kevin's structural masterpiece.  The chimney was practically in working condition. I think that was the fun part  for him, because he wanted nothing to do with decorating with candy. 

Here's my Bible Study group for the last year and few months...such wonderful friends! (Minus a few of our newest members that either didn't make it or had already left.)

That was Friday.  Saturday consisted of staying in pajamas all day.  I haven't done that since summer, I think, so it was really quite grand.  I did quite a bit of work or stuff around the house, but I still didn't have to get dressed to go somewhere, and that's what counts.

Sunday, oh, Sunday.  That was the day that things began to change, at least for me.  It started pretty normal.  Woke up earlier than I wanted to in order to get to First Service Sunday School at church.  Those 4 and 5 year old really make me smile.  I see such joy in them that it makes me smile.  I particularly loved this week as we continued to tell the Christmas Story of Jesus' birth to them.  The man telling the story is very animated and engages them in it.  It was one of those strange moments where I looked around and saw pure, childlike faith. So sweet and so refreshing to see and hear the miracle of the Christmas story through them. 

After Sunday School I headed to the main service.  From the moment I walked inside, it was obvious something had happened.  Someone told me it's a good service, but "there's a lot going on."  Hmm.  My mom walked in to sit with me shortly after, then a friend came over to tell us what was happening.  I'm not going to go into details, partially because I don't have them, but mostly because it doesn't really matter.   In a nutshell, our lead pastor gave his letter of resignation on Friday.  He's been at the church for 18 months after more than a year of a pastoral search.  To say that Satan is attacking the Church would be an understatement.  That probably means we are doing something right, but at the same time it's hard.  The high school pastor stepped in to preach and did an excellent job handling the difficult circumstances.  Our God is Sovereign and will not fail us.  That's the promise we are clinging to as the Body and as a church family.

Sunday night we gathered again at church for a time of prayer and praise.  It was a hard time in some ways, but so good to be able to turn the pain into praise.   Only God knows what is next for us.  After that, I went Christmas Caroling with some friends.  It was slightly spur of the moment, so I was totally unprepared for the cold weather.  Thankfully I had gloves in my purse with me.  I had fun, though...I think we all did...and the houses we stopped at were loving it too.

Overall, it was a strange but great weekend.  I think I did more social activities this weekend than all of the past few months combined.  Ok, so maybe not, but it does feel that way a bit.  I guess I need to get out more...