Halloween and other bits of fun

Let's see... My three day week last week was great. It should happen all the time. Parent/teacher conferences went well too, much better than I thought they would. I barely even had a line, and most of the parents seemed to know their kid, which, sadly, is not often the case. I can't really complain about how it went.

This week was supposed to be a six-day week (we have Open House on Saturday, for prospective freshmen to come and see the school) but today, about 20 minutes after we got to school, the lights went out. About 20 minutes after that, we all went home. It kind of stinks that I had to get up in the first place, but I can't complain about it. I DID get most of the day off, and had a nice lunch at Titanic Brewery with Tiffany. I also found a little treasure at Publix for Lancelot. He got a Halloween costume! Can you guess who he is?

CAPTAIN Jack sparrow, of course! How cute is it? He hated it but I didn't care! I'm so mean.

Tiffany and I took him to her work for a little holiday spirit, and here we are, at the UM call center.

Here he is with our pumpkin, Lola. Aren't they cute together?

In other Halloween news, I saw my friend from college Erika on Friday. We haven't seen eachother since we graduated, so it was great to see her again and catch up. We met freshmen year through dance, and she's been down here since graduation working on her Ph.D. 'cause she's a smarty. We went out for a quick bite, then went to a Halloween party with some people from her department. Anyway, here we are, dressed up. She's a belly dancer and I'm... from the 80s, I guess.

Whatever, I'm not that into Halloween. Or any holidays at all, really. It's fine.

The BF and I discovered this cute ice cream place near our house and favorite gas station. They have doggie cones (Lancelot loved it), good ice cream, and nice employees. A lovely and winning combination. Wall's ice cream gets our vote.

That's about it for me. I've gotta walk the dog one last time and head to bed. So far, we do have school in the morning.

XOXO

Homecoming

I survived Homecoming/50th Anniversary weekend. I should get a prize.


Spirit Week was, as you saw, spirited. I had a bit of fun, but Twin Day was clearly the best.

The pep rally and game were Friday. The rally was a complete nightmare because the demon mascot (a lion with evil eyes) kept running all around and I was freaking out. I HATE a mascot. After the rally, I ran home, changed, saw my dog and roomie and then went back to school to watch the game at 7. Well... it was delayed for 45 minutes. Nice. It was okay though because I made a new friend (Freddy's BFF Mellie, also the older sister of one of my student council kids) who is awesome. Yay me.


The game was fine and the Royals won, so everyone was happy. I was unhappy, however, when I had to pick up garbage on the field because the kids didn't do it and there was a huge misunderstanding. Yeah... Student Council isn't the most organized thing ever. ANYway, the dance went well and it looked amazing, the kids seemed to have a good time, and it was all considered a success. I wsa at school until 1 am, and then I had to come home and get right back by 10:30 am for mass the next day. Boo life.


The mass was at 11 and we were "required" to go, although they couldn't legally tell us to be there because it wasn't contracted. Still, almost everyone went and it was pretty much a nightmare. It just wasn't organized well at all and was a bit longer than I would have liked, but we got free food afterwards so it was okay. I'll do a lot for free food, I can't lie.

Saturday night was the 50th Anniversary Gala, so after the mass I came home and rested as much as I could, and then headed to get my hair done at 5. The salon was running late, as was Tiffany, so needless to say we got to the gala late. We made it before dinner, though, so it was fine. Plus, we both looked hot. I got my hair done in, like, 1920s style finger-waves (a dream in life, I'll be honest) and it was SO awesome. All the ladies in the salon loved it.

Anyway, here's the gala in brief.


Tiffany and I looked hot.



Freddy's dad is my new boyfriend.




We ended up parking on the opposite side of the ballroom and we had to convince these guys to let us out that way too. It was like a spy movie back there! I wanted people to be chasing me for the anecdote or something...


After the gala, T and I went crusing thorough South Beach because we kind of got turned around and figured we might as well. We saw the tatoo place where they film Miami Ink.



All in all, I'm glad I went and I really loved finally wearing my dress and having my hair done and looking hot.


Today my plan was to sit around and read Love in the Time of Cholera again, but Jo called me and we went out to a scavenger hunt on Miami Beach organized by the Miami Herald and Dave Barry. Apparently, it happens every year and the grand prize is a cruise. Jo and I figured it was better than doing nothing, so we headed out. We didn't fare too well but we had fun, got a bit of exercise and, oh yeah, met Dave Barry!


I'm a nerd, I know, but it was awesome.


Tomorrow I'm hoping for some beach time, but we'll see. I may be completly unmotivated to move a muscle. I deserve to vege, darnit!

If you want some more photos, check this out. It's an album I made on Facebook. It's got a few more pictures than the ones I've posted here.


Much love.

Spirit Week and Other Stuff

I need to get to bed in a minute because I'm UBER tired even though I took a 15 minute nap when I got home from school... at 6. Whatever.

So yeah, it's Homecoming Week at ILS and I'm staying late every day and, by the end, I'll have been there seven days straight. Yes, I know, my life is glamorous. It's true.

Anyway, here are a couple pics of me dressed up for Spirit Week. This is me, Alishea, and Jo on Memory Lane Monday. Eightys gear rules! Sadly, none of this outfit was purchased especially for this day.

Today was Twin Tuesday so Alishea, me, and a few other teachers dressed as students. The kids got a huge kick out of it all day, and most of them that don't know me probably thought I was a student.

Freddy even gave me a demerit! I broke pretty much every rule in the book...

It's been fun so far. I hope the rest of the week goes well.

This past weekend, The BF and I had a big one. Friday night was Elizabeth: The Golden Age and some mediocre Italian food (but amazing rolls!). Elizabeth made my life and we went to this semi-crap theather way out in the sticks, so it was quiet and actually enjoyable. Yay us. I took a picture of it because it was so cute. Plus, there was this weird... shadow (?) thing in the sky that looked super cool. Check it out at the top, middle of the picture. It's almost like the outline of a building or something...

The movie was really good and it appealed to my inner nerd, which is always awesome. Of course, T and I came home and looked up the history of the whole thing. We are the coolest.

Saturday we went out to explore a park (which means "beach" here, apparently) called Matheson Park. It's kind of by my work-ish. Anyway, it was a super windy day, and cloudy too, so the beach wasn't as relaxing as it could have been, but we found a nice spot for a future Saturday outing.

We stood and watched some kite surfers, though, and took lots of pictures. I even had a mini-photo shoot invoving a tree... T has those pics so I'll have to post them later. :) Here's one I took of the horizon and a kite surfer.

We spent the rest of the day running around like mad women because we hosted Game Nite on Saturday. Freddy came over, along with a girl from T's work and her husband and a couple people she knows. Everyone was cool, and we had a great time. I hope we do it again soon.

Okay... I've gotta get to bed. I have to proctor the PSAT tomorrow and then be at school with student coucil from 11 til God knows when.

Next week I have Monday and Friday off... It's my mantra right now.

Happy birthday, Mom!

Much love.

Carnivale!

So I actually did something worth noting this weekend. Aliesha and I went to the Carnivale celebration down town. It consisted of a parade (Aliesha's sister was dancing in it, so her mom and dad went too) and a festival area with food and tents of stuff.

The parade was set to start at noon, so of course it started around 2. It was okay, though, because Aliesha and I showed up late and, once we found spots, we had time to hit up a BK bathroom and Checkers for fries. And let me just say: this Checkers experience, my first EVER, was HIlarious. There was a giant group of people there for the parade in front of us (they sounded Jamacian) and they were being so funny. It was highly entertaining.

So anyway, here's what we saw.

I love, love, LOVE these trees. I wanted my picture taken under one. My dream came true.

Then we had a little tour around and I saw this. It's called the Freedom Tower and it's sort of like the Ellis Island of Miami, where everyone who comes in (the Cubans, let's be honest) goes. I thought it was really pretty.

Okay... Now the parade. Here's a couple of the crazy costumes and the whole regalia.

Notice the Bjork-style swan get up. Only, y'know, appropriate for the context. And this guy who LOOOOVES his life!

Seriously, some of the outfits were crazy! It was surely a sight to see.

Finally, we went into the acutal festival area and this was a view of the bridge and a bunch of the tents. The color's not great, but being there it looked really cool.

As far as life goes, school's gonna be pretty busy these next couple weeks. Homecoming is a week from Friday, and the 50th Anniversary Gala is the following Saturday. T and I are going and she's still searching for a dress. Student council is decorating the gym to the nines again, although that might actually be done this week. The kids are working hard on floats, buildings, and all kinds of other crazy stuff. It should be fun, and I'm excited about it, but it sure is a lot of work. And I'll pretty much have to live at school next Friday and Saturday. But whatever. I'll report back with pics, I'm sure.

Much love!

Another day, another dollar

I seem to have established a routine at school, and I feel much more comfortable. I think the students also appreciate it; it's just easier for them when they sort of know what's coming. While they don't seem to get the routine (the ask me the dumbest questions ever) but I know if I changed it at all, they'd freak. So there's that...

Weekends I pretty much don't do a whole lot. I try not to work at all on Friday nights or Saturdays but pretty much all day Sunday I work on something or other. The BF and I don't really do much on weekends, especially lately because it's been raining for the past week. Nearly every day since last weekend it's been raining. This morning, it was a total nightmare. There was a huge storm and it was so dark outside... it let up for a minute and then it just let loose at school. Ugh. I move to Florida, The Sunshine State, and it rains for a dang week. A WEEK! No beach, no dog park, nothing but sitting inside with the occasional trip to the grocery store. It's so exciting I can barely stand it.

Our house is nearly all together. There's still a blank wall to contend with, but it's almost done. It's actually presentable at this point. I'll post some pics of our living room soon because I know you're all waiting to see it... or not. :)

Hmm, what else? Homecoming is coming up in two weeks. It'll be super busy with student council and then that weekend is going to be insane. The BF and I are going to the 50th Anniversary Gala, which should be interesting if not fun. It's a fancy party and basically my excuse to wear the $300 dress I bought and have yet to wear. It's a nice dinner and an open bar, and The BF and I are splitting the cost of one ticket, so you really can't go wrong.

In other school news ('cause really, what else do I have to talk about?) someone with a key went into my room and broke my stuff. Yeah... I'm pissed. It probably wasn't a kid (they don't have keys and my door is always locked once I leave) which ticks me off even more. Hi, if you're going to bust my stuff up and mess up my room, at least be an adult and apologize for it. Gah! My pineapple book ends... *sigh*

I talked to the B & N here to see about my transfer and ended up having to go in but I talked to the manager and she seemed really cool but the store was a total nightmare. There were holes on the shelves, books out of place all over; it was crazy. I'm hoping we can get something worked out but I guess I'll just have to wait to hear something, just like with pretty much everything around here. So yeah.

Uh... no other stories to relate at this point. I'm really hoping to see an old friend from college this weekend, but we're both so busy that we haven't been able to hook up yet. Fingers crossed!

Much love.