This week was kinda dark...

There's been too much death this week. Heath Ledger died (I'm still not over it, let's be real) and then today my jump drive died. EVERY quiz, every test, every worksheet, EVERYTHING I've made so far this year was on it. I went to Comp USA to see if they could recover anything and... they're closing. I think they literally just took the signs down from the Bombay in our complex and moved them down the street. SO... looks like all my hard work's been totally wasted. Awesome. My life is really hard.

This week at work was pretty good, though, otherwise. I had Monday off (thank you, Dr. King!) and then we had "Workshop Week". I don't quite understand the point of it, even now that it's over, but it meant I didn't have to teach and I basically just sat at my desk, chilled to music, and talked to kids all day. These past two days teachers had to watch (and grade) debates and presentations that were, although monotonous, pretty interesting and well done. There's some part of me that's really proud of them, and another part that feels like this whole week's been a waste of time.

Anyway, as I said, I had Monday off and Tiffany did too. So... we decided to head back to my new favorite place, Monkey Jungle. It was drizzly and crappy out but oh well. We also made it to Knaus Berry Farm and had the most amazing cinamon rolls ever. They tasted like monkey bread but bigger and not quite as overpowerlingly sweet. Mmm. Plus, we saw this sign on the way and it made me chuckle.

At Monkey Jungle we saw Mae's show (she was in a bad mood last time and didn't do much for us) and she was SO CUTE. Here we are, chillin' in the drizzle.

This is one of her "tricks." Apparently she likes the rain so she did her show.

Plus, I took some pictures of the baby gibbon.

I SO want a monkey! I can't even TAKE it!

Um... oh. Finally spent my Target gift cards that I got for Christmas on the bed stuff I really wanted. I got two pillows (that I LOVE LOVE LOVE) and a bedspread. Here's a pic, so y'all can see. This pic has the best color and the best shot of my pillows of joy.






Not sure what this weekend holds but I hope the weather gets nicer. I kind of want to go to the beach.



I love that I can say that... in JANUARY!



Much love.

Monkey Business!

I got back to Miami Saturday evening, with only one complication. There was a fire alarm while I was going through security, so all activity stopped for about 20 minutes. Then, when it finally started up again, they announcement finally came on: "An emergency has been reported. Please cease all activity and go to the nearest exit." No one seemed concerned, however, so I just moved on with life. Whatever.

Sunday Tiffany and I went out to the Redlands area, which has quite a few attractions. We'd planned on seeing a couple of things, but only managed to make it to one--Monkey Jungle. It's the place "Where monkeys run free and the people are caged."

It began as a place where this guy cold study the behaviors of monkeys in the wild, so he just got a colony and set them free, basically. They have seven acres to wander around in, and there's a pool and all kids of stuff. They have areas in the walkway where you can put food in a bowl on a chain and the monkeys pull it up. You can sort of see it in this picture. It's so damn cute!

When there's no one around, there's a certain spot where the ceiling fencing is really low and you can hand-feed the monkeys. NEVER tell!

There's another spot where all these tiny monkeys (I can't remember what kind) were, like, smashing eachother's faces in the wire to get to the food. It was pretty serious, look:

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

As I said, there's a pond area where they show how the monkeys swim. Apparently in the wild, these monkeys swim for their supper so it's not like they're trained to do it or anything. They weren't very interested in swimming by the time we saw them (it was later and they probably weren't hungry) but this guy did. He ain't above it!

Finally, there was one silverback gorilla who lives there named King. He could dance. He was SUPER cool and inspirational. Tiffany and I decided that we need to get a bunch of monkies and give them rapper names, and teach them to dance, and train them to walk Lancelot and turn on the TV. It's gonna be amazing. But, I digress. Here's King.

I'm just sayin' Tiffany and I bought season passes so we can go as many times as we want. Yay monkeys!

Today at school was a nightmare, and the drive home didn't make me any less angry because, apparently, when there are two left turn lanes, it's okay to turn from the farthest one INTO MINE. I look out my window at her and point to her lane, and she looks back at ME like I made some sort of mistake by STAYING IN MY LANE. Um... I have rage issues. Stupid idiot was lucky I have self control because I SO wanted to smash into her car. I'm not ready to be back in Miami dealing with all of its Miami-ness. Boooo.

XOXO

Holidays at home

My trip home for the holidays was great, although, like all trips, not nearly long enough or relaxing enough. I did manage to make it to GR for a couple days, and I saw one of the movies I wanted to see and I spent almost all of my Christmas money on either alcohol or food. I=the lame.

Let's see...Christmas Eve was at Abita's house, as it usually is. We had Cuban food (it was SO GOOD OH MY LORD) and exchanged gifts. I gave everyone a photo from when I was traveling, and I was really proud of them. I think everyone liked them. My mom got my name, so I knew what I was getting. I actually liked it better because, as we all know, I=a snooper. I ain't above it. After Abita's, the six of us (my parents, my sister and Derek, me and my dad's friend from work) went to church and made up literally half the congregation. I was a little sad that there were so few people there because I've always loved the 11 p.m. service on Christmas Eve. Oh well, I guess no one stays up late anymore... or something.


Anyway, here's a picture of my cousins, Tiffany and Megan, my Tia Laura, and I. I hate that I look like a super huge linebacker, but they look good... Musta been all the pork I ate.

Christmas Day we went to Swartz Creek to Mema and Grumpa's house. Grumpa was really lucid Christmas Day. I think he really does well when there are people around; it seems to focus him. We had a yummy Christmas brunch with a whole crowd--other than the usual suspects, my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Kurt ate with us, as did my Godmother, Auntie Jane, and my sister's boyfriend Derek. It was nice to finally spend some time with them; I don't feel like I did last year. Sadly, I didn't take that many photos there, but here's one... at a weird angle, which is too bad 'cause my hair looked really good that day, and I don't look like a linebacker. Boo.

My favorite moment might have been when Grumpa couldn't belive that he'd graduated in 1938. It was so funny! He kept repeating it, over and over in disbelief. I can't imagine what it's like to be that old and to have had that much of a life. It must be... sureal, to say the least.

A couple days after the holiday, I went over to the west side of the state to spend some time with Jody, Trash, and Gary (who, amazingly, are now betrothed, yay!). Gary got tickets for the four of us to two GLI hockey games, U of M vs. Providence (Rhode Island) and MSU vs. Tech. It was really fun to go, and they were at Joe Lewis so it was pretty exciting. We watched the U of M game, and the Tech game we spent in the bar, playing "Find the Tech. version of Grand Valley people." It was super fun. Plus, while walking around Joe Lewis in search of nachos, I saw an old friend...

Love it!

The next day, Jody and I went to a wedding. One of his fraternity brothers got married to a former resident of mine and Jody took me as his date. It was fun to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in a while, and just spend some time with my Coot. Here's a picture of us, looking lovely, if I do say so myself.

New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful, although it did snow about 8 inches. Yay! It was really beautiful, just this uninterrupted sea of white as far as you can see, and trees covered in white like it was painted on. I love snow!!!

New Year's Day my dad made paella, which used to be something he did yearly but sort of stopped. It was nice, though, because Maki was in town, and Tiffany and Dustin even came over (I hadn't seen her all break). The food was delish and I loved it that my dad did it just 'cause I asked him. :) Here's the best family photo from that day...

Abita clearly loves Lancelot.

The 2nd and 3rd I went to GR and went to my mom's office, had lunch with Bob, and saw B-Sucker and Allison, who I hadn't seen in AGES. We went to Mojo's, a piano bar, and it was super, super fun. I love piano bars and boys who play piano. Joy of my soul.

Thursday was the Fab 04 dinner, which I was uber stressed about but turned out okay. I was just in a huge rush to get there, which I HATE. It was nice though, good dinner and it was great to see the girls. We played games and exchanged gifts and ate--a really nice evening.

Friday was the VanCooter family dinner at Texas Road house. I ran errands all day, and still made it to dinner on time. Woot! Here's our family photo:

This was taken about 2 minutes before I fell down flat in the parking lot because I was running after Bob, trying to lob a chunk of snow at him in retaliation. I'm sure this turn of events will be retold many times at next year's dinner. I can't wait.

I saw only two movies over break, even though I wanted to see a bunch. I saw I Am Legend (kind of over it) and Juno, which was stellar. I thought the movie really dealt with the topic of teen pregnancy in a real but funny way, and the performances were out of this world. I want Michael Cera to be my little brother.

My trip back was pretty uneventful, so that was good. We did have a great day today, but I'll update about that tomorrow, so I can post a ton of pics.

Speaking of, if you want more holiday pics, click here.

Much love!