I'll be home for Christmas!

I'm leaving for Michigan tomorrow morning. My flight leaves around 11, and my friend Dianna is coming to pick me up at 8. She is a rockstar! Of course, she lives literally within walking distance of my place, so that helps. I'm hoping the weather doesn't hold me back. T and Annie made it back okay today, no weather problems, so I'm hoping the same happens tomorrow.

The past week was busy, although not really with work. The kids had finals, so I basically sat on my bum for three hours each day and played around on Facebook. I did get quite a bit of planning done, got some handouts made, all that good stuff. It was actually kind of nice. I also got a few gifts from kids, which was unexpected and totally appreciated. The best thing? A $25 gift card to Borders. In my head, it's already spent. Awesome!

The rest of my days last week were consumed with social events, which is pretty ironic considering all the other weeks before that were basically me, alone, grading papers. Monday I met with this girl from church who's going to Korea at the end of the month. We met up for icecream (organic icecream!) and a pow wow. I'm so excited for her to go, and she's excited too. talking to Lauren really made me miss Seoul and my friends there.

Anyway... I also got a parking ticket because my meter ran out. I was LITERALLY SITTING ACROSS THE STREET and I got a ticket. Um... go ticket someone who's driving 15 miles over the speed limit, or running red lights, or turning left from the far right lane. How about that, jerk? Darn you E. Berkowitz. That name doesn't even sound real...

Tuesday was the faculty luncheon at school which was actually eventful. I won three raffel prizes--some bar mixes, a 24 pack of Samuel Adams holiday beers, and a $50 gift certificate to an Italian restaurant. In fact, our entire table except one person won a prize. It was pretty karmic, we decided--payback from the universe for the Sunday afternoon we spent tallying the results of a survey. Ahh, Karma is good. As is beer.

Wednesday I went out for a celebratory dinner for Anya's graduation. We went to this sushi restaurant, RA, and it was amazing. I'd been there once before over the summer, I think, and it was great then but this time... I ordered the most magical concotion ever. Scallops, mushrooms, and some sort of mildly spicey sauce. It. Was. Perfection. I need to go back and have it again ASAP. T met up with us a bit later, after dinner, for a celebratory cocktail. It was a fun night, although I was slightly sleep deprived the next day, but oh well. I got over it.

Here's a pic from the night, T, my neighbor Adam, and I at Martini Bar. Building B repreSENT!

I hate that in the dark, I have no hair. It was totally looking cute that night, too. BUT, I do look super tan. Win!

Thursday was the last day of school (holla!) and the English department party, where my beer was definately put to good use. We gathered at Moya's house and just hung out. I really love my department--some of the most intelligent, funny, and talented people I've ever known. I am blessed by my job, truly.

Here's the whole crew, with our new English Department gear--we got hats this year. Mine says, "Ali G." So cute!

Friday, my priority was going to the beach and I accomplished this goal. It was so relaxing and necessary to my soul. Friday night Dianna had a little Christmas gathering and she made dinner--chili. It was so good. The night was interesting, but it made me feel nice to have people to share the holiday with. I'm so grateful that the people from church are like my family down here. I realized it this morning when I was volunteering and I was just having so much fun and really appreciating every kid and adult in that room with me.

Geez, I'm getting sappy around the holidays.

Anyway, I've got a couple more pictures to post, namely of our tree in Miami, which are still on my camera and I'm too lazy to download at this point. Plus, I forsee lots of free time in the next week and a half or so. Free time in which I will upload many pictures, I'm sure.

Say a prayer for no blizzards tomorrow!

Much love.

Thanksgiving and other things to be thankful for

Wahoo! I'm finally ready to sit down and post and acutal post, not just random notes to myself about WHAT to post.

Here's what I've been up to. Thanksgiving weekend was pleasant, although a bit sad because I wasn't at home. I felt at home, though, at Melanie's house. She's a Garcia, too, and her family is loud and Cuban and the food was a mix of Cuban and American, so it was almost like being at home. I'm very thankful she let me share her holiday with her, and there was another stray there too, a friend of Mellie's from Duke. We just looked at eachother once everyone started talking really loudly in Spanish and our look said "Aren't you glad we're not involved in any of this?" Yes, Mikey. Yes I am.


The night before Thanksgiving, that Wednesday, is traditionally a huge "bar" night, so I went out with my friend Anya. She's Russian and cute. Anyway, we're at Bouganvillia's, chillin', lookin' cute, and this photographer from the New Times came and took our picure. We actually ended up in the paper and on the website! It's totally awesome. The best part? The photographer, Javier, was SUPER cute and he invited me to his birthday party later that week. Win! Here's the picture he took.

I know, we're cute. It was a fun night, though. The band was great too... Wish I could remember thier name. Shoot. I also met a couple of ladies who are in a sketch comedy troupe, Sketchy Sketch, and I'm totally joining them once they start up again! I'm really excited. They're excited too because I can do impressions. That should be fun.

Turkey Day was pretty chill. Macy's parade in the morning and Mellie's house that night. Good times, good food.


Friday I was gonna eat another dinner with Ali's family, but they ended up not doing it, so I just chilled out all day and went to the dog park, knowing there was NO WAY IN HELL I'd ever go out on Black Friday. No. Thank. You. I would end up in jail, certainly, if not worse. That night, a group of us went out to this super cool bar called Vagabond (where my new photographer friend was celebrating his birthday) where we decided we want to live. The crowd was this perfect mix of every kind of person--and I mean EVERY kind. There were hardcore punks with real mohawks and a Misfits jackets, hipsters, business people and professionals, urban kids, "pretty" people... everyone. It was awesome. They had both inside and outside venues, and Steph Taylor, who I saw last year at Femme Fest, was actually the band that night! I was really excited. Not to mention the cute photographer was there and we had a lovely chat. It was a great night.

Saturday my upstairs neighbor Adam made a Thanksgiving dinner, both turkey and chicken. Boy. Can. Cook. Anyway, it was a fun gathering and I love me some Thanksgiving dinner, so it was awesome.


I also managed to see Twilight over Thanksgiving break and I must say... I was a little nonplussed. Cedric Diggory as Edward... whatever. The only thing that was the way I pictured it was the "dazzling," everything else was sort of... not what I thought. Edward was creepier, Emmett was WAY hotter (I'm not mad about it), Bella was... not Bella. Jacob had a hellatious wig that cost all of about $3.99... Whatever. Hopefully now the madness will die down... Until the next movie. Oh, the glories of teaching high school girls.


In other news, last weekend we had a "play" at school, but it wasn't the typical play. It was a murder mystery/dinner, something I've always wanted to go to and finally got a chance! I didn't figure out the killer, of course, but it was set at a wedding reception so we ate and danced and had a great time. I aligned myself with the grooms family, as I decided they're my kind of people--semi-trashy-but-trying-to-be-classy rednecks.


It seems that a lot of the play was improv, and the kids did a great job. Some of them are truly brilliant, and I love to see regular kids in that way. It's great to see them being really comfortable and shining at what they're good at. I love that about high school theater.


Wow... I'm a loser!


Hmm... What else? Oh, I went out to Merrick Park, this UBER expensive mall, to pick up a Tiffany necklace I dropped off for repair, and I had to capture this:

Yes, it was a beautiful 70+ degree day and yes, those are palm trees in the background. Ahh, Christmas in Miami.

All this week I've been grading like mad. Poetry projects and MySpace projects on Monday and Tuesday, in-class essays from Wednesday on. I've only got a few more to go, though, so I should be able to rock them this weekend. I just can't bring myself to use my half day to grade essays. I can't do it!

Next week is midterms, which means half days all week for me, followed by a Christmas party with the English department on Thursday, and then I'm flying home Monday! I can't wait to see snow and feel cold and see my family!

Much love.

I'm still standin'...

I have much to report on, but, sadly, no time to do so.

Since I last wrote, I've eaten two more Thankgsiving dinners, seen a dinner theater murder mystery, gone to the ballet, been in the newspaper, and graded papers until my eyes nearly bled.

I'm actually doing that now... midterms are next week so I've got projects and in class essays to grade for each of my five classes... that's over 200 papers in one week. Um... NOT awesome.

I'm also trying to finish one baby sweater (hood to go!) and complete another before Monday. This may not (read: WILL not) happen.

I will write more when I actually get more than two seconds to breathe.

Six more days til break... Six more days til break... Six more days til break...

Much love.