Turns Out, I REALLY Missed Autum

My trip to OLR was amazing. I can't begin to tell you all...

First of all, the kids we took were outstanding. Just outstanding. The coolest thing was that these were eleven kids (nine participants and two leaders) who are all from different social groups within the school, yet they all became close and bonded over an amazing experience. They came back new kids, REnewed kids, and I love to see them smiling at school.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to see fall colors for the first time in about three years. There weren't many, granted, but even one red tree made me happy. And there was more than one red tree. This was one of my favorites:

The kids enjoyed the fall colors as well, and I forgot that most of them have never experienced fall. We were at a convent, with acres and acres of land and trees, and some of the kids spent about half an hour just trying to catch leaves as they fell from the sky. They thought it was the greatest game they'd ever played--simply leaves falling from the sky. There were so many leaves that I told them I'd rake them a pile to jump in, if only I had a rake. Lo and behold, a rake appeared and I raked. The next day my body ached like mad but I raked. It was totally worth it, though, because the kids had a great time enjoying the pile. One girl even told me it was on her "Bucket List" to jump in a pile of leaves. A seventeen year old with a Bucket List... Go figure.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite photos from the week, and it's just a reminder to me of what those moments REALLY felt like--they were perfect.

We also made it into the city that Sunday. One of the kids had never been there, and another was basically an expert. He was our tour guide.

I haven't been to NYC since my 21st birthday (unless you count meeting Aussies in the airport there this summer) so it was fun to be back. I fulfilled a life-long (okay, a since-I-was-about-16-long) dream and took my RENT picture. This photo is inspired by the line "They say that I have the best @$$ below fourteenth street." And so it is...

I also tried to improve our nation's economy by kissing the bull on Wall Street... We'll see how it worked.

And of course when you're in NYC, you have to see a show. When you're in NYC with nine Catholic school kids, you have to see a Catholic school appropriate show. We chose Mary Poppins and it was "practically perfect in every way."

The show is magical and fun and the best thing EVER was when *spoiler alert* BERT TAP DANCES ON THE CEILING!! I couldn't even take it... It was amazing. Soooo good--except for the scary part where the toys came to life. Everything else was good. I'm practicing my Mary Poppins-style stair walk, so I can be awesome like her.

The retreat itself was an amazing experience for the kids, and an intensely Catholic one for me. It was strange but nice at the same time. I met some amazing folks--I'm now friends with three nuns on Facebook--and really had a peaceful and introspective four days.

The coolest things were that there were a couple of guys from Michigan there (WOOT!), one of which played bagpipes and woke up the retreatants with them the second morning. The grounds of the retreat center were absolutely gorgeous, which I discovered as we walked around during an activity. An activity where, unexpectedly, the group I was with and I got PELTED with black walnut "apples" falling from the trees. Awesome. And painful. I also learned how to juggle a diabolo and managed to actually throw it up and catch it in three tries. I might have missed my calling in life. Finally, one day I was on "duty"--which basically meant I was guarding the door while the kids had recreation time--and a deer came and stood about 5 feet from the woman I was on duty with and I, almost like it wanted to join in our conversation. I see deer all the time in Michigan, but I don't think I've ever been that close to a wild one.

What a great week.

I came back, as expected, to chaos. It's was Homecoming week, which meant that I basically lived at school. I don't have many pictures because the days were all a blur, but this one is great--a bunch of us teachers dressed up like students on Twin Day.

Some of us could actually pass, I think! The best part? Loofas on the headbands. If you went to LaSalle, you'd understand.

Okay friends! If you're interested in more of my trip or my fall adventures, you can check out the rest of the pictures here, on the Facebook album.

Much love.

Sometimes All You Can Say is "Wow."

My life of late has been, in a word, chaos. Serious chaos. I miss the days when I would come home, sit in my underwear, drink a glass of wine, and grade papers. Those days are over.

A couple of weeks ago, I had social plans literally every night of the week. It was a little bit ridiculous. Monday night, I went to a friend from church's house because he was cooking (Pad Thai, YUM), Tuesday I went to UM to see Blake MyCoskie speak (more on that in a sec), Wednesday we had the first SALTT trip of the year, Thursday I invited a friend over and I cooked, and Friday was Flavour at church. I never understood the meaning of longing until that week, when I truly longed to just be at home. Don't get me wrong--I like having a social life, and Lord knows it took me long enough to establish one, but change is always tough going for me. Anyway...

So Blake Mycoskie. Most people know him from the AT & T commercial (hot guy walking on a beach, giving shoes to kids, "chief shoe-giver) but he is the owner and creator of TOMS shoes, a shoe company that donates a pair of shoes to a child in need every time a pair of shoes is purchased. It's pretty amazing, and the story is pretty great too. Plus, he's hot. And a do-gooder. So yeah, we're pretty much in love. lol He spoke for about 45 minutes and then took questions, which I couldn't stand because everyone was all, "I'm so awesome I started this charity but I don't know how to make it work, blah, blah, blah." Lame. I'm a friggin' teacher--I save the world EVERY DAY. Whatever. So yeah, here's me and my TOMS, Blake, and the rest of the crew.

And here's just the two of us because Tiffany is a good friend.

In other adventures in my life, The Aussie had a friend in town (pretty remarkable, considering) and she wanted to show him a good time, so we went to my favorite place in Miami, Crazy Pianos. It was a pretty big group, and we had a great time. Tiffany and I looked cute, so, of course, there was a photo op!

It was a fun night. And to continue the adventure, I finally took advantage of the fact that I work at a school, on the bay, that owns sea kayaks. One of the science teachers, The Aussie, her friend, and I went to school on a lovely (read: hazy) Sunday afternoon and hit the water. Here we are, ready to go!

Here's Becky and I, looking like pros. She IS a pro... me not so much!

We kayaked out into the bay, and then headed back toward the channel and actually went through this tunnel onto the grounds of Viscaya. It was really beautiful, and awesome to see the bay with someone who knew what they were talking about (read: Becky The Science Teacher). It was like our own personal guided tour.

I'm hoping to post a bunch of pictures to Facebook soon, but for now these few will have to do. Not being home really has put a kink in my Facebook (and blogging, and grading, and sleeping) time, but I wanted to update now because I'm heading out of town to New York/New Jersey for a week with school. I'm really excited to go--we leave tomorrow--because I really could use some perspective on my life, and some time away to really just... be. So, I'll be off the radar for a bit, but that's okay. I need it.

Much love.