My First Weekend of Freedom!

The stress and anger I felt most of last week all melted away on Friday when we checked out officially for the summer. I had a seriously stressful last week, due to a student who can't manage to follow directions and a poor decision on my part. Anyway, that's all over, and people get what they deserve and life goes on.

Thursday night was a night of premature celebration in the form of the English department's end of the year party. I made Sloppy Joe's ("man food") and we ate, drank, and generally made merry. It was an interesting event, because at last year's party we were saying goodbye to Margie and hello to Melanie, and this year it was goodbye Melanie and hello (again) Margie. Ironic, I suppose, but wonderful all the same.

The highlight of the night was Bree-Ana unveiling the finished version of a song that's been brewing all year. It was captured on video for all of posterity and you can watch it here at YouTube. There are some naughty words, so beware!

Friday night, my first officialy evening of freedom, I met up with my pal Drew and we had dinner and went to a co-worker's show. I have a co-worker who does improv comedy (and apparently has done for years) and so I thought it would be fun to see his show. Turns out, it was a fun night. We ate at a middle eastern place (falafels and baclava are YUM!) and saw the show. Improv always amazes me; the actors (parciticipants?) are so quick! I sometimes think I could do it... but other times I'm convinced I can't. Ahh well, maybe some day.

Saturday morning I had a baby shower to go to for a woman at church. I made her a sweater and it turned out to be perfect--the baby's colors are green, navy, and brown, and I made a mint green sweater. The daddy to be requested two more (Can you guess the colors?) before the little tyke is born.

That afternoon, we had a book club meeting/potluck, a little goodbye to Anya, who's going to New York for the summer. Our book for this meeting was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who liked it, or at least I thought so until we discussed it. I figured out a few things throughout the course of the conversation, so I was quite happy about that.

As the evening wore down, we decided a move needed to be made, or it was time for pjs and bed. T, Adam, and I went out to Crazy Pianos (I told you I'm obsessed!). My quest to become BFF with all of the piano players comes further and further to fruition each time I go, and this outing was no exception. Adam (not my upstairs neighbor but the piano player from G.R.) and I chatted for a while and he hooked me up with a shot of tequila. I am not one to turn down such a gift, especially when that gift is from a cute boy who plays piano and has a great smile.

The best part was the two girls who were kind of stalking him were waiting for him at the back bar and eventually worked their way into his buis-nass. I'm certain that I saw the word "help" written in Adam's eyes, but I have no time to fool around with girls like that, and found the whole situation amusing anyway. It was a fun night and we ended up practically closing the place (a first for me and something I haven't done in ages).

Sunday was pool time and church, and I've been working out and working on stuff for the rest of the week. I'm trying to figure out next year, for both my juniors and seniors (yeah, still don't know what I'm doing there...). I've got this week and next before I head to migrant camp, and then a few days later it's London town!

This summer is going to go by very quickly, I can already tell, but I can't wait for London!!

Much love.

"Tropical Storm" is the new "Snow Day"

I can't even lie that Tropical Storm Fay was awesome. I had two days off and didn't even lose power. Yeah, it was amazing. But let's begin from the beginning, the first day of school on Friday. It went well, as good as can be expected, I suppose. I'm really quite excited about this year and it's so different to actually know the kids, rather than having to learn them all again.


Friday night we had a celebratory Happy Hour at Monte's for Mellie's first day/every one's first day. The night was fun but ended early for me, and I was cool with it. The shoes I wore gave me this evil blister of DEATH and I just couldn't bear to wear them any longer.


Saturday, T and I drove to Boca to visit Annie. Her place is really cute, and she cooked us a great lunch, and then we spent the day walking around this shopping area. It was great to see her and spend some time in her territory. Plus, I got some pear Jelly Bellies, one of the greatest substances on earth.


Saturday night, though, the party continued. The English Department party was at Mark's house and now I'm considering marrying him because his house is AMAZING. I'm just saying that he made his money BEFORE he started to teach, or he comes from money, 'cause that house was unreal and unattainable on my salary, I can tell you that. Anyway, the party was good times and we watched the Olympics so my life was awesome.


Sunday morning, Tiffany and I went on a secret spy mission and snuck into building G, where the pool and fitness center are. It was a long and arduous journey, but we were rewarded in the end with this...

Yes, ladies and gents, that's our pool. We even went in and stuck our fingers in the water. It was awesome, I can't lie. I can't wait for a secret late night pool party. Aww yeah!

Monday was a chill day. I did some cleaning and then played with iTunes until Andrew rescued me with the first of two Hurricane Parties. I went to Dianna's house and ate dinner (yum!) and played my first ever game of Guitar Hero. I'm kind of over it, I can't lie. I can't imagine people playing for hours and hours on end. I'd rather read a book, thankyouverymuch. Then one of the boys upstairs called me, and I headed up to hang with him and his previously unknown to me but extremely hot room mate. Win! Plus, I met my new best friend who promised to take me to Nicaragua next time he goes. Wooty woo! Good times. I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Tuesday I got my Guitar Hero wish and finally finished Their Eyes Were Watching God and I'm excited to teach it this year! I=NERD of life. Then T and I went to this magical place called The Mart to shop. It's the place where people who work for stores go to buy the items for their store, so you can get tons and tons of crap for cheap. Plus, the set up (and prevalence of Asians, for some reason) reminded me of being in Korea and I felt very at home there. It was great. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Tiffany and Dee playing Wii, and me dozing on and off, wishing I had a book. Again, nerd of life.

School today was fine, although I wasn't thrilled to be there. The kids were fine, though, and only two more days until the weekend! Fay is the best thing ever!!

Okay, back to Olympics action/reading my book.

Much love!

Newest Obsessions

It's been a kind of weird week. My glucometer dissappeared into thin air (seriously, it did) and I had to get a new one in a hurry. Luckily, the dude at CVS "knows a guy" and I got one for free. This was especially awesome because I was thinking my old trusty one would show back up, but no such luck. So free meter for me! It's tiny and green and super cute. Win! Plus, I got a random text from someone who I haven't talked to in ages (nor really had the desire to talk to) and it was just weird because I'm sure it was a mistake. It made me feel all awkward inside. lol Plus, I've tried to cut down on my TV watching (read: I'm limiting myself to two episodes of Take Home Chef a day because I'm obsessed) so I can actually accomplish stuff instead of being hypnotized for hours. It's working, so yay. Plus, I still get my 6'4" of Aussie goodness, so everyone wins.

Lately I've been a little bit obsessed with ADELE and Katy Perry. I can't fight it--I actually bought their stuff off iTunes; it's that serious. ADELE is chubby and British and her voice is totally sultry and sleek--amazing. She is awesome. And Katy Perry is the new Cindy Lauper--just feel-good jams that make you want to sing along. She does a cover of "Use Your Love" by The Outfield that makes my life amazing. I JAM to that in my car like it's my job. In fact, the other day, I'm driving to Tiffany's work and blasting that shizz and this dude next to me LOVED it. It was awesome.

Speaking of going to Tiffany's place of employment, I went because her, Dee, Sam, and I went to go see The Happening on Friday, the new M. Night Shamalyn (Shamalayan? Shamalaun? Shamalamadingdong? I dont' know...) movie. My issues were the following: too many story lines that weren't really tied together well, mucho mucho gore, lots and lots of death and my main beef: Marky Mark remaining fully clothed. Um... When there are brain harming toxins of death in the air, and you go outside, TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT AND USE IT AS A MASK MARKY MARK! DUH! Sooooo dissapointing. But I love Zooey Deschanel a lot, so my life wasn't that bad. In short, I don't reccomend it, especially not for a $10 ticket. BALLS.

Also too expensive? Gas. I'm kind of above paying $4 for a gallon... I'm about to be in a pinch, y'all. Serioulsy. I'm below a quarter of a tank.

Hmm, what else? Trying to be more active this summer than during the year. I'm trying to take Lancelot to the dog park twice a week (accomplished last week, awww yeah!) and take him for longer walks. We both could stand to lose a little bit of poundage, so that's the goal. Plus, I think I'm officially a size smaller and that gives me joy in my soul. Holla!

I went to the beach for the first time this summer on Friday. It was a mind over matter situation, too. I went to walk Lancelot in the a.m. and it was cloud-ish and gross, looking like it was going to rain but I said, "NAY! I'm going to la playa!" I even drove through a little rain (just sprinkles, but still rain) on the way there, but once I arrived it was so nice! Blue sky, no ominous rain clouds, it was great. Strapped on the iPod (Katy Perry and ADELE, lol) and layed in the sun. Sometimes, I guess, Miami is awesome. Sometimes. A little bit.

I head to migrant camp next Sunday for a week of madness, I'm sure. I don't even want to think of the confusion that will ensue... A week with Ms. D=mucho chaos, I can already tell.

I've also been rocking on my book this week and I can't wait to finish. I've been reading The Mists of Avalon since Avalon actually existed... or so it seems. And OMG emo Lancelot breaks my heart! *el sigh* I'm serioulsy going to have to decompress from this book. It appeals so deeply to my inner nerd that I want to belive it's real. I'm lame. Whatever.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Much love!

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.

"Sorry dude."--John

I'm sure you all want to know how my weekend was, right? Well, wait no longer. Here's the scoop.

Friday night was my last dance class, and I was a little bit sad, truthfully, but I can always go back if I get too bored and fat. I may go come next winter, when I'm still here... Balls. Moving on.

Saturday was my day with Lancelot, because he got the snip snip. Yes, friends, he is no longer a man. So while he had the surgery, I went to Suyu, one short bus ride away, and chilled out in Starbucks for a while, reading the new book I'm obsessed with. The Time Traveler's Wife. Ob sessed. Check it out. Anyway, then I walked around and ended up with a new tank top, a new coat, and a new shirt. Whatever, I was stressed, so I had to have some retail therapy. Whatever. Anyway, my boy did very well, and he has three bandages, but he's a little trooper. He was pretty pathetic yesterday, but today he's almost back to his old self, so that's good.

After I brought him home, I just sat around and watched Sex and the City and The O.C. all afternoon. Rachel came over for dinner, which I cooked, and it was nice to have company.

Today was a recheck at the vet (he's fine) another trip to Starbucks (whatever, it's fine) and a lunch with JohnandLindsay and The Americans who were staying with them. Yummy. We walked around Insadong for a minute, and I bought a jogsaw puzzle off the street because I am the coolest kid ever. :) Then Linds and I went to Apgujeong where we bought nose studs and I got two piercings. Whatever. They will turn into an orbital next month when I get the barbells changed to a hoop. And let me just mention that two piercings and three nose studs cost me $15. Hooooooooooot.

Another good weekend. :)

Back to work tomorrow. Poo.

Much love.