Wills and Wars

And now, the tale of the Three Trips Up North in One Week...

The first trip was to a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale for a small gathering of GVSU alum. The Athletic Director and his wife were in town for a conference/vacation, and a few alum were invited to have dinner with them. There were only four of us, but it was a lovely evening and it was great to hear about all the great stuff happening back in Allendale. I had scallops and mashed potatoes, and they were so good. I mean, I LOVE a damn scallop. And I love a damn Laker. :)

Toward the end of January and the beginning of February, a theater company called Shakespeare Miami does a production, for free, in local parks and venues. This year's show was A Midsummer Night's Dream and my good friend The Aussie was in it, as Robin Goodfellow, everyone's favorite mischief-making fairy, also called Puck. I actually saw the show twice, once in Pinecrest Gardens, former home of Parrot Jungle, and once up north in Hollywood with coworkers and Team Weaver. This was trip #2 for the week.

We had a little picnic, a little wine, and watched a little fairy mayhem ensue. The show was well done, an adequate amount of glitter without being over the top, and there were even some "special effects" that were fun. It made me realize just how crap our version of the play was in high school. Ahh well, you know better you do better, I guess. Free and well-done Shakespeare is still free and well-done Shakespeare, so yay.

Trip number three marked a day I'd been waiting for for a long time: The Civil Wars concert! When I found out they were coming to FLL, I was so excited! Plus, tickets were only $25, which is awesome.

The band sounds just as good live, if not better, than they do on Barton Hollow. The duo, made up of Joy Williams and John Paul White, haven't been around that long, but they sound like they've been singing together forever. Here's what we saw while we were waiting.

The two aren't married (to each other, anyway) but their voices marry perfectly. They have great musical chemistry as evidenced by this picture. Here they are, huddled around one mic and one guitar. :)

Just after the show, the group was nominated for several Grammy's AND we found out that Joy was actually pregnant with her first baby! How awesome! She is so darn cute when she sings I can't even take it. And JPW isn't bad on the eyes, either. He's like if Jonny Depp and Jack White from The White Strips had a baby. A hot, guitar-playing baby.

The duo sang every song I wanted to hear, including my favorites, BRILLIANT covers of "I Want you Back" by the Jackson 5 and "Disarm" by The Smashing Pumpkins.

Here's a little video of them singing one of their own songs, "I've Got This Friend."

This band is my newest obsession. Their music is just so... pretty. It's soothing and kinda sad, but just so beautiful. A while back I made my journalism class watch this music video, for their song "Poison and Wine" and write a review of it. I don't think they loved it as much as I do.

Teenagers. Bless.

Much love!

Why My Life, Both Literally and Figuratively, Rocks

This blog has been heavy on the concert news lately, and this entry will be no different. One of the many reasons my life rocks is because, well, lately anyway, it has rocked. See, last weekend was awesome.

Friday night was our department party, which was both delicious and fun. I get my tri-annual baked brie fix and I shook things up a little by bringing something other than taco pie. I made those appetizers my mom makes--the little breads with mushrooms, cheese, and crispy onions. They were a hit. :)

Two people in our department are leaving, one retiring and another moving to another school. It's sad to see them go--they're both wonderful people and teachers, and ILS will seem... strange without them. But it already seemed strange without this year's seniors so I suppose I'll have to deal. Schools are like that, I suppose--they have to change and I have to deal with it. But, our two dearly departed members will be missed, and I'll hold memories of our retiree smashing an alarm clock with a ball peen hammer close in my heart...mostly because it was hilarious and brilliant.

Now for the best part--the department party was moved from Saturday to Friday because of me. You see, I campaigned hard to change it so I could go to the James Taylor/Carol King concert on Saturday. I made GOOD choices, as I always encourage my students to do.

I went with my concert buddy Drew, and our seats were the cheap ones, so they were pretty far away. But, the way the stage was set up, they weren't bad. The stage was a circle in the middle that rotated, so everyone in the arena had a good seat at one point. It was pretty awesome.

We got there right as it was starting, and I had to pee during the first song, which was James singing "Something in the Way She Moves." Then Carol sang, "So Far Away" which was in my head for two days after. She sounds and looks better than she ever has, and "So Far Away" basically made me transcend to another plane of existence. It was so beautiful.

The pair sang all the big ones ("Up on a Roof," "Smackwater Jack," "Natural Woman," "Sweet Baby James," ) but had this really weird dynamic of a sad song ("Fire and Rain") followed by an earth shaker ("Steamroller" or "I Feel the Earth Move"). It was an emotional roller coaster! I'm crying about "Fire and Rain" and before my tears are even dry, Carols feelin' the earth move... And homegirl was FULL of energy. It was amazing.

They ended with "You've Got a Friend" like I knew they would. They came back for an encore as well, then outstayed everyone else in the band to do one last song, "You Can Close Your Eyes" which is one of my favorites. It's my lullaby.

It was an amazing night and I'm so happy I went. Drew and I both had an excellent experience just basking in the glory that was JT/CK. *sigh*

Here's the stage, with Carol at the piano and James rockin' some sweet guitar.

And here's the entire set up. I loved the photos in the middle just rotating... it was awesome.

The next day was Sunday, and my church held a service at The Fillmore, (where I saw The Swell Season and New Kids recently), and Jon Secada came for a free little concert. Even though it started 45 minutes late (UNacceptable!), it was a cool evening. The service was good and seeing Jon Secada was pretty cool. He didn't sound quite as good as I remember, but for a free show, it was cool. I can't believe I remembered those songs!

I couldn't manage to get a very good photo, but here it is.

The following "week" at school was fairly uneventful--it was finals week. My schedule worked out perfectly this year--I had the last two exam blocks off, so all my grades were in and done by Wednesday, and I had time to pack up my room and get everything squared away. The faculty lunch on Tuesday came out nice--my last event as part of Student Council. It'll be nice to not have to do it next year, and I won't have time anyway with school, but it'll be so weird to not be a part of some major events at LaSalle. I guess I'll still have to go, though, to get my fix. lol

Our gift this year was a laptop case, since we're all getting lap tops instead of desktops for next year. I kind of wish the school'd just given me $600 to pay for the laptop I already have, but whatever. The case fits mine so all is well.

This weekend was also pretty awesome. Friday night I had a little "going away" party, even though I'm coming back. A group of us went to Hollywood (up north a bit) to a restaurant called Taverna Opa. I've heard quite a bit about the place, including the words "belly dancers" and "dancing on tables." These statements turned out to be the truth.

The place is a Greek restaurant and the hook is that there are women--belly dancers--who dance on the tables, and encourage patrons to do the same. I rarely need encouragement to dance on a table--an invitation's really all it takes--but a little Uzo didn't hurt...

And with that, I climbed up on a table!

The restaurant is right on the water, so our view was beautiful, and the food was absolutely superb. I had roasted lamb that was so good, I asked our waiter if he could legally marry us (the lamb and I, not the waiter). I wanted to eat so much more of it than I did... not to mention the hummus (sooooo good!) and "Flaming cheese" we got as appetizers. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it!

After dinner we headed to the boardwalk to have a stroll and see the beach. I went down to the water for a minute and stuck my feet in, and we sat outside a country bar and watched semi-trashy tourists line dance. Priceless entertainment, my friends.

On our stroll, I found the other love of my life, my new boyfriend...

You can be jealous, I would be too. :)

Saturday my Russian Ballerina friend and I went to the ArtWalk in the Wynwood Art district. It's a pretty cool event, and it's free! You see, on this particular street or area are several art galleries. Every second Saturday of the month, they all open their doors and you just go and walk around them. There are all types of art in the galleries--paintings, sculptures, photographs, and each gallery is different. Some have free food and drinks, others have music or entertainment, and it's really cool and artsy. I even ran into some co-workers!

After the ArtWalk, we headed to a bar called The Electric Pickle to see a band play. The band was pretty good and did a rockin' cover of "Steal My Kisses" which I tried to explain, in Spanish, to a dude sitting near us who was commenting, in Spanish, about how good the band was. It was pretty funny, but I think I got my point across. :)

Well my friends, I'm about to embark on another adventure as I pack for Michigan and then head to Boston on Saturday. I'm looking forward to a summer of new experiences, people, and places. Stay tuned here to see what I get up to!

Much love.

A "Swell" Story of the Jacket of Destiny

Last weekend, I got a special treat. A friend from Michigan and her husband were in Key Largo for their belated honeymoon. They came up on Friday night for a little happy hour and dinner action, and we got to catch up. It was so great to see Sucker (and Jason too!!) and just talk and hang out. I still can't believe she's never been to Florida before! Crazy! But I kind of love this picture because we were laughing when T took it. :)

That Sunday, T and I went to the beach to hang out with a friend who's leaving Miami. It was so relaxing to just bake in the sun, and the water was so warm! There were tons of plants in the water so we didn't make it out too far, but chillin' in the shallow end has its perks too.

We stayed until the late afternoon and the tide started coming in, so we all began to build a moat to prevent water from getting our towels all wet. Mine was totally awesome--and effective.

As if all of that wasn't enough excitement, Monday The Aussie and I went to see a show at the Fillmore. I'm embarking on a one-woman campaign to keep that place open! I'm obsessed! But anyway, we went to see The Swell Season, a phenomenal band that began after the movie Once. The two actors/musicians from the movie, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, met while making it, fell in love (like they did in the movie), and formed a band. The song "Falling Slowly" from the film actually won an Oscar that year. Glen and Marketa have since stopped dating but they still make beautiful music together with The Swell Season.

Anyway, we went to dinner before at a Japanese place (that was delicious!) and as we were headed back to the theater, The Aussie realized she forgot her jacket at the table, so we turned around. This jacket, however, is no ordinary jacket. This was the Jacket of Destiny. As we retrieved the jacket and proceeded back to the Fillmore, who do I see coming around the corner but Glen Hansard himself! I go, "That's him. That's Glen."

"Huh, are you sure?" The Aussie replied incredoulsly.

"Yeah, that's Glen." At this point, I decided to pursue him, like ya do when you see a rockstar. I walked quickly, then ran a few steps, then went back to walking, then ran a few steps, until I was within speaking distance. "Excuse me," I began, "Are you Glen?" He said that he was, and I was like, "We're going to see your show in a bit!" We talked for a little bit, Glen claiming that the "spring break-ness" of Miami was a bit interesting, and then this other group of people came by and stole our moment, insisting on taking a picture with Glen. It was okay though, because then The Aussie and I made them take a picture of us with Glen. All of this was with much thanks to the powers of the Jacket of Destiny. :D

He was super cool to us and I loved his Irish accent a lot. :)

Anyway, we got to the show and our seats were pretty amazing, second section back right in the center. Not bad for buying them a week before the show! The opening act came out, a guy named Tristan Clopet, who apparently is friends with a friend of mine. Um, dude, next time you hang out with rock stars you LET ME KNOW. Kthanksbye. He was pretty good--guitar playing, singer/songwriter guy. He sang a song about his nephew and it was super adorable.

The Swell Season released a second album in October of last year (I think) called Strict Joy, and many of the songs they played at the show came from this album. They sang most of the songs I know from it, which was awesome. They opened with a song called "If You Want Me" and Marketa and Glen just switched back and forth between piano and guitar/microphone. They play together so well and even if they're not in love any more, their voices sure are. They just sound so perfect together. Glen's voice is kind of Bob Dylan-esque (if Bob, bless his heart, could sing) and she sounds like this haunting, ethereal bird or something. Just thinking back on it makes me wish I was there, again, in that room where magic was happening.

The pair talked to the audience quite a bit, and Marketa was shocked by the fashion choices of people (read: women) in Miami, and the fact that there was a roof top pool with a bar in it at their hotel. She called Miami "mental" but in the best possible way. Marketa's accent, by the way, is also extremely awesome. She's Polish (I think) and learned English in Ireland. Picture THAT combination! The Aussie decided that Marketa is her new best friend, and I couldn't agree more.

At one point in the show, everyone left the stage except the violin player (who is now my new boyfriend) and he played an old Irish tune as a solo. He had a CD out, apparently, and now I must track it down. It was a super cool moment, especially having just (0kay, not JUST but you know what I mean) returned from Ireland where I got to hear all kinds of music of that sort. *sigh*

Towards the end, the two sang "Falling Slowly" together. How cute are they?

They, of course, came back for an encore. First, it was just Glen who grabbed the guitar and stepped away from the mic and just wailed this song called "Leave" acoustically, which was amazing. Angry Glen is awesome. Then the rest of the band trickled back out for a few closing songs (it was a long encore!), and a little tribute to Bob Dylan, whose birthday it was. They sang "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" acoustically and everyone seemed to just be jamming and having a great time. It was the perfect way to end an amazing night.

I think my version of heaven will be that concert, on replay, for eternity. I can dig.

Much love, friends.

New Kids, New Friends

Dreams came true again when The Weave and I went to see New Kids on the Block at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater. It's definitely one of my favorite venues, certainly my favorite in Miami, and seeing the New Kids there was actually pretty awesome. The seats were General Admission, though, so we had to get there pretty early to wait in line.

Annie came down from Boca and we got ready and headed to the beach. We got there around 5 or a little after and made friends with the girls in front of us, who were all the way from Washington. Apparently the "New Kids Cruise" was departing the next day, and the show as a little appeteaser. Anyway, waiting in line was an experience and the ladies who were near us seemed pretty cool and not that annoying. At one point, Weave left to grab us some dinner. She bought us an $11 feast from CVS. It was kind of awesome. lol

The crowd at the show was a slice of humanity. There were cute, seemingly normal people (and by "people" I mean "women" because, like, what guy's gonna go to New Kids?) like The Weave and I. There were some people of questionable gender (jury's still out). There were people who thought they looked AWESOME and really just looked tragic. And then there were my favorite people (and by "favorite" I mean the opposite)--the whores. This one woman (who might have been a tranny) was wearing a corset and her boobs were almost completely exposed. Um... hi. I don't want to see some strange woman's nipples, thanks. Plus, she posed for a picture with her friend, and made a face sort of like this:

People watching was certainly a way to kill time before the show, and a source of endless entertainment. I did make friends with a short girl who promised not to date any tall boys, so that was a win.

The show itself finally began (after literally a 20 minute countdown clock) and it was great. I didn't really know how such a big show would translate to a small venue, but they did well. There were, of course, big lights and lots of flashy stuff and technical magic, lots of dancing, lots of nine and ten year old girls who are 20 years older now screaming--it was what you would expect. The guys still looked hot, of course.

They sang all the old favorites plus stuff from their newest album (which is now not so new but you get the idea). They also did this chill set in front of the curtain, with just a couple guys playing guitars and them singing. Kinda cool.

Jordan came out in the white shirt I remember from childhood, but there were no fans this time. Ahh well, he still looked hot.

Jordan, Donnie, and Joey all did solos (duh) but I made a discovery during Joey's--Joey has become completely gay. It was so weird. I mean, he comes out wearing tuxedo pants and a short tuxedo jacket with tails, and no shirt. THEN he sings "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics and "Twisted." And dances around with the microphone. I mean, don't get me wrong--he looked hot, but it was kind of out of control. Sue Sylvester from Glee would have approved is all I'm saying...

Anyway, at one point, the "Kids" went off stage and walked (heavily surrounded by large, large security men) to the middle/back of the venue (about 15 feet from us, BTW) and did a little ditty, and then walked back to the stage. I'm just saying, the white shirt in this picture is Jordan Knight. He was THAT close to us...

Magical. Of course, their last song was "Hangin' Tough" and it was full of lights and energy and memories.
I can't lie--I didn't really want to go to the show when The Weave first bought the tickets, but I had a great time and now I'm really glad I went. :)

The following Saturday, I saw The Weave again for her Preakness Party. Last year, she had a Kentucky Derby party which was actually pretty fun, but this year I think she was gone (I was too, actually). It was pretty fun--the guy who won was a Garcia, so that was awesome. There were some cool people there there too, and we ended up playing a pop culture game (my team won, woot!).

It was great to spend so much time with The Weave, and relive a little bit of my childhood. Again.

Much love.

Gettin' My Culture On

I've been getting my culture on lately. I've gone to several performances in the past couple of weeks. It kind of makes my nerd heart happy.

The first was an event my Russian friend invited me to. She's a Russian ballerina who works, at least at one of her jobs, for a non-profit that promotes the arts. Through her work, she got tickets to the Presidential Scholar's performances here, and I went to the dance/film one with her. It's basically a gathering of amazingly talented high school seniors that are up for the President's prize--apparently a very big deal. There were, if I recall, about fifteen dancers and five film makers who showcased their talents that night.

The film makers, for the most part, seemed pretty cool, and the dancers were mostly awesome. There was one kid who choreographed his own piece, and it was spectacular. As he was dancing it with his partner, I knew that something special was taking place. They were perfectly, and I mean EXACTLY, in sync with each other. That kid has amazing talent. If there is a single winner (a point I'm still unclear on), I hope it was him. There were even two tappers! I loved them, of course. The best part was the finale of "Single Ladies." You haven't lived until you've seen "Single Ladies" done in a tutu. Life. Changing. :)

Then that Sunday, I went to see a co-worker, The Aussie, perform in The Taming of the Shrew for Shakespeare in the Park. The performance as at The Barnacle (if you can remember that far back, I went there two Independence days ago). The show was great (and free), and even if the evening didn't go exactly as I planned (I got stood up... awesome), I had a great time with a friend, a bottle of wine, and my love, Willy S.

The performance was interesting, considering the subject matter of the play. At the end, Katarina gives a speech about how women should submit to their husbands and blah, blah, crap, so it's pretty tough for modern audiences to get it, or to relate to it and not hate it. The way it was played in this show was that Katarina was sort of in on the bet at the end--she was saying all that chauvinistic stuff to win the bet, not because she believed it. It made the play go down a little better. And The Aussie was great in the show--she seemed to play an Elizabethan, cartoon, version of herself. It was brilliant. And I loved her GIANT orange wedding hat. That thing was brilliant!

The next day, Monday, I went to the Panthers vs. the Thrashers at the Bank Atlantic Center, which some of you will remember is the site of realized dreams, where I met Donny, Danny, Jordan, Joey, and Jonathan. *sigh* Anyway, I heart hockey, and even though the Panthers are a far cry from my Wingies, it's still hockey. Or something like it. Unfortunately, Tiffany and I missed the only goal of the night because we were in the bathroom (bad decisions, clearly). We did, however, get nachos--the magical sort of "nachos" that are sold at sporting events and movie theaters that are really just chips and "cheese"--so all was well with the world. I was very grateful for another fun, free night of entertainment.

The next night, I went to see Eric and he showed me a magical little treasure of a place called SpecialTEA, a tea house out by FIU's campus. The place was brilliant. I had a decaf grapefruit tea that was DELICIOUS, and the food was good as well. It was great! If I went to FIU, I'd probably move in.

That Friday was Winter Formal, where, of course, I was a chaperon. Despite the dance floor smelling like Caesar dressing and teenagers sweating (you can't imagine how gross it was), the dance seemed to go well and the kids seemed to have a good time. We had to kick them out at midnight (a good sign) and didn't have to stay too late picking up. I didn't even take a picture, although it's sort of a tradition that I do. It really wasn't that exciting, I guess, and I was just happy to bring home a few roses and leave the hotel before 1 am.

The next day (I know, I know. The fun is exhausting, but stick with me!), Tiffany and I went to the South Beach Comedy Festival show called "Friends of the Daily Show." It was three stand-up comics: Rory Albanese, Rob Riggle, and John Oliver. Tiffany won free tickets to the show for recycling electronics on campus (I won a canvas bag and a DVD!), so it was awesome. I've been here three years now and always meant to go to a show for the Comedy Festival, and never managed it. But this year the stars aligned or something and I made it! The show was good, and it was great to see three comics instead of the standard one. All the guys were funny, although the acoustics of our seats were kind of... awkward. And I was sitting next to THE RUDEST people EVER. This one dumb you-know-what kept talking AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS about asinine garbage that had NOTHING to do with the show. AND she was on her cell phone CONSTANTLY. I just want to meet that girl's mother and slap her. And then slap her daughter. Luckily, they left after two comics.

The last guy, John Oliver, is British so I had a bit of a hard time understanding what he was saying, due to a thick accent coupled with the aforementioned awkward acoustics. I'm pretty sure he was funny though. A good laugh is always a welcome friend. :)

Then last Sunday were my last two culturally enriching events. My friend The Russian was performing in a show called "The Steadfast Tin Solider" at a children's theater here. She played The Ballerina (Remember I mentioned she is one?) and so we went to see her show. She did a great job (duh) and it was a cool show, definitely for kids, but a cool show. Although the mimey emo puppet guy was kind of creepy... Anyway, the best part was when she came to the side of the stage trying to look all somber, and then saw us and started smiling. :) It was cute.

After the show, we went to RA for some eats and drinks, but I couldn't stay too long because I promised a friend I'd go see his band, which turns out to be awesome, play. They played at a "Battle of the Bands" show at a pub called Churchill's, which I fell in love with immediately. It's this crappy little dive of a place, and apparently where Marilyn Manson played his first show ever. It's sort of historic for punk music, I guess.

So anyway, I headed out there with a friend and watched The Albany (this is me starting the buzz...) rock out. Turns out, they're great. I totally dug their stuff... Now if they'd only play on less school nights I could maybe become, like, a groupie or something. lol

I've had an amazing last week or so. I love being busy, and it's great that we had midterms all week and I don't have any grading at the moment because things are just getting started again. I need to take advantage of it!

See you all soon.
Much love.

Beaches and Castles

Since last we met I've been enjoying my last few days of freedom. Trouble is, I can't really recall with clarity what it is I've been up to! I should have done this blog thing earlier, so I could actually remember what I've been up to. I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast this morning (nectarine and toast?), let alone what I've been doing for the past two weeks. Give or take.

I can say that I've been to South Beach more times this summer than I have probably in the whole of my time down here. I went with the Aussies and Liz (*sigh*) and then I went last Friday AND Saturday as well.

Friday night, Tiffany had a family reunion of sorts with a relative (distant, I believe) who just moved down here. She lives on South Beach for the time being, and I had nothing else to do, so I accompanied Tiffany down there to meet up with this cousin. We got dinner at Sushi Samba, where I'd been once before and had THE most amazing sea bass ON THE PLANET. Like, seriously? Just typing about it right now is making my mouth water. I was in the mood for sushi but once we got to the restaurant, I couldn't NOT have the sea bass entree. Which I did. And I thought I'd died and gone to heaven it was so perfect. That damn fish was expensive, but worth it. The only complaint I had was that it didn't come with, like, a roll or something. Homegirl needs some carbs to wash down that protein! It was so good, though, and it's only made my hankering for the sea bass worse, not better! Boo!

After we ate, we drove down Ocean just to, I dunno, people watch and stuff. You can see some crazy stuff driving down Ocean Boulevard on a Friday night! So we did our "loser lap" (what high school kids call driving down the strip because they can't, legally, go in anywhere) and headed home to hang out with the neighbors for a bit.

Saturday I headed back out to SoBe for lunch with my friend Drew and his brother, who was visiting him, and his brother's fratty friends. We ate at Mango's, this completely touristy restaurant where the waiters and waitresses (scantily clad ones, of course) dance salsa on the bar. It's such a weird caricature of Miami tourism... it was a trip. I had a Cuban sandwhich, which was basically what everyone else had, and it was delicious. After that, we went to the Weam, the World Erotic Art Museum, which was a trip and a half. It was full of this gaudy, hilarious stuff, some of it quite old, relatively speaking. It was hilarious to see, and the fratties seemed to have a good time.

When I got home, Tiffany and I had our "rib date" and she made the last rack of ribs we had in the freezer. They were a bit spicier than the last batch, but very good anyway.

On Monday, I went up to school for a seminar on Salesian education given by Sr. Mary Greenan, a.k.a Sister Mary Guinness, an Irish nun raised in England and living in California. The seminar was basically on what Salesian education is, means, and looks like. She was a great speaker, and the seminar was pretty helpful. Turns out, even though I'm not Catholic, I'm a Salesian teacher. :) And Sister Mary was super cool, a totally chill nun who didn't even wear a habit, and after the second session on Tuesday we went out John Martins, the Irish pub we went to on St. Patrick's Day, and Sr. Mary got a pint of the Guinness she likes so much. Yeah, I drank beer with a nun. Awesome.

Today I wanted to see something touristy, so I went to the Coral Castle down in the Redlands. It's this crazy mix of the Taj Mahal and, like, Stonehenge--a mysterious tribute to love. See, this guy Ed Leedskalnin from Latvia fell in love with this girl, Agnes, 10 years his junior, who called off the wedding the day before it was to take place. So Ed moved to the states, eventually settling in Florida due to TB, and built a castle made of coral for himself, Agnes, and the family he envisioned having with her. She never saw his tribute, which he built at night. The amazing thing about the castle is that Ed, who was only five feet tall and 100 pounds, moved the coral, which weights 125 pounds per square foot, all by himself, never revealing his methods.

The castle, which has been moved from its original site in Florida City, has other mysteries as well. For example, these numbers are found on both of the door frames of the little room where Ed lived as he was constructing the castle.

No one knows what they're for, or what they mean.

This is the view from Ed's lair, the whole castle grounds.

This is the throne room, complete with thrones for Ed, Agnes, and a child. There's also an uncomfortable throne, less well made, for the mother-in-law.

This is the obelisk. It is the tallest structure on the property standing at 28 feet. It also contains a carved stone in the middle that is completely hollow, carved with the made and moved dates of the castle, and Ed's birth year and city. No one knows what, if anything, is inside this hollow stone. It remains another mystery of the Coral Castle.

This is one of Ed's inventions--the first crock pot! It's two car parts fit together, and the food goes inside and cooks over the fire.

This is the Feast of Love table--presumably where Ed dreamed he and his Agnes would enjoy meals. It is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Largest Valentine, weighing in at 2, 500 pounds.

The Coral Castle was cool to see, and I'm glad I went.

Finally, I have a new obsession. It's a singer named Diane Birch, who is like a Carly Simon cupcake with Carol King filling, Janis Joplin frosting, and Joni Mitchell sprinkles on top. Her album, Bible Belt, has been the soundtrack of my life for the past couple of weeks. You can watch her video for "Nothing But A Miracle" here. This song is SO AMAZING!

My last week of freedom... *sigh* Monday it's back to the grind. Kids' first day is Friday!

Much love.

The Tommy Story

God is trying to tell me something, I'm convinced of it.

First, there's the Holt run-in in Costa Rica, the most seemingly random event of life EVER. And then, there's what happened on Saturday, what shall henceforth be known as "The Tommy Story."

So a new piano bar called Crazy Pianos opened up last week in Coconut Grove. Anyone who knows me knows I love a demon piano bar and I've been looking for once since I moved down here. My prayers were answered and so a bunch of awesome people from work and I went there on Saturday to rock out.

There were these semi-creepy paintings on the wall of random celebrities. They were... weird. Oprah was watching over us the whole night. Anyway... So we sit right in front of the pianos--I have a direct eye-line to one, and Tanya has a direct eye-line to the other. We're sitting there, and I look at the piano player and I think to myself, He really looks like Tommy from RumRunners. But he can't be, so I move on.

Then the other piano player, the one in Tanya's eyeline, says, "Let's give Tommy a hand!" To which I think, SHUT UP! Then I look closer at him--he's wearing a hat so it's hard to tell--but he really DOES look like my Tommy. At least, what I remember Tommy looking like. I tell the table of my suspicions, and they're all like, "Yeah, yeah, sure it is." They, as Alishea would say, had "no" in their hearts but I had yes. I really had yes.

I had to know if it was Tommy so I grab a request paper (it's a napkin in this case, classy and raunchy at the same time) and write my requests along with "Are you from East Lansing/RumRunners?" on it. Just as I go to take it up, he switches out and I'm like, Balls! Luckily, though, we not only sat by the pianos, we also sat by the bar, which is where ever piano player goes after a tough half an hour of singing and tinkling the ivories. I can't miss this opportunity, so I dart out of my seat and practically attack him. Turns out, it WAS Tommy, my Tommy, from RumRunners. I had "yes" in my heart; I believed, and it was true. Another home-towner shows up in my life, another seeming coincidence. Too bad I don't believe in coincidences.

Anyway, here's a picture of Tommy and I.

Clearly he's very busy and popular. Clearly.

Anyway, it was a great night and we had a ton of fun. I needed a piano bar for my soul. :)

Sunday, as many of you are aware, was Mother's Day. I have not been in the same place as my mother on Mother's Day for about four years, so I called her and sent a card, pretty standard procedure. But my celebration did not end there. My friend Yesi invited me to hang with her family (some of whom are Garcias) and celebrate. There was food, wine, and X Men Origins: Wolverine. How could I say no? So of course I didn't!

Turns out, her uncle used to be part of Miami Sound Machine (yeah, with Gloria Estefan) and there were pics of him rocking out 80's style in the hall. Yesi's grandfather looks like my Abuelo looked, which leads me to belive that all Cuban grandfathers are the same. When I left, he welcomed me to the family. I even got left overs!

All in all, a great weekend.

Monday I attended a seminar on Socratic Circles--how to do them, how to use them, that sort of thing. It was great because a) I learned a lot of practical stuff I can't wait to use next year AND gained resources, 2) I didn't have to go in to work, and d) I had lunch with my friend Drew who lives out that way. Plus, it only took me about 45 minutes to get home, which is awesome 'cause I thought it would take an hour and a half. Woot!

Much love.

The long awaited Costa Rica post... and several other important events

Let me explain my lack of posting about my amazing trip to Costa Rica. I came home to a box (literally) of research papers, about 90 of them, weighing over ten pounds. I have been grading them like a mad woman and have only recently made my way to the surface of the ocean of papers I've been drowning in. Which is not to say that I am done grading--this is not nearly the case. But I AM done with the research papers, and good riddance to them. My only consolation is that almost everyone did horribly and no one got higher than a 90%. Idiots.

My trip was... wonderful. Truly, truly wonderful. I was apprehensive at first because I didn't know what kind of people would be in my group (I thought it would be all golden oldies) but it turned out we had a great mix. I wouldn't have traded any of them (okay, maybe three of them but no one else!) for anyone. I now have a ton of friends in New York and New Jersey, and they all want me to be their daugher in law. Score!

The country itself is beautiful--a perfect mix of volcanic mountains, lush rainforest greenery, and blue ocean water. The wildlife there is amazing as well--toucans, poison dart frogs, four species of monkey, huge grasshoppers--all of which I saw when I was there. There are nine active volcanoes in the country and we saw two of them.

This is the first, Poas volcano. This is the lake in the crater at the top. That cloud is steam. The whole way up it was hard to breathe, because of the sulfer fumes in the air. My lungs were burning and I felt like I'd been smoking for 20 years. Still, the view was worth it, and eventually my lungs got used to being poisoned. I'm sure the permanent damage is rather minimal...

This is one of the lagoons near the summit. Beautiful.

My favorite place was this little place called Tortuguero. We had to get to it by boat, and it's this tiny little strip of a place where the town, San Francisco, was basically around for tourists. There's a turtle station there, but we didn't get to see any because it's not their nesting season. Anyway, we stayed at these little cabins in the woods and howler monkeys woke us up at about 5 am both mornings. I didn't mind. ;) After they woke us up, they used the trees around our cabins, and the roofs of the cabins themselves, for a jungle gym! They were so close! I tried to coax one into my cabin so I could bring it home, but they wouldn't come. I guess I should've used bananas...

This is me on the porch of my little cabin. That rocking chair was amazing! This is how I spent the very early hours of Easter Sunday, sitting on my porch thinking and journaling about the trip.

After Tortuguero, we went to a pineapple plantation. It's the place that supplies pineapples to the Collin Street Bakery, which is apparently in Texas. The guy taught us how to pick the perfect pineapple (all I ever thought was wrong!!) and he gave us samples of a pineapple that he cut. Right in front of us. With a machete. Talk about fresh! It was SOOO GOOD. Of course. Now, I've seen the Dole Plantation in Hawaii (far superior) but still, free pineapple makes me happy. Yay pineapple!

This is Arenal volcano, the second we saw. The day was amazingly and miraculously clear and we could almost see the peak. All that white vapor isn't clouds, it's steam coming from the peak of the volano. Our tour guide, J.P., said this was a rare sight! We acutally had amazing weather the whole trip and for spending several days in the rainforest, it only rained once, and it was on our way back to our cabins so it didn't really put us out. Amazing, right?

The whole trip was just an amazing experience and a huge blessing in my life. I really needed to get away from everything and everyone, and Costa Rica was the perfect way to do that. I met wonderful people and saw fascinating and beautiful things. It was awesome in the true sense of the word.

I do have one crazy story from the trip, though. The second night at our hotel, which was Good Friday, I'm sitting in the "restaurant" enjoying dinner with a fellow traveler. All of a sudden, these two young ladies walk in and one looks extremely familiar to me. I can't place her though. The second lady turns around and BOOM! They're two girls I went to high school with! They weren't in my class, they're a bit younger than me, but still. Three HHS grads randomly meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica at a Holiday Inn restaurant. What are the odds? I couldn't even believe it!

Of course, I took many, many pictures on the journey. Four albums of pictures are posted on Facebook. The first one is here. The second, here. Numero tres? Here. And last but certainly not least, number four is here. Check them out because these few don't even begin to cover what I saw and experienced there.

Last week Thursday I went to see Ray LaMontagne with my friend Drew, who I converted to the ways of Ray. It was at the Fillmore on South Beach and we sat IN THE FIFTH ROW!! I could NOT belive my luck! Granted, I did get presale tickets, but still. These seats were only bested by my second row Jason Mraz seats on Halloween. Anyway, he sang "Hold You in my Arms," which I will one day dance to at my wedding, and I know that he sang it to me. Clearly. He also sang Drew's favorite, "Jolene." He sang almost every song I wanted to hear (but let's be real, I wanted to hear them all) and the show was just... perfect.

Here's what fifth row looks like:

*sigh* I love him SO much, and have wanted to see him live for about three years. He barely speaks to the audience and doesn't even stand in the middle of the stage. I really think he has anxiety or something, but who cares? He's amazing. The opening act was also awesome, Jessica Lea Mayfield. Drew bought me the CD, so she and I are becoming friends. She sounds like a Zooey Deshanel/Mazzy Star combo, Drew and I decided. She was good.

The next day, I slept in because I was chaperoning Grad Bash. Remember last year when I went to Disney, got in for free, got a fast pass for nearly every ride, AND got a stipend for going? Yeah, this year I did it again but it was at Universal. It was outstanding. Here's the group I hung out with most of the evening. How cool is it that I work with cool gals such as these?

Before the park opened, there was a "pre-party" at this paino bar (sans alcholol for the night, however) where there was food and pianos for the chaperones. We sat down to chill and eat (there wasn't much else to do at this point) and were dubbed "the party table" by the paino player. I'm sure people thought we broke the "no boozing" rule, but no, we just know how to party it up in the MIA! It was super fun!

We basically walked onto every ride. I rode The Hulk and Dueling Dragons, my first up-side-down roller coasters. The Hulk was intense but super fun! The Mummy ride was totally the best and we went on it twice, which you can totally do when you don't have to wait in line. How will I ever go to a park and deal with having to stand in line forever? I've been spoiled, clearly!

Pics of both events are posted, again, on Facebook. Click here for more Ray/Grad Bash photos.

Whew! Finally getting this posted is a Costa Rican howler monkey off my back!

Much love, y'all!

Food, Wine, and Flights

A couple of weekends ago we had Food and Wine By the Bay at school--a fund raiser for the Salesian Summer Camp they do on campus each summer. Tickets were $40 each, but teachers got one for free. Now, I am certainly not above free food OR free wine, so, of course, I went. A few other teachers went too, as you can see from this photo:

We were happy. :) The food was pretty good, too--appetizers and hors 'd overs from all sorts of restaurants, most of which were delicious. Win! After, T and my neighbors and I went out to Gordon Biersch, a brewery downtown, and chilled for a while. There was a slight miscommunication (T went to hang with some MBAers but got the date wrong) but it turned out okay anyway.

In other news, last night Alishea, Bree-Anna, some other folks, and I went to see Flight of the Conchords at the Bank United Center on UM's campus. For anyone who doesn't know, FotC are "New Zealand's 4th most popular folk band" and have a show on HBO. They're basically two Kiwis who sing funny songs and are adorable.

Our seats were great (score one for me!) and the show was great--hilarious, quirky, intimate, and awesome. Now, for the documentation...

Here are Bree-Anna, Ali, and I at the show. I wore my Shakespeare shirt because I knew Jemaine would appreciate it. I love him!

The opening act was Kristen Schall, who plays Mel, the band's biggest--and only--true fan. She was pretty funny, and her comedy is different. She uses props, which I haven't seen much of, but she was pretty funny. Her special was just on Comedy Central last weekend, and I watched it, so that was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting that at all! I enjoyed her act, and we didn't even have to wait for the guys to come out after, they just walked right on. That. Was. KEY! I hate waiting around for the headliner to come out whil they switch all the equipment.

The guys came out with Robot heads on, very fitting if you know anything about them. The closest to the foreground is Jemaine, the furher away is Brett. Both are super cute, but Jemaine is my guy. :)

And here the guys are singing, sans robot heads and shiny coats. I don't remember the song but I'm sure it was funny.

The show was a great way to almost begin spring break, but it didn't officially start until 10 a.m. today. I stayed at school working and moving for about another hour, and now I'm home and getting ready to go. I'm almost all packed (this might be a record), Lancelot is washed and ready to head to his vacation home, and I'm working on cleaning up after myself so I can come home to cleanliness.

I take off at noon tomorrow and will get back the 18th at around 5. I'm excited! Costa Rica, here I come!

Much love.

So Much Excitement!

So many amazing things are happening in my life right now! I am feeling very blessed. But more on my big news later... gotta build up that anticipation!

First order of business, Royal Idol, ILS' yearly talent show, was last Thursday. After a great deal of brainstorming and failed but brilliant ideas, Mellie and I pulled of a great performance. We did a "music video" (basically re-creating the video or lip syncing to a song) to a song called "That's Not My Name." We basically did a play on the fact that all the Ms. Garcias are constantly getting another's papers. There is a video that exists, but it hasn't been sent to me yet, so pics will have to do for now.

This is at the beginning, shuffling our papers...

And for our grand finale, Ms. Garcia senior and Mr. Garcia (a school-wide celebrity) came out and shuffled papers with us. It was super fun and entertaining, which was the whole point.

Last year's winner of Royal Idol was a freshmen singer (she was one of mine, too!) and this year's winners were also freshmen. I totally called that they were going to win the day they auditioned, and I was pleased to see that I was right. They were freshmen dancers who krupmed (I think that's the official type of dance). It sounds violent, but it was actually really cool.

In other news, last weekend I got to be on the main stage at church playing Esther in the Bible story. Super fun, as always.

Last night were parent/teacher conferences. A couple of parents that I wanted to see came, but the rest were all the parents who always come even when their kids are doing well, like my parents always did. I'm happy to do it, and I think it's necessary, but I just wish the parents of the kids who need it would show up. But then again, if the parent's gave a crap, maybe their kid wouldn't be failing/a pain in my butt/a waste of space/annoying/"special. *sigh* It can be pretty frustrating, especially after 13 consecutive hours at work.

Speaking of, even though we have today off, I'll be at school tomorrow for the SALTT Dance-a-Thon. Last year, if you recall, my team and I won. This year team Austin Powers is planning to do the same. Now if I could only find a bald cap...

Enough of that stuff, on to my exciting news. First, I'll be heading to Costa Rica for spring break! I booked a Caravan tour leaving on April 9th and returning the 18th. Everything is taken care of on the tour: all food, accomidations, even transfers to and from the airport. I'm really excited and can't wait!

Second is more travel news. I was accepted into a Gildher-Lehrman Institute summer seminar at OXFORD!! Yes, THE Oxford! I'm finally going to England! The best part? I'm paying very little--they give each participant a $500 stipend, and cover all food, lodging, and books once I'm there. I can NOT believe it! I'm still a little bit in shock...

It's all happening.

I am SO blessed!

Much love.

Things started off slowly... but ended up in Heaven!

Halloween weekend was... epic.

Since Halloween fell on a Friday, I really wanted to make the most of the night and live it up, but I feel I misjudged. I ended up hanging out with Ali and a couple other teachers from school, and heading to parties all night. Not particularily what I wanted to do, but I made the most of it. I experienced Halloween in Miami and I never need to do it again. I'm not a big fan in general, but I gave it the old college try so whatever.

I come from a tradition of choosing a costume based upon how many layers of clothing can be worn underneath, to prevent frostbite on a cold October night. In Miami, costumes seem to be based upon how little one can wear and still be in public without being arrested. Let's be honest here, a white bra and panties with red crosses on the boobs and butt is NOT a nurse costume. It's just not. Am I too literal for Halloween or have I just lost my sense of fun?

Either way, no me gusta once and for all. Next year, I'm all about handing out some candy and watching Rocky Horror (note to self, PURCHASE Rocky Horror...). This year, however, I put on my party pants and dressed up like a flight attendant. Observe...

LaSalle teachers are a little bit awesome.

There are SOME aspects of Halloween I enjoy, namely carving pumpkins (and eating the roasted seeds YUMMMM) and dressing up Lancelot. These were celebrated with style this year.
Can you guess which one is mine? And seriously, how good does it look?

Yep, I even took that baby to school one day and my kids didn't belive I'd done it myself. Some of them had never even carved a pumpkin before! That, my friends, is child abuse.

Speaking of abuse...

I'm fairly certain my dog hates me. But doesn't he look SO CUTE?? He's a hot dog! And a dog! Amazing.

So Halloween was not my favorite, but Saturday, November 1st, was perhaps the best day of my life to this point. You see, my 4th grade dreams came true and I MET NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!! Danny Wood (oh yeah, the New Kid) was in the office on Friday (seriously, I turned around from the copy machine and he was just THERE) and I'd been begging EVERYONE for a damn backstage pass, and there was an extra one... and the ladies in the office gave it to me because I practically died once he was gone and I couldn't control myself. The office ladies at ILS are. The. Best.

So I got the pass and freaked out, not even caring that I had to work on Saturday (Open House can suck it). Luckily, Open House got out early so I had plenty of time to drive to Boca to meet the rest of the crew (The Weave Duo and The KG), get ready, and head to Ft. Lauderdale to meet the "Kids" at 5.

So I got there on time, and after they figured out what to do with me, I ended up waiting about an hour to go inside, and then another 20 or so minutes until the guys came out. Joey was first, and then Danny, and Jordan, Joey, and Donny after that. One of my students was actually with them as they walked out. Her life is amazing.

So here's how it went down. I had made friends with the girls in front of me in line, and we all went together to meet them. When it was my turn (we were second, holla!), I went up to Jon first and shook his hand and said hi. Same with Donny. Then, the Holy Grail, Jordan Knight, the love of my life since I was about 9. I go about things the same way.

Me, with my hand out for a shake: Hi
Jordan: Hi. I like your hair.
Me, trying to retain self-control: Thanks.
At this point, I put my hand on Danny's arm (HUGE arms, too) and tell him that I teach at ILS and to thank him for the ticket, but the girl I'd met had hugged him and her necklace was stuck on his shirt and it was HelloAWKWARD! But while I'm talking, Jordan, my love, like, nudges Danny to say, subtly, "Hey man, this hot chick is trying to talk to you." It was awesome.
So then the picture's about to go down and I say to Jordan: I'm gonna stand by you.
Jordan: Damn girl! You're tall!'
Me: Yeah.
Jordan: It's not a bad thing!
Me: I'm a fan.
Jordan, laughing: I'm a fan!
At this point, I think Danny was also totally amused by my hilarity but all I could think was "OMG I MADE JORDAN KNIGHT LAUGH AND HE LIKES MY HAIR I'M GONNA PASS OUT SOON!!!"
At this point, the pictures had been taken and Danny says, "So you teach Anthony and Danny?" To which I replied, "I don't teach them but I know Anthony and he's a really good kid." Danny was happy to hear this, as any parent would be. And let me just take this moment to say that 18 years ago, I thought Danny was a hideous creature, but now, after seeing him up close, and realizing that his children are two decent human beings, I like him a lot more. He might even be my second favorite New Kids. Anyway, then I walked to Joey, who was on the end, shook his hand and said hi, and walked away.

It. Was. AMAZING.


I still can't believe it happened. How am I so lucky? Like, seriously. The starts alligned, and my 4th grade dream came true. If meeting Tori Amos didn't prove to me that dreams are possible, this moment did. It would do me well to remember that in other aspects of my life.

The show itself was great. Lady Ga Ga opened (whatever) followed by Natasha Bedingfield. Let me say one thing: that girl can siiiiiiing. You can't really her it on her songs because they sound really produced and mixed, but she can really sing. I was totally impressed. I was also impressed by the fact that they got that shiz DONE. It was only about 15 minutes between acts--dudes weren't messing around. That, itself, was amazing because at most shows, you have to wait for AGES for the headliner to show. Oh no, not NKOTB.

The guys sang a bunch of old songs and maybe five of the new ones--the perfect mix. At one point, they left the main stage and went to a smaller stage 20 FEET FROM OUR SEATS! I'm certain that Jordan saw me, as I was pretty much towering over everyone near us. My students certainly saw me, as they all couldn't wait to accuse me on Monday. Whatever. They don't even KNOW.

They don't understand what it was like. I've loved Jordan Knight as long as they've been ALIVE. I remember, as clearly as if it was yesterday, when Jordan was on stage alone, in an open white button down shirt, and a fan was blowing, and he was dancing and singing and my 4th grade heart felt something it had never felt before--love. That moment has been etched into my memory since that day, and when Jordan came on stage Saturday, in an open, white, button down shirt, looking as amazing as ever, my life was complete. It was so beautiful I could weep thinking about it.

I mean, look at the pretty... Just LOOK at the pretty.

At one point, during the second encore as NKOTB was singing "Hangin' Tough" I stopped to look around at the audience. During the appropriate time, everyone's--and I mean everyone's--hands were in the air and waving in synchronicity. It was so cool--everyone in that room was having the same moment I was having. I couldn't even watch the song, I just kept watching the audience. To be totally redundant--it was so cool.

After a glorious evening of dreams coming true, we got an extra hour of sleep (hello falling back) and Annie made us breakfast. We also went out to explore Boca, and we took a few pics. Here's what girls whose dreams have come true look like.

I'm telling you, this past weekend was the most fun I've had in a long time.

I so needed it.

Much love.