early november ramblings

sometimes when i'm driving i think of things i want to blog about. they all leave my brain the second i walk in the door... why IS that?!

i know i at least wanted to celebrate two things:
1. last night was my final GED class for the semester. i don't start again till february. my students were REALLY grateful and they all improved on their post-tests! 2. on saturday i'll be taking my 2 final certification exams. once i pass those, there's just one simple application standing between me and all those elementary ed. positions. wahoo!

this weekend my friends are planning a progressive dinner. it'll be my first since college & i'm wicked excited. we're doing thanksgiving style; our house is the base for the full meal!

speaking of thanksgiving, this one will involve a lot of firsts-- 1st time staying in mom/dad's new [HUGE!] rhode island house, 1st time driving from philly to RI in holiday traffic [or any traffic, for that matter...], 1st time bringing a boyfriend to any holiday with my family. zoiks!
[isn't this photo adorable? i just decided to share abby's chair& she scooted right over to make room for me~]

i LOVE being home

[the AWESOME photo behind my blog title was taken by my friend christiane]


it's sooooooo wonderful to be at home for an entire weekend! it gives me opportunities to see lots of people i love, to enjoy fall weather, and to finally breathe...


last night my friend julie, her husband duane, and their 3 darling kids came over for s'mores. melissa and my friend rebecca joined our little bonfire~

two years ago

i was just starting my year of adventure in japan. i took lots of photos during the fall season & they continue to take my breath away...

the swine flu won

my best friend is brilliant! H1N1 halloween costumes!!! <3dr. turk and JD made sure we didn't spread our sickness around too much~
[i'm like "joel, what are you doing in this picture??" he goes "making sure you're ok". haha]
we planned to be the black eyed peas as a back-up plan. good thing we didn't!!


[the party was super fun. everyone thought we were hilarious. lots of my friends showed up. the weather was SO awesome (no coats necessary!). i've never had such a great halloween~]

this always happens...

...when my co-worker is home sick, i'm bored to tears during lunch time. and i always update my blog. haha.

i was just cleaning up some books off the floor next to our classroom library. one of my favorites caught my eye, so i decided to do another post about children's books. in no particular order, here are few good ones:

1. officer buckle & gloria. an absolutely hilarious story about a police officer and his funny k9 who does tricks to make boring safety seminars more exciting for the kiddos! 2. a chair for my mother. i used to have this book when i was a little girl & i love it just as much now! [p.s. they have a spanish version, too: un sillon para mi mama] 3. click, clack, moo, cows that type. so cute & funny~ 4. miss nelson is missing. ok, i'm obviously biased b/c this book is about ME. it was one of my favs when i was little & we have TWO copies in our class library. i always recommend it to my students. they laugh. and they think i'm clever. and then they don't borrow the dang book.

how embarassing. and fun!

a few weeks ago my [girl]friend invited me to this halloween party. i said i couldn't go... mostly b/c i don't really like halloween [it's a kids' holiday; i can't think creatively about costumes; people get obnoxious on halloween; i'm lazy; all sorts of good reasons to dislike halloween, right?].

and partly b/c i thought i'd have plans with someone else. and i did. that someone else invited me to a halloween party. and i said yes. granted, i whined about not having a costume idea, but i absolutely couldn't say no to him.

about an hour later i realized it was probably the same party. so i checked facebook later that night. and it was. [oops-- how embarassing!] i quickly emailed my friend to explain the situation. she was so very kind & just said she was glad we'd get to see each other. WHEW!

so nowwww melissa and i are planning our hilarious costumes. NOT gonna announce them yet, but pictures will be posted this weekend.

cheers to meg&kyle

two of my very favorite friends got married 10 days ago.

their wedding was phenomenal. the ceremony was so unique & musical. [jim & kyle relived their days as musical roommates!] we partied in a barn [basically my dream come true!]. my college favorites were all there. the food was the best wedding food i've ever tasted. they had a photo booth. we danced for a wicked long time. i got a TON of good hugs [plus one awkward one from kyle, but i truly didn't mind this time!].
i'm soooo dang excited for them to have a new life together. they are such hilarious and loyal friends... i know their marriage will be full of love & fun!