2010 "Blizzard"

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the city hunkered down in preparation for the blizzard that was headed our way! The schools closed down for the afternoon, businesses closed and the grocery stores were full of people stocking up on their emergency supplies! The storm blew in quickly and I happened to be out in it, picking Nate up from work! We snapped these pictures on the drive home with my cell phone.






The end result of the "blizzard" was kind of a let down, but it was nice to have a cozy night in while the snow fell and the wind blew!!

Merrill Cazier Library

I spent a lot of time at the library this Semester and throughout my hours of studying, broke out my phone and snapped a few pictures to break up the monotony of studying and lesson plan writing!

This first picture was taken at 7:00 (literally) in the morning! I was the first student let into the library (I was there before the doors were unlocked)! The library & I got to be pretty good friends this Semester!






Anyway, there ya go!!

... we are grateful for ...

November 1st: Caffeine ... (it has been a really long day)
November 2nd: Quick & easy dinners
November 3rd - November 13th: We are grateful to have survived the last ten days of seriously stressful schedules and hope to make it through the next ten. We are also grateful for take-out, Zicam, Advil and our Chiropractor.
November 14th - November 20th: We are grateful that we survived my head teaching week! 40+ hours at the Child Development Lab, plus work and homework made for a very busy 6 days, but we survived, and we are extremely grateful for that!
November 21st - November 25th: Is it cheating that I'm combining all of our days together? Too bad if it is, because that has been our life lately! We are grateful that we have been able to re-coup and to spend some time together!
November 26th to the end of November: We are grateful that we survived November! We had a fabulous Thanksgiving and have much to be grateful for!

Our Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we headed out to my parents house!

We spent the afternoon eating a yummy Thanksgiving Dinner:


We skyped with my sisters and their kiddos,

And we played a very humbling game of Hand & Foot (my mom & I got schooled)!


We witnessed a truly spectacular Thanksgiving Sunset:


We went to my aunt's house for a few minutes to visit with family from Idaho,

And we spent the evening at Nate's brothers house with his family who was in town! We were able to skype with his parents & brother as well, making our day complete!

We had a fabulous day with our families and are so grateful for them and the blessing that they are in our lives!

... grateful ...

I have a long list of things that I am grateful for this year! Included in that list is my wonderful husband - the love of my life, our Rascal, our families and our wonderful friends! The saying that "I am a part of all that I have met" keeps popping into my mind as I think about my loved ones and those that have influenced me and the person that I have become!!

I hope that all have a wonderful Thanksgiving day and that you will be surrounded by those that you love and those that love you!

Sisters Weekend Vegas Style - 2003

Yup! You guessed it! I'm gunna reminisce again! I've been missing my sisters a lot lately and when I found these pictures as I was browsing through my computer last night (because now I have time to do things like that), I couldn't resist a post!!


In May of 2003 we all met up in Vegas for our Sisters Weekend!! It seems like it was such a long time ago, in fact, if you look closely, you can see that Jess & Amanda were pregnant with Hallie & Indy - and it's really hard for me to imagine a world with Hallie & Indy, so yes, this was forever ago!!

We booked a room at The Excalibur and spent a wonderful long weekend shopping, lounging by the pool, and seeing the sights that Vegas had to offer!


Ha Ha. I remember Jenny and Amanda saying that they wanted to get a picture with some "Roman Guards" - they got the "ok" from the guys and then pushed me into the picture. I was slightly mortified! Aren't sisters the greatest?


I don't know whose idea it was to kiss the bear. Really, this is quite a silly picture.


I promise there was no drinking at our sister's weekend. The flash in this picture obviously caught me off guard... but look at the Eiffel Tower behind me!!


Amanda & Jen Fen!


Takin' a tour of the M&M Factory - because you can't go to Vegas and not see the M&M Factory!


Stopping for a sugar rush on our shopping day!! This picture doesn't show the many bags that were sitting at our feet! Hooray for outlet malls!!


There goes that flash again...


Sassy ladies @ the Mirage!


Lord of the Dance = Amazing! To quote Chandler Bing, "their legs flail about as if independent from their body!"

We had such a great time on our trip! I am blessed to have such wonderful sisters and to know that despite the miles that are between us, we still love one another and there isn't anything we wouldn't do for each other!

That being said, I suppose I ought to give my little bro a shout out too! Love ya Blake - but until you find a wife, no one from your house will be invited to our sisters weekends ;)

... We Made It ...

My Head Teaching Week is over!!! We made it! This week included a lot of advil, vitamin C, Theraflu, fast food restaurants and 9:30 bedtimes, but we made it! Overall it went pretty well and I am so grateful for Nate and for ALL of his help! I literally could not have done it without him!

... my new home ...

technically, i don't sleep here, but over the last several weeks, i seem to spend all of my time here.

what kinds of things do i do here? i play tag, i dig for buried treasure, i explore the jungle, i create art, i watch, i listen, i work hard and i laugh.

today (a saturday) i spent six hours here. i spent a little time with this guy:


(he is a madagascar hissing cockroach - and yes, he really does hiss)


and i made sure these two were fed:


(mr. furret. yes, that is his real name)


(licorice)

this is the child development lab. this week, i will be the head teacher. scary? not so much. hard? not so much. time consuming? extremely. exhausting? completely.

today was the first of my prep days. nate built an awesome igloo (i'll post a picture once it is complete) and i gathered and sorted and prepared.



it may not look like much now, but add tables full of open ended activities and 20 spirited 4 and 5 year olds, and the place gets pretty wild!

it has been a very stressful semester. my schedule has been crazy and nate has been working like a dog to pick up my slack around the house (for which i am extremely grateful). although it has been crazy, i really do enjoy my time in the lab! the children are adorable and it is fun to be able to interact with them on a daily basis!

so, if you're wondering where i've been or how come i never seem to be around, it is because i've taken up a new semi-permanent residence. if you'd check in on my husband for me from time to time, i'd be grateful ;)

~ Octobre ~

While my last posts have been all about stress and school and things unpleasant, I really can say that we had a fun October! Here's a quick rundown of we did!!

Our Halloween Festivities began with Lizzie's birthday party! Everyone dressed up and looked fabulous and we had a great time! (Nate as: three whole punch, Me as: La Fawn Duh)




We also got together with our BFF's for a rained out corn maze and pizza! It's been a while since we have all gotten together because we have been so busy, so it was a lot of fun to get together with them!









Rascal took a funny nap...


And we went trick or treating with Sam, Jack, Lizzie, Eva & Sadie!



We had a really fun time celebrating Halloween with our friends and our family!

... Finding Joy In The Little Things ...

I don't know why I'm blogging right now when I really should be studying ... perhaps because my brain is tired and needs to relax for a few minutes ... yes ... I'm sure that's it!

Since my last post, life has become one long to do list! When I finish one thing, ten more things are added to my list. Yes. It is stressful.

But, my last post said that I was going to find joy in the little things too, and that is what I'm here to do. Here are some things that made me joyful today:

- at the moment I am sitting on the couch typing on our laptop. Our cat, Rascal, has strewn herself across my right arm and whenever I type with my right hand, her little body shakes with my movement. Does it bother her? No. She is fast asleep and when I try to move her, she pushes herself deeper into my arm. I think she loves me unconditionally and that brings me joy.

- yesterday was Sunday. I didn't have to wake up and rush to anything. I took a long, hot shower, and I had time to shave!! Smooth legs = joyful? You betcha!

- Nate & I have a new rule. Because of my busy schedule and his new role as our housekeeper, chef, laundry mistress? laundry mister? laundry guy, we don't have a lot of time together. Our new rule is that the first thing we do when we pick each other up from work or school or anything else like that is to kiss. Before saying anything. Think it's easy? After being married for almost 11 years it certainly is a wonderful habit to get back into, but it is hard not to launch in about how our day went and what we need to accomplish that evening. So now, to eliminate the must do's, we begin with a want to and we kiss before we speak a word! Yes, sometimes we fail, but this new rule has certainly made life more enjoyable!

So, those are the things that are bringing me joy right now! My funny kitty, my smooth legs and the anticipation of seeing my husband so that we can kiss!!

... side effects ...

of spending every afternoon in the child development lab:

- spending hours (literally) writing lesson plan objectives
- exhaustion after spending five hours setting up, engaging 20 children in developmentally appropriate activities, cleaning up
- insomnia caused by a large to do list and interaction re-plays to remember for future reference

It is 2:30 in the morning! Luckily it is Friday night. Unluckily my to-do list for tomorrow doesn't have an end to it...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love school. I was talking to a fellow child development lab teacher day and expressing how grateful I am that I can be a student and for how much I have learned and grown from going to school. That being said, I am so ready to be done!

I'm done with stress induced insomnia. I'm done with hiking up Old Main to go to class. I'm done with tests and studying and busy schedules. I'm not done with learning - I hope that I will never be done with learning, but I am done with school.

I'm ready for a real life. I'm ready to make yummy dinner (mostly every night). I'm ready to have a yard and a garden. I'm ready to have a child to wake me up in the middle of the night and to make me cry with joy. I'm ready for Nate to find a real job that he can love. I'm ready to stop being a student. I'm ready to be an adult.

I have one year left. I am a definite carrier of "Senioritis." I will study hard and work hard and do what I set out to do when I realized that I was in it for the long haul - and when I am done, my real life will be begin.

Until then, I'll find joy in the little things and try to get some sleep!

... allow me a moment ...

... i'm going to reminisce again ...

this morning i was eating breakfast. i made some mint truffle hot chocolate (yum) and a blueberry bagel with cream cheese (yum). as i was schmearing my bagel, a childhood memory came SCREAMING back at me! i'm not sure why today, because i eat my share of bagels, but i thought i'd do a quick post!

in the town that i grew up in we had a mall. not a very big mall, but when i was young, i LOVED hanging out there with my girlfriends. most times when we visited the mall it wasn't to shop - it was to follow the cute boys around, try on cute clothes, and grab a snack and chat! the mall used to have a restaurant called "Hunk a Bread" - it was a sit down "bakery" that served ginormous hunks of bread with jam, soup and sandwiches -

and

it is the place solely responsible for my love affair with bagels and cream cheese.

before "Hunk a Bread" i never really liked cream cheese. but, apparently, paired with a bagel and heated in the microwave just right, it is on the top of my favorites list! as i was schmearing my bagel this morning the image that came to my mind was of me reaching over the counter to take my perfectly schmeared and heated bagel from the nice cashier! i searched the internet for a picture of the shop but couldn't find one anywhere, but i did find a FB group dedicated to remembering CV as it used to be - and there were some mentions of "Hunk a Bread," so i felt a little better!

anyway - not really a point to this post and i should really be heading out to class, but as i ate my bagel this morning and thought about "Hunk a Bread" and the memories that came with it, it made me smile. and that, my friends, makes me happy.

happy reminiscing to you all.

.. so EXCITED for THIS ...

*** 10,000 ***

How many of you check out your blog after you've posted something to make sure it looks okay? Raise of hands? If you didn't raise your hand, you may not be telling the truth!

Anyway, I just posted about my cute nephews and nieces, and the fabulous day we had with Nates sibs last Saturday! I hit "Publish Post," then "View Blog," and guess what I saw?

My blog has had over 10,000 hits! My blog? Little old me who says nothing coherent and everything random?

I must say it makes me feel quite nice and it gives me a little bit of a self-esteem boost!

So, to those of you who are looking now, THANKS! I appreciate the fact that someone out there cares about what we have to say and what is happening in Our Little World!

Happy Friday!

5 Cute Kiddos & Some Tasty Food

Last Saturday we headed up to Cliffside Park with Nate's brothers and sister and their families! We had some yummy food, a lot of laughs, and of course, took a lot of pictures! We had the kids wear their I "heart" NY T's so that we could get some pictures for Nate's parents!!






We got a TON of pictures and I've posted more on the blog that we set up for Nate's parents! If you want to check them out, click on the "For the New Yorkers" Link to the left!

We had a great time, as always, catching up with the adults and hanging out with the kiddos!