I hate dress shopping

So, I have a wedding to attend next weekend and I could use a new dress.  I spent 3 hours tonight trying on what felt like a hundred dresses...with NO luck.  I feel totally awful.  Everything was just so unflattering and really not cute.  I don't want to look fat (difficult) or like an old lady!  I am soooo upset right now.  Time for some sit-ups...

Busy bee!

Two great weekends in a row!

Last weekend I went to the Oktoberfest at Bear Mtn with my friends Linda and Heather.  We had great food and the weather was perfect.  It really felt like summer again and reminded me how much I appreciate that time off.  We saw some great crafts, including clocks made from recycled liquor and wine bottles.  Who doesn't want to be reminded that it's always happy hour somewhere?

Saturday was spent just spending time with the bf.  He was away the whole week before in class so we just relaxed and enjoyed the day.  We watched Revenge of the Nerds, which I'd never seen.  It was pretty funny.  We went for a walk into town for lunch and ate in the park which I love.  It was like a mini-date and we enjoyed just catching up and planning the next week. 

Yesterday was day 1 of my Educational Law and Policy class.  This is NOT going to be easy, but the other people in the class are great so that should help.  I have some good friends now that I've been in the program for a while so that's nice.  We all try to help each other out and keep each other awake when we hit the "tired time" at 3:30 in the afternoon.  Yesterday's was particularly bad because we were going through the syllabus...which just couldn't keep me interested enough.  8-4:30 is just a loooong day to be sitting in classes!

This morning I managed to get myself up and out for a run.  3 miles that were certainly not spectacular but I'm proud of doing them.  I just needed to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.  I also tried to really get into today's music to keep my mind occupied.  Proud Mary from Glee is a GREAT running song!  I also realized I need to update my playlist and will welcome any suggestions!

Officer BF is off at work tonight, so I get the TV all to myself.  I'm tempted to check out the new show about sister wives on TLC.  I love Big Love and find the whole lifestyle fascinating...definitely NOT something I could ever imagine doing.  I do NOT share.  Haha!

Whirlwind Week

What a week!!  I'm sitting on the couch this morning trying to enjoy my one lazy morning before it's back to a full week of school.  I have work to do on that later but for now, it's coffee and Project Runway DVR time!

Labor Day was nice and relaxed...hahahah!  I ended up making dinner for 10 and having a great time.  We invited our friend Michele and her 3 younger kids over for dinner and it blossomed from there.  Her hubby is away for a 6 week training class so we wanted to do something nice for them before the start of the school year.  It was the oldest boy's birthday so I had some serious work to do.  I ended up making arroz con pollo, fried chicken cutlets (at the request of the b'day boy!) spicy black beans and a big green salad.  For desert, a 3 layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  I think it was good meal, and I love having place full of friends.

Tuesday and Wednesday was back to school.  It was exhausting and a feel a little like I'll NEVER learn all their names.  However, there were many bright moments.  I have some very cute students and one of them is the son of a girl I worked with my senior year of hs.  Candy was talking about starting her family then...and now her little boy is in my class.  It's wonderful how that happens sometimes.  She was a GREAT person to work with and I'm excited that her son is in my class and made a point to introduce himself.  I could talk school for hours so I'll stop here.

Thursday was an errand running day that ended with a drive up to Little Falls.  Tristan turned 1 on Friday and we had a great time celebrating his b'day.  We had a great lunch with the family and the party on Friday nigh was fun.  Watching all the kids play together is always fun, and seeing Officer BF with them is so great.  We left right after breakfast yesterday to be home for a bridal shower at 2pm....more fun, friends and great food.

Today I'm singing at a local street fair with the Hudson Voices (1pm in Nyack if you're around!) and then home to help the man pack up for his week.  He's heading out to a class for work tomorrow morning and will be gone until Friday evening.  I'm gonna miss him...but won't miss having to share the TV!  I think I have enough going on this week with lessons, a new yogilates class and trying to get back on the workout plan that the days will fly.  I'm trying to be back on track with Sparkpeople, too.  Happy Sunday Funday!

Getting ready...

So I spent time Tues in my classroom and then had 2 work days Wed and Thurs at school.  I walked out at the end of our day Thursday with another teacher and we were both saying that though we felt as though there were more to do we didn't know what it was.  That sums up how I'm still feeling!

I've set up some music for each of my 3 grade levels.  I'm working on seating charts this weekend, though I know they'll change throughout the first week or two.  I'm trying to focus in on what the "other" stuff is that I have to teach in each grade level during the first quarter.  What are the music reading skills I'm supposed to teach?  How much sight reading is realistic to expect?  How can I tell (in a class of 50!) which kids are giving 100% and who needs to have the "more effort needed" comment on their weekly feedback slips?  This is the part of my job that I'm finding stressful this year. 

Considering this is my 10th year of teaching it's odd to be this much anxiety about the new year.  I know it's because I'm teaching new grade levels in chorus and a general music class I haven't taught before...but seriously?  When I am going to start sleeping through the night the week before school??  I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve but instead of just being excited I'm worried I'll forget something important....gggrrrrrr!!!! 

New Adventures!

So, today I learned some basic rappelling and rock climbing stuff!!!  It was a great morning out with Officer BF and our friend Jim.  We were up on the mountain near TZ Rock (for all my locals!) and I got to learn about knots, carabiners, harnesses and who knows what else.  I did two descents and managed to get myself back up the slope both times.  It was a great time but I want gloves next time!  My hands are sore and tired...I used lots of muscles that haven't been used like that before.

Friday night was girls night with Heather and Linda.  Wine, cheese, crackers, fruit and Wii..it was so much fun.  I'm so lucky to have great friends at work.  They were a long time coming but totally worth the wait.  Question of the night: what is Mr. Potato Head's first name??  We think it's Matt...

Saturday morning Officer BF and I took the motorcycle up to the Renaissance Faire for his sister's birthday.  We had a great time with her and the kids and I tried mead for the first time.  Yummy!!  I was not aware that the first glass was such a big deal and there's an embarrassing video floating around somewhere of it...but it was fun.  Hands free drinking is NOT my strength!  The people watching at the Faire is half the fun and the Birds of Prey exhibit/show was a big hit.  The kids are so much fun to do stuff with...Danielle has GREAT kids!

It's back to school Wednesday for teacher meetings.  We have assigned seats at our staff meeting...I'm still not sure how I feel about that.  What do you think?

More trips!

What a whirlwind the last week has been!

I drove up to Shrewsbury, MA last Saturday to see visit Christine and her hubby Mike for their son's christening.  I stopped by their house Sat. evening and got to see her for the first time since Thomas and it was such a great time.  Little Thomas is a sweetie and I even got to hold him for a few minutes!  How is it that babies always smell so good?  I've known Christine since kindergarten so seeing her always feels like coming home a bit.  There is something about friends who have known you forever...

Our friends Jackie and Don were at the Christening on Sunday with their little girl Eva who is 11 months old.  It was great to catch up with them and Eva and I had a nice time together while her parents got a chance to eat.  Jackie is another friend I've known forever so the two days were just fantastic for that reason alone.

After our respective busy weekends, Officer BF and I drove up to Point Judith, RI and took the ferry over to Block Island for the week.  It was such a great vacation, we haven't really gone away like this together.  Block Island is about 10 square miles total, they advertise as the smallest town in the smallest state!  We left the car at the ferry and spent the week on bikes or walking everywhere.

Monday afternoon we pretty much crashed at the B&B we were staying in.  We'd been up since 6:30 and were just exhausted!  We took a siesta and then headed out for our first dinner.  The dinner was good (clam chowder!) but the bike ride after was the most memorable!  We decided to take a night ride up to Mohegan's Bluffs but somehow missed the turn off to get there.  Oops!  We ended up taking a 4-5 mile loop and had a good laugh about it.  At least we worked off some of dinner, right?

Tuesday AM we made it to the bluffs...not an easy ride!  It was almost entirely uphill and I was tired when we got there.  The views were instantly reviving, simply gorgeous!

There is also a section where you can take a giant staircase down to the beach.  Again, gorgeous views and it was nice to wade in the ocean.  The shore is very rocky and it was a little cool out so we didn't swim, but took some great photos.

Wednesday we stayed nearer to town.  We rented chairs, sat on the beach and read.  It was a Hobday-style beach day.  Again, no swimming, but it couldn't have been more relaxing.

Thursday we rode out to a nature preserve on the north end of the island.  There's a lighthouse you can walk to from the end of the road, about a half-mile down the beach, which we did.  It was a fantastic view and great workout.  I bought some local honey on the ride back which I'm looking forward to enjoying in tea and some other recipes.  (I have to get moving on the healthy recipe resolution!)

Thursday afternoon I went for a massage (lovely!) that was included in our 2nd hotel package.  I love massages!  It was followed by my favorite dinner out of the week.  The food was amazing and the view was even more so.  I had lobster mac & cheese.  I couldn't resist trying it.  It was outstanding and not nearly as heavy as I thought it might be.  The lobster was sauteed with mushrooms and the sauce was more of a sherry cream sauce with a little cheese.  It was perfect.  The whole night was perfect....

Until Lauren the klutz slipped and cut her big toe open on the jetty outside the hotel.  A night reading on the ocean turned into a night reading in the room.  Still nice, but not quite what we'd planned!

 On this vacation I'd say that I tried one new workout, riding the bikes, and we tried more than 5 new restuarants.  Back to reality this week and back to work next week!

Book club!

As a kid my sister Erin nicknamed me "Read-y Head"  I'm pretty sure it was in retaliation for something mean I said to her, but it stuck because it was true.  I love to read and there are times when it's all I want to do.  This year I did a lot of reading for school so I didn't read as much for pleasure as I would have liked so this goal is good for reminding me to do something I really love.  My beach trips gave me time to catch up on books I'd been wanting to read, and I still have a stack on my bedside table waiting to be read (or finished.)  Here's my list so far of the books I consider "real literature."  I will admit to some pieces of brain-candy in between some of these, I do love a good trashy chic-lit read now and then!

The Sharper Your Knives, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Finn
     A great memoir from someone who attends the Cordon Bleu in France.  I love the stories about the teachers, the successful (and some failed) recipes and how much work it takes to learn the classic French techniques.


House of the Seven Sisters

     Pretty good story,  a quick read.  The relationships between the sisters, their lives and the family bakery that they run...I really like it

The Wise Woman by Phillipa Gregory
     This one creeped me out a bit but was good.  I got hooked on Phillipa Gregory with The Other Boleyn Girl a few years ago and will read just about anything she writes.  The Virgin Earth is still my favorite by her, I think.

The Girl with The Dragon Tatoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larson
      These  are two of the biggest summer hits so I won't say much.  I loved them both, they're very intense and were GREAT beach reads as well as being well written!  Now I just need to wait for the 3rd to come out in paperback

The Spanish Bride by Laurien Gardiner
    Another Catharine of Aragon story.  I am ADDICTED to novels about Henry VIII, his wives and daughters.  This was a great one, though it's always a sad story. 

The Winter Prince by Cheryl Sawyer
  I love period English stories...can't really tell you why.

Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan
    I really didn't love this as much as I wanted.  The story is well done, but I think Amy Tan has written better books. 

Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
    I really enjoyed this.  It wasn't a challenging read, but the intertwining stories in the books are so great.  I loved that it took me more than the first half of the book to really see how all the short stories were starting to touch on one another.  I don't think I've read anything by her I didn't like.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
     There is nothing on the book to tell you what it's about...so I won't ruin it.  Just read it.  The book is great and really emotional.  Thanks to Erin for passing it on!

Okay, so there are the first 10 books.  I'm going to try to do a better job of tracking books because I know there have to be more than these...I'm just blanking at the moment.  Also...do you think I can count books that I read for my grad classes but was surprised to like?  If so, I'll have 2 more to add...Gung Ho! and The Outsiders.  

I'm off to do some more relaxing.  I'd love some recommendations for what to read next...I'm planning to start Racing in the Rain this afternoon.