They says its your birthday---nah, nah, nah, nah---

I have been receiving a great deal of flack lately- for something that quite honestly- am I sure boils down to jealousy and truly poor PR on the part of my friends and coworkers.
October is (for any who don't already know) BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! This is the special month where we celebrate all things related to me, my conception, and continued existence on this Earth. Considering I was an unplanned pregnancy, my life expectancy has been exceptionally long. And really an continued existence- with all of the shenanigans my good friends and family were able to get us into- deserves more celebration than a day...more celebration than a week. Really it takes a complete month to truly celebrate all that my surviving another year deserves.

Unfortunately not everyone appreciates the amount of celebrating necessary. Some of my coworkers have started giving me grief on birthday month. I think this is because they don't really understand its wonderfulness. I think they are also jealous that they don't have a complete month- but that is not my fault. Birthday month has taken years of self-promotion and positive PR. This is the first year that my students (now that we are on year two they are trained) have completely joined in and signed on to birthday month. I'm not saying the PR is easy--or getting everyone on board will happen.
I'm just saying that it is so worth it. So stop being a hater- go get your own birthday month.

Hard to break...

The school year has started out as a rousing success. I have finally been promoted. I moved up with my lovely 2nd graders...and we are now 3rd Graders!!! The year I thought would be smooth sailing easy, is going to be filled with new challenges and lots of learning ( I'm even hoping the kids will get something out of this year!) I am optimistic about the future and loving school. My friends are amazing, and I'm working to break my bad habits. It doesn't hurt that our new house is amazing. Today I sat by the water and worked on lesson plans...life is rough.

Take a look at my lovely view. Yeah, I know you want to be me.

New York, Japan, Italy, My Past

The next portion of the road trip took me back to old places I wasn't sure I wanted to see, and introduced me to new people I absolutely adore. Lisa and I began the long trip from Michigan to Long Island. My good friend Lindsey- whom I adore- is living there with her future in-laws and they were kind enough to put Lisa and I up for a couple of nights. What this meant was that I had to return to Long Island, a place that I wasn't so sure I wanted to see again. The cool thing was that as we drove we went past places I knew, and exits I remembered, I didn't feel sad or as if I was missing out on anything. My life has moved on, and I love where I am at. I particularly love it in January when the low is 72.

Anyway, Lisa and I stayed at Lindsey's fiance's Vinnies parent home. It was beautiful, and so wonderful to see Lindsey being welcomed into such a warm and loving family. It made me feel so much better about her leaving us in Boca to move to the wretched north.

After a lovely night in whatever is Japanese for home, (did I mention that Vinnie's family is Italian? They are) Lindsey, Lisa and I headed into the Big Apple. We began our day by heading for ground zero. With all of the construction going on there is not a lot to see, but the church accross the street offered a ton of information and pictures and stories. We were each moved to tears.

We then headed out on a double decker bus tour. It was on said tour that I learned a very important fact. A tour is only as good as the tour guide. We never did find one that matched each of our tastes, but that is not from a lack of our getting off and on buses until we found a new one. We had a delicious lunch at an Italian restaurant.
Map reading skills are so important but Lindsey and I can't find the building with the homeless man in front of it anywhere. Oh GPS we need you!!
Our day was capped off by a trip to Macy's bridal department. It was there that we met the wedding Nazi. Lindsey had asked me to try on bridesmaid dresses so that she could get a feel for what some of the options might look like on her bridesmaids. Now after a few weddings I have grown to have less and less of an opinion about the dress I'm in. So I was pulling just about everything that might strike Lindseys fancy. It was then that the wedding nazi begins her diatribe, about the fact that I should have no opinion on the bridesdmaid dresses, that it is the brides day and I should smile and nod (all of these things I know- remember I'm always a bridesmaid never a bride girl) She then proceeds to go off on Lindsey about the fact that she shouldn't even look at a bridesmaid gown until she has her wedding dress picked out. She lets me know that I am a bridesMAID not a bridesfriend and that I really had no place there.

It was a very humorous end to a long day....tomorrow we go belly dancing in the Bronx.

Back to School

We spent days 4-6 in Michigan with Satin. I have to say some things never change. When we were in college we watched movies, sang along with Mike's guitar, ate Chinese food, played games and teased one another. Now that years have passed, we are older, wiser, Mike told me that I have really changed. But you put the three of us together and what do we do?

Oh yeah, watch movies, sing songs, eat, play games, eat, tease each other, eat, and drink.

I guess some things never change. and honestly- I don't think I'd want them to.

I'm still bummed we never made it to the train museum or the under water restaurant- but next time....well next time we'll probably eat, watch movies, eat, sing, eat...you know the drill.

Hell 'n' Back

Its day three and we are on the road again. After our failed attempt to find the worlds largest silly nose and glasses we should have assumed that hunting down roadside attractions was not the glamorous and romantic occupation I had first anticipated. Our next stop on our journey was to be Hell, Michigan. Why would two nice girls want to visit Hell? Good question- no real answer- maybe we aren't really that nice.

Before two nice girls can head to Hell they need to pick up the Hell essentials- hand baskets. We stopped at Walmart (another type of hell) and began our car craftiness.

Here I am working on car crafts. As our journey continues deeper into the Michigan country side. We discover that Michigan is beautiful, and my cd is not doing it justice (sad face) Now that the hand baskets are finished we are excited to experience everything Hell has to offer.

Lisa pulled up to 3 very shabbily painted building with all sorts of cheesy slogans and sayings.

We began by walking around, taking the occasional cheesy picture. Might I ad that I look 20 pounds heavier in every single one of them. That's Hell for you. After walking around outside saying "Is this it?" We head inside to see what they have to offer and see if we can at least find a good post card. We are greeted with a very frosty reception by a less than friendly reception but after all- we are in Hell. Wait for it- it gets worse. The postcards are lame- the stickers are over priced and finally when we decide there is nothing here for us, we decide to leave and see what else Hell has

to offer. I kindly ask where the restrooms are...and wouldn't you know it. What are the facilities in Hell? Port-o-potties out back. THIS PLACE REALLY WAS HELL!!!

We decide to leave this section of Hell for more interesting tourist opportunities. We head on with our GPS to discover that those three buildings were Hell. There was no more, that all she wrote. Since the only food offerings in Hell was pizza we left. Found a wonderful coffee shop with huge sandwiches and Fabulous coffee. We continued on to Satin's from Hell and we are happy to say we will never be going to Hell again!!

Day 2 Lost much?

After several minutes of pacing back and forth in front of Kathy and Scott's window wondering if Lisa had decided she would have more fun on the road without me, she came through and arrived.  Literally minutes before the skies opened up and poured.  My suitcase was barely in the trunk before the cats and dogs came pouring down.  Since this was such an auspicious beginning to our trip we didn't get the photo ops, but instead headed out into the rainy abyss.

We immediately popped in the Illinois cd (if you didn't know, I made a cd for each state we were to visit, using only musicians from that state or songs that have the state name in the song.) and began rocking out in the rain.

Our first stop was to be the worlds largest pair of silly nose and glasses.  We plugged in the address in GPS and off we were.  GPS preceded to try and lead us down not one, not two, but three roads that were either closed or did not even exist.  After our third foil, we gave up on our quest to see the nose and glasses - sigh.  We preceded on to Warsaw, Indiana to see Lisa's younger brother Greg who works at the prestigious Wagon Wheel Theater.  Greg works crazy hours and builds amazing sets, when we visited he was working on the set up for an amazing production of The Wizard of Oz.  The two 20 minutes meals that we got to see Greg were great and then we were off on the road again....

On the Road Day 1ish

I began the first day of my trip by not sleeping.  It wasn't just the excitement of leaving to spend time with Lisa...I also had an important job to do.  Meghan had not seen far too many classic 80's and 90's movies.  Our evening began with a little bit of Troop Beverly Hills.  This is the classic 90's sleep over movie- all of my favorite childhood sleepovers include a viewing of this movie.  We then moved on to Empire Records and then some High Fidelity.  By this time it was 3:30 in the morning and time to take me to the airport.

I boarded a plane to Atlanta with a second flight into Chicago.  My first flight was awful- my first experience being air sick- followed by a second flight that was better than the first.

I arrived in Chicago and was greeted at the airport by my dear college friend Mr. Man.  He brought me back to his adorable home where I was able to visit with his beautiful wife and my college RA Kathy.  Kathy and Scott have been working to carefully clone two of the most adorable mini-me's I have ever seen.  It was a good thing those boys were cute because not long into my visit I was forced down into a dank, murky very spooky crawl space to wait out the tornadoes that loomed overhead.  If I hadn't had two such strong and brave young men to protect me, I definitely would have freaked.  But both boys were champs and didn't flinch during our 35 minutes in captivity.

The rest of the evening was spent in wonderful reminiscing over college and talk of dreams for the future.  I am so happy that my return trip will include another visit with Kathy and Scott and their beautiful boys!!

Ok, This time I really mean it...

This morning I woke up with a splitting headache- craving Taco Bell or Jimmy John's. For those of you who know me well you know what kind of night I had last night. You may have even gotten a call from me, since my phone seems to be irresistible after a couple of drinks.
I have only done this one other time- my first year of teaching and boy did I pay. I swore never again on a school night. Its just not worth it. Its amazing how 4 short years later I forgot. I was able to minimizing the suffering that occurs. I think this is the same phenomenon that allows women to want more than one baby.
But this time, I mean it! Never, ever , never ever again....this is torture.....I wish the school bell would ring already---(but not too loud, my head hurts).

S is for.....

So after a mind numbing three days of SAT- which those of you in education know stands for Suck out your soul Asinine Testing- I have come up with a plethora of uses for a number two pencils-- none of which include the filling in of bubbles. I am now questioning the education system in our country. Anyone who thinks that submitting out children to that torture session-(the inquisition is not dead- it has merely evolved) is beneficial in any way, needs to come and spend a little time with my students. Forty minutes of fill in the bubbles in silence would cause anyone to submit to the demons and score low!!
Day one of testing began in such a manner.
I have a student that struggles with attention (I'm minimizing here) we'll call him Curly. At 8:02 his classmates are all seated silently working on their morning work. Curly is standing 3 desks away from his own, trying to explain to his classmate why his pencil sharpening technique is superior. At 8:08- Curly has managed to lose his lunch ticket in the 10 feet from his desk to mine. We still haven't discovered how this is even possible. At 8:20 I have finished explaining the testing procedures and have uttered the words " You may begin". At 8:25 Curly raises his hand and explains that he has managed to break all three of his superiorly sharpened pencils- since the test began- 5 MINUTES AGO.
Three days of testing later I am home--looking forward to more than just a few of the adult beverages in our house- and a brand new episode of the Office.
Hopefully I can find my will to teach before the bell rings at 7:50 tomorrow morning. Otherwise you may very well be hearing about me on CNN- me and all of those uses I've discovered for the left over number two pencils!!

Come on Ride the train...

This weekend was filled with fun and incredible random quotes.
Friday after school, my friend Meghan, who may be one of the easiest people to be around I have ever known, and I drove up to Orlando to visit my grandparents and visit the theme parks. The car ride up "north" was filled with laughter and great conversation-and quotes that mean nothing to anyone but us. We arrived at my grandparents house right before my grandmother began her "We could die at any minute, don't plan on anything too far in the future, like you may have to get your own breakfast if I go in my sleep." I have to admit, I love my Grandma, but she is so over dramatic---good thing that didn't get passed down ;)
So anywho, we start rifling through old pictures looking for "keepers" for the 60th wedding anniversary, when I happen upon a picture of Grandma with some very sassy looking ladies. Grandma explained that those girls were her "Coffee Club". They hung out and did things together after work and on the weekends. She informed us that the group motto was "Hobbies not Hubbies"--but sadly almost every girl got married within the year. Meghan and I appreciated the motto so much, that we have adopted it, and made t-shirts---pictures to follow.

The next morning Meg and I drove to Disney's Hollywood Studios- formerly MGM- to meet my college friends Pete and Hannah on their honeymoon. It was wonderful to see them and the park was fun too (although it was no Epcot).

Ok...i'm getting sleepy...I'll fill you in tomorrow on the crazy shows and freaky wait staff.....