dear self. you are getting old...

we had a rootbeer floacial (pronounced: flow-shul. meaning: float social...get it?)
and it was awesome!
party started at 8, and by 9 i was worried about going to bed.
seriously? 
"how late am i going to be up? how will i ever function tomorrow? oh my! there are so many people here!"

excuse me, but when did i turn 90?

i finally let lose and enjoyed myself, and even participated in the sponataneous dance party that broke out around 10 or 10:30.
ya it was awesome.
i don't think i went to bed till around midnight....
look at me! living life on the edge and all.

oh brother.
 
anywho. just felt the need to share my thoughts...
particularly the fact that:
this may be the coolest picture ever.
oh im aching to go here and take cool/random photos of my own....aching i say!
someday right?
well. when will that SOMEDAY ever get here?!

on a different note. im OBSESSED with this song.
and this song. 
my fall playlist is almost perfected.
i work too much.
i LOVE my job and absolutely ADORE my kids. 
i may or may not meet a particularly beautiful man tomorrow who i just LOVE.
* ya scratch that already. i HATE being poor. and i HATE that he is going to be 4 hours away...lame. 
and i am most definitely spending friday with 3 of my absolute favorit-est people in the world.
life is good. life is grand.
over and out for now.

Ten years have passed since a perfect blue sky morning turned into the blackest of nights..."

Post title taken from this wonderful article

Can you believe it has been 10 years since that fateful day? I remember it clearly. I remember sitting in 8th grade math. I remember feeling strange all day. I remember being confused. I remember being scared. I remember losing my tennis match that afternoon. I remember feeling relieved when i got home that evening. I remember it clearly.

I have been reflecting a lot about this the past few days, as I am faced with the responsibility of answering questions to a class of wide-eyed 4th graders. As I have researched the past week, wondering what to say and how to say it to my students, I immediately realized that with the exception of, I think, 2 of my students, they had not yet been born on that September day 10 years ago. Woah. Now the responsibility has kicked in. What am I supposed to say? How do I answer their questions? Are they too young? Is this too touchy of a subject?

This is the battle that has been zooming through my mind. So as we left school on Friday, I took 5 minutes and asked them what they knew. And told them to think about these events and talk to their parents over the weekend, and we would talk about it on Monday. So as I have been battling and stressing over this responsibily, and trying to figure out what to say, I realized that this truly is a touchy subject. They are young, and hopefully their parents will educate them on these events, but we can take time to reflect on the feelings following the attacks and the heroism and patriotism that reigned.

So  its been decided that we are going to read the book "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers" by Mordicai Gerstein which tells the true story of Philippe Petit, a man who walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Center on a tightrope in 1974. He tells of the marvel of the buildings, his journey and then ends with the book's final painting of the imagined imprint of the towers, now existing "in memory"-linked by Philippe and his high wire. I feel this book helps us to remember that day, without striking up too many questions. Then hopefully we can read either "New York's Bravest" by Mary Pope Osborne or "14 Cows for America" by Carmen Agra Deedy (depending on which one I feel i will cry the least amount...) and then discuss the different heroes from that day, and from our own personal lives. Hopefully it will be a meaningful and lasting discussion, and hopefully I don't need too many tissues.

So now I feel much better about tomorrow and what I am going to say, and I am going to spend the rest of today reflecting and counting my blessings. As well as listening to this over and over again...

God Bless the USA

sometimes life gives you lemons...

Beware of the killer lemons!

now don't get me wrong...i love lemons.

lemonade, lemon bars, lemon yellow wall color, lemon sorbet, lemon pepper...this weekend i even went to a new pizza place called 'pizzeria limone', which had a delectable margarita pizza and lemon brownies which were quite tasty, so believe me when i say im grateful for your average lemon...

but tonight im talking about those lemons in life that are really sour and sting your eyes and come flying at you when you least expect them. they are quite rude really, and always seem to be disguised as something else, or they just pop out of no where. they are painful and make us feel weak, lonely, and scared. ya, no one really likes those lemons. but for some reason we all get them.

i have had a few of those lemons lately. blast. not cool. not fun. and they REALLY sting. that deep down sting that seems down-right unbearable. luckily its only for a moment...its only ever for a moment, even though it seems like forever (they are tricky little things, those lemons). but i really am grateful for those lemons, and the knowledge i have that those lemons each have a purpose. and even though they sting really REALLY bad, and make you want to gouge your eyes out, say bad words, and run away (in that order) it eventually stops stinging, and makes us stronger. it gets better. it really does.

so here's to the lemons. here's to life, the beautiful thing it is. and here's to all of us making that lemonade...or lemonade bars, which ever tickles your fancy!

oh, and here's to one of the best songs ever...it really is a beautiful world.