ou in ny

Thanks to my dear old dad, I am spending New Years in NYC visiting my old Ohio U buddy Chris. He and Jeff are so nice to be hosting me as well as Jeff's Atlanta buddies.
So I arrived bright and early in the morning - I took a Continental Express flight and it was turbulant... but at least it got me here on time. Chris and I then decided to explore the "City's Best Grilled Cheese" at Resto. It was darn good, even if I did ask a million and two questions of our very cute waiter. Then we were off to explore the city and walk off the cheesy goodness. Out of all the neighborhoods, I liked the West Village the best. We ate a cupcake from Billy's Bakery which was unlike me to have a dessert, but how could I pass it up? We walked until it was dark, then headed back for some Jeopardy and drinking. And Wii playing. And more drinking. Then Jeff's friends arrived and we were off again! To B Bar, where I have never seen more men in a women's bathroom! It was great fun, and the night was topped off with 4a.m. burgers at a diner close by. Pictures are on their way!

thanksgiving to christmas and everything in between

Many of y'all have been wondering when I will be updating this... so, as I sit in Jersey City watching Jeopardy with my buddy Chris, I decided the time is now. Here goes: (by the way, I am totally impressed with Chris's Jeopardy skills)

Thanksgiving time was fun. Chloe took about a thousand pictures of Isis and I for our Christmas card.


Mom let me make some Thanksgiving dishes. I decided to make a Paula Dean recipe and give Sweet Potato Balls a go. They were very time intensive but very festive. Overall, I liked the standard SP recipe better, but it was fun to give it a try.




I had a fantastic reunion with my old buddies at Bobby Baker's Lounge in Waldo. This was the third year we've met there. Bobby remembered us and bought us a round of Hot Nuts. Yum. It was so great to catch up with the girls. It's sad we're down to just once a year. Hopefully next Thanksgiving I'll have a place in Waldo and we can have a sleep-over!


Family Scrabble is always a great time... so is Quiddler.

A trip to the Plaza was great. We went to the downtown cathedral... I hadn't been there in a while and the renovations are so pretty. Also, we stopped in Anthropologie... I'd never been there before and I LOVED IT. If I could vomit up a style for my future house, it would look like the home section of that store.





Chloe did my hair. She was really impressed with her work. I asked if she would like me to return the favor and she politely declined. Review the picture. Can you see why she wouldn't have wanted the same lovely style for herself!?

Back to Texas where I started playing volleyball with fellow teachers. We play against other elementary schools and so far it's been super fun. We practice once a week and have a game once a week.

Now it's almost Christmas time. The 3 weeks between holidays went QUICK! There were parties, and shopping for presents... and finishing up my class. I only have 4 classes to go until I have my Masters. Wah-hoo!

Since I love all of my school family, and it would be too expensive to get everyone an individual gift, I decided to make Turtle Pretzels. This turned out to be quite an endeavor. It took 4 days in fact.
Day 1: Unwrap 200 carmels.
Day 2: Roll 104 carmels and wrap them around pretzel nuggets.
Day 3: Roll remaining 96 carmels with a rolling pin and wrap them around nuggets.
Day 4: Dip carmel/pretzle nuggets in melted chocolate and roll in almonds.
Phew! Luckily, I had the help of my neighbor buddy Stephen come over and help days 2-4. He was a life-saver to say the least. He and I had a great time and enjoyed delivering the goodies to our aparment building.


Alright - Jeapordy is over. Time to play the Wii. I'll update more later. Resolution for 2009: stay more on top of blogging!

Whad'ya Know?

"Not much, you?"
Those of you that know me know I am a bit of an NPR junkie. I can't help it. In my days without television in Western Colorado, NPR became a staple for me. Nowadays, NPR is still as great for me as it was then. I LOVE waking up with Morning Edition... I'm happy when I catch The Diane Rehm Show (Friday she had Maya Angelou on and it was magical)... and I love weekends when I catch up on my most favorite programs when I'm out and about doing errands. Today I gave myself a present and went to see a live broadcast of Michael Feldman's Whad'ya Know at the Lourie Auditorium. Usually the show is broadcasted from Madison, WI but sometimes they hit the road and I was lucky that they came to San Antonio. The broadcast was a fun time... I didn't get picked for either of the quizzes, but that's okay. I mean, that was a one in a million shot anyway. I enjoyed the guest band The Krayolas... everyone in the audience was star-struck when Spur Bonner came by... and it was fun to see the owner of one of my favorite restaurants, (and site of this year's CVE Christmas Party) La Hacienda de los Barrios, cook up some delicious dishes! All in all, a great time.

jeans, scramble, and the austin half

Overall, the week has been going well! I registered for the Austin half marathon and am looking forward to getting back into a running regimen. Well, looking forward might be an exaggeration... but I am excited to have a running goal for my future.
Another reason this week has been great is because, by administrative decree, we have been allowed to wear jeans all week long! I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does, and who's going to argue with happiness?
Another thing to add to the happy list is some very addictive, fun game on Facebook called Scramble. I love it. It is the perfect mini-break from homework, homework, homework.

lost maples

Today really made me happy. First, I spent HOURS completing my homework yesterday so that today would be free and clear of any responsibilities. I originally thought I would wake up bright and early and get a head start on the day... but when the alarm went off at 5a.m. I just couldn't make myself get out from under my cozy covers. So I slept in and Isis and I set off on our adventure around 8. Not too shabby!
What was supposed to be a 2 hour drive to Lost Maples State Natural Area turned into about a 3 hour drive because... well... I was behind the wheel. I didn't mind too much because 1) I filled up on $1.93 gas before I set out... the cheapest it's been in SO long and 2) the getting-lost part of the drive was very scenic and enjoyable... except for the smelly skunks. Isis and I ended up in Utopia, actually. Uh... I'm not sure why that place was EVER named Utopia. To me it just looked like a dusty, small town. Come to think of it, most of the little towns we drove through today, and the landscape surrounding them, really reminded me of Western Colorado. If only there had been a railroad going through, I may have really been confused. I digress...
Lost Maples has been on my "Texas To-Do" list since I've heard about it. According to locals, the best time to go is in the fall when the colors are at their best. Their website even posts weekly pictures of the changing colors! I had high expectations of this fall foliage wonderland. I was a little let down. I think the pictures that are posted on the website are of the only trees in Lost Maples that actually change colors. There really weren't too many. BUT... the park itself was absolutely stunning. The Texas Hill Country is really pretty and the trail Isis and I went on (East Trail) had great scenic overlooks... not to mention the pretty river/creek/stream that went alongside it for part of the way. Isis had fun walking across the water when the trail called for it and met lots of other doggies on the way.

The East Trail was full of surprises. One was a GIANT hill that seemed to go up up up for forever. So basically the trail started under tree-cover, but by the time we made it to the top of the hill it appeared like we were in a barren desert... complete with lots of cactus. Silly me forgot sunscreen (well... forgot may not be the right word. I didn't think I'd need it!) and found myself in the wide open Texas country for about an hour. Needless to say, I got a little sun. Nothing bad though, so don't worry mom. Another surprise was that there were so many people out and about on the trail. That's always nice for me when I'm going solo with Isis... she's really not much of a protector! I met some nice people from Dallas and Arkansas and even some San Antonians!

The drive home was much less eventful. I found my way out just fine... Isis was disgustingly dirty so my first priority when I got home was to give her a much-needed bath. When I grow up, it is a dream of mine to have a mud-room... or something similar. Some neutral place where I can hose her off without creating extra bathroom cleaning for me. Oh! I listened to NPR (what else) on the way home. Emmylou Harris, one of my faves, was on A Prairie Home Companion, so that gave me company on the drive back. I am SO SO SO looking forward to next Saturday when I am going to see Michael Feldman's Waddya Know before I drive home to KC.

visit from val

My good friend Val from my Cerner days came to visit me this past week. She was at a wedding in Houston and then swung over to SA to spend a few days! We had such a great time. I LOVE VISITORS! The night she arrived we headed straight for downtown to grab a margarita and some ceviche. Next we strolled the Riverwalk and ended up at Dick's Last Resort where there was a crazy group of older sisters having the time of their life. We closed that place down enjoying all of its atmosphere and headed home.

The next day we planned to go hiking at Lost Maples, but it was rainy/thunderstormy and we chose not to risk it since it's a 2-hour drive. Instead we traveled to Gruene. Gruene is a cute little historic-type German town with a lot of crafty and antique items for sale. Val and I had fun browsing through the shops and waiting out the rain. We went to the historic Gruene Hall which is, apparently, one of the oldest established dance halls in Texas where lots of famous country music stars (I don't know any of them) got their start. The bartender was cool and good to talk to. From there we headed to the Gristmill Restaurant, and I crossed it off my list of Texas to-dos! It's a really beautiful place, right on the Guadalupe River and had totally yummy food! After our outing in Gruene Val and I headed back to my place to just chill and relax. That night she helped me put up my Christmas tree! (I know... a little early... but I decided it's more fun to put up my tree with a friend than by myself...). Now my apartment feels very cozy!

For Val's last day (the visit went quick!) we did some typical San Antonio sight-seeing. We started off at the Alamo, which seemed fitting since it was Veteran's Day. I still don't really 'get' the Alamo... but it's a pretty place to walk around. After a quick lunch on the riverwalk we headed to El Mercado... we looked at all the Mexican wares and walked off our lunch. Finally - to the missions! We only had time to check out Mission Concepcion before we had to get to the airport. But if you only have time for one, Concepcion is a good one to see!

mariachis, mediation and more

Hey y'all. Well, I'm checking things off my "Texas To-Do" list left and right. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I did check off 'party with mariachis' this past weekend. I went to a friend's 40th birthday and it was quite the event... complete with live music in a beautiful backyard. Definitely fun times.
Let's see... what else has been new? My internship keeps plugging right along. I have really knocked a lot of my projects out of the way and am looking forward to what comes next. Yesterday I gave a professional development presentation to my school on Behavior Intervention Plans. It went really well and I always love to give a presentation... giving it on something I know a thing or two about and am excited and passionate about was a big bonus. Equally as exciting was the Peer Mediation training that I attended with kiddos and some teacher friends this past month. These kids are so wonderful... and the staff that participated are wonderful as well. Everyone gave up 3 of their afternoons, from 3-5pm, to be trained. It was great training and the students are super psyched about getting real mediations going!
My future-move to Kansas is about as on-track as it can be. I got my fingerprints done and sent off my completed licensure application to KSDE. I've been working on applications to school districts and once I get my last letter of recommendation in, I can finalize those. Phew! In other news, I've started a fun little project where I am creating design schemes for my future rooms in my future home. The binder of hopes and dreams is well under way.
Okay, so speaking of a future home... and design plans... I need a second job! Well, I need a second job if I have a hope of getting the cute new furniture into my new place. I've applied and been 'hired' at this call center by my apartment... but until they have evening training sessions, I won't be able to start. With the holidays coming up, I am guessing that my most likely start time will be January. And that's that.