Today, a CBS news crew came to our school to do a special about our online auction. Take a look!
http://cbs11tv.com/business/education/online.fundraising.internet.2.965854.html
Today, a CBS news crew came to our school to do a special about our online auction. Take a look!
http://cbs11tv.com/business/education/online.fundraising.internet.2.965854.html
This last week was Spring Break for me (but not for Jesse 🙁 ), so my mom bought me a ticket to come to San Luis Obispo for the week. Because so much happened, I do not have time to go into detail about everything. But, in case you are interested, I will give you a day-by-day rundown of what occurred. If there is something that you would like to hear more about…say so and I will consider writing about it. Maybe. Perhaps.
I left Wednesday morning and landed in LAX at around 9am. My brother picked me up and we met my mom and dad for lunch in downtown San Luis Obispo. That evening, my aunt, uncle, and cousins came over for chili. Since Heidi is getting married in 3 months, we talked “wedding stuff” until Julie was about to run away.
On Thursday, I met my mother-in-law, Esther, for coffee and brunch. I then sat in on Janelle’s violin lesson (she is getting really good!) and took her for icecream and a “Selena Gomez” haircut.
Later on in the evening, we all went through all of my old high school memorabilia. It was…interesting, to say the least 🙂 Earlier this year, I made Jesse an “I Love Me” wall. It is comprised of all of his MVP sports plaques, of which there are many. There are also a couple about him, say, being the Valedictorian and all. As we were going through my sports “treasures” however, I found my shameful contributions. The first plaque I pulled out said, “Best Attitude”. The second, “Most Improved”. The third, “Most Inspirational”. And I thought to myself, “There is NO way I am putting this up next to all of Jesse’s stuff.” The only one I ended up bringing home was my one MVP plaque for Volleyball. It was pathetic, to say the least.
Friday was comprised of eating lunch with my father-in-law Norm, shopping with my mom, and going out to sushi and clubbing in downtown SLO with Tess, Brooke, Linda and Laura. I had one drink. And I was toast. I am so glad Tess was there! And NO, I will not say more about this 🙂
Saturday morning, my mom, Janelle and I woke up early and followed our 10-year tradition of getting donuts and going to garage sales. It was fun, although all we got were some cute boy clothes for Topher.
When I got home, my dad and I went to Thai food and talked for 5 HOURS. On our way home, my mom sent us to the store to buy Olive Oil. Boy, my dad and I are the WRONG people to ask. We sat there for 15 minutes, analyzing the whole wall of choices, comparing, contrasting, debating. In the end, we had to pick randomly, because there was no way we were going to come to an educated consensus without research on the internet. Later on in the evening, the Trinidade family came over for yummy falafel pita bread sandwiches and apple tarts.
As for my trip back…it was pretty epic, so I think it deserves a post of its own later…..
All in all, I can’t think of a better way to spend Spring Break. I was able to have great relaxing conversations and hang-out time with everyone in my family and some.
Praise God for wonderful parents, in-laws, siblings, and life-long friendships!
Since I am averaging about 80 views per day on this blog (it must be all the real estate posts…) I have to keep up with my posts.
Today, Jesse and Courtney and Michael are at a Lenten Retreat. I, however, heard the alarm go off at 7am and part of my soul died. I am SO in need of a break from all the craziness that my life is. Just to recap: Currently, I am working full-time teaching at St. Peter’s, teaching private piano lessons to 25 students, taking an English grad class at UD, taking voice lessons, and singing in the choir 2x/week. I also try to make it to Curves 3-4x/week.
The nicest part about being a teacher, sad to say, is not the students:) It’s their looong paid breaks. We get a week off at Thanksgiving, 2 at Christmas, 1 in the Spring, 1/2 of one at Easter, and then 3 day weekends whenever there is a holiday. And don’t forget, 2 1/2 months of summer.
This next week is Spring break, and BOY DO I NEED IT. This last week, I graded all of my students papers not once, not twice, but 4 times, mainly because I had them do so many rough drafts. By the time it came down to assigning them a grade for their Final Draft, I felt like I could have quoted their paper verbatim, bad grammar and poorly proven statements and all.
So, as I am sitting here, punking out of what promised to be an amazing retreat hosted by the man who is most likely going to become our future bishop, I am getting a sense of satisfaction. Yes, I have thrown off the bonds of obligation. Yes, I have claimed for myself ONE SATURDAY to sleep in until noon. Yes, I am stating that I would rather sit around nursing my headache than be spiritually fed.
Of course, when you say it like that…
Moving on. As I was surfing the internet over my bowl of soy milk and Life cereal, I decided to read Cameron Ingalls’ Blog. For those of you that don’t know who he is, Cameron Ingallas is still, in my opinion, even after all these years, the best wedding photographer in the US. Seriously, I haven’t seen anyone who knows how to capture people the way he does. Sure, now that he’s famous, he comes with a hefty price tag- I think it’s up to $7k/wedding. But still, his photos and the artistic talent behind them often leave me dumbfounded. I love our wedding and engagement photos, and would not trade them for anything. In fact, Jesse and I have talked about doing a “pre-baby” photo shoot with him someday when we are out in CA <Disclaimer Pre-baby does not mean we have a plan. Well we do. But this plan does not include you>.
On his blog, he has this thing called “Super 8”. Now, when I was planning our wedding, I remember being distinctly put off by “videographers”. I intentionally decided not to have one (which is why I only have video of me walking down the aisle- nothing more. The battery of our handheld ran out. You’d think the wedding was all about me, or something 😉 ). To me, they seemed cheesy and overdone, like the bride and groom are movie stars with a camera and photography crew following around, capturing every sneeze.
However, this “Super 8” thing looks pretty darn cool. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. If it had been around 3 years ago, I am pretty sure that I would have done everything in my power to have this (and Dad, if you’re reading this, I also would have done everything in my power to not go thousands of dollars over budget, or invite 200 more people than we had room for..!). Instead of the typical wedding video where they narrate it or put the Father Daughter Dance to “Butterfly Kisses”, they make it like an old vintage movie. The bride doesn’t look “perfect”, she looks classic. Like the couple is taking their place in history, side by side with billions of other couples.
Check it out. Go the bottom and click, “Super 8”. If you want, you can even swing by the Engagement Pictures section and find the one of Jesse and I 🙂 You’ll recognize Jesse, because he still has the same shirt, 3 years later. You won’t recognize me though, I had long hair.
And while you’re at it, take a look at this adorable picture of Clarabelle sleeping. Can you tell that we are totally in love with our dog?
Someone is currently selling one of our long-lost relatives on Craigslist. Apparently, he’s useful for many things.
Also, check out the T-shirt I made for the family.