My Dad sent this to me via email....a Holiday Questionnare! Do partake if you so choose...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I find real joy in a beautifully wrapped gift. A gift bag is generally a cheat in my book...but that's okay. Sometimes we have to cheat!

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real! Though it isn't supported in our "reduce our carbon footprint plan," I could never live without the smell and authenticity of a real frazier fir. I am in fact okay with not having one this year, since we won't be here.

3. When do you put up the tree? Growing up, it was always the weekend after Thanksgiving- that Sunday- but it could be anywhere between then and Christmas...like the rest of the world.

4. When do you take the tree down? Last year, I believe it was February....ya. Why go to so much trouble not to enjoy it right?

5. Do you like egg nog? mmmmm.delicious.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? So many were favorites at the time, but now looking back, hmmm....my Dad's old guitar and lessons. I only regret that I didn't take better advantage.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Not a really neat one of my own. I grew up with such interesting ones from Africa and so forth. I feel like so many are just super cheapo/tacky.

8. Hardest person to buy for? teenagers....my neice was the toughest this year.

9. Easiest person to buy for? I like that my Dad will appreciate anything useful and inexpensive.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail if I have the time...this year...outlook bad. E-mail won't happen either...So- Merry Christmas!!

11 .Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Lame Christmas decorations...ooh- and this re-gift which was an ornamental spotted dog scene...so strange...and I remember as a little girl, a cornshuck doll of a mama spanking a baby with a stick.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? It is a Wonderful Life.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Was I supposed to start yet? oops.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, but only for those situations where it really makes sense...orobably.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? CLEAR! There's just something about the colored lights that makes it not Christmasy anymore...just so 80's or something!

17. Favorite Christmas song? River by Joni Mitchell

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Well, generally I would say "home," but I am Oh so excited about Christmas in Brazil this year. I think it just depends on the year and the opportunities.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel....specifically Brian's "messy hair" angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas eve....p.j.'s, then the rest on Christmas morning.

22 . Most annoying thing about this time of year? TACKY things people put in their yards!!!!

23. Favorite ornament, theme or color? The most memorable ornament from my childhood was a wooden dragon that had wings which would flap then you pulled on the fishing line. It was so big when I was little. It just stood out.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham and pineapple casserole and all the other good stuff my mom makes.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Nothing. A trip to Brazil is enough. If I had to say something, it would be household NECESSITIES. I have gotten really frustrated in the last couple of years with all the waste that goes into Christmas buying. I hate when people feel obligated, but then it's just something that you put on a shelf and have to figure out what to do with later...why have we made this holiday such a devastating attack on the environment each year? ...Am I taking after you Ebenezer?

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Sunday? You're just such a devoted blogger. Now I've put you up to it!

27. Who is least likely to respond to this? Brian

Thankful...

I am thankful for so many things! Where do I begin? Well, let me share 2007's Phillips Family Thanksgiving Adventure...told by Dexter.

So it all started out when my parents packed up our car with all their stuff, including me, picked up Uncle Chris from his apartment at the school, and headed off into oblivion one fine Friday after school. I was content for the 8 hour ride to Uncle Chris's family's farm in West Virginia...man! what a place! We got to spend two days roaming around this 300 acre horse farm, and I hung out with my new friends Spitball (my mom kept laughing at that name), Audrey, and Copper.

We loaded up the car again, minus crazy Uncle Chris, and headed toward Pittsburgh, PA. Mom was super excited about seeing her good friend Bridget for the first time in FIVE years! I was excited when we got to her house because I got to meet Ruby! What a babe! We got to go to the dog park in Pittsburgh and play for hours! woohoo!


Onward we went, after some good fun at Ruby's house. Conway, PA was our next stop. This was my dad's grandmother's house. We saw all the family, and though it was fun, sadly, I was banished to the top of the stairs while everyone made a big fuss about Thanksgiving dinner.

They let me come down while they ate, though. That was worth it. It smelled delicious!

This is the best part! The next morning it snowed!!

I got to go to yet another dog park, this time in the snow and I met even more friends. On our drive home, my dad backed our car into a "decorative wall" at a restaurant where we stopped. He was so mad...I think it's going to be fixed, though.

and last, but not least, a pit stop in good ol' black mountain. Here I am with my twin, Indie. Our parents kept mixing us up. It was hilarious! Hopefully Uncle Nick will bring Indie to visit with me soon!

(okay, this is me for real) It's seems dumb to follow that little anecdotal silliness with the reality of what I'm thankful for, but I blog so little, I might as well get it all out at once.

I'm so thankful for family and I am so thankful for friends. I love that no matter where we are in life, we always have open doors around the country and around the world of friends to welcome us in. I'm thankful we are able to travel. I am thankful for holidays and spending time with family. I'm so thankful that my sister and parents will soon be living closer to me! I'm thankful for jobs, even though I don't always leap out of bed each morning to greet the day with open arms, I remember what it was like without one. I'm thankful for a home in a beautiful place. I'm thankful for my hubbie and his patient demeanor.

Thanksgiving has passed and the hustle bustle of the holidays are definitely here, but I hope I'll continue to give thanks to God each day for what I have in this life.

I'm sorry my pictures are so big. (and darn it! it cut off most of the pictures!!!grrrrr.) Macs don't like blogger, so I'm looking into a .mac account to start a new blog there. I'll keep you posted.

Tag...

So, Becky has tagged me and I must comply. For what excuse do I have? Here I am sitting around avoiding grading tests.

So, here are the 10 most incredible, juicy, secretive, intresting things you never knew about me...

1. I spent a lot of years of my life thinking I wanted to be a professional dancer. (a ballerina, in fact.)

2. I went to drama/dance camp with Mandy Moore, Christine Lakin, Corri English, and some other people you may or may not have seen on tv. (actually, if you ever came over to my house, you knew that because I would have made you watch camp videos..right Becky?)

3. I still feel guilty about telling all my friends in fifth grade I had gotten glasses because I needed them, when actually I had gotten fake glasses at Claire's. ( I still remember the heart to heart me and my dad had when I cried about it)

4. I would like to own an organic bakery and coffee shop one day in the fairly distant future.

5. I love being a wife, and I enjoy taking care of a household, but I HATE (passionately) both ironing and folding fitted sheets.

6. When I was younger, I was EXTREMELY shy, and it wasn't until I was in fifth grade and got into acting that I began to actually talk to people I didn't know really well. I still have major issues with talking on the telephone.

7. I have been seriously contemplating becoming vegetarian lately.

8. I have lived on three different continents...not at the same time... that would be tricky.

9. When I first met Brian, I had this HUGE crush on him. I kinda stalked him one day from my dorm room window, and when I saw him get in the car with another girl ( just a friend, I found out later) I balled my eyes out. I'm not really sure if I ever even told Brian that story. I told you this was juicy!

10. We're trying to get pregnant! This month was our second try, to no avail, and Friday night, I cried when I found out. I know it's silly. I need to be patient....that's another thing I struggle with.

So, if you learned new things about me, that you didn't already know, then this game really is pretty fun. I suppose I have to tag people now...but I have nowhere near 10 people who actually read my blog that aren't already involved in this. I challenge my baby sister, Suzanne. It will be a test to see if she really reads my blog....hmmm.

Celebrating Life...

You wanna know what I'm reading?



This is what I'm reading!!! I've tried countless times to upload the stupid photo of this book in the little custom segment where you do that sort of thing, but nOOOOO. It never uploads there...so here. It is a weirdly great book.


I'm beginning to think in "issues" now, since I spent tonight printing off our September issue of the Middle School Happenings- the student newspaper of the Middle School. In it you will find such interesting articles as "My Summer Adventure," A book review of the book "Hoot", an article on new faculty faces around campus, and my personal favorite, an ad for the monster drawing contest for our Halloween issue! In this segment, you will be given several ideas from which to draw your monster, including a three headed monster, a two headed crab, or a 6 legged bulldog! I have the sweetest seventh grader with asbergers(sp?) who just cracks me up with stuff like this. Kids, gotta love 'em.

I am taking an exercise class twice a week, which is really exciting. I also spend two nights a week at a gymnastics gym in Franklin where our kids get to learn how to do all kinds of things they will later put in our very own Cirque du Soleil-like production in February (you should really come see it. It's AWESOME!).

A couple of weekends ago, we had a wedding on the beach in Wilmington.



We had a wonderful time with my family. It was a happy occasion, good weather, and bare feet. Sadly, we came home to the message that Brian's grandmother, who had suffered from a stroke the week before, was not doing well. She died the next Tuesday and we drove to Pennsylvania that weekend for a funeral.

A wedding, followed by a funeral.

On Sunday, we will visit with Marty and Roger Palmour, the parents of Julia. This was Brian's girlfriend from high school who was killed while biking during their senior year. It will be the 10th anniversary of her death...

...We have celebrated life in many different ways this month.

a smorgasboard...

I haven't really had a whole lot to blog about lately, except the start of school, which is still going well. I plan on taking my camera this week, so maybe I'll update this with a photo of my cherubims...

For now, here is a little randomness.

First is Brian's dad's new project, the Cobra kit car. He is building this car, see. First, he took a wrecked old mustang and stripped it of every useable thing. He has this shell of what will one day be an awesome..."roadster" I believe is the term. He has begun assembling everything and Brian has been helping when he can. This project would take most people at least an entire decade to complete, but I'll be willing to bet Brian's dad will finish before the summer. He's amazing.

Slightly less amazing, but equally bloggable, is our garden.

We have finally gotten something other than zucchini and squash..we now have a ton of roma tomatoes, green peppers, and these little orange peppers that I thought were yellow bell peppers, but I have no idea what they are, cucumbers, strawberries...let's see, oh, the corn rotted and had bugs all over it...bummer, but we only had two stalks come up anyway. This garden went through a lot. First, it's keepers were quite novice and considered it a practice garden anyway...second, we had a late freeze in April and a hail storm at the beginning of the summer that nearly wiped everything out. I'm still hoping for some beets to come up, but I think for now, I'm over gardening. Not that I don't love it, I'm just ready to do it better next time.

Enough about that...last, but not least, I have decided to share a photo of some friends of ours at our house. This is Amanda, Daniel, and April. We have now had two successful gatherings chez nous, and it has been a lot of fun. I hope for more!

And that brings me to conclude this random blog that I am hurrying to finish because I need to be in the library in a few minutes....hope all is well with everyone. I'll blog a little more soon...hey! we have a wedding this weekend at the beach! That should make for some nice blogging material....

Alright, alright. I have been trapped in a whiz of pre-planning and boarding school what not. I have had a WONDERFUL first two days of school. I tell you what, having the first year of teaching behind me make a HUGE difference! Brian and I (who teach the same eighth graders during the day) both came in with a very planned out classroom management idea that we have been teaching the kids and it is SO wonderful! I think this year is going to be a huge success. I truly feel like a teacher and not just a girl trying to get through an English class smoothly. My classroom is all organized and painted the way I want it. I love that my classroom is in an old house. It is really a neato situation. The kids are so great. I have been dealing with the fact that I really think I will see this group of kids through successfully, and realizing that I kinda let down the first group of kids. It is kind of bothering me because I keep having these great ideas of how to be successful in the classroom this year....stuff I just never thought about last year.

On a very positive note, Brian and I were so thrilled to see a student return to ninth grade, one that was just about to leave our school mid year and join the military - he was totally unmotivated and didn't want to be at Rabun Gap, and by the end he decided he wanted to stay, made a big turn-around and it's hard to explain, but it is just that feeling of having reached a kid who might not have otherwise been successful. I hope for that to happen more and more.

okay, well I'm rambling on and on and I have no exciting photos to share, so I'm going to go bed now. I'm glad and hopeful to be back in the blogger world as things settle down. I have enjoyed reading all of your wonderful blogs.

Much love to all!

Who Vacations in Arkansas, You Ask??

We do! In fact, we had a really lovely time. It is very pretty there. Our kayaking was short-lived.
The water was EXTREMELY low, but Dexter was able to swim along with us on the Mulberry River. He was so worn out. The views and hiking were spectacular, though and we enjoyed the exploration. We even came accross this beautiful clear stream where Brian is taking a picture of me from a cliff. Doesn't it look like I'm flying??



We followed our Arkansas vacation with a weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, where Brian became officially certified to scuba dive. I just hung out with Dexter and shopped...I wish I had taken this course with him though. The place where they got to do their check-out dive was this awesome old pit mine filled with crystal blue water...and they had a high dive! I LOVE high dives!!!
Instead, I got swoop bangs.


what do you think? This isn't a great picture, but I am enjoying their swoopiness!


....and i figured i should throw in a goofy picture of Brian....it seems necessary and i just think this is the perfect photo to publicize!
Alas, now we are back home and getting ready to trudge back to school again. Summer has been heavenly. I don't want it to end!!

On the road....

We're vacationing! I'm stealing a little internet as we came by this fascinating lodge this evening. Brian, Dexter, and I are camping in the Ozarks of Arkansas. It is just beautiful! We hiked today and have seen the sights from atop the beautiful mount magazine. Tomorrow we're off to find some rivers to paddle! Our fingers are crossed that there will be some water! We'll keep in touch!!

Weekend Trading Spaces with Lori!

This weekend, my best friend from high school came up to visit. We had a girls' weekend because Brian was in Atlanta taking a scuba certification course. We played trading spaces and did all kinds of painting projects, the biggest being painting our bedroom.

The room is now burnt orange...actually "earth tone," such a boring name considering how many fun names there are for paint. The wall hanging and pillow covers, as well as the shams and blanket at the bottom of the bed, are from India. My sister brought them back for us. It was really difficult to make everything work together. It still isn't finished, because I am going to change the curtains and we have picked out a bedspread that we will pick up Friday. I'm going to try and pull out more of the aqua from the wall hanging instead of the browns. It is dark and unique, but I like that it was pieced together with my sister's interesting elements from her life in India.

We also tackled some smaller projects like painting the hood above our stove. It has transformed from the harvest gold ugliness seen in the photo, to a really cool hammered metal. That was Lori's idea. I matched a few other things in the kitchen to it.

We crackle painted my bedside table, using a cool copper base coat, and painted a little dresser for our guest room black and did what they call "Shabby Chique" technique to it. When that room is finished, I'll give an updated photo.

Holy Zucchini!

today I visited the garden after a short weekend trip to atlanta. just before we left i checked the garden to see if anything needed to be picked. all of the zucchinis, which is all i seem to be producing very well, were pretty small. today i picked the above produce. look at the huge one! i've never seen such an enormous zucchini. i'm going to try a stuffed zucchini recipe with it.



the camera arrived today! these pictures are some of its very first. in my yearbook class at school, we name our cameras. Our main camera is named "Henry," so i think it will be appropriate for this camera to have a name also. Everyone, please make some suggestions.

check this out!

I'm just fiddling around with what I can do with my blog. I wondered if this video from my photobucket would work...it turns out it really does! So, let's backflash to the summer of 2005, when Brian and I were sea kayak guides in the San Juans.

You know how when you live somewhere, or do something all the time, you take it for granted? LIke seeing the whales like this was our job, so I always thought, "oh, next time I'll get a good picture or a cool video." You know I never did! This little video, that will probably make you dizzy, was taken by my cousin Lara. Brian and I led a private trip with my parents and Suzanne, Uncle Rusty, and Lara. We happened upon Super Pod - which means all three of the resident pods that live around the islands during the summer were meeting up for a family reunion. This happened to us twice throughout the summer and it happened to be once when family was there.

We are sitting in sea kayaks as the whales just cruised right by us.

This little Island is Stuart Island, upon which it is my dream to own a piece of property and have a yurt or a little earthen house. The view of one side of the island is of the straight, where the whales pass by frequently.

Wish everyone could have been there to see it!

Let me know if you can view the video.

Chivo and Parker, Dexter's new pals

This week we have friends over at our house. Chivo and Parker belong to the Hopkins family, who are on vacation this week. The dogs have had so much fun chasing balls and sticks, and figuring out who's the alpha. It turns out it is Parker. He is the German Shepherd. They have been very entertaining.

Unfortunately, though, they enjoy running right through my teeny little garden. I picked the first zucchini from it yesterday. Soon we should have some squash and tomatoes, but this little cucumber- my only one- has been the same little puny size for so long now!

I wanted to make zucchini egg fu yung, because it is my favorite thing to make, but I think Brian is tired of it...even though I haven't made it in a long time. So, today, I think I will make some zucchini bread with my new zuccini.


I also want you all to see the little planting projects my mom and I did while she was here. It is fun...I hope to do more! We have had a little birds nest in our fern on the front porch and we would see the mama bring worms to her babies until finally...I think over the weekend while we were at Charlie and Rachael's wedding, the little birdies flew away.

So, it's fireworks time! What is everyone doing for the fourth? We are hoping to round up a little group to paddle down an easy section of the Chattooga, and then maybe head over to the head of school's shin dig at their home. We'll see.

Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging again, even though I know you hear a lot about plants and dogs...that's our fun! Ooh! But I just ordered a really fancy new canon digital camera with our tax return money, and I can't wait to post some pictures from it! Yay!

More to come...cause I'm back!!

Okay, Sunday. This is for you. No more squirt boat rediculousness! I realized that my computer does not like blogspot. I think it is because Mac has its own blog site, so it doesn't like me refusing to give in and use it. It would not upload any pictures!

For now, I'm brewing up a good blog, but I'm in my classroom and I don't really have any good pictures on here. So, enjoy the minute changes and LOOK OUT! 'Cause I've got some catching up to do!

"Squirt Boat"

It isn't that I, myself, am terribly excited about this new purchase; however, seeing as Brian doesn't really get into the whole blog scene, I decided to utilize this time to portray what Brian WOULD most likely blog about, were he someone who did...
This Saturday we drove to the Ocoee to pick up what hasn't ceased to be talked about in our household for a long time. A squirt boat. If you aren't familiar with one, let me tell you a little about this contraption. It is a kayak, not built for running rivers or waterfalls, but for catching eddie lines and forcefully submerging yourself beneath the surface of the water, as well as doing other interesting moves in. It is built so that when sitting in it in water, you are actually just below the surface of the water, so it is very small and very form-fitting. When we got home, we immediately set it to the test on our lake. A nearby fisherman exclaimed, much to my amusement, " looks like you just about lost your boat, son."
I have never understood Brian's excitement for this particular type of boat, although I am sure many people don't understand our shared excitement for other kayaks, so I certainly won't press the matter.
In other news, school is steadily winding to a close. I give my final exam tomorrow. I have been working on a slideshow for the middle school's moving up ceremony Thursday night and I'm quite pleased. I have discovered I-DVD on our macs. It is an awesome program. I'm going to making DVDs for everything now! I'm beginning to get really sad. I'm suddenly realizing - or at least I think- I'm going to miss my first little students! I think I'm going to boo-hoo when they "move up" to high school Thursday. Isn't that funny? I thought I would strangle them all year and now I'm all misty-eyed!!
My family is on their way to GA for my cousin's wedding this weekend and I'm looking forward to their stay. June will be a super-freaky-busy month, but lots of things I'm excited about.
That about wraps up my update. cheers!

An eventful week...

My little Indian sister has returned! We got to fly to Omaha last week and suprise my dad on his birthday, and remain to suprise my sister who flew home from her year as an exchange student in India. Unfortunately, our suprise didn't work for Suz because the word leaked out...but I don't think she was dissappointed to see us, and we certainly weren't sad to see her! She looks very different with the hair and the piercings and the henna tattoos, no?

After a lovely family visit, we flew home and into the most stressfull week of my life so far (unless I'm blocking out some big exam weeks in college. A close call). The Middle School play was this weekend! All our hard work looked pretty hopeless at Thursday night's dress rehearsal, but Friday night came, the curtain opened, and they came alive and delivered a WONDERFUL show! I couldn't be more proud of my first students! We performed again Saturday to a less responsive crowd and had a main character get a major nose bleed in the middle of it, but I think I smiled all night I was so pleased with the kids.

The beautiful flowers are what they presented me with at the close of the show. They each had a pink carnation in their hands at curtain call and I didn't even know it! SO CUTE! I will get some still shots of the kids on here soon.

So, now that the yearbook is finished and the play is over, exams are next. Getting through this should be a piece of cake. I am looking forward to the summer and weddings and seeing friends and family.

Feelin' like baking these days...

Our camera is broken and my creativity is oh so limited right now. You'll just have to stare at this pretty photo of a caramel cake because I am baking one right now. I don't plan on having as many layers, but I have to bake the cakes one at a time because I only have one 8" cake pan...do you guys SEE why I need to have some children to blog about????!

Okay, in other news, I planted a garden yesterday. I went to take pictures of it and that's when I discovered that my camera is broken. My next blog will probably be about the camera I'm dreaming about purchasing with our tax return. Anyhoo, I'm very proud of it. We dug it all by hand, which was dumb, but rewarding too. I thought I was going to make it so much bigger, but I decided it will be a piece-by-piece process. We are growing such delicious things as zuccini, sweet potatoes, squash, bell peppers, tomatoes, beets, corn (we'll se how that goes), watermelon...you get the idea. I'm also working on an artichoke seedling.

I can't wait to be a stay-at-home mom so I can bake and work in the garden! Meanwhile, I'm reading this great book called, "Get out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall." It's helping me to get inside the adolescent brains of my students and we are having a book discussion group at our house on Wednesday. That brings me to the reason I'm making the caramel cake. So, that sums up my exciting news.

I'm vowing here and now to get better and more creative at this blogging thing over the summer.

Love to you all!

Ode to Asheville and friends I miss...

I took FOREVER to get this post up and going didn't I? Well, if you are wondering, it is because I loaded all these pictures and then somehow lost them all again, so it has taken awhile to get motivated to do it again.

Anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about my lovely trip to my favorite place, Asheville (which included Black Mountain and Montreat mostly). It was one of my most exciting moments to get to see the two newest members of life in the world of new and growing families that reside in the area, Will (BIG Will) and Lydia (Lydie Bidie). Susan and Annie, you're children are beautiful and already dating each other, so I hear. Duely note: Bella Rose is on her way, and Ryland King is quite a hunk. These new and beautiful people keep entering the world! Aah me.

Next, I saw Becky's captivating vignette at Interiors of Asheville. I'm so proud to say that I was a part of this girl's first memories painting. (yea, I took art class with her) She soared into an amazing artist, and I have some little canvases stuffed in a box somewhere, hiding in shame. Way to go Becks! I'm so proud!

I must give a shout out to Mary Stuart and Sarah, who accompanied me to an intimate concert of my new favorite artists, Schuyler Fisk and Joshua Radin. The show was really neat and laid back. We had front row seats and ended up just chatting with them afterwards. Totally down to earth and fun, acoustic music. Mamas, I would suggest Joshua Radin's album "We Were Here" as lullabies for those munchkins. His voice is so great!

I also got to spend some much-needed time with my cousin Carolyn. Our lives have really parallelled each other's. She went to Montreat after I graduated and is now living with a group of OE girls in the house right behind the one I lived in. It was cool to be back on campus and walk around with her. I even logged onto a computer in the lab in the student center! A lot has changed, but I'm happy she got to experience Montreat too. I think we both gained a lot from that place...

We've been back at school for a week, and I feel like I have spring fever. I am SO READY for this first year of teaching to be OVER and my first paid summer to BEGIN! It is already full with weddings and other random stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing my sister sometime after she gets back to the States next month, and attending a conference for Middle School teachers in Destin, FL. A little beach time will do us good!

Wish I had more excitement in my life to share right now, but for now, this is the best I can do. By the way, I need some help figuring out how not to make my pictures just a big pile. Anyone??

Love to everyone who reads this! MMMMWWAAAAAA.

-M.C.

Spring?? Are you here?

So is that you spring? Because I am really ready. I didn't realize how ready I was. I'm tired of cold. We are packing up and getting a group of 7 tenth grade girls ready for their first back country experience. If the weather is like this, I don't think we'll be able to get them back home! They'll love it....I hope.

Dexter's pictures depict his mood any day that is warm and sunny and beautiful. If it is raining, we have to practically push him out the door just to go to the bathroom. Today was not like that. He wallowed and chased sticks. I love our yard. In some of the pictures you can catch glimpses of our blueberry bushes. We have 7 or 8 of them - huge! I can't wait until summer evenings when we pick bushels of them. I'm also thinking it might be time to start planting a garden...maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I've never had a garden before and I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm planning on reading up on it though.

The year is finally starting to feel a little less stressful. Last night was my last night of proctoring study hall at night for two hours with a bunch of kids who hate school (they put the teachers with the bad ones). I'm having a little celebration inside. Having evening duties is one of the worst things about this first year teaching. The time at home and doing something totally unrelated to school is so precious and few.

So, anyhoo...today is a great day. Spring, I hope you stay.