liberty tattooing

it was dani's birthday this weekend and anna came into town to help celebrate and it was a lovely little duke rugby reunion - hooray!  while anna was here she got a tattoo and it is beautiful and so i had to show it to you:

(so you can see how it wraps around)

it's a ceiba tree and the guy who tattooed her did an amazing job.  i mean, look at the buttress roots - it's all so intricately done and it follows the curve of her foot, which i love.  he drew it right on her leg with a fancy draw-on-your-skin pen and then spent several hours tattooing.  i FOR SURE would not have been as brave as anna was, but she made it look like it didn't hurt at all.

having brunch with anna and dani and then hanging out and eating frozen yogurt while anna got tattooed (and dani got a nose ring)?  best way to spend an afternoon EVER.

chia obama: day 4

surprisingly (?) my chia obama has sprouted!  a couple seeds have sprouted in his ears (oops), but maybe real obama has hair in his ears and i'm just trying to be accurate - you never know.  now that chia obama has a little hair he looks less silly and more legit.  in fact, this is probably the actual length of real obama's hair.  i should probably just stop now.  BUT WHERE WOULD BE THE FUN IN THAT?

chia obama is living on our window sill, which (a) helps him grow his hair faster, and (b) gives him something to look at all day while i'm at work.  i know he's grateful.

oh, the fun of a chia pet.

happy halloween (observed)!

this is me as "government girl," my halloween alter ego.  tights + "logsdon survey and mapping" t-shirt + cape + mask + holding my government textbook = low budget happiness.  in this photo i'm sending the seniors out to the halloween parade.  i'm standing on a table so i can shout out directions.  and feel powerful.

(you may remember the yellow tights from last year's chicken costume.)

as i've mentioned before (click here to be reminded), our school has a halloween parade that the pre-school and the seniors participate in.  and random faculty members.  i was in charge of organizing the seniors, and they were great.  i love these seniors, even when they're a little squirrelly.

my coworker-friends and i came to school as superheroes this year.  pictured below are inspector gadget, the count (from sesame street), underdog, government girl, zeus, super french girl, grammar girl, super science nerd, and indiana jones.

the whole "superhero" theme was interpreted a little loosely.  and dork-ily, as teachers do, i guess.  it was pretty awesome.  i love this day of the year.

it is october 29th, for crying out loud...

...why is it still 75 degrees outside and sandals weather?  i just bought a bunch of cute sweaters AND I WANT TO WEAR THEM (without sweating through them).

but seeing as this is probably the last time i'll get to wear these (really comfortable and cute) sandals until march-ish, maybe i should stop complaining...

chia obama: day 1

this is my obama chia pet.

why do i have an obama chia pet, you ask?  one of my students gave it to me in may as an end-of-the-year present, which i think is pretty much the best end-of-year present ever.  since i was gone all summer (and lazy for all of august and september), i've just now planted him.  you soak the seeds in water and they make this sticky goo that you can spread on the grooves in his head.  it was messy, but i think i did it right.  here he is on day 1, all freshly planted (can you call it planting if there is no soil?):

("yes, we can...grow a chia obama!" a slogan found both on the chia obama box and RIGHT THERE on his bust.  this adds to his awesomeness, obviously.)

i'll keep you updated on how chia obama grows.  GET EXCITED.

interesting article - "islamaphobia and homophobia" - if you need a little break from your workday.  which, let's be honest, is probably the reason you came to this blog in the first place...

minor crisis

yesterday i spilled my entire lunch on the floor.

it was a salad i'd made at home and was really excited to eat - good lettuce, caramelized onions, edamame, asparagus, and tofu.

fatal error: i'd gone to the cafeteria to put some oil and vinegar on it before going to a meeting.  i didn't put the top of the tupperware back on.  DUMB MOVE.

as i walked into the room where the meeting was being held, somehow i dropped the whole salad on the floor.  i was still holding the top of the tupperware when all was said and done.  of course i was.

it was really sad.

i did, however, recover much of the floor-salad and eat it and it was delicious.  this is not gross because (a) i inspected each piece for yuck and found none, and (b) humans have been eating dirtier things than this for a long time and have done okay.  i mean, have you seen the movie babies?  namibia baby picks up a BONE out of the DIRT and CHEWS on it.

i have packed the same salad for lunch today.

i am hopeful that it doesn't touch the floor, because clean salad > floor salad.

this new find is entertaining me greatly: "pictures of muslims wearing things"

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”
--Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

"It Gets Better"

Have you guys heard about the “It Gets Better” Project?  It was started by Dan Savage, a radio host/podcaster/writer who is gay, telling gay adolescents that life gets better after middle school and high school bullying – and that you have to stick around to see it get better. They made a video in response to the recent suicides by gay youth in the US: you can watch it here.  Maybe I'm particularly touched by it because I work with highschoolers, but I am so moved by the simple message and the realization of how many young people aren't hearing it and need to hear it.

Lots of other celebrities and ordinary people have made their own "It Gets Better" videos, sharing their own stories of being bullied when they were younger and how life is better - and they have found happiness - as an adult.

Um, today?  President Obama made an "It Gets Better" video.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  I'm overwhelmed by this...that in this political climate, with an election upon us, with the number of people in this country who don't support equal rights for gays, that he would speak out on this issue.  You have to watch the video.  I think it's clear that he's speaking from the heart and that he is passionate about this issue.  He doesn't wimp out and say "bullying is bad!  Be nice!"  He addresses the issue head on.  He's gutsy.  Some people are going to be pissed off by this video.  I like it when he pisses people off.  Those people need to be pissed off.  Scratch that: those people need to be educated.

I love our President, and in the mess of politics I forget that sometimes.  Today I was reminded.

[major shout out to nora for posting the obama link!]

breakfast

which is better for me for breakfast?  i wrestle with this question and i'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts.  these are the only options right now, because they (a) seem reasonably healthy, (b) require exactly zero prep work and are portable [i may or may not be rushing out the door EVERY MORNING and i just grab one of these two things], (c) taste delicious, and (d) keep me full enough until lunch.  all of those are important qualities in a breakfast.

wallaby yogurt (favorite flavor: maple):
140 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 20 grams of sugar, 6 grams of protein, 25% of recommended daily amount of calcium, 0% of iron

luna bar (favorite flavor: nutz over chocolate):
180 calories, 6 grams of fat, 10 grams of sugar, 9 grams of protein, 35% of my calcium, 30% of my iron

right now i have yogurt for breakfast if i make it to whole foods that week...and a luna bar if i don't.  probably works out to about half the time for each.

if you have thoughts, please comment.  thankyouverymuch.

sometimes i go right from work to the gym...or to yoga...or on a walk.  i change into my workout clothes in (a) my personal changing room (also known as "the closet in my office"), or (b) the women's bathroom.  without fail, every time i'm in the middle of changing i have the thought: "what if the fire alarm went off RIGHT NOW.  i am naked and would panic and that is the worst possible scenario."  why do i have these thoughts?  because i went to boarding school and then college and the fire alarm has gone off twice while i was in the shower.  there is not much that will incite more panic in a person than a fire drill while she is naked.

i think we can all agree on that.

asparagus pee

oh, you know what i mean.  if you don't, read this article.  it is very informative, telling me that in fact, all pee is asparagus pee, but only 22% of people can smell it. 

and that is fun fact #1 of the day.

fun fact #2?  i had a yummy salad for lunch - lettuce with caramelized onions, roasted red pepper, and goat's cheese.  and roasted asparagus.

sneaky hate spiral

sometimes i have grumpy days.  I MEAN, WHO DOESN'T.  i am currently having a perfectly fine day (even though NPR is having their fall fundraising drive and they aren't giving me all the news i need in the morning), but veronica posted this link which is a perfect description of how a bad day happens.  i mean, PERFECT.  i hope you enjoy the little computer-drawn characters as much as the story line.  i definitely got a good ten minutes of enjoyment out of this, and i will be reading this blog forever and always because of this one genius post.

update: i just read the most recent post on that blog about the cake when the author was four years old and OHMYGOD IT WAS ALL I COULD DO NOT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD IN CLASS WHILE MY STUDENTS WERE TAKING THEIR TEST.  all. i. could. do. where has this blog been all my life??

monday morning

the only good thing about getting back to atlanta at 11:30 last night was my ability to use a 35% off coupon at pre-flight parking.

i'm pretttttttty tired right now.

but yay for a fun weekend with my extended family and congrats to my cousin grace who got married!

but it's a long way out to california for just a weekend.  when i make it through this day i will reward myself with lots of time on the couch.  LOTS.

my heart going "boom boom boom"

the life as we know it trailer makes me REALLY want to see this movie, partly because i am in love with this song (peter gabriel's "solsbury hill").  and, you know, i'm only 33 years behind the times, seeing as it was released in 1977.  i'm cool like that, keeping up with all the hip new music.

jenny's new license plate.  famous potatoes!!

as an aside, we ate potatoes at almost every meal while we were in idaho, and they were HEAVENLY.  idahoans know how to cook some potatoes.

trailing of the sheep

have you ever seen 1,500 sheep parade down a town's main street?  if this something that you want to check off of your life's "to do" list, i would suggest going to ketchum, idaho's trailing of the sheep.

the back story: every fall the ranchers of idaho move their sheep from the summer grazing areas in northern idaho down south to...graze in the winter?  get slaughtered?  this was a little vague, so we didn't dwell on it.  for the past 14 years, ketchum and hailey, idaho, have had a little festival to celebrate this event, as well as celebrate the three main ethnic groups that are involved heavily in sheep ranching in idaho: peruvians, basques, and scots.  so there was a parade with lots of playing music and dancing and traditional costumes by these three groups:

(note that the bagpipes look like sheep!!!)

and then: the main event - the sheep!

the sheep were very well behaved and did what they were supposed to...thanks mostly to the sheepdogs that were hanging out with them.  i liked this guy because he looked a lot like the sheep.

and then they were gone!

fun note: before the sheep made their way down main street, willis proclaimed that sheep "cannot run" and that he can "move faster than a sheep."  i told him he was ridiculous, lily looked up facts on sheep speeds on her phone (apparently they have been clocked at 30 miles per hour), and after the sheep walked/ran/jumped [the crosswalks freaked them out]/made their way down main street, willis was forced to admit that (a) sheep CAN run, and (b) a sheep could beat him in a race.

this was an excellent way to spend an afternoon.

can we discuss my love affair with pretty tomatoes?  i bought these at a farmer's market in boise after we'd flown in - then we had a really yummy lunch and drove to ketchum, where jenny lives.  we ate the tomatoes them later in the weekend with boursin cheese and they were DELISH.

idaho is beautiful

it is immediately apparent when you get to idaho that it is gorgeous.  gorgeous in a way that's really different from what i'm used to - rugged mountains with evergreens and scrub brush everywhere, punctuated by aspen trees whose leaves have turned a perfect fall yellow.

this is the view from the parking lot outside jenny's apartment.  so basically this is what she sees every day when she leaves her house.  i couldn't believe it.

this is just behind the building where jenny teaches at her new school, so this is what she sees out of her classroom window.

this is redfish lake, probably 30 miles north of where jenny lives in ketchum.  we embarked on a little drive northward on monday to see some of the more remote parts of the state.  note that i said "more" remote parts, since she lives in a relatively remote place, from my perspective:

and it is really fall there...in atlanta it is pretending to be fall, but hasn't quite gotten there yet.  fall is pretty, and it was nice to experience it for a weekend.

[photo credit: lily!]

the weather this weekend was perfect - blue skies, crisp but not too cold.  idaho did not disappoint, and for that i am very grateful.

update: logic puzzle

i have been missing in action!  apologies.  it turns out that when you're in idaho with four good friends you don't have a lot of time for blogging.  also, am i allowed to get headaches and be out of breath after climbing a set of stairs when the elevation here is 5,900 feet?  i mean, that's high enough to be a weenie, right?  right?

anyway, an update on our logic puzzle.  turns out the bed in the guest room is literally four and a half feet off the ground and two feet from the ceiling.  that adds a wrinkle.  lily and i ended up sleeping there (catapulting ourselves up and then trying not to hit our heads.  i hit mine twice, of course), the 60 year old slept with jenny, and willis got the couch.  it worked out perfectly.

we fly out this afternoon - lots more updates and pictures tomorrow!

logic puzzle

i am going to idaho (!!) this weekend to visit a friend who moved out there in july.  i am unspeakably excited about this.  one thing i've been thinking about, though...and i would love to hear your ideas on because i know it will be FINE any way you slice it...but it makes me giggle to think about it:

five people will be spending a long weekend together.  they are:
three 27-31 year old women (myself included).
one 28 year old man also known as willis.
one 60 year old woman.

we all work together and we are really good friends.  we are giddy about spending the weekend together.

the house where we are staying has the following places to sleep:
--queen-sized bed in the hostess's room
--queen-sized bed in the guest room
--couch
--air mattress

what should the sleeping arrangements be?  i think that willis has to sleep on the air mattress, but he assures me that he has to sleep in the guest bed alone.  um, excuse me willis?  you don't get the best sleeping arrangement just because you are the only boy.  or maybe you do?

[this is like the logic problem where a wolf, a sheep, and some grain (am i getting it right?) have to cross a stream, but only two can fit in the boat the same time and the wolf will eat the sheep and the sheep will eat the grain and ohmygod how can we get them all across in the fewest number of trips.]

happy friday, all!

you know you are a grown up when...

it is 80s day.  as in, the kids can dress up in 80s attire today.
they are really excited and thus are making lots of noise.
i am too tired to care and thus am really annoyed.

t minus 8 hours until my four day weekend starts.  can't come soon enough.

truths

my mom (also a teacher) sent this to me a couple months ago...i thought i'd pick out the best bits for you:

According to Jeff Foxworthy:


You know you are a teacher if...
--You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.
--You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine. [note: our school received an "anonymous donation" of a margarita machine four years ago.  it gets pulled out by the head of school at the beginning and end of the year faculty parties.  i'm not even joking.]
--You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 7:15 to 3:15 and have summers off."
--You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
--You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.


oh, teaching.  how i love this job...90% of the time...

in the mail today

whoever lived at our address before us - granted, this would have been three and a half years ago, since that's how long my roommate and i have been at this address - was a carolina fan.  [cue scary music.]  how do i know?  we are still receiving this magazine monthly.

[image from here.]

now, a good duke fan would have realized by now that he hadn't forwarded his duke basketball magazine to his new address...but i guess you can't give carolina fans as much credit.  so it arrives every month and promptly goes in the trash.  and i feel a little sick-o joy every time this happens.

don't judge me.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
--Henry David Thoreau

online shopping is dangerous

i don't know what happened this weekend, but all of a sudden i was in DUKE BASKETBALL MODE (even though we're still college football season...but as i care not-at-all about football, it's easy to move past it) and needed new duke t-shirts.  my favorite one will always be a blue one that just says "duke" on it and that i bought while i was still a student...but when there are multiple games a week a girl needs a little variety.  so i bought these:

(both from amazon.com)

they are old school and (hopefully) adorable.  i'll report back once they arrive.  i may or may not be really really excited about them.

and about basketball season.

to remember

“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones come daily.”
--Ivy Baker Priest