It's been a while

So here are some pictures:

M. and me in Park City (March)

November Fun with Ashley and Kim. We made these shirts, and then when mine shrunk in the wash, I had to give it away. Nothing like irony when your Honor Code shirt gets too tight.


The most expensive dinner I've ever had...and the most delicious. Midway (March)

Some profound friends.

Jenny and Isaac (Thanksgiving)

Goose and Shell (October)

Do you like music?

Because I do.

And I like Heather for finding this: she knows me very well.

I hope you enjoy. Melinda and I will start practicing for Beach Week.... oh wait. I won't be there. Ahem. We'll start practicing for the family Christmas concert. We'll have to get Isaac Johnson to help us out with the drums, though. I don't know if I can multi-task like that.

Watch the video HERE

Spring Break Begins

After an amazing conference weekend, and before Easter Sunday rolls along, I have something completely wonderful: Spring Break.

I haven't had a Spring Break since high school, and let me tell you--with the first day almost over, I am beginning to see what I've been missing. Granted, I did actually spend all day in my classroom, but this time it was because I just wanted to. I did lots of cleaning, lots of filing, and I ate lunch up in Midway's delicious Tarahumara's. It was delicious.

Tomorrow, I will be doing some Spring cleaning at home... and maybe some baking. Speaking of which, I tried Kari's grapefruit cookies over conference weekend, and they were some amazingly wonderful. I added some extra grapefruit zest to the icing in the middle, which I liked (somehow mine tasted far to sweet to be paired with grapefruit, so I had to zing it up a bit). Yum!

Truly, my wish for each of you is that you may, in some season of your life 1. Have Spring Break and 2. Taste Kari's awesome cookies.

The Color of Paradise

If you like moving, foreign films, this is definitely one to look up. I'm glad I found this one at the library.

It makes me wish I were back in my French and Italian Cinema class-- we studied foreign film in a way that highlights the high art and subtle imagery. I found this film to be intensely powerful.

I'll give a warning-- the power is in subtle moments... meaning you might find it slow. Still, I would recommend this film to anyone.

If I could choose my firsts:

then I might've made my first kiss a little less awkward (oh, stage kisses.....)

And, I would have chosen that, after having a stubborn cold for the last four days, my first complete scent would have been something other than my own feet coming out of shoes after a long day of teaching.

I'm wishing more along the lines of... fresh bread. Apple pie. Clean laundry.

I know, I know...beggars can't be choosers. I am happy that I can smell again... it just makes me slightly nervous about what I haven't smelled about my person while I've had this cold.

Apologies.

You know you need to read more widely when...

your student shows you this page in a book:

"How to Torture Your Students:

Start each day with a surprise quiz. Don't dismiss the class for recess until you've finished the lesson you've been working on. At the end of the day, hand out a huge assignment due the next day...."

This morning I gave my first pop quiz (it was about wind) to my class, and I never let them go to recess until they can show me that they will know how to do the math homework I've assigned them.

And I only gave them a huge assignment ONCE. It was at the beginning of the year, before I learned that the percentage of fourth-graders who turn in 15+ problem math homework is significantly low.

I've been found out. But I do not-- DO NOT-- do what's in the rest of the page: "Only call on students who have no idea what's going on. Call on someone to read who doesn't have the book, hand out dull pencils with no erasers, give out torn books."

I can't wait to read what the page on "How to torture your teacher" says.

This novel is a true classic. Thanks, Bruce Lansky.

I love other's brilliance

Kudos and thanks to Dave for helping explain the logic behind my "stumped" post... in very understandable terms, I might add.

This post might as well be a shout-out to those Younce cousins I love, whose blogs and witticisms teach me everything from cooking pancakes, to finding "Validating" videos, to understanding more about the lives and cultures from Boston to Great Britain.

It's fun being in such a great family with good cousins, in-laws, aunts, uncles, grandparents... and especially parents and siblings.

Thank heavens for family... for me, it makes the world go 'round.