The baby is 30...

That's my little brother on the far left. I realize he's not so little anymore, and hasn't been for quite some time. In fact, he turned 30 this weekend, and in true form, he celebrated in style.

Of course this involved a little bit of beveraging, a little bit of dancing, and a little bit of gambling, all at the same time. As a witness of this foray, let me just note that my little brother can party with the best of them. I, on the other hand, was dead asleep by 11 p.m.

So, while he is able to do all of these things legally, and while in a matter of five or six weeks he is going to be a proud papa to an already-loved baby boy, he's still my little brother, and I'm stickin' to it. He's the one I used to stick in a stroller and push around while I played house, the one who I made play Barbies with me for countless hours, the one who I gave homework to so I could play teacher, the one who I created ice skating routines with in our very small living room, the one who I co-wrote and co-sang the song "Cute Little Lovers" (don't ask) with, the one who helped me secretly glue back together the broken pictures frames after our rousing games of knee-soccer, and the one who gracefully allowed me to carry him into my bed for literally years, just so I could get a good night's sleep.

In fact, while he is technically my little brother, he has often been the one to take care of me and he always had my back. When it comes to little brothers, I really did get the best of the best.

I love you, Gonzi!!!! Hopefully in your next 30 years you will eat a few more salads and not stay out so late. Happy Birthday!

Deep Thoughts Form Students, Entry 4:

I cannot stop laughing. I am sitting back at my computer with the giggles and I can't stop.

Let me set the scene...

In my Freshman English class, we are getting ready to begin our final unit of the year, which revolves around the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." As students are finishing up their essays on poetry, I thought it would be good to show a movie called "Pride" - which deals with issues of racism and perseverance - as a sort of pre-reading activity.

As we were reviewing the part of the film we watched yesterday, my student Joyce noticed the picture of Trevor and I on my computer desktop, which was being projected onto our big screen before I started the movie. The picture was taken when we were on our trip to St. John, and the background shows the turquoise waters of the Carribbean.

Joyce says: Hey, I like that picture.

I say: Thank you!

Maria says: Look at that beach! Where was that taken?

I say: On a little island called St. John. It's in the Virgin Islands.

Joyce says (very seriously): The Virgin Islands? Maria, you can't ever go there.

The entire class - including me - bursts into laughter.

The thing is, the kids have let it go, and here I am - still giggling.

I love my job. I really, really love my job.

Good Ole Tennessee

I am just going to get straight to the point. When one of the first things you see while driving around Nashville is the sign below, you know you are in for a good time.


In short, this is what we did...

1) While Trevor filled his belly with whiskey, I filled mine with glasses and glasses of sweet tea. I love sweet tea. I want to fill up a baby pool with sweet tea and swim in it...let's just pretend that visual never happened.

2) We posed with every Elvis we could find. Enough said.
3) Candace hooked us up with NHL tickets, so we watched the Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues. To make it even better, in between the first and second periods, Winona Judd appeared out of nowhere to sing a fews songs. I pretty much lived the childhood dream of Alissa all in the matter of a couple hours. It rocked. I loved it.
4) We visited the Jack Daniel's Distillery, which happens to be in a dry county. Nonetheless, we rocked in some rocking chairs, we posed with Jack's statue, and we smelled whiskey being made at every stage, which brought some of us back to our college days.

5) We met our friend Beverly for lunch. Beverly was with the Tennessee group on our honeymoon and spent most of the trip making us laugh and laugh and laugh. We loved meeting her husband and catching up over some pretty impressive Mexican food. Let me just say that in Tennesee, no matter what restaurant you go to, they feature "Cheese Dip" on their appetizer menus. Cheese Dip is delicious, and I have evry intention of bringing this trend to Washington.
6) And, of course, we went to the Grand Ole Opry. Trevor wore his new hat, I wore my new boots, and we all got the giggles after every single "Used-to-be a Country Music Singer 50 years Ago" graced the stage. Nonetheless, it was absolutely worth the experience.
In conclusion, I just have to say that I am not quite sure how our friendship with Candace and Kelly has become what it is, but when the four of us are together, it is like we have known each other for years. I love that, and cannot wait until next time.

Conversations with Teens

I am sure it goes without saying that I like teenagers. I do, I really do. As a matter of fact, I have always found it interesting that when I meet people for the first time and they ask me what I do, often times these people react with dismay.

Not me. I like 'em. I really do.

And last night only proved to me that teenagers are very, very funny.

Case in point:

Conversation #1:
Ariel: Mrs. Smith, does your flower need to be watered?
Mrs. Smith: Actually, it does.
Ariel: Can I water your flower?
Karla: That's dirty, Ariel.
Ariel: I mean, can I water that flower? (points at the flower)
Mrs. Smith: I think I am going to throw up.

Conversation #2:
Shelley: I really want to take a picture of my golf clubs.
Karla: Huh? Why?
Shelley: I think it would make a cool picture. One of my clubs has a big head on it.
Karla: (giggles)
Shelley: It's a big head that's black and you can see your reflection in it.
Karla and Mrs. Smith make eye contact...conversation ends in an uproar of laughter.

Yes, I know. Teenagers have dirty minds. This is exactly why I think they are so funny.

And then this happened:

http:www.youtube.com/user/traintrakka

They scared the living daylights out of me. And, of course, they made me laugh my butt off.

Funny, indeed.

Random Thoughts on Finals Day 1...

• Peanuts covered in maple glaze sometimes just hit the spot
• Telling 14-year-olds they can't talk until all the tests are turned in NEVER works...even if donuts are involved
• Politicians suck
• Politicians who preach about charter schools and merit-based pay for teachers suck the most
• Sears sucks sometimes, like when they send you a broken treadmill that you paid a big chunk of money for and then won't return your emails or your phone calls
• I really, really, really don't like pork chops
• Sending money to Haiti just doesn't seem like enough
• Suffering sucks
• Brand new, sharpened pencils bring me joy
• Tomorrow Melanikis turns the same age Jesus was when he was crucified...my mom likes to point this out anytime someone turns 33
• My mom is random, but she cooks a mean arroz con pollo
• Speaking of random, I must remind myself to explain to my SET students certain American colloquialisms because ever since I told them they were "driving me nuts," they have been telling each other "Stop driving MY nuts"...not good
• One final done today, two more to go

A Weekend in Winthrop

Let me begin by saying that I am embarassed at how our weekend away started. I just have to get it off my chest because I feel like a total ass...when we walked into our cabin in Winthrop and there clearly was not a DVD player like the ad had stated, I started to cry.

I know.

I'm pathetic.

And irrational.

And over-emotional.

What else is new, right?

But this is exactly why I'm putting it out there because I want the world to know that I KNOW that I am pathetic. With that said, I have to tell you, the missing in action DVD player turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and here is why...

For our 3-year dating anniversary, Trevor and I rented a cabin to get away and enjoy some quality time together. It truly is amazing how much more quality your time becomes when television is not involved, and I'm not blowing smoke up your wazoos here. I really, really mean it. We strolled through the cowboy town of Winthrop, sipping on coffee and caramel apple cider, and browsing through the many shops. In one of those shops, Trevor picked out a book (which he never does) and in another one we bought a deck of cards and a cribbage board. So at night, instead of zoning out to movies, we snuggled up on the couch and read together (ummm, can you say best foreplay EVER?) and over the course of the weekend played 10 rounds of cribbage. I'm not competitive or anything, but for the record, I won eight times. You do the math.

We also enjoyed one day of intense snowshoeing. By "enjoyed" what I really mean is that in the span of 4 miles and 3 hours, I laughed, I cried, and I puked. Yes, I puked. I don't want to talk about it. I also yelled at my husband and told him I was never going to snowshoe with him again, but that was a lie. The truth is, it was amazingly beautiful out there and as much as it hurt to climb up very, very steep hills, spending that time with Trevor who never, ever gives up on me only reiterated that I will indeed snowshoe again and again and again.

You may ask yourself, what is Sara doing in that picture below? The answer is, Sara is laughing her ass off after falling down AGAIN. Who falls snowshoeing, which really is a glorified way of saying WALKING IN THE SNOW? Ummmm, me, that's who.

We also enjoyed a horse sleigh ride that ended with a cowboy dinner in a tent (thankfully it was warm) in the middle of the mountains. The ride was so much fun, the food was amazing, and the company was hysterical. Besides Trevor and I, there was a group of six men who had gone to high school together and who meet up every year to go skiing during this particular weekend. One of the guys is the guy on the MacSnack commericials for McDonald's. No joke. I asked him if he would sign our Big Mac box we had back in our truck. I'm not so sure he was as amused as I was. Needless to say, I never got his autograph.
In short, our weekend in Winthrop was wonderful (apparently I'm a genius at alliteration), and maybe, just maybe, we will turn off our own TV more often.

A New Year

Dear Universe,

School starts tomorrow and I'm lining all my ducks up in a row - the grocery shopping is done, one set of papers is graded, clothes are washed, hair is clean, legs are shaved, and the internal pep talks have begun. With that said, it's time for a heart to heart.

I'm not quite sure how to break this to you, so I'm just going to say it - I am a bit displeased. Displeased, you ask? Yes, displeased. I know, I know, I know...I have so much to be thankful for and I am truly blessed in numerous ways. NONE of this goes unnoticed or unappreciated, trust me. I just need a little help here, and being that this week marks the start of a new year and a new decade, I thought I might just ask for some.

I guess what I'm asking is, can you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE just give this girl a break? You know what I'm talking about, so I'm just going to leave it at that. I need you to tilt your axis a bit in my favor, if you know what I mean, and I promise you I will do my part.

You see, I am going to slow down and get back to what I have always loved to do - read and write and knit and sew and travel and go for walks and love my husband and spoil my animals and laugh with my friends and appreciate my family and be kind to my students. And when June rolls around, I am not going to work one measly second this summer and I am going to try to convince Melanikis to do that same so that we can host a wedding (hint, hint Andria), go to the pool, and can just like our grandmas used to do. And I'm going to finish our honeymoon scrapbook, put together a wedding album, and maybe, just maybe, actually organize all the pictures on our computer so we can make Smith family photo albums.

In short, I'm going to get back ME and just thinking about it makes me want to throw myself a little party.

So, dear Universe, if you can hear me, I would really appreciate your help in all of this. I believe I have paid my dues and weathered the storms in a relatively dignified fashion (let's just pretend that whole breakdown on Christmas never happened) and I need the stars to align for me. I figure if I align my stars then you can align yours. Fair? Fair.

Until we meet again,

Sara