Prom

I think I actually looked closer to my age than those of the prom-goers this year!  Maybe it was the hot red dress. ;)  

It's so fun to see all of my students all gussied up (girls) and handsome (boys). Some even surprised me how gorgeous they can be!!!!!!!  (those tshirt and baggy pants girls can surprise ya). Jordan and I monitored the dance floor until about 11 (we had the early shift!). The Book of Mormon between you rule doesn't really work with high schoolers. We just had to make sure they didn't take off clothes (uh, yeah!!!!!!!).  Jordan was a great sport. :)  We had a blast student-watching and dancing. There are some characters out there! And you can totally tell the different cliques.  I didn't see a number of my students, not sure why (well, it is a senior class of 1000). And some pretended to ignored me. Others took a second to recognize me (hair, no glasses...I guess).   good times.

Happy Prom.  ;)

Ode to Regina

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. 

   Pick your artist: Regina Spektor

 
1. Are you a male or female?  Lady



2. Describe yourself:
 Aching to Pupate



3. How do you feel about yourself?  Better



4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:
 Carbon Monoxide  (not really...but it was funny)

  5. Describe your current boy/girl situation:
 Flyin’  



6. Describe your current location:
 Uh-merica



7. Describe where you want to be:
 Another Town



8. Your best friend is: On the Radio



9. Your favorite color is:
 Whisper

  10. You know that:
 Reading Time with Pickle



11. What’s the weather like? 
Summer in the City

  12. If your life was a television show what would it be called?
  That Time

  13. What is life to you?
 Consequence of Sounds



14. What is the best advice you have to give?
  Bon Idée

  15. If you could change your name, what would it be?
 Marry Ann

Rock and Roll

Ms. Daniel is not square (according to my students now that I enjoy Led Zeppelin...lol).

So last night I got dolled up to see a Led Zeppelin cover band (Zoso) at the House of Blues.  Now I have to admit a week ago I was not a fan, but I have repented of my LZ ignorance and even bought a cd on iTunes and have become a fan.  Heck, I'm even listening to it now as I write this.

  I met Spencer downtown (even found a spot RIGHT next to his car. crazy I know). We went to dinner at the House of Blues (best ribs ever!) and then we were ready to Rock and Roll (which is a LZ song, pun intended).  The opening band was lame- but it was really funny when he threw his bass down at the end!  No, he didn't break it. He just threw it

 angrily.  Weird.  Then we had to wait awhile for Zoso to come on, but it was so worth it!  I loved seeing how excited Spencer was!  He was quite impressed with them (this is not his first LZ cover band experience).  The lead guitar guy rocked like no other, and the drummer was pretty dang impressive.  The singer was alright but I thought he was so fun to watch!  Robert Plant must've been a character if he looked, moved, and dressed like that. Guess that goes for all of them!  But guess that's their rite for being the greatest rock band of all time.  I did recognize a number of songs and had fun rockin' out.  I should not have worn heels (dang it for trying to look cute!) and am suffering from hearing loss today.  :)   

The band played until past 12:30!  Hard core. Spencer turned 30 at midnight during concert.   We made sure we knew when it was midnight to wish him a proper happy 30th birthday!  After the concert we walked back to our cars (I hobbled without shoes on) and I had his bday surprise waiting for him...

I found out from Jeff that he loves German Chocolate Cake...so I made him a really pretty and yummy cake with a big 3-0 on it (and stairs on the side for a tribute to LZ).  I had a few cupcakes in which I put the band symbols on them so we could enjoy a cupcake and blow out a candle (sorta) that evening. 

Happy Birthday!

So after that I spent the night at Suzanne's.  She lives like 5 minutes from downtown. Totally jealous. We stayed up until 2ish...  Then in the morning we had Aubrey, Nadya (spelled it right!), and Lisa over for waffles!  Cute girls. Fun.  We went to the cemetery service project and avoided getting poison ivy. We must have loaded a dozen or more bags with leaves!  We somehow avoided this weird guy staring at us because we wouldn't eat there (what? exactly.) and then changed clothes to go to the Art Car Parade.  It was a blast! I got tons of great photos!

Weird Cars

Weird People

Reasons to love Houston

 Love it.

From being sweaty and sunned-out, we all crashed at Suzanne's (Aubs on the floor, Suzanne in the armchair, and me on the couch) and fell asleep for an hour...then mustered up the energy to go to the bbq.  Tons of fun. Eating good bbq, playing ultimate water frisbee and hanging out with my awesome friends. Even went on a motorcycle ride (but got scared bad). 

Eventually I made it home. Here I am.  Tired as tired can be.  Feet still sore, a bit sun burnt, and my feet still hurt!  But it was all worth it!  It was a fabulous weekend!

Oh, funny things that I misunderstood today (from being deaf!)

1. Suzanne- "We need machinery." (in reference to getting weeds up)

Me- "Missionaries?"

2. Suzanne and everyone was talking about Art Cars.

I really thought they meant Art Carts (like craft carts with artsy things like jewelry? yeah. my bad)

3. Overheard a conversation that James Earl Jones was buried in the cemetery we were in.

Nope, Jim Willard Jones.  JEJ is alive anyways. Whatever.

4. Aubrey saying she had bleach on her pants and asked me to see if I noticed.

I did not hear bleach but noticed her pants moved funny. I think we're still confused on that one.

5. Steven asked "how was the concert?"

Me- "Who's Hunter?"

That my friends was my last 30 hours. good times. good times.

rock and roll. rock on.

catch me if you can!

Here's a glimpse at my non-stop life for the next few months! Lots of fun things and lots of travel!

This weekend
Led Zeppelin cover band concert at the House of Blues, service project, birthday bbq, and maybe more

May 16th
PROM! it's fun to chaperone!

May 23rd- 25th
Road trip to Dallas to spend time with my BFF Tammy!

June 5th-10th
Stillwater, Oklahoma for NASA Inspire training

June 18th- Aug 14th
Pasadena, California BABY!!!!

Aug 17th
School training starts


...catch me if you can... ;)

striving to be perfect...

My step-mom thinks I'm too much of a perfectionist.  Which she's true. But I know I need to work on it!  I hate being a young professional because I make mistakes- and I'm not used to that!  I've always been good at things and never do anything wrong. Now it's impossible to be a perfect teacher ever- let alone your first few years. But I still beat myself up over my mistakes!  I need to work on that. It's normal to not be perfect!  :)

This is from a talk from Elder Cecil O. Samuelson (2002, MTC and printed in the New Era- read it here)

Doing Your Best	Perfectionism
You desire to give things your best efforts and are satisfied when you do.	You have a list of “shoulds” and “have to’s” and are dissatisfied even if you complete them.
You know it’s okay if you make a mistake. You move on and see your mistake as an opportunity for growth or learning.	Mistakes bring feelings of self-hatred. You don’t want to do anything because you are afraid of failure.
You want to do your personal best, and you try not to compare your achievements to those of others. You don’t need to be the best at all things.	You feel tremendous pressure to earn others’ approval. You must be the best or “perfect” in your tasks.
You can find joy in doing the things you love, and you can get things accomplished.	Your need to do things perfectly leads to procrastination until you have time to do it “perfectly,” and you feel driven by fear or duty instead of love.
Trying to do your best and perfecting yourself “line upon line” with the Savior’s help is Christ-centered because you need the Atonement.	Perfectionism is self-centered. You measure yourself against your own standards and against others’ standards, not God’s.

Mac vs. the Plastic Bag

Mac Wallet

New favorite Mac application- Wallet.  I can keep all of credit cards, serial numbers, bank info, web passwords and accounts all organized!  You can make your own categories (I added magazines, banks, doctors, etc).  AWESOME!  Plus it's password protected.  I love being that organized. Plus you can add cute little icons of your different things. :)  

I added serial numbers for all my stuff- macbook, camera, ipod, piano keyboard, etc.  Super organized!

http://www.acrylicapps.com/wallet/

Wedding Hair

So I am no pro at hair, especially since mine is short. So here's a style I saw a few weeks ago that I rather like!  It's simple and sweet.  

But, Tammy's gonna do my hair no matter what so I'm not too worried. She'll make me bea-ut-i-ful!

Yes. I picked photos from Scrubs- the Janitor and Lady's wedding.  lol. 

TAKS testing time!

This week is the end-all-be-all for high schoolers.  Well, juniors anyways.  The seniors hopefully passed last year and actually get to sleep in and come to school around 11:30 for 4 days. Nice.  The rest of the school- and teachers- get to be in testing mode and get totally burnt out for those 4 days.  We start by getting our materials at 6:45 then set up for the kids (I have 12 testing with me).  Then they get to test and remain perfectly quiet (only allowed to sleep or read a book) until around 11:30 when the school is done testing.  It's hard to monitor kids testing for 4 hours!  I'm planning on getting breakfast and a diet coke in the morning!!!  Then after testing we still have to teach two periods and have lunch way late.  The kids especially do not want to learn after testing (I don't blame them)...but I have a lot to teach them!  I'm gonna try to do a lab since that at least gets them out of their seats.  

Benefits of TAKS- I get to do personal tutoring (for $25-30/hr) and also teach Saturday TAKS camps for the same rate!  

Downfalls- staring at kids taking tests. I can't read or do anything while they're testing. Stamina!  Thinking about a to-do list I can't do anything about!  I don't even get a conference period ALL week. blah.

Let the testing begin...

of pianos and getting pulled over

I love to laugh at my life!

I have dinner with my friend (hooray for Red Robin!) then go to Institute. Then I offer to help Dan, Jordan, and Bryant work on their musical number (since I sorta play the piano).  So we're in the chapel practicing and my phone is on the piano, then it gets knocked inside of it!  Hands could not get my phone out (even little kid hands- we tried).  The boys went into 'rescue mode' and tried every angle and idea they could think of (even found bbq skewers and tape to try to use...).  Then I went and got my car kit (full of screw drivers, flashlights, etc). Jordan tried unscrewing the key lid and found out that it just slides out. There was my phone. Just a sliding of a piece away the whole time.  Our efforts took a good half hour. Thanks, fellas!

I got a banana shake at the sonic near my house on the way back. Then as I am driving down my street, about to turn into my complex, I get pulled over!  Apparently my headlights weren't on. I thought they were!  And then I shut off my car to see if they were working (but little did I know- or the officer???- that since my car was off the lights wouldn't be on (even though the dash ones were)). I was confused. He said I'd get a ticket, but I didn't. I have no clue why. And then I drive off and my lights ARE on. What?  I'm so confused.  

pianos and getting pulled over. goodness.