Friday, February 29, 2008

HELP!
I need to buy a new car. I currently have an Audi and my warranty expires in March. I really like my car but it has had a lot of problems and is way expensive to fix! Where I need help is ... what kind of car should I get. I would love to get another Audi but don't want the problems I had with this one. I want a car with all wheel or 4 wheel drive. I would like to keep it in the $20-25,000 range.
Any suggestions???

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Chicago

I spent the last five days in Chicago with a group of teachers from my school. We were there to visit a school that developed the PLC (professional learning community) program that my school is being patterned after. It was a good experience and got us all excited about what we are doing at our school.
A few of us decided to go a few days early and enjoy Chicago. We went to Wicked and loved it! If you ever have the opportunity to see it DO! It was cold!

I got to go to the Art Institute Museum. I love going to museums and seeing the art I teach in AP art history in real life! I wish I could take my students there.

Chicago style hot dog. yummy!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Presidents Day 2008

Another glorious day of snowshoeing! It was warm and clear and simply beautiful!Ryan and Ashley Shupe joined us. Much fun!
My brother Peter and Mom in the background.
Yep, Ashley is 7 months pregnant! Impressive and dang cute!

I still fall down a lot!

Holy cow that is a lot of snow! I feel so tall!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

San Luis Obispo trip cont.

Oh how I am longing for the 75 degree California sun! Last weekend my dad and I went to San Luis Obispo to do a creativity workshop at Cal Poly. We flew into Santa Barbara airport where the sun was shinning and it was a beautiful day. If any of you have ever flown into that airport you will understand when I say .. that is a pretend airport! As we were getting off the plane I said to my dad, "where is the airport?" There really isn't one. You walk from the plane across the runway to a gate that leads you out to the drop off/ parking area. The baggage area is a tent where the guy Santa Barbara Airport
(do you see the baggage tent)

drives up and hands you your bag. It was just bazaar. Of course our bags did not make it. I swear that my dad is jinxed when it comes to checking bags. Our two bags (one full of all the supplies for the workshop) had been "rerouted" through LA. Don't worry, (this is where you wait for your flight)

we were told, your bags will be delivered to you by midnight tonight. We sure hope so ... without that bag we have NO workshop!
We hopped in our rental car and headed straight for
Trader Joe's. I absolutely love that place. I stocked up on my favorite trail mix, yogurt, humus, fruit snacks, and a few snacks for the road. It was an hour and half drive up to San Luis after all. ;) The drive was gorgeous! That drive is worth the trip in and of itself. I love the ocean and the smell and the sun! We pulled off at the first Costco we saw and bought a shirt for my dad to wear at his lecture that night seeing as our clothes were somewhere in LA. What an adventure this trip was turning out to be.
My good friend Jennie drove up from LA to spend the weekend with us. It is always a good time when Jennie is there.
Most of Saturday was spent in the workshop. Yes we did get our bags. It went really well and we met some interesting people. As soon as the workshop was done we headed for the beach. It was about 5:00 and the sun was just starting to set. You know those moments were you feel just blissfully happy .. that was one of those moments! I can't even describe it. We walked up and down the beach just soaking it all in. After watching the sun set over the ocean it was time to eat. Being at the beach makes you want sea food! We couldn't see anywhere to eat right on the beach so we stopped and asked for a recommendation. "Drive down this road until you reach the end." So that is exactly what we did. We drove until we hit the pier and then we drove down the pier (only because the car in front of us did). It turns out there is a great sea food restaurant at the end of the pier. We ate the BEST food! I will dream about that meal for a long time! Could this day get any better?As we were leaving the resturant a couple of guys were coming up the steps of the pier with buckets of water. A couple of their buddies were at the end of the pier fishing. So I asked if they had caught anything. A small shark! Cool! Can we see? Now to make this part a little more interesting you have to visualize these guys. Mexican gangsters! They so did not fit the scene. They were very nice and showed us the shark. It was just a small one. They put it in the bucked of water and told us to watch .. it will start throwing up little fish. They don't actually do anything with these sharks. They catch them and watch them puff up as they gulp air and then put them in a bucket to watch them throw up little fish. After that they just throw them back into the ocean. It was very funny! Could this night get any better?
As we walked back to the car we suddenly hear (don't worry Jennie, I won't let you fall over!)

sea lions barking. So we run over to the edge and peer over. There were about 9 huge sea lions. Jennie was so brave that she walked down a few steps to get closer ... until one came after her! This entertained us for a while. Could this night get any better?
As we drove back to San Luis we noticed this very strange place called Madonna Inn. My dad knew about this place and insisted that we go take a peak inside. It was well worth it. I felt like I had jumped into the movie Dirty Dancing. Everything inside was pink and gaudy. It was great. They had a live band and dancing so my Dad danced with each of us. I sure don't know how to dance! Could this day get any better?

We got back to the hotel and ended our amazing day with a soak in the hot tub. The jets in the hot tub were aimed wrong creating small volcanoes. That aside it was a great end to a perfect day (minus Jennie losing her sunglasses somewhere on the beach). It was such a great weekend with my Dad and Jennie. One for the books!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

San Luis Obispo Trip

Me and my Dad
at Avila beach
more to come ...

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Now what do we do?

Mitt has officially pulled out of the running. I was listening to his speech and it broke my heart. I agree with everything he says. He really was the best candidate! He is what this country needs right now. So now what? Am I really going to have to choose between Hillary, McCain or Obama? I really don't want to vote for a democrat ... but the alternative is not much better. I wish someone could convince me that one of the remaining candidates is worth voting for. It is going to be an interesting four years. I am officially tired of this election.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

VOTE!

Don't forget to vote today!!!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Oh the things we will do!

My dad had some skin cancer removed from his nose. It ended up being pretty major with several stitches. He had a stitch that was sticking out and driving him crazy. So he asked me to clip it off for him. Good thing I have never had any aspirations to become a surgeon. My hands are way to shaky! My brother in law, Dan, thought this was so funny that he took a couple pictures. Oh the things we will do!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Winter Wonderland

This is the view from my front door this morning. It doesn't do it justice at all! They even canceled church!