On Our Way.

We're heading out to the Bahamas bright and early tomorrow morning. Not sure that I will have access to the internet while there -- in fact, I'm 95% sure that I will not -- so I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a safe and fun New Year.

As I have done in years past, I will still write posts while I am away and then post them one-by-one when I get back. Can't wait to visit paradise!

A Whole Lotta Nothing...Plus Some Mushiness.

I think it's slightly funny that Jamie was the one who got a Snow Day after the storm rather than me...In the end, I got to spend my first day of break with Jamie at home. And actually Scott who came over to our place for a quiet place to study. While I adore my husband and brother-in-law, they were seriously cramping my vegging plans.

No matter, I would vegetate properly on my second day of break by sleeping in, etc. Unfortunately, I woke up at 7am and figured it'd be best not to waste my day. Also, I needed to get myself to Urgent Care and no time like the present. Given my previous experience with Urgent Care, I was not looking forward to it.

This time I went to Minute Clinic. Hooray for Minute Clinic! I was seriously seeing a nurse practitioner within a minute. Minute Clinic saved my second day of break because afterwards I was able to get back home and do my jog and then catch up on my vegging.

Today is Jamie and my dating anniversary. After spending eleven years with the guy I can safely say that he is still the best, most wonderful, human being.

Christamas-ish in The Capitol.

Yesterday morning, Jamie and I ventured out in the snow with our snow boots to enjoy the Capitol under a blanket of snow. It was an absolutely beautiful day -- with bright sunshine and few clouds -- so we walked to the Capitol and check out the National Christmas Tree.

View of The National Tree and Mall from the Capitol.

That's Jamie waving his arm.

It was great to get out there. Everyone was in such a good mood because of the snow. Kids were sledding down the hill adjacent to the Capitol steps, people were making snowmen and throwing snowballs. The city itself was so quiet except for people enjoying the snow.

I've known for a while now that I wanted to live somewhere that had snow. While I thought the more snow the better for me, I'm starting to realize it may be that I'd rather be somewhere where snow is a huge deal when it actually happens because then it's something that people are happy about. I don't know that people in Buffalo or Ann Arbor are as excited to see snow as we are in DC.

I still vividly remember the day when I was in Kindergarten and it started to snow in Los Angeles. It was an awesome day.

This is outside of The Supreme Court.

Don't know how much longer we can expect the snow to stick around. Looks like they are predicting freezing rain on Christmas...boo! Fortunately, I'll be in the Bahamas! If I can't have a white Christmas, I think the place I'd most like to be is the Bahamas...

Blizzard 2009

Okay, so maybe not a technical blizzard, but they had a Blizzard Watch for a while. Yesterday it snowed ALL day. Not just flurries, but really snowed.

...And snowed...

...And SNOWED.

D.C. got hit by about 20" of snow yesterday which is a new record for December. It doesn't snow that much here in D.C. -- especially in the city itself. Needless to say, I was a very excited camper yesterday as were many other D.C. residents. Apparently, there were cross country skiers on the sidewalks and snowmobiles going down East Capitol. While 20" is not much snow by Massachusetts standards, it's enough for mass hysteria over here. I didn't even mind that it happened after school let out for the Winter Holidays and robbed me of the elusive snow day.

Still, Blizzard 2009 was not the most exciting thing about yesterday: the most exciting thing about yesterday was that it was Jamie's Birthday!!! Jamie and I have a strange relationship with the weather. Basically, any time we plan some kind of event that would benefit from good weather (i.e. BBQs, birthday parties, WEDDINGS) it decides to go wacky on us. The last sunny BBQ we had was in 2000 (and we throw at least one every year), the last time I attempted a birthday party of some sort there was an ice storm, and of course there was the thunderstorm at our wedding (where it actually only stormed for the outdoor part).

Still, we had a bunch of people brave it out in the snow and celebrate Jamie's birthday for us. It was great to have good food, music, and friends in in our home while it was snowy outside. It all felt very holiday-ish.

Since I didn't get to go outside and enjoy the snow yesterday (due to the massive cleaning and baking effort), I plan on venturing outside today and taking full advantage! Hopefully, pictures soon...

Pasta Masters.

Last Tuesday, Jamie and I finally cashed in on a birthday gift I gave him last year: a cooking class at our friend Leah's store. In my defense, we couldn't go on or around his birthday last year because Hill's Kitchen didn't have classes available yet. Since then, we have had a really hard time finding times when our schedules aligned during the week.

But we finally made it in to the Homemade Pasta class and it was so much

fun! We have tried making homemade pasta before but with little success. The most successful pasta that had ever been made in my kitchen was actually made by my friend Angie when she made some awesome agnolotti for Jamie's Top Chef party a few years back.

But look!

And look!

(Sorry for the low picture quality -- all I had was my cell phone and low light.)

Those are some ragu noodles at the top and my linguini at the bottom of the picture. We took it right home and ate it up...so yummy...and so easy too.

In other news, it's snowing outside! Wahoo! Fortunately it's snuggly time in the house for us all to stay warm...

Love Tap.

What's the etiquette when it comes to parking love taps? You know, when a car gently taps another car when it's parallel parking.

This morning, when I was leaving for work, a car pulled up and began to parallel park into the spot directly in front of mine. Since I didn't want to pass behind his car while he was parking, I waited for him to park. Despite the good 3 feet on either side of his car he kept reversing far beyond what was necessary...I watched with growing alarm as he kept inching ever so much closer. Closer. CLOSER. Until TAP -- my car lurches and he finishes parking his car.

I'm guessing that he understood that it was not cool -- I gathered that based on the fact that he leaned over to the passenger seat to "get something" and continued to "get something" (and hide his face) until I had driven by.

When I was relaying this to a friend today, she told me that love taps were not at all taboo. In fact, she proudly stated that she always gives love taps and will usually tap both cars on either side of her every time she parallel parked. WHAT???? Excuse me, WHAT???? Please tell me that my friend is just wrong.

I feel so violated on behalf of my car just thinking that it may have been getting tapped without my knowledge...

Encore.

Some more a capella goodness. This is from the same concert as before (obviously), but it's a different song.

For Dad. Love, Me.

In honor of my dad's birthday today, I would like to share this:

I think he'd appreciate it.

The International Language of the Morning After.

Every morning I pass Gallaudet University on my way to work. Today, as I passed in front of Gallaudet I saw two students having an argument. Not all that out of the ordinary -- especially on a college campus at a very early hour. What made this particularly interesting to me as I waited for the light at the intersection was that they were signing their argument at each other.

Even though we do provide some ASL to our students (it was a class we offered during Summer school!) I know very little beyond "good morning" and "thank you". These two people were not saying "good morning" or "thank you". Mind you, they weren't making any obscene gestures -- they were simply signing. The man continued to sign angrily as he walked across the street until they were signing at each other across the street. So heated was their argument that even after the light changed, the cars didn't want to cross in front of them and interrupt their exchange.

As I drove away, I couldn't help but wish I knew what they were arguing about. I'm so nosy.

Day 30; Post 30: Reflection.

So I actually met my goal of 30 posts in 30 days. Surprisingly, I can also say that I really enjoyed doing it. Sure there were times when I had to stay up a little later to post, or when I was really strapped for something to post about (my life is not that interesting), but in the end it was an enriching experience.

I had been thinking about how to end this series of posts...I figured I would need some grand finale not unlike the rush of fireworks that always end the 4th of July shows. Well...life hasn't really served up many fireworks lately. More like a laser pen light show that is interesting to me, but not so much to the people who read my blog. Sorry guys, this post will be more of a fizzle.

I think this practice has once again made the value of this blog evident to me. I started it to allow me to keep in touch with friends (this was before Facebook). But since then, it has definitely evolved into a way to allow me to reflect on the past six years. I am really appreciative of that.

All this to say that while I may not really have to say "30 posts in 30 days", I do want to post more frequently. Stay tuned?

Day 30; Post 29: O Tannenbaum.

So, I didn't mention this before, but the day we got back from Los Angeles, we put our tree up. I love the holidays and one of my favorite parts of the holiday is the Christmas Tree.

Yes, it's a fake tree. We figured as long as we didn't have a yard in which to plant our trees, we should just forego the yummy, piney scent of a real tree. Also, I think that real pine needles that fall off pretty easily would be worse for kitty tummies than are the occasional plastic ones that the cats manage to yank off. Because, let's be honest, the cats are obsessed with the tree.

Day 29; Post 28: Let It Snow!

After two years of sweet anticipation followed by utter disappointment, our school has finally changed it's Snow Policy so that we no longer follow DCPS. In the past, we would only close for inclement weather if DCPS closed. So, despite the fact that our school's street doesn't get plowed and is at the bottom of a little hill, we would never get the sweet benefit of a snow day. And as you know, I love a snow day.

Unfortunately for me, it is common knowledge that DCPS never closes -- not to be confused with the private schools in DC which close for scary clouds. Chancellor Rhee even came out and said that DCPS would not close for inclement weather. When President Obama falsely accused and ridiculed DC schools for closing for a half inch of snow (just because his daughters' school closed), I figured it was the final nail in the Snow Day coffin.

Well...last week The Powers That Be decided to finally separate us from our Snow Day shackles. Our public charter school decided to separate itself from DCPS when it comes to inclement weather closings -- hooray for children not falling on our perilous hill! Hooray for staff members not coming to school with harrowing tales about their near accidents! Hooray for Snow Days!

Day 28; Post 27: Filler.

Still not having any luck with uploading the video to the blog. I think the file is too big...Boo. Not to worry, though, anticipation only makes it that much sweeter. All I know is, I had that thing uploading on my computer all night and it still wasn't done this morning. Stay tuned, and hopefully it'll be up soon.

In the meantime, enjoy emo superheroes:

This will probably be funny to two of my readers. So this one is for you guys. (If you can zoom in on your computer, you can check it out in all of its legible glory here.)

Day 27; Post 26: Carls.

Day 30 is coming up and there is some pressure to actually find a way to make up the extra post somewhere within the next couple of days. I don't want it to be a throwaway post, but it may have to be.

This will not be that post, though.

Today, I went to the Carleton Alumni Holiday Party. I have been a honorary Carl for a while now...but I would not have felt obligated to go to the holiday party had it not been for the fact that Jamie was going to performing there with his acapella group.

Pretty impressive considering they were down two of their 9 members. Also, impressive is that my bass-baritone husband was able to rock that tenor part. (He was filling in for his absent brother who normally sings that part.) Yes, I know that Java Jive is not a holiday song, but they did sing a couple carols afterwards.

Edited to add: So, I eventually was able to upload the video. Unfortunately, the only way I could get it to work was to make it a really low-quality video. Although you can't really make out faces anymore, let me assure you it's Jamie and his singing group.

Day 26; Post 25: Unbirthday.

Today being my first full day with Jamie since my birthday, we decided to celebrate it with some good food and a movie. I'm such a nerd and can't think of a better way to spend my birthday than a low-key one.

Aside from being my non-birthday celebration day, it was also the first day of snow for D.C. Most exciting! While it was pretty light in the city, we drove out to the suburby areas to go shopping where it was actually snowing big, fat snowflakes. So beautiful. It also reinforced that I love living somewhere with seasons.

Jamie took me to dinner at BLT Steak. You know it's love when your vegetarian spouse takes you to a really good steak place for your non-birthday. I'm talking a place with $26/oz steak on the menu. (I did not order the $26/oz. steak -- which must have gold-plated and able to clean your house for you.) Incidentally, the guy sitting at the table next to us was clearly some kind of important restaurant guy because they comped him all of the desserts and the chef came out to greet him. I saw a little piece of Jamie die tonight when they bussed away the untouched desserts after he left.

Afterwards, we went to see Up In the Air which was a nice movie.

Definitely worth a watch! And I always like to support a Harvard-Westlake alum when I can.

Day 25; Post 24: The Little Things.

I'm back at the airport and am still enjoying FREE internet as I wait for my plane. My conference ended up being pretty great. The speaker was a very prominent educator who I tend to geek out over. She also happens to be a Williams alum.

The conference was about Writing Workshop and throughout the session, she would have us go through some of the strategies for generating ideas that teachers could present to their students. The overwhelming effect of these role plays was that I am no very inclined to write. Not just write in a blog -- where apparently grammar doesn't matter to me -- but an actual, thought-out personal narrative. It was all pretty inspiring and I wish I had a way to implement it with our students as soon as I get back.

At one point, when Lucy Calkins was demonstrating one method of generating ideas for personal narrative, she was making up a story about dropping her son off at college. She described opening the heavy fire door to the hallway, staring down the long, cinder block corridor of her son's new dorm, and questioning the amount of the tuition. I started to get excited because it was clear she was describing our alma mater. Eventually, she mentioned that she was describing Mission at Williams and I felt very triumphant.

I have a connection with Lucy Calkins and it excites me. I am a nerd.

Another thing that excites me is the prospect of 1 - 3 inches of snow tomorrow in D.C.! Never mind that it was in the 60s yesterday...I'll take the snow! Cross your fingers...

Day 24; Post 23: Birthday.

Currently sitting in the airport on my way to Hartford, Connecticut for my conference. I'm enjoying the FREE wireless internet in the airport being provided by Google for the holidays. Most awesome -- just another way that Google is taking over my life.

Anyway, this morning I was woken up bright and early by my dear husband who woke up even earlier than that to make me breakfast in bed. Despite the fact that I could barely keep my eyes open, I did not spill on the sheets and I enjoyed being pampered.

When I opened my email, I got another pretty awesome birthday gift. A video of my nieces! Which I will now share with all two of you who read this blog! Celebrate!

Day 23; Post 22: With Every Fiber of My Being...

...I think Jayma Mays and I should be friends.

Jayma, call me!

Day 22; Post 21: The Fish Bowl.

On Tuesdays I work at our second elementary campus. Since I'm only there once a week (and usually only for a half-day at that), I don't have an office there. Instead I have a fish bowl.

The building we are in went through renovations to make it more kid-friendly. Although it had been a school before we moved in, it was an "open school" with no walls. Not exactly the learning environment that best suited our students.

My "office" used to be an observation room -- a place where children would be put in with toys and whatnot and observed by teachers or psychologists or whatever. Thus, three of the walls of my "office" are actually one-way mirrors. This would allow me ultimate privacy in my office, and an ability to observe the children and their teachers as they transition through the halls.

Unfortunately for me, the one-way mirror is working the other way...meaning I cannot see out, but everyone can see in. It is UNCOMFORTABLE in there. I get kids knocking on the windows, but have no idea which direction to cast my teacher glare since I have no way of knowing where the child is knocking from. Also, I don't like seeing three different mirror images of myself all the time.

The only way I am able to see out is when the lights are off. Under those circumstances the one-way mirror flips and I am able to see out, but no one can see in. However, this poses a new dilemma in that when 5 year-olds are given a mirror, they cannot help but make faces into it. Therefore, instead of the faceless banging on my window, I get kids making faces at me not realizing they are being watched. Even worse, I get adults checking themselves out. I feel sort of guilty looking at people when I know they can't see me...it feels too voyeuristic for my taste. In the end, I opt for the lights on, knocking on window scenario.

I could get used to that...but the lights are on a not-so-sensitive motion sensor. So every once in a while, the lights go out and that is when I get the worst of both worlds; I get kids staring into the mirror making faces (or adults primping themselves) only to be startled when the lights come on and they catch me waving my limbs frantically in the middle of the room trying to get the lights back on.

Needess to say, I like being in my real office the other four days of the week.

Day 21; Post 20: Short and Sweet.

This video is the winner of the day...

Not as cute as my nieces...but pretty darned cute.

Day 20; Post 19: Wave!

As testament to my nerdiness, I am going to admit that I squealed with joy when I saw that I was invited by Google to play around with Google Wave.  In layman's terms:

I've got 7 invites left...who wants 'em??

Day 20; Post 18: The Long Thanksgiving Break Recap.

Jamie and I are back from the West Coast! In a strange reversal, it was pretty cold in Los Angeles when we left -- we had to curtail a visit to the playground with our nieces on Sunday morning -- and pretty warm in D.C. This morning we walked over to the market to get breakfast and groceries and enjoyed the warm sun and clear skies.

While it was hard to leave the family yesterday, it is also nice to have some time at home to do some clean-up and resting up before returning to work. Sadly, I don't know that Jamie and I did the best job combating our jet lag. We went to bed after 2am and woke up around 10:30. Whoops. It'll be fun trying to get to bed tonight.

But that's neither here nor there. On to the important stuff!

You could tell me that there are cuter little girls in existence, but I would tell you that you are a liar with your pants afire. Leah and Riley are growing so fast -- last I saw them they were just trying solid foods; now, Leah was shoving as much banana into her mouth as possible in one bite.

Fortunately, she has deluxe cheek capacity. The girl likes her bananas!

They are both crawling around and "reading" flipping through books and chattering happily. They are also exploring their surroundings bipedally while holding someone's fingers. Even though neither of the girls remembered Jamie or I at first, they warmed up faster than I thought they would. When in a room full of strangers (one where I was the lesser of all evils) Leah would come to me. I would venture to say by the end of the trip, Riley even preferred me! She would grab my legs and say something resembling "up!" and then point me around the room to look at dolls and flowers. (That girl likes her dolls!) She was also quite fond of her Tio Jamie.

On our walk back from the market today, I was daydreaming of a time when we could take our beautiful nieces to the playground near our house. Hopefully some day they'll make it to D.C. Although, right now I'm just hoping that the car trip back to San Francisco wasn't too rough on them or their poor parents.

I already filled you all in on Thanksgiving, but I figured I could share a picture of the final spread (minus the cornbread and cranberry rolls that went in that empty gap on the right side of the picture.) There's also a big and delicious salad that my Tia Carmen made hiding behind the giant stuffed turkey centerpiece.

Like a doofus, I forgot to take a picture of the completed turkey before I carved it up. Just trust me that it looked pretty darned good. That picture makes me wish we got to take some of the leftovers home with us. Boo.

After over 3 decades of Thanksgivings with the Chui's, they were unable to make it to Thanksgiving this year. But, we did get to see them on Friday for lunch. Of course, they went all out (they are quite the gourmands) and made their own sausage. I'm talking, ordered casings online, ground their own meat, etc. They grilled the sausages (as well as portobello mushrooms and tons of veggies) and we all assembled our own sandwiches. So good.

Better still, we got to play with Diego -- the newest member of the clan. He is just a few months older than my nieces and is quite adorable. Somehow I managed to not take any pictures on Friday, but take my word for it...ADORABLE. He was so generous with his toys and would pick up toys to give to everyone around the room. He even graciously allowed Leah and Riley to monopolize the use of his toy trucks.

On the way home from the Chui's we stopped at Jamie's house for the evening. Jamie's family got to meet the girls, and Jamie and I stayed behind for dinner and a big birthday party (for Jamie's brothers, father, myself and Jamie -- all with birthdays in November and December). Again, I neglected to take any pictures...Jamie and I definitely made of with some pretty great loot!

The brothers Long drove us home and we played a Ping Pong tournament. Scott, of course, destroyed Jamie and Kevin -- I was too scared to play him. But, in doubles I came out victorious as the only undefeated player. Scott and I trounced Kevin and Jamie, and then Jamie and I -- the true underdogs -- were able to beat Kevin and Scott. I think this may only be because Scott was nice enough not to smash every shot at me. Very gentlemanly.

The trip back was easy and uneventful. I got to read halfway through the book that Jamie's mom had bought for my birthday (I may be one of the last people to read "Lovely Bones", but it's a good book.) Our Thanksgiving break was great but too short. I am already looking forward to the holiday break when we get to spend more time with our family in the Bahamas...

Day 18; Post 17: Happy Thanksgiving.

Still on Pacific time -- still counts as Day 18. Also, it means it is still Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone...I hope that you all had a wonderful time spending time with loved ones and eating good food.

As mentioned yesterday, I'm currently in Los Angeles with the family. It is actually the first Thanksgiving I've been home since Freshman year of college. It's strange how things have changed and how people have grown. But we can all still laugh at the same stories.

This year, I was charged with cooking. A very exciting prospect, as I have never cooked a Thanksgiving meal for more than 4 or 5 people. And even then...with the vegetarian husband, it wasn't really all that grand. But today, it was 14.5 people (the 1/2 being my nieces) and I got to cook the 22 lb. turkey. That was fun in itself, but I also ventured to make cornbread (my nemesis), and a vegetarian entree -- a butternut squash, spinach, and cheddar bread pudding. Jamie handled the dressing and sweet potatoes. My sister-in-law handled the pie. It all turned out pretty darned yummy. I'll put a picture up as soon as I can upload it...not that it really is all that important to you.

I hope all of your Thanksgivings were just as tasty!

Day 17; Post 16: Before the Blog

For the record, I am counting this as Day 17, because I'm on Pacific Time. (Home for Thanksgiving! Wee!)

It's weird to be "home" again. The things in the house look like they always had...but it just feels older. I feel like things should be sepia-toned around here.

As we were getting ready for bed, Jamie made a beeline for his favorite part of my childhood room. My diary. I know I have already referenced it before...don't remember how or when. But today, I will share some of Jamie's favorites.

October 23, 1991
Dear Diary,

Sorry I didn't write in you for so long. Jonathan [a boy I liked and who had been mentioned in many previous diary entries] left the school, but I have a new boyfriend which I know likes me. Barry Fam. I like him too, he's nice. Chasqui [my dog] is fine and I'm going to move on Saturday. This house is huge!

[In big cursive letters at the bottom of the page] I Love Barry!

Love, Melissa

October 24, 1991
Dear Diary,

Today was a fair day by accident. Barry threw a football. But I kinda like Ryan Agee now.

Love, M.U.

I was a fickle little 10 year old...

Day 15; Post 15: The Right-Wing.

We have been having some exciting visitors at our school lately!  First, it was Tom Kierein (maybe only exciting to an NPR nerd like myself), then Arne Duncan, and tomorrow we have some more.

Our school is absolutely beautiful.  Lots of light, bright colors, wide open spaces...and tomorrow we're supposed to be visited by some big right-wing politicians.  Among the confirmed is Justice Scalia.  

Aside from my surface knowledge of the Supreme Court, most of what I know about Justice Scalia is from my Environmental Law class that I took a long time ago at Williams.  Suffice to say, I'm not partial to Justice Scalia.  However, Jamie has met him and said he was funny and nice enough (despite being mostly misaligned with our social views), and now he's company to someone who has been very generous to our students...so I guess I'll warm up to him a little.  

Justice Thomas -- someone who I will probably never warm up to -- backed out of coming.  Even more hilarious is that I heard that DICK CHENEY could possibly be in attendance.  I am assuming that is just a rumor because I hadn't heard confirmation that he would actually come.  In short, we will be having a lot of right-wing heavy hitters coming tomorrow.  

And Barack Obama continues to forsake us.  Maybe some day...

Day 15; Post 14: A Chill in the Air.

Now that we're nearing December, it's getting consistently colder.  Sure, there's still those days of 60 or 70 degree weather mixed in there...but for the most part: cold.  And sometimes rainy.

One consequence of this is that poor Junior has a cold.  Hopefully not H1N1, but she is sneezing up a mini-storm.  Too bad it sounds adorable.

Another consequence of this is that the cats become even more cuddly with each other.

That's them keeping each other warm on our mountain of laundry.  'Tis the season for cat-spooning.  

For the record, Jamie and I do not leave piles of clothes around.  We were just in the folding process.  I swear, mom.

Day 14; Post 13: Kingpin.

Okay, I didn't specify that I would be posting each day. Just that I would have 30 posts in 30 days. So one of these days I will be getting two posts in on one day. Let's hope life gets more exciting soon...I'm guessing since I have nieces (and the rest of my family) in my near future I shouldn't be having much trouble.

Yesterday was our friend Angie's birthday party. Angie, being an awesome person, has started a tradition of having a bowling party for her birthday. So, we had our 2nd annual Bowling-Fest with a great group of people. We got some pitchers of beer, got two lanes, and donned fashionable bowling shoes for a night of bowling debauchery.

Of course, this being the Mid-Atlantic region the only bowling that was readily available to us was duckpin bowling.


Similar to regular bowling except the pins are squatter, the ball is smaller and lighter, and you get three throws per turn. It takes some getting used to but it's pretty fun.

Dan, Angie's husband had also purchased a special trophy to go to the champion of the evening. Yes, Dan had a special trophy made to commemorate the event.


Incidentally, that is our brick wall in the background of that picture. You might ask, "why is the trophy at your house, Melissa?" Because I am the 2009 Grand Champion of the Bowling-Fest. Must have been all those "kid lifts" and "kid curls" I've been doing. Or just luck. In duckpin bowling a lot depends on luck.

That trophy is now sitting on our bookshelf next to our wedding picture. I still can't get over that Dan had a trophy specially-made...

Day 12; Post 12: Creeped Out.

I promise, I am not obsessed...but I found this website today about the 30 most disturbing Twilight products and I had to share. Seriously creeped out here. WHY on earth would you want a life-size decal of Robert Pattinson's silhouette adhered to your bedroom wall?

PLEASE tell me the knitted and felted replica of Bella's womb is a joke and that no one actually would buy Twilight-themed packing tape.

If you decide to go to the website, I apologize for the item on there that is not appropriate for children.

Day 11; Post 11: Geeking Out.

I am learning that it is very difficult to blog while watching Star Trek (the new movie -- not that old stuff). So much for multi-tasking. It's just a little more distracting than Milo and Otis. It may have to wait until the weekend...too much to do.

So in other total geekdom news, I may or may not want to see the new Twilight movie. Okay fine, so I totally do want to see it. In an impulse Kindle purchase (I was in a plane and had to choose quickly before they closed the doors) I bought Twilight. Despite being among the most poorly written books I have ever read in my life -- including my own book "Crystals are Clear" which I wrote in 3rd grade for the Young Author's Fair -- I could not put it down. In the next week, I read all four of the Twilight books.

I don't know that I really enjoyed reading them -- I would regularly quote parts of it out to Jamie or complain about stupid characters (the main ones). But I could not stop. Now that this movie is coming out, I am battling between my guilty desire to see it and the cringeworthy thought of seeing it in a movie theater full of screaming and/or crying tweens.

Jamie suggests I go (without him) to the late night showing, but I feel that crowd may be even worse. I take a small amount of joy and justification in knowing that President Obama also read Twilight. Sure he has a 13 year-old daughter to read it with...

Day 10; Post 10: The Boob Tube.

It's Glee night! Hooray!

Apparently, Jamie and I are watching much more television than we used to, because I am also looking forward to tomorrow which is Community/30 Rock night. Perhaps it is because by the time I get home and finish up with any work I bring home, my brain is mush.

I think Community may be getting dangerously close to 30 Rock in my esteem. I definitely have been laughing more at the former. Maybe it's because I love Joel McHale something fierce.

Day 9; Post 9: Ninja Cat.

I'm sure those of you who frequent the internet to pass the time may have already seen Ninja Cat:

But I figure I'd share his goodness with you today -- especially since he came out with a sequel today...

Day 8; Post 8: Life is Less Interesting Without a Classroom.

My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I just bought plane tickets to be out of town for it. There is a pretty great opportunity with work to go to a workshop in Connecticut, but the downside is that I'll have to go to work and then immediately head to the airport, end up at a hotel by myself...in Hartford, Connecticut...on my birthday.

I don't have high hopes for it -- and to be honest, a restful evening sounds appealing. Of course, no birthday will ever stack up to Birthday of 2005.

But, in looking back for that post about the proposal I got to search back through my old, other blog. Ugh -- I still hate that I ever strayed from Blogger because now there is a "lost" year of posts. So, I went back and started reading some of the posts from that era which was probably my teaching heyday. It got me missing having a class of my own...and so now, I will reminisce about some of my favorite teaching moments.

Martrell writes me a letter after I am sick with Strep Throat:

Come back soon! come back soon please,* Ms. U! Dear Ms. U Please come back. Ms. U I am sad and lonely I have friends but they is girls you is a women and you are fun and funny.

James does The Worm:

James: Ms. U?
Ms. U: [teaching a small group] Yes James?
J: Is now a good time to do "the worm"?
U: No. There is never a good time to do "the worm" in the classroom.
J: [shocked] But everyone loves "the worm"!
U: [secretly hoping he does "the worm"] Not me. I hate "the worm".

By the way, James did do The Worm for the class after he scored 100% on a reading test. It was awesome.

A different James justifies the blood, sweat, and tears that went into teaching when he told me:

I used to be bad at school, but you taught me how to be good at math, so I want to give you a hug. I walked all the way back from home to tell you that.

Robert writes about my death:

In 100 years I will be shriveld and old. I will be sad caus Ms. U will be so old she is ded.

Anything Dre'Kwon said.

Diamond's Pencil Sharpener House.

And of course, The Notorious T.L.B.

Incidentally, looking through some of my old teaching posts made me also realize that Baltimore had a heck of a lot more Snow Days than D.C. Damn.

Day 7; Post 7: Flashback.

Jamie and I went to New York a couple of weeks ago! Sure, it would have been better to post about our fun trip back then, but I'll do it now.

We had been planning on visiting NYC for a long time. Aside from having lots of friends there, it is a pretty easy trip up, and it's a nice place to visit and sightsee (so I hear.) Jess actually had a free weekend -- a break from the crazy doctor hours -- and we were sold. We booked a trip on Megabus (highly recommended) and made our voyage north.

When we got there, we got to catch up with Jess and admire the view of the Empire State building that she has from her deck. Yes. She has a view of the Empire State building. And a deck. And a pretty great apartment.

The Empire State Building posing as a Candy Corn for Halloween.

The next morning we got to have brunch at a pretty yummy brunch place that had tons of really tasty vegetable side dishes. I'm blanking on the name right now...but I'm sure Jess could chime in with the name if anyone's curious. From there we took the subway to Central Park and met up with Marina. We were total tourists and walked through the park taking pictures and catching up.

We walked up to the Met to see the Art of the Samurai exhibit which was pretty amazing. They had armor that could only be on display for two weeks every 5 years -- and we happened to be there during that window. A huge collection of Samurai swords and headdresses...very neat.

We headed back to Jess' apartment to distribute candy to trick-or-treaters (it being Halloween and all). The award for creepiest costume went to two middle-aged women who showed up wearing masks of Dubya and Laura Bush...with no kids. Seriously, why are you 45 years old and trick-or-treating without children?? At least bring children and help them "get rid" of their "bad candy" if you want free candy.

The highlight of the trip came with our adventure to get to Brooklyn Heights on Halloween night. Jess' boyfriend works at a restaurant there and we decided to pay him a visit and get some good food in the process. We quickly realized trying to take the subway to Brooklyn from the Lower East Side may have been unwise. Apparently, in New York, they change the routes of the trains with nary a sign or announcement. So, all of the sudden the A-train was going on the F-track, and the F-train was going on the B-track, or some sort of craziness. The end point being there was a good 30 minutes spent sitting in the station under the West Village...on Halloween night...where the Halloween parade begins.

We got our own Halloween parade. And let me say this: the moment you turn an inanimate object into a "sexified" Halloween costume, you may have gone too far. Sexy kittens or sexy witches are a Halloween staple. But, a sexy guitar? Really?

Eventually, we made it and made the delay worth it by having some tasty, tasty food. The mac n' cheese was The Best. We also took a cab back.

Before we left on Sunday morning, we caught up with Bridget and Anne Louise and had yet another yummy brunch. In the end, we had a great weekend, although I tried and failed at convincing any of my friends to move to DC. We may not do brunch anywhere near as well as New York, nor do we have Candy Corn Empire State Building, but we do have a metro system that will not leave you stranded and Barack Obama.

Day 6; Post 6: Dogs are Pretty Smart Too.

And now for something a little bit different. I saw this video last week and thought it was pretty fun -- just thought I'd share...

I officially want a Border Collie. Perhaps someday when I own some rolling hills on which it can run...

Day 5; Post 5: Becoming Human.

Jamie and I have been Tivo-ing the PBS series, Becoming Human. It is awesome. It also awes and inspires me to see how smart people are; not just evolutionarily-speaking with all the fire- and tool-making, but the scientists who can piece together a life story that is millions of years old.

They can tell how many days old the homo erectus was when he died by looking at its teeth (apparently enamel on a tooth grows another layer according to the circadian rhythm), or that how many millions of years ago it was that humans became hairless (using what they know about the difference between head lice and pubic lice), and that homo erectus had developed enough socially to care for each other because they found a skull that had no teeth and had not had teeth for two years before it died showing that its "community members" had cared enough to feed him and even go so far as chew his food for him.

Oh, and we found water on the moon today.

Science -- just incredible.

Day 4; Post 4: Spreading Good Cheer.

Almost forgot to post today!

First things first, a great big "Happy Birthday" to my father-in-law! Jamie and I are sending all of our birthday wishes and love across the country today...

So, Jamie and I had been subscribers to XM Radio for a couple of years now. We enjoyed it and were regular listeners...until they were swallowed up by Sirius. Then it was downhill. Fewer stations, our favorites were not as good, the sound quality was worse, and they started charging for things that had been free. Needless to say, I had been on the lookout for an alternative for when our subscription ran out.

I never got into Pandora -- I didn't like all the limitations. When I sit down to work, I like to have music playing, but given all of the regular interruptions at work the music is usually playing to an empty office. Lo and behold, I would go through all the free hours of music within days. Or, I'd go through all of the skips. Too much pressure.

The time to renew our subscription was getting closer, and I thought I would be succumbing and continuing with Sirius, until one wonderful day, when I noticed an intriguing free app for my trusty Pre. I clicked the download button and I discovered Accuradio -- the greatest internet discovery since Netflix Watch Instantly. If you have never used this website before, consider it my gift to you on this, the dawn of the holiday season.

Free streaming of a huge selection of genres, almost commercial free (they have one every hour or so), skip as many songs as you like, ban certain artists, etc. Feel like listening to some of the newest Indie hits from the Nordic region? There is a whole station dedicated to it. Native American music? It's there!

And showtunes! A whole channel dedicated to showtunes! Not just that, there are 30+ subchannels within the showtunes channel that narrows it down even more by era, songwriter, tempo -- there is even a subchannel dedicated to just the overtures. The classical channel (and its 50+ subchannels) is even more impressive. So great. Jamie even approved of their indie music selection...at first scoffing at the thought of getting rid of his beloved XMU station on XM/Sirius. Then he saw the 30+ subchannels for INDIE music and his icy heart began to melt.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I still wasn't sure I was ready to get rid of the XM radio...only because at this time of year I am addicted to holiday music. It's a problem I have, and I know it's totally nerdy and irrational to listen to holiday music in November. But, I would listen to it in October if I could. (It just stretches out that warm fuzzy feeling I get around the holidays.) XM had a station dedicated just to holiday music that came on around Thanksgiving. There is was no beating that station come November.

Then, I saw that Accuradio had a Holiday Channel -- and they add more subchannels EVERY day. Granted, some of the channels are silly (i.e. the station that only played songs with the word "Jingle" in the title, or the station that only played different versions of "Silver Bells"), but when they added "Old-Fashioned Christmas" today I had little hearts in my eyes.

I hope it can bring you joy too.

Day 3; Post 3 - Preppies in the News!

Today was a much needed day off from work (thank you, Veterans, for protecting our country). Sort of -- I was still working a lot, mostly editing report cards -- but at least I got to do it in my jammies with a cat on my lap.

It is absolutely shameful that I haven’t posted about this before, but I say it’s better late than never. About a month ago we had a BIG visitor at Prep! He was literally BIG (like, 7’ tall – or at least, he seemed that tall) and figuratively for us educator types: Arne Duncan! The U.S. Secretary of Education! He came to our school! He said "hello" to me!

So, apparently, there was a week back in October that was focused on healthy eating and physical fitness. As the only public elementary school in D.C. serving healthy and organic meals to our students, it made sense for him to visit us. Also, we’re great and I’m sure he was just trying to find a way to check out our preppies.

The downside was that we did not find out about his visit until one school-day before. You can imagine the amount of frenzy that followed the announcement that Secretary Duncan and his wife would be visiting. Despite visiting for only an hour or so, we planned and prepped like crazy. Of course, our teachers were champs (as usual) and our kids did an amazing job. He brought a couple of soccer players from U.S. Men’s team (Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu) who taught the kids some soccer moves and then ate lunch with some of our 4 year olds.

I don't know who took this picture (some news person) but photo credit to him/her.

In the end, the visit went very well. Our kids impressed Secretary Duncan, and they were invited the next week to see a screening of "Sid the Science Kid" about H1N1 Flu Vaccinations. There they got to see (and some of our 3rd graders introduced!) Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Of course, now I've had some kids wonder to me why our school hasn't received any of the vaccine. Oh well...one battle at a time.

In a semi-related sidenote: for the first time in our relationship history, Jamie has succumbed to the flu before I have! Could it be that the Capitol is even more germ-infested than an elementary school? Don't worry, Jamie is handling it like a champ!

Day 2; Post 2: So Much for Schadenfreude.

Today on my way home from work, there was a car following closely behind me. Very, very closely. So closely, in fact, that I could not see his headlights behind me -- I'm talking a foot or less was between our moving vehicles.

Having not driven far from work, and it not being the best of neighborhoods, my first thought was that this guy was going to ram my car and then rob me. I could not think of any reason that this car would be tailgating me. There were other lanes where he could go around me and I had not cut him off to make him mad.

Fearing the worst, I made a few turns (he continued to follow behind me). At one point, he had to pause to let a jaywalker by, and I gained a good 1/2 block or so on him. At this point I started to change lanes to make a left turn. That's when he floored it and quickly closed the gap between us.

I was about 2/3 of the way into the lane when he decided to try and squeeze past me -- unfortunately for him, 1/3 of the lane was not enough for his car to pass by me without jumping onto the curb of the grassy median. By the time I swerved to get out of his way, his tire had exploded on the curb and his car spun out.

The sense of poetic justice was fleeting and was quickly replaced by guilt. Despite the fact that I did not hit his car, nor was his reckless driving and tire exploding any fault of mine, it crossed my mind to stop and help. Then I remembered where I was (and when...it was pretty dark) and all my initial fears came flooding back. So I drove on and let him deal with his flat tire on his own -- after all, I would be of very little use to him.

Thing is, I can't shake the feeling like I should have done more. Or more, that I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that I did -- that he was up to no good. So, guy who drives too closely to me, wherever you are: I hope that your tire got fixed and that you got wherever you were going in time. I also hope you learned to drive in a way that didn't make you a big jerk.

Day 1; Post 1: Ambitious Endeavor.

Been a while since I posted -- I am a little ashamed. This prompts me to undertake a pretty ambitious blog endeavor: 30 posts in 30 days. I can't make any promises for the awesomeness of said posts. Nor can I really guarantee that they will not be more than a video that I found online. But, I will try to be somewhat entertaining...for 30 posts anyway.

To help me in my first effort, I am enjoying a classic on Netflix Watch Instantly - my friend in multitasking. Tonight I made an excellent choice: The Adventures of Milo and Otis. I have a history with this movie...a sometimes tragic history with this movie. Tragic only because I only saw it once despite many repeated attempts. My heart-wrenching last attempt involved a broken VHS tape.

But tonight, through the magic of the internet, I am able to see the movie again...and let me tell you, it -- like Muppets Take Manhattan -- is even better now that I'm older. Aside from the animal cruelty that must have been involved (let's stick a kitten in a box floating down a waterfall - wee! Oh! What if we have that grown bear tackle a pug? Comedic gold! Maybe have a crab pinch that cat's face or have the cat play with a hedgehog. Let's throw this puppy into the middle of the ocean! Oh his whimpers will be so adorable!), this movie is most amazing. Maybe it will only stay amazing as long as I am ignorant of whether or not any animals were actually hurt in the filming.

It's like a movie version of Cute Overload.

This movie may be the reason for my apparent obsession for orange tabbies.

It may also be the reason why I can still play About Strange Lands and People by heart to this day. (No, I don't get why there are pictures of babies in the video.)

WHOA. I just noticed that the person who posted that video of Milo and Otis on You Tube had the username of "HappyMeliProject". Creeeeeeeepy!

And because everyone can benefit from more Milo and Otis...

One post down...29 to go.

Monongahela.

Earlier this week, Jamie and I realized that we had nothing planned for the long weekend. No weddings, no work (at that point -- but more on that later). That's when I suggested a camping trip! We had been watching the PBS documentaries on National Parks: America's Best Idea and I think we were both itching to get out there. When I first suggested it, I wasn't really thinking we would go. First, we had been planning to visit New York for a while now, and this weekend was looking like the only open one we had for a while. Second, it being a holiday weekend, it was going to be a busy camping weekend.

But then: I found out Jess was going to be out of town this weekend; an NPR piece mentioned how the leaves were already changing in West Virginia; and finally, there was a forecast for rain. It was done deal -- Jamie and I were going camping this weekend. As already established, rain is our friend and we figured that it would keep away the other campers on this holiday weekend.

I did a little research -- or rather, I looked up DC on Google Maps and zoomed out until I found a big green splotch to determine which place we would go. The closest (and most sizable) green splotch turned out to be Monongahela National Forest. Upon further research, it seemed to be the perfect choice -- not too far and off the beaten path.

We packed the packs and set off for West Virginia on a rainy Saturday morning. This camping trip was the best idea ever. Just look:

Yes, I did manipulate that picture...to put in the border. That is actually what the colors looked like!!! (Although, I did use my camera's foliage setting...but it's not too far off what it really looked like.)

The changing fall colors were really a surprise. After the NPR mention, I had thought...oh, maybe some of the trees were starting to change. No, when we got there they were in full-fledged peak season. I love the fact that I get to cheat nature out of two peak seasons since it hasn't even started over here in DC.

And of course, it cleared up once we started our hike.

We picked a loop that would take us along a river for the first day, and up into the meadows on the second. What I learned quickly was that "fording rivers" in the Fall, is preferable to "crossing streams" in the Spring. On our last backpacking trip, we crossed streams 15 times throughout the trip and ended up hiking with wet feet and frozen pants. I was fearing the worst when I read about fording these rivers. Jamie had warned me fording means that I could be up to my waist in this river. Yes, we had to cross the river a few times, but fortunately, doing so in the Fall means hopping across rocks. Socks stayed dry and Melissa stayed happy!

The trail took us up into different meadows on the mountainside which offered us INCREDIBLE views of the valley since there were no trees blocking the view. The mountains looked like a patchwork quilt with all of the changing leaves.

Somehow, both Jamie and I neglected to bring anything to keep time with. So we had no idea when we got up the second day, or how long we were hiking...we truly got absorbed into our hiking. We completed the 14 mile loop...got back to the car...and realized we were three hours later than we thought we were. So much for Jamie's Eagle Scout status...I'm sure he should have been able to tell what time it was by looking at the sun or at least fashion some kind of sun dial out of twigs.

I forgave him anyway. And now, the requisite Jamie and Melissa self-portrait. I know I look all timid in this picture, but the alternative was not an option...