The Anthem for My Year.

Bobby McFerrin is cool in every circle. Case in point:

He can even hold his own with neuroscientists.

So, the kids came back on Monday. I am exhausted. I have changed two more poopy pants than I would like to. But, the year is off to a strong start...I will post more later, but right now I'm too exhausted. Instead, I will listen to the advice of Mr. McFerrin.

Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy
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Shrinking the World.

For some reason this video makes me a little emotional. It should at least make you smile...

I don't remember if I ever linked to one of this guy's videos before...basically, he just travels around the world and dances. One of the first videos he did got really popular back in 2003 or so, many people saw it through the power of the internet. So many saw it that by the time he did a repeat trip a few years later, he was able to get a following of people to dance at the different locations with him.

Something about this video is so touching. It celebrates how beautiful our planet is while also celebrating the people in it.

Can't help but notice that Peru is not in the video. Bummer. If you have some more time to spare you might enjoy some outtakes...

Edited to add: After posting this, I noticed that the first video doesn't adjust to the size of the page so about a third of the image is always cut off. Normally, I deal with my videos just being off-center, but in the case of this video having the whole picture actually matters. You can see the video in its "widescreen" format here.

Commercials are Better in Japan.

Hee! I am a fan of this commercial.

Also, this one. Hee!

Spike Jonze is pretty cool.

Eggy-weggs.

Inspired by Julie & Julia -- which I saw with Jamie last week -- I decided to try poaching an egg today for lunch. After all, it's probably among the healthiest ways to cook an egg since you don't use butter. I had heard it was hard to do, so I was prepared for multiple attempts.

But, today everything worked out and I had the most perfect poached egg ever on my first try. I should have taken a picture of it, but it is now residing in my belly. I have decided that I will be making poached eggs instead of fried eggs from now on. SO GOOD.

Accomplished.

Friday was the last day of the first full week of Summer Professional Development -- it has been a great time so far. Our teachers have been troopers through long days of training and having a very positive attitude to boot! The highlight of my Friday (even better than the staff party, which was fun) was this moment:

Yes, that is my board of presentations I had to prepare for Summer PD. And yes, every single box has been checked off. Now I can get started on the other list of things to do. But, I did want to revel in my accomplishment.

Then, this morning, my school got a mention in The Washington Post! I think we can all revel in that accomplishment too. If you don't really feel like reading the whole article...here's the part that pertains to our school.

At D.C. Preparatory Academy's Edgewood Middle School campus in Northeast, reading and math scores also showed steady growth. Since 2006, reading pass rates at the charter school have risen 23 percentage points, to 65 percent; in math, 70 percent of students are now proficient, up 27 points.

Emily Lawson, the school's founder and chief executive, said the gains have been made as teachers have streamlined curriculum and interventions.

In addition, she said, teachers used a new tool this year: Every eight to 10 weeks, students took tests developed by the Achievement Network, a Boston-based nonprofit organization, to determine which standards they had mastered and which they had not. Teachers used the results to tailor their lessons to students' needs, Lawson said.

Together Again.

I know I've probably said this before, but I'm saying it again: I LOVE Netflix Watch Instantly. I think it's the greatest thing ever. At least it's up there. This outpouring of love for Netflix comes from the fact that I am currently watching Muppets Take Manhattan after a long and busy week.

This movie is the perfect way for me to spend my Friday night. First of all, because I was trying to sing this song to Jamie the other night, but only remembered the "he'll make me happy" line.

Now I can torture him with more of my Miss Piggy impression. Secondly, because it's the stuff of good memories. It really takes me back to my childhood when (I hear) I watched this movie very frequently -- I'm sure my brother could confirm or deny this statement. My family might exagerrate and say I watched it nightly, but I think I probably watched Star Wars or The Neverending Story (or maybe Sound of Music) more. Of course, my memories of watching these movies all blend together into one memory of sitting on my parent's bedroom floor (with a pink carpet by the way) and getting out the Beta Max tapes. Good times.

P.S. This movie is way funnier as an adult. I'm actually getting the jokes! That blonde muppet (Janice?) cracks me up. Also, the "Saying Goodbye" song is breaking my heart right now.

BSL.

Today was great! It was the first day for our new staff and I have to say that I am super-excited. Everyone was asking questions and actively engaged...it's going to be a good year. Now I can't wait until we have everyone back.

This probably belongs more on my brother's blog (you know...the one with the adorable babies on it). He was blogging about communicating with his 10 month old twins and how it can be challenging at times. It got me thinking about baby sign language and then I stumbled upon this lady and her signing baby:

As an educator in a school with an early childhood program...and one that has a ASL program to boot, I get to see baby sign language firsthand. It absolutely blows my mind. I was in a supermarket a while back and I saw a woman with a baby and they were walking through the produce section signing a bunch of fruits and vegetables. Never mind that I don't know ASL myself and they may just have been faking it...but still.

P.S. I love how at the end of the video, the baby signs for more cheerios. Hee!

Tomorrow is the first official day of the new school year in my book. It's the first day that we have teachers in the building and we start saying "welcome!" to everyone. Summer just keeps getting shorter and shorter...this year it rushed by...mostly because of summer school, but also because I have been so busy! I am glad we got the trip in when we did...

That said, I am really looking forward to this year. I wouldn't say I feel "energized" -- too burnt out to say that -- but I am really excited. I feel like this is going to be a great year...our school will be in its third year and a lot of those kinks that come with opening a new school will be worked out.

And now, a backpacking cat.

See more funny videos and Cute Animals Videos at Today's Big Thing.

The Lobsterfest.

Although one might argue that the entire trip was a lobsterfest, the true Lobsterfest takes place in Rockland, Maine. As luck would have it, the first day of the Lobsterfest happened to be my and Jamie's last day in town. Even better, our flight out of Maine wasn't leaving until about 6pm (or so we thought) which gave us ample time to partake of the festivities before heading back to Portland.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After a couple detours inland (not intentional), we managed to get to our destination. Despite being the least expensive hotel on our trip, the view from our final room was the best of all.

Granted, the hotel wasn’t all that refined and looked more like a Motor Lodge, but in the end it had among the nicest amenities of all of the ones that we went to. Among the amenities was a fancy-pants game board (that apparently is worth $289 -- yowza), a huge plasma t.v., a desktop computer, a fireplace, a fridge and wine chiller, and binoculars with which to enjoy the aforementioned view. A pretty great value! Thanks Ledges!

We ventured in to Camden to enjoy some New England Clam Chowder. It was tasty! Easily my favorite type of soup out there…and I’m glad we did, because I had been so focused on lobster that I had forgotten that clam chowder was also something Maine was known for. We did some window shopping, and some actual shopping. We laughed at some of the souvenir shirts and placards, oogled some of the Maine fruit spreads, and then ducked into a yarn store. (Incidentally, there are yarn stores ALL over Maine!) Jamie actually requested that I make him a scarf – it should be known that Jamie has not requested that I make him anything since the dreaded gorilla sweater – so he picked out some yarn for me to use.

After a good night’s rest, we went to Rockport for breakfast at a local shop that had a great reputation. Apparently, it was where the lobstermen went for breakfast, and they had Eggs Benedict with crab for $5.99. So excited. Unfortunately, the article where we had read about it was a few years old and in the time since then (probably not long after the article was written) they had commercialized a little bit. The food was still great, but they no longer had the lobstermen or the cheap crab. Jamie did get some delicious blueberry oatmeal pancakes with fancy high-quality maple syrup (he paid extra).

Then, Jamie and I ventured to the U.S. Coast Guard base to tour the facilities – part of the Lobster Festival offerings. A very young and muscle-y coast guard guy (officer?) showed us around and took us on a boat. It was pretty impressive to see these boats up close – they basically are floating tanks. One of them had an engine so powerful that it could propel the boat upside-down for five minutes (it would contain enough air in pockets as well) before righting itself. At least that’s what Officer Muscle-y told us.

We then headed back to the festival and gawked at the giant Lobster Boilers. Since time before we would have to leave was ticking, Jamie and I made our way to the Main(e) food tent to get our Lobster Festival lobster. The way that the line worked out, the batch of lobster that we saw going into the boiler across the fairground also happened to be the lobster that we were served.

So Jamie and I each got a lobster and split an order of steamed clams. Pretty delicious...not as good as Lunch and Lobster (the teeniest bit overcooked) which will remain the best meal in Maine. After our lobster, Jamie and I wandered around the fair for a little longer before heading to the airport.

Of course our flight was delayed by four hours. I have yet to be on an AirTran flight that left on time. So we spent a little more time in Maine (well...the airport) than we had anticipated but in the end we managed to get home intact and with very good memories of our trip.

I then got to check off Maine from my list of places that I wanted to go...although, I do want to go back and backpack for real. That will have to be for another time.

An IOU.

This is my attempt to get my post in before midnight. I started work again today so, of course, I'm swamped. But, I intend to keep up with the posting and updating so consider this my post for today, and I promise to update with the final day of our Maine adventure tomorrow...

I wouldn't be so lame and would actually post about it tonight given that I'm a little restless, but I heard an interesting, yet disturbing, piece about sleep apnea and sleep deprivation on NPR this morning. Suffice to say that I want to do my best to get some sleep tonight.

Instead, please enjoy the new look! My bloggy geekiness is in rare form tonight!

Beautiful Acadia.

Acadia was the most highly-anticipated destination point on our trip. I'm cheating a little bit, because some of this was done actually before we drove into Bar Harbor -- we figured it would be great to do a drive around the loop around sunset. So this post actually covers more than one day...some of this was pre-lobster ice cream (thanks to Jess for the article.)

First thing we did was go to Cadillac Mountain -- which is the first place in the United States that sees the sunlight every day.

From the top, we could see the various islands that made up Acadia National Park. It was truly lovely. We also went to Thunder Hole -- which was a formation of rocks along the cliffs that made a very loud booming noise when the waves crashed into its caves. Although we weren't there at the best time (which is supposedly a couple hours before high tide) we did get a few loud booms minus the huge waterspouts.

Then, we went to the Sand Beach...to snap some pictures of the Maine coastline.

The next day, Jamie and I opted to rent some bikes and take to the Carriage Roads. Aside from the bike ride through Kennebunkport, this would be the first time since my knee surgery that I rode a bike for a prolonged period of time. Still, we were only in Acadia for a day, and there was a lot to see...I figured it was the best and most efficient way to see the park. It was!

We ended up bicycling about 20 miles throughout the park. Unfortunately, as is the nature with riding bicycles, the going uphill part always took three times longer than the going downhill part. But, I survived it -- despite fleeting moments of cursing my existence during the longer uphill climbs. I'm hoping 20 miles was enough to knock out my part of that Whoopie PIE's demise.

After taking in Acadia, we returned our bikes and set course for our final destination of Rockland, Maine. Home of the Maine Lobster Festival which just so happened to kick off on our final day in Maine...

A Lobster-ful Day.

After seeing the Bush compound, we ventured north towards Bar Harbor. We figured on our way we would stop at Freeport and get some Outlet shopping goodness in. After all, it isn't often that we get to be in the home of L.L.Bean.

Note: This picture was taken with my Pre!

I don't know what I had envisioned for Freeport. Probably something more like the outlet malls I had been used to: a giant parking lot surrounded by stores. The only reason we decided to brave Freeport despite what we had expected was because Jamie and I are not big shoppers and instead rely on a few HUGE shopping sprees to cover all of our shopping needs for a year. We had decided ahead of time, that this would be a one of the HUGE shopping sprees for the year. We were long overdue.

Freeport turned out to be much nicer than I had expected. It was more like a "quaint" shopping town...with a main street and any parking lots tucked away from sight. The stores were built to look like more traditional architecture...so the Banana Republic outlet looked like a Victorian house, the Abercrombie and Fitch outlet was like an old bank, and the J.Crew store resembled the post office. Of course, the L.L.Bean was ginormous...and it was our first stop.

Of course, I didn't bring my camera with us while we shopped, but suffice to say it was impressive. There was a fly-fishing demonstration going on INSIDE the store at its indoor trout pond. I finally bought the real raincoat I needed for our camping trips. Both Jamie and I bought many items of clothing that we were in need of at the various stores, and Jamie bought some shoes. Finally, our big purchase was a new carry-on and a bigger suitcase from the Samsonite outlet so that we could take all of our bounty home. (Don't worry, we paid much less than the listed price...thank goodness for outlet stores.) And I have to say, our new luggage made me feel much more adult.

But the shopping is neither here nor there. The most important thing was what happened after the shopping. Of course, I mean the food.

Another place I had heard about through my research was a lunch place called Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster. The reviews I had read about it all mentioned it being the best meal of their lives, etc. I have had many good meals in my life -- thanks mostly to Peru and very generous parents. But, I was ready to give Lunch and Lobster a chance.

We programmed the GPS on my Pre (another thing that the reviews mentioned was that it was very difficult to find) and headed off to find our lobster lunch. Thanks to the magic of GPS technology, we found it:

It was 3pm by the time we finished shopping...so we were hungry for lunch and we were just hoping it wasn't closed. It was open...and absolutely packed. The weird thing about Lunch and Lobster was that there were three different windows. One window had desserts only. A second window had their cooked stuff (i.e. lobster rolls, french fries, clam burgers, etc.) A third window around the corner at the back of the building sold only whole lobster (live or boiled) and steamed clams.

Fortunately, I had read enough to know about the secret window...and since we had shared that delicious lobster roll in Kennebunkport, we opted to go with the Lobster Lunch Special offered to locals at the secret window. Two 1lb lobsters with butter for $15.99. A great deal -- so we decided to split one of the specials and order some sides. When I walked around the corner, there was the lobster boat with the men unloading the lobsters directly into the kitchen. Right off the boat.

I ordered our lobsters and they put them on a scale and dumped them unceremoniously in a pot. 15 minutes later, we had our lobsters.

While I was at the secret window, Jamie was in the other line ordering some sides and drinks. It should be noted that the line for that line was so long that we did not get said sides and drinks until about 40 minutes after we had already consumed the lobsters. It was fun to see people cheer as though they had won the lottery when their number was called to pick up their food.

THE LOBSTER. Oh man, the lobster. This lobster was the hands-down best thing we ate on our trip to Maine. It was cooked perfectly, fresh off the boat, and so simple. But GOOD. The lobster was New Shell Lobster, which I guess means that you don't even need any tools to get to the meat...so even the regular work that goes into eating lobster was gone.

We ended the meal with a stop at the dessert window to pick up a Whoopie Pie -- that New England treat! This Whoopie Pie was much larger than expected...it was a Whoopie PIE.

So the Whoopie PIE provided Jamie and I with some yummy snacking on the 4 hour drive to Bar Harbor...our next destination. Bar Harbor is a kitschy town near Acadia National Park. Upon checking in at the hotel, the front desk lady began to gush to us about how the room we were staying in had the best view in the entire hotel and that it really was one of the best rooms. Of course, the catch was that it was on the third floor and there was no elevator which was a small price to pay for the best view in the hotel!

Of course, we got to the room and found that "the best view of the house" meant a great view of the hot tub containing loud people with strong Bostonian accents. Granted, if you craned your neck out and looked around the rest of the building you could see a strip of ocean. Bah.

Despite having eaten the best lobster ever for lunch, Jamie opted to go all out lobster with dinner. He got a lobster pizza and...wait for it...lobster ice cream. When we got to the ice cream parlor, Jamie asked for a sample of the lobster ice cream and another flavor. When he actually ordered the lobster ice cream, the lady working there immediately blurted out: "REALLY???" This was a bad sign. Most people would heed that sign...Jamie did not.

He ate the ice cream. It was okay to eat...as long as you didn't get any lobster chunks. Which were salty and frozen and gross. He was determined to eat the whole thing, though...and save for a few lobster chunks that he snuck into the trash can...he did it.

We made a point of not eating any lobster the next day that we spent in Acadia and Camden.

The Place With a Funny Name.

After enjoying our Becky's breakfast and seeing the Portland Head Light, we headed to Kennebunkport. This place was the little splurge portion of our trip -- we decided to stay at a more hoyty-toyty inn and spend our day walking through the fancy main street area and looking at seaside mansions.

We stayed at The Breakwater Inn & Spa and our room was right by the water so we had a nice view of the boats as they passed by. See?

That's the view from our balcony.

The inn was about a mile from town, so we took a nice stroll to the main street. We got to duck into stores on our way, made a few purchases and eventually found our way to The Clam Shack. In my research, I had heard that this place had the best Lobster Rolls and so we had to give it a go. Plus, even at 3:30pm there was a long line of people waiting which is a good sign. Since Jamie and I had eaten a pretty tasty brunch at Becky's we weren't all that hungry...but we figured we could not miss Clam Shack. Plus, lobster rolls aren't all that big...so I decided to get one and urged Jamie to do the same. Of course, he said he would just have "a bite" of mine, and OF COURSE, that turned into half of it...which turned out to be perfect anyway.

That was the best half of a lobster roll I'd ever had and our memories of the Street & Co. meal from the night before began to fade.

We then rented some bikes and explored the rest of the town that way. It was a nice way to get to see the gorgeous houses on the beach, and explore the tree-lined streets. However, it wasn't the best way to document the town of Kennebunkport as I didn't have that much faith in my abilities to ride a bike and take pictures at the same time. Still, here are some pictures from our time in Kennebunkport:

On our way out of the town the next day, we stopped by the Bush's summer home...which looked menacing and scary in the fog.

Then, we made our way north towards Acadia National Park with a stopover in Freeport...