Sunday, August 12, 2012
Dear Allison,
We got back from the airport, and I have been sitting on my couch, a crying mess. I feel that I was not able to tell you how happy I was to have you at my house, to see our new place, and to spend time with you...I am so sorry that I wasted our last few days together being sullen, cranky, and sad. You didn't deserve that, and now I don't know when the next time I am going to see you again. I am so worried about Justin and the start of the year and you and all you have to deal with at work and with love and I am feeling fat and bloated so trying on new clothes wasn't even fun... I just can't seem to pull myself out of that funk.
I want you to know how much I truly lived spending the entire summerwith you! I am so happy with the memories we made! I love you sooo much! I am so sorry that i ruined our some of our tine together...
Have fun in Spain and tell Tara and ben hi for me!
Love,
Susan
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
You know you've had a bad day when.
a. Your principal almost punches your boyfriend in the face.
b. A bird shits on your head as you walk home from school.
c. Your eyes are bloodshot and puffy because you cried all day the day before.
d. You may or may not have quit your job, but you are kinda unsure.
e. All of the above.
Friday, June 15, 2012
4 Square
Twice a day Justin, Jenny, Chris Chavez, and some of their other co-workers go outside and play 4 Square. Remember playing that with the kids at camp? I went and played with them today. It was so fun!
Summer
My summer so far:
Watched all of Seasons 1-3 of Entourage on DVD
Watched the movies SAVED and CAMP double feature
Made various doctors appointments
Met Melissa's little baby Jacob
Drinks on my new porch with a coworker
Watched all of Season 1 of Workaholics
Watched all of Season 1 of Grey's Anatomy
Made plans with Charlotte
Pedicures and Chinese food with Whitney
Watched the movie CATCH AND RELEASE
Played Four Square with Justin, Chris Chavez, Jenny, and their other coworkers
It's been fabulous!
Watched all of Seasons 1-3 of Entourage on DVD
Watched the movies SAVED and CAMP double feature
Made various doctors appointments
Met Melissa's little baby Jacob
Drinks on my new porch with a coworker
Watched all of Season 1 of Workaholics
Watched all of Season 1 of Grey's Anatomy
Made plans with Charlotte
Pedicures and Chinese food with Whitney
Watched the movie CATCH AND RELEASE
Played Four Square with Justin, Chris Chavez, Jenny, and their other coworkers
It's been fabulous!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Tough Mudder
Justin ran in the Tough Mudder race at Beaver Creek this weekend. It was 12 miles up the mountain with lots of obstacles including eletrocution (a guy we know from CrossFit got shocked and bit through his lip), wading through ice filled water, carrying logs, and running up a half pipe. It was crazy! We were able to ride the lift up and watch some of the obstacles and everyone who ran by us looked miserable. It was like when we watched Amanda run in her marathon. No one looked like it was fun. Once I learn how to post pics, I will share!
Lorie, I, and a few other girls from CrossFit sat at the bottom and drank wine. It was a good day for us!
Lorie, I, and a few other girls from CrossFit sat at the bottom and drank wine. It was a good day for us!
Goodbyes...
Ash and Hal are finally leaving...I can't pretend its not going to happen anymore...Sunday night we had our last supper : (
Monday, June 11, 2012
Summer is Here!
Dear Susan,
Holy Crap!
We're going to be in Venice and Barcelona so freakin' soon!
Yay!
Ben and I can't wait to see you!
And don't worry...we've been warming up the European beaches for ya!
Love,
Allison
PS Can you start looking up things you want to do in Barcelona and Venice/Verona/Paduva?!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Oh, Pristina.
Dear Susan,
I walked under this the other day.
{Excited to get here?}
{Ben took the picture. He would like some credit.}
{Ben took the picture. He would like some credit.}
Love,
Allison
Hunger Games.
Dear Susan,
I am in Chapter 10 of Hunger Games, and you were right! It is amazing. Yesterday, we went on a hiking and herb collection tour of a nearby city, and the whole time, I was focused on Catniss and whether she would be able to escape the career tributes by morning.
How was your party?
Love,
Allison
I am in Chapter 10 of Hunger Games, and you were right! It is amazing. Yesterday, we went on a hiking and herb collection tour of a nearby city, and the whole time, I was focused on Catniss and whether she would be able to escape the career tributes by morning.
How was your party?
Love,
Allison
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Neighbors
We met some more of our neighbors yesterday. They are our age, or close to it, and have a little baby girl. They brought us over pastries from a local Peruvian bakery. It's so fun to have cool neighbors!
I also discovered a haunted looking preschool down the street from us. It's in an old Victorian house and has a crumbling sign outside of it saying "Preschool." There are also faded wooden posters of circus animals around the yard. Its so creepy! I will send pics soon!
We used the Living Social you gave us to CRAVE last night. It's a cute place and my carmel banana bread pudding and Justin's deconstructed key lime pie were amazing.
For Justin's Birthday, we went to Pinche's Tacos. It was sooooo good! You order all the tacos ala cart (there is a list you fill out like at sushi). My favorites were the pork belly and the shrimp ones. They also have the best margaritas. They were not too sweet and they were only $5! We will have to go when you are here this summer : )
I also discovered a haunted looking preschool down the street from us. It's in an old Victorian house and has a crumbling sign outside of it saying "Preschool." There are also faded wooden posters of circus animals around the yard. Its so creepy! I will send pics soon!
We used the Living Social you gave us to CRAVE last night. It's a cute place and my carmel banana bread pudding and Justin's deconstructed key lime pie were amazing.
For Justin's Birthday, we went to Pinche's Tacos. It was sooooo good! You order all the tacos ala cart (there is a list you fill out like at sushi). My favorites were the pork belly and the shrimp ones. They also have the best margaritas. They were not too sweet and they were only $5! We will have to go when you are here this summer : )
Sunday, May 6, 2012
OMG!
For the record, I just haven't been paid yet this month. :(
How was Leighann and Matt's party? Bittersweet?
How was Leighann and Matt's party? Bittersweet?
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Volunteer life.
Dear Susan,
Today, I walked through a true slum, and I wasn't so much scared for my life as I was scared for humanity. I began volunteering with TIP, the organization I told you about earlier, working with a marginalized minority group/s. The experience has already proved to be a strange paradox between amazingly horrible and amazingly uplifting. I will start by saying the city we work in resembles everything you would see in a 3rd World country. I mean, kids playing in trash, trash being burned, shoe-less children, houses without roofs, families squatting in ruined buildings. The one thing missing is a goat, and I was told today that an NGO attempted to provide the village with a goat as a way to bring a milk and dairy supply into the area, but deemed the city too poor. They would have to kill the animal for meat for survival before it could make milk. I mean, one moment, I was helping to brainstorm new sustainable economic programming ideas for the city we work with and organizing a clean-up day in a local park, and the next moment, I was walking down a street where tons of children, scantily clothed and dirty, were running towards me trying to shake my hand. We visited a family where we shared tea while sitting on towels on the ground which served as chairs and listened to a mother talk about her child whose throat glands were swollen to the point of needing medical attention.
One (of the many) problems these people face is that the kids of this community are denied entrance into school -- at first, they were literally denied schooling by laws set in place by the ministry, now they are discreetly denied education because the school will require them to produce things like birth certificates, fees, and vaccinations -- all of which these families cannot obtain due to displacement, poverty, and the life they've always had to live. And so TIP is educating them on Saturdays and Sundays and helping them to work out registration for school and once these kids get into school, TIP advocates for them to be treated fairly, equally, and justly. They also provide transportation to and from school -- a necessity because the roads are busy and dangerous and the majority population will hassle these children -- the girls, actually, fear kidnapping. TIP also works to start jobs for the adults; they've set up a soap and bag making business for the women (can you guess your next set of presents? ;)) and a shoe shinning business for the men. Again, good work, but there is a good chance, I will be crying myself to sleep on the nights I help out in the village.
On a positive side, this blog post is not complaining about my day job.
xoxo,
Allison
Today, I walked through a true slum, and I wasn't so much scared for my life as I was scared for humanity. I began volunteering with TIP, the organization I told you about earlier, working with a marginalized minority group/s. The experience has already proved to be a strange paradox between amazingly horrible and amazingly uplifting. I will start by saying the city we work in resembles everything you would see in a 3rd World country. I mean, kids playing in trash, trash being burned, shoe-less children, houses without roofs, families squatting in ruined buildings. The one thing missing is a goat, and I was told today that an NGO attempted to provide the village with a goat as a way to bring a milk and dairy supply into the area, but deemed the city too poor. They would have to kill the animal for meat for survival before it could make milk. I mean, one moment, I was helping to brainstorm new sustainable economic programming ideas for the city we work with and organizing a clean-up day in a local park, and the next moment, I was walking down a street where tons of children, scantily clothed and dirty, were running towards me trying to shake my hand. We visited a family where we shared tea while sitting on towels on the ground which served as chairs and listened to a mother talk about her child whose throat glands were swollen to the point of needing medical attention.
One (of the many) problems these people face is that the kids of this community are denied entrance into school -- at first, they were literally denied schooling by laws set in place by the ministry, now they are discreetly denied education because the school will require them to produce things like birth certificates, fees, and vaccinations -- all of which these families cannot obtain due to displacement, poverty, and the life they've always had to live. And so TIP is educating them on Saturdays and Sundays and helping them to work out registration for school and once these kids get into school, TIP advocates for them to be treated fairly, equally, and justly. They also provide transportation to and from school -- a necessity because the roads are busy and dangerous and the majority population will hassle these children -- the girls, actually, fear kidnapping. TIP also works to start jobs for the adults; they've set up a soap and bag making business for the women (can you guess your next set of presents? ;)) and a shoe shinning business for the men. Again, good work, but there is a good chance, I will be crying myself to sleep on the nights I help out in the village.
On a positive side, this blog post is not complaining about my day job.
xoxo,
Allison
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
3 Things
Dear Allison,
3 Things:
1. A kindergartener came to school in shorts, a suit coat, a white dress shirt, and a tie with pirates on it yesterday. When I asked him why he was so dressed up, he said, "I just wanted to show Mr. Taft (our gym teacher) how good I can look!"
2. Kosovonian (?) mail hates me. Your package got returned again. I am really sad. It had part of your B-Day present and other things for you...some from Christmas. I guess we will be able to celebrate your Birthday again with a mini present and drinks in Barcelona! Did you get your card at least?!?!
3. Having our own house is awesome. Moving is not. Nick and Julie are helping with the rest of our stuff tomorrow which will be good. Can you call me about the couch? I've been nervous about telling you about this, I don't know why...I'm just going to blame Justin, but its not worth the stress it has created. I think it would be good having it in our house because it already matches all our living room stuff, but Justin had a fit the other day. He talked about wanting to have just our stuff in our new house, irrational fears of getting bed bugs again, him loving the futon and wanting that in our living room, and lots of other stuff. It caused a big fight which we are kind of over now...we are not going to move it in with the rest of our stuff. I am hoping once our stuff gets in and he sees the space with furniture and looks at the couch, he will want it, too. If not, we will definitely help with whatever needs to be done. Do you want us to have it until you move back, do you want us to sell it for you, do you want Emily to put it in storage while she is in Europe? I want to help you with it and not stress, so I just need to know if its something that you want for when you return or what that will help us to know what to do...
4. I am so jealous that you just get to go to Greece this weekend!
Love,
Susan
3 Things:
1. A kindergartener came to school in shorts, a suit coat, a white dress shirt, and a tie with pirates on it yesterday. When I asked him why he was so dressed up, he said, "I just wanted to show Mr. Taft (our gym teacher) how good I can look!"
2. Kosovonian (?) mail hates me. Your package got returned again. I am really sad. It had part of your B-Day present and other things for you...some from Christmas. I guess we will be able to celebrate your Birthday again with a mini present and drinks in Barcelona! Did you get your card at least?!?!
3. Having our own house is awesome. Moving is not. Nick and Julie are helping with the rest of our stuff tomorrow which will be good. Can you call me about the couch? I've been nervous about telling you about this, I don't know why...I'm just going to blame Justin, but its not worth the stress it has created. I think it would be good having it in our house because it already matches all our living room stuff, but Justin had a fit the other day. He talked about wanting to have just our stuff in our new house, irrational fears of getting bed bugs again, him loving the futon and wanting that in our living room, and lots of other stuff. It caused a big fight which we are kind of over now...we are not going to move it in with the rest of our stuff. I am hoping once our stuff gets in and he sees the space with furniture and looks at the couch, he will want it, too. If not, we will definitely help with whatever needs to be done. Do you want us to have it until you move back, do you want us to sell it for you, do you want Emily to put it in storage while she is in Europe? I want to help you with it and not stress, so I just need to know if its something that you want for when you return or what that will help us to know what to do...
4. I am so jealous that you just get to go to Greece this weekend!
Love,
Susan
Friday Funday.
1.
Female Students: Miss, can we borrow your hair straightener?
Me: Don't you have class right now?
Female Students: Well yes but the school is filming a commercial, so really no one has class today.
Me: (Insert blank face as I hand them the hair straightener)
You: Why do you keep a hair straightener at school?
2.
Student: Miss, do you have a rubber?
Me: What are you trying to say?
Another student: I think he means eraser.
Student: Yes. To split these (not a type-o) paper into two. (Insert student swiping his finger across a piece of paper.)
Me: You are going to do that with an eraser?
Student: No, with a razor!
Me: I have scissors. That seems safer.
Student: Okay. That will be fine.
3.
Student: Miss, can we just all sit in a circle today and talk about US History?
Me: Yes, yes you can.
Multiple students: Yes!!!!! (Insert fist pumping)
4.
Me to the history teacher: I just need you to know that (insert me telling her #2).
History teacher: Haha. I need you to know that today, the guards came into my room, in a panic, and asked for the key to my closet exclaiming that they need to get into the closet because there is a small dog locked inside. When they openned the door, I realized it was not a small dog, but instead, a kitten. Kristen (the science teacher) has now adopted the kitten.
Me: (Insert me staring at the history teacher with a blank face.)
History teacher: Yes, I know. I feel the same.
Female Students: Miss, can we borrow your hair straightener?
Me: Don't you have class right now?
Female Students: Well yes but the school is filming a commercial, so really no one has class today.
Me: (Insert blank face as I hand them the hair straightener)
You: Why do you keep a hair straightener at school?
2.
Student: Miss, do you have a rubber?
Me: What are you trying to say?
Another student: I think he means eraser.
Student: Yes. To split these (not a type-o) paper into two. (Insert student swiping his finger across a piece of paper.)
Me: You are going to do that with an eraser?
Student: No, with a razor!
Me: I have scissors. That seems safer.
Student: Okay. That will be fine.
3.
Student: Miss, can we just all sit in a circle today and talk about US History?
Me: Yes, yes you can.
Multiple students: Yes!!!!! (Insert fist pumping)
4.
Me to the history teacher: I just need you to know that (insert me telling her #2).
History teacher: Haha. I need you to know that today, the guards came into my room, in a panic, and asked for the key to my closet exclaiming that they need to get into the closet because there is a small dog locked inside. When they openned the door, I realized it was not a small dog, but instead, a kitten. Kristen (the science teacher) has now adopted the kitten.
Me: (Insert me staring at the history teacher with a blank face.)
History teacher: Yes, I know. I feel the same.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Dear Susan,
Yay! You posted your first blog post!
I believe I will start volunteering with this NGO: http://www.theideaspartnership.org/.
How's the house? Post a picture! Did you get my couch?
On my walk home today, some friends were having beers at an outdoor cafe -- I stopped to join them. It was a good surprise unwind to a Wednesday.
Thinking of heading to Thessaloniki, Greece for the weekend.
My internet has been a bit spotty, so I haven't been able to listen to that song yet. Tomorrow!
Love,
Allison
PS Sorry it was a really boring day.
Yay! You posted your first blog post!
I believe I will start volunteering with this NGO: http://www.theideaspartnership.org/.
How's the house? Post a picture! Did you get my couch?
On my walk home today, some friends were having beers at an outdoor cafe -- I stopped to join them. It was a good surprise unwind to a Wednesday.
Thinking of heading to Thessaloniki, Greece for the weekend.
My internet has been a bit spotty, so I haven't been able to listen to that song yet. Tomorrow!
Love,
Allison
PS Sorry it was a really boring day.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Here's to Us
Dear Allison,
My new favorite song..."Here's to Us" by Halestorm. Please check it out!
Love,
Susan
My new favorite song..."Here's to Us" by Halestorm. Please check it out!
Love,
Susan
Timeless.
Dear Susan,
Last night, I watched 5 episodes back-to-back of Gossip Girl. Today, the following conversation happened in my classroom.
Student: Miss, why didn't anyone like The Great Gatsby when it first came out? I mean, if people think it's one of the best books now, why didn't anyone realize how good it was then?
Me: Great question! I think it has something to do with the fact that it was so current. People couldn't quite appreciate or find entertainment in their own behaviors and flaws. Has anyone seen Gossip Girl? I think we can make a connection to that tv show.
Student: Really? You think The Great Gatsby is like Gossip Girl? I don't even understand -- Gossip Girl is not really great literature.
Me: Yeah, I'm not sure where I am going with that one either. Let's just move on to a new question.
Oops -- hope your Tuesday attempt to succeed at your job goes better than mine!
Love,
Allison
Last night, I watched 5 episodes back-to-back of Gossip Girl. Today, the following conversation happened in my classroom.
Student: Miss, why didn't anyone like The Great Gatsby when it first came out? I mean, if people think it's one of the best books now, why didn't anyone realize how good it was then?
Me: Great question! I think it has something to do with the fact that it was so current. People couldn't quite appreciate or find entertainment in their own behaviors and flaws. Has anyone seen Gossip Girl? I think we can make a connection to that tv show.
Student: Really? You think The Great Gatsby is like Gossip Girl? I don't even understand -- Gossip Girl is not really great literature.
Me: Yeah, I'm not sure where I am going with that one either. Let's just move on to a new question.
Oops -- hope your Tuesday attempt to succeed at your job goes better than mine!
Love,
Allison
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