Happy May!

I seriously can't believe it is already May! The school year is almost over, and in some ways I feel totally ready, but in others I feel like I just got started. I'm home sick today with a cold and fever. Last week was really busy for me, and there were a couple of really stressful situations at school, so maybe this is my body telling me to slow down for a few days... I don't know, but I hope I'm at least fever-free so I can teach my Latin classes tomorrow. I'm starting to translate real Latin poetry with the eighth grade, and I'm really excited about it!

Okay, off to make some more tea.


*hearts*

busy bee

It's been a very hectic week so far.  Things at school have been crazy as the boys gear up for their Rachmaninoff concert.  Ck and I are going to see it on Friday at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.  It is going to be AMAZINGGG.  I'm so excited and SO proud.  This is a really challenging piece, and all the boys have risen to the occasion.

In other news, ck took care of me yesterday when I was really grumpy and tired, and she made me the MOST AMAZING creamy chickpea soup from scratch.  It was so nice to have a warm, healthy meal brought to me in bed on a grumpy day.  

Things in my Latin classes have been a little bit frustrating.  The boys have been giving their free choice presentations, and they aren't going as well as I'd hoped or expected.  I feel like I've given them ample time to prepare, guided their research, given them deadlines along the way, and been extremely flexible with scheduling and extensions.  Regardless of all of this, most of them have been under-prepared or completely unprepared on the day of their presentation.  I am really not sure what else I could have done to make the project a success.  I am hoping that their lack of preparation reflects more on their personalities as students (the eighth graders are pretty much totally checked out now that they've gotten into the high schools they want to attend next year)  than it does on my assignment or my instruction.

Now I'm off to finish my lunch before I have to go outside to supervise lunch/recess.

*heart*

 

anniversary pictures

as promised :)

anniversary flower from ck

amazing ginger-lychee-pear cocktail at herbivore.

sickly girlfriend, not having a drink.

my "meat" and potatoes... so yummy!

ck's polenta and mushroom dish, also good.

I'm still feeling pretty yucky, but I got a lot of rest today, and hopefully I'll wake up feeling much better.

*night*

sick sick sick

Ck and I are sick with colds, so we're trying to rest up this weekend and get better before next week. Anyway, we had a really nice time on our anniversary. Dinner at Herbivore was outstanding, and they had some really great specialty cocktails, too.

Anyway, here are pictures of our rings. Ck ordered hers, so hopefully it will get here soon!


I have a lot of chores to do today, but hopefully I'll upload my pictures from our anniversary date tonight or tomorrow morning.

*heart*

anniversary :)

Today is my three year anniversary with ck. We had a really sweet emotional conversation last night in bed, reminiscing about our awkward beginnings and the various trials and tribulations we've had along the way. We also tried to remember exactly when we fell in love with each other. It was so hard to pinpoint! It's hard to even remember before we were together, it just seems like we've always been this perfect and happy. :) :) :) Okay, I'll stop gushing.

Anyway, we have a history of making a bigger deal out of our anniversary than any other holidays. Our first anniversary we managed a weekend getaway to new york, including a visit with ck's sister and the best concert either of us had ever experienced. Last year we splurged on a ZipCar rental and tickets to see a live broadcast of a This American Life show in a movie theater near Wellesley. This year we decided to do something different. We decided to get rings for each other - not engagement rings, don't worry. We just both feel like it might be a little while before we are able to get married (come on, California), and we both actually wear rings daily, so it was a practical choice for an elaborate gift. We both found the rings on Etsy, mine is a really unique pearl with three tiny diamonds, and ck's is sterling silver with "I am a token of love, do not give me away" imprinted on it in Latin. I love them both!

For our actual anniversary day (today!!!) we decided to have a low-key date night. We're going to see The Silence of the Lambs (one of my all time favorite movies) on the big screen, and we're having dinner at this great vegetarian restaurant we've been wanting to try. I will definitely post about how it is later this week. I'm so excited!

Anyway, that's what is on my mind this morning.

*love*

cooking

I've been making a lot of yummy, low-carb meals this week. They've all been very thrown together, based on what I have in the kitchen and what seems like a good combination of ingredients. So far, the results have been good. So far my favorite has been asparagus with soy-sausage, ricotta, and basil. I will definitely have to make it again.

I took a couple of pictures of recent creations, so once I find my camera's USB cable, I will be sure to post them.

*heart*

lots and lots of photos to document the last month of my life.

Sorry these have taken me so long. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of little updates, rather than saving it all for when I have an hour or two to spare.

So... here is what I have been up to...

Painting the apartment with my ck.

Trying as hard as I can to keep my students engaged in Latin.

Enjoying knowing awesome 13 year old boys who can rock Shakespeare like this.

Spending lots of time at extended day doing camp-style projects.

Hanging out with my mom. It was SO great to have her here; I wish we could visit more often.

Enjoying BEAUTIFUL California

Embracing the fact that ck and I are old people, who enjoy things like orchid shows.

So pretty!

Being a giant goofball. And experimenting with new paints!

Playing scrabble with the babies. :)

Last week was my school vacation. I did absolutely nothing the whole week, which was amazing. Even though I love my job, it was hard to be excited to come back to school on Monday. Hopefully the boys will be focused and motivated for a couple more weeks before they get like... vacation-itis.


Anyway, thats all I have time for right now.

*love love love*

uhm...help?

Where did the last few weeks of my life go? I'm still recovering from a whirlwind of activity. First ck's dad was here, then my mom was here, and then I spent a week playing catch-up on several weeks worth of procrastinated tasks.

I'm finally starting to feel like things are returning to normal. I have SO many things to share, though. Lots of pictures, fun stories, food experiences (oh my god I ate so much good food), and thrift finds.

I'm at school now, in between classes, but I'm hoping to have time for a huge post tomorrow.

Get excited!

yucky rainy day

today is pretty gross. it's cloudy and rainy and kind of cold. i am not a fan.

last night i got home from work, finished cleaning up the apartment for ck's dad (including the gross bottom of our fridge. ew.), and had like 20 minutes of down time to watch one of my favorite shows - modern family. it always makes me laugh, and it was nice to be able to watch it and just...calm down a little. when ck's dad arrived we gave him the grand tour (ha.) and went out for ethiopian food at this great place just down the street called Cafe Colucci.

now I'm taking care of random things at school. my schedule on fridays is very random. I teach early in the morning, then late in the afternoon, and then do after school. I've discovered that I get a lot more accomplished if I just sit at the desk in the office and make myself work than if I go home to work in between classes. I've already got all of my report cards done (the trimester closes today, and they aren't even due until monday night!), so now I'm going to read a chapter of a book that I'll be giving a mini-presentation about at our in-service day on monday. Yay for productivity!

I'm excited for the weekend. I feel like I need a bit of a break from the boys, and all the stress of the end of a grading period.

That's all for now. Maybe a fun picture post later, depending on how my reading goes.

*heart*

i *heart* owls

pictures of my latest obsession from we heart it. :)

blogging from school

Apparently the only time I will be awake and have some down time is before/after classes, so here it goes!

I'm really excited for the next couple of weeks. Tonight ck's dad is coming into town for a couple of days. We're planning on showing him the sights around Berkeley and Oakland, and then doing a day trip to Big Sur to hike and check out the view. It is supposed to be really beautiful, and it's been a while since I've done any hiking, so I'm looking forward to it. Then on Wednesday my mom is coming to visit (!!!!!) for like 6 days. She's never been to CA before, so we're planning on spending a lot of time sightseeing. I love being a tourist in SF, there is so much fun stuff going on all the time.

Anyway, that's what is up with me. Hopefully I'll have another post up later today. I have lots of pictures that I'm obsessed with, and I want to share them!

<3<3

a happy surprise!

So, my life has continued at its hectic rate, and I've fallen behind on things like emails and blog posts. However, ck noticed that one of the items in my Etsy shop had jumped from 95 views to like... 495 views, which made me investigate. It turns out that I was featured in the Etsy editors' blog - http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/etsy-finds-undiscovered-territory-7240/

Yay!

A real update tomorrow, I promise.

<3<3

phew!

Okay, that was officially the most mentally draining week of my entire life. (probably not, but still!) I am still trying to find the balance between my teaching, taking over the extended day program at school, taking my Spanish class, babysitting, tutoring, and having a personal life. I really enjoy the freedom and flexibility that comes with having many pieced-together jobs, but it can be a little bit overwhelming to keep organized in my brain. I think I'm going to have to get better about plugging everything in to my Google calendar, so I can look at my week all at once.

So, what have I been up to? Let me see... I learned how to play squash last week, which was really fun. Ck explained all the rules to me, and then I hit a few balls around with Robert. Ck and I have been trying to reserve a court to practice together, but the courts are really in demand, and we both have busy weeks coming up. Hopefully we'll find time on Tuesday or Wednesday. I've also been experimenting with goauche, which is kind of like watercolor, but the pigments are much more intense. I've been obsessed with painting owls. Maybe later this week I'll upload some of them on to my shop.

This weekend I had a lot of quality time with ck. We played scrabble, watched The Hurt Locker (which was good, but depressing), strolled along the Embarcadero in SF, spent time at the beautiful park surrounding Fort Mason, and went to the Pacific Orchid Expo. The orchid show sounds like a really old lady thing to do, but it was actually really cool. There were all of these beautiful displays with every variation of orchid you can imagine, and then there were tons and tons of orchids to buy. We got three baby orchids (they won't bloom for a couple of years) and one orchid that is currently in bloom (with lots more buds). I took about 200 photos, so I will definitely post pictures tonight or tomorrow.

Anyway, that is all I have for now. I will definitely post later today with some inspiring pictures.

<3<3<3

How is it Monday?

So... instead of going to the SFMOMA, ck and I went on a double date to an amazing drag show in a tiny little drag bar in SF. It was excellent, but the drinks were cheap and my goodness they were stronggg. We spent most of yesterday in bed being blobs - watching tv, doing homework, reading, etc. It was kind of nice to have a lazy day, but I still have so much to do! I have homework for my Spanish class, correcting for my students, and lots of planning to do!

Sadly, that means no crafting for a day or two. :(

Hopefully I'll have lots of time on Thursday and Friday, though. I'm in the mood to do some watercolors.

Hope your week is off to a better start than mine. :)

<3<3

Super Secret Project

Sorry this didn't go up last night. I had a little bit of a meltdown...some combination of loneliness, homesickness, and hormones, and ended up falling asleep pretty early.

Anyway. This super secret project was born out of a frame that I destroyed (I accidentally broke the glass, rendering it kind of useless as a real frame) and a piece of sample fabric I fell in love with. I decided it would be a great opportunity to make a cute necklace organizer for the necklaces I wear all the time.

I backed the fabric with some cardboard, so that the pins would have somewhere to stick, and put the whole thing together with spray adhesive...because i'm super lazy. :) Anyway, it took all of 10 minutes, and I think it came out pretty well.

Today ck and I have a date - first the gym, then the sfmoma. Hopefully I'll be back tonight with picutres from the day.

<3<3 have a wonderful Saturday!

new creations!

Today is my last official day of school vacation, so I'm hoping to do a couple of time-intensive projects.

Last night ck felt like doing some carving, so I gave her a drawing to carve into a stamp, and it came out SO WELL!



So today I was inspired to try one of my own. Meet the coolest owl everrrr.


That's all for now. Super secret project post coming up later this evening (once I finish it), so get excited!

<3<3<3

Crafty Day

Hello hello!

I had a wonderful day of crafting. I decided to try making some cute barrettes with materials I had, but hadn't put to use yet. I ended up making quite a few and doing a big shop update.

Here's a little preview...





They're all so bright, and they make me want spring to be here RIGHT NOW. Anyway, off to bed. Ck wants to have an early morning gym date, so I should try to get to sleep before midnight.

Night!

Happy Wednesday

Today is another beautiful day here. I have a semi-terrible headache, but I'm trying to stay positive. I don't have time for a big post, but I wanted to share some inspiration, and say that I had a lovely night talking to my mom on skype and doing watercolors while ck was out with friends. Hopefully I will have pictures to post later today or tomorrow.

Oh- one other thing. A fellow Etsy-an is featuring an undiscovered Etsy artists on her blog from now until Easter. Check it out!




Hope your Wednesday is wonderful!
xo

around the apartment

my treasures - porcelain bird, marble egg, tiny chair made out of a champagne topper.

bowl of ceramic eggs.

awesome light bulb terrarium that I made for ck. someday I'll get around to a base for it...

cute frame that ck got for Christmas and we spruced up with recycled items.

freaking adorable little bird that lives with the potted plants. this little man makes me so happy!

That is all for now. I will post more apartment pictures when I do before and after shots for painting the apartment.

Have a great day!

photo update!

Overdue, I know... but here it is!

here are some of my fabric finds from creative reuse. i love that place!

my valentine's day decorations!!! not much, but it brightened my weekend up.

close up on one of the roses.
i love roses. they aren't my favorite flower, but they are so timeless.

here is the adorable little crochet lightbulb man, soon to be available on my etsy shop.
i'm in love with him!

Finally, some custom cards I made for a wine-themed gift basket. I was so glad the woman ordering them liked the idea of using Latin on the cards. I gotta represent my Latin roots. :)


Later today I'll have more pictures of some cute things I've gotten for around the house.

Stay tuned!

xo

weekend + valentine's day

Happy Monday. Sorry I've been m.i.a. lately. Ck and I did some serious spring cleaning this weekend. The weather was great, so we had all the windows open and spent the day scrubbing the apt. from top to bottom. It feels so good to know everything is clean. We also decided it was a good idea to do a thorough cleaning before we paint (!!!) so that things can be as tidy as possible for the process. I'm not sure when we're going to tackle painting... our landlord is supposed to get us the paint, so hopefully soon! I did a little bit of craft experimenting on Sunday morning. I tried out my new watercolors and did some doodling with my Stabilo pens. I also did a little bit of sewing, trying to make a pattern for a cute little stuffed bird. The bird came out kind of crazy looking, mainly because I had to use my seam-ripper like 10 times, so there was a lot of fraying, and re-stitiching. It was a good learning experience, though, and I'm excited to try again.

I officially got a commission on Etsy, which I'm really excited about. I'm doing a custom design for a woman who is putting together a wine-themed gift basket. I will post pictures (hopefully later today) when I finish the cards.

Ck and I had a lazy Valentine's day. We didn't do presents, but had intended to work on a craft together. We ended up making amazing nachos and watching Spinal Tap with a couple of friends. They left on the early side, and we somehow ended up reading old emails and conversations that ck has saved on her computer, including the first email I ever sent to her. It was fun to see how awkwardly in love we were, even before we realized it... <3 i love my ck.

Anyway, that was my weekend. School vacation is this week, so I'm hoping to get lots accomplished, with lots of posts!

<3

busy busy

So, I didn't post last night. That had a lot to do with the fact that I went to bed at like...10 pm. I woke up early this morning for work; it was dark and rainy, and I thought it was going to be a grumpy day... but then it turned into a great day! :) I got to do some unexpected shopping at my favorite store ever and spent over an hour there. I found lots of really great supplies and things. I'm hoping to post some pictures of fabric, etc. later. Right now I'm going to tidy up before I meet ck for trivia in like an hour.

happy tuesday!

<3

Sleepy Monday

Ck and I stayed up super late last night. It's not that we were doing anything fun, just neither of us were tired until well after 3 am. I slept in really late this morning, and now I only ha a couple of hours to prepare for my Spanish class tonight. I don't think I'll have much time for anything creative, but just in case, I want to share some inspiration pictures. :)

(all images found on we heart it)

I especially love that last picture. Vintage dresses make me melt! Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful Monday. Hopefully I'll be back late tonight with another post.

xo!