Life is craaaaaazy

So much has happened in the last 2 weeks.  SO MUCH.

My dear friend Coleen was here and we shared many moments like this:

We laughed SO DANG MUCH when she was here and it got me thinking, "Why don't I do this more often?"  I guess there are friends you can just be silly with, but it left me deeply missing her and her husband (two awesome peeps!), and praying for more silliness in my life and people I can share life with in general. 

It was also ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!  And Coleen (along with the lovely Village) helped me throw a first-rate St. Paddy's Day partay (and in case you're wondering if I spelled "Paddy" wrong - check this out).  It was an absolute blast!  But of course we still had to hit up the Dubliner for some Guinness and Irish stew...mmmmmm.....

  

 Then here's just some random amusements from the past week:

My students made little paper people at lunch - so cute

Ice formed on the roof of my school - ICE!!! It got to 34 degrees one morning last week, and the high yesterday was 88. Tucson, you're so weird.

I went to my students' Spring Concert where various bands and the choir performed. Here are two of my students who I spend a lot of time with, through lunch and astronomy club, doing trumpet solos in their jazz band - they were so good! Way to go Albert and Jorge!

Sadly the stupid auto flash went off when I was taking this, and by the time I turned it off, they were done...so - crappy picture quality but you get the idea...

And now, I am officially on Spring Break - WOOHOO!

 

St. Paddy's Day is almost HERE!

 This is SUCH a great little short film about the history of St. Patrick.  I've been reading about the history of St. Patrick and his involvement with Ireland, and the video's actually pretty accurate.  He's becoming one of my great inspirations, besides just a great holiday!

 

I posted this last year about ideas for St. Paddy's Day, but added #7 - WOW!  God has done so many cool things in the past year.  I'm so excited to celebrate with everyone!

If you need help getting in the spirit, you could... 

1) Watch a video of The Chieftains, a very traditional Irish band, a bunch of times

2) Do what I've been doing and listen to Irish music on iTunes Radio. Click on "Radio" on the left, then click on "Folk" and you'll find several Irish stations. Or find the song "On the Rocky Road to Dublin" by The Dubliners on Pandora. 

3) Head downtown to Armory Park on Tuesday at 11 AM, watch the St. Paddy's Day parade and hit up the Festival...eat some corned beef, cabbage, and green potatoes. 

4) Head to one of the following locations and enjoy my favorite pint - a Guinness 

(The Auld Dubliner, Frog & Firken, Zachary's, or other places mentioned in this article) 

5) Watch "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne or one of Sean Connery's first movies - "Darby O'Gill and the Little People", which I used watch often as a kid

6) Research St. Patrick, Ireland, and the history of St. Patrick's Day! (Notice on the Wikipedia page that the Chicago River is dyed green every year. Seriously, St. Paddy's Day is a BIG DEAL back home)

7) Head to my house for festivities - have an awesome time!  Call for directions

Glitter - a short history

An interesting video, thinking of the holiday season. I'm not really a glittery person myself, but I found this mini-documentary fascinating.

All That Glitters: The History of Shiny Things from Etsy on Vimeo.

It's beginning to look a lot like

Christmas! Here's some photos of the weekend's activities...

From the Telefono

Recently my lovely mother let me use her upgrade to get the iPhone. It has been quite fun and most useful. One of the best parts is been taking pictures.

So here's some pictures I've taken over the last couple weeks...

the holidays are nearing

When I was younger, I competed in "Gift Wrapping" in 4-H.  For 10 years I wrapped presents...but to be honest I don't remember much of it.  But I started thinking it might be fun to design my own wrapping paper...so I recently went to Michael's, and they had all this Christmas stuff on sale!  Now generally I condemn the selling of Xmas stuff months ahead of time, but I figured since Thanksgiving is next week, and it's on sale now, why not?!

Christmas stamps, inks, kraft paper, raffia, calligraphy pens...I wish I didn't like that store so much.  But I do get the Teacher's Discount!  

Here's the general idea - but I'll post an update soon of what I'm coming up with.