Back to winter

It has been raining for a few days now, we needed it! just now we had a tornado warning!!! it's supposed to be in Long Beach started as a water spout and is coming north, hopefully it will not touch down.
It's been snowing heavily in the mountains around Los Angeles, even the Grapevine is closed, the wind is pretty cold, for Southern California.
All this rain means no recess time in kindergarten, which makes the kids go crazy with no place to vent their energy. It's funny, some of my kindergarten kids don't even remember having seen this much rain.
I think I also need a vacation :)

Summer in Winter

Today was a gorgeous day! I went to Huntington Beach and met my friend N. The surf was high, 8-10 feet waves, and the weather was great, 28C, 86F, really summer weather. I got my feet wet! We could see the snowy mountains on our back and the waves and Catalina Island ahead of us. We walked on the beach, went to Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Long Beach and Newport Beach. Had lunch at a great little fish restaurant called Jimmy's and had tasty clam chowder and yummy fish. Later on, as the sun was setting over the ocean in a state park close to Laguna beach, we ate some delicious pastries and called it a day.

Such a beautiful day ended in a crappy note :(

As I was driving home in Beach Boulevard, a policeman behind me put the lights on and I had to stop. I wondered if maybe my tail light were off. But when he came to my window and I asked him why he made me stop. He said it was because I WAS DRIVING WITHOUT A SEAT BELT!!!!! now that was an outright lie as i always have my seat belt on. Regardless of my claims that I had it on -he said, yes you put it on after you saw me- and he wrote me a ticket which I am planning on contesting!!!!

New Year's Resolutions

This is my first post of 2008. So I will write about some resolutions.

How long will my resolutions last? time will tell. I guess the first resolution should be to stop procrastinating, but knowing me, I think it will be a short lived one. But let's go on...

Get more organized, both at home and at school. Which means getting rid of a lot of non essential stuff. I started by cleaning my closets at home, and giving away a ton of clothes that don't fit anymore. I also put away some stuff in "space bags" a great invention!!!

Monday is back to school time, and I will dedicate some time everyday to streamline my classroom.

I liked Red's "Be good to myself" resolution, so I will adopt it too. I started by having my hair trimmed today, and tomorrow I will have a manicure :)

Oh...and learn to make a website, and exercise, and...

San Diego

We had a great time in San Diego. The weather was perfect, blue skies, temperature in the high 60's...

We stayed at the Holiday Inn, we thought it was the one across the Star of Inida, but it was the one in Bayside, a little farther north, in Point Loma. Our room was in the 4th floor overlooking the harbor, beautiful.

We drove to the Star of India, and Grey showed us where the show would take place, everybody was super friendly and nice, we got the best seats in the house in my opinion! as we were early, M and I went to have a quick dinner at Anthony's, clam chowder and calamari, yum!

The show started at 7:30, it was great, lots of people, lots of fun and great music. Grey introduced us to the musicians, including Steve Poltz, and Barbara Nesbitt. I really enjoy the way Han plays djembe - I think that's the name- he is one of the best players around, I love the sound of it and the way he plays them, hard on the hands~! Flannery sang and told stories about his life and about baseball, he's funny. His brother flew from Kentucky to play and sing with him. Grey read an awesome poem she wrote about the Star if India.

It was a fun night, before playing the last song, Flannery wished me a happy birthday!

The night ended about 11:30. M and I went back to the hotel and had a good night sleep.

Next day we went to Julian, it was about an hour drive inland from San Diego, once we got to the mountains it cooled off a little and there was snow on the ground. After driving on a twisty road, we arrived in Julian, which is a quaint historic gold mining town well known for its apple orchards and scrumptious apple pie. We drove around and around and couldn't find any parking! luckily in our last drive thru we found a parking place right in front of the Apple Pie Co. we went in and had a wonderful slice of warm apple pie. Shortly after walking around a few shops, we made our way back to San Diego. In the evening we went to Grey's house and took her out to dinner, she gave me a box of excellent English soaps that I really enjoyed during my visit to the Morongo Casino, she called the Casino and found out the name of the soaps and ordered them online, very thoughtful! Han couldn't go as he had band practice. We went to Ponce's Mexican restaurant, just a few blocks down from her house. The food was great, flautas for Grey and me, enchiladas for M. We had flans for dessert, when I got mine, M presented me with a gorgeous square cut diamond ring!!!!!! :)

After dinner we stayed in the house for a while, watching Han's band rehearse, it was very cool and we enjoyed it.

On Sunday, M and I drove around Point Loma and went up to the light house. Has a wonderful view of San Diego, The Pacific and the mountains. Then we left back home, stopping at Chevy's in Del Mar for lunch.

All in all it was a very nice, long weekend. I enjoyed it very much.

It's coming...

My birthday. I refuse to get older. My mother used to say.."I am the same person with the same thoughts and dreams as when I was 20, is only the body that tends to get older, but if you are lucky, the mind stays as young as you want it." I happen to agree with it.
I think working with young children keeps me feeling younger, it takes some energy coping with 20 5 year old kids day after day! I also keep a younger mind by keeping up with music and news on the Internet (what a great invention)!
Most people in my school think I don't act my age. I am pretty goofy and -they say- I liven up stuffy staff meetings .
This weekend we are going to San Diego to see a show with Flan and friends, of course Han is playing, and he graciously invited us to the Star of India where the show takes place. We are staying in a hotel right across from it. It should be fun.

December posting finally

I can't believe I had not posted since November 24.
Yesterday was our school's Christmas party. It was at the house of one of the first grade teachers. I went with M, and we had a very nice time. We also did a white elephant exchange, and they were all so bad nobody wanted to exchange with anybody else! I think I ended up with the best one. A teak condiment set.
Only 7 more school days until Christmas vacation. I am really looking forward to it!!!!

2 Little things that made me happy today

- Going to the Library and finding not one but 3 new books I have wanted to read by authors I like :)
- Seeing a gorgeous bright rainbow on my way to work