here, some past incarnations of my short hair personality.... Man, i was so YOUNG!!!

it is high time i went back to the short hair. I feel like i am that person, and yet it has been nearly five years since the last time it was truly short. i think all this extra hair weight is finally suffocating me. I hope, with all the "late-20's woman-weight" i have added on, that the short hair look will still suit me. I guess we will see!!

tune in in about two weeks to find out.

(forgive the quality of photos... i scanned them pretty quickly, so the DPI is low...)

there are times that little memories from long ago come back to me suddenly.

i love looking at pictures of me as a kid. They seem to say so much about who I was, where I come from, and what I might expect to see in the future of my own family-to-be.

I was really lucky to have a mom who enjoyed taking our pictures. She captured some really CLASSIC moments, including these:

[Julina and I, Halloween 1979... don't u love the BYU stocking caps??

I also LOVE that we are checking each other's makeup out... totally not used to seeing each other looking so weird. I look perplexed and a bit concerned. *smile*]

[random B&W photo... I love my mischevious expression. I was a camera hog from the beginning!]

i know Denny's is evil, but sometimes you can't resist...

so joe and i indulged in pancakes and stuff on Saturday. I love that even though years go by, Denny's always looks the same.

pretend you are back in europe...

*sigh* don't you just love it?

i love fun shoes...

even better if they manage to be mostly comfortable for an 8-hour day at school. I'm trying a little harder this year to dress more "professionally"... less sandals and casual pants. But sometimes it is hard. *sigh* sad that i feel like frump teacher so much of the time with the comfort clothes i have to wear to survive. BLAH. But today, i was FOXY.

ha! love these shoes.

mondays don't have to be all bad

i have managed to make my monday a pretty good day...
I had my students present their projects in front of the class today, all day, so i had very little WORK to do at school.
I bought Elsie Flannigan's darling scrapbooking challenge book--
(and a few other art treasures)

I *made dinner* for joe. (!) and he loved it.
I got two care packages ready and addressed for elise and katie... and made them all cute and stuff...

and i am keeping the TV *off* and listening to some great music given to me by my sister beckie.

i am feeling recharged by the time that i am able to find to be creative in one way or another each day. I am trying not to lose the summer juice i had when i had hours and hours each day to putter and craft new things. so. enough 'net stuff... back to my table to make something else.

My Projects Today

i had time to be creative this weekend...here are my two resulting projects:

[a quick mix CD cover i collaged for my friend maggie.... i love vintage scraps and text stamps.]

[a scrapbook layout dedicatedto my dad's love of baseball... note the Yankee pinstripe on the back paper... leather photo corners, red stitching.. (forgive the line of color disparity-- my scanner isn't big enough for the whole thing, so i had to scan it in two parts)

the quote on the page is from Field of Dreams, one of my favorite movies. It reads:

“…they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces…”]

Exhausted, but Optimistic.

one week of teaching done... it's my second year, and i am already amazed at how different it feels. I feel like i am doing OKAY and i am not panicking on a daily basis like i was last year. What a RELIEF!!!
I am optimistic that this semester will be a pleasure most of the time. I love the students from last year that are back for their junior year with me. They make my job a joy. And the new faces seem like they'll be okay.

Anyway. Time to get re-used to the routine of early days and long afternoons grading papers. I am wiped out from it right now and need to build my stamina up. Thank goodness it is the weekend.

Here: i'll give you a picture or two of some of my students from last year that i have this year.
They're neat.

[me with danielle, emily and fellow teacher liesl]

[maura presenting a project]

[ryan gives a cheesy smile]

my girls

i am so blessed to have amazing friends. they make all the difference in the world when i am feeling low, forgotten, or not-quite-good enough. I miss so many of you girls. It would be a much cooler world if we all still lived in the same town.

I am amazed and grateful that even nearly 4 years after moving away, i still feel like it was yesterday we were all hanging out and laughing in person on a regular basis.

let's never lose that.

[five of these amazing friends came all the way from utah to be with me on my wedding day!]

First DAy of School DONE!

first day of school for our district... i know, i know-- we're so EARLY!!! Man, i am TIRED. Five really great classes, but having a summer off and then spending the entire day on your feet, using your projecting voice makes for a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGG day. It feels good to be home, shoes kicked off, able to just relax. Here's to a good second year of teaching high school english.

[my classroom-- a bit dim and old, but i try to make it as inviting as possible]

vintage little treasures...

i love "treasure hunting." Wish I had more money, but i guess the limits make the hunt even more thrilling.

[a hot, sunny day at the Gypsy Caravan in St. Louis...a once-a-year flea market in May]

joe

"my little world" wouldn't be complete without my amazing husband in it... so here is joe. sweet, endearing, procrastinating, easy-going, toy-collecting, classic movie watching, comforting, sexy, hard-working, nap-buddy, crepe-making, supportive, cute joe. Where did he come from, and how did i get so lucky?

[what a smile]

[love the curly hair]

[the crinkles around his eyes...]

[one of our engagement photos, by Kate Benson]

so, here's joe. mine for eternity. he makes my little world a place of peace and harmony.

love, you, joe.

i have always dreamed of being in italy

and it was as lovely, romantic, charming, timeless as i had hoped. I still can't believe i was actually there, soaking it all up. joe and i loved rome. loved the narrow streets packed with dark, confident, slender young italian business people dodging tourists on their way to work. loved the many many scooters weaving between teeny cars and crowds. loved the storefronts side-by-side with gelato shops and secret doors that could lead to a hotel, and apartment or a wonderful garden... loved it all.

[this was one of my most favorite moments...]

[amazing!]

[we kept finding hidden courtyards as we strolled down the narrow streets]

[this little market was just down the street from our pensione]

books, books, books

i love these little bundles of words and images... love them.

[one of my bookshelves at home... in the dining room]

as an English teacher, i have the rare opportunity of telling people all the many marvelous things i love about literature and nonfiction... and i get to recommend all kinds of great reads to people.
i am a book junkie. shelves and shelves full o' them...

so let me share a snippet i read today from one of my new discoveries (old book, newly loved by me)... From Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift From the Sea:

"...How one hates to think of oneself as alone. How one avoids it...We seem so frightened today of being alone that we never let it happen. Even if family, friends, and movies should fail, there is still the radio or television to fill up the void...Even day-dreaming was more creative than this; it demanded something of oneself and it fed the inner life. Now, instead of planting our solitude with our own dream blossoms, we choke the space with continuous music, chatter, and companionship to which we do not even listen...
We must re-learn to be alone."
-pages 41-42

I love it. I connect with this idea so very much. I forget how much I grow in my "alone-times" until they are nearly forced upon me.... Then i revel in them and try to remember to do it more often. Then forget again, and the cycle goes on and on.

Anyway. I'm rambling. Read this book.... it's my new treasure.

When my world expanded for a moment...

i found venice... and fell in love.

[from our trip to europe in june 2006]

take a peek into my little world... plain ol' me.

i have a little world... all my own. it is much like yours, filled with things that make me smile, challenge me, inspire me, excite me, comfort me.

i love the thought that thousands of millions of other people have as meaningful and personal a world as my own. because everything i cherish is so remarkable to me-- things like my husband's laugh, a flea market treasure, the perfect photograph of a moment, milk chocolate, a good cry, couch naps in the afternoon, the satisfaction of creating something out of nothing...

i love that somewhere out there, someone else is probably writing their very own list of simple pleasures... pieces of their little world.

so.

welcome to mine. maybe we have a few things in common.

maybe we don't. but its a really neat window to look into, regardless.

[this is me... May 2006]