Remembering 9/11

It is hard to imagine that it was 8 years ago today that the terrible events of September 11th, 2001 changed our lives forever.  I will never forget the moment that I learned of the events.  I was teaching at the same middle school that I teach at now.  I remember the immense fear I felt as the day went on and we learned more about the events.  I feared that we were truly at war on our own American soil.  I was glued to the news and couldn't get enough information.  My heart broke for all of those who lost their lives that day and the families they left behind. 

I am so thankful for those who continue to protect the freedoms I have today.  While I may not agree with the politics of some of our policies in the past, I am eternally grateful to those men and women who choose to give of themselves to protect America.   I hope that I am doing my small part in making America great by supporting and teaching children.  It's my small contribution.

I was fortunate to visit the New York State Museum this summer.  There was a moving exhibit that remembers the efforts of those after 9/11.  It was breathtaking to see some of the artifacts from the clean up effort.   The photo above is of a firetruck that was removed from the World Trade Center wreckage.  There was a video of a fireman from that company that ran near the truck.  It was simply awe inspiring.  I am so thankful that I was able to see the exhibit and remember.

Today I remember. 

Another fabulous weekend!

I am coming to terms that summer is just about over. I can finally get back into my classroom tomorrow and we have our first official day for staff on Thursday. While I didn't get all of my to-do items done this summer, we did have lots of fun experiences with friends. It has been a very mild summer weather wise. It was down right COLD for the concert last night!

Our good friends are big Jimmy Buffett fans and have tried to get us to attend a concert for the past several years. We committed to attending this year and I was cautiously excited about it. I am not a party type girl and was a little worried about how I would handle the crowds and party atmosphere. In the end, we had a GREAT time. From what our friends tell us, the crowd was rather mild thanks to the cool weather. We were in sweatshirts for the entire time. There were some brave souls in more typical Buffett wear.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the night:

Our bathroom... this was a LIFE SAVER! We had our own private facility. Can't even say how important our bucket was to us girls. :)

Somehow we ended up playing hot dog homerun derby with our neighbors. Miriam took her turn with the bat. Not sure where all of the hot dogs ended up, but there were remnants of hot dogs and other food all over the side of the Rinaldi's car.

We finally got into the actual concert. Jimmy Buffett puts on a GREAT show!

Here is Chris and I at the concert:

Here is the group of us at intermission of the concert. It was cold and raining at this point but we had a great time!

So now I am gearing up to head back into school tomorrow. We have loaded up my car with boxes that I brought home from school. I have SEVERAL that I need to go through before taking them back to school. One of those things on my to do list that I didn't get to. :)

On the curly girl front, I have now been curly girl for three weeks now. My hair is really started to curl up and I am still working on finding the right products. I thought I would share what seems to be working now. Here is what I used for the concert yesterday:

Co-wash: Giovanni Tea Tree Treat Conditioner

Conditioner: L'oreal Vive Pro

Leave-in: Deva Curl One Condition

Styling: Jessicurl Rockin Ringlets, BioSilk Rock Hard Gelee, and Deva Curl Set it Free

Must now head back to going through boxes! :)

Summer Fun!

Thanks to the construction at my school, I have a few extra weeks of summer this year. I am trying hard to enjoy every last stolen moment.  We've been busy the past few weeks trying to do as much as we can before the hectic school year starts.

This weekend we had four parties to attend.  Each one was important to us, so we made it work.  We started Saturday at Chris' godson's birthday party.  We knew it was being held at a bowling alley in the city, so we plugged the address into the gps and off we went.  Boy were we surprised to discover that the party was in the basement of a church!  It seems that the church has a bowling alley in their basement.  Can't say I have seen that before!  I didn't get any photos of the actual bowling, but here is the bulletin board outside the alley:

 

Love the title on the board!  :)  We don't get to see Gregory or his mom very often since they live in the city.  Chris and Kathie worked together at Leaning Tower YMCA many years ago.  We spent lots of time in the city back then with Kathie and other friends from the Y.  We also became close friends with Anita who served as a mentor to Chris when he first started working at the Y.  She has since moved back home to Ohio, and sadly we only see her once or twice a year.  It was nice to spend some time catching up with her during the party.  She is Greg's godmother and always comes in for his party.  Here are the two of them with the birthday boy:

 

Our next party was for our good friends' boy's birthday.  We have known Louis since high school and he was the best man at our wedding.  He and his wife have been our close friends for many years.  They have two boys who simply adore Chris since he is just a big kid himself!  At one point during the party, I wasn't sure where he was.  Someone quickly pointed out that he was on the trampoline bouncing with the kids.  They all sat and waited for him to bounce them up.  I blurred out the kids, since many of them are just friends of the boys and I was not comfortable posting pictures, but I wanted to share Chris in his "element"

Our last party of the night was with some friends from work.  I don't have any photos, but I am hoping to get some from a friend.  There was a bouncy house at the party, and let's just say that I somehow ended up bouncing with Ella in the bounce house.  Ella is Steve and Sarah's little girl.  She somehow even convinced me to go down the slide.  It was fun!  One of Chris' coaches was actually at the party as well since she is going to grad school with Steve.  Small world for sure!  It was nice to hang out with my coworkers and catch up from the summer.  We still have two weeks until we start school so we are all still very relaxed!

On a final note, I have officially been "Curly Girl" for two weeks now.  I had more compliments on my hair yesterday than I have ever had.  My hair is much more curly now and seems to be loving my new low chemical routine.  Here is a photo at the END of the day.  Now remember, at this point I had been to three parties and even spent time in a bounce house!  :)

 

I am set to get a color on Wednesday and now I am debating.  Not sure if I want to add chemicals to the mix right now.  My color actually still looks pretty good.  I haven't decided just yet. 

Swim team party this afternoon.  Sadly it is supposed to be cool again and the kids are supposed to get time in the pool playing on the slides that they never get to play on during practice.  I am sure the kids will still get in, but it is going to be CHILLY!  Many of the kids start school tomorrow as well, so I am sure there won't be too many that stay until the end.  Hope to get some good photos today for sure.

Have a great day!

I'm obsessed ...

I have become 110% obsessed with my hair. With all of the things going on in my life, why am I so very obsessed with my hair? Who knows. Maybe it is the fact that it is unruly and wild and I am determined to find a way to tame it. Maybe it is a metaphor for my life. Ok, not really going that deep!

So I have now been sulfate/silicone free for 3 days.... three days that have been humid and hot. Nice time to start a new hair routine, huh? And I have to be honest, I miss my beloved Curl Amplifier. I miss it BAD. But I am dealing, and I know I will find something just as good that is much more healthy for my hair. I have to find something. And cutting my hair short right before undergoing this change, that was brilliant. I am not loving the cut right now. My curls are changing with the new routine and cut all at once. I am thankful that I scheduled a hair appointment to color at the end of the month. Might need to get the cut tweaked a little bit.

Since decided to go Curly Girl, I have purchased more products than I care to admit! I am trying different combinations as I go. Here is what I am trying now:

• Giovanni Triple Tea Treat Shampoo (low poo, no sulfate)
• Giovanni Triple Tea Treat Conditioner (Using as a co-wash right now to help with scalp)
• L'Oreal Vive Pro Nutri Gloss Conditioner (silicone free conditioner)
• Deva Curls Line: No Poo, One Conditioner, AnGel, Set it Free (love the scent of this!)
• BioSilk Rock Hard Gelee (loving this gel for hold right now)
• Aubrey Organics Conditioner
• Flaxseed Gel

I even tried making my own gel from flax seeds. Need to keep working on that I think. It was rather messy. I haven't tried the batch I made in my hair yet.

Still dealing with lots of frizz by afternoon. I have also stopped using a towel to dry my hair and am using one of Chris' old T-shirts now. I am trying to "clip" the top of my hair in the hopes that it won't be flat on top. The hardest part for me is NOT to touch my hair after I have styled it!

Ok, I need to write a paper now... but thought I would post something here about this new obsession!

Long time NO Blog

It has been some time since I last blogged, hasn't it?  I have been using twitter and facebook religiously and sadly my blog has been neglected.  Thanks to Beverly for giving me the nudge to finally post something!  :)

Summer is nearly over... but I am THRILLED to have several more weeks thanks to a construction schedule at school.  We are getting central air in all of our classrooms which meant taking out all of the ancient plumbing and vents.  We are also getting new shelving along the outside wall.  Can't wait to see it all put back together.  However, I am so grateful to have the few extra weeks this summer.

Our summer has been full of swim meets as always.  Chris loves his job and has been so very busy!  I have tagged along for a few of the big meets.  He is currently one of the coaches for Team Illinois at the Central Zone meet.  After this weekend, he is finally done for the summer and has a break just about until I go back to school.  Usually he gets done just as I have to go back to work.

We did get to sneak away downtown for our anniversary.  We saw Mary Poppins and also took in a Cubs game with GREAT seats.  I used priceline and we got a GREAT deal on a hotel downtown.  We stayed at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue for $79 each night!  (Of course parking was $55 per night!)  It is hard to beleive we have been married 13 years.  We've been together for more than half of my life at this point!

I just returned from a wonderful weekend in New York with my virtual sisters.  The group of us met 6 years ago on AOL through the Scrapbooking message boards.  We've remained close and try to get together every other year.  It was nice to see them all in person and be able to give each of them a hug.  I was able to see New York and Vermont over the weekend and even took a trip down the Alpine Slide.  Ate lots of chocolate, did some shopping, and had some great laughs.  Looking forward to seeing them again in 2011! :)

My newest obsession involves my hair.  I have had a love/hate relationship with my natural curls for my entire life.  I can say that most of the time I currently lean towards the LOVE side.  Yesterday I went and got it cut short again, and I really am happy with the cut.  I was ready for something new.  I have a great stylist that really knows her stuff and always talks me out of doing anything outrageous.  As I was researching the cut I wanted, I visited naturallycurly.com a site that I often check.  I started to read up on the curly girl method of hair care.  I kept reading, and the more I read, the more it made sense.  I won't bore you with all of the detials, but here is a great link: How to Go Curly Girl.  I have been having a horrible time with my scalp in the past few months and I really think my products are to blame.  I have been using the same products for almost two years now. So as of today, I am now sulfate/silicone free.  It is going to take some time until I find products that I love.  It is my hope that I will have it all figured out before school starts!  :)

Grad school is almost done... November 4th can't come soon enough!  I have one more session in my current class and then two weeks off.  Of course I have several assignments I should be doing right now for that class.  :)  Better go do that now...

Least favorite week of the year...

Excuse me while I take a break from my creative endeavors (yes, I know it is only day 2!)  I have to vent about my coming week... the least favorite week of the year for me.  It is state testing week here in Illinois, the dreaded ISAT week.

With the passing of No Child Left Behind, states are now required to create assessments that will determine if students and schools are making "Adequate Yearly Progress"  Let me put that in real speak- we have to give kids a single, week long, test to determine if they have learned anything.  Any educator will tell you that there is no way that a single test can really measure the progress a student makes in a year.  Nevermind the fact that my students are several years below grade level as documented by individual testing and are now required to take a test at grade level.

Each year I have the ethical dilemma at this point.  While I am in fact teaching to the state standards as required- I am doing it at an appropriate level for my students.  I teach to another document- the Individualized Education Plan that is also a federal document.  I choose to teach them the skills that will make them successful in life and in school and NOT teach to the test.  I have prepared them for the test in the past several weeks, but I am worried that I didn't cover everything I should have.  But I know in my heart that I have done all that I can.

So I have to step back and spend the rest of this week encouraging and supporting my kids while they take a test that I don't beleive in, but whose scores determine state funding and the success of my program.  I have to put a test in front of them that is above their reading level and tell them I can't help them read it.  I have to ask them to complete math tasks that are well above their documented ability level.  We'll just all have to do our best. 

Let's just say there are lots of treats and praise over the next week!

Creativity Project

So I am trying once again to participate in a challenge... you can find more information about the Creativity Project by clicking on the picture on the side of my blog. It will take you to Lisa Day's blog where she explains all about this project.

I have learned that I *need* creative time in order to be healthy and happy. Yes, scrapbooking and paper crafts are my hobby, but doing something creative is essential to my health. I know that sounds a little dramatic, but it is really true. Creative play time is my stress relief, my energizer, my fresh air, and so much more. Too often, I let the day to day stuff overtake my life and I don't make the time to be creative. I recently asked a friend to hold me to being creative every Thursday night. I am happy to say that I have been doing that MOST Thursdays. I am taking this challenge one step further by doing something creative EVERY day for the month of March. It doesn't have to be something big, or even paper related.

So today is the first day and I am happy to say that I have finished a baby gift for a good friend and have made a birthday gift for my assistant. I have realized that one of the greatest joys I find is creating things for other people. Creating the baby gift was actually therapeutic for me in a way. I needed to do this. I hope that the mom to be likes it! I am not going to post a photo here until I have given it to her. Wouldn't want to ruin her surprise. :)

So.. check out Lisa's challenge and try to bring some creativity into your day to day!