Friday, September 30, 2011

Fun times in September!

Matt and I have been pretty busy lately! I already told you about our Labor day adventures. The next weekend I traveled back to Tennessee for a wedding.  My good friend, Alyssa, got married and it was a beautiful day!! The weather held out and the party was a fun time. I am so happy for them and know their life together will be a wonderful thing! There was a photobooth there which was really fun. Hopefully I will be able to put up a few photos soon! That was a whirlwind trip. I also got to see my two great friends Jen and Krislyn!! Love you girls! Below is the only photo I took from the wedding. Twinnies forever!!



The next weekend was nice and relaxing. Besides the fact that it had been raining for 5 days, it was very drizzly and gray. Saturday I slept in until 10-which is really late! Then I went with my friend Emily to the Heritage Festival. And let me tell you, I ate the BEST corn dog of my life!!! Sure, I have had corn dogs in my life, but nothing like this before. They made it when we ordered it so it was nice and fresh. Yum!!! There were a lot of things there I wanted to buy, but gladly I didn't take enough money. Here are some photos for ya.









There is Emily in that last photo. She is quite a trooper. Doing so well with her students even though it is a difficult job. I should not forget to mention that they were selling something along the line of fox tails. Needless to say, several 8th graders at school have since been seen sporting these attached to their shorts. I am not sure how it is acceptable with the dress code...

You already heard about my trip to Texas, so I won't write about it again here. October looks to be very busy, of course. I just started teaching Othello and that is proving sobering. I forget sometimes that my students are only 9th grades and I expect them to know more than they really do. We started reading it in class, and the language is difficult anyway, but they really struggled with the vocabulary. I will have to do some brainstorming over the weekend to figure out what to do. I plan on making yummy cookies for Matt and to finish cleaning the whole apartment. It needs some work. We have company in two weeks. Leave me some shout-outs about how you all are doing! Hope you all have a splendid weekend!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Texas Edition





Hi, all! This weekend I had the privelage of visiting my sister in Texas. My mom and sister-in-law, Jenny, also got to join! Our goal: to find a wedding dress for Meghan. We had a really great time. Even though the trip was very short, it was nice to see everyone and spend some time together. Of all the things I could forget to take, I left my camera at home! So these photos were taken with Meghan's camera. Now it is Meghan and David's turn to visit Columbia! We sure did eat a lot; I think I gained 5 pounds.  I have been on a plane more this month than usual, and I am looking forward to relaxing a bit this weekend. Another blog post to come soon about my trip to the Heritage Festival with Emily!!

The capitol building in Austin
The ceiling at Mi Tierra

The bride and bridesmaid

The bridesmaid and M-O-B

The guac was delish! Can you tell?


Sopapillas
Another car photo

This picture is for dad. Like the overpasses? 

Also-Shout out to Amy Nikitas! Thanks for the card, twinnie! I love you!! 

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

September books

The two books I read this month were Persuasion by Jane Austen and The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I really enjoyed both of them! I typically stay away from Jane Austen (I know, I know) but this book has such a great title, I went for it anyway. The first part was a bit slow. It took me awhile to get used to the language, but as I read, I got used to it. I really liked the idea that the protagonist, Anne Elliot, had been persuaded to not follow her heart because of the impressions of her older and wiser sister.

After eight years, her love comes back to town, and an interesting cat and mouse game ensues. Captain Wentworth actually never got over her (her mind, that is :) ) and after much confusion, the two end up together. Anne is forced to somewhat choose between what is good for her family versus what she wants. Since she obviously chose by her heart before, it shows much growth that she is able to choose with her heart at the end of the novel.

On another note, Mr. Elliot, Anne's cousin, brings in another aspect to the mystery of those who are surround us daily. He easily persuades those around him that he has alternate desires and simply wants to further his own means. He is actually a bad person, but lets on that he is very charming and good at heart. Anne discovers this fact through talking with a mutual friend. Of course, the novel was wrapped up nicely in a smart little bow in the last five pages. What seems so interesting to me about novels from the Romantic age are that people really cannot say what they mean. People had to read actions for alternate meanings, nothing was outright. Austen truly captures this aspect of society at the time.

I really enjoyed The Help, as several other people have as well.  There are three narrators: Miss Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. All three are very different. I loved reading the accents of the African Americans. It made me miss my home a bit. The book clearly shows all of the divisions that did and still do separate the two races in the South. Although it fills me with sadness to see how the color of our skin can still blind us, I hope that with each new generation a little bit more of our prejudices are being erased. (I do recognize sadly that our prejudices have simply turned to another race now, Hispanics.)

Something interesting that I thought the book brought up was about one of my all time favorite novels, Gone with the Wind. There seemed to be a lot of resistance to how Margaret Mitchell displays Mammy and the few slaves who choose to stay with their family. And yet, a few of the maids stories, such as Louvenia's with Miss Lou Ann, seemed to support the idea that there could be a very close relationship that did involve support.

Books for next month: The Book Thief and A Dog's Purpose, any other suggestions?

Monday, September 5, 2011

The labor-less day

Hello, all!

What a very nice weekend it has been for Matt and me. Friday night we ordered Italian food and ate in while watching a movie. Saturday we were able to go tubing down a river. It was about 2 hours away, so we got up early to get there. The weather was great-95 and no clouds. Well, a few clouds would have been nice. After that, we drove to St. Louis to see some family. I was able to see my two nephews, which of course was great. I really liked seeing Glenn and Nancy-my dad's cousins who live there. I think over the next few years we will get to see them a lot, and hopefully rely on them as our family who is closest to us. They are always very welcoming to us.

Yesterday, I went to a coffee shop with my friend, Emily. We talked about school and I kind of worked on things while she worked a lot harder than me. It was nice to get to spend some time with her. And the weather was fabulous! 75 and breezy. This week is going to be great. :) To top it off, Matt and I went on a bike ride today. We rode over to campus for him to study and I read for fun. Currently, I am half-way through Persuasion. After a couple of hours, we rode back. It was so great to spend the weekend with him and the weather was just perfect for riding. It was difficult, but not unbearable. I am hoping we can make bike rides a usual weekend thing. Tonight, we are going over to grill out with some new people. It should be a fun time!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend full of relaxation. Exciting thing for this week: being in Alyssa Walker's and Niles Maddox's wedding on Saturday! I can't wait to visit home and to spend time with my closest gals. Tell me about what you did for the long weekend!

Last note: I have a new creative project I want to do. I need something to hang my necklaces on! I have some ideas, so maybe that will be for two weekends from now :o)