Farmer's Market Stroll

Who knew that coming home from Spain would make me such a homebody? I love being out and about and feeling productive and thus far I've done little to warrant actually leaving the house! I guess I can kind of blame it on jet lag, but not really. I mean, geez, I've been home for almost 2 weeks now and school is about to start in a little over 3 weeks! Some people would say summer's are for sleeping in and being lazy and I guess I have fulfilled that definition to the nth degree. Guess we gotta start living it up before reality comes a-knockin'.

David and I did manage to get out the other night and head to our town's farmer's market. We live in your typical farm-town suburbia and we love it! This year our city decided to host an outdoor market every Thursday with food booths, crafts, demonstrations, and music just minutes from our home. This close proximity=a nice little walk for the both of us. : )

We've only made it once because on the other Thursdays I have been out of town. I was lucky enough to score some ginormous tomatoes and blackberries! Two of my absolute favorites, might I add. The tomatoes were tasty, not the best I've had, but I'm no girl to say "no" to a summertime, bright red, homegrown tomato. I bought 10 and I managed to eat 8 before the other two went bad. David's not a fan, but I like to eat them cut up and with a little bit of salt sprinkled on them---pure bliss, I tell you!

Armed with my camera, I was able to snap a couple pics of the some pretty shots on the way to and from.

I might've taken more if my feet hadn't felt like they were going to fall off. You see, I was trying to be cute, and wear my new Spain sandals, and let's just say these shoes weren't made for long walks. I managed to come home with three blisters on the bottom of my feet-major ouch and a first for this girl! I guess that was a lesson learned and you bet I heard an "I told you so" from my sweet no-fashion loving husband. He is almost always right when it comes to my footwear choices...heck, he's almost always right, period. And that my friends, is #89484y7339 why I loved that man so much {even if I don't always take his fashion advice}.

xoxo

Córdoba!

After the long days of traveling and time spent in Madrid, the whole group was ready for a slower pace. Luckily, we got just what we were hoping for. The next morning we boarded a pretty sweet charter bus and made our way to the enchanting city of Córdoba. Our ride gave us time to site see and nap, and once we arrived we were ready to go.

After a quick stop at a rest area, {those Spainards love their ham!} we were off again!

The city was laid back and the people there were extremely mellow. It almost felt as if our group were the only people there {minus the gypsies, of course!} along with some inhabitants, I'm sure.

We only had a couple of hours in this city and I'm sad for that. It is definitely a place I can see myself returning to someday. The weather was hot, but not humid and the scenery was beyond what I had ever seen before. Luckily, I had started to feel much better so I hope that my photography at least shows some improvement from the first couple of days! : )

During our time we visited La Mezquita, a famed former Mosque turned cathedral after the Spanish Reconquista. This place was absolutely breathtaking! We got to tour it at our own pace {which was nice not to have a guide talking the entire time} and we were instructed to remain quiet. I really think remaining quiet helped to take in the absolute beauty of this experience.

After our tour, the adults had lunch at a little buffet down the street and made time for some super quick shopping and picture taking!

After our time was up in gorgeous Córdoba, it was onto Sevilla---my favorite of the entire trip!

Madrid Memories

Well, let's just say I don't have many of those memories. After a botched first day of flying, then a full day of flying/sitting in airports, we weren't exactly in the best state of mind to go into a full 12+ hour day of walking and touring! I felt like my little group walked around like zombies. We were beyond tired and I was ever-so-lucky to be welcomed with the stomachache from hell. It was nothing like I had ever experienced in my life before. I kept telling my girls, "It feels like something is inside of me and wants out!!!!" I was able to get some meds at a pharmacy, but let me tell you, that first day was pretty miserable. I might've liked Madrid more if I hadn't felt like poo the entire time. But, enough pity-partying for me, I did suck it up the best I could and managed to capture some pictures so I would maybe remember that first day later on!

Madrid was busy, loud, modern, but really beautiful. I've never been to NYC, but in my mind I felt like that was what I would compare it to in some parts. The traffic and hustle and bustle was pretty much everywhere. There weren't many pictures taken of myself at my request...I really didn't want my greasy mug plastered all over everyone's facebook! ; )

We visited the grandiose Palacio Real

Made a stop at the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza statues

Shopped and walked for miles

Watched a flamenco show at the same place 'The Bachelorette' was just filmed!

Had dinner in an underground cave tapas restaurant

And then we called it a night with a ride on the metro to our hotel!

The next day we would be off to Córdoba, a nice change of pace from what we had just experienced!

And We're Off...Or Not?!

When we arrived at the airport on Monday June 22nd everyone was eagerly anticipating the next two weeks in Spain. As my students said their goodbyes, so did I, and we were off! Our 31 person group was split because of its size and 2/3 went American Airlines and the other 1/3 {my group} went US Airways. Everyone made it through security unscathed, and all we had to do was wait for our departing time. As 1 p.m rolled around we all got super antsy...in just a few short hours we would be in Spain. Or so we thought. Unfortunately {and maybe fortunately to be honest} our airplane had mechanical issues and we had to get off of the plane. They promised us that they're were working on it and would have us out and about in no time. Well, as the minutes passed by, our progress stalled. No maintenance man=canceled flight. Canceled flight=No Spain.

To say the very least, we were extremely bummed. I handled it as well as I could, even though I wanted to cry. Here I had 7 students in St. Louis so excited to be going to Spain and we were stuck in our own city, after spending the whole day in the airport. The best US Airways could do was get us on a super early flight the next day, which would put us in Philly for our connecting flight for nearly 8 hours, before eventually heading to Madrid. My friends, Jeannie and Sarah, the only other adults on the trip helped arrange food vouchers and hotel accommodations and we decided to make the most out of a sucky situation. With a little haggling {they originally wanted us all to go home--even though we had a group of minors who couldn't all drive} they succumbed to some rooms at the nearby Hilton.

It had some comfy rooms, a pool, and the internet so we at least slept in style before trying to fly out yet again, the next morning. And, when the morning rolled around we all left the hotel at 5:30 a.m., took a shuttle to the airport, relived our stroll through security and made the flight to Philly. The rest of the day was spent in the Philly airport and then we eventually boarded the plane to Madrid! We landed and went through all the formalities and had to start a complete day of touring.

This day may have been the most tired I have ever felt in my life! More to come and pics to see!

xoxo

Worth Checking Out!

You gotta go here, and check out this girl's counter top transformation. A-ma-zing!

xoxo

I'm home!

I made it back in one piece from Spain! We had the best time ever and the trip absolutely flew by! There were some kinks at the beginning, but everything worked its way out quite beautifully! I am in the process of editing and uploading over 1000 pics so I promise as soon as I am finished I will be back in business. Thanks for sticking with me and reading {or not reading} my better half's banter. He's a hoot and don't say I didn't warn you! ; )

I'll leave you with a couple of pics that I've already uploaded for just a little taste of España!

Many more to come. : )

An Assist from Ol Blue Eyes

This will be my final blog post (please keep your cheers down). Joi is scheduled to return home tonight and she will take her rightful place behind the laptop tomorrow. But I wanted to take this time for a reflection on the amazing time we have spent together. Unfortunately I could not do this alone and I needed the help of Frank Sinatra.

Watch and enjoy.

We Close July 4

As I left Subway yesterday, I walked past the door to a local Chinese Restaurant and on the door a handwritten sign was posted saying "We Close July 4" and I have been stuck on this ever since.

Having spoken to and been around a number of non-native English speakers, I am accustomed to them not having mastered the correct tense of verbs and I am not mocking this. Heck, I have high schools who are only native English speakers who struggle with this concept. But I began trying to interpret what the meaning behind this sign. Should it say "We will be closed on July 4" or "We will close July 4"? I interpret the first option to be a one day closing, while the other is a permanent closing. This is a very crucial difference for the loyal customers of the Chinese restaurant, of which I am not one (I don't even know what the name is to be honest with you). I have never given this restaurant any thought and it has been of no importance to me, until now. I am anxious to see what happens with it's business status after July 4th. The problem is that July 5 is a Sunday and they may be closed on Sundays normally. So wait until Monday to find out, but some places open on Saturdays usually take Mondays off. Okay, what about Tuesday! What if the sign implies a vacation break for the owners of Chinese Restaurant.

I then shifted my attention to a foreign restaurant being closed on July 4 and it struck me as being rather interesting. There are 2 reasons that I can fathom for a Chinese Restaurant to be closes on July 4th.
1. To celebrate the USA's Independence Day
2. Not many, if any, people go to Chinese restaurants on an American holiday, so why be open.

Let's examine these, starting with number 1. Some people may mock or find humor in a Chinese restaurant, run presumably by first or second generation immigrants being closed to celebrate "our" (notice the American-biased use of quotation marks) Independence Day. Keep in mind that I have never been inside this place and I am jumping to a big assumption here. It could be run by Bob Jones and his family for all I know. First of all, they are citizens of this country (another assumption) and as a result they have the right to celebrate it's Independence Day. If you know somebody that has a problem with this, then ask them why they are celebrating Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick's Day, or Casimir Pulaski Day (Illinoisians specifically for the last one) and what each of those days even represent. Side notes: Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day and not as big a deal in Mexico as it is here. St. Patrick's Day celebrations started in the US, and until the 1970s, pubs in Ireland were closed by law on that day. In addition, 1st and 2nd generation immigrants have an amazingly high right to celebrate Independence Day because their actions are closed to what the Founding Fathers did than anything that I have ever done. In each case people wanted out of the country they were currently living in to go to a hipper country (I am a history teacher and "hipper country" is historically appropriate).

As for number 2 (Not much business, in case you forgot), I can't imagine that people are so wrapped in American excitement that they feel the urge to rush out buy crab rangoon. Again, I am leaping to a big assumption here and maybe Americans feel compelled to get pumped to see things blowing up in the sky by capping off a meal with a good ole fashioned fortune cookie. Yet another "cultural" item that is not native to the country we associate it with but rather an item we (created in California) made up and gave to them.

A long, long time ago

Not many people know that Joi and I dated when we were in 7th grade. It was a wild fling that has lived on famously in Granite City.

It first started when we had 7th grade Algebra and Speech/Acting together. As a side note, the speech teacher has apparently stolen her "Lion King" cd. I used to stare at her from afar and was never able to muster up the courage to speak to her. Actually that is a lie because in true juvenile male behavior I used to tease her and somehow thought that would bring us together. Believe it or not, it didn't work and I had to go to plan B.

It started in 7th hour (final period of the day) Algebra. We had time to work on our homework for the next class period and in true "me" fashion I decided to use that time otherwise. Otherwise in this case was a long sign with "will you go out with me" written on it. That's right, my plan B was public humiliation. It was important for me to get to her locker at the end of the day before she did. The bell rang and it was now time for a sprint to her locker, which was near mine so luckily I knew the best and quickest route. 4 things were working in my favor,
1. Joi is a painfully slow walker
2. I am a fast walker
3. Joi was popular so people wanted to talk to her, thus slowing her pace even more 4. I was not popular and nobody ever wanted to talk to me and I could keep my focus

I made it to her locker and unveiled plan B and a small crowd began to gather around her locker, which was necessary for this to work. Joi arrived and had a shocked (maybe partially disgusted) look on her face. Then a member of the crowd said the magic phrase, "You can't say no". After what seemed like an eternity (she was trying to figure out a way out of this mess) she finally agreed to date me.

What a magic run it was! We started dating the last school day before Easter/Spring Break and in typical 7th Grade dating style, we only talked on the phone for a few short minutes and that was the extent of our relationship. Then the Sunday night before our return to school I received a return to Earth: one of Joi's friends, in true 7th grade fashion, called me and dumped me. But the foundation was started for what would become an amazing house which has gone through a number of interior repaints, many of which you have seen right here. I'm talking literal repaints of course.

An Original Narrative

I enjoy manipulating numbers and words and today I gave myself a word challenge. I wanted to see if I could right a story, that made some kind of sense, in which I had to do 2 things with the lines of the story. Here is the story. See if you can figure out the 2 things I did, or tried to do. The answers are in the comments section.

Attention is needed if you want to learn a lesson worthy of retention
Being selfish is an attribute that is not worth seeing
Connor is the recipient of a dubious honor
Displaying no gratitude when “thanks” he should be saying
Each time a friend handed him something well within his reach
Frankly, the least his friends wanted was a gesture that was thankly
Greeting him would be different soon after meeting him
“Hello” he would say in a tone that was relaxed and mellow
Immediately afterwards he would lose that tone repeatedly
Jerkiness was displayed as much as Rachael Ray’s perkiness
Keeping his alarm on even as it was beeping
Lounging at your house and for food always scrounging
Money never repaid and acting like it was funny
Now it was time for him to learn a lesson, and oh how
Only how could it be done without making him totally lonely now
Producing a change in him with his jerkiness reducing
Quickly a lesson was developed that would lay it on thickly
Right then they saw an even that was quite the sight when
Soda was poured on Connor when he meanly said “No duh”
To Hank’s nice gesture and Hank pointed out there were no thanks
Unless he got thanks, Hank would make Connor’s life funless
Very quickly Connor saw how the situation was getting hairy
When faced with this dilemma, Connor immediately knew what to do then
X-rays were not wanted and Connor wanted to enjoy his next days
Years later Connor still continues to say “thanks” “gracias” and “cheers”
Zero times since has he been anything less than a hero