Thursday, November 29, 2007

another one??

I just heard there's another winter storm warning... 3 to 8 inches tonight. But around here, that can mean 0 inches to 15. So who knows! An update on the radio -- some local schools are closing early for the day. It's not the school my siblings go to, so no luck for them! but maybe it means we are going to get the storm.

Lots going on this weekend. David's first hockey games for the season! and they're both at home, so we get to see how good they're going to be this year. Kristin and I have some holiday things we have to get done soon -- hopefully tonight or this weekend! Some friends have birthdays -- 'tis the season!

Grey's Anatomy is not new tonight, so I don't have that to look forward to. But I heard some other good news -- the Broadway stagehands/electricians, etc. strike is over. So the curtains are going to go up tonight again! I can't imagine what NY was like for those few weeks without the majority of the shows. It's such a big part of the city -- especially midtown.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

snow day at...

the hospital. My mom had surgery on her knee today, so my dad and I spent about 6 hours there with her today. While my dad and I were sitting there, we realized it was his fourth time sitting at that hospital, waiting on someone's surgery... in the past 4 months. (and the second time w/ that surgeon. is there such thing as frequent visit discounts?!)

In other news, it was awesome to wake up this morning to "school is delayed an hour and a half!" and then later hear "Now it's cancelled for the whole day!" :) Teachers appreciate it as much as the students do!! I was talking about it w/ a teacher yesterday, and we agreed that it's a guilt-free day off. Yesterday back at the school was pretty fun. One student walked in and said "WHOA! I'm so glad I didn't go home this morning!!!!" and another said "We have so much to catch up on! How was your Thanksgiving? did you have a good weekend? hey, you're doing something different with your hair! It looks good!!" How does that not make you smile?! :)

My friends and I got together for "the bachelor" last night, even though it's over. It's just an excuse (a reason?) to get together with just the girls on a ("marvelous") Monday.
the past two days (Sunday and Monday) were the most I've laughed in a looooong time. My stomach is sore today. What a good feeling!

Gillian (from South Africa) is staying in CT for another year, so I may get to see her before she goes home for good!! and Katharina told me yesterday that she's planning to spend 3 weeks in CT in the summer. So hopefully the three of us will have a chance to spend some quality time together!! Since I'm not getting there for the holidays, I'm really planning to go in the summer. But I also want to go and visit Tamara, Sarah, Ellen, and Katharina in Europe, too. decisions, decisions! I'll decide about that after my upcoming trip.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Going back

I just found out that tomorrow I'm going back to the class where I taught for nine weeks. It's just for the afternoon (I'm subbing for someone else in the morning), but I'm really looking forward to walking down the hall in the school and seeing all of the friendly faces! and even just seeing what topics/lessons all of the classes are on now (three weeks later). What a fun day!!

but it also means a drive. So I should really be sleeping. I wanted to go to sleep at 8 or 9 at the latest. Here it is 10:06pm and I'm on the computer. Great! I just seem to procrastinate like crazy, even when it comes to going to bed. ahhh, Karen, get to bed!! (Last night ended up being a late night for Liz, Molly, and me. We had coffee late (11-ish), so that kept us awake for HOURS... I haven't done that in a loooong, long time!)

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping! It feels so good!! only a few more things, then I just have to wrap it up and I'm ready to go. Then for the cards... I have all of the materials, just need to put the time in to get them all together. Maybe a project for next weekend. Or if I sub somewhere this week where the teacher doesn't leave sub plans.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope y'all are having a great day on this wonderful holiday! What a great, fun family day!!

I realized a few minutes ago that I've been in the kitchen alllllll day! I woke up this morning and started helping my mom. Then company came for dinner, so we ate dinner/dessert, etc... cleaned up and visited. and we're still in the kitchen. Wow! and I don't think I need to eat until Sunday or so.

My aunt, cousins, sisters, and I just had an idea to take a little roadtrip to go shopping in the morning. So we called a hotel, found a good rate, and we're heading out in a few minutes! Fun, fun!!

Tomorrow evening, my mom and sisters and I are having a craft night. We're making some fun Christmas decorations. My mom came up with a really sweet idea, so she's in charge of it all. Us girls are showing up with enthusiasm and leftovers :)

Happy SHOPPING Day tomorrow everyone!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Coffee anyone?

I'm on my way out for coffee with some of my sisters... and I really mean coffee. For years I'd go "out for coffee" with my friends and get ice cream, hot chocolate, or a smoothee. But now I have to say, I crave different coffee drinks.
Here are my top three:
peppermint mocha (reminds me of the holidays!)
raspberry mocha frappachino (WOW I cannot spell!!) (This one reminds me of NYC in the summer)
peppermint mocha frappachino or peppermint chocolate mocha frappachino....
looks like I'm stuck on the mochas. YUM!

I think I may have a different post on here about this whole coffee thing, but it's a cool new thing for me :) Heather was in Baltimore for about a year, and she came back with the same addiction. Our friends who stayed home haven't quite made the transformation, but we're working on them :)

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Happy Hunting!

What a holiday this day is in these parts! I subbed today, and in 3 out of my 5 classes, more than half of the students were absent. The halls were noticeably quieter, too. I only remember it being a big deal like this one time while I was in high school. Maybe the 15th was on Saturday and Sunday for two of the years I was in school.... who knows. I came home from school and already heard a bunch of success stories. Way to go, hunters!

I'm already in 100% holiday mode! The ring tone on my phone is a holiday song, I've started my shopping, I'm listening to Christmas music, and last night my sister and I did some stamping for Christmas. I'm definitely ready for them this year!!

Happy Sweet Sixteen to my cousin BETS! She passed her driver's test this morning, icy roads and all. Congrats!

I'm feeling a little jealous of some of my friends who are still in college... they get a whole week off for Thanksgiving. No such luck for local high/middle schools. We just get Thursday and Friday off (but I'll DEFinitely enjoy it!).

A CT story: Last year my friends Tamara and Katharina wanted to see an over-the-top Christmas lights/decorations house. So one evening last December we drove all around our town, searching for the most gaudy spectacle we could find. It took us awhile, but we found a really good one. I wish I had photo of it! (It's something I don't understand...) Also, I was super excited to see all of the holiday decorations in NYC. It seemed like Christmas was going to be an amazing time to be in the city. Hate to break it to you, but it's over rated. There were definitely some really cool decorations (things you probably don't see anywhere else), but it wasn't as *magical* or beautiful as I thought it would be.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

I love swimming!

It's pretty much my favorite.

Sooooo, when I had the opportunity to go one last time (?? not sure if that makes sense) this year, I JUMPED! Literally. Molly has this thing going with two of her friends. They made a deal last March to go swimming at Hippie's (in the Valley) at least once a month for a year. So on Sunday Heather and I joined her and we went swimming! It was painfully COLD, but it made us feel oh-so-alive. So it was well worth it! Oh what a feeling! and oh yeah, did I mention it was dark out? and I had never gone swimming there before? and we had no flashlights or lights of any kind? A little creepy.

All fall it felt like I had to go swimming one last time to finish off the summer. I guess I did it, but a lot later than I expected. I love swimming! and I get to go in about two months in the gorgeous Caribbean Sea!

I realized something about myself one day last week while reading some old posts on here. I'm spontaneous! I don't know if I have always been, or if living in CT brought that out or what, but I definitely am. I look back and can hardly believe the last-minute things we/I decided to do. I'm very proud of that! A lot of people would be content living in CT and going into the city every once in awhile. But we aimed higher: we had bigger goals: the whole mid/north east coast! and some pretty sweet activities in the city too. Lots of these decisions were made during Saturday night phone calls. Example: "What should we do tomorrow? I heard Philadelphia is only like three hours away! So's Boston." ..... "Pick one!" And some of these were Sunday morning phone calls "I don't feel like just going to the beach today. Let's drive up/down the coast and find a cool town to explore." or my favorite: a couple of times I was feeling homesick, or couldn't imagine missing out on something at home. So I went home. Twice I bought a plane ticket in the evening and was on the plane early the next morning.

Anyway, it's a trait I never thought about for myself, and I'm kind of proud to say that I'm flexible enough to do something at the drop of a hat!

Congrats to the CHS Vball team on winning their quarterfinal match tonight!! They won 3-0, and now head to the state semi-finals on Friday afternoon. YEA CHS!