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The Armstrongs Come to NOLA (part 2)

The truth is I started this blog entry several days ago and then my Internet crashed and I lost it. I started to write it again, but I was so disheartened, I gave up. Let's give this one more go. One of the first places we took Matty, Izzy, and Claire was to the French Quarter, and when you come to visit, it's one of the first places we'll take you, too, because it's the French Quarter. We started off at the French Market, where you can buy beads, jewelry, crocodile skulls, Asian products, and more. Claire received the most significant souvenir while we were there - a princess mask.

It didn't leave her side for the rest of the day. Then we went for beignets. At first Claire only wanted the mounds of powdered sugar piled on top, just like her Grandma Armstrong.

But eventually she discovered how delicious the rest of it is, too.

Matt and Izzy liked them, too.

{Izzy was the only person I've ever seen not covered in powdered sugar at the end of a trip to Cafe du Monde.}

And Amanda and Peter enjoyed feeding the birds again.

Usually, there will be some good street jazz just outside of Cafe du Monde. When we arrived, there was a soloist playing acoustic 80s rock ballads. Fortunately, after he finished playing "I Just Called to Say I Love You," a jazz trio took his place, featuring an upright bass, a trumpet, and a banjo player from Austria. Much more conducive to the atmosphere.

Plus, Claire loved to dance to it.

At this point, Amanda had to say good-bye to take Peter home for his afternoon nap while the rest of us explored the Quarter. Claire led the way.

We had bought a huge muffaletta at Central Grocery to share and got some drinks at the tiniest corner store you'll ever see and had a picnic in Jackson Square. Claire, as usual, was the entertainment (sorry the video is sideways). We peeked inside the St. Louis Cathedral while we were there.

After lunch, we really needed to use the bathroom, which meant it was either a long walk back the French Market or pay the entry fee for the Cabildo Museum. We chose the latter. It's housed in a beautiful building that looked down on Jackson Square.

I keep thinking I want to start collecting teacups. I saw some last year in an antique store in Seattle, and now these at the museum. My grandmother had teacups displayed in her curio that were destined to be given to my sister and me when we were older. We would argue over who got which one all the time. The irony is that at one point, I bargained my half of the teacups for another heirloom I wanted.

If you buy a ticket to the Cabildo, you get a discount for the Mardi Gras Museum next door, so we figured we might as well take advantage of a deal. However, we didn't have a lot of time to spend in either museum, really, because my car was at a meter (because cheap) and the time was almost up. I definitely want to go back to the Mardi Gras Museum at some point, though, and get a better look at stuff like this:

We didn't get to see as much of the Quarter as I would have liked, so I offered to watch Claire that night while Matt and Isabelle went on the same Haunted History Walking Tour Liz and I enjoyed when I first moved here. I had fun playing games with Claire. I just can't get over how grown up she is now.

(Hopefully it won't be so long before I can post about the next segment.)

Intermission

I'm still working on photos from Matt and Izzy's visit, so in the mean time, I'll leave you with this one of the cousins, Peter and Claire. Peter loved having another kid in the house and would follow Claire around wherever she went and wanted to do whatever she did. Claire, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. I think she liked the idea of Peter (of having a cute younger cousin), but got frustrated because he didn't quite know how to play pretend with her, or really even how to play the Nintendo.

New Ventures

Many of you already know that I quit teaching about a month ago. It was a very difficult decision to make, but ultimately, I realized that I should have remembered from teaching English 106 that I actually don't really like teaching. I thought it would be different when teaching literature, but it wasn't. I guess I love the idea of teaching more than the reality, a typical trend in my life. And teaching, especially the situation I was in, is not something you should do without being fully committed to the profession. I felt like I couldn't give my students what they needed and they needed so much. Plus, I was just miserable. It felt like walking onto a battlefield every day. I'm very happy with my decision, and I feel very fortunate in this time of economic hardship to have found an excellent career opportunity as a technical writer at a Fortune 500 company here in New Orleans. I start on Monday.

This experience, and the leisure for thinking, once again, about what I want in the future and career choices and the meaning of life, etc. etc. has helped me realize something that I'll probably forget in a month or two when I once again hate my job and want to do something different. That's why I'm writing it down now, making it as permanent as this blog that doesn't seem very permanent because it's just hanging out there in cyberspace somewhere. What I've learned: A job for me is a means to an end. I'm tired of trying to find something that defines me. When I would think about finding a new job, I would often think about it in terms of who I am, not what I would do. And what I've come to realize is that it's okay to have the real me, the who I am, be reflected by what I do outside of the hours of 9 to 5. Seems so basic, I know, but it's taken me a long time to figure it out.

Matt, Izzy, and Claire have been visiting this week. I have loved showing them around and showing off my new city. It's given me an opportunity to explore it more, and I have lots of upcoming blog posts about our adventures.

Hallowed Een

Halloween is one of those holidays that I love more in theory than in practice. Mostly because I always want to have a better costume than I do. I love the idea of dressing and being creative and witty, but I hate the effort that goes into a) coming up with the idea and b) executing it. This is how I ended up going to school as a Mexican for Halloween in the third grade. I simply put the tablecloth my parents had bought in Mexico over my shoulders and voila! costume. It should come as no surprise that this year, I found something on the clearance rack at Kmart and voila! whoopee cushion. I added some fake eyelashes for dramatic effect.

New Orleans, on the other hand, takes Halloween very seriously. The decorations came up at the beginning of the month and at some houses tombstones and ghosts continued to be added throughout the month. I never did get any fantastic pictures of some of the best houses. Rather, I got some bad pictures of houses as I was driving home one day, but they will at least give you an idea of how New Orleans prepares for the events.

Amanda has a friend whose husband went all out for Halloween this year. I snapped a few photos of their house in progress when we went over to watch the finale of Project Runway not too long ago. I kept meaning to return and see the whole effect, but I never got around to it.

Amanda had planned a Halloween activity for the kids at the church, so I went to help out with games and festivities.

Some of the cute kiddies:

I had planned to wander along Frenchman St. after the party to take in the craziness of the French Quarter in costume, but it turns out I'm getting old fogyish and didn't want to deal with traffic and crowds and blah blah blah, so I watched a movie with friends instead.

Can't believe October has come and gone. Welcome November.

NOLA in the Fall

I've had to come to terms that fall in New Orleans is not like fall in Utah. I keep seeing photos of gorgeous fall colors in the canyons while for the past month I've continued to wear shorts and flip flops and felt like the temperature would never cool down. Luckily, last week it dropped from the high 80s to lower 70s. I can wear long-sleeves and jackets and actually enjoy the park.

Peter enjoyed splashing in the fountain.

And then we went across the street and played ball for a while. Afterward, Amanda and I both whipped out the camera and kept taking photos of Pete (it's so hard not to). At first he was smiling and having fun.

But after a while, he wearied of the cameras and started to get grumpy. Poor kid. Must be hard to have people fawning all over you.

Minor Celebrity, Major Awesome

A new Macy's opened up at a mall in a suburb of New Orleans. I happened to be at the mall on Saturday looking for something in particular, but though I would drop by Macy's to see if there were any grand opening deals. Turns out, there was something even better. Clinton Kelly from TLC's What Not to Wear! I just about squealed with delight.

I almost waited in line for his autograph but then realized I wasn't dressed appropriately for meeting Clinton Kelly. On second though, that could only have worked to my advantage. I could use a wardrobe makeover.

This Boy

I can't get over how adorable he is. Amanda took this photo back in July, and he just gets cuter and cuter. I would warn you against visiting their blog, though. You just might OD on cute, and I don't want to be held responsible.

Photobooth with Peter

Audubon Park in the Fall

A couple of weekends ago, we attended a birthday party at Audubon Park. It was a perfect evening as far as the weather was concerned. Fall in New Orleans is very different from the fall I would be experiencing in Utah. Case in point, it's cooled down to 80 degrees here for the most part. We can all go outside again. But I still get to wear shorts and flip flops.

I love the trees here. They seem primordial.

Walking through Tulane's campus on our way to and from made me ache to be back in school. I love college campuses.

Evacuation

I finally got the Internet connected and my laptop working. Even though Gustav was almost three weeks ago now, and I should really be planning for tomorrow, I figured I would reacquaint myself with my blog and finally post about evacuating.

As mentioned earlier, we had to move to a new apartment before we could evacuate. Luckily, there were enough people around to help us out. We thought about leaving in the middle of the night on Saturday/Sunday, but decided that we all just needed a really good night's sleep. Here's the new house. We have the top floor.

The night before we evacuated was lovely. It didn't feel like a hurricane was coming.

We had no idea what to expect. It seems silly now, since Gustav was definitely not the "mother of all storms" and Ike created so much more havoc in Texas. But at the time, the media was telling us all sorts of things, and I had panicked family members calling and telling us we had to get out. During Katrina, people had spent 15-16 hours on the highway, so we were settling in for the long haul. We had six gallons of water and whatever food we could find (there wasn't much because of the moving and all of the grocery stores and fast food restaurants had closed up shop already - I couldn't even buy gum at a gas station where we stopped so Amanda could plead with the owner to allow a pregnant lady to use the bathroom). We dropped my car off at the church because the ground is higher and it had a locked gate that we could close up.

And then headed out on the road. A lot of houses had boarded up their windows, although not as many as I had expected.

There were definitely more businesses boarded up. There was no one around on the morning we evacuated. Just police cars cruising the streets.

There were tons of buses lined up, waiting for further evacuations.

We decided to take the back roads up towards Baton Rouge. We were headed to a large Mormon church in Jackson, Mississippi. Normally Jackson is only about 3 hours away. But, like I said, we weren't sure what traffic would be like and everyone kept telling us that we had to avoid the contraflow at all costs. So the back roads. And it worked really well. We hardly saw any traffic.

I kept Pete entertained with my Nintendo. He doesn't know how to work it yet, really, so I would just start him at the beginning of Mario 64 where he could make Mario run around and listen to the birds. We stopped in Fayette, MS for lunch. We had basically thrown an assortment of random food into a big garbage sac before we left, so for lunch we stopped at a little park and pulled out our garbage sac. As we prepared a meal from its contents, a man stopped and asked us if we needed a place to stay. I guess we did look a little homeless.

Our scenic route took us on a part of the Natchez Trace Parkway, so I got all excited about byways. It was lovely.

We finally made it to Jackson, six hours later. We didn't know what to expect at the church. We had images of cots lined up in the cultural hall with screaming children running around at all hours. It was much better than that. They assigned us a classroom, so we had some privacy. Later, some members in the area brought us some airbeds.

It was pretty nice. We even had a shower. Of course, we had to share it with about 50 other women, so lines were long, but hey, a shower. So what did we do whilst evacuated? Basically sat around the church a lot. I read To Kill a Mockingbird and played Nintendo. Peter played with basketballs in the gym and would wake up in the morning saying "ball." It's all he wanted to do.

And we played an awesome boardgame called Ticket to Ride. One day we ventured in to the town (we were actually in a suburb of Jackson, called Clinton) and found a park for Peter. It was a little rainy, but it was so nice to be out of the church that we didn't mind. And it was a really cool park.

The trees were even painted with cute characters and kid-inspired themes, which was really cute, except for this smurf.

A little creepy. Other than our adventure at the park and an unsuccessful attempt to find the mall in Jackson, we didn't do much. Except for a short trip here:

But that will have to wait for another day.

Par for the Course

Lockdown for three hours today. Turns out, a student had a gun. The weird thing is, it didn't even phase me. Of course someone would have a gun, despite the metal detectors. Of course, he would slip it into a girl's purse. Of course, we'd be in lockdown with the same students for 3 hours today while the police and administration went from room to room searching for it. Of course, the students would be arrested and led off campus in handcuffs.

And of course, I'd let my students jump rope during the last half hour of lockdown. Double Dutch. They were really amazing.

MIA

Sorry I've been MIA for the last little while. The Internet hasn't been hooked up since we've moved to our new place, so all I can get is a faint little signal in one particular corner of the house. Just enough to look up lesson plans and check my email. Not enough to upload pictures. It was supposed to be hooked up today, but apparently the technician didn't notice the doorbell, so no one heard him, and now they tell us we have to wait another week. Bummer.

Suffice it to say, it's been a challenging week. It's going to continue to be challenging, and every day/night I have to recommit myself. Right now, I'm going from school break to school break. Only 13 more school days until Fall Break. I can do that.

I really do have some great pictures from evacuation and our sidetrip to Graceland that I want to post. Just as soon as we get the Internet.

And We're Back... For Now

Gustav has come and gone, but Ike is around the corner. Is it terrible that I'm hoping it will follow the same course as Gustav? Just close enough for a mandatory evacuation, but distant enough that only two window panes break in our apartment. It's safer than the hurricane I face daily at school.

I have pictures from our evacuation, which turned out to be more of a mini-vacation with a sidetrip to Graceland in Memphis. But for now, I have to face reality and prepare for class tomorrow. If I get my wish, I'll have plenty of time for blog-writing during our next evacuation.

Intermission

Probably won't have Internet for a while because of moving and evacuating for the storm, so any updates will be done via twitter.

The good news: school is canceled until at least next Thursday. It was weird to close up my classroom today not knowing if I'll be returning. I had just spent so much time putting it all together and today I had my students raise all the books off the ground, put the computers up on some shelves, and I had to wrap up the Promethean board in preparation. It felt like the last day of school. Many of my kids had already evacuated and a lot of teachers/staff are already talking about not coming back. I guess we'll see, though. For now, the focus is moving.

Expecting Gustav

I've been watching and waiting all night for them to cancel classes tomorrow, but no luck. I mean, if the threat of a hurricane doesn't at least get you out of your job, what good is it?

Jokes (even only half-jokes) aside, it felt eerie this morning driving to work and not know whether or not we'd be evacuating soon. When I left my classroom tonight, I wondered if I would be returning. There's a palpable electricity in the air about Gustav. It's all my students want to talk about. Two of them showed up early this morning and I conversed with them about their experiences during Katrina. No one, except those of us who didn't live through Katrina, are taking any chances with Gustav. As for us, we're holding off a bit. We're supposed to move this weekend, so we're hoping to get situated before we take off and leave everything to the looters.

Fight!

A fight broke out in my classroom today. Fists swinging, desks getting moved aside, people yelling and yes, someone screamed "Fight!" and other students rushed in to witness. I was in shock and called for security while the AP and some girl students helped split the boys up. They were expelled, and I'm sorry to say that my first thought was "At least that's two less I have to worry about."

Sorry for the lack of posts, emails, and phone calls. Hopefully things will get into more of a routine and I'll actually be able to find time for myself. Or at least clear off my bed so I'm not sleeping on the sofa anymore.

Worst Week Ever

Sure school was challenging, my laptop died on me, and I still haven't had the check engine light in my car checked out, but what really makes this the worst week ever is that I just found out that Passions ended its nine-year run a couple of weeks ago.

I know, believe me I know, how horrible of a show it was, but that's why I loved it so much! It was campy and over-the-top and everything a soap opera should be. I hope another show hires whoever played Theresa because she is born to be a soap star. That girl knows how to cry and she is the queen of monologues. And what other soap opera has story lines where the he/she character, Vincent/Vikki, finds out that he's the son and grandson of his father and gives birth to a child? Not to mention a side story where (and this is a little... um... crude) Vincent/Vikki cuts off his father's penis and then convinces his mother, Dr. Eve Russel, to replace it upside down. Luckily, and if you watch the following video (and I highly recommend that you do!) Kate is able to use her good witch powers to put everything aright again.

Oh Passions, I admit, I got a little teary-eyed when I heard the theme song for the last time at the end of the finale. It reminds me of that summer right after high school graduation when I didn't have much going on, but almost every afternoon, I would watch Passions while drinking a Diet Pepsi and cleaning the kitchen. It was the basis for my farewell talk before leaving on my mission, and it provided lots of entertainment while in college (see here). I hope something even better comes along to replace it, but it will be hard.

First Day Report.

Crap. I have to go back tomorrow.

No, it wasn't that bad. And it definitely had its moments that were really great, but mostly my feet hurt, I didn't get to eat lunch, my voice is hoarse and I have a headache. And I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow. And I really don't want to go try and figure it out. What happened to the days of lounging around after work?

But in happier news, the next episode of Project Runway Australia, which I've started watching on YouTube, airs in Australia tonight, so hopefully tomorrow I will have some backbiting design to come home to. For those who want to enjoy:

First Day of School

It's weird to think of tomorrow as a beginning and not an end. It's a day I've been working towards for the past two months and thinking, planning, prepping, stressing about it has taken up much of my brain capacity the past two weeks, especially. I keep thinking that I just have to get through tomorrow, but the truth of it is that tomorrow is just the first day. There is still Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. There's still next week. The hard work just keeps coming. But I'm hopeful that it will be satisfying hard work. Even though I feel much more prepared about going into this whole new career than I did two months ago when I left Utah, I still feel just as terrified.

At least my room is pretty much ready. Here's the front of the room:

Please note my hand-cut expectations posted above the chalk/promethean board. I was very proud of some of those letters that I cut completely freestyle. Others don't look quite as good. I'm a little anxious that when I get to school tomorrow morning, everything in the room will be on the ground because I've been having trouble getting things to stick.

The computer station. Originally, the computer monitors sit below the desk covered by glass. I'm sure someone thought that was a very clever use of space, but it would make it impossible to monitor what the students were looking at, so I handily raised the monitors up and stored the glass out of sight. And I know that wall is completely blank, but it will soon be filled with the brilliant work of my students.

And finally the little reading area. It looks so cute, but it's the trickiest station of all. Stuck behind the huge air conditioner, it will be hard to see what's going on back there from my vantage point in the small group at the front of the class. I tried installing a mirror in the back, but that didn't give me the view I wanted. So expectations of how to use the reading area will have to be made very clear.

The reason for the three stations is that I'll be teaching three periods of a program called Read180 put out by scholastic. It requires students to rotate between computer software, independent reading, and small group discussions, along with whole group instruction. I've had mixed feelings about the program because it's so laid out for me. Every day is planned, and while I know how beneficial that will be for me as a new teacher, it feels kind of stifling. I fight against it the same way I fight against wedding registries. Even though wedding registries make it easy to give the gift a couple will want, I always worry that the couple will think I'm uncreative for following it. Luckily (maybe), I have one regular 9th grade English class to call my own. And I'm already beginning to think that freedom for creativity is less desirable because it equals more work. I've never really been known for my work ethic.

This long entry is really just a way to put off writing my inspiring and tone-setting first day speech that I've been putting off all weekend. It's the last thing to do to prepare for tomorrow. And let's face it, I'll probably think of something on my drive over.

Home Alone

Mike, Amanda, and Peter all took off for Salt Lake early this morning. I'm all alone for the next 10 days. It's really quiet and very sad to think about my family reunited and having fun without me. Bah Humbug.

Good thing I always have TV. Now if only there were something other than the Olympics on. I can't stand that Michael Phelps.

Silhouettes

I thought it'd be fun to make a small book comparing my silhouette to a bunch of other famous ones. Once I had chosen some famous silhouettes, I realized, "Oh geez, all these guys are geniuses. I'm just an idiot." So that's what the book became about. It puts me in bouts against Dylan, Duchamp and Hitchcock, and contrasts our profiles through diagrams. I never really stood a chance, did I?

It's a Tag!

My good friend and former mission companion, Kimberley, honored me with a tag today. I'm rather capricious with these tags. I sometimes do them, and I sometimes don't, and I sometimes think that maybe I should come up with a clear and steadfast rule about either doing all tags or doing no tags, but for right now I feel like answering this tag. Probably because I'm putting off the talk I'm supposed to write for church tomorrow. So here goes:

5 Things I'm Passionate About:

According to Kimmie's tag, this should be 8 things, but I'm narrowing it down a little. Here's the thing about being "passionate" about something. To me that implies putting forth effort and that's never been my strong point (which is why I dropped out of my PhD program). So I'll modify this just a little again.

5 Things I'm Moderately Enthused About:

1. Literature (but sometimes I'd rather watch TV.)
2. TV (but I always feel guilty for liking it as much as I do.)
3. Taking Pictures (but I can't call it photography because I don't know anything about it.)
4. Art and Architecture (but I never feel like I know enough about it and after a while, museums get tiresome)
5. Music (but lately I haven't been interested in finding out the latest bands. Too much work.)

5 Books I Love:

This is always a hard one for a lit major. I will just point out that the heading is five books I love, not my favorite five books or anything like that. Even still, it's hard to narrow it down and hard to determine what qualifies as love. And yes, I know I'm thinking too much about it.

1. Franny and Zooey
2. Howard's End
3. Lolita
4. Jane Eyre (Can I just use this as a placemarker for all Bronte and Austen?)
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

That was hard.

5 Words of Phrases I Say Often:

1. I know right. (I actually forced myself into the habit of this one. I liked how people at Purdue would say it. I'm a total copycat.)
2. Total (as in "a total copycat," or "totally awesome." It's part of my valley girl vocab!)
3. One time (I only know this one because inevitably Erica would finish it with "at band camp.")
4. Geesh.
5. Stooop! (that's a long, drawn-out stop, not stoop)

5 Things I've Learned This Past Year

1. Turns out I don't want a mindless job.
2. Meh, I'm skipping the rest of this one. Takes too much self-reflection for a Saturday night.

5 Places I'd Like to See:

1. The Corn Palace and Mt. Rushmore
2. The Precious Moments Chapel (I am dead serious.)
3. That one cemetery near London that I forgot to visit.
4. Notre Dame du Haut
5. Neuschwanstein (I can't believe I was only a couple of hours from this four five months and never saw it.)

5 Things I Currently Want:

1. Lots and lots of color-coded folders for my students
2. A wireless remote/clicker-thingy for my laptop
3. An iPhone
4. Furniture
5. A nice, long trip abroad.

This Week

I went out for the most delectable roast beef po'boys at Parkway Bakery.

{Photo by Jason Perlow and found on the Interwebs}

Admired the sunlight on a typical row of houses in mid-city.

Enjoyed Peter playing with tupperware lids as though they were symbols.

Watched the finale if So You Think You Can Dance. Pete liked it too. I wish I had taken video of him from the night before. He was bowing and everything.

And I finally got a chance to start working on my classroom after sitting through horribly boring and unhelpful professional development meetings all week. This is what it looked like when I first walked in:

All of those shelves and cupboards were full of old papers, binders, books, and softball and basketball equipment. After the three hours I had to spend today, it looked like this:

There's still a lot to do, but they kicked me out at 3 this afternoon because apparently people have things other than school to think about this weekend.

The Kids! - Part III

I discovered when I first moved in that Amanda had named some of Peter's toys after my brothers and me. There's a fellow with dark curls for Matt, a bearded pirate that looks amazingly like Mikey. Amanda told me the construction worker girl was me because she has short hair and curly glasses, and the panda represents Amanda because her nickname growing up was "Panda Perfect." I think a side by side comparison with two earlier posts (here and here) will show you how well this works.

Sneak Peek...

... at what my life will be like in two weeks, although you'd have to multiply the students by at least 3 and then tack on three more class periods. I finished my summer practice teaching about a week ago. I'm hoping it's a good indication of what it will really be like because my students were incredibly well-behaved and often engaged. Even though I was teaching an economics course (without ever having taken an economics course), I loved teaching (other than the late night lesson-planning).

But I'm sure the reality check will happen on the first day. I've heard some horror stories and every time I tell people what/where I'm teaching, they get this compassionate look on their face and say either "oh, how brave" or "you're not going to last a month." The other day, I got a woman who said, "I just feel for my white brothers and sisters coming here to teach. Those kids will eat you alive." Can't wait.

NOLA Snapshots

Just a few photos I've taken the past month I've been here. Sadly, only a very few. Hopefully I'll get out more in the coming weeks.

{Sunset from our front porch.}

{The donuts here are delicious! I bought some for my students, and they ate them all up, leaving just one for me to split with the other student teacher.}

{I drive past this every day on my way to school. This photo doesn't do it justice. I might try again later.}

Living with Pete

I've been a pretty successful aunt for over five years now, but I've also been a somewhat distant aunt. First I was in school in Logan and then in Indiana. I got to see Claire regularly for the year I spent in Salt Lake, but now I get to live with my nephew Peter. Right now he's 15 months old. We get to have lots of fun together. A couple of weeks ago, we all drove up to the temple in Baton Rouge. Pete and I played outside while waiting for Mike and Amanda. Amanda already posted some of the photos, but I wanted to show some off here as well.

Someone discovered a nest of little birdies in one of the trees. This was the best picture I could get.

Pete and I like to play ball, read, and race trucks.

But since I've been so busy, most of the time this is what I see of him.

He may look a little sad in that photo, but it's not because of me. Really, he's just sad that he can't play with my computer (the shiny apple and all those buttons are so tantalizing!) or my cell phone (more buttons). It's ok. I know it will take some time, but I'm in the prime position to become the favorite aunt.

Fertile Myrtle

I think I finally identified the beautify flowering tree I see everywhere I go here. From what I can tell after doing a hasty Internet search, it's called a crape myrtle. If anyone knows otherwise, please tell me! I never used to be interested in plants, but now I find myself constantly wondering about these new varieties.

Also, in case you're wondering, this is what the weather report has looked like ever since I moved here.

And yes, it's currently raining (for the first time today) with a background of thunder.

9th Ward

Amanda rightly pointed out that my post about the effects of Katrina didn't accurately reflect it. The pictures weren't really that great. So when I drove out the my school district's office, which is in the lower 9th ward, I snapped a few more photos on the drive.

{All of those posters are for cabinets, carpenters, mold removal, buying houses, etc. They line the entire street. That's an old school building. There is currently only one school open for the entire 9th Ward. It's a small charter school. Most of the kids that live there will have to be bussed all over the city.}

(Please note the street name, Desire. I just read A Streetcar Named Desire for the first time a couple of weeks ago.}

{FEMA trailers}

{Last two photos are buildings across the street from the Recovery School District Office.}

Katrina Revisited

Before Liz left to go back to Indiana, we wanted to drive through some of the damage from Hurricane Katrina, which I'm sure everyone will remember happened in late August of 2005. The tricky thing with New Orleans is that everywhere you drive you see the effects of the hurricane. It's hard to tell what came about because of it and what is the result of years of poverty. But there are certain areas that you can feel very comfortable saying are because of Katrina. The Lower 9th Ward is one of those.

Amanda drove us around. Liz sat in front, so many of my pictures are more of this guy:

than the view outside. I'll be borrowing some of Liz's pictures, including the one at the start of the entry, for this. Bad picture, but this is the tent town under the overpass I drive by every day on my way to school.

The school I work at this summer and will continue in at the fall is in the 7th ward, which is fairly close to the photos I will be posting. I see similar houses with spray-painted X's and boarded windows every day. It's becoming normal.

{Photo by Liz}

We crossed the river and drove around some neighborhoods near Chalmette. The area felt so suburban to me. Rather than the too-close houses of the 9th wards, these were neighborhoods I could relate to more easily. They seemed more in keeping with my childhood, so it was weirder to drive down streets where two out of seven houses actually had someone living in it.

{Note the FEMA trailer in the front yard.}

{Another Liz photo.}

The pictures didn't really turn out, especially because we felt like we had to take them so sneakily. It was embarrassing to be touring the wreckage, even though I know there are commercial ventures that do. The point of it, though, is that people should still be aware of what it's like here. It's been 3 years, but the effects of Katrina are still felt here every day in so many ways. There are reminders everywhere. One of my students was just kicked out of her home because FEMA wasn't making the rent payments. Her family is now split up because they couldn't find a place where they could all live together and she has had to move for the 6th or 7th time in three years. Katrina is the marker for everything here. Was that before or after Katrina? Where were you? How much damage did your house get? People are moving back here all the time, which makes for very uncertain classrooms. Teachers I've talked to say that their school planned for 400 students and ended up with 700. Classrooms had 45 students in them. Many schools are still operating out of modulars because there aren't enough buildings.

I didn't move down here because of a strong sense of social justice like many of my fellow teachers. I moved here because it was a quick way to get my certification and live in a new place. But after being confronted on a daily basis with the needs of students here, I am proud to be a part of people that are trying to do something. The stakes are raised. There's so much that needs to be done to close the achievement gap. And New Orleans is just one city among many.

(I probably should have put a warning at the start of this entry that I was writing it on a soapbox. Rest assured, I've stepped off the box and will return to the fluff. I'll leave off with something adorable and symbolic - you know, the hope of the future and all.)

Huzzah!

Two routers and about 5 hours (one of which was on the phone with the nicest tech guy) later and I finally have Inet access from my very own computer in my very own little room. Unfortunately, the whole experience took up way too much time and now I have about 5 hours of lesson planning (for serious) to get done in two hours.

But it can wait till after I find out who Deanna picks on The Bachelorette.

[update: guess what - it still took 5 hours of lesson planning. Hello 1 in the morning. Haven't seen you for a while. I hope this gets faster. Also (spoilerz!) I can't believe she picked Jesse! He's just too good for her.]

Quick Update

I'm here in NoLa and have been since Saturday. I started the Summer Training Institute last Monday. Let's just say that it has been a very long week, and I can't believe it's only Thursday and I still have another day. But things are going well. I actually start "student teaching" this coming week for a high school English class at summer school. I'm sure it will be the cream of the crop as far as students are concerned, but I'm excited to see how what I've been learning translates to a classroom.

This afternoon at lunch, I drove around town trying to find a cafe, but instead stumbled upon the City Park, a place I had never been. Trees dripping with Spanish moss, camellia bushes, fountains and the loudest thunderstorm I have ever heard made it an ideal spot for lunch. I had to leave when the rain came. In the same manner, I also discovered the house Edgar Degas lived in while in New Orleans. I love exploring the city and finding my way around and making it home.

I don't yet have wireless access to the Internet, so while I have tons and tons of photos from my trip out here and photos from the first couple of days, I have no way to blog about it yet. I'm working on that, so stay tuned.

8 Years Apart

Eight years ago today I left to serve an 18-month mission for my church. The photo on the left was taken the day before I entered the Missionary Training Center. I was a reluctant missionary. I didn't know why I was going, other than I felt compelled by God in a way I can't explain. I was alway uncomfortable proselytizing, but I loved meeting people. I know serving a mission benefited me more than anyone else, although at the time, it was often difficult to see the benefits.

On Tuesday, I leave for New Orleans to take up what I view, in some small way, as another mission. In many ways it's similar. It's challenging and frightening and I'm not always sure I want to do it, but underneath all of that, there is the drive of doing something that I believe will be worthwhile. It's a commitment to a two year period (at least) where I know that often the commitment I am making will be the only thing keeping me in the game. It's recognizing the power of what I will be teaching to change lives. I truly believe in education. I believe in literature as a means to shape and influence life. One of the main differences is that I learned to swear on my mission, and now that I'll be living with Mike and Amanda, I'll probably have to curb that. I guess we all have to make sacrifices.

Inspiration of Late

I keep a number of design blogs on my Reader. I've started paring them down to just the ones that I really like though. Most of the time, design blogs just make me feel less cool and unmotivated. I have a very articulate rant involving theories of photo consumption etc.I can deliver on the subject when the mood strikes me. Fortunately for you, I don't really want to go into all that right now. I just want to share two things I've really loved lately.

First, from The Sartorialist

I don't know what this Jazz-Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island was, but I am so desperately disappointed I didn't get to go.

And second, from swissmiss I learned about an exhibit from the photographer, Andrew Bush, where he took photos of the car next to him. I think I might do that during my drive to New Orleans.

A Real Feel for Fashion

I found this photo while packing up today. It was our 5th grade fun photos where we could bring props or do something else more unique than the regular school photo. You know, to show off our personalities. In my other pose, I am holding my viola, but I guess the fun quality about me that I'm showing off in this photo was my awesome style sense.

Still not as awesome as my 6th grade photo, which included a bronze blazer, lace-cuffed leggings under cut-off jean shorts and the biggest earrings you've ever seen, but I'm digging the pegged white leggings under culottes... yes, that was a culotte jumpsuit.

To redeem myself I'll post another picture that fell out of a book I picked up to loan to Izzy (it was How to Be Good by Nick Hornby, btw, and it's v. good).

I must be about three or four in that picture, and I'm helping to give my little brother a bath. Sorry for the lousy quality on these. Photo of a photo again, I'm afraid. I really have to get my scanner working again.

Summer Evening at the Park

Awhile ago, Kylie and I realized that we didn't have any of those traditional BFF photobooth photos that you're supposed to take all the time from the ages between 13 and 18. You know, when you're hanging out at the mall and stuff like that. I don't know why we never did that because we were definitely at the mall. We decided that it was about time we had some. The only place in Utah that has the old school photobooths are KMarts, so we ventured over to the Draper Big K last Friday for some portraits.

The photobooth has an example of how much fun it can be to take photos with your best friend. See:

Kylie and I took that into consideration, but regretfully, we didn't have a stuffed bear. We had to rely on our faces.

We added Jonathan and Basil in some and then they took a family photobooth portrait.

Afterwards, it was such a delightful evening that we ended up at Draper Park, where the light was just perfect for some self-portraits

We took some photos while lying on the grass. Basil wasn't happy about it.

Then we tried to relive a photo from when we were 16.

It didn't quite work, but I still liked it. Okay, now I really need to get back to packing.

True Princesses Climb Trees

Today Claire turns five. Donner and Blitzen (the reindeers) are her imaginary friends, and Donner is always getting her into trouble. She loves to play any combination of princess (princess and pirate, princess and dragon, princess and puppy, etc.) and will pretend to let you choose your role, but she always comes up with an excuse as to why she should play the princess. I'm worried she might have a bondage fetish when she grows up because she is always tying herself up somewhere and requiring to be rescued. Her shout of "Katie!" whenever I come to visit is one of the best sounds I can hear. She really is a delight.

p.s. She didn't really climb the tree. Mikey put her up there the other day. Probably not the best decision because it was much harder getting her down.

It's Been About a Year...

since I moved back from Indiana. Guess it's time to move again. This time, I'm packing up for the Big Easy. Three weeks from today I'll be driving across Texas and stopping in New Orleans. I got accepted as a fellow in the TeachNOLA program, which is similar to Teach for America but concentrated in New Orleans as it recovers from Hurricane Katrina. I spent a good chunk of my last visit there in April interviewing for the position. I got accepted about three weeks ago on condition that I pass the Praxis II exams. Early Friday morning, I called and paid my $30 (I hate ETS) and got the good news that I passed.

I'll be frank - I'm a little terrified. I know this will be a challenge, but I'm excited to put my knowledge and skills to the test. At least it'll make for new adventures. And I can't wait to live by my sis again, even though it's hard to leave so many loved ones behind.

Memorial Day 2008...

was cold and rainy. We attempted to escape the rain by taking a drive up to Park City. It didn't help. It rained there, too. Claire was starting to feel a little car sick so we stepped outside at the overlook of Echo Reservoir. It was so cold and rainy and windy that we barely lasted long enough for these pictures.

Afterwards, we stopped by the store for all indoor barbecue fixings. I made a London broil, sausage links and corn on the cob. We also cut up a watermelon and topped it off with pie. Claire helped me cook.

Although it felt more like Labor Day, it was still a successful holiday.

Characters for a Story

I'm transcribing several notebooks I found of writing I did when I was in Junior High. Apparently, my love for the words petulant and nonchalant run at least 15 years deep. Tonight, I came across this "outline of principle characters."

Kathryn Hill
a. Looks: dark hair, hazel eyes, crimson lips, rosy cheeks, tall and slender
b. Personality: solitary, wistful, sometimes melancholy
c. Activities: takes long walks alone, studies, writes and plays violin

Marianne Hill
a. Looks: blonde, violet eyes, creamy skin, crimson lips
b. Personality: social, frivolous, outgoing
c. Activities: always going somewhere, parties or any social gathering

Christian Moore
a. Looks: dark brown, unruly hair, light blue eyes and sweetheart lips, tall and dark-skinned
b. Personality: grave, meditative, solitary
c. Activities: walks alone, paints, reads, teaches

I can only imagine the plot for these characters involved some melancholy long walks and complicated love triangles. I'm sure petulant looks and miscommunications based on apparently nonchalant responses ran rampant. But don't worry. I can guarantee everything was wrapped up with an understanding and a kiss. That's how all my stories used to end. Too bad it's not that easy in real life.

Give Me A Happy Ending

I loved The Pirate Move when I was little. Mostly because of this ending scene. I wanted Kristy McNichol's puffy white dress (and all her off-the-shoulder ones in the rest of the movie) so badly. I just watched it with my niece (and brothers) and it's still as good as ever, but this is still the best scene.

For Serious

I know I watch a lot of crap TV (ANTM, The Bachelor - I just love them so!), but So You Think You Can Dance is one reality TV show I'm not ashamed to say I follow. There are some seriously amazing dancers on there. I'm so glad it started last night to fill the void of summer TV.

Birthday Tribute to My BFF

Today is the birthday of my best friend. (Incidentally, it's also my half birthday. She loves it when I remind people of that.) When I was helping my mom move a month or two ago, I found a box of old photos spanning the nearly 17 years of our friendship. That's right - 17 years! Of course we weren't always bff's. We were just neighborhood friends at first, but then we went through junior high together. It's an awkward age.

For all of us.

As we got into high school and eventually passed our driving tests, the whole world was ours. At least, the Salt Lake Valley. We used to go downtown and take photos around Temple Square and feel very urban chic.

Ok, so we were anything but urban chic, but Kylie was always up for adventures.

She invited me on a family trip to Kolob Canyon once, and we went horseback riding.

And she made Pioneer Trek endurable.

But the best was just hanging out in the backyard or in our bedrooms listening to music and laughing.

Some things have changed. We've grown up a lot. Kylie has a beautiful family of her own, but we're still best friends. And always will be. Happy birthday! (And don't hate me for posting such lovely pictures of your youth.)

p.s. Sorry about the poor image quality. My scanner is on the fritz, so I had to take pictures of the pictures with my digital camera.

The Minor League

Last Saturday I went to the Bees game with some friends. We sat on the grass, which was a new place for me. My favorite thing about going to Bees games are just watching the day darken and the lights come on. The sky was particularly lovely on Saturday, even if all the warmth left when the sun went down.

CDs for Sale!

I'm really tired of lugging my CDs across the country and feel the need to simplify my life. As a result, I'm offering up my CDs for sale. You can see the collection for sale by downloading this Word document*. They cost a mere $3.50 each. If shipping is involved, we'll figure out the cost based on the quantity.

Remember as you're perusing the list that I bought some of these a long, long time ago. Email with inquiries or orders at katieelainearmstrong [at] gmail.

Thanks!

*Updated as of the evening of 5/15

Library Rooftop

Last Wednesday, I made good on promise to go back to the library. This time the roof was open. It only makes sense that it would be closed on my first visit when it was a beautiful sunny day and open on a rainy day. The rain just made everything seem greener. I love the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains, but I also really love the foothills.

I've always loved the City County Building, too. Growing up, I thought it was a castle. The only time I remember ever going inside, though, was for a traveling Anne Frank exhibit many years ago. I should revisit the building sometime and see what's inside. Probably a lot of people in suits.

I also went inside and looked at art books for a while. I can't believe how many amazing paintings I missed at the Louvre. Guess I'll have to go back.

People in Order

A friend told me about this. I rather like it. And it has the bonus of reminding me how much there is to look forward to in life still.

p.s. I totally found this on K8's blog.

Photos from Last Week

On Wednesday last week I spent the evening at my mom's. Claire was there, and since it was so fine we went out and took some pictures.

Earlier that day, Claire had found one of my mom's lace valances and immediately saw it for what it really was, a bride's veil. As soon as my mom left the room, she found the scissors and cut it to the appropriate length. I took some other pictures of her wearing the veil and smiling, but I liked this one best. Was there ever a more disheartened bride?

On Friday, I stopped by kristin's house to check out the new addition. Asher is only 3 weeks old and absolutely adorable.

Here he is (in a way) with his cousin, Basil, who happens to be exactly one year and one month older than Asher, which is the same difference between my favorite cousin and me. I hope they have as much fun growing up together.

And with his mom in the background:

More pictures from the weekend to come.

Salt Lake City Library

I stopped by the library after work the other day to study for a test I took on Saturday. It felt comfortable to return to the library in some strange way, but at the same time, recreational. It was a weird mix. I haven't spent much time in the new city library since it was built, but I think I might start going more often. I like all the rows and rows of books, although they kind of make sad. And I was even kind of jealous of this librarian.

I had a great view from my desk on the fourth floor.

It was kind of distracting. Although, I don't know if I'd fare better in this comfortable lounge.

Because I'd probably fall asleep. I could only stay for an hour and a half because I had to get home in time to watch Lost. Luckily, the library will be there another time.

Oh also, Happy Birthday Blog! It's been four long years.

New Orleans: Houses and Parks

Poor Peter had the croup while I was there, so we skipped church on Sunday. Instead, we went for a nice walk around their neighborhood. I blogged about the beautiful houses last time I visited New Orleans. This time, it was even better because the weather was so much nicer. I wore flip-flops and short sleeves. Although, the flip-flops proved difficult because the whole time I was worried about stepping on one of these poisonous caterpillars that are ALL OVER THE SIDEWALKS. Seriously, couldn't Katrina have swept them all away?

When I wasn't gingerly stepping around them, I was able to snap a few photos of some of my favorite houses. I love this window.

I realized as I was going through photos when I got home that this next house is the same house from my last entry. The one that had the sun spots. I guess I really liked it.

Another thing about New Orleans is that there are these huge trees everywhere. The branches (although they seem too thick to call branches) reminded me of dinosaurs. Compare:

The destination of our walk was actually a little circle called Rosa Park. It's full of beautiful houses. Here's just a little glimpse of one.

Ready for the whole thing?

Yeah. Pretty gorgeous. But it's just the first house. Here's another glimpse at one.

And now the whole thing (and its neighboring house):

Every house on the street was beautiful. As we walk around and meet people, Amanda always says hi and tries to start a conversation with them. This doesn't surprise me because I remember going grocery shopping with her and she would start conversations with the people picking out eggs. But I found out that she has a hidden agenda behind the friendliness. She really wants to be friends enough with people that they will invite her into their home and she can see the inside. I'm 100% behind this. Next time, I think we should be more proactive and ask for a glass of water.

On the way home, Amanda pointed out a green lizard.

It took me a while to see it. Even when I was going back through pictures, I had to ask myself why I took that particular one. Did you see it? Maybe this will help.

After a delicious and very successful lunch, we went on a stroll around Audubon Park. Coming from the desert, everything seems so much greener there. I mean, even the water is green.

And not that fake, Chicago River kind of green. As we walked around the path, we came across a section teeming with white egrets and other kinds of birds that I don't know.

Can you see them?

It's kind of tricky. How about now?

Not too far away, though, were creatures of a different kind .

Turtles in a row and yes, an alligator, salivating over those birds. Lets get a closer look.

(This post should be retitled to something like "Upon Closer Inspection" or something. Oh well.)

While Amanda and I looked at the birds, Mike played ball with Peter.

There were also some beautiful flowers in the park.

Peter was tired of riding in his stroller, though, and wanted a chance to do some climbing. So we stopped by Mike's building at Tulane (which is just across the street) so he could climb some stairs.

Then it was time to head home.

Since we watched Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire on Saturday night, we decided to watch the musical version on Sunday before dinner.

I didn't feel like I had taken a lot of photos during my trip, so I was surprised that when I went to download them, I had over 300. Then I found out why. My sister had gotten hold of my camera. I think I mentioned somewhere before that she's the one who taught me the art of the self-portrait.

The night went by too quickly. I had to leave early the next morning. I mean, really early. I left New Orleans just as the sun was rising.

But before I close, I just want to point out two awesome things about the Nicholas home. First, longest hallway ever:

And second, Elvis:

Hopefully, I'll be back again soon.

One Whole Year

My darling nephew, Peter, turned 1 today. Amanda posted a great photo recap of his first year on their blog.

Talk Radio

I know I'm getting old because I tend to listen to talk radio more than my iPod in the car lately. I'm always so pleased when I catch an episode of Fair Game with Faith Salie. During Sundance, I heard she was up in Park City, and I almost ditched out of wherever it was I was going to see if I could find her. She just sounds so charming on the radio. And then every once in a while, I listen to Wiretap with Jonathan Goldstein. I've probably only heard two or three episodes, but I liked it.

I just added Fair Game to my podcast subscription so I won't miss it anymore. Sadly, Wiretap isn't available on podcast (that I found in the 5 minutes I just looked), but you can find clips on their website, linked above.

Another great podcast is the New Yorker Fiction one. Each month, a current fiction writer chooses a story from the New Yorker archives and reads it and talks about it. They're generally about half an hour, which is perfect for commuting. I just wish they updated the podcast more often.

Deep Thoughts

The crows seemed to calling his name, thought Caw

I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks yes, you can talk, but listen to yourself!

If I live in the Wild West days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That was if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like, "Hey look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everyone would get real quiet and ashamed, because they made fun of the soldering iron of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.

I was just reminiscing about Deep Thoughts because this morning while I was drying my hair I read this funny piece by him in The New Yorker.

How I Want to Be Remembered

Commitments

So I'm getting to be that age where if I'm not married I should at least have a couple of cats. And if not cats, I should at least have my own place or something. Maybe some furniture, pots and pans, a canister of flour? I get these cravings to settle down somewhere and have a place of my own. This seems to be especially strong while flipping through any number of magazines like Domino or even the IKEA catalog. When I first moved back to Utah, I would scour the apartments on Craigslist like nothing else and imagine myself in any number of them. Ultimately, I was terrified to commit to a lease. I'm glad because my current living situation has turned out so fantastically (and my job track record much less so).

I've moved many times in my life. I moved to Massachusetts at 18 and then back again. I served in four different areas on my mission, which means four different moves (and in Montana where we moved with cars, we certainly didn't stick to the two suitcase rule). I moved up to Logan and lived in two different apartments there, and then I moved midway across the country to Indiana. While at Purdue I lived in three different apartments. So yeah, I have a lot of experience packing and unpacking, and while it was certainly a nuisance, it was doable.

But I just spent the past three weeks helping my mom get ready to move. I didn't have a real job to go to everyday, so it was pretty much my full time job. Where I was used to moving a room, moving an entire household with 30 years accumulated stuff had my head spinning. And I start thinking about where I am in my life and how maybe it's not so bad that I don't have much to call my own. Even though I often feel like I should have my future more mapped out, the truth of the matter is that I don't. So for right now, I guess I'll stick with what I can move across country in my own little four-door. It's kind of nice to remain uncommitted for the time being.

First Day

I was a little anxious this morning and left for my first day of work much earlier than needed. What did I do with the extra half hour? Parked far away from everyone and took a few pictures while I listened to NPR. It would've been a perfect day for fall, all misty and bare. Too bad it's supposed to be spring.

The first day went well. It's a friendly place, and I like that. Guess I'll be going back again tomorrow.

Seriously?

No sooner did I posit that spring had finally come than we had a day like this yesterday:

{Picture taken from the freeway, which is why it looks so ugly.}

And then this morning, I opened my front door to this:

WTF, Mother Nature?! I know it's Utah and that it normally snows until the end of April, but that's usually a nice, light snow dusting blossom-covered trees. This is still heavy, wet, winter snow. And no blossoms yet. I think I need a different climate.

Happenings

Last night I went to see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I enjoyed the movie, but I LOVED the set design and costuming. It was so glamorous. Plus, it had one of my TV crushes, Lee Pace from Pushing Daisies.

Otherwise, I've been working hard helping my mom get ready to move. This takes place on Tuesday, and I will be so relieved to have it over with. The fun thing about packing up, though, is coming across items from my childhood. For instance, this is a piece of my great grandmother's crystal.

I love this crystal. I loved setting the table for holiday and fancy meals when I was growing up because I could use the crystal and the silver and the table would sparkle. There are only four pieces left, though. Some day, I want to figure out the pattern of the crystal and get my own.

I've also been dog-sitting in what I found out today is the 34th safest city in America! This has also given me access to a wealth of recorded television, so after working hard at my mom's packing up, I come home and watch television that I've always wanted to see but never have. And I've discovered a new TV crush. I'm a little embarrassed to admit who my new TV crush is, though, because it will reveal my nerdy love of TV shows with spaceships. Here he is, Captain Malcolm Reynolds of the spaceship Serenity

Sigh... his wit and bravado make my heart pitter-patter. Too bad like all good TV (um... Veronica Mars, Arrested Development and now, most likely, Friday Night Lights), Firefly didn't last long - only one season.

I think spring has finally come to Salt Lake, despite the fact that it snowed on Thursday and some of the leaves and bushes were iced over.

So the big move is on Tuesday and then I start working here as a copywriter on Wednesday. And that's the haps.

Here Comes the Bride

One of my dear friends, Jenn, got married last Saturday. Many of you may remember Jenn as my roommate at Purdue, the orchestrator of such lavish affairs as pumpkin carving and gingerbread houses. I was there when she first started dating Kyle, so I was so happy to be there for their wedding.

The bridesmaids line up for their big entrance.

And here comes the bride. (Sorry, the video is sideways.)

I somehow made the mistake of cleaning out my purse before I went to the wedding and discarded my tissues, which was a huge mistake, as I found out during the ceremony.

After Kyle and Jenn were made man and wife, we all ate and toasted. Kyle's brother, Kelsey is a very entertaining toaster/storyteller.

Kyle and Jenn (and everyone in the room) were thoroughly engrossed.

The dinner was fantastic. The flowers were lovely.

And the company, more than delightful.

I was so pleased to see Meredith again. She's a big shot now, getting her PhD at UC-Santa Barbara. I'm pretty sure she sits on the beach all day long. It's a far cry from Indiana.

The newlyweds stopped by our table.

I snapped a photo with them.

And then the dancing began.

It really was a joyous occasion, but I couldn't help but feel a little sad. Getting married meant that Jenn would be moving to Galveston. And that meant that our bi-weekly dinners where we talked over everything would be ending. I guess it's for a good cause, though. The happiness of a dear friend. That pretty much trumps everything.

Visitors from the Big Easy

I was sad to leave England. Everything was so green there, the trees were blossoming, there were daffodils... and I had to come home to the blah of Utah, which is in that horrible brown stage when the snow is gone (for the most part) but it hasn't greened up yet. The bright spot in coming home, though, was that my sister and nephew were coming to visit. The real purpose of Amanda's visit was to help my mom get ready to move. I had the arduous task of watching adorable Peter.

Peter will turn one at the end of April. Right now, he's all about cell phones and wouldn't have anything to do with the old cell phone that didn't work anymore. He's pretty clever.

We don't have a lot of real toys at my mom's house. We had to improvise, but Peter liked his box just as well.

Pete's also really into climbing up on things.

He tasted his first fudge bar.

I think he liked it. I couldn't get over how cute Peter is. I mean, look at this:

And these tiny little feet!

Grandma introduced Peter to the keyboard. He liked the drum effects the best.

And one morning, a friend came to play with him.

Basil really liked playing the keyboard. Peter just liked having a friend, and kept wanting to grab Basil.

Peter discovered the real piano just before he left to go back to New Orleans.

The week went by too quickly.

!!!!

This is my 500th post on this blog, which is coming up on its four year anniversary at the end of April. That's four years of music, photos, hair cuts, self-portraits, travels and whatever else this blog is about.

Paris: It Has Buildings

I think one of the basic ironies of life is that when you need your umbrella, you don't have one. I have this really cute umbrella that I got for Christmas. I made sure to bring it with me on my trip because it seemed to reason that in England I might need an umbrella. I hadn't yet had a chance to use it. It had rained, but it happened to rain on the day that we had set aside to rest and upload photos and catch up on the Internet. The umbrella was in the car when Miles dropped us off at the train station for our trip to Paris, so I grabbed it. I carried it around with me all day Monday without need, so when we looked out our beautiful window on Tuesday morning and it didn't look like rain, I left it at the hotel. About an hour into our day, it started to drizzle. A lot of people were prepared for this while we waited in line to visit St. Chapelle, but we weren't.

I'm not sure when St. Chapelle first caught my fancy. I guess it was that first Art History class I ever took, in high school with Cheryl Hughes and I remember a story she told us about how on her first trip to Paris, she only had a few moments at St. Chapelle so she ran inside and was completely disappointed because she didn't realize that all the stained glass was in the upper level. We had seen beautiful churches already on our visit, but they were so large. St. Chapelle has this weird combination of intimacy and grandeur. I guess I'm also just a sucker for stained glass.

Here's the exterior:

And some of the interior:

I loved the floor, and how the light is reflected on it, too.