What you need is a snow "suit"

I am so sick and tired of this dry crappy air! I continued to be shocked when I touch anything, my hair is standing straight out of my head, and my hands hurt like the dickens.

I will work with the cold weather, but not this dry air! (deep breath)

It is hard for me to believe it will ever get warm again. Especially shopping for a new winter coat tonight and seeing all the bathing suits out. Who can even think of trying one of those things on now?

Ughhhhhhhh!!!!!!

What a disappointment!

Bears!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm thrilled, excited, and nervous all at the same time!

I do have to say, after watching many news clips all week of footage from Miami, Chicago has the best fans ever. Tons of fans traveled down there and didn't even have superbowl tickets. I think if I could have gone to Miami, I would have too, just so I could be with all the excitement.

GO BEARS!!!!!!

Hair

I wish I knew the special concoction to make my hair grow longer. I feel like it has been at this length for ages. I have heard the jello idea and the one where you are to massage the scalp for hours, but nothing seems to work.

Any other ideas?

Throw down with Gina G

So how many of you have seen the show "Throw Down with Bobby Flay" on the Food Network?

Last night I was challenged to do a cupcake throw down. There was an 11 year old girl who was having her friends sleepover for her birthday party. The main event of the evening was a cupcake competition, they were going to make a batch of cupcakes and I was going to.

So we introduced ourselves, shook hands, and the battle was on. It was really fun to do this. The girls were so into making theirs the best. The kitchen was a disaster too! After we both had finished baking, cooking, and decorating the cupcakes there were judges there to tally it up.

In the end I think I won. By that time the girls were more interested in learning how to use my pastry bag and make cupcakes look presentable. And of course eating them was on the forefront of everyone's mind.

Good times, good time!!!

Welcome to Miami!!!

HELL YEAH!!!!!! The Bears are in the Supberbowl! This is great. The game today was unbelievable to watch. I loved every second of it, even during that rough end of the 2nd quarter.

Superbowl Sunday is going to be insane. I don't think I can wait for 2 weeks!

And you better believe that my little first graders are going to be partying the week leading up to the Superbowl! Oh yeah!!!

GO BEARS! We are the bears, shufflin' through.......

Da Bears

I am so excited for the Bears! The game this past Sunday was so exciting and nerve racking!

I attempted to get tickets today for the game against the Saints, but had no luck! I hope those players are getting psyched up because I sure am.

When the Bears get to the Superbowl, do you think they will come up with another Superbowl shuffle? What other football team has ever made such a cool song?

Bear down Chicago Bears!!!!!!!!

Monday made me happy

Wahooooo...it's snowing!

I had the day off and enjoyed some good shopping.

24 started and wow was it amazing, shocking, intense, and I can't wait for next week.

And "The Hills" started again.

Some highlights of my weekend:
-after spending Saturday at my brother's bb tournament, they walked away with the trophey

-a new cell phone

-a totally yummy dessert party I helped throw and attend

-time to relax and enjoy life

Recap of 1st week

I loved every bit of this week! Teaching was so fun and the kids were great!

My hip hop class started. I was so lost, uncoordinated, a bit behind, but the class is a blast and I can't wait for next weeks.

The Bulls game was enjoyable to go to as always, it just seemed like the Bulls weren't playing up to their abilities. And what was up with all the Elvis impersonators, the girl Elvis weirded me out the most!

Laughter: I was reviewing compound words with the students. I would give them clues like: I am an old woman, I have children who have children, I may live in a nursing home...who am I. As I was waiting to hear grandmother, one kid shouts out "old lady, that is what my dad calls my mom" as he chuckles. As I burst out laughing with the other kids, this made me a bit sad too, but I still found it funny.

A big THANK YOU!

My first day of teaching went great and boy did it fly by. The kids were wonderful, they were happy to see me and were super helpful. I am looking forward to really getting to know each one of them and just showering them with love.

I was overwhelmed and so thankful for all of you who called, e-mailed, sent cards, or thought about me today. I felt so blessed and cared for, so thanks again. You guys rock!!!!!

The Day is Finally Here...

Tomorrow I begin teaching. Wahooo! This is very exciting and yet a little nerve racking. On one hand the kids are going to be great and I can already picture some blog entries retelling funny stories or funny things these 1st graders said. Yet on the other hand these first few days will be a little bumpy just getting adjusted to the curriculum, routine, and the kids, and then hopefully I will be on my way.

Watch out education world, cuz here I come!!!!

New Years Resolutions

I am not big on resolutions. I like the whole idea of a new year, a fresh beginning, and new experiences.

So my list is not one of resolutions but of some of the things I want to do or accomplish. Some of these are based on what I didn't do in 2006 that I should have.

-go on a mission trip
-take a hip hop class
-make a new friend
-decide if teaching is where I need to be
-go on a vacation
-be more consistent with working out
-purchase more music for my ipod
-attend a concert
-communicate my feelings better
-try new restaurants

That is all for now, I am sure I will add a few more as the year goes on.

Poverty or excess

Lately I have been constantly reminded of how much "stuff" I have and this country has. As I made 15 different things for Christmas I couldn't help but think of people who don't even have Christmas dinner or are only preparing one thing for dinner. I had so many different battling thoughts running through my head while cooking like, well it is Christmas, this is what we do, but then I would feel bad that we got to enjoy all of this wonderful food and then had leftovers for days when I am aware that others have nothing.

As someone who enjoys going on short term mission trips I like to be aware of what is going on in other places and be reminded of how extremely blessed I am to have what I do. What I am struggling with is finding how to deal with these thoughts.

An example:

I dream of the day where I can design my own kitchen with 2 ovens and a great stove, and a warming drawer... As I think of that I begin to feel guilty because there have been families that I have served (in other countries) that don't even have an oven, a sink, or a bed....I want to help others, but at the same time I don't think I need to feel guilty for being able to have things.

P.S. I would really like to go on a short mission trip this summer, anyone know of any?

Merry Christmas!

I am so sad that the Christmas season is going by so fast again! And where is the snow?

I hope that you all have a wonderful time celebrating this season with your family and friends.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

If you like chocolate...

You must try the new Hershey kisses that are out. (I am not a huge fan of the milk chocolate kisses, because I think there is better chocolate out there.) BUT, Hershey's holiday flavors rock! The two that I really enjoy are mint flavored and peppermint. The mint is a chocolate kiss with a mint flavoring. Peppermint consists of white chocolate with bits of candy cane dispersed through out. Yummy.

New Hobby?

I don't think so. Today was my mother's birthday. I decided a few months back to do something extra special for her birthday gift. I came up with idea of doing a scrapbook of our Disney trip this past summer. I haven't done one of these books in about 13 years.

I totally forgot what a BIG job this was. The time and energy that went into it was amazing.

As I would go to stores and work on the book, I was amazed at the beautiful pages people would make and just the whole creative aspect was fun.

Despite all the work, the book came out great and my mother was so appreciative of it!!! This made it all worth while.

Do you ever do something and think no one will understand or see what you do or how much time you put into something to make that work? Well this was the feeling I had with this book, but I was wrong. My mom recognized the time, energy, money... and that made me so happy and the fact that she couldn't get over it made me even more excited.

But, it will probably be another 13 years before I do another one. :)

G's thoughts on the Bears

I love that there were SO many Bears fans in St. Louis!

Hester is a maniac.

Why is Charles Tillman called Peanut?

I am so sick and tired of all the talk about Rex Grossman. The poor guy! I know he needs to step it up, but that is all that is talked about, oh and the 3 or 4 pro-bowlers who weren't able to play tonight. My gosh, give Grossman some encouragement, tips, ideas...You could see the fear all over him tonight. And now all I have to say is we got our "Rexy Back"!!!!

Crazy upsets this week in football, wow!

Look out playoffs here come the Bears.

And how great that part of Christmas Eve will be celebrated with football. Oh yeah!

"The Holiday"

So I LOVED this movie!!! I will not give anything away, but I will say that I think I liked it so much was because I could relate to a few of the parts. I want to see it again and I do have to say Jack Black actually pulled off a serious role. Wow!

A motto (in reference to men) that I have learned at times, I take from the Rolling Stones, "You Can't Always Get What You Want"!

So ridiculous!

I watch the food network from time to time. It helps me keep up on my culinary skills, get ideas, and get excited about cooking. Every once in a while I would watch Rachel Ray, but I was usually annoyed by her. She now has a talk show on and I have seen it a handful of times. I can't quite figure it out. Sometimes it intrigues me and other times I just turn it off. One of the things I get annoyed by is her always saying "EVOO", which stands for extra virgin olive oil. She says it over and over and over. Today on her talk show, it was announced that "EVOO" is now going in the Oxford Dictionary. What? Can I start making up words and abbreviations and get them in there too? Ugh!

Da Bulls

I attended my first Bulls game this year with Amy. When we walked into the United Center, the crowd was already extremely pumped and really ready to go. It made me even that more excited to be there and ready to cheer on the Bulls. This subtle observation reminded me of how much our attitudes can affect other people.

In case you missed the game, the Bulls were on fire! Nocioni and Gordon were scoring machines! I really enjoyed their warm up mix, how can I get that?!