School Year

Here are a few photos of my classroom this year. I can't put any photos of my students, unfortunately, because they are so cute, but the law's the law. So here is my classroom (October) after school. Skeletons we made for el Dia de los Muertos
Altar we made for el Dia de los Muertos
From another angle

Up to Now

It's been a long time since I last posted, and there is definitley lots to catch up on. First of all, Levi and I are loving celebrating with all our friends and looking ahead to a lifetime together. It's all so exciting, and fun to think about what kind of China pattern will best suit us in 50 years! Ha! In a lot of ways the decisions we seem to have to make seem so silly, but at the same time it's a great way to have a lot of conversations about the life we see living. It's also really fun to find out what kinds of things Levi really has a strong opinion about, like that the forks must be smooth and have long tines. I had no idea, but he really cares about this. So that's something to consider when registering. There is so much to think about; with every decision comes ten more, so every day brings with it a whole list of things to do.

Which brings me to my other point, I am not working anymore. I was officially laid off a couple of weeks ago due to a lack of funding, so I am living the life of luxury (if you define that as planing a wedding, trying to make ends meet on unemployment and looking for jobs and writing cover letters and resumes every day living the life of luxury!) and meeting up with friends who I normally never have time to see. It's a fantastic move. I had been really unhappy at that job for a long time, and hoping to move for a while. The bummer is that I didn't have something lined up when I left, but the timing was alright as it allows me to get a lot of planning done and at least I'm not there anymore! Many of you have heard my horror stories, but it really got to be too much when during my last days at the office they asked, more than once, for me to clean the office and get it ready for the next season, while they took vacation to decompress after the hectic camp season. Riiight. For more details, ask me in person! I will bore you to tears with story after story of absolutely shockingly poor management.

And other than that I am bracing myself for Ian's departure to Melbourne, where he will be in business school for the next couple of years. I am so bummed, I really like having him around! I think he's is relieved to not have to be part of the wedding planning, but in actuality my goal is to be a totally easy bride. I have been quick to make decisions and easy to deal with so far, so think I'm doing well up to this point. At least as far as I'm concerned. Levi might have a different opinion...??

The Date

July 26, 2008!

Engaged!

Weekend

These past few weeks have been chock full o' stuff goin' on. Becuase things had been getting so busy I decided we needed a weekend away so we headed up to healdsburg, one of our favorite destinations. We stayed at the L and M Motel, one of the very few places that doesn't demand a two night stay, and had a really fun afternoon wine tasting. Unfortunately we tried to go to Healdsburg Charcuterie which we love, and when we walked in the door at 3:35 we were curtly told that the kitchen closed at 3:30 so we couldn't be seated. Without even a sincere apology we promptly headed out to another restaurant with a promise that that would surely go on yelp. We went to the Bar and Grill which was OK, then to La Crema which not only has a great staff full of really friendly people, but they also have great wine. So we joined their wine club and were invited to their exculsive barbacue-ah the perks of being "in" with Annette the wine girl!

We then went to try Williamson wines which were pretty good, we bought a Cuvee, and then Sunce, of course, whose wine we LOVE. Unfortunately they only have a waitlist for their wine club-but get this. We asked and the guy just put us on the list right away! So we are now members at both La Crema and Sunce. Yess! Those are, to us, the very best wines up there. I'm so excited. Next weekend we are going to be taing care of my friend Katie's dog Roxy up in Santa Rosa, like another mini vacation! Should be super fun!

Kory's Visit

Cheese And Beer

Wow. Last night was SO much fun. For Father's Day Ian and I took Mom and Dad and ourselves and Levi to the Cheese School of San Francisco (http://www.cheeseschoolsf.com/) where for two hours we sampled some delicious artisan cheese and beer made locally in Northern California. Our instructor Sheana was a great teacher who had selected a bunch of varieties of cheese, from goat cheese to sheep's milk to cheddar and blue. The beers we tried were from five different breweries and I think hands down the Damnation was the favorite, though the Breakout Stout did have a way of pulling out the nuttiness of some of the cheeses that many of our fellow classgoers truly appreciated.

There were about 20 different people in there, all dutifully tasting and taking notes while we chowed through our cheeses with a bunch of bread, olives, nuts, dries cranberries, and fresh apples, strawberries and apricots. It was a really wonderful evening. We'll be back!