March 31

Check out my new pixels
Maybe you haven't noticed. Maybe you're new. And, I mean... I don't mean to brag or anything, but HOW RAD DOES MY NEWLY DESIGNED PAGE LOOK?????!!!!!! Long story short, a friend of a friend hooked me up with her mad art skills and rocked out this new design with little-to-no input from me (because I honestly had no idea what I wanted). Thanks to Christa, who apparently went to the school I currently teach at, for rocking out this new design (and so quickly!). I'm super excited to visit me now!

(And because I try and post a picture a day, here's a picture of the awesomeness of this newly designed blog.)

March 30

So fresh and so clean, clean
Ok, I know I've posted something like this before, but this view never gets old to me. It's finally clearing up and becoming a bit warmer (for a Cali girl, this means, from 50s and 60s to 70s and 80s) and I'm enjoying the blue California sky! And those mountains are gorgeous!!  Siiigh.... I love where I live.

March 29

She's only 11 (no picture today)
I have this student in my class who is an amazing writer. Her passion is writing and you can tell she does it in her free time. I have spoken with her parents about her craft and urge them to have her enter something in a contest. They tell me she's writing a book. I'm excited for that.

So for my class jobs, I have students write "job applications." I make it pretty open ended, asking only for 3 things:
1. Their name
2. The job they are hoping to get
3. Why they think I should hire them

I usually get standard "applications." Most look like they were created the night before or the morning that I remind them that applications are due. Some have done some pretty cool computer generated stuff. Some have definitely won me over with humor. Some have even gotten letters of recommendations. This year, however, the job application that I got from my writer was as follows:

“Please Stand?”

“Amanda!” I heard her voice cut through the air like a gentle knife, holding up the envelope. I’m so used to seeing it. Still, it may never get old.
Standing up, I take the attendance from her hands, and readily leave Room 16 for my short, yet important, trip to the school’s office.
“Thank you!” the ladies in the small office tell me happily. I nod and turn to leave, a glow I’ve become accustomed to on my face and in my heart.
I make my way back to the classroom. Opening the door, I’m prepared for the next part: leading the class in something that’s been stapled to my mind my whole life.
After looking around, I open my mouth to speak… but nothing leaves my pursed lips. I couldn’t understand. I had done this before, lots of times. What was the difference now?
I looked around again. Then, I found it. Like a stop sign on an empty road. The eyes. I had waited too long. They stared. Hard.
I became uncomfortable, felt useless. I was getting cruel faces, even from the least expected to hurt feelings. Dead now, I give it another try, effort cutting edge.
“Please stand!” I say, thankful. The looks soften, but, not to be outshone in the pride war, their tone remains slightly rude. It was okay now, though. I got through it. Doesn’t that give me something to show for?
The next day: uneventful. No slack jaws, no meanness, no freezing up. Things run smooth. It makes me grateful for my job.
“Please stand! Right hand over your heart!” I hear myself say, getting silently obeyed by my fellow Room 16ers. Then I lead the Pledge. I love my job, deserve it, am good at it. I get a little nervous sometimes, but it’s rare, and I get through it all.
I can see it now.

March 28

I am Richard. So suck it.
Sometimes I like to go to piercing/tattoo shops and on a whim, get stuff done. This time, if I regret it in 5 years, at least I can take it out.

March 27

I wasn't even winded
A few friends signed up to do a 5K at Angels Stadium awhile back. I've done a few 5ks and I never run all of them. Who am I kidding, I walk 95% of them. But this one was different. I started out running and before I knew it, I was at the mile 1 marker. Then the mile 2 marker. I felt great so I kept on running. Turns out I can run 3.1 miles without stopping (and carry on a conversation, thankyouverymuch!).

Thanks be to CrossFit!

March 26

Friends rule
And so do cookies. Especially when they're made by a friend after eating pizza and hanging out, doing nothing but watching TV and playing some good ol' Word With Friends on our phones.

March 25

Payback is hilarious
I didn't even mean to throw the corn in his drink. It was on the table and I tossed it over the happy hour menu to the plates ready to be taken away. However, the corn banked off the menu and landed in his not-finished beer.

I thought it was hilarious. So much so that I put my head down because I was laughing so hard. Which is when he threw the french fry in my drink.

I promise it was funny if you were there...

March 24

Definitely beautiful. Definitely beautiful.
I've watched this about 10 times since it was shared with me last week. It gets me fired up every time.

March 23

Wait, how?
So this friggin duck is haunting me. No lie.

After a long debate over whether or not this duck should be part of a rear view mirror display in a friend's car, it was thrown at me out of said friend's car window as she drove away. I left the duck on the ground outside of my garage that fateful evening.

Two weeks later? I notice that the duck is hanging from a nail in my garage. The friend did not put it there.

It's mocking me with its little duck wing, waving.

March 22

I'm sorry, what?
Spelling test from a student in my class. Pretty sure both can be used as a verb.

March 21

This is how we R-O-L-E
Some people may think we're crazy. Some may think it's cultish. But seriously, CrossFit is the best thing I've ever done for myself. When I was younger, soccer was what got me excited about exercising. After high school, there really wasn't anything that got me motivated to work out. Sure, I went to the gym periodically and played on an adult soccer team, but the workouts were never enough.

And then a CrossFit gym opened up near me. I had done a workout once or twice a year or so prior and I knew it was going to be what got the job done (i.e., help me get my late 20-something body back into 18-year old shape), but the gym I tried out was too far from me and I just wasn't ready to spend the time and money going.

But now it's become who I am. I have done things I have never thought I could do (pull-ups) and pushed my body farther than I have in a really long time. And I love every second of it. Even when I'm crying because I am being too hard on myself.

The picture below is of a then 14-year old CrossFitter named Kallista Pappas. She competed in the 2008 CrossFit games (kind of an Olympics for CrossFitters). During her workout (below), she  lost her balance on a lift and dropped the bar on herself. After shaking it off, she completed the workout. This picture is after her drop. You can see the pure heart, pain, and intensity of her workout. THIS is what CrossFit is to me. It not only makes me strong physically, but mentally and emotionally. 

March 20

Trapped in!!!
The weekend getaway was fun, even though it almost turned into a three- or four-day getaway. The rangers were not letting trucks and trailers cross the overflowed creek this afternoon, as we were packing up and getting ready to head out. Thank goodness one of the kind rangers took me and my friend out on the backroad that they were only allowing vehicles with 4WD and no trailers to drive through. Our camping pals are still stuck there. Not sure when it will clear up.

March 19

Campfire = awesomeness
Especially when it's windy and wet outside. For the record, I WILL stand in the rain for a warm campfire, especially if I have a waterproof jacket on that I otherwise use for snowboarding.

March 18

Doin the Dunes
Never been to Pismo Beach. Got an invite from a pretty cool guy so I thought I'd take him up on some beach camping, trailer style. Here was part of our awesome playlist on the roadtrip up.

Tippin a 40, Nate to the D-O-double G. RIP.

March 17

Why does this excite me??
I need this book.
Have to have it.
Going to buy it, in fact.
Road trip, anyone??

March 16

Being a baby
So it's hard to function with hands that have open wounds on them. It's hard to wash your hands, wash your hair, put lotion on, anything that involves the use of full hand, really... And to top it off, I'm a pretty big baby so it's twice as crappy. So for the first 24 hours, I basically had to have them covered. Which looked somewhat like this:

The large red mark on my wrist was the rubber band that I had to double over so that water wouldn't get inside of the gloves I had to use to shower.

Yeah, I know...

March 15

Ripped
I do my best not to push myself to injuries in CrossFit. But sometimes, I don't realize it until it's too late. One of the workouts this week involved doing as many rounds of pullups as possible, as follows: minute 1 = 1 pullup, minute 2 = 2 pullups, minute 3 = 3 pullups, etc., for 20 minutes. By minute 9, I finished the 9 pullups and looked at my hands, only to see that I had ripped them. One of my trainers quickly came to the rescue with tape, but it's hard to grip the pullup bar with tape on your hands. So I finished off with round 10 and went to the next exercise. I'm pretty happy with the 56 pulllups total, but ripping your hands is the WORST.

 

The skin I cut off. 

March 14

Hot-tays
We sure are two sexy biotches. Here's the regular picture that we have to take together when we hang out.

March 13

BFF
I was lucky enough to have my bestie stay with me when she was in town for a bridal shower. Here's how the night started out. The two on the right were mine.

March 12

Disneyland exit
I'll wrap up with these few pictures. Seriously, I love these girls.

March 11

Birthday Cheeks
Happy birthday, my lovable little Cheeks!

March 10

Love, part 2
The look on her face says it all.

March 9

Love
My niece's birthday was last week. She turned 5, which I'm still having difficulties believing. We went to Disneyland to celebrate and here's the birthday girl, all dolled up with her princess shirt and the bow from the gift her rad aunt gave her.

March 8

Duh
I have been slackin. Again. So instead of making excuses, I'm just going post a plethora of pictures that I've taken within the last week+ so that I get you all caught up on my awesomeness.

Here's the first:

Saw it. Loved it. Posted it. The end.

March 7

We're getting old
Happy birthday to my rad older brother. It makes me step back when I realize that he's 35 today. It was just yesterday that he was 18 and graduating from high school and I was 15. Where did the time go???

Couldn't have been stuck with a cooler brother. To add to his impeccable resume is that fact that he's a fabulous dad to two of my favorite people. 

March 6

Grandpa and his baby
I love the relationships that my dad has with my nieces. He was/is their daycare for 2 days a week and has been doing it since they were infants. You can see how close he is to both of them, especially Baby Cheeks. She will go to him more often than not when it's a room full of the immediate family.

In this picture, she's getting some birthday cake. She doesn't go to anyone else for cake, except my dad. So cute.

March 5

Delicious dinner
No pictures taken today, though not for lack of a busy day. This one's from last week's Laughlin trip, where one of the winners bought us a delicious dinner, complete with appetizers, 3 bottles of wine, and dessert. Oh, and bread. Mmmmm.... breeeeeaaaaad.....

March 4

A guy, 2 girls, and a lesbian
Yup, that's the name of my new bowling team.
Week 1: 124 high score.

March 3

Happy birthday!! (yesterday)
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Suess

My 6th grade team.

March 2

Assholes
Because I refuse to focus on the negative, this post will not be about how unfairly education is treated in this economy. That is all.

On a lighter note about education, anyone who knows me, knows that that English teacher could so easily be me.

March 1

Month 3
New rules. I've learned that taking a picture each day is not as easy as it seems. Number 1, I forget. Number 2, there's not always awesome things to take pictures of or I miss the opportunity. So here's my decision: I will continue to post daily pictures, but they may or may not be from that day and they may or may not be a picture that I've taken. So there. It's my blog and I can do what I want.

Now on to the picture:

This was actually in one of those machines in one of the bathrooms of the bowling alley in Laughlin. And one of the people I was with may or may not have taken this "Chinese Herbal." The bad news: It didn't work. The good news: He is still alive.

February 28

I might die
Back to the grind. Not sure all of the following will help me get back to the gym easily.

Don't judge me.

February 27

Best breakfast in all of the land
Seriously though, I don't think I've ever had a better breakfast. So amazing. Thank you, Laughlin, for your smokey casinos, trashy people, and wonderful breakfast establishments.

February 26

Winna winna!!
All I can say is that I left for Laughlin being the cheerleader for a bowling team who was in last place and I came home being a cheerleader for a bowling team who came in first place and won over $1000 . No joke. My friends rule.

February 25

Aaaaand we're off!!
Weekend trip to Laughlin with some friends = awesome. Apparently I was the only one in the back who was awake. And apparently the Rock Star in his crotch didn't work.

February 24

Forever 21?
Yeah, yeah... I'll never be "forever 21," but I can still shop there (for the most part). And I will until either A) I don't fit into the clothes (please god, no) or B) I look like I'm trying to be 21.

Does this mannequin freak anyone else out, or is it just me?