No AC

Normally the problem of no AC wouldn't really be a problem in Eugene like it would be in NC. However, no AC becomes a problem when the Northwest experiences an unprecedented heat wave with temps nearing 100 degrees.

When you have no AC you start to learn the ropes of keeping the house somewhat cool. Things like opening the windows at night but definitely not during the day, not cooking very much, closing the blinds, and not turning on any lights. I must admit this has taught me a few things, most notably, how to appreciate a dark house and how sweating in your house is quite different than sweating outside during a run or even in the hot room doing yoga.

I've grown accustomed to this view

Cool spot

WA

We weekend tripped to Olympia, WA to see Bekah and James/Morrison for a little over-nighter at the Foster-Keddie family compound and Marina.

Nice time.

Bekah!

June 13th is a very special day because it is the day that my very special sister, Bekah was born. 

She is kind, compassionate, selfless, afraid of flying, hilarious, and a damn good writer. She's the oldest sister. The sister of reason and right. She is the successful sister. The sister who knows exactly what she wants, works hard every day for it, and gets it. What an inspiration!

I'm so lucky I get to call her my sister. 

Happy Birthday, Beeeeekah!

A grid for the woman who taught me about grids. Grids!

15 years?!

I graduated high school 15 years ago today. 

Does that make me old?

I need it!

I day-dreamed that I had a pineapple dress. And now I totally need one. So, instead of grading my EDST 464 finals, I'm googling pineapple dresses.

Are you my pineapple dress?

Maybe it's you, classy picnic dress...

Maybe it's a pineapple romper

Or the subtle pineapple approach

Or maybe the not so subtle pineapple approach...

Rewards of Teaching

Teaching is hard, especially when you're teaching 86 seniors the last term of their senior year. They stare at you, get on their phones during class, try to get out of doing their work, and other seniory things that I can't really get mad about because I did them all myself when I was a senior.

However, one of greatest rewards of teaching is seeing your students present exemplar work or having a student say "Thank you, I learned so much from your class". On my last day of class this Thursday I got to experience both of these rewards.

For our final project for Multicultural Literacy, I gave the students a choice between writing a 10-page paper or writing their own Multicultural Children's book.  I got a lot of really cool books and some well-written papers (along with some half-assed papers as well), but this book below really takes the cake. It's the story of my student's father, a Japsnese-American who was afraid to eat his lunch on the Boy Scout trips he went on when he was younger because it was different from the other lunches. 

The cover. Notice these individually cut out, collage-style illustrations

Notice the detail on the rolled brown paper bag lunches

We all have these thoughts sometimes.

I love how she captured the emotion in these faces.

This isn't the whole book, but I just wanted to share a few pages of this adorable and moving story about being different. I'd like to think that my stellar teaching had a small hand in its creation.

The Wine

When Jason and I got engaged our friend Mike, who we refer to as "Mike's Pick's" for his wine picking ability and wine knowledge, gave us a bottle of wine from 2005 (the year we got together) and instructed us to hold on to until 2015 when we had our 10 year date-a-versary.  For the past 7 years, we have carted this bottle of wine with us through several moves, across the country and back and back again.  And finally, the time has come to open it!

Last night for our 10 year date-a-verary we opened the wine and drank it. The whole bottle.

We thought it was good, but we also couldn't  tell if it was corked or not.  We think it was a relatively nice bottle of wine, but our limited wine knowledge left us wondering "is this good?" ,"is it bad?", "Is it corked?", "what kind of wine is this?", "am I tasking minerals and berries or rotten vines?".

Regardless of whether we knew if we liked the wine or not, we had a great time with this bottle for sentimental reasons. Not to mention how nice it feels not to have to worry about babying that bottle anymore. We're free!

We open it. Wonder, "is it corked?"

Those silver markers last a while...

Wine label 

Taste

Taste

10 years together

Today is mine and Jason's 10 year anniversary of being together. It's pretty crazy to think:

1) We've been together for 10 years!

2) 10 years has passed since that?!?

3) How did 10 years already go by?!?

4) Are we old?!?

In any case, despite the wonder at the passing of time and our desire to stay forever young, I can't imagine any 10 year span without my Jason.

I love you.

And to show it I made a grid with 10 frames, one for each year. Just think how tiny the pictures will be when we reach 20 years, 30, 40, 50...can one even fit that many pictures in a grid?!?