A Worthy (and fun!!!) Cause

As my dear (albeit few) readers know... I have been able to travel these past two summers to Sierra Leone. As much as it pains me not to go this year, I am preparing to get some full-time summer work to help get Eric and I on the path to both be able to return in the summer of 2011. (More on this later.)

This year though, a team is returning (with a small portion of their bags reserved for letters and pictures for all my dear friends there), and they are in the process of helping raise funds for their trip.

A silent auction is once again being held... and this time the website is amazing! (Think ebay-esque.)

Check it out here:
http://www.idonatetocharity.org/store/auction4africa/

They have all sorts of items for bid- gift cards marked at a price below their value, services such as babysitting, massages, and yoga sessions, and beautiful Salone batiks and pictures and "experiences" for sale. They are willing to mail small items (i.e. gift cards). So take a minute and check it out, whether you're looking for a good deal or a good cause to support. The auction closes on March 7th at 9:00 p.m. MST.

Thanks!

Date as Old as Time

Well not really... but it was a lot of fun! Eric and I ventured out on a sleety Friday night to go downtown to see Denver Ballet's Beauty and the Beast. It was Eric's first ballet and my third, and though we disagreed on whether a ballet or symphony is more enjoyable, we both had a good time. It was good to finally get to see a production of my favorite story ever it. We even scorned the weather to dress cute, but unfortunately we have become terrible picture takers and so we don't have any evidence to prove we were there. We then went out to this fun brewery for a late, late dinner... so late in fact that we fed a meter we didn't have to. At least my lovely city got some free money I guess. If you live in Denver or are visiting, I would definitely recommend the ballet as a lovely experience.

Love, Marriage, and Cleaning Wedding Rings

Happy "the day after" Valentine's Day. I hope you've felt love today as well. To celebrate and enjoy the day together, Eric and I made some yummy cheese fondue. Cheese with green apples is definitely my favorite! Since love has been in the air, I thought I'd throw out a request for help. Living in Denver, my wedding ring has taken a beating through all the constant applications of hand lotion. I try to take it off, but that also can be unfortunate (i.e. last February).

So here's my request! How do you keep your engagement/wedding ring clean! Any at home solutions that work well???

Thanks :) And now I'll make you hungry...

If You'll Pardon Me a Teacher Post

You do have to admit. They are less in number. Thank the fact that I am becoming a boring 5th year teacher.

So due to this phenomenon; the fact that I love teaching reading and could never learn enough; and that my principal and director graciously allowed me to go glean some new information, I headed down to the DTC to attend this reading conference.

It was a wonderful breath of fresh air. You could hear the reading jargon in the background noise, the happy buzz of teachers who wanted to be attending these meetings (getting a couple of classroom days off probably didn't hurt), and the reading ideas flowing continually.

The conference gave me some good new/old ideas to think and try on in the classroom. And it gave me an opportunity to reflect on the joys of why I became a teacher, which ironically enough don't involve politics or bureaucracy.

My mini-vacation over, I will return tomorrow grasping tightly this joy as well as my new ideas!

Flying Like a Crow!

Tonight I did this! As I came down out of this pose, I think I was smiling from ear to ear! For all you strong and flexible people out there, pretend to be impressed. However, when I started yoga I was the antithesis to both of those things. Strength I had none, and flexibility, well I groaned about stretching after a long run. I felt that yoga was a weak excuse for exercise and felt time was better spent seeing how many calories I could get the elliptical machine to tell me I had burned in an hour. In Greenville that all changed (ah Greenville), and I joined yoga at the Y. My instructor, Jeanie, was an amazing first yogi to learn from. At the beginning of every class, she would repeat this mantra which is also the reason I love yoga... you are not in competition with the person next to you, you are not even in competition with yourself. It was a good thing to, because when I began, balance was out and that crow's pose above- unthinkable. Though the yoga I am now able to afford is much more mass-produced (apparently the lack of a large number of yogis in Greenville kept the price down!), I still enjoy the challenging yet relaxing nature of it all. And so today, after almost 3 years, on a day I forced myself to go to class and not home... I did it. I was flying high... for about 5 - 7 seconds. Namaste!

"Real" Ice-Skating

On a frozen pond.

Yep. It was really that cool (pun intended).

We joined Carissa and a visiting (new) friend in Evergreen for some icey fun! It was really crazy to look down and see the layers of frozen ice. On one curve, I was frequently pushed along by solely the wind! Eric held my hand @ first because I was nervous he loves me. Then I released him to go do some daredevil tricks with Al. It was a great new memory day- all you children of the North, I am no longer as jealous. On to igloos!

It's Like Rain (or Snow) on Your Wedding Day

Eric and I have been blessed with many incredible friends. For this post, though, I will focus in on one special group of people that I have been blessed to know for 8 years now. We became friends freshman year at John Brown, and have gone from group activities involving 40 people to adding in a few spouses over the years. While we are a group of guys and gals, single and married, living state bound and overseas, in school and out... our friendship has been a constant. And for that Eric and I feel very blessed. With the wedding of friends Allie and (now!) Matthew, I thought I'd reflect on some of our weddings over the past few years....

The weddings all started with Alan and Susan's on a very rainy day in March. It may have been ironic, but it sure wasn't bad luck, especially because it didn't allow us to decorate up their car...


Our turn came next... Eric and I married on a very sunny, humid day in June. Though we did score the first engagement on an elaborately schemed camping trip...



Three weeks later Paul and Bethany followed suit with only one minor casualty on the dance floor involving Jason...

About a year later, two of the crazy tiki torchers above got hitched. Julie and Chase married in April, but there were no more showers.

It started with rain, and (for now) it's ended with snow. Allie and Matthew married a couple weeks ago, and Jason got to show off his snow shoveling skills. Eric now has a buddy that's also married into the friend group and who also happens to be a Texan. Megs even flew over the International Date Line to make it.