Saturday, March 30, 2013

Friday, March 29, 2013

Run Away!

After 11 sequential nights in my own bed (!!!), I'm off to San Diego for an Easter weekend with the family. Jenn's got to work and Ben and Jack are visiting the Masons in Maine, so we're traveling old school style, Waterhouse Classic.


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Totally Mainstream

The front office knows that when I get packages at school they're usually full of props or scripts or fake blood that I'm eagerly awaiting, so they send them immediately up to my classroom.  During the musical season, though, I also send my personal packages to my school address since that's where I am 90% of the time.  Thus my 4th period Drama 1 class was mid-Check In last month when a student aide brought me a box.

"Ooh, what's that?" my students asked.  "Is that stuff for us?"

I checked the label.  "Nope!" I declared.  "It's my sample glasses!"

"What?"  They were confused.

"It's a bunch of frames for me to try on for my new glasses," I explained.

"Are they hipster glasses?" Dylan asked.  "Don't get hipster glasses."

"Oh, Dylan," I said.  "They're based on vintage designs.  The company's name is Warby Parker.  They give a free pair to someone in need with every pair purchased," I held up the sample box full of tortoise-shelled frames.  "These are about as hipster as I can get."

Dylan rolled his eyes while I poked through my new options.  Two trial boxes later, I wound up with the Wilkie in Sugar Maple which, happily, arrived today all prescriptified!

 

To be fair to Dylan, though, I completely acknowledge this:


(which you can also watch here, since the embedding might be finicky.  It's the first minute of the episode.)

And also this:

Monday, March 25, 2013

It's Alarming

The last thing I did before going to bed last Monday after getting back from DC was this:



Isn't that a beautiful sight?

The last thing I did before going to sleep last night, at the end of my break, was reset my morning alarms:



If you're wondering, they are in order:  1st wakeup, 2nd wakeup, 10 minutes before I need to leave, and the end of 1st period (which is in the auditorium which doesn't have bells).

On a happier note, after school today I worked on cutting a script, ran to the grocery store, cleaned my car, exercised, made dinner, finished a sewing project, and downloaded a series of videos for my classes tomorrow.  And look!  It's not even 9:00 yet.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Spring Break

It's the last evening of my spring break.  Oddly, I'm not on an airplane or driving back from somewhere.  I'm home, and I have been for almost six consecutive days now.  I haven't slept in my own bed that many night in a row since early December, so it's taken some getting used to.

I decided to use my spring break as a test run for this summer.  For once I'm not planning a grand, multiple-week virtual move across the country or oceans, and while I think it may be good for me to stick around for once, I'm also quietly freaking out about it.  So I planned one trip for the beginning of my break, then decided to use the rest to see what it's like to be at home.

Now, at the end of the week, I can officially say that I didn't hate it.  I can't say I loved it either, but I didn't hate it.

Knowing myself, I deliberately planned at least one activity per day that would a) get me out of the house and b) involve interaction with people I know and like.  And that was fun.  I really enjoyed being able to work out with Rachel, to go to dinner with Lisa and to lunch with Tammy.  I accomplished many things - I babysat Jack, wove, sewed, fixed my stove, got a massage, went to trivia with Rachel and Brian, did a lot of spring cleaning, watched a lot of The West Wing, and read five books.  Since I didn't pack all of that into one day, I don't feel like I get to declare with capital letters that I Accomplished Many Things, but I was productive and that's good.

I also made a point of enjoying spring.  Last Friday in DC as we visited the different monuments, I reveled in the pleasure of walking in the sunshine.  It felt so good to be outside, to be done with speech and the musical and school (for a few days at least), and I remembered again how much I miss sunlight during the crazy six months of the year.  I've emerged from Hades, though, and spring is right on cue.  Sure, it's a Colorado spring, so it came with six inches of snow, but other signs are there.  For example, my shamrock has finally recovered from it's annual pruning (courtesy of Natasha):




So one of the first things I did when I got home from DC was buy a lot of produce and a few bunches of flowers.  I wanted more foliage at home, and I love the unabashed brightness of daffodils this time of year:




That bouquet combined with the lilies I bought has made my home smell perfectly verdant.


Still, six days of unstructured semi-productivity is about all I can handle.  I can manage the two months and two shows I have left this school year, and I've almost wrapped my brain around the notion that tomorrow I'll be able to just leave after school.  No rehearsals, no practice.  I'll just walk out of the building and into the sunshine at 3:30 with the other teachers.  It will be a pleasant change of pace, and I am looking forward to a calmer period of work.

But the two months after that, stretching out in front of me with no firm plans, purpose, or direction?  Those are daunting.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Dinner at J&G Steakhouse

After a quick tour of the upper levels of the American Art Museum, we headed to J&G Steakhouse in the W Hotel right next to the White House to meet Jason for dinner.

It was a long dinner (3 hours), but the food, the conversation, and company was terrific.

My meal: butternut squash soup with oyster mushrooms, soy glazed short ribs with apple-jalapeño purée and rosemary crumbs, Brussels sprouts with pecans, and a salted caramel ice cream sundae with peanuts, popcorn, and chocolate sauce.









Le Pain, Spies, and Art

I met up with my family near the Archives (and the St. Patrick's Day parade down Constitution Ave.) after hanging out with Jason. We walked towards the International Spy Museum, but took a detour into Le Pain Quiotidient for a late lunch for them (and second breakfast for me).

Fortified, we went into the Spy Museum, which is fun. You can see Andy hiding in the air ducts of the spy museum below.

We're resting momentarily in the American Art Museum, then are diving in before our dinner reservations. Last day I'm DC! Whoo!













Brunch with Jason and Amy

Jason picked me up for brunch with him and Amy, whom you may know from our mosquito-ridden adventure to Assoteague last summer.

We went to Mintwood Place, which was delicious. Amy and I split a blueberry waffle and I had one of the few savory items without an egg - a bacon cheeseburger that was just about perfect.





Saturday, March 16, 2013

Dinner at Central

We met up with Jason after the Library of Congress (which I think has the niftiest decor of the major DC buildings, and rightly so. If any building should be pretty it's the library, right?), stopped briefly by the Folger, then bade Andy and Jenn farewell as they went back to the hotel to rest and the rest of us went to the modern art portion of the National Gallery.

We stopped off at Paul's for pre-dinner pastries to ensure we would make it to the restaurant three blocks away. And because it was right there. And because it's French.

We had dinner at Central, which I've enjoyed before and which I picked this time around primarily for the gourgeres.

Mmm... Gourgeres.

After dinner we headed to the Kennedy Center to see the GoteborgsOperans Danskompani, a contemporary dance company from Sweden who is here as part of the month-long Nordic Cool celebration. The dancing was well done and the lighting was outstanding.

Pictures of dinner are below, including a shot that shows why Jason won the dessert selection competition.















Capitol Tour and Library of Congress











Eastern Market

We came, we shopped, and now we're off to the Capitol for a tour!





Friday, March 15, 2013

A Play!

We saw Metamorphoses tonight at the Arena Stage. It's the same production we saw in Chicago last fall, and it was well worth the second viewing. Oh, how I love Greek myths and candles floating in wooden bowls on a pool of water!



White House

With garden and beehive in the back.



Lunch - Founding Farmers

We're eating based on Jason's recommendations this weekend, and our first stop; Founding Farmers, a place that focuses on organic, local "true" food; bodes well for the rest (well, my first stop. The rest of the group has been raving about the dinner at Jaleo last night that I set up for them). Per tradition, we ordered many appetizers. Pictured below:

- Raspberry-Lime Ricky
- PEI Mussels cooked with Churrizo
- Farm Bread with Prosciutto, Fig, and Marscapone
- Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Crab, Lobster, or "Classic"
- Fried Green Tomatoes with a Cream Cheese side or a mild Guacamole
- Southern Fried Chicken Salad











Vietnam Memorial