[Note: The following two pictures were supposed to be w/ the other American History museum picture and I actually did upload them in the correct order. Blogger, for some reason, wants to post it in this order.]
Well, we didn't have very long in the American History Museum, but we made sure to check out:

Kermit the Frog! Very cool. They also had Dorothy's ruby slippers, Lance Armstrong's bicycle, and Seinfeld's puffy shirt. We took pictures, but I only posted Kermit because he is by far the coolest.

They also had my friend from Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch:

Lance and I walked to the Smithsonian Natural Science Museum. We got to see really cool stuff like the Hope Diamond:

and a bunch of other minerals and gems. Lance got to see a bunch of bugs, while I went to the bathroom. Apparantly these bugs were living and there was a huge roach on exhibit. He took pictures for me/to gross me out. We didn't get to stay very long in this museum, though, because we had to hike back to the American History museum to meet the rest of our group.

We visited many memorials this first night (and it was cold). We visited the Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam War, and Korean War memorials. The kids were fairly respectful at both the Vietnam and Korean War memorials and they were not bad at the Washington and Lincoln memorials, but you could tell that they weren't quite getting the significance of the memorials. It's not that the kids were dumb; they were just kids. Visiting the memorials was an awesome experience for them, but I hope that many of them return to visit the memorials as adults, so that they truly understand the importance behind them.

Anyway, here we are at the Lincoln Memorial. It was interesting because if you looked at the statue of Lincoln from the side, then you could see Robert E. Lee's face in Lincoln's. It was kinda creepy, actually.

After a very long day, we finally headed to Maryland to our hotel and completed our very long first day.

Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania

I am sick again. Whoopee. I think I have a hard time adjusting to Hawaii weather or something because I keep getting sick right after I come home from the mainland. I'm always fairly healthy while I'm on my trips, but I immediately get sick when I return home. Oh well, at least I don't get sick while traveling. Anyway, so I was gonna be all smart and blog my trip backwards so that people who read my blog wouldn't have to read it backwards. Does that make sense? Think about it and it will. Anyway, so I was gonna be all smart and blog it backwards and draft it and then upload it all at once. But then I realized that I would probably just end up confusing myself and who would want to read a really long blog? So I decided to just blog it and then hope that those who don't read my blog for awhile would realize that if they wanted to read about my trip in order then they would have to read my entries backwards. Oh dear, I'm confusing myself. Anyway, I'll start with day one.

One year...

Wow, it's been one year of being married...amazing how fast time went by. Our anniversary was on Sunday, but we haven't done much to celebrate it. In fact, the top layer of our wedding cake is still in our freezer, waiting to be eaten. We came home from DC and Philly Sunday evening and I fell asleep in the middle of dinner so we didn't eat the cake. And now I'm sick, so we still didn't eat the cake. We'll eat it by the end of the week, though, sick or not. And we're going to try to eat lunch at Pacific Beach sometime this week. :)

Anyway, it's been a wonderful year. I love my husband and I love being married. We have so much fun together. Even doing things like washing the dishes is enjoyable, as long as we're doing it together.

I guess I don't have a lot to say about my first year of marriage other than it's been wonderful. That's enough, really. It's been wonderful.

The Big Papa and the Hot Mama

I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with pickles. Well, maybe not unhealthy. They're technically vegetables, right? And vegetables are good for you. Anyway, a few weeks before Christmas I started to wonder if there was a "Pickle of the Month" club in existence somewhere in the world that could send me a special pickle a month. I mean, I'm sure that there are enough of us pickle lovers to warrant a club. So I searched on the internet and lo and behold, there was! I actually found two such special clubs. I was contemplating signing up for one if not both of them, when Lance caught me and put a end to my dream of pickles being delivered to my doorstep. Anyway, one of the clubs was sending these out:


The Van Holten pickle. There were four different types, two of them being the Big Papa and the Hot Mama. Anyway, I went to Safeway a few weeks ago and was thrilled to discover a brand new item in their deli case. Yes, the Big Papa and the Hot Mama! So of course I bought them both and happily took them home. I decided to try the Big Papa first. Mmm...delish. Now, I'm a huge fan of pickles and have eaten my share of large pickles. My stomach was usually able to handle it, except for that one time at Knott's where my stomach was a teensy bit upset, but that was on an empty stomach. I'm much wiser now. Anyway, so my stomach can handle large pickles, but this was the hugest pickle that I'd ever seen. So I wisely decided to cut the pickle in half and save the other half for later. So I sat down on my couch and ate my very delicious pickle. It was so good that I decided that my stomach could totally handle the other half of it. So I ate it. And I enjoyed it. And then in the middle of the night I woke up with the worst stomachache that I've ever had. The worst. I thought I was going to die.

Despite this, the next day I decided to try the Hot Mama. This pickle wasn't as large at the Big Papa, but I cut it in half anyway. I didn't regret eating the whole Big Papa the day before (that's how yummy it was), but I certainly wasn't going to risk having that horrible stomachache again. Anyway, so I sat on my couch and bit into my pickle. Good grief, the Hot Mama sure lived up to her name. It was the hottest thing that I've ever eaten. But oh so yummy. I ended up soaking my tongue and lips in a cup of water when I finally managed to finish my half. I finished the second half of the pickle the next day, but the pain wasn't as bad because I made sure to soak my lips and tongue periodically.

You'd think that after the pain that these pickles put me through I would've stayed away from the Van Holtens. But no, I went back to Safeway in search of them. I did, however, only buy two of the Big Papas, instead of one of each. I'm a little scared of the Hot Mamas, but maybe I'll revisit them during the break. I did, however, learn from this experience. I cut my Big Papas in half and ate them on different days.

One More Day!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I really did have to add that many exclamation points to the title. One more day to Spring Break! Woo hoo! I think I look forward to breaks more now than when I was a student. I have big plans for my break and although I generally do not outline goals for myself (because inevitably things come up and goals do not get met and then I get sad), I decided to make a list of goals for the break because these are things that I really want to get done. I figured if I post them on my blog, then I'm a little more inclined to do them since they are publicly stated.

My Spring Break Goals (I was gonna write them SLP style, but then decided blah to that idea)
1. Learn to (and knit) a pair of socks
2. Start working on my friend's scarf (good, I can do this on the plane)
3. Start working on graduation leis
4. Revisit my tank top
5. Work in ends of Beckey's scarf
6. Work on Lance's blanket (okay, this one's a given since I'm already working on it, but having a goal that I know I will accomplish makes me feel better)
7. Go find that yarn store in Waikiki
8. Scrapbook at least 2 pages
9. Make copies of all of my professional wedding pictures
10. Make prints of the wedding pictures to give away
11. Get my wedding rings cleaned
12. Clean my kitchen
13. Go fishing with Joy
14. Do not tear up or throw a fit the day before school starts nor on the day that school starts

Good grief, I just realized what a long list this is. Totally doable. Anyway, I just realized that I sometimes make "to do" lists if I have a lot to do during the day. I guess I do outline goals for myself sometimes. But daily "to do" lists generally get completed more frequently than "long term" lists so they don't count. I also just realized that 6 of my goals are knitting related. I think reading that book inspired me to be crazier. Y'all can keep all your opinions about my sanity to yourself, just feel sorry for my husband.

Freak out

So I had to go to the doctor yesterday and I'm not all that much better. He changed my meds, so hopefully that helps. Anyhow, he wanted to change me to a medication that I'm allergic to. I was on it two years ago and the first time I took it, it was fantastic. The second time I took it, I had this nasty reaction to it and had to be sent home from extern due to swelling. Anyway, so on the way home yesterday, thinking about the medicine made me think of the last time I had a rash.

The last time, it was hives. It was about a year ago and it was the week of the wedding. I was stressing because there was so much left to do and so little time to do it and because one of my bridesmaids had flaked out on me so that the only time I actually saw her was on the day of the wedding. But anyway. Okay, so then I realized that it was this exact time last year that I started really freaking out about getting married. I'm even pretty sure it was the exact day, too. It was the last week of school before spring break and was therefore a little more than a week before the wedding (on a side note: 2 more days to spring break, woo hoo!). I remember I was on my way to my second school to therapize kids and I started having a panic attack. It suddenly occurred to be the enormity of getting married. I was positive that I was marrying the right fella but it suddenly dawned on me that, wow, I'm getting married. I had to call Nicole as I was driving to my second school because I started having an anxiety attack - complete with profuse sweating and shortness of breath. Many of my friends and family members, although they knew that Lance was the right one, were amazed that I was getting married at such a young age. What was interesting was that many of my friends' parents were concerned that I was getting married so young, many of them because they were afraid that their own children would follow suit and get married, too.

Anyway, so as I was driving home yesterday and fondly (no really, it was fondly) reminiscing about my last breakout of hives, I was amazed that all this happened a year ago. A whole year has passed since the craziness of the wedding planning. Nuts.

Anyway, so I finally took some pictures of my wedding album to go along with this blog entry. Of course I got confused as I was uploading them and uploaded them in the wrong order, but oh well.

The fold out of the first page. 

The album has all these neat pages that fold out. This picture folds out to show other images of the ceremony. 

The cover of our album. That's the neck of one of my bridesmaid's, in case you were wondering. 

The album comes in a neat pouch. 

Knitting in Longs

I love knitting. The thrill of creating something, the feel of the yarn, the calmness associated with knitting. It's such a tranquil experience.

I recently took a break from knitting. It was only a week or two, but it was a break nonetheless. See, I'm working on two projects right now, and I was getting a little bored with them. One is a tank top that I've been working on forever and the other is a scarf for my cousin. I messed up on my cousin's scarf about half way in and I needed to completely start all over, changing to a better quality yarn. Anyway, I was bored with the scarf since I essentially had to do half of it all over again and was feeling a little uninspired. And then there was the video game that Lance bought me for my birthday that I've been a little obsessed over. Like really obsessed. Like Lance obsessed. Maybe he put a spell on my wedding ring that slowly tricked me into thinking that video games are great so that I'd leave him alone while he was playing them. Hmm...something to think about.

Anyhow, this weekend I bought a wickedly entertaining book. It's called Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It's terribly funny and I think every knitter should read it. Ha, I think Lance should read it. It'll help him realize that my love of knitting isn't so crazy. Actually, the book made me realize that I'm not crazy enough about knitting and maybe I should get crazier. Good thing I don't live in a place where yarn stores are plentiful. Anyway, so I just finished the book and it helped inspire me to pick up my knitting needles again. I'm working on the scarf again and it's going a lot faster now that I'm really concentrating on it.

I've been sick for about a month now, but now my asthma's really started to act up. I finally gave in and made an appointment with the doctor today. I left school, swung by my house to pick up my knitting (b/c what else was I gonna do during the wait?), and went to the doctor. He prescribed stuff to make me feel better and I went to Longs to pick them up. I had to wait again at the pharmacy so what was I to do? I looked in my bag and...ta da! My knitting was in my bag waiting patiently for me to pick it up. And so I did and had a very nice time knitting in Longs. I never know what to do while I'm waiting to get my prescriptions filled and I generally end up browsing/buying. I think from now on I should bring my knitting. I'd probably save some money that way. I try to bring my knitting with me to places when I know that I'll be waiting for awhile but sometimes there are unexpected waiting times. Maybe I should bring my knitting with me at all times to account for these unexpected waiting times. Hmm...there's an idea.

Week's End

Thank goodness the week is over. It was a hard week, an emotionally draining week. Work has been crazy for weeks and I need a break. I know you're not supposed to "take it home with you" but how can you not? How can you tell a parent something that no parent should ever have to hear and not go home emotionally drained? I used to think that when it was my time to have a kid, I would want a girl. But, y'know, after working with kids who have so many challenges in their life, I'd feel blessed to just have a healthy kid.

Anyway, weekends are fantastic. They rejuvenate you and help you get through the week. Well, except for last weekend but as a result of that I had a tantrum last Sunday. Anyway. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Weekends are great. We finally got our wedding album today and it looks fantastic! And the parent albums are so cute and I'm looking forward to giving it to them. And since we have our album now, we also have the proofs of the pictures that we really liked and all of our negatives.

I'm seeing Trina tonight and that should be fun. Oh! And Jaime's home! Yea! We're going out tomorrow and hopefully it'll be sunny. Or at least not rainy. It's good to have her home. Where was I going with this blog? Oh yeah.

Weekends are great.

24...25

Another year has come and gone and now I'm (as so many rude people have pointed out) a quarter of a century old, half a decade to 30, and half way to 50...I have evil friends and family. Anyway, this was a really yummy chocolate haupia cake that my mom bought for my and my cousin's birthdays. Can you see what Cake Kat is doing? :)

My reflections upon my 24th year are similar to my 2005 reflections, since we're only a month into the new year. Anyhow, 24 was a great year, probably one of the best. I've just realized that the first three months of the year are my reflection months. Next month is our 7th anniversary and our 1st wedding anniversary so I'll be reflecting on the first year of marriage next month.

Oh, heh, heh. Side note: Joy gave me a marshmallow shooter for my birthday. You've been warned.

Tired

This was supposed to be my "easy" week...easy week. What happened? After the craziness of last week with internal review and all, this was supposed to be my easy week. Internal Review. The most hated phrase after the big one - Due Process. If I have to go to due process within my 3 year obligation to my employer, will I still find my job worthwhile? Or will I say to hell with it all and go find someone who values my experience and education? I'm so tired, I'm thinking of leaving this blog till later and heading off to bed already. But if I leave this blog till later, it won't get done until way later, if at all.

Sometimes I think of scrapping this blog and just starting a new one. I read in my husband's NEA publication that teachers are using blogs as educational tools and as ways to vent about the stresses of their job. There are teachers out there who have anonymous blogs that allow them to really vent and express how they really feel about the people they have to deal with. It sounds like a good idea. Of course, even with the guise of anonymity, could I still really feel free to say what I really think? Or will some tech savvy crazed parent go looking for my blog to use against me in the future?

It's always a bad sign when having a kid vomit in your classroom was not the worst thing that happened during the week.

This blog is depressing. Something good...my awesome department had a party for me and an EA for our birthdays.

The Longest Week Ever

This was this longest week ever. Like any other week, I had tons of meetings and work to go, but for some reason this week dragged on and on like no other week had. Monday I had to test a preschooler, which is always tiring. On Tuesday, I thought it was Wednesday. I woke up Wednesday and thought, "Is today Saturday or Sunday? I went to work yesterday so oh, good, today's Saturday...crap, it's Wednesday." It was raining all week, so I was wet all week, and the pouring rain on Thursday may me want to stay home. I called my mom and Joy on the way to work to see if I could stay home due to the rain. They both told me the wrong answer and I grumpily went to work. I got an email from Joy in the afternoon saying that I was a grouch that morning. It's your true friends that will tell you that you're being a grouch. I was so grumpy on Thursday that I told myself that I was going to leave school when the kids did. I didn't end up leaving until 5:00 because I realized that I had an evaluation report due on Friday and I didn't want to come in on Friday to do it. On Friday, we had a district PD day and had to listen to the boss of all bosses talk, this boring dude talk, and we had a speech meeting. The big boss was fairly interesting and entertaining and the coffee I had kept me alert. I didn't pay attention to the boring guy because the coffee I drank was ready to come out. I couldn't go to the bathroom, though, because we were in the MHS gym and I was sitting in the middle of the row. The speech meeting was fairly interesting, but I was picked on a lot by my boss. She picked on me so much that a person behind me said, "Wow, she likes to tease her a lot." For some reason, my friends have always picked on me. It's weird because I'm always the one teased in whatever group I'm with at the time. My husband was trying to explain why I'm the one teased, but I think it's because I'm so cute. Well, that's what I tell myself anyway.

My week ended well, though. I went shopping in the afternoon and my friends convinced me to buy these shoes I was staring at. I bought two new pairs of Skechers, even though I was looking for work sandals. My husband surprisingly was not annoyed when my two new "friends" entered the house, but he did suggest that I throw out the shoes that these two supposedly replaced. Throw out shoes? We'll see about that.

The First Week

AND LET THE CRAZINESS BEGIN!!! Yes, sadly enough, I am back at school. Vacation's always seem to end too soon. And it was a good, relaxing vacation. Even though some part's of it were not fun (i.e. being sick for all of it and therefore not being able to see my friends until the end of it and the realization that...nevermind, I'm going to get in trouble for saying that...), it was still a fantastic vacation. My house is clean (which was a multi day project), we have a picture sun and cloud on our living room wall, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with Lance.

Even though I grumble about vacation being too short, it was actually sort of nice to be back in school. I really enjoy the people that I work with and for the most part, I really enjoy my kids. Granted, there are many days that I wonder why I chose to work for the employer that I work for and I love vacations, but for the most part I like my job. If I was at a different site and worked with different people (i.e. like my former second school), I'd probably be singing a different story. I really am fortunate. I think that's the main thing that I learned in 2005. That yes, I did work hard to get to where I am today but I owe a lot of it to me being...well, blessed. I was blessed with a wonderful husband who I met early in life and with wonderful and supportive friends and family. Even our house -- we didn't have to go through the agony of a lottery that you usually have to go through to get a new house in Hawaii. We were just at the right place at the right time. And my school. I didn't have to work hard to get placed at my school. I had to work hard to keep my placement, but I was fortunate to be placed there at all.

Anyhow, this entry was supposed to be about my first week back at work. On Monday we had a district meeting/workshop so no kids. The first half was incredibly boring, but Matt and I kept ourselves entertained by muttering inappropriate things about our speaker to each other. The second half of the meeting was on far more interesting topics so it wasn't so excrutiating. It was nice to talk to Jessica again, who I haven't really spoken to since graduation. I forgot how entertaining she is. Oh! I think the highlight of the day was when one of the SLPs (or was she a CA?) expressed in interest in Matt for her daughter. She was also interested in introducing me to her son and was surprised to hear that I was married. Oh, and my boss also referred to me as "the devious one." I must remember to hide that part of my personality a little more...but then, what fun would that be?

I had another workshop on Tuesday at my school so still no kids. The workshop was surprisingly very interesting. It only lasted half day, though, so I had the other half of my day to get some work done. I had a hard time, though, since it was my first day back. I did start setting up an augmentative communication device for one of kids and I had a lot of fun doing that. AACs really interest me. Perhaps I'll pursue that interest later on in my career.

WEDNESDAY. THE RETURN OF THE KIDS. Apparently, kids really need vacations just like adults do. A lot of my kids were loopy and cranky before the break, but most of my kids returned to school rejuvenated and ready to work. A lot of them seemed to have made some connections over the break and I was thrilled. I think that my kids need more breaks than the regular ed kids. I should give them intensive therapy for a month or so and then give them a week off. They really seem to need that away time to let whatever we've been working on sink in. I wonder if I could do research on that? I'd probably have to leave my current job, though, seeing as how my employer would probably flip out if I stopped services for a week.

Even though I've only been back at work for a week, the craziness has already started. I had a lot of paperwork and meetings to get through and just overall a lot of work to do. It never ends. I sort of enjoyed the first week back (but still, thank goodness for the weekend), but in two weeks I'll be ready for another vacation.

The Painting

This isn't the best picture of it because you can't really see the difference between the background blues, but this is my painting! Yes, I actually created a painting! One of my colleagues shared this hobby with us over the winter break. Now, I'm very aware of my strengths and weaknesses and art is definitely one of my weaknesses so I was a little nervous going into the experience. I was surprised when it came out not bad! I also was surprised that I really enjoyed painting it.

2006

Wow, I'm glad that I was able to post all those pictures before we were too far in to to 2006. Those were a lot of pictures. I guess I should've posted them along the way. I really don't know why I'm so inconsistent now. I was a pretty good blogger during my last year of grad school, but then I don't know what happened. Was it that I was so good at blogging b/c I was trying to avoid doing school work? Or was it that life got too hectic during the wedding planning? Or maybe it was the introduction of knitting that sucked up all my time?

Lance and I trading blows at ESPN Zone. Looks like the honeymoon's over, eh? 

More of the Bellagio display. I don't know who this grumpy looking girl is. Alright, she's probably not grouchy, just concentrating on taking her picture. 

Me and my new friend at M & M World. I got some really yummy dark chocolate M & Ms here. 

In front of the huge fish tank at Caesar's. We want to be fish! 

The Christmas tree at the Bellagio. I really need to learn how to flip pictures. 

The Christmas display at the Bellagio was amazing. Everything, including this bear was made out of flowers.  

Here we are on our December Vegas trip. We're standing in front of this huge tree on Fremont St. I wish I knew how to flip this picture... 

I finally got Lance to take a picture with Santa. I wish someone had told me that my shirt was all funny kine so that I don't look so frumpy but oh well. 

This was our first Christmas tree and our first Christmas as husband and wife. Setting up the tree was quite an experience, as we didn't realize that the bottom branches of the tree had to be cut off for it to fit in the stand. We don't own a saw, so Lance had to use his Leatherman to cut off the branches. It was difficult to cut b/c it was still alive and soft and because the branches were thick. 

I was so happy to find this Nemo hat at Sea World. I wore it for most of the day and I kept hearing little kids say "Nemo!" as I walked past. I also heard a man refer to my hat in Korean. 

The Shamu show at Sea World.  

I really liked the penguins at Sea World. I want a penguin, but I somehow I don't think they smell good. Really, how pleasant can wet feathers smell? 

After the convention, we stayed a few more days in San Diego to play. Here's Matt and I at Sea World. 

San Diego was such a beautiful city, one that I wouldn't mind living in. Here's Matt in Seaport Village, a shopping area near the convention center. We were waiting for a water taxi to take us to Coronado.