Rickshaw

What we’ve been up to: cooking breakfast almost every day (and sometimes having it for lunch & dinner), using the immersion blender to make orange-blueberry smoothies, hanging out with Igby who loves to exert herself and her little legs running up the stairs, discovering that all the smudges on our window were from Igby rubbing her dirty nose against it while spying on the neighbors, stuffing ourselves at White Linen Nights, celebrating Brandi’s birthday with filet mignon and red snapper at Del Frisco’s for Houston Restaurant Week, playing sand volleyball with our family, watching several episodes of So You Think You Can Dance on Hulu (That would be me. Go Lauren!), falling in love with The Kids Are All Right, and getting back to the grind with lesson plans, cleaning my classroom, and mini but fewer “omg it’s coming so soon” freak outs.

This summer is going by way too fast and we’re getting pretty frustrated that there are way too few hours in the day after we get back from work, make dinner, clean, etc. This +  all of the other things going on has put us in a little funk.

With the school year approaching, I’ve been filling a lot of professional development hours with workshops. Some are not so exciting but still helpful—like the two-day sessions on classroom discipline. And others—like the ones at the MFAH and Glassell—are much more enjoyable and relevant. The sessions were only a few hours each, but I got to dabble in collograph printing, pinhole cameras, enameling, ceramics, and, well, just having some fun. It was just the boost/kick in the butt I needed, and now BJ and I are considering taking an evening class during the school year.

Instant pick me up. I used to by these by the strip, but I spied a bulk pack at Candylicious in the Rice Village.

Our plates and cups seem to be chipping at record rates. I wish I knew how to do something like this.

I tried enameling for the first time and decided to do something simple and not so “art teacher”. You know what I mean?

Yes! Got to go back into the darkroom and learned how to use a paint can as a pinhole camera. The weather and lighting were unpredictable, but I still had fun shooting in the sculpture garden.

Working on a few projects and still figuring out my footing.

hah. excuse all the hand shots. not feeling so creative. again.

We’re back! Our feet are worn out, our bellies are full, and our brains are about to explode from all the noise, art, people, sights of New York City. We ended up taking more photos with our new Diana Instant back (Thanks you Catherine!), and once those get scanned, I’ll post them here and write more about our trip later…

10.75 lunch specials at Azusa, Grand Central market lobby, Pearl River Market, Despana tapas, water towers, MOMA, the Met with Annie, Brooklyn Museum to see Kiki Smith + the fashion exhibit, Vanessa, and looking at the skyline from a dock in Brooklyn.

Yesterday, I played volleyball for the first time in a while with my high school students at the park. The boys trash-talked a lot, so I was happy to get a spike in now and then …. directed at them. Then again, I also let my serve drop on my own head, so it was humbling. It is really getting hot and humid in Houston, but I’m looking forward to summer fruit!

And I finally found another pair of shoes that could withstand the school day, bringing the total to 3! These Cynthia Rowley sandals came from Marshalls, and they’re surprising comfortable. It’s nice to let my toes breathe a little because my other shoes were getting errrr not so pleasant.

After getting our keys, we stopped by Dacapo’s Pastry Cafe for lunch. BJ had a roast beef sandwich and Mexican quiche, while Trang and I shared a pizza sandwich. It was all amazing! We also tried their cakes, and, we think we’ll order multiple flavors for July. My favorite was the red velvet, which I usually never like. And I think a lot of my relatives will enjoy the pear cake. Sweet! Another check off the list.

creme brulee, pear cake, vanilla tres leches, and red velvet

Tuesday, I drove downtown to pick BJ up from work and we stopped by the farmer’s market on campus. We ended up buying a couple of macarons, raspberry marshmallows, and one of my favorite meals this week—polenta with some sort of tomato and cheese from Maison Burdisso. BJ bought baby-back ribs and grilled them up. So delicious. The roasted tomatoes on the polenta reminded me of how my mom prepares them with catfish.

We also were gifted with tickets to New York City for our honeymoon! B’s mom made it all possible, and I’m so excited to do all the things we usually make plans for—when we do go there—but never get the chance to do. No more 10-minute run-throughs in the Met. We’re already setting aside one day for that. (With breaks of course.) Eeek!

Happy Friday!

After a long drive in the car, multiple redirections from stadium cops, and a quick trip to use the bathroom (guilty) we finally made it to the rodeo on closing day. It didn’t help that most of Houston had the same thing in mind and that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were slotted to perform later on. We took a scenic ride on a gondola/ski lift Total food count inhaled: four fried oreos, sausage on a stick, super baked potato, brisket sandwich, sausage in a bun and corn. whew.

+ Still recovering from a stomach virus. Finally broke my 14 year no vomiting streak (tear. tmi?) Can’t be rodeo food right?

Looking forward to spring break and Easter candy. The weather has been surprising nice in Houston, almost perfect. I hope it stays around for awhile.

I’m a bit on the fence about these egg shaped tootsie roll pops. I’m not sure if this is the best way to describe it, but they taste the way they look- a little opaque/foggy! hmm.

Photos from this weekend

1. Pasta Bolognese. Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen
2. BJ’s guacamole for a Superbowl Party
3. Mexican Coke in bulk at Costco

An imaginary, ideal outfit that can easily transition from work to Lost watching parties at BJ’s. I know we have plenty of throw blankets, but how comfortable does that wool blanket from Dace look? Maybe if we move north…

I’m feeling a little sick towards the end of the week, and I’ve been curled up on the couch watching ABDC. I’m a little sad the crew from Providence with former Hope High kids didn’t make nationals, but thank God this season isn’t so gimmicky. I overheard some pretty funny conversations when I mentioned to my class that I watch the show. Speaking of which, I realized Friday that my ear can’t pick up certain frequencies anymore. I prided myself in the fact that I could pick up on the mosquito ringtone when students texted each other. It must be annoying for students who hear it but don’t want to be the tattletale. Fortunately, some kids don’t care about that, so when one called out his friend for using the ringtone, I quickly fibbed and said I could hear it too!