Oh! The Humidity!

It's muggy out. I'm miserable after standing outside for more than 3 minutes. Sweat sheen appears on my forehead in a matter of seconds and I want to change my clothes as soon as possible--after each moment spent outside. I'll try straightening my hair, leaving it curly, putting it up in a ponytail, but nothing seems to prevent the inevitable expansion and frizz of my hair.

The good news is I can take a leisurely walk in the afternoon and lose a pound from sweating out the water weight. I gain two pounds back that night after eating tons of cooling ice cream but that's besides the point.

Mini Toy

Remember when I got my iPad? You probably don't but I remember it like it was yesterday. I have used my iPad literally every day since I purchased it almost 2 years ago. Last Friday I purchased an iPad Mini. It's the size I wish the iPad was in the beginning but they didn't offer a mini version.

So, no, my head is not really that big. It's just the iPad Mini is really that small. It fits in all my purses easily and I can hold it in one hand. I was worried about adjusting to the smaller screen but it's still large enough to enjoy playing my games and watching movies and shows. I've given my iPad 2 to Jeff and he seems pretty happy with the arrangement.

And...Now I'm Blushing

Michanne and I went to the 5pm showing of Spank! at the Buckhead Theatre on Saturday.

We met for a mid-day meal at Buckhead Diner. I've never eaten there before but the food was very good. We split the hummus appetizer and I had shrimp and grits for my main dish. It came with a sunny-side egg on top and I promptly asked for this on the side. Wise decision. We then drove separately to the theater. We had some time to kill after finding our parking spaces (the parking was a constant worry for us--we parked at a local business that had no signage prohibiting parking but we worried we might return to find tickets on our car, or a boot, or that they were towed) so we walked around and then entered the theater early to enjoy the AC. The attendance was modest but everyone was drinking and wearing clothing that was too tight and too short. There were surprisingly a lot of men there with their wives/girlfriends. I don't think I could have paid Jeff to go with me to something like that. They had appropriate music pumping in the theater before the show; S&M by Rihanna was one of the many. Here's the stage.

Michanne and I moved back a few seats to see the stage better and there were only a handful of people sitting back there. Here we are waiting for the show to start.

Michanne calls this her Snooki hair. The cast consisted of three people; the writer, the girl, and the guy. I've only read half of 50 Shades of Grey (the first book) and the first act was very funny and I could follow the story fairly well. I was pretty lost for the second half and didn't find it as funny. It certainly had some moments that made me blush and there was even some audience interaction (Q&A stuff, nothing kinky). The singing was pretty good but all-in-all I don't think the show was worth the cost of the ticket. I told Michanne that it would have been way funnier if we'd had something to drink. Our cars were unharmed and we went our separate ways home. I hate driving in Atlanta and I hope I never, ever have to live there!

Stella and Dot

I'm sure everyone has heard of this company by now. My Aunt April has been selling their lovely things for many years now and I've received emails from time to time about items. 

My Aunt is very pretty (and "so stylish" as my cousin Jessie would say) and seeing the goods on such a pretty person makes you want to buy, buy, buy. She brought all of her merchandise/stock over for the ladies to ooh and aah over. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures--my camera was attached to my hip practically the entire weekend. It really was quite a display. I bought some things and I wanted to buy several more. 

My Aunt was wearing these on Saturday and I have been looking for some pretty navy earrings with gold accents for a few months (I randomly search Etsy about once a month).

How beautiful is this bag?!?!? The inside is another pretty pattern but in teal. And yes, my Aunt also had this on her person Saturday. A perfect match for her navy earrings. Well, this sucker is sold out until July. I ordered one anyway.

No, I didn't buy this ring. I can't really explain why I covet it so badly but I do. After I learned the price I just walked around the house wearing it for about 30 minutes knowing I couldn't buy it. I think I will keep this on the back-burner as something to save up for--or maybe request as a birthday present. Although, it may be discontinued by September. What's a girl to do?

Family in Virginia

Yesterday afternoon I returned from a trip to Staunton, Virginia. About 9 1/2 hours each way. In a van with my mom, dad, Michanne, and Fred. It was a looooong trip. My dad's family (his mom and two sisters) lives in Staunton. All in all I visited with 13 family members (and the two boyfriends of my youngest cousins) this weekend. We visited the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (VSDB) where a building is dedicated to Ralph's dad; stopped by my uncle's new office building; visited the farm where my cousin is raising cows (for slaughter, black Angus); played corn-hole; went to the park (video below); ate entirely too much; and enjoyed stories and laughter with everyone.

New building sign

Inspirational words inside building

The family (part of it anyway) outside the building

Land where my cousin keeps her cows

Horsey enjoying a salt lick

The family (again, a portion of the family) outside the barn

Momma cow with babies

Uncle Dave with his grandchildren

Aunt Jo, Ralph, and little Chase

Duck pond at the park

Crazed swan (you'll understand in a minute)

Swan expressing its dislike of guy with baby disappearing

Nail-Biter

Yikes! My portfolio presentation is tonight. I'm very anxious but happy that the semester is almost over. Seriously, at the end of my 10 minutes tonight I consider spring semester to be behind me. I got an 'A' in my selection and development of instructional technology course (say that five times fast) so my practicum is all that's left. I believe it is a pass or fail course so as long as I don't do what this guy did then I should be fine.

It's not a webcam situation either; more of a conference call while sharing a computer screen. I'll stay at work for the presentation. It wouldn't be a good idea to have my dogs barking in the background. Our family road trip to Staunton,Virginia starts on Friday. I'll have my wonderful iPad along to keep me entertained and sane. I haven't seen my dad's family in almost 5 years so it should be an interesting weekend. Class starts again on Monday and we'll be traveling back to Georgia that day. The first week of class usually involves introductions and getting familiar with the syllabus and course calendar so I won't miss much in one day. This is my final class. I've registered to take the GACE on June 15 (more nail-biting) and I'd rather write a 30-page paper then take that dang exam.

Almost There

Folks, we are in the final stages of the semester. I've completed all my tasks, checklist items, editing (well, that's an ongoing process until the very end), reflection essays, and beyond. All that's left is presenting my portfolio via conference call (and getting my grades). I'm not sure when I get to schedule my presentation but the potential presentation dates are May 6th, 8th, or 9th. So, things are certainly winding down. Last weekend was my first weekend of freedom in forever. I took Friday off and spent the day with my friend Barbara and had lunch with my mother-in-law. I also got a pain-free pedi. On Saturday I went outlet shopping with my mom and bought so many pretty things. On Sunday I got a ton of stuff done at the house. It felt so liberating to do something other than school work. And I'm not stopping there. I'm going to see Sister Act at the Fox with mom on Saturday and my sister and I will try to see Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody in May.

I'm going with my family to visit my dad's relatives in Virginia in May as well. I'm also reading like crazy. I finished An Abundance of Katherine's and Ashes. I started the Ashes sequel, Shadows, today. I just looked on Amazon for the next book in the Last Apprentice series and it won't be out until September but guess what?!!?!? The movie version (I'm assuming of the first book) will be out in October! How did I not know about this? It's called The Seventh Son and has Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore with Ben Barnes as Tom. So excited!

Dancing Widgets

I dreamed about dancing widgets last night. The past few days I've been very focused on my school work and uploading content on my portfolio. One of our tasks is to add information to a personal learning network (called a PLN). My PLN has to include 2-3 blogs, social networking, podcasts, video or video series, websites, training materials, and professional articles (2-3 of each). In order to add content you use widgets. I have a Netvibes account and the widgets look like this.

These are examples of essential widgets. To add a specific webpage you add the Web Page widget by clicking on the plus sign, and then paste the URL in the settings. Netvibes then displays my widget content like this.

So last night, little widgets (the first picture) were dancing and hopping around my netvibes page having a party. Complete with music by Hot Chelle Rae. The Google Docs widget was taunting me because I can't get it to work (this is true in reality as well) and I had to use the standard webpage widget to upload PDF articles from my Google Docs account. Lost yet? In another dream, also last night, I was talking on the phone with my mom and she said she broke her computer trying to install Google Chrome. I got about three hours of sleep last night and apparently my thoughts revolved around school work.

I Made Calzones

On Saturday mornings I attend Bodypump at our Bodyplex gym, come home to shower, eat breakfast, and enjoy my cup of coffee while watching Pioneer Woman. A couple weeks ago (I think) she made easy calzones. It didn't really look that easy but I guess any recipe that requires dough and offers a suggested pre-made dough is easy. So, I printed the recipe and headed to Kroger after work one day. I bought the expensive soft mozzarella (not recommended) and all the other ingredients and left $35 poorer. I used refrigerated Grands biscuits instead of frozen dinner rolls listed in the recipe. Other than the mozzarella and biscuits I followed the recipe exactly. Well, I added pepperoni too. Oh, and olives. And mushrooms. I ended up with a lot of extra filling. Anyway, I cooked the sausage, onions, olives, pepperoni, mushrooms and seasoning and then mixed the cheese mixture with the cooled meat mixture. I then rolled out 16 biscuits (yep, 16), filled them with the meat and cheese, folded them over and finished them off with an egg wash before going into the oven. They turned out like this.

The bottoms of the last four were completely burnt but 12 of them were just fine. This is what they looked like on the inside.

I would have to say that if you are not a fan of ricotta cheese (I am not a fan) then you should not follow a recipe by someone who says, "I just love ricotta cheese". Jeff also does not like ricotta cheese but he ate almost all of them (over the course of several days) so I'm not sure how to rate this recipe. It did take about 90 minutes for prep and cook time but it wasn't a difficult meal to make. I think in the future I will use regular block mozzarella, cut the ricotta in half, and play around with adding more veggies to the mix.

Honey Boo Boo Encounter

Many of you know about this already because I was texting you furiously while it was happening. But only Jeff and I know the whole story. Last week was my Spring Break. Did I do anything fun? Not really. I stayed in town and worked on my practicum secondary site visits. Meaning, I went to an elementary and high school in Milledgeville on 4 separate days. Anyway, the most exciting thing to happen that week was going out to eat at Chili's in Milledgeville. It was Tuesday evening and hardly anyone was at the restaurant. Jeff and I were being led to our table and I recognized a man sitting with his family. I looked at all the daughters and I couldn't figure out why I recognized them so I just assumed they were students at my school. I started to smile and say "hey" and then my "hey" turned into about 6 syllables long because I finally realized who they all were. My smile got bigger and I just kind of stood there next to their table. One of the daughters (I think it's the one called Chubbs, or maybe Pumpkin--they look very similar) rolled her eyes at me and I'm pretty sure I asked how they were doing.  June said something about something or other and I heard the word "picture". So I asked if they would mind if I took their picture. She very kindly said they don't take pictures during family time and then Miss Honey Boo Boo herself handed me this.

She was playing with her niece at the table when she handed me the card. In case you can't see it very well it's a picture of the whole family (minus the new baby) with their names in gold writing. It's just a mass produced promotional item but I thought it was nice of her to give it to me nonetheless. Anyway, our table was next to theirs and I sat with my back to them the whole night. They were kind of loud but they weren't farting (at least not audibly) or anything gross like you see on their show. Alana (Honey Boo Boo) did spill her drink on the table and all over the seat but that was it. Oh, and they did not have their film crew with them, just a bodyguard.  At one point during the meal I turned my head and saw the bodyguard telling a woman to move on. He even got up and started to pull on her arm. When they were done with their meal (which took 3 different waiters bringing like 12 different dishes) their bodyguard took photos of them with the waitstaff.Other diners ran up in hopes of getting a picture but were told only the waitstaff would get a picture--two of which actually were GMC students. So, while the bodyguard took pictures, I did as well.

Jeff (you can see his arm in all the pictures) kept telling me to put my phone down but what does he know? I needed evidence of the encounter. I figured I would run into them at some point because they've been filmed all over town. The pictures are very bad, I know, but I took what I could get--on the sly. I chatted with the GMC students/waitstaff after the family left about what a jerk I was smiling like a crazed fan and asking for a picture. The Honey Boo Boo clan left a baby bottle behind. Jeff told the waitress to sell it on eBay.