Umm, I never post here...
I contribute to What's Good at Trader Joe's
and have started a running blog
17 February 2011
10 August 2008
Mexico Day Uno
We met at the Union Project at 4:30 and headed out to the airport at 5, the last time we would do something on time for a week! It was a little slow getting through the ticket line, I think they were overwhelmed by such a huge group trying to check in. No problem with security or getting to the gate. We did take a long time to get of the ground, which wouldn't have been a problem, except that we were already pressed for time for catching our connection in Houston.
We ended up getting to Houston at 10:15 and our next flight was leaving at 10:30. Half our our group tore through the airport to tell them we were coming and the rest of us made it on to the plane just in time, yay! We had just taken off and had been flying for about 20 minutes when a woman a few rows ahead of us asked for the flight attendant to get her daughter for her, and after a few minuets of talking to the woman with her daughter the flight attendant said he was going to ask if there was a doctor on board. Dana, Molly and Sarah to the rescue! With the help of the flight attendants they took care of this woman, who may have been having a heart attack. They got an iv going and told the captain that we should go back to Houston.
Once we finally left Houston and made it to Mexico City, we had to go through customs where Russ and Dana got held up for a very long time because of the medicine that they had packed. We finally got all packed into Arturo's van. And I do mean packed! 11 people and all of the luggage. Poor BJ had to sit on the floor between the front seats.
We got a little tour of Mexico City, home of 28 million people, and no apparent traffic laws. It was crazy! And most people seem to handle it fine, no honking or swearing (at least that I heard), and no accidents. We made it to the church where we were welcomed by lots of hugging and kissing and Spanish. I tried to learn some before I left, but about all I retained was let's go eat (vamos acomer), so I pretty much just stood around feeling cold, tired and uncomfortable.
The church is really cool. It's basically a pavilion with a building where there's a bathroom and office and kitchen. Once every one arrived at the church and dinner was done, we sang some songs, in Spanish of course, and Arturo introduced BJ, John, Dana, Sarah and Molly and told everyone what had happened on the plane on the way down. Once that was finished we finally had a chance to eat (it had been hours since the small lunch on the plane)
I was worried heading down about what we would have to eat (if you know me, you know about my eating habits.) Everything was so good though! The people of the church made us sit down and served us, which was a little different, but as I learned later in the week, ok. We had chicken soup with huge kernels of corn in it, and you could add vegetables and stuff to it if you wanted. The best thing though was tortillas with chicken stuff on it where you put on toppings such as lettuce, chille powder, cilantro, cheese and lime. Yum!! We also had this spicy potatoes and peppers dish, Sarah found it too spicy and there's a picture of her out there with her reaction to it.
While we were eating, people were going to meet the people they were staying with. Bekah, who I thought I was staying with asked Arturo if she could stay with a girl who's family she'd just met and he said she could, but didn't say anything to me. We weren't sure what was going on, but then Arturo told me to come with him to met the person I would stay with. Yup, someone different than who Bekah was staying with. I wasn't really okay with it. But that makes sense right? Who wants to get in a car alone with some strange person you just met in a strange city? It ended up being a good match for a 'family' for me. Chela and her entire family spoke English. I found on the ride to their house that she is a teacher too. I was pretty exhausted by the time they reached their house, and I pretty much was out as soon as they showed me to my room.
More later and pictures soon!
We ended up getting to Houston at 10:15 and our next flight was leaving at 10:30. Half our our group tore through the airport to tell them we were coming and the rest of us made it on to the plane just in time, yay! We had just taken off and had been flying for about 20 minutes when a woman a few rows ahead of us asked for the flight attendant to get her daughter for her, and after a few minuets of talking to the woman with her daughter the flight attendant said he was going to ask if there was a doctor on board. Dana, Molly and Sarah to the rescue! With the help of the flight attendants they took care of this woman, who may have been having a heart attack. They got an iv going and told the captain that we should go back to Houston.
Once we finally left Houston and made it to Mexico City, we had to go through customs where Russ and Dana got held up for a very long time because of the medicine that they had packed. We finally got all packed into Arturo's van. And I do mean packed! 11 people and all of the luggage. Poor BJ had to sit on the floor between the front seats.
We got a little tour of Mexico City, home of 28 million people, and no apparent traffic laws. It was crazy! And most people seem to handle it fine, no honking or swearing (at least that I heard), and no accidents. We made it to the church where we were welcomed by lots of hugging and kissing and Spanish. I tried to learn some before I left, but about all I retained was let's go eat (vamos acomer), so I pretty much just stood around feeling cold, tired and uncomfortable.
The church is really cool. It's basically a pavilion with a building where there's a bathroom and office and kitchen. Once every one arrived at the church and dinner was done, we sang some songs, in Spanish of course, and Arturo introduced BJ, John, Dana, Sarah and Molly and told everyone what had happened on the plane on the way down. Once that was finished we finally had a chance to eat (it had been hours since the small lunch on the plane)
I was worried heading down about what we would have to eat (if you know me, you know about my eating habits.) Everything was so good though! The people of the church made us sit down and served us, which was a little different, but as I learned later in the week, ok. We had chicken soup with huge kernels of corn in it, and you could add vegetables and stuff to it if you wanted. The best thing though was tortillas with chicken stuff on it where you put on toppings such as lettuce, chille powder, cilantro, cheese and lime. Yum!! We also had this spicy potatoes and peppers dish, Sarah found it too spicy and there's a picture of her out there with her reaction to it.
While we were eating, people were going to meet the people they were staying with. Bekah, who I thought I was staying with asked Arturo if she could stay with a girl who's family she'd just met and he said she could, but didn't say anything to me. We weren't sure what was going on, but then Arturo told me to come with him to met the person I would stay with. Yup, someone different than who Bekah was staying with. I wasn't really okay with it. But that makes sense right? Who wants to get in a car alone with some strange person you just met in a strange city? It ended up being a good match for a 'family' for me. Chela and her entire family spoke English. I found on the ride to their house that she is a teacher too. I was pretty exhausted by the time they reached their house, and I pretty much was out as soon as they showed me to my room.
More later and pictures soon!
18 March 2007
I'm to tired to hunt down some of my favorite song lyrics.
More Books
9. Bridget Jones' Diary Beyond the Edge of Reason* by Helen Felding- The second book about Bridget. I love these books. It's a funny book and I like it because Bridget's life isn't perfect, like many other 'chick' lit books I've read.
10. Avalon High by Meg Cabot- Elaine, or Elle, moves to a part of DC (are the towns out side of it called the suburbs?) when her parents, who are proffessors, want to take time off to research somethings related to the Legend of King Aurthur. She becomes friends with a guy, whose name is escaping me, I just know that he goes by his middle name and his first initial is A., and his friends Lance and Jen. (Maybe already you can see where this is going) I love fairy tales, and this was a pretty good modern day one. It took me until half way through the book to figure out how it was going to end, and it kept me intrigued. I noticed when i was getting the link that there's a second book coming out in September make me wonder if it's going to be a series like the Princess Diaries.
11. Leaving Fishers* by Margert Peterson Haddix-Dorry is uprooted from her home town and moved halfway across the country, where she feels very alone. Until she meets Angela, who inturn introduces her to all of her friends. She is immedeatly accepted, and gets invited to join the Fishers, a church that her new friends belong to. This book raised a lot of questions for me. If you ever read it and want toc hat about it, let me know.
12. The Princess Diaries The Party Princess by Meg Cabot- The seventh book about Princess Mia. In this episode, Mia realizes that the student government has lost all of it's money. So now she has to find a way to make all the money that they will need to rent the hall where graduation takes place. Of course when she mentions the problem to her grandmother, she comes up with a plan.
13. The Series of Unfortunate Events: The End by Lemoney Snickett- The final book in the Baudalaire Children's Story. They end up landing on a deserted island, or what they think is one. The discover something out about their families.
14. Chicks with Sticks (It's a Purl Thing) by Elizabeth Lenhard Scottie is depressed over her Aunt's death, and tries to make her self feel better by knitting. She gets her friend Amanda into it, and they meet two more girls at the LYS (local yarn store for you non knitters) and they form a little group. They end up helping each other with their problems. There is a really neat knitting project in the back that I want to attempt to make...someday...
15. TheLife Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty- This is the third book by this girl, and I can't say I liked it so much. It's told in letter and diary entries, like the other two book (I should read the Year of Very Secret Assignments, just so they're all on here). Bindy is the top person in her class, but pretty much has no social skills. Soon she realizes how to stop thinking she's better than everyone and the members of her FAD group think someone is out to murder her.
16. Alligators in the Sewers and 222 other Urban Legends- 222 urban ledgends, can't say much else.
9. Bridget Jones' Diary Beyond the Edge of Reason* by Helen Felding- The second book about Bridget. I love these books. It's a funny book and I like it because Bridget's life isn't perfect, like many other 'chick' lit books I've read.
10. Avalon High by Meg Cabot- Elaine, or Elle, moves to a part of DC (are the towns out side of it called the suburbs?) when her parents, who are proffessors, want to take time off to research somethings related to the Legend of King Aurthur. She becomes friends with a guy, whose name is escaping me, I just know that he goes by his middle name and his first initial is A., and his friends Lance and Jen. (Maybe already you can see where this is going) I love fairy tales, and this was a pretty good modern day one. It took me until half way through the book to figure out how it was going to end, and it kept me intrigued. I noticed when i was getting the link that there's a second book coming out in September make me wonder if it's going to be a series like the Princess Diaries.
11. Leaving Fishers* by Margert Peterson Haddix-Dorry is uprooted from her home town and moved halfway across the country, where she feels very alone. Until she meets Angela, who inturn introduces her to all of her friends. She is immedeatly accepted, and gets invited to join the Fishers, a church that her new friends belong to. This book raised a lot of questions for me. If you ever read it and want toc hat about it, let me know.
12. The Princess Diaries The Party Princess by Meg Cabot- The seventh book about Princess Mia. In this episode, Mia realizes that the student government has lost all of it's money. So now she has to find a way to make all the money that they will need to rent the hall where graduation takes place. Of course when she mentions the problem to her grandmother, she comes up with a plan.
13. The Series of Unfortunate Events: The End by Lemoney Snickett- The final book in the Baudalaire Children's Story. They end up landing on a deserted island, or what they think is one. The discover something out about their families.
14. Chicks with Sticks (It's a Purl Thing) by Elizabeth Lenhard Scottie is depressed over her Aunt's death, and tries to make her self feel better by knitting. She gets her friend Amanda into it, and they meet two more girls at the LYS (local yarn store for you non knitters) and they form a little group. They end up helping each other with their problems. There is a really neat knitting project in the back that I want to attempt to make...someday...
15. The
16. Alligators in the Sewers and 222 other Urban Legends- 222 urban ledgends, can't say much else.
15 February 2007
Oh how the little things strengthen my tiny wings.
I'm itching to go to yoga class. I found a podcast that I like, but it's only 20 minutes long and my mom already told me we can't turn the heat up to replicate the feeling of the 100 degree yoga studio. I'll have to remember to get my mat from the car and see if the podcast+incense= happier, balanced me.
Hope everyone kept warm.
09 February 2007
Someone I am is waiting for courage. The one I want, the one I will become will catch me.
It's pictures like this that help me remember that spring will be back. I hate this weather, and just wish I could stay inside under the covers until spring. Hopefully the grounddog (as my students call him) was right and we'll have spring early.
Anyway, here are some more books:
6. Multiple Choice by Claire Cook You know, I didn't really like this book. It would have been better if it had been longer. It was about a mother who tries to keep her relationship with her college freshman daughter, while she her self goes back to school. They end up at the same radio station for an internship and are asked to a show together. It was an easy read, but no need to rush out and buy/borrow it.
7. Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner- I really liked this one. It's the story of four women, 3 of them with new babies and one whose baby died. It's the story of their friendship and the things that they go through with their families and children. I've read two of Jennifer's other books, and highly recommend them.
8. Dreamland*- Sarah Dessen is by far my favorite young adult author (someone asked me the other day who it was, and I couldn't think at all who it was.) She writes about high school aged girls and the real life things that they go through. This one is about Caitlin, a junior, whose sister Cass runs away on the day of her birthday. In an attempt to be something that Cass wasn't, Caitlin joins the cheerleading squad, and on the night she was supposed to get asked out by a football player, she meets Rogerson and begins an intense relationship with him, involving drugs and abuse.
*=Reread.
18 January 2007
Out side of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read.
Over on my LJ I'm keeping track of all the books I read in 2007. I thought that I would do that here. I'd like to point out that 1. I'm slacking, I usually read so much more and 2. That I don't often read anything other than fiction.
.5 (because I started it in 2006) The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Andrea Sach's gets a job at a top fashion magazine. It's the story of her year at the magazine and what working there does to her life and relationships.
1. *Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty. Elizabeth is a typical teenager, in Australia, who is forced to write to a student at another school, while worrying about her best friend Celia who likes to run away. The book is told in letter form.
2. The Other Woman by Jane Green. Ellie has found the perfect man and discovers that his mother is trying to pretty much live her life. At first it seemed like typical mil behaviour, she planned her wedding, wanted to be there all the time, wanted to take the grandchild all the time.
3. Pastries by Bharti Kirchner. Sunya owns a bakery in a little neighborhood. She's starting to feel that her baking is...off. She's trying to get over her boyfriend, who left her for her friend. There are someother things happening in her life to add to this: a big chain bakery wants to open, her pastry chef quits, and there's a strange man loitering out side her house and shop.
4. The Ivy Chronicals by Karen Quinn Ivy Ames loose her job and her husband all in one day. She has to give up her life style of luxury, and moves to a lower part of NYC. This is the story of how she makes a career for her self helping some of the richest families in the city get their children in to the top tier kindergarten programs.
*=Reread.
I realize that I am not so great about describing the book, but maybe my little things will intrest you...and you can link to amazon to get a little more
.5 (because I started it in 2006) The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Andrea Sach's gets a job at a top fashion magazine. It's the story of her year at the magazine and what working there does to her life and relationships.
1. *Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty. Elizabeth is a typical teenager, in Australia, who is forced to write to a student at another school, while worrying about her best friend Celia who likes to run away. The book is told in letter form.
2. The Other Woman by Jane Green. Ellie has found the perfect man and discovers that his mother is trying to pretty much live her life. At first it seemed like typical mil behaviour, she planned her wedding, wanted to be there all the time, wanted to take the grandchild all the time.
3. Pastries by Bharti Kirchner. Sunya owns a bakery in a little neighborhood. She's starting to feel that her baking is...off. She's trying to get over her boyfriend, who left her for her friend. There are someother things happening in her life to add to this: a big chain bakery wants to open, her pastry chef quits, and there's a strange man loitering out side her house and shop.
4. The Ivy Chronicals by Karen Quinn Ivy Ames loose her job and her husband all in one day. She has to give up her life style of luxury, and moves to a lower part of NYC. This is the story of how she makes a career for her self helping some of the richest families in the city get their children in to the top tier kindergarten programs.
*=Reread.
I realize that I am not so great about describing the book, but maybe my little things will intrest you...and you can link to amazon to get a little more
18 December 2006
I sing to life, to its beauty To each of its wounds Each of its caresses, caresses. Josh Groban Canto Alla Vita
Projects left to do:
* FBOE
* Schizophrenia presentation
* Volunteer hours (Should be able to do them on Friday!)
* Research Article thinger
*Reading project (can send and resend until I get the a)
* Take home final (but come on, it's multiple choice and her tests are pretty easy)
*Graduate
Holy cow, just two more things! I don't know what to do with my self! I think I procrastinated about the projects because i don't know what I'm going to do once I don't have school work any more.
* Volunteer hours (Should be able to do them on Friday!)
* Take home final (but come on, it's multiple choice and her tests are pretty easy)
*Graduate
Holy cow, just two more things! I don't know what to do with my self! I think I procrastinated about the projects because i don't know what I'm going to do once I don't have school work any more.