when i dress up, people don't usually say 'you clean up well,' they just laugh at me...rude.

i should have planned my time better while in misourri. i have so many special people in the area, yet i spent most of my time at mom and dad's doing school work and just relaxing...

today reminded me of how i need to do better at keeping up with friends! it was a joy and a breath of fresh air to hang out with kristin today and meet her kiddos! they are quite the crew, and i love watching her in their teachable moments!

i meant to get a pic of us today, but here is one of our more memorable moments in college...

not a special event...we just wanted to dress up for dinner...at the steak house.

 when did i start taking myself so seriously? time to have fun again! there is nothing more wonderful than catching up with old friends!

and unfortunately i didn't have time to go to my friend's home to put up the welcome home banner because i had to meet mom and dad in ozark for dinner at lamberts! they had never been there to eat, so they had a treat! i only finished one of my pieces of chicken because they overfeed you with southern cookin'! hot rolls thrown right at your face so that if you miss it, at least it falls on your table.. yum.

and my new friend, who will be making random appearances on the blog...robert de masmines the knight. he met tiger and the mouse tonight.

tiger was unimpressed and told him to put his sword away...(is anyone quoting the office right now?)

but he dominated the mouse!

if i hadn't made plans to come to misourri, i would have gone to austin with others from the fellows cohort on ed-policy reform-it looks like they had a great time and got a priceless experience first hand! the best opportunity for teachers to make a difference in policy is by telling our story to influence the policy makers, or becoming policy-makers ourselves. i cannot wait to hear about it next tuesday! check out pics of what they did here!

so, up bright and early tomorrow to get home at a decent time. next time i will plan more accordingly and give my friends the heads up to see if we can't work out some get-together-time!

pray for safe driving tomorrow!
julie