eat your stinkin' citrus fruit cocktail from the wheelbarrow and LOVE IT! (said no lunch lady...ever)

i loved sleeping in this morning because i knew that when i got to school, we were going to have breakfast waiting for us. well...not quite waiting...we waited for it, but on the upside, it was delivered to the door! thank you! the breakfast tacos were delicious!

today was a half-day for the kiddos, and professional development for the teachers. once that was over, i stayed to cut up all of the fruit i had collected from the kids (we're required to throw it away if they don't eat it, so we dispose of it in our compost bin). anyhoo, i wheeled the wheelbarrow in and started cutting up the oranges and apples so that they would decompose more quickly. so..i was pretending to be the lunch lady and i was making fruit cocktail. i would serve it straight from the wheelbarrow.i would say, "come and get your fruit cocktail from the wheelbarrow...and LOVE IT!!" and the kids would look at me and say, "This isn't fruit cocktail, it's just oranges and some apples." and i would look them in the eye and repeat, "i SAID come. and. get. your. fruit. cocktail....and. LOVE. IT!" and it would probably be at that point that i would get my pink slip (and not like the kind you wear under your pink dress..).

then i wheeled it out to the compost bin and made some layers.

when i got home, i was very excited because two packages came that i'd been waiting for! if you remember i mentioned that one of my friends had gone to intern in africa and through her blog, i was acquainted with rowan bracelets and necklaces.

it finally came!! and very personalized-enjoy!

 well, i also got another package, because i found a bracelet in the skymall magazine as well. i knew it was very similar, but i wanted to see what it would be like (made in kenya)..they are very similar.i was thrilled that they both came today!

 and then there were the ones from rowan. i was more excited about these, because i have read the personalized stories about the ladies that make them. and i know that 90% of the profits go back to them! that won me over. i really enjoy their website and their work.

this was the kenyan bracelet, and it was slightly more expensive, and it was not the colors that were in the magazine shot, but it's all good b/c i like it!

i got an email letting me know that they no longer carried one of the designs i was interested in, and was there another i would like to replace it with, so i chose the lavender..

 all of the beads are cut and rolled meticulously to create these beautiful pieces of art!

i love the colors in this one!

very personalized!

they do jewelry parties, and i thought it would be cool (if someone else did one). it would never work in my apartment.

and they included this little gem of an african proverb:

i've had tense shoulders lately, and i have no desire to use the heating pad and have wwIII with the cords...so i have been using the old "put-rice-in-a-sock-and-microwave-it" technique...well...i think it might be time to empty it out and get a new batch of rice in there because it's starting to smell like stir-fried-rice and making me want to eat my socks...

my rice-laden sassy sock

tomorrow night is game night, and i must admit, i am quite excited about it.

dear end of the schoolyear,
you're not going to beat me...i got this!
julie