things that make me happy: diy hair, stamps, flowers, green screen, and istation cake

home. once we got home, i had to quickly get a picture, lest i forget. angelica and i were talking about her grandson and she said she flat-irons his hair because it is super curly. so i suggested getting a brazilian blowout...and the obvious,"they're just so expensive!" so i explained how i've been doing mine for the past year (once every 3-4 months), and it really isn't that difficult, just a little time-consuming. so i promised i'd let her know what product i used.

i was really excited when i went to the post office, and i'd received letters from two of my aunts-kim and mindy! it's always just so good to hear from them, and to know what is going on with the family up in iowa. it especially felt like Christmas in July, because mindy had seen one of my facebook posts back on april 29...i was down to 1 stamp...well, she must've known...i must have been emitting my anxious "i'm-almost-out-of-stamps" vibe...strong enough to be felt from iowa! you do the math #imawriternotafighter (line from michael jackson the girl is mine, had he been thinking shakespeare)

i dropped one of my friends off at the airport with her mom, and got to meet with another friend later at kona grill, because we hadn't gotten together since summer school. it was really great to snack on sushi, and catch up! then of course we went into the mall and made our way strategically to 3 stores to find the products that she was in need of and i escaped unscathed! we did get a great historical lesson regarding how the perfumes were made and how they layer, and how many actual molecules went into the making of each fragrance...and yes i actually found one that i really liked...just sayin..this man loves his job! #pasionateaboutscents

i also put it on my shopping list to grab some flowers from the store. the boys love flowers...

this work week started out (as usual on monday-yesterday [two days ago now..this is what happens when i procrastinate]), and when lori walked in, she came bearing someone new! she introduced us to her friend lori (not a typo), who will be joining us at istation! so here's what i'm thinking. from now on, we should start hiring people who share names of current trainers and then pair us all up whenever possible so that it makes it really easy on the participants! it also makes for a great cover-up....oh, that was the other julie, not me...

 i spent part of the day with toni, visiting some of her TACKLE SUMMER SLIDE campuses. it was great to get out and see the kids working with tutors and enjoying their time on istation. we made our way back to the istation tower just before lunchtime, and i joined suzanne and deane, who has finally been freed from the chains that bound her...and was doing the on-boarding process, so i got to sit in and when lunch rolled around we had a casual lunch in the war room (where all of the important battles are waged...). it's always a good idea to take every opportunity to get to know people as well as possible!

besides, hard to beat turkey-wrap pinwheel sandwich bites, pita chips with hummus, and the cinnamon-crumble bites. and i kinda' screwed up and took too many pita chips-they just came out of the bag too fast, to my horror, and i don't know these people well enough to be manhandling pita chips and putting them back in the bag, having them wonder if i washed my hands or not! so...i zoned out of the conversation for a minute, thinking through my dilemma. i was going to have to be creative about rationing this little scoop of hummus. so i mixed it up and used the veggie dip (meant for the carrots), intermittently and it paired well with the pita chips. i was very proud of myself when i was able to finish that last chip... those cinnamon bites, though...addictive! yikes!

when toni returned, we finished our rounds, but i forgot to go up to get my new id badge pic...but that morning, i did get the exciting news that i will be training in florida (one day...but at least i get to see the palm trees, right?) so an overnighter- i'm going to try something new with the automatic feeders-separate the boys so that bruno doesn't eat chaco's food and give chaco a reason to write mommy dearest memoirs.

then tuesday we had an office field trip, so i got there a little early. when i pulled into the underground garage, it seemed so dark. when i turned the car off, it was too dark to see what i was doing. that was strange-i don't remember having this sensation previously. when i got up to the lobby area, i looked around and there were a bunch of people sitting around. "hmm," i thought, "all of these people here for an interview?" then i saw some familiar faces--and realized that the lights were out. i made my way toward the first floor restroom, because the elevator was out. then i realized that the bathroom was pitch black. just as i was preparing to use my phone flashlight, with visions of cave-spelunking, the lights came back on. when i got back to the elevators, people were still waiting around for the elevators to begin running. they were fine on the other side (floors 1-12), but the express to the upper floors were a little sketchier...and we may or may not have heard someone in one of the elevators who'd gotten stuck when the electricity went out-20 minutes...

once the first run up was ready to go, i was intent on going up-not a worry, lisandra was not as sure, but bless her willingness to take a walk on the wild side! she was thinking claustrophobia, and what if... i had been on a netflix adventure binge for a minute, and so my mind went to the panic-room mode, and if i were stuck in an elevator, what would jason bourne do?  but there were no hiccups, which is good, because we were about to have kiddos coming for a field trip! the cool thing is that i got to go through the tour-which i hadn't done yet, so it was fun to go through and see what happens with the students! the group i was with-silly and antsy, but no more so than any other group of 2nd graders! at one point, the kids were told about tiger, the office dog, and they were asking about him from that moment on, wanting to get a glimpse of our mascot..i don't think we saw him once, but would not stop asking where the dog was (one track minds!) my favorite part of the entire tour was definitely the green-screen room! the kids loved it, and the walls were padded (not for crazies), which gave the kids a chance to scream at the top of their lungs once. it was still a little loud in the room, but no one really heard them from the outside.  the bottom line-they had a blast!

if i were a super-hero in space...this might happen. 

if i were just a normal semi-normal person stretching out in front of a regular green screen, though...this might happen.

masks of the characters-students got to choose their faves

it really is a fun field trip-highly recommended! very fun, because they have been interacting with these characters and now they got to see how everything comes together!

afterward, toni and i went out to another site- i've loved tagging along with her, because we've been able to have some great conversation time.

so today, we got to go out to one of the sites toni has been working with, and i got to meet ms. nutall, one of the dallas isd board members. she is a treasure, and she has been working with students during the summers, to help curb summer slide. they have an impressive support system. we also went to the boys and girls club and today was their celebration! i love that we were able to be there-these kids were so great!

over the top cute!

so that kinda' sums up the past couple of days, and it's going to start getting a little crazy up in her.

blessings-
julie