bmayes is not an imaginary friend-we just don't have recent pics, and p.s. my chiropractor thinks i'm funny, so there.

alright...let's see. you are lucky, i flipped a coin and it was between writing letters and writing a post. writing a post won-granted, it was a mental coin and i'm pretty close to up-to-date in the letter-category.

training ended on a good note, and i am certain that everyone was ready for summer! ahem...i'm still working summer school. a resounding sigh echoes through the empty school building...it just sounded good-i'm not at school... next week will be the last of it, then i will stick around for a couple of days so that i can get to the chiropractor again before i'm gone for several weeks.

did i mention that i have an awesome chiropractor? well, it's true. first impressions aren't everything (if you didn't read about the first visit, you can find out more about "bradley" here). seriously, if you are in the dallas area, and thinking about visiting a chiropractor, bri is great! what makes her great, you ask...well, in all honesty, it's mostly that she thinks i'm funny and laughs when i say something humorous-which, let's face it, it happens quite often.

today i wore my vibrams in, and she was like, "cool shoes! you always have cool things!" she was referring to my umbra credit card holder from the last visit...great. now i've upped the expectations.

this past weekend, one of my favorite friends (if i used the word besties, she would fit in that category, but that is not really a word in my vocab-except when i'm being stupid)...so yeah, back to the story, bmayes made an appearance! it was short, but well-timed and much enjoyed! from gloria's, hurt's donuts-hand-delivered, hawaiian ice...ah, good times, good conversation-always! but once again, we failed to get any pics-people are going to begin thinking brittany is an imaginary friend! which would make me feel like anne of green gables...but i digress....TOTALLY real! i found the dreamcatcher that i meant to send as a gag-gift several months ago and i put it up over futon- because everyone should sleep well!

front

back

it HURTS! it's hurts. we actually looked them up and they began in springfield-the original, and that is the facebook page i follow (and have had the opportunity to visit), then friends wanted the owner to start one up in norman (which is the first place i was introduced!) and i believe they have opened a third in wichita! i must make the pilgrimage! #hurtsdonutgroupie

SERIOUSLY! if she weren't real, how did i get to savor THESE GEMS!?!  not sure what the green monster is called, but it had andes mints on it, then moving up to Jesus donut (english J, not the spanish j), german chocolate, and my all time fave-twixted sister!! i'm purring just thinking about them, because if i were a cat, that's how happy they make me!

 not gonna' lie, when i realized that bmayes had left, and left her portion of the donuts behind (as she'd met with a friend for breakfast), i was doing a happy dance.

before she left, we went for hawaiian ice-i originally wanted to go to my favorite little shack, but when we got there, it was closed! with no forwarding address!! which led to some googling to see if we could figure out where they moved...but to no avail, so i decided to swing by a little joint down on beltline that i'd driven by several times to see how they were. guess what-they were great! so from now on, that will be the frequented hot-weather shaved ice haunt.

plus, they have prime seating!

 i had to stop to get an envelope to send bruno's records in to the insurance peeps...i got a call from the vet, and they tried to fax them, but the file was too big, their computer too old...so i said i'd pick them up and send them. i did stop by fed-ex to see how much it would cost to fax-um.. $1.25/page! (70 pages); pretty sure my face said it all as i immediately turned around laughing and went to purchase an envelope!

while i was purchasing said envelope, one of the employees-a gentleman walked up to the cashiers on a cordless phone and asked if either of them (late teens) could give directions to the lady on the phone. the girls laughed, and one of them actually said, "i don't give directions. that's what smart phones are for! everyone has them now!" WOW. so i asked where the lady was coming from and i gave her directions (i even pulled out the actual words, EAST, under the bridge, about 1.5 miles) and she was grateful, but for real...our youth is DOOMED!! the day sci-fy movies come true, they're screwed! how in the world are they going to get out of the zombie-ridden town if all they have is the sky and an old-school compass...and if they're lucky, a printed atlas...oooooohhhhh.

i am so glad that i learned how to use a compass, read maps, know what nnw means, and how to get there! thanks dad and geography classes!!

that time i gave directions because the people who actually worked there couldn't articulate where they were employed. the struggle is real.

 and we met our new principal last night-you never know what someone is like or how they are going to be in a leadership position with your staff until they are actually in place working. that's the make or break moment. it was great to have such a good turn out of teachers to meet him and ask questions. but let's be honest...curiosity mostly! so we did go out to snuffers afterward. i haven't been out with friends from school in way too long. i met up with olivia more than anyone else last year, and she wasn't even on staff! welcome back!!

great ladies-fun, authentic, thoughtful! part of the bilingual crew! we are fortunate.

 and last, but not least, please look at the concrete stairs at my apartment. for how long do you think this will be structurally safe?

alrighty then, did i mention that my chiropractor thinks i'm funny? just making sure you caught that.

'night!
julie

why so long, monday? why do you think you own the week?

i'm uncertain why, but today was a never-ending day. i got home about 2 hours ago, and i was about to check the computer to see what today was-it doesn't seem like it should still be monday. but, alas, it is. i mean it felt like joshua had spoken to God and caused the sun to stop and the day to wear on...and on...and on.

this afternoon we had our last big monday meeting for staff development-now it's just one wednesday every 6 weeks. did i mention that our new principal sat in for over half of our meeting? well, it's true! this is never much fun when you don't know much about the new principal. hmm. so we worked our magic and made 45 minutes of learning turn magically into 70 minutes-pretty stellar if you ask me. in fact, i know it was successful because on the way out i stopped by the office to tell the assistant principal that we need a trash can in the downstairs 'adult' bathroom, and dr. hughes was in the office and she said, "that was a pretty good meeting. i don't know what they're usually like, but i thought it went well." i proceeded to inform her that usually it was more of an adventure."

did i mention that when i took bruno in for his eye-problem there was a substitute vet? and guess what, he was even harder to understand than my normal vet...i'm not sure, it might've been my lady's dad or something. so he prescribed an ointment for bruno's eye. dogs don't like ointment in their eyes. so i had to convince him by telling him it was a $25 tube of human eye-stuff and that he was VERY important!

who knew that bausch and lomb made doggie eye ointment...i wonder if they make doggie contact lenses...my boys would look great with blue eyes...or creepy.

in my social studies class, i was looking for some information about the texas native americans, and came across this quote. it would be wise for all of us to heed the wisdom of the cheyenne!

not to be confused with another popular quote:

i know, hard to believe.

may the rest of this week not be as slow as today was!
julie

tags UTILA, you're it!

i'm so glad today is friday! and what makes me even happier is that when i went into the training site to see if there was availability for a training class. guess what. there wasn't! i was ecstatic because now i won't feel as guilty about not going!

got tamales today and i was not disappointed! i didn't need all dozen of them, so i stopped by the front office of my apt and shared some because i had to get my tags for UTILA! finally! we were getting worried! (we, being UTILA and me). i'll put 'em on tomorrow!

and remember when i showed you the bat? here's the  vicious guard dog responsible...if you recall, i mentioned that he goes for the eyes-well, he just got the second today. i told him it didn't even matter because bats had poor eyesight anyway.

he kinda always gives me the fake-innocent look...even when he knows that i know he did it; i should've told him to take out the sonar ears

(all this as he huffs, sniffs and barks at the door because he just heard the neighbor..and this time bruno even told him to shut his yapper and laid back down.)

this morning we had burritos for breakfast at school and i smelled it. i don't quite know how to explain the smell. but i took a bite then read the label. it had a very processed cheese and sausage crumbles. and on the package it said keep frozen (but they warmed them up....might have made great popsicles).

i've tasted something like it before...i think it was one of those taquitos that they sell at the gas stations...

i was about to say something, but the kids piped up, "ms. robinson, these are good! save the extras for me!" hmm. so i decided not to rain on their parade. i didn't even drizzle...i just smiled and let them enjoy it.

got an AVID visit this morning-thankful that laura took a moment to come out and explain what exactly she was needing and looking for because i feel like we're a little in the dark...that beginning of the year assessment...is more like a beginning of the middle of the year assessment. oh boy. i think i need to go back to square one and locate the plans of action that we wrote up over the summer; but apparently they're more difficult to find than expected. oh well, we'll get there.

we met our new principal yesterday. i'm not skerd. but on the same token, when it comes to being the first person to ask for something.....NOT IT!!!!!

anyhoo-hopefully this weekend is productive for everyone-do not fuel up on breakfast burritos.
julie