a squirrel, a beach, and a habitual liar...pbi!

so much going on! let's see, i shall go in chronological order...the last two trips have been especially priceless. i got up early on monday and left for the airport after dropping some letters at the post office. i had to leave early enough to make sure i could figure out where to park and all. the parking spot out at dfw is forever away and difficult to navigate...don't think i'll do that again! (wait til you hear about the return story!)

anyhoo, i ended up getting to the airport early and had to laugh when i saw that they had a twisted root in terminal A; good to know, as we'd just spent a couple days wanting, yet avoiding the shakes.

#suckerforgoodburgersandshakes

anyhoo, just as i'd walked by, i got a text from julie k asking if i was there yet, if so, to meet by the gate. she invited me in to the special admiral's club-hook a girl up! i was impressed-no lie! we sat for about an hour and had very meaningful conversation to catch up-i knew i liked this one! then we made our way down to the gate area and found miss angelica (always good to see her-there's a special bond with the ones you start with). 

unfortunately we found out that we had just lost one of our partners in crime-another newbie, who was actually able to jump into something that is going to be very beneficial, and through a strange and difficult series of events, God has provided for her in a most beautiful way-which puts my heart at peace, although we will miss her greatly-her humor, loyalty, thoughtfulness, and intelligence...

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

we sneaked on the plane with julie-taking care of her girls! oh the perks! when we finally arrived, we quickly found a car and made our way to the hotel. it was a beautiful hotel! after settling in, we were off to dinner at mojitos-latin cuisine. when we crossed the road into city place, it was an adorable little area with shops and restaurants on the lower and upper decks. the food and drinks were fabulous, the service, on the other hand was found lacking slacking. i mean, when the only person we can find to ask for salt is the cook who doesn't speak english...you get it. and when we actually did get the salt, there was so much moisture that not even the rice was able to salvage these tiny granules. i tried vigorously shaking, hitting it on the side...nothing. i think julie k asked the waitress when she made her way around again. the meals were great-i couldn't help but get me some paella! and i think i may have eaten most of it with the barbie-fork...it took me a little longer, but i thought maybe they put it there for the challenge. small fork challenge!! 

went out front with julie for a couple minutes and when we came back in, there was angelica, chatting it up with the neighbors at the next table..i mean literally sitting at their table and eating their food!! oh, it's good to be uninhibited! she's such a friendly, outgoing one, that this was not surprising and we had to coax her back to our table eventually! we walked around the block and back to the hotel, getting a better feel for the area. then it was off to the hot tub! (after donning our bathing suits, of course!) 

when we got down to the pool area, there was a group already in the hot tub, so we joined them and started chatting it up-they were down from new york for one of the girl's bday. young pups. we got out for a minute and enjoyed the little cabana by the pool (since it was deserted, surely no one would care, right?) and then we got back in after a bit and a new set of folk were down in the hot tub, they were business peeps from london, selling jewelry.

 julie k: oh! is your necklace one of the pieces you sell! it's beautiful!

 katie: NOOO! 

boys:NOOO!

 hmm. shouldn't you be advertising your merchandise? market the crap out of that stuff! 

we made our way to bed, as it is always a good idea to wake up in a timely fashion the day of your training! which would begin in its own magical little way! while stopping for breakfast at starbucks, we sat out in the peatonal--pedestrian area, and along came this squirrel. she had no fear. she knew her gig well! she came up and started talking to us and asked what kind of food we had and told us she had zero use for egg and bacon crap, where were the nuts. so angelica did her best to sift through her meal to locate some almond slices, and a kind, older gentleman brought over some almonds as well. she was all up in our business!! she took one right from my hand, and said thank you..she got spooked easily and at one point took a flying leap from the table to my shoulder to the back of the wicker chair we were in...crazy little hazel. so, when you have an experience like this, you get pics! and we did! she was so photogenic! the pigeons were pissed, because there was a sign that said we couldn't feed them...besides, they were thugs. 

for real, though!

fascinated by the audacity exhibited by little hazel

not nervous at all!!

not afraid to go through our food...

this guy gal!

then we made our way to the hotel to dress-up, grabbed some lunch snacks from the grocery and off to the races. we got to meet the west palm beach crew-very hospitable and very attentive! julie of course gave a great rendition of: basics 101; it was good to hear the bilingual/dual language presentation. the participants were all-in, they had some great questions, and seemed highly engaged and interested, as they would be taking it back to their campuses. i love watching the interaction when the trainers already have the connections with the contacts-that personal relationship is EVERYTHING! once we finished and discussed a little bit, we headed back to the hotel to slip into something beachy and first went to dinner-thank God for people who like sushi! not everyone does-but when with those who are like-minded in their fishy ways...

it was then a race to the beach to see the sunset and feel the magic! parking was, for lack of better phrasing, not a walk on the beach...but we found a spot and took a hike! when we finally got to the public entrance, we found a spot (the entire beach was pretty barren, so that was not a difficult task). amidst some calls, texts and emails, we were able to enjoy the breeze and the majesty! angelica did her thang-she has this little thing she yells into the vast enormity of the cosmos when she reaches the beach (the same thing happened on the west coast), and all was good. the conversation-rich. the moon came out, and we all shared some of our favorite songs-and my heart was at rest. (why aren't there any public restrooms on the beach? asking for a friend...)

there it is!

these two! love em!

magical.

when we made it back to the hotel, there was still time to go down to the hot tub, so hot tub we did-although this time angelica only joined in for a minute (granted it was really almost too hot)-probably had a phone date with the fam or something fun like that! this time, a young man joined us in the hot tub, and his was an interesting story. we're calling the b.s. card on him! 

ju: so what do you do?

young man (ym): i'm an entrepreneur

ju: what type of stuff do you do? 

ym: sell things

ju: like what?

ym: clothes, jewelry, you know..

ju: oh, so where is your business?

ym: up and down the east coast, new jersey...

(sketchball)

ym: but i'm not doing that now. i'm looking for the next thing.

ju: oh, where did you go to college?

ym: some college we were unfamiliar with

ju: what did you study?

ym: i have a degree in cancer

(cough, more like a degree in b.s. and not screaming bachelor of science...just bachelor!)

older man approaches and gets into the hot tub, julie and i excuse ourselves, as she "gets a call or text" and we sit there ripping his story apart. enter hotel worker, ym gets to looking a little nervous and jets out of the hot tub, disappears for a hot minute and returns fully dressed in jeans, shirt, backpack...squatter? intruder? the world will never know, but we have our suspicions! 

before going to bed, we did meet one more group of people. they actually sold computer diagnostician equipment. that particular conversation seemed a bit more legit! one of the young girls made fast friends with julie k, due to the whole brazilian thing she's got going on (now is THAT a conversation starter, or what?!) anyhoo, that was a fun little group, mostly bilingual group-most unlikely to be mistaken for a bilingual group at first glance-

the following morning was a relaxing preparation for departure-and an uneventful trip home. i realize that not all trips are like this, but you have to take advantage of your surroundings when you get the opportunity, right? (at this point everyone should be nodding their heads and shouting "amen!" as if they were part of a very charismatic congregation!!) so i don't hold my breath, but in all honesty, the best part about the trip wasn't the things we did, it was the satisfaction of once again being a part of a group of educators seeing the value and understanding a program they could really implement with their teachers! along with that, of equal value, was the cementing of relationships- if you know anything about me, you know that i truly value relationships! 

encore? may it be in the stars!

julie

chaco, you're not going to the wedding...but you get to play with the president and the prime minister!

i think chaco was trying to send a message that he didn't want to come to the wedding...

he actually snagged the save the date back when i got it, and i caught him just in time, but i wasn't as lucky with the shower information card. brat.

 but now that we're here, he doesn't mind so much since he isn't going to the wedding-he thought he was going to have to dress up and be quiet....not a good combination.
well, i made it to oklahoma for the wedding and last night i went to the bbq/bridal shower and it was such a joy to get to hang out with some of my very favorite people all together in one place at one time...again! the shower was tastefully fun gifts rather than kinky gifts, so bmayes and i got fun games and put them in a fun bag with a fun card because it was a bbq and we figured it fit her personality!

somehow, it just felt right.

the food was wonderful and the company was even better! the only part that was mildly nasty was when melissa kept getting all of the "newly wed" video questions correct....because every time she was right, we all had to put a piece of bubble gum in our mouths, every time she was wrong, she did...as a credit to their future happiness, they know each other pretty darn well! and my teeth will probably all be falling out tomorrow.

our hotel room is actually quite comfortable...

the artwork needs some updating, but other than that, very nice. the housekeeper was in the hall this morning when i was looking for ice, and she only had one tooth and looked a bit like nanny mcphee (even more than my old student did!), but she was super nice, and she went and got my ice because she saw i was walking really slowly. i forgot they have a free breakfast, i might see what they have tomorrow...if they have anything that works with my diet (because the rest of this weekend doesn't really work) ..although i did bring my magic bullet with me and fruit and chard, etc...

and the only good place to plug it in happens to be by the sink

today we slept in until about 8.30, then the boys insisted we watch a little hgtv and then animal planet. i had to change animal planet after a bit because every time the dogs on the show barked, the boys felt they needed to respond in kind. it's ok at home, but not at the hotel!

then we went for a quick walk around the hotel parking lot in the grassy areas and by the time we got back, i had a text from bmayes to go over and play with reagan and thatcher (the cold war coalition)...and so we went over, even though it looked like possible rain. they went crazy when the boys trotted up to the door. then i got to try one of bmayes' banana, almond flour(i think) pancakes. it was pretty great! then the pups went out and played in the yard for a bit.

when lunch time rolled around, we went to mamavecas. before i came, i was looking for someplace with paella... craving. and i found a lot of positive reviews about this place on yelp. so we went and when we sat down, it felt so comfortable and familiar because they were playing hombres g-oldies but goodies, they were one of my favorite groups when i was living in HONDURAS! the food was pretty good-large portions. it didn't quite match up to the paella i had at a spanish restaurant in HONDURAS, though. the seasoning was alright, but there wasn't as large of a variety of seafood, so who in dallas knows of a restaurant that has excellent paella?

the typical lama fur decoration...of a panda because they have pandas in...peru?

and of course there were leftovers...um, we're thinking this used to be a chicken express or something like that because it certainly looks like a barn.

oh, when i tried the paella in HONDURAS, it was on a field trip with our special spanish class. we had a....unique teacher. her name was ms. acosta. she was also the school nurse. which was interesting. i distinctly remember going up to her room once when i had a headache and she wanted to look at my throat. but she didn't have a flashlight, so she made me come over by the window and tilt my head toward the sun...a little loopy. as i recall she was that teacher that always had the huge gaudy jewelry and caked on make-up. but we liked her well enough.

yep, they were all waiting at the door...impatiently; and it took several tries to get this pic because they just wouldn't stay still long enough!

anyhoo, the food was good, then we went back to the house and let the dogs out one more time before coming in and watching life in a day recommended by leah-it was very interesting-great insight on various cultures. during the movie, i was reclining on the sofa, and bruno pounced from the back of the couch onto my stomach and it caused instant pain in my back and leg-he has no clue. so when the documentary was over, we came back to the hotel and laid on an ice pack. and we're in for the night...

more than ever, i can't wait to be back in full swing!
julie

one scoop or two?

it's warming up and kids are starting to smell ripe...time for that health class and the lesson on: EVERYONE NEEDS TO START USING DEODORANT! (whether you think you stink or not!)

and after school i had to stop and get some produce for my green smoothies...wow, is produce getting expensive, or what? i also had to go to petsmart for some fun things for the dogs (as i think about the next couple of weeks).

bruno is a tug-o-war dog...and he especially likes this one because while chaco is standing on one loop and grasping the other and growling, bruno can get the third without getting nipped at by little. (that's not poop behind bruno, they're chew toys, promise).

this one was really important. i've explained that the boys use a potty pad, so it really hurts to bend down, now i have a great little scooper! good thing they're always solids! the great thing about getting this is that it doubles as an impromptu support.

chaco looked at the scooper when i came in and said, "mama, why did you get a shovel? it doesn't even snow here!" i believe that half of the time, he doesn't even know what he is saying, he's like i was when i was little. just likes to talk-afraid of silence.

i am not really looking forward to my drive up to oklahoma on thursday, but i am looking forward to the wedding and seeing some dearly loved friends! we decided to stay in a hotel so that we could come and go and not be a hassle-pups! we're looking forward to romping with reagan and thatcher-chaco adores them. bruno acts like he doesn't care, but i know he does. and i am also looking forward to being a patron at a little mexican/peruvian restaurant tucked out of the way-i hear they have great paella (which i haven't had a great one in awhile, and gigi left before her mom could whip us up a batch!)

goodnight!
julie