chillin' and grillin'...prep for the final quarter of the spring break game!

today was a day of replenishing. shea had a long day today-she had to travel, and i needed to not be in the sun too much-recuperating, because my sunburn is starting to blister a little. oops.

i decided it would probably be wise to take a walk-5 miles-it was nice. then i went to walmart to grab some stuff-veggies for dinner, as we had chosen to grill. we've actually done a good job this visit of eating in such a manner as to not leave me in a food coma!

s'mores

so the walk was nice-it made me think of HONDURAS, actually...when i used to walk through our neighborhood in la universidad, and it was always hot...and i'd always look for shade to walk under. that's what i was thinking about as i walked home--there was shade across the street and in the middle of the street, but no sidewalk...on the sidewalk side, there was no shade...oh, decisions, decisions! i was an idiot for not thinking about this until i was already 3/4 mile down the road; such a rule follower-i had to take the sidewalk because that's what it's there for...grr. motto: don't follow walker-etiquette-rules when it involves being 10 degrees cooler!!

when shea got home, we drove over to take maggie for a walk. now, maggie is a bernese mountain dog...hanging out on the coast! not so much a beach dog, but she rocks the dock!

maggie is a poser-

maggie is so patient!

this one's a framer!

 the grilling was great-amazing steak and veggies! every home in florida needs a grill!

talk to the spatula...yum!

then the issue was what to watch...so the emperor's new groove, it was! light and airy enough to paint the toenails, without missing a beat.
it was the type of day i needed, because today and tomorrow have high hopes for being filled with fullness...
julie

maybe i asked the landscape workers for their water...no shame.

it was a short week, but it seemed longer than normal. they always do. this week i had a little scare when one of my friends told me she had to go to urgent care-when all was said and done, everything was mostly fine. thank God! it's funny-not funny, but the whole day i was thinking: what if the dr. says she can't drive...i wake up early, we could take turns picking her up and dropping her off if we need to...and while i totally would've done that, i'm thankful that is not the case! to follow that up, i had dinner with another friend, and i felt bad because i was on the phone for like..oh..25-30 minutes with a former colleague. i certainly didn't intend to be rude, but it was important information that i was gathering!

also this week, one of my people, whom i highly value, was 100% honest about something and it caught me a bit off guard. i understood the spirit behind what was said before we talked about it, and i knew that it was not said out of malice, so for that purpose i didn't take it personally- and while it was a little surprising, i appreciated the unfiltered honesty, because it eventually led to a couple of good conversations. it's those types of conversations that don't happen very often (because they don't need to), that lead to better understanding and in turn stronger friendships. for that i am #grateful

yesterday, friday afternoon after school, i began a conversation with olivia, but she had to leave, so we decided that we'd meet later for dinner to finish that chat. we were planning to go to the truck yard, but then decided on mi cocina, for the sake of better parking. plus, we were going to go there with nicolette awhile back, but those plans fell through, and she wasn't available last night-so we may make that a raincheck.

fun tidbit-when i arrived, olivia wasn't there yet, and so i found a spot to sit while waiting, and a girl-mid to late twenties got up from beside her boyfriend and came over and said, "jrob?!" obviously i immediately knew it was a kamper...and she introduced herself as melanie dickinson-i remember mel! she was tight with mags, and amy during one of my favorite years! so we caught up a little until olivia arrived. i love that era of my life and the relationships and fun that were built around Christ! there's a bond and it's like family. it's truly a small world! and honestly, i am a little surprised that i don't see more of my former kampers than i do around these parts!
olivia and i always have good talks. funny, fun, real. i love that she is authentic and factual.

it was like the heavenly choir was singing the halleluiah chorus over olivia, and me...just hiding over in the shadow! #oliviastealsthespotlight

today was a lazy day-just a lot of gray's anatomy. so good! then i finally decided to get up and exercise-walk. i had to stop at the tulips they are finally in bloom for a minute. and of course the trees are starting to bloom-proof that spring is finally here!  it was a warm day, and i am now feeling it on my face.

happy flowers!

happy tree! (i know, i sound like bob ross)

i did a loop around the college and then down through the golf community. i was feeling dehydrated...in fact it was so bad that i wanted to ask the guy washing his car if i could get a drink from the hose. i may have imagined myself cupping my hands under the bumper of his car, catching water to drink... i thought about turning on someone's hose at another house...i looked for water fountains at the golf entrances...i debated if i were to find a bottle with a little water in it, would i? finally as i was walking by some workers who were doing landscaping, i saw a 20 pack of water, and i asked them if i could have a bottle. i was so relieved when they gave me a bottle, and i started to walk off, and came back to get a pic (for this post-they probably thought i was flirting or something #nopenotflirting) so as i was walking away, i downed the bottle in about 10seconds-it was so refreshing!! #noshame

and then i saw this abandoned
baby in the road. who leaves
creepy babies on the roadside? sad

water for the damsel in distress

 i was talking with nicolette the other day and she showed me a picture from the beginning of the school year, and i guess because i don't look at older pictures often, i don't notice the transformation as much. so i found a picture from this summer and took one after my walk today; body image has never been a big deal to me, but i feel better than i have in years, and it's due in large part to eating right and walking. it's nice to actually be able to find clothing that i like and it's more fun to dress up.

last summer when i decided on a physical
goal-weight

finally reached goal weight and
ready to go back to florida, just need to
tone now

so, to sum it up, it was a week full of good conversations and 'epiphanies.'
best of the weekend to you!
julie

3-day weekend: great way to chase the week!

this week was probably one of the most stressful of my recent life. thankfully i had the right people to talk to, at the right times for my own processing purposes. after about 5 or 6 conversations, i was able to arrive at a logical decision-and i was given a compliment today from someone i respect very much. (more of this story in march). 

so this was our three-day weekend, and it started out at northpark mall, la duni- delicious veggie platter, non-work-related conversation, and fun company! we moved over to kona grill to enjoy laughing with sabrina, a friend of nafia's who i got to meet at the tea party (she's great! lots of fun!) then we did a little meandering around, checking out a couple of stores, playing around before the movie-we may have had to purchase later tickets because there were none together. the movie: how to be single-funny, sweet.

classic. i got a short video clip of nafia and this one, but the file was too big to post...or i'm just too impatient!

saturday was an all-day t.v. marathon. i finished dexter, and was a little disappointed with where it left off, but hey, as long as they bring him back, we'll see if they are forgiven or not!

also saturday night, i decided it was time to do my hair again! so keratin brazilian blowout treatment again! it went well, and my hair is smooth and silky!

used my favorite hair person..oh, that would be ME!

sunday-funday! wish it had been sunnier and brighter, but it was still good. there was this breakfast joint that looked interesting in fort worth, last time we got lost there. it ended up being very cowboy-ish. good bacon! it was a people-watching morning. then a quick car-tour up and around the tcu area, and then off to see the stockyards. i can't believe i've been in this area over 11 years, and have never been over there! for sure a must-visit when family and friends come into town. #mustwearboots

drove through historic grapevine as well. i just LOVE that place! sometime in the spring, i think i will need to get over there to enjoy the quaintness of it all!

this morning i got to go for a walk-i've been avoiding it this past week because i've had a cough, but today was too beautiful not to! eight miles-it was good! my runtastic app cut out on me again, though. boo. then this afternoon, i had a meeting with a friend, for whom i have great respect, at the coolest little coffee shop down on greenville! (wish i'd gotten a pic!!) another reaffirming conversation-there's something about someone saying they're proud of the way you handle things, that just makes everything seem a little better.

it was a good weekend.
julie

i LOVE happy!

for starters, i hope that your day has been great! until recently, i was not familiar with the happy song by pharrell, but there have been a couple of references to it recently (brandy, sheryl and wendy-who played it during an assembly and apparently our students weren't too familiar with it either)....so i downloaded it, and wouldn't ya know it, it does make me happy. smiles all around! music has a way of moving your soul! (or mine at least!)

i had to take two walks the other day. one for the boys, and one for me. so on my own walk, i took a path i was unsure of...the sign said that it would be completed in the summer of 2014, but i took it anyway, in hopes that maybe..just maybe it would have been completed! well. it wasn't. i got all the way down to the bridge (in a somewhat deserted area, where there was graffiti all over the place..sketch)...so i looked to see if there was any way to traverse the bridge, or even the creek...but alas, the way was blocked and impassable.so i turned to return on a mission to get back to the beaten path without having to use my mad ninja skills. best part of the whole thing was the patch of flowers that i found!

i found a colored hill the other day on my walk and when i got closer, i noticed these, so i veered off the path and got a closer view. they were beautiful!

i don't know why i was thinking about it today, but on the way home, i stopped to drop some post cards off at the post office, and i was thinking about something from a book i read years ago. it was the story about a college student who had cancer and his mom wrote the book about him. this mother was a student of her son. she got books about what he was interested in and made a point to have some point of reference so that she could talk with him about things that were interesting to him.

that stuck with me, and as i think back to it now, i really want to get better at that. i want to be a student of people. to understand more about what drives people-and to be able to share in that and celebrate it! people matter, therefore what matters to people matters.

julie

farmers branch added a day to my life!

well. i hope ms. arther had a decent day in my classroom and that my instructions were clear enough. i work so hard to leave good lesson plans for my subs! i want the day to go as smoothly as possible; this stems from the time when i subbed in wylie, tx-i only did it once because it was that bad.

anyhoo. today was the day i was to appear for jury duty. selection. so i was able to sleep in for about an hour and a half, then i took the boys for a short walk before getting ready to go. fortunately it was right here in farmers branch, just around the corner. so i drove on up and then i turned and went through a little 'emergency vehicles only' cut through...it was too late by the time i saw the sign to stop, so i booked it and kept going hoping no cps were around (which i was pretty certain there were not because my radar-detector didn't go off).i got across, no lights, no alarms, safe.

farmers branch police and courts.

when i walked in, there was a roomful of people to my left, so i looked to the right, and there was the office clerk behind her little window and the line i had to wait in was short enough. so i went up and gave the lady my paper. i was a little surprised that they didn't ask for identification or anything to make sure it was me and not a paid substitute sitting in for me. so then i went to sit and read for a bit. i chose to take the book GUILTY by ann coulter with me to read, in hopes that it would send off subliminal messages to the counsel as they were making selections...and as i sat there for about 15-20 minutes, just getting settled into my book, another lady came out and addressed us all.

"unfortunately we are having some technical difficulties in the courtroom, and the judge is going to have to reset his docket. you are all free to go, and this will still count as a jury appearance." people almost shot out of their seats! so as i was exiting and giving her the card about the rules that they had given us earlier for our reading pleasure, i asked her, "so, we won't be asked to come back in for this jury selection?" "no, and if you are summoned by any of the county courts, you are exempt because you were here today-for the next 24 months." wow!

farmers branch courts just added a day to my life! it was 9:37 as i drove back home. i really felt like i had won the lottery! forget the powerball, i had a complete day of freedom! nothing hanging over my head! the worst part is that in the back of my mind, i was actually contemplating coming in to school. then i decided that no, i deserved this. i have not taken a day to myself, and today, it felt so good! i walked in, cleaned all the laundry and organized the closet. then i finished some painting i'd been putting off. i went to the post office to drop off some cards that my kids had made for our jr achievement person. then i stopped at walmart for some Christmas supplies.

this year's tree

got some Christmas cheer up around the apartment

then when i got home, i walked in and took the boys on another walk. it was great because it was early enough that everyone else was still at work, so i had them off leash and they loved it! when we got down to the open field-ish area out back, they played a bit, then they wanted some pics, so i gave in.

chaco

bruno

smelling the fall grass and flowers

just looking off into the distance-serious senior pic-look

when we got home, i looked down and saw a dark clump on my pant-leg. i didn't notice it until chaco came up and started sniffing. and my first thought was,"CRAP" literally. gross...another dog's poop on my pants. it's one thing if it's my dogs, but quite another if it's someone else's pup! so i looked at it, wiped it with a piece of toilet paper, trying not to smear it into the fabric, and then...yep, i smelled it. had to make sure. to my relief, it did not smell. it was just dirt i knelt in when i was taking pictures. i think...because just a few minutes later while i was sitting at the couch, bruno was walking by when his nose started sniffing at my pant legs...hmm..oh well.

now we're just settling in for the night and very satisfied..i may have to do this more often!
julie

which would make a better playmate...wasp or cockroach? neither.

another great morning walk...except that one of the neighbors on the trail had his dogs out romping with no leash, and they came rushing at us, chaco was a little anxious because both were bigger than him-one was a german shepherd...the guy came running up and apologizing. as we were walking off, he said, "they're really cute." talking about bruno and chaco..i think he was fumbling, just trying to smooth things over since his dogs weren't on leashes and he didn't want to get reported or something...

chaco just looked up at him in disgust and shook his head, "pfsh. jerk." i looked at the guy and said, "it's ok...he was talking to your dog, not you." (i didn't really say that to the guy, because i'm pretty sure he didn't hear chaco mumble under his breath.)

when we got back home, we saw a huge wasp hanging out on the sliding door-outside...in fact i just looked up and he is still there right now.

ew. i don't understand why he doesn't just go and find his little honeycomb nest to hang out in.

and just a bit later, the boys were standing at the glass door looking at something and getting excited. "mama! come look! can we go out and play with it?"

it was a cockroach! he was a giant!!

double ew! i hate cockroaches. filthy ugly dirty!

"no, bruno. no, chaco! i will NOT let you be playmates with that filth! you're not even in the same phylum!" "but ma..." "NO! he can play with the wasp...at least they're in the same class!"

they watched him for awhile, but then they became disinterested. not long after that, bruno found the spot where i had spilled my green shake yesterday (i had cleaned it up, i just hadn't run the carpet cleaner yet) and he started rolling around in it. i decided i needed to immediately take care of that. it didn't clean up as well as i had hoped that it would. boo.

then i decided i needed to grab some groceries...48 items for $120. grr...but while i was there one of my students from last year showed up, "ms robinson!" it was eric. i'll have to tell my student teacher on tuesday! her last day was technically last friday, but she offered to come in on tuesday to help out since we are supposed to have visitors then. it's always good to have moral support-she has been great. anyhoo, she thought eric was so funny-unique. she'll get a kick out of that.

tomorrow...week 3! let's get it done!
julie

magic bullet, why you not so magic today?

when we woke up this morning, i decided to take the boys out for an early walk because we didn't get out last night (it was still 90' when we went to bed. boo), so the temp had dropped to 83 by the time we were ready to go. there was only one other person on the trail, so it was a great walk-apart from the beginnings of sweat beads. and then we ran into jessica on our way toward the office, so we went ahead and stopped in to chit chat.

while i was there, i grabbed one of these, because things just haven't been the same without mandy and shannon.

my opinion counts!

komo and jessica are great, but it just isn't the same. i was thinking that as i drove by to get my mail just the other day...and you can just feel a difference in the personality when you walk in. well, we left the office and as we were walking past the pool, i looked down and saw what looked like an egg or a marble or perhaps a large bead...

when i picked it up, it was a fruit or seed from a tree-the size of an eyeball...weird, but very cool-looking!

when i got home, i threw all of my ingredients into my magic bullet, and pushed down to turn it on, but there was no response. hmm..maybe the plug. i replugged it. nope. reset. nope. so i threw the ingredients into the blender (which was fine, but it just didn't blend as well). so i called the customer service # and they said to cut the cord and throw it away, and they would send out a new base-3 to 5 days...so i have to use the blender until then.

i use it daily-every morning, this is my breakfast.

so i decided to pull it apart and see if there was anything keeping it from starting...perhaps kink in the wires...i don't know, but i took it apart...most people would just throw it away, but i am not most people. funny, i never really considered myself one of those look at everything tinker people, but i hate to just throw away and waste things. boo.

then after i had a really good tasting (albeit not-so-smooth) un-smoothie, i sat it down on the foot rest and accidentally bumped it over-all over the carpet. i had only gotten about 1/3 into my belly...grr. what a mess. i'm going to have to break out the steam cleaner for this one.

i think i might still have some nerve problems because there is still a bit of discomfort..hopefully we can get some good news when i go in to the doctor this week. it's GOT to get better than this.

oh, and that sprinkles cupcake i was going to treat myself to...i forgot all about it. but that's probably ok.
julie