Surprising people

I find that I do not have much to say in a blog to be honest. I have NUMEROUS stories about my students and my adventures as a Chicago public school teacher, but that is not something I want to write about for any of the aforementioned students to stumble upon. But today is Janelle's 25th birthday. Cheryl came into the city for the night and we were on our way to Jewel (grocery store chain) to get some birthday candles for Janelle's cake. As we were walking the chilly/icy block to Jewel, we crossed paths with a man. He looked like your average neighborhood commuter coming from the El station. Then, as he walked past us, he growled. It was a very low-sounding growl. If I had been alone, I may have questioned whether the growling had even happened. But Cher also noticed, so I know it really happened. Strange. We sped up a bit and waited to giggle until he was out of earshot. Chicago really is a great place to live if you want to be reminded of your own sanity and normalness.

On a totally random note, I still LOVE Blues Traveler music! I loved singing it in high school, and I still enjoy be-bopping around the house playing air guitar and air harmonica.

My colorful house

For those of you who I don't keep in super good touch with, my fiance and I have recently bought a house. It's a three-bedroom bungalow on the northwest part of Chicago, in a neighborhood called Jefferson Park. The people who lived here before us really loved pink. I mean, REALLY loved pink. Here were all the pink things in the house: the border around the exterior windows, all the carpet downstairs, the ENTIRE bathroom, floor to ceiling curtains,the kitchen walls..... ! When I was in 2nd-4th grade I LOVED pink and wanted nothing to do with any other colors. But since then, it's really not my "cup of tea."

So, Arturo and I have begun our painting of the house to "de-pink" it. We have painted the living room and dining room so far. Our living room is a nice deep redish color and the dining room is apple green. The kitchen will be yellow. The bathroom will be blue. And the room that will be our bedroom is a really cool jade and green color. Just for all you Houghtonites out there..... we are not living here together yet, I live with roommates until the wedding. :) Moral compass...... mostly on target! :) Anyway, I am sitting here tonight on the couch, looking around the house and thinking on my day. As I looked at the walls, and imagined how the color will erupt even more as we continue to paint, I suddenly thought, "Oh my word.... I live in a Lifesaver Candy House! Crap! My family was never huge into colored walls, and I have rented until now, so I really have never lived anywhere with color. Oh well... the paint is bought and I'm sure it will be quite lovely and express our creativity and imagination! COME VISIT!!! :) As another plug for local visitors, we live very close to the airport (25 min el ride), about 8 blocks from the el and a major bus depot! PLUS... Chicago is a super city and I love showing is off!

Okay, well thats it for my post. I have to get up early (5:45AM.... sympathy please!) and it's after 10pm, so I must fly to my comfy cozy bed. Many friendly thoughts......

From anti-blog to blog creator!

I think blogging is stupid. Okay, I USED to think it was stupid. And then my dear friend, Cheryl and I were "blog-stalking" and we both concluded that "WE NEED BLOGS!" So here mine is. I am guessing that I will not have super amounts of thoughtful and philosohical reflections. HELLO..... any crazy stranger can read this! But I am going to try to update this. Maybe at school while I give my students tests.... hmm.......

Okay, so here goes my first blog story. New Years Eve. It is suppossed to be an extremely exciting night, right? Mine was not. I had made dinner for 7 friends (including some roommates). We are talking a nice dinner.... cuban garlic rice, tuscan chicken and crusty Italian bread (props to Rachel Ray for the recipes!). Then 3 of them LEAVE for other parties, so Cheryl, Arturo and I are just sitting there, drinking our yummy Screwdrivers. Our time together was so exciting, that Arturo falls asleep right on our wood floors! So I think you get the idea.....we did make the best of it by drinking many Screwdrivers, playing some board games and having fun. But next year I am definitely going to make it to some parties. There's just too much hype around New Years to not do something exciting. And I believe this will end my first post.