About To Blow Up

Today marks the first day in a week-long break I have before my life explodes. Next Tuesday, I start school-year lead teaching at preschool and 3 nights of grad school classes/week that will get me home at 9pm, in addition to the last month of marathon training and trying hard to be a good wife. Lucky for me, my husband holds this ship together even when I'm not doing all this crazy stuff, so I know he'll be amazing and supportive. He is the only reason I can keep going and power through! It's going to be nuts though.. I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving Break.

We had our in-service day at preschool today, and setting up the classroom with David and Courtni to make it our own really made me feel like I am taking charge of the classroom. I'm so excited to start with these new but familiar "friends" (that's what we call the kids - instead of kids, students, children, etc.). I got to make our Welcome Board, and I just had so much fun doing it. I love those kinds of projects. I always loved painting signs for cheerleading, making scrapbooks, making projects for school and family and friends. I always knew that the creative part of teaching was for me, I just didn't realize how much I'd love the rest of it too.

Welcome Board!!!

It's based off of the children's book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," a favorite at LPP:

Tyler & Kara

One of Bill's best friends from college, Tyler, and his fiancee, Kara came to visit Chicago last week. It was wonderful to see them! They live in Portland, Oregon, where Tyler works for Intel and Kara just completed the Bar and will be beginning a prestigious clerkship in the fall while her full-time job waits for her to complete it. They're getting married next April, and Bill's going to be one of Tyler's groomsmen. He's so excited! While they were here, Bill and Tyler went to a Cubs game, and we did a lot of eating great food and catching up. We can't wait to see them again, hopefully before their wedding.

Marathon Update

We ran a whopping 20 miles yesterday. It was murder! Our previous long runs, 16 miles and 18 miles have been smooth and uplifting. Not so for the 20 miler. During the last four miles, I tried to think of possible ways to cheat on the day of the marathon. My best idea was to skip the western leg and just cut from the north loop to the south... if you see that we got a sub-3 hour time on the big day (Probably just me, not we. Bill's too noble.), you'll know that my bad side won. I'm hoping it was just a fluke and that our next long run of 23 miles will somehow be easier.. we will see.

Good Eats

Bill loves to cook and I love to eat! A match made in heaven. Here are some pictures of delicious dinners he's made for us lately. I'm so proud of my husband for being so great in the kitchen!

Braised beef short rib ravioli

Grape gazpacho, mussels and Spanish chorizo
Snow pea, bell pepper and chicken stir fry

I always secretly loved salsbury steak for elementary school cafeteria lunches, so Bill recreated my fav. It was much better than I remembered

Prosciutto and cauliflower soup

Chicken tortilla soup

Mu shu pork

Mexican chorizo empanadas

Seared cod with spinach and orzo

Lobster pasta with snap peas and a champagne sauce

Chorizo stuffed cubanelle peppers

Bill's famous guaca!

Fish, mussel and cannelini bean stew

Red chile pork tamales

Mole verde with sea bass

Zuppa Tuscana

Chicken pot pie

Kung pow chicken

Tomato basil w. goat cheese and Spanish chorizo w. red pepper pizzas

Beer battered artichoke hearts, bacon-wrapped chorizo-stuffed dates, and manchego cheese tomato bread

Pear salad

Tacos!

Taquitoes

Ceviche

Beer cheese bacon soup

Sashimi

Salmon avacado maki

Lentil salad with shrimp and scallops

Cheese tortelloni with sundried tomatoes, asparagus and pine nuts

Corn and cashew chowder

The Future's So Bright We Need Shades

I love the title of this post for a potential Welcome Board slogan my preschool class might have in the fall. I'm thinking of slogans because this Monday, I was offered and accepted a lead teaching position at LPP! I will be moving up a class to the 3's & 4's, and I'll be co-teaching with Mr. David, who is an amazing amazing teacher. He's incredibly creative, I love being creative, and now we get to be creative together!! I'll be transitioning from part-time to full-time, getting much more teaching experience, making more money, and reducing my free time by a lot. I'm thrilled!!

I'm excited beyond words to be a lead teacher. I didn't think I'd have the opportunity until after I graduated from grad school (which will be next June), but the situation presented itself, and everything fell into place. What I am most excited about is that the 2's & 3's I taught (and loved!) this year will be in my 3's & 4's class this fall. Half of them already moved up this summer, so I'll get to enjoy spending my days with them again starting July 27th. It's a great birthday present :)

I've absolutely loved working with Patty and Keri, the teachers I have been with all year in the 2's& 3's. We were a cohesive, loving team, and our class ran so smoothly. I hope I can implement a lot of our strategies in the 3's & 4's class. They've taught me so much, and I'm glad they'll still be right next door for me to turn to for advice.

I will be teaching in the 3's & 4's class until March, when I will need to leave for 12 weeks to complete my student teaching to fulfill my masters requirements at DePaul. As soon as I graduate, in June, I will return to my teaching position with the 3's & 4's. LPP is being very flexible to work with me, and I really appreciate it. I can't wait to begin!

Happy Birthday America

Bill and I are both on day 4 of a glorious 4-day weekend. We relaxed together all day Friday. One benefit of living in Des Plaines is that the area has so many great parks, most of which have playgrounds for children, and some that are perfect for picnics. During a walk, we discovered a peaceful grassy park with lots of trees and flowers and decided to have a picnic there on Friday. We read, talked, ate and laid on the blanket until the sun started to set. It was wonderful! It was a perfect day off with my babe.

We started the Fourth of July off with a 13 mile run, which really boosted our spirits about the marathon! We were only planning on running 12, the longest run we've had so far this year, and we felt so good at the end that we decided to go the extra mile and do half of the marathon distance. It was inspiring! We thought we would be completely exhausted after the run, which would have been sad because we had night plans too.. but we felt fine! It's so hard to imagine though that it was only HALF of the distance - that if we had been running the marathon, we'd have to turn around and do it all again. Yikes!

On the night of the Fourth, Megan and her roommate, Elizabeth had a rooftop party at their apartment in Wicker Park. Once the rain stopped, everyone was able to party on the roof while vagabonds set off fireworks in every direction. Megan's Charleston friends were in town and are always so much fun in their cute southern dresses and southern drawls. They make me really want to move below the Mason Dixie line.

Sunday, I went to the Cubs game with all of the Brodericks and Meg's visiting friends. We had seats on a rooftop, something I haven't done before. It was very fun! We spent the whole time talking in the sun and didn't watch the game too closely except to cheer for runs (the Cubs won 8-2). When I got home, exhausted, my wonderful husband asked what I wanted for dinner, went to the grocery store, and made dinner for us while I laid and watched Friends. He had spent the day with our nephews, going to Crystal Lake's 4th of July parade and playing with water balloons. Such a fun weekend.

I wanted to ice my knees after the run, but there was no time. Bill helped tape the ice packs to my knees while I wrapped bacon wrapped dates for Megan's party

Bill & I at Megan's Party

Kelly!!! Where's your dress?

Us with the Newlyweds! They're so in love

Charleston friends

Meg & I

My friends are Beautiful!

The Broderick girls

Cubs Rooftop

Kristin's Baby Shower

Kristin's mom and her good friend, Lauren, threw an amazing baby shower for Kristin today! We had approximately 30 courses for brunch at David Burke's Primehouse in the James Hotel. I was lucky enough to get wined and dined there once when I worked at Starcom, so I was thrilled to find out that Kristin's baby shower would be taking place there, in the best steak house in Chicago. Kristin looked beautiful - all belly. I'm so excited for her son to arrive! And I'm willing to guess she is too.

I love how Kristin's just pointing

Kristin's new family

Our big brunch table - deLICious food!

Kelly & Peter's Wedding

Kelly and Peter are married! Their wedding weekend was very fun, romantic, and memorable. Kelly looked GORGEOUS in her stunning dress. She and Peter were such a happy couple during the ceremony, saying their vows. It was a very special event to share with Kelly and Peter, and I'm so happy our friends are officially a Mr. & Mrs.!

Kelly dancing with her younger brother, Sean

Meg & I at the Rehearsal Dinner at Wildfire

The Bride and Groom to be!