Dogs!

Well, it's been awhile since we posted pictures of our dogs... They just got their haircuts (just in time for our awesome Christmas party yesterday evening!) and they looked so cute that I just had to get the camera out! So, while some of these pictures show their haircuts, I figured I should also go ahead and post some adorable shots that we've gotten these past couple of weeks. Top picture - Sandy and Clara love our kitchen chairs (and they love chewing up our kitchen table too... new habit I guess?) - so I caught them sitting on the two chairs one afternoon. Sandy was so excited to see me coming that you can see her tail wagging! The other shots were taken at my mom and dad's home. They love the outside patio and the floor of the living and dining room (they slide around on it, it's so funny!). Notice the toy that is missing it's arm - that happened on the same day they received that toy! But, at least the Happy Hanukkah Bones that they are chewing on in the other picture seemed to last!

The next pictures show their cute haircuts. (Although the one with Sandy's head out of the window was taken beforehand - she looked so adorable!) Below that, Clara seems to be glaring at the camera - she seems to be saying "Mom, it's been pouring outside for a week, and it's windy - and now I have no hair!!!" (This is what happens when the price of a dog's haircut costs more than double of what I pay for my own - all the hair gets shaved off!) So, I started getting creative with how to keep my dogs warm, and I created a coat for Sandy from one of our dog blankets - she looks like a queen! I did the same for Clara, but she took it off right away... She'd rather just scowl at the picture! Anyhow, hope you enjoy!

My directorial debut!

This year, I was given a drama elective to teach at my school. It's amazing to me how I can now incorporate my love of theatre with the students that I teach. I've always been a performer, and I was scared to death to be on the opposite side of the stage, BUT, the show must go on - and I had to teach this class...I had to teach students who had, for the most part, never seen a play on stage, let alone PERFORMED in front of people before! It was a challenge, and so much fun! I paired up with our school music teacher, and together we put a concert/performance together. Our kids learned how to sing together in a chorus and performed four songs, and they learned how to work with one another in four separate fairy tale skits. They learned how to project their voices, how to face front, how to be goofy (it was easier for some than others!), and how to have fun in the theatre/performance world. They peformed their songs and skits last Friday morning (December 10th) at the elementary charter school connected with ours for Kindergarten thru 3rd graders (there were several hundred kids in the audience), and they performed again that evening for a whole bunch of parents. They were a huge success! One skit even performed at our school assembly later on during the day. All of our performers were 7th and 8th graders (I teach all of them in my history classes) and next semester we are bringing in some of our high school students to join us too. We're going to put together a musical with songs from the fifties - should be fun! And, if things go as planned, I've been assigned to work with our school district's students on a musical theatre production that will take place at the Barn Theatre in Porterville (the oldest working community theatre in the western region of the United States!)
So, this first semester of our school year went so well, and now we're able to sit back, relax, and enjoy a fantastic winter break vacation! Yea!

LA Fashion Show for Men

Two years ago I wanted to attend a fantastic fashion show for men, but I had a wedding to attend, which meant no fashion show for me. Why do you ask could I not attend? Well, it was my wedding day and that is how it all starts men....just kidding! I absolutely love being married- it is a God given gift.

Well, this past November, I was finally able to attend!

To start the car show, at the front entrance you are handed a cup of coffee and get to walk around seeing all sorts of cars. We are talking cars ranging from mid range to multi-million dollar cars. The cars were simply in pristine condition and a major highlight of the car show this year was about electric cars. Can you imagine plugging your car into an electrical outlet in your home instead of filling up with gas? I was simply electrified about this thought.

Heck, I even found a minivan that had wood flooring and was considered a "stretch" minivan that will come out next year complete with a mini-fridge. You know... a family car. After perusing the cars for a few hours, I decided to step outside to get some fresh air saying hello to my friend "Chuck Hearn" (he was the announcer for the LA Lakers for numerous years), since we were across the street from Staples Center. We tried to find a moderate place to eat so we walk around and couldn't find a meal that was less than $15.00 a piece so we headed to the food court at the LA Convention Center, only $10.00 a person. All in all, it was a great day...and if you have not seen this show...you really need to go. We spent 8 hours viewing cars while my wife baked with Debby - we both win out in the end.

San Francisco Anniversary Trip

Jeremiah and I decided to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary this year in San Francisco! We can't believe it's already been two years, and we can't believe all that we've been through in the past two years! We decided to take a four day weekend because Veteran's Day (November 11th) fell on a Thursday this year... We also decided to travel by train this time, which we learned was a pretty big mistake because there just happened to be a Veteran's Day parade happening on the street right next door to the Fresno train station, and there weren't any parking spaces...or so it seemed.... God provided one just in time ... well, just before my minor break down turned into something more! Traveling by train is definitely the best way to travel to San Francisco. We'd never done that before, and it was so much fun. We got to sit on the 2nd story of the train, and for four hours, we looked out the window (at everything that Central California had to offer... LOTS of farm land!) and read our books. It was so much fun, and sooooooooo relaxing! The train dropped us off in Emeryville, just across the bay, and then we took a connecting Amtrak bus into the city (about another 45 minute ride). No toll fees, no parking fees (not at the train station in Fresno, and not the $40 a night hotel parking fee that the Holiday Inn Express would have charged us had we brought our car), no traffic to be stuck in, and absolutely no stress (well, except for the parking thing in Fresno!) We arrived in Fisherman's Wharf in the evening, and walked over to our hotel about one mile away. It was a wonderful location, clean hotel, and offered a very good hot breakfast both mornings that we were there. We decided to have a yummy dinner at the Fog Harbor Fish House on Pier 39, and we enjoyed delicious seafood - as pictured above. Perhaps what I loved best was the fact that there were no crowds - best time to travel. The weather was actually a lot warmer than it had been a couple of years ago when we visited in August. There was no fog, and little breeze - it was beautiful! We ended the night by sharing a butterscotch icecream sundae at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory - Yummy! (We also spent a small fortune buying a whole lot of our Christmas gifts there!)
On Friday, we took PUBLIC transportation (no tourism for us!...well, except for all the pictures!) to the Golden State Park. The trip didn't take very long (but it was definitely squishy - reminded me of NYC), and we enjoyed our walk through the park as we searched for the California Academy of Sciences - the ultimate activity that we'd planned for that day. On the way, we saw lots of pretty flowers just outside the Conservatory of Flowers, and we felt so in awe of all the beauty - similarly to Central Park in NYC, we forgot that we were in the midst of a crowded, busy city!

The California Academy of Sciences was wonderful - and it filled our entire day. Perhaps the most unique part of the visit was its Living Roof (pictured). The roof is literally covered with grass and plants where many little critters roam about and live. We'd never seen anything like it before. There was also this really cool white alligator that we thought was amazing as well - it looked like stone! The building also had an aquarium, a swamp setting, a huge rainforest and a planetarium inside of it, as well as a natural history museum part, and a penguin exhibit. The building seemed to go on and on. The only disappointing part was actually the planetarium. For all the high-tech technology that was in that room, we expected an unbelievable star and space/planet display with things flying in at us from all around. Instead, I think the entire audience fell asleep as we looked at a tree, it's leaves, and the cells inside of those leaves - and this woman with the calmest and softest voice that I'd ever heard spoke about how we, human beings, are connected with the cells in that tree. Then she talked about evolution and the big bang, and that's when I joined my husband for a nap :) The Academy had really good (but expensive) food, so we enjoyed a delicious lunch there before the planetarium...that may have contributed to the sleepiness!

We ate at another yummy seafood restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf that evening, then we got coffee at the nearby Barnes and Nobles, and turned in early that night for rest.

The next morning, we woke early again and took public transportation once again to Chinatown - wow, not what I thought it would be... I like NY's better! The streets were really crowded, narrow and dirty, and the shops sold pretty expensive "junk"...except for a couple of nicer

tea places... The best part about that morning, however, was finding an adorable Italian bakery/deli right inside little Italy - we had them prepare sandwiches for our journey home that day - and the size of those sandwiches was comparable to Carnegie Deli in NY - they were huge, and delicious! So, I think we can both agree that our eating fest in San Francisco was nothing short of wonderful! We also stopped by the Boudin Sourdough Restaurant/Factory, bought some bread, snapped some pictures, and caught the bus that would begin our journey back to the middle of...I mean... Porterville!

What a great anniversary!