Hi Anu!!!

Posted on June 14, 2006 by Laura

Here’s a “shout out” to my most far flung reader – in Hyderabad, India.  I miss you!
And I would say, “Have a good day at work” but I think you’re 9 1/2
hours ahead so I hope you have a good sleep tonight! Love you.

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For all you gardeners out there…

Posted on June 13, 2006 by Laura

…go listen to this really interesting article about “Defiant Gardening.”

“From the Western Front trenches of World War I to the deserts of
Iraq, soldiers have found comfort in the simple act of gardening.”

There are some interesting pictures at the site too of all
different kinds of defiant gardeners – from the trenches of WWI to the
Japanese American internments camps to soldiers in Iraq.

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Why My Job is Hard

Posted on June 13, 2006 by Laura

Here’s a description of just one of my classes that I had to write for a formal lesson plan that I did earlier in the year…

This class is composed of 20 high-beginning students, eleven girls and nine boys. There are nine 6th graders, two 7th graders, and seven 8th graders.  The students come from eighteen different countries and speak thirteen
different languages.

If that’s not diversity, I don’t know what it is.  No wonder my job felt hard sometimes!

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And BLAST OFF!!!

Posted on June 13, 2006 by Laura

Summer, here I come!!!!

Posted in school | 1 Comment

And the countdown continues

Posted on June 12, 2006 by Laura

5……..4………..3…………2…………………….(Almost there!!)

Posted in school | 1 Comment

A busy weekend

Posted on June 11, 2006 by Laura

I’ve had a quite a weekend!  I just took a two hour nap so I’m feeling a little recovered but I was definitely tired this afternoon!  I had a wonderful time with Uncle Jim and Aunt
Linda.  We just stayed in the house (which is absolutely gorgeous), where they were staying for two weeks and talked.  It’s so nice to see family on my side of the country!

Then I headed back to Baltimore, got home at 2:15 and at 2:45 left to drive to Havre de Grace, MD (about 1 hour away) for my friend Julie’s wedding.  The wedding was beautiful – it was outside at the Steppingstone Museum, a farm museum.   It overlooked the Susquehanna River and the trees there were huge.  We also got to see a little bit of the
museum as we were leaving – old butter churn, wood working tools, etc.  Life was much harder back then!

The reception was at the Spencer-Silver Mansion.  The food was great and the music was by the band, Special Ed and the Short Bus Bluegrass Band.  Julie’s from the mountains of Western North Carolina and we had fun clogging (not that I knew what I was doing) to the great bluegrass music.   They mostly played fairly traditional bluegrass music but they also played a some pretty great quirky music, including one song in which the guitarist played his armpit – no kidding.  It was the most phenomenal armpit playing I’ve ever heard – totally in time with the music, just like another percussion instrument.  Masterful, really!

Kristen and I helped Julie do all the centerpieces and other decorative flowers on Thursday night.  At the end of the evening we just randomly shoved all of the extra Queen Anne’s lace, freesia, eucalyptus, and statice into a random vase to be used to fill in holes,
etc. after the bouquets were transferred to the site.  When we got to the reception, Kristen discovered the vase of extra flowers in a place of honor on the drink table!  Oh well!  I tried to shove a few flowers around and make it look artistic enough to pass for an arrangement.

It was a fun evening but a long day.  And I only have to work until 11:45 on
Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Uncle Jim

Posted on June 10, 2006 by Laura

Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda are in DC right now and I’m going to visit
them today!!!  I’m leaving pretty early because they have another
appointment at noon and I also have a wedding to go to at 4:00.
It will be great to see them again!  (I saw them in January
too.)

I ONLY HAVE 2 MORE HALF DAYS OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Cul-de-sacs – not all they’re cracked up to be…

Posted on June 7, 2006 by Laura

For Eric and Meggan – I heard an interesting article
about cul-de-sacs on NPR this morning on my way to work.  I
thought you’d might like to listen, seeing as you live on one!
One interesting tidbit:



“Lucy says cul-de-sac communities
turn out to have some of the highest rates of traffic accidents
involving young children.  [higher than through streets] The actual research about injuries and deaths to small children under
five is that the main cause of death is being backed over, not being
driven over forward,” he says. “And it would be expected that the main
people doing the backing over would in fact be family members, usually
the parents.”

Posted in family, house/neighborhood | 1 Comment

My Kate Spade bag

Posted on June 4, 2006 by Laura

I am the proud owner of a Kate Spade
bag.  Yes, I know, that’s awfully trendy of me but I did get it at
Vogue Revisited for $12 and it’s beautiful.  I think it will make
me happy to carry my things in, to school every day next year.

I found this picture on E-bay – the “Buy It Now” price for the auction
was $199!!  So either I bought a fake (although my bag fits all the
E-bay claims of authenticity) or the E-bay people are crazy or I just
got a fantastic deal!

At any rate, I love it!!  (And might I point out, Zona, the strips of orange!)

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For Zona

Posted on June 4, 2006 by Laura

I bought a new dress at Vogue Revisited on Friday.

It’s black, short-sleeved and long.

It has orange flowers all over it.

It looks beautiful on me.

So there.

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