Weekend (a.k.a. nonworking days)

This weekend was an interesting one. It started generically enough - I felt sick, slept a lot, did my regular babysitting gig on Saturday night. When it got interesting was Sunday when two things happened - I hit the Old Navy 50% off clearance sale and attended a very interesting 'Girl's Night'. The latter involved a hip-hop class and cocktails/dinner at Ra, a sushi restaurant near my house.

I am neither a hip-hop nor sushi enthusiast which made this a particularly out of the ordinary. The evening was organized by a close friend which enticed/guilted me into attending. The class was less than successful on my end considering my utter lack of coordination and very apparent inability to pick up choreography. I also learned that watching myself in the mirror for a couple hours is not a self-confidence booster. My big sister Anna attended with me and she was my saving grace. I shared with her my secret for what to do when lost in the choreography...simply stop and pretend you need to fix your ponytail (this can waste anywhere from 15-45 seconds).

And so we danced to 'Bossy', the opening verse is...

You don't have to love me
You don't even have to like me
But you do have to respect me
You know why?
Cause I am a boss!

Yeah....so definitely a tune that Anna and I rock to regularly. I think I represented well...if 'well' means shaking spastically and staying a consistent 5 beats behind. There go my So You Think You Can Dance dreams. Anna suggested we use our knew knowledge for an audition (an offer I quickly declined).

After dancing we went to Ra which is a sushi hot spot less than a mile from my house. Did I know this? Absolutely not because I hate any and every form of seafood. Anna and I subsisted on pomtinis, edimame and pineapple cheese somethings. We fed our souls by remarking on the fools surrounding us which included many the braless, senseless, near pantless, volume controlless.

As I mentioned earlier, something else happened on Sunday - the Old Navy 50% off clearance sale. I purchased (what I would like to call record braking) six shirts and a skirt for $25.05. I got several blank shirts and have been contemplating what I want to to with them. I have one that is a light grey/purple color and I'm thinking of using it to duplicate this....



I'm collecting flower images tonight and hope to print them on iron-on paper tomorrow to apply. I will post how the shirt turns out.

Blame It On The Rain

It's been raining for a week now but my sour attitude makes it feel like months. Some of this bitterness may be due to the fact last Friday, while driving in torrential rain I hydroplaned. My car is still in the shop...sad face. Most of my crabbiness is because indoor recess is the curse of kindergarten teachers and I've been coming home exhausted and more than a little pissy. A day or two of rain can be refreshing but I'm much too ADD for this week of rain crap. As I stood this morning working my carpool duty safely covered by an umbrella big enough to shelter me and my bad attitude in my cute silver raincoat (which far outshined my attitude), I thought about some creative things I could do to try and cheer myself up. I planned some screen printing projects and decided I'd make myself quiche lorraine for dinner. And then I worked all day.

I watched out the windows as the rain clouds hovered, wrangling my antsy kids and wishing for sunshine. About half an hour before the bell was going to ring, the downpour began again. I herded the bus kids out through the puddles feeling more than a little bitter. Now that I'm home, curled up on my couch yearning for the sun, I realize that I may have spent tad too much energy hating the rain. A motionless blob I am searching for some inspiration to do something - anything! I'm gonna start small. Like maybe reorganizing the couch pillows. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll work up to it.

Leather Lust

These Boots by denisewright85 featuring Anthropologie shoes

A Man With A Plan

I'm one of those dreadful people who loves watching the audition segments of talent for the comic gold of those who are oblivious of their lack of talent. As someone with little to no performance talent I embrace the fact that I can't sing, dance, etc. and I enjoy watching those who are not quite as self aware as me. I'm a massive So You Think You Can Dance fan and I think they really have some of the most fantastically untalented people show up for them. Night one of auditions for season six and this guy did not disappoint!

Pretty Little Peony

I've had a long love affair with the color pink but I am currently obsessed with a shade I like to call peony pink. It's that deep, saturated, bright, luxurious and royal shade of pink and I cannot get enough!

Back to School

The tornado that is school has begun and I’m now over two weeks in. I’ve climbed over the wall of exhaustion that hit me smack in the face week one and have started to find my footing. Learning about the new students has been fun, exhausting and challenging. I’ve had my hair sucked, been punched, bitten, spit on and gotten lots of remorseful hugs.

What I like most about the school year is the routine. I’m so glad that I am beginning to settle a bit into my school-work and creative-work routine and have been able to find time to hang with friends and relax some too. I am most definitely a creature of habit – like in a need some medication kind of way – so I take a lot of comfort in my life having the air of predictability.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot about my job that is completely unpredictable. I just like to ignore that part as much as possible. Like the part where teachers and students get shuffled around unceremoniously leading to a lot of mayhem and stress. There’s also the part where working with special needs kids is never predictable. Moods vary from day to day, activity to activity – really more like moment to moment. Sometimes they decide to scream a high pitched someone-is-killing-me kind of scream during class. And sometimes when they get frustrated with their work they will turn and yell “Bite Wright!” and dive to take a chunk out of my leg.

Something else that is predictably unpredictable is the behavior of co-workers, many of whom seem to have more special needs than the kids. You never know when the next controversy will break out over duty schedules, comp-time, dress code – you name it. It has been my observation that teaching assistant seem to lack some sort of fulfillment in their job that leads them to nitpick at others. It’s hard to out-boss teachers but teaching assistants win hands down. They’re like that obnoxious kid that always reports even the smallest infractions to anyone they can find. I’m somewhat of a misfit in the group based on my age (I’m much younger), style (I have it and they don’t), class (I wait till people are gone to talk about them) and ambition (I don’t plan to be a teaching assistant for the next 30 years.)

It’s during mind numbing meetings, arguments and hooplas that I let my mind wander to a t-shirt I could screen print, a dress I want to make or something I want to paint. As my sanity unravels through the rest of the school year, I am happy that I can find some serenity in the parts of my life that are (almost) pretty.

first day back...

I promise to recover soon from my first day back to work...for now I can summarize with the following:

- so cold I might soon become an Eskimo by default
- so bored I might memorize my word find by default
- learned special info...water is good (NEWS BREAK!!)
- geez some of these people are less than gifted
- who decided an afternoon siesta was a bad idea
- quiet is not a suggestion in this room...it's an expectation!

Soon to have more...and hopefully less exhaustion!