Bracketology.

Someone made her first NCAA men's basketball tournament bracket.

And the winner is...Louisville.

I actually made one yesterday that I did wrong-ly, no surprise, so I made my real one today.
I based my predictions on a gut feeling when I looked at each pair of teams playing.
Are you following along this year?
xoxo, natty ♥  

Are you ready?

For some football?!?!?!?!
Today's agenda includes some major cleaning/organizing and then some football, though I missed the first game I really wanted to see yesterday during the movie situation, the Patriots' game is #2 on my list so I'm excited for later this afternoon!

Tom Brady?

Are you following the playoffs this year Reader?
xoxo, natty ♥

It will!

We are both preparing for our second day at home; the district has shut down all public transportation through tomorrow and our work/school as well.
In some positive news...

1} Can I get a "Let's Go GIANTS!!!!"? YES I CAN!!! I actually missed the last two innings of the game last night because it was getting too fraught for me and I was getting drowsy. A couple of text messages about half an hour later let me know the good news.

2} Our electricity is still on. I'm being cautious about this and don't want to assume it will stay this way.

3} Our car is safely tucked away from possibly downed tree branches.

4} We haven't been evacuated.

5} We are safe.

Let's all think good thoughts and say a bit of a prayer for those strongly affected by this weather.
xoxo, natty ♥

Let's forget.

Oh my goodness; what a POTENT time this is. There are so many political issues flying around in the air one can practically catch one in the eye. But. Let's forget about that. Let's focus on baseball instead. Oh BUT WAIT. We won't talk about that. We are far too much of a nervous sort for that type of discussion.
So.
What is there?
There are...

Pretty local parks!!!

And pretty local colors!!!

Shadows.

More beautiful leaves.

And local mums.

xoxo, natty ♥

Yea!!

Let's go Giants!!

Today, in a city who's team is doing quite well {and I really am a National's fan!}, I proudly wore some orange and black.

Mirror image.

Playoffs are here!
xoxo, natty ♥

A discovery and a quandary.

After mass this morning I {predictably} meandered to the farmers market and picked up usual haul {rainbow chard featured prominently} but also snagged something new : okra!

I've had a mostly "meh" relationship with okra though it could hardly even be called a relationship considering I've had the things all of two or three times.

These were so pretty and I was feeling optimistic so I grabbed them and I'm excited to figure out something to do with them later this week. That's the quandary part of this post; are there any okra suggestions out there? I know they can be slimy and I'm feeling afraid of that but I've also heard beautiful things about them so I'm determined to try them at least once or maybe even twice.

Secondly, to go against the order of my post's title, I introduce to you the discovery aspect of my weekend. I think it might of started on Thursday, actually, but that counts. 

It's the Jeopardy phone game.

That's me!

I'm not big on phone games. I got kind of into Temple Run but for me "kind of into" means a week or two's worth of sporadic interest.

I tried to get into Words With Friends and I must apologize to my IRL {HA! I love using this acronym!} friends with whom I've started games because I always forget about the dang things - I'm sorry!!

But I love me some Jeopardy, as I'm sure I've made obvious in my past posts, and this game is pretty well made {unlike Bananagrams app; has anyone else been disappointed?}. It's fast, doesn't crash, I've yet to see a clue repeated, there are a ton of great answers, and it involves customizable avatars.

You even get to write your name like the TV show players do.

Do you have any phone/tablet games you enjoy? I have been known to enjoy the Pinterest application, as well as the Etsy one, and I like my bank one {dork} because it's well mapped out.

Also, we went to our local baseball team's {go Nats!} game on Friday night. 

The Nationals played well and I was FLOORED by the presidential race promotion during the fourth inning. I really can't do it justice here in this post and I took no pictures so I think that's good enough motivation to see another game in person and try to use my camera's zoom because I truly MUST record this experience. 

I will say, though, that it involves human beings wearing giant head masks of the Mount Rushmore presidents {and period costumes!} running around the field to try and beat each other. Teddy Roosevelt never wins {but he does maintain a Twitter feed HERE} and they all look like life-sized bobble head dolls. I loved it, to say the least.

Tonight I baked cookies and I'm staring at my drying rack covered in laundry and the windows are open and that's about it for the weekend.

May Monday come nicely your way.
xoxo, natty ♥

Good Friday.

Today is a very solemn day in the Church. I'm observing it by being good to myself and family which means relaxing, pondering, feeling grateful and dyeing eggs to get ready for this weekend.
In other news I'm not 100% sold on my new blog look; I piecemealed it and I keep focusing on a few rough edges and things I don't love. But I am so completely on the chevron bandwagon {no matter how over used they might be} and the muted grey and yellow scheme make my little eyes sparkle so, for now, es ist gut.
To bring some color to our real lives and not just the virtual one, I bought some blooms yesterday.
I totally ♥ Trader Joe's flowers. Not to offend those of you with better taste out there in the blogosphere but I actually got almost all of our wedding flowers at Trader Joe's. My bouquet was a bit of theirs and some from the farmer's market. It was cheap and colorful, just like I am. Kidding. I'm only cheap. Kidding again.
They're pretty, huh?

I really wanted Easter Lilies but couldn't find any and was most definitely not going to go to another store.
I don't think I've mentioned it here what with the crazy turns our life has taken the past three weeks but the mister and I are embarking upon an East Coast Tour starting late Sunday night. A red eye flight {shudder} will deposit us {God willing} neatly into La Guardia where we will catch a flight to Logan. We'll spend a few days in Boston and then hop over to our nation's capital where my dear brother-in-law lives. Then exit stage home {California} on the following Monday. Wish us luck and I'm excited to visit a new state {Massachusetts!} and visit with not-nearly-seen-enough family and friends.
Also, I'll have a 101/1'001 update up by tomorrow. Since March was so criz-ay-zee I'm allowing justifying myself some leeway and will let some March be completed this April. More on that tomorrow and a happy and Blessed Easter weekend to you all.
 xoxo, natty ♥
PS
Let's go Giants!!! Come on Timmy!!!!!

Ski Bunny.

As you read this, or at least as this appears online, I will have hopefully ushered a group of youth to a weekend of skiing and brought them back to the hinterlands where we live. And gotten in some time on the slopes myself. And kept myself un-injured.
And.
I have tomorrow off.
WIN!
xoxo, natty ♥

Pretty...

A student of mine gave me this beautiful necklace today. 

She wrote me a very sincere note to go along with it. Of all student things I've ever received, the notes speak to me the most and are very meaningful to me. This necklace was made by a woman in a community in India and my ever so wise student connected the strength and wisdom of this woman to little old me, an accolade of which I am undeserving, to say the least, but I put it on as soon as I opened it and felt the strength of the woman who made it, which is good enough for me. As I noticed it throughout the day, I was reminded of how I can so easily beat up on myself as a teacher and feel as though I'm not doing a good enough job. It's so easy for me to think that way, especially in the middle of a busy grading period or at the end of the school year when assignments and tests and quizzes pile up. I so often forget that I am strong and wise and that I shouldn't forget the confidence I know lurks within me.

I could write more and more eloquently, but it's late and we had baccalaureate mass and then hanging out afterward. I got through the hardest part of my grading today, but I'm nowhere near finished. I am, however, going to enjoy the Greek festival tomorrow night (despite the predicted thunderstorms for the next bazillion days...woe is I) , graduation on Saturday and some well deserved sleeping in...hopefully with some running thrown in here and there. I'm also still on my internet diet, though writing doesn't count, I decided today.


Buenas noches ☺
xoxo, natty ♥

PS
Lebron sucks! Beat the Heat! Go Dallas!

Why I'm late

***This was meant to be posted yesterday!! Just pretend like it's yesterday when you read this =) ***


I got my hair done today, which was exciting since I feel as though I was seeing too many white hairs. I went a bit light for summer and because it's fun. I got to the salon early, which, believe it or not, felt GREAT to me and is what I actually aspire to. If you know me, you know that I can often run a bit late to things. It's not that I'm being passive-aggressively late on purpose, rather I just can't seem to figure out how much time I actually need to do what I want in order to get ready.

Also, there might be a slight concern of being the first person somewhere and not knowing to do with myself, though I'm no longer an awkward 14 year old so maybe I should just face that fear. Or, its actually all my family's fault anyway. So, much to my chagrin my promptness today was most definitely UNVALIDATED when 15 minutes early I was told to go buy a coffee or something and come back on time. Isn't it better to be early rather than on time?!?! I tried at least but without positive reinforcement from those around me (acquaintances or otherwise) I just can't get better.

Last night Audrey and I met up for some much needed catching up at a wine bar on the Alameda which was quite fun despite the oddly somber demeanor of our waiter/wine guy. I'm talking Lurch from the Adams Family level of energy and enthusiasm in this guy! We each had a flight of whites (Chardonnay for A and three different types for me) and then a yummy glass of one of my whites. We hadn't been able to actually see each other's face in person for far too long with all the craziness of life recently so it was SUPER nice to sit on the sidewalk, sip vino and chat.

Our "flights"; yum-yum!

I also went to finally finish the tire work yesterday at Eastridge and got in some (un-necessary) shopping while waiting. Though I was able to get birthday presents for both of my parents; their birthdays are a week apart and I forgot to mention ¡feliz cumpleaños! to my great mom on Monday...happy birthday Mama! We went to the Sonoma Chicken Coop for her celebration dinner last night and had a lovely time =) My mother is such a strong person who works soooo hard and I hope that she had a great birthday!

The necklace I gave mama for her day. The circles each say a different word and for her I chose: Mother, Spirit, Friend and Courage; they all describe her.

At Eastridge I was able to go to Daiso (read about it here), the fun Japanese dollar store, and browsed. I didn't end up buying anything there but took some interesting phone pictures of various products available in the store.

 

Frilly washcloth/dress? Two headed "toi" poodle.

Everyone needs a party gown.

...and we all need party wigs too.

Speaking of her, it's Wednesday night and that means frijoles con mamá which I'm pretty stoked for. She apparently liked my salsa that she tried on the fourth so
I'm taking the rest with me tonight. M and I are hopefully going to go and buy a water cooler at the Home Depot tonight. I guess that we could be less snooty about drinking tap water but it just tastes so chlorinated and we both drink enough water that we're constantly refilling the Brita so we decided that the big bottles with a cooler is the way to go. Memaw used to have an Alhambra one but recently phased it out and I looked into getting the service again but just buying the cooler and filling up at the grocery store seems more economical so that's the way to go; I'm very excited for water = me in a few words.

Before dinner though, I'm planning on doing one more thing. Memaw and I are going to go and buy a straw bale or two to attempt some late season straw bale gardening! It looks so neat and I missed out on planting in the spring so I'm excited to get a summer planting opportunity; are there any suggestions for things to plant this late? What is straw bale gardening, you might ask? Check it out here!

That's enough for now, over and out!


***Now it's today***


Oh boy how I cleaned today! I cleaned and cleaned and took my running day off today. I just keep taking out more and more things for our garage sale, I only hope that people actually show up ha! We got our water cooler last night, it's pretty great, I think, seeing as how we haven't even set it up yet, but I think it's great. The plan is to go and get a five gallon bottle from the Home Depot and then just refill accordingly at the Safeway when necessary...drink up us!


I showered after cleaning and went to pick up M from work and then we had Chicken Masala (sweet, sweet goodness) and New Indian Cuisine on Willow, across from Flower Flour (Flour Flower?) followed up by frozen custard = delish! M's following the LeBron circus on ESPN right now...actually he's asleep on the couch and Sportscenter is on; that counts as "following", right?


Today was kind of a nothing day and I'm planning the same for tomorrow, though Thomas and I are going to lunch together (In 'n Out...what what!) and then getting ready for Saturday morning. As a reward for all of this moving/cleaning/organizing/garage sale-ing

Animal hi jinks.

¡ciao!

cookies!!!

← Here's what I ate last night, this and a lovely glass of white wine while we watched ESPN's 30 for 30 (read about it here). I NEVER would have guessed myself a sports fan or ESPN watcher but it happens to be one of M's favorite pass times and despite my best intentions I've become embroiled in the wide world of sports (go Celtics!). 30 for 30 is a documentary series that's actually quite interesting and covers a broad range of topics that happen to relate to sports. Last night was all about the OJ Simpson car chase which I vaguely remember happening but M remembers clearly b/c he and his brother were watching the NBA finals (read: me=not a sports person). The format of this documentary (they vary since there's always a different filmmaker) was pretty neat-o; it had no official commentary, it was just old footage from that time but not just of the OJ chase, it was a juxtaposition of footage from the Stanley Cup final game, Arnold Palmer's final professional tournament, the 1994 World Cup and the NBA finals (with a certain Bob Costas looking the same; does the man not age?). The side-by-side was meant (I think) to showcase how this tragedy and a man's personal downfall stole the world's attention when there were so many other big sports events occurring at the same time; it was pretty riveting and made me wonder if OJ really was guilty. M says that he was, without a doubt; do you remember this event and whether you thought OJ was guilty or not? I guess I don't know what I think, I just feel bad for all of those involved, even though it was quite a while ago, it's still horrific. The filmmaker had a brief commercial blurb where he talked a bit about the whole thing and he talked of how the car chase was an early form of reality TV, which I thought was pretty interesting. I'm definitely a fan of reality TV, but a guilty one; I almost feel embarrassed for the people on most shows and especially for their children and I wonder how the TV experience will shape their childrens' lives. Then again, no one's forcing them so c'est la vie.

Today I took my kids to see a pretty cool (my favorite, I think) sculpture in downtown San Jose. I'll post pictures later since I don't have my USB cord and there is yet to be (as far as I know) wireless camera-to-computer technology. The sculpture is of John Carlos and Tommie Smith who won medals for the USA in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. They famously made quite a political statement by doing a variety of things when on the podium listening to the national anthem: wore no shoes (as a nod to the poverty suffered by African Americans [and others, I suppose]), wore unzipped jackets (sticking it to the man, basically), wearing an Africa-inspired colored necklace (a symbol of lynching suffered by African Americans), carried a picture of olive branches (peace, yo) and looked down while making the "Black Power" hand gesture (fist up). These two men suffered quite a bit as a result of their actions and I think that it's good to remember. I am in NO  way an expert and I think that art is such a personal experience so please take my musings with a grain of salt; I gathered the explanations from an article I read about the sculpture but I believe that everyone has their own right to interpretation. The kids liked it (I hope) and I was glad to be out in the sun.

I'm off to some light lunching, running, LAUNDRY and cleaning so that our apartment can be clean when we get back Sunday night. M drove off this morning for LA since it's his family friends and they're pretty close, so he's taking a couple of days off to hang out which is really good for him since he works very hard and long.  I'm Southwest-ing it down there tomorrow after work and we're going to drive back home together on Sunday. I confess that I love to come home to at least some order after a trip and I find that clean sheets and a made bed is the easiest/most fulfilling in said situation, so that's priority #1, along with the aforementioned laundry and the dreaded dishes...fun times 2010.

Have a great day before Friday!