My Mae-kin

My little Mae is a pumpkin, hence the name Maekin!

trying on her witch's hat!

She has a pumpkin t-shirt to wear for October and I also got her a witch hat and costume for Halloween. 
So cute! 

Luck be a Lady

Since I was heading to AC soon after work on Friday, I went out with my mom and grandparents on Thursday to celebrate the B-day.



Ash and I headed to Atlantic City after work on Friday. We met up with the other car full of Kim, Brett, MaryKate, Susan & Jeff at the Maryland House. We arrive around midnight, checked into the ho-tel (aka 'the dorm') across the street from the Tropicana. 

Brett had left over comps from his Bachelor party but could only get one room so we had to split up. After waiting in a long line and talking with the most miserable front desk person we were handed a key to the "powder room" since all of the rooms regular were sold out. A powder room? Great, that'll be nice for the 7 of us to share. So we grumpily hike upstairs to the 22nd floor to find our "powder room" was basically the "parlor" section of one of the high-roller suites at the Tropicana. Good news: we had a incredible view with windows that wrapped around all sides, easy casino access and a sweet bar/sitting room area. Down side: there was only an open-up couch so we had to order some roll-away beds for half our crew that was staying at the Trop. After popping some B-day champagne and Georgetown cupcakes...

which then turned into firefly on the rocks...we headed down with some crisp hundred dollar bills to the black jack table. 

6 of the 7 of us made up an entire blackjack table (Ash was the bj virgin who decided to sit out the first couple shues so she could observe & try to pick it up). We gambled until the wee hours of the morning- all of us were up a few hundred bucks! Wahoo! 5:30 in the morning, red eyed we all fell into our beds. The next day we got up, had some much needed coffee and brunch, then it was back to the tables! My dad was visiting my grandma who lives only an hour away, decided to make the trip for a few hours. We played some more black jack until I decided to take a break to play some slots with my gram. I hate slots. I like blackjack because I feel as I have some say in winning or losing. The only appeal to them for slots was to pull the lever and now 99% of them just have some lame-ass button you push. I sit down for a chat with my gram, shove $10 in the slot machine and start unenthusiastically pushing the button on my 25c machine. DING DING DING after about 3 pushes of that magical little button my machine goes crazy & I'm $100 bucks richer. I just increased my investment by 1000%. Woot! For dinner us girls went over to the Borgata for some delicious sushi and wine at Izakaya ("a modern Japanese pub"). Mmmm...I love the Borgata and the Trop was fun, too, but there is no place to gamble like Harrah's. 

I remember going to Harrah's as a little kid with my high-roller grandparents and so badly wanting to be on the floor of the casino where all the action, strobing lights and noise was! We open up our own blackjack table again and played for hours before Brett and Jeff met us. It certainly great when you can sit at the table and play for hours - without having to keep breaking out more dinero. I pretty much gave all the money I had won back to Lady Luck herself, but the hours of entertainment, good company and free beer made it worth it! We grabbed a limo back to the trop, and hit the sack. 

Thanks for coming out, ya'll. It was fab to bring in year 2-5 with such great friends. 

Feliz Cumple a Mi :)

I was surprised to see a video message from my favorite sister & her class, wishing me a very enthusiastic 'Happy Birthday!'

So I made my students sing to me in Spanish & say thanks or 'Gracias'. My class was excited but are such good actors, that they portray their apathy so well. :)

La cucaracha

So as I was happily back to work on this Monday and teaching my young teen aged minds. During the first block, I proceed to walk around the rows in my classroom (as I always do) when my sandal gets caught on one of my student's backpack (as they always leave them in the isle). All of the sudden, two giant CUCARACHAS start dancing across my classroom floor. SICK. You would think after the numerous bug-incidents in Costa Rica I'd be better prepared for this...nope. 


Do you know what a cucaracha is? Most people know the song, but I'm not sure they know it's about one particular kind of bug. Be carefully when looking for the song, as there are two versions.

A School Friendly Version:

Spanish	English
La cucaracha, la cucaracha,	The cockroach, the cockroach,
ya no puede caminar	can't walk anymore
porque no tiene, porque le falta	because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
las dos patitas de atrás.	the two little feet from the rear.

& a marijuana "laced" version. PUN-INTENDED ba ha ha. Clearly, I taught my students the first version. :)

Spanish	English
La cucaracha, la cucaracha,	The cockroach, the cockroach,
ya no puede caminar	can't walk anymore
porque no tiene, porque le falta	because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
marihuana que fumar.	marijuana to smoke.

Dear fall, it's time to come and stay this time.

This week was crazy. 
Monday- class
Tuesday- funeral
Wednesday- class
Thursday- back to school night
Friday - exhausted. 
+ working full time. 


Last night, I met some great friends at Jackson's in Reston Town Center to decompress about the week's event over a bottle of wine (or two :) ). I came home before midnight to crash. 
Being out in the town center in the muggy September night made me long for some fall weather and fashions. This weather has been so wacky and unpredictable. I need fall! Changing leaves, sweaters, football games, dark denim designer jeans, scarves and boots. Now, this is a lot of admit as I am one who usually wears flip-flops all year round, at least until the first snow. That being said, I also love boots - from Uggs to my Sperry rain boots to the amazing Sam Edelman 'Pierce' Over the Knee boots (left) that I bought last year. I have been searching for black leather boots but have yet to fall head over heels for any because I have had a hard time finding a black leather boot that doesn't make me 1- look like a pirate or 2- look like a biker chick. Walking through Nordstrom today, the Frye boot gods must have heard my prayer because I look over and see (aahhhhh) a pair of the most gorgeous black leather boots. The Frye Melissa Button Boot (right). My wonderful mother treated me to them for an early Birthday treat. 


Lots of work to get done before next weekend. The big birthday celebration in Atlantic City is on deck! Woot! 

Mission:Missoni

So, I am obsessed with Missoni. What's not to love about a diverse color palete & zig-zags from a fine Italian powerhouse? NADA! I tried to get on to target.com ALL DAY (in between teaching our nation's youth, of course) with NO LUCK. 

Feeling defeated, I pouted the whole drive home & I protested going to Target. If I couldn't get in the store online, there's no way there'd be things left in the store. I finally was able to get on target.com after school to see all the things I've been drooling over - gone. Sold out. There was an option to "check in store" - could it be?! The most coveted item on my list...is it true??  Said they had "limited stock" at the Leesburg store. You bet your bottom dollar that I hauled ass to Leesburg to see if my gorgeous blanket was still there. 

The coveted blanket -- ahhhh

No. But seeing some things strewn about the shelves and hidden in aisles make me embark on a top-secret-Missoni-mission. 

No luck, but my Missoni thirst needed to be quenched - I race over to Sterling store just as a friendly Targetman is wheeling out giant cardboard boxes labled "MISSONI" - there is a God! Except, He didn't want me to have my blanket that day BUT he wanted me and my sister to have matching plates & cereal bowls.

Never Forgotten, Always Grateful.

This first week of school was a little hectic. Between grad school and back-to-school I feel like I'm going a mile a minute. On Thursday, after pure days of doom,  gloom and torrential rain I knew I couldn't make myself stay at school late for the 3rd day in a row. As I am driving out of the school parking lot, I see one of my colleagues walking out to Dranesville Road with an umbrella in his hand. Seemed odd to me so I pull up and roll down my window "Hey! What are you doing? Do you need a ride??" My saturated colleague climbs in my jeep (thank goodness for all-weather floor mats ;) ), and he explains that he loaned his car to a friend in need and has been walking the mile+ to & from school. I do a quick mental flash-back, astonished that this co-worker had been trekking in the rain all week and hadn't asked anyone for a ride. I guess it's not easy, especially with people you just met...I'm glad I was at the right place at the right time that day. PAY IT FORWARD. We glide and hydroplane over lots of puddles (more like rivers) before arriving in Reston. I knew we had been getting lots of rain but who knew that so many roads were washed out and closed? Due to all the flooding and road closures, FCPS canceled schools on Friday. Halleujah! What a nice treat. 

Friday was spent at the movies, doing homework and lounging. By the time happy hour rolled around, I was itching to get out! All work and no play makes Kel a dull girl. I met my friends (old & new) Chris,  Elizabeth (http://guestinmyworld.blogspot.com/) & Mandi at the bar. We shared some beers and lots of laughs (I now have rock-hard abs because of it). 

Mermaid Hair

9/11/2011
10 years later. Everyone remembers all the details about where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. I was a sophomore at Langley High School (located .75 miles from the CIA building in Mclean, VA).

I was in Mrs. Morse's Photography class sitting next to two of my best friends - Ashton & Jon. There was no TV in my room but one of my classmates, Emily, ran up to the office to drop off a note to get a pass to leave for a Dr's appointment that day. Emily came down and said "uh a plane crashed into the World Trade Center". A few other students went up to the office to see what was going on and when they came back down - "uhh another plane has hit the other tower." We pulled up the news on the internet and soon realized that the pentagon had been hit by a plane, too. Being so close to the pentagon and the capital city of this great country, lots of my classmates parents worked downtown and in the pentagon. We all pulled out cell phones and were trying to call and text to make sure our loved ones were ok and if they'd heard the news. LHS went into "lockdown" because it was feared the CIA could be the next target. Students started to be pulled out of class, teachers were running down passes to release students to their parents. My dad's office is also in Mclean so he came to pick me up shortly after. He tried to check out Ashley and Brittany (my best friend & her sister) from school, too, since their parent's were far and wouldn't be able to get them soon. My dad and I went back to his office so he could gather some important documents before we went back to LHS to "jailbreak" Ash & Britt. I remember sitting in the car on the way home with tears streaming, realizing that our world as we know it, has been changed forever. Last night and the majority of today has been spent reflecting on those lives and the innocence lost that day. It's funny how life comes full circle, 10 years ago I was a sophomore in HS, now I teach students that age. Thinking back now, I don't know how Mrs. Morse kept it together in front of us kids. I hope I don't ever have to face that test as an educator.

Never Forgotten, Always Grateful.