Recap

The conference I went to (for teaching gifted students) was AMAZING. The researchers at USC affirmed my teaching and gave me next steps. I can't wait for the new school year to begin! And I had already signed up for a series of four courses with the professor who led the conference. I'm super excited now -- the courses were described as an extension of the conference. Yay! Professional development can be hit or miss. This was a definite HIT!

Yesterday I drove about an hour to Laguna Niguel to see a girlfriend I went to high school with. She was my best friend through those years and we don't see each other as often as I'd like, even though we don't really live that far away...it was a nice day. She has a pool, and we sat outside for a bit. Had a nice dinner, chatted some (so nice to just be able to talk about everyone in my family since she knows them all) and then came home. I told her, "If I hadn't known you so long, I would never be this honest with you, I'd think you'd think I was a freak!" -- by the time I was done telling her about my sister, my niece, my parents -- luckily she has a family like mine! Do we all have families with those people? And we just don't talk about them as openly as we do with people who have known us a long time?

I'm in the midst of a purge at home. My closets were out of control. So far I've taken out 15 bags of stuff. FIFTEEN bags! And I'm not done! That's from my closet and Madison's closet. I have to do the linen closet and the front hall closet still...It feels good to have the stuff out of the house, though. My house feels bigger somehow...and after seeing how organized Melissa's closets were yesterday, I'm really motivated now!