In Vegas and an Award...

I'm in Vegas for the weekend. It's been pretty uneventful except for my sixteen year old niece acting up. Is that typical teenage angst? Who knows. She has never been typical and this time she posted things on her MySpace page that, really -- she should not be posting. And if the things she put out there are true? Wow.

Are you watching the Olympics? I'm loving them, even the events I don't usually like.

Thank you to Heather at Chasing Butterflies for the award! Love it! So much that I put it on the side bar -- it might be the only award this blog ever wins! I'm supposed to nominate other blogs, but I don't like to do that (sorry Heather!). The buck stops here, I guess.

Eight Things

Saw this on Mindy's blog...eight things I want to accomplish before I die:

1. Raise Madison, my beautiful 10 year old daughter.

2. That doctorate degree...it's calling my name, I just need to step up and get to it. The program at USC seems like a perfect fit. My entire life, I've wanted to get a doctorate degree. This academic year, I'm taking a series of four courses (also at USC) on teaching gifted students -- that would give me time to take the GRE, get my portfolio together, gather references -- and be ready to START the doctorate program next fall. I can do it!

3. Own an apartment in New York City. Just a small one. A studio would be fine. I love New York City. Just love it. And I'd love to have a place there, some place of my own.

4. Visit Morocco. For some reason, this seems so exotic and far-fetched. I've been to Europe so many times, but Morocco? Hmmm....definitely on my list of "I want to, someday..."

5. Attend a World Series game that the St. Louis Cardinals are playing in. I've been to regular season games. Division Series games. League Championship games. But never the Big Dance.

6. Spend each summer doing things I love. Last summer was Paris and London (with a bit of New York City thrown in). This summer? West Palm Beach. Next summer? Already talking about Eastern Europe and winding back through Paris. One of the joys of teaching is long stretches of summer off -- and I need to commit to taking advantage of that.

7. Visit the College Football Hall of Fame. I can only do that if I attend a USC Trojans football game at the University of Notre Dame, because for sure I won't be in South Bend for any other reason! I went to the 2005 game in South Bend, a whopper of a game, and I don't know if any experience could top that -- but I'd love to go back. For sure on my list.

8. Go to Greece, to visit the land of my ancestors. Catina Nicolopous (my great-grandmother) came to this country in 1914, at the age of 22, from Greece. I have the records from Ellis Island, but I'd love to stand at the port in Greece and see the ocean from that side of the world.

Wondering

What is it with people? People who change plans, who call you up and say "Oops, sorry, know that thing we were supposed to do? Can't make it. Let's reschedule." Uh huh. And then, after a time or two of not making the rescheduling, when you are finally DONE with the whole thing -- said person gets annoyed with YOU for being over it. Yeah. What's with those people?

To make myself feel better, I made the ultimate comfort food lunch (for me). Growing up in Las Vegas, the best lunch/dinner/breakfast/whatever was a toasted cheese tortilla. Just cheddar cheese on a flour tortilla, in the broiler. Today I fancied it up with a sliced avocado after it came out. Oh yeah!

And to make myself feel EVEN BETTER, I think I'm going to take a weekend in September (I have two from which to choose) and fly to St. Louis to see my beloved Cardinals. I can fly out Saturday morning, catch an evening game, stay the night, see a Sunday afternoon game, and fly home Sunday night. Doesn't that sound perfect for me?!

Went to work today for three hours and put paper on the walls. One thing I hate about changing classrooms is how the room doesn't feel like me. After today, it's starting to...I'm planning on another visit this week. Maybe two more. Next week I have training and the week after that (on Thursday) it's back to work...

West Palm Beach

Hello from West Palm Beach! It's gorgeous here -- not too hot or humid (like everyone warned me it would be, they were all WRONG) and simply put, BEAUTIFUL. I'm staying at my cousin Vicki's father-in-law's house (he's not here, he only comes a few months out of the year). It's in a gated community, on a golf course, next to a lake. Can it get more perfect? I don't think so!

South Florida is a dream. The beach Vicki and I have been going to is Jupiter Beach and, compared to the beaches in Southern California, there is NOBODY THERE. We drive right up and park the car right on the street. Parking is free. What is that? That doesn't happen where I live. Then there is a little wooden area to walk through (there is a path) and it opens up to the beach. Literally, there are wide open spaces to set up our chairs and towels. Nobody behind us or in front of us, or even next to us for several feet. Unheard of where I live. The water is about 85 degrees and crystal clear. We take the boogie boards and float. My knee feels so good in the water! Great therapy! The only bad thing I have to say is that even with sunscreen my back got so much sun that it's starting to peel :(

There's also a pool in this community, and we bought a frozen Bellini mix and took that down to the pool one night. There was nobody there but we still had a blast. It was raining (in July? For a West Coast girl, that was a novelty!) and we put the lawn chairs under the eaves and drank our frozen Bellinis and watched the rain hit the pool. It was fun!

Yesterday we drove down to Miami, to South Beach. What a different feel that town has! Hip, vibrant, young. Very fun. We ate at the Front Porch Cafe overlooking Ocean Drive and then did some shopping along Collins Avenue. It was super H O T in Miami though, much more so than in West Palm Beach.

We've been to the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach. After going to the finest museums in the world, the one here just doesn't compare. They have one Monet (it actually had palm branches, I had no idea he painted one of those) and one Picasso. And the City Place shopping area in West Palm is nice, too -- we also took a tour of the area, by land and sea. The tour guide said there are three types of money there -- old money, new money, and your money. She pointed out the house the owners of QVC are renovating and said that was an example of 'your money.'

Still have three more days before going home. I'm super relaxed, which is what I needed from this vacation. And when I get home, I have New York City to look forward to -- I love summer!!

*the dress*

This is the Diane von Furstenberg dress I bought. It is gorgeous, 100% silk with no buttons or snaps, just the wrap to tie it shut. I took this picture off her website, I haven't worn it yet...it will be going with me to New York City the beginning of August!!

Sparklers

My goodness, I have a lot to catch up on!

Got to Vegas on the 3rd to find my parents had no air conditioning. In Vegas. Ummm...yeah. We scattered to various places until the repair guy could come out and get it fixed. Luckily my dad didn't ruin the compressor by not running the unit even after it stopped working and it was a fairly easy fix.

On the 4th of July my uncle hosted the entire family for a BBQ. So much fun! His girlfriend makes a frozen drink concoction with frozen lemonade, half and half, and vodka -- yum-o! Eventually we moved on to shots of tequila, that was exciting...and I heard old family stories I had never heard before. Love when that happens. The fireworks were fantastic, and Madison finally, finally got to hold her very own sparklers. She LOVED them!! We also bought some poppers. Probably our best 4th of July yet.

Went to Diane von Furstenberg (her shop) while in Vegas. I have been wanting a wrap dress for forever -- or so it seems -- and I finally bit the bullet. On the DvF website, I saw a red and white wrap dress that I loved. When I went into the shop, I told the salesperson which dress I wanted and what size (because they only display one of each dress, the other sizes are kept in the back). She went in the back and found my size. She brought it out and said it was the last one, that the entire company only had three left in my size. It fit perfectly! AND it was on sale for 40% off! So now I own the dress I have been wanting :)

Came back home Monday because I had an appointment to see what was wrong with my knee. I fell the end of May when I was roller skating and it just isn't feeling any better. Went to an ortho specialist on the advice of my regular doctor. Turns out I tore my meniscus (What? Didn't even know I had those!), cartilage between the femur and tibia. The bad news there is it doesn't repair itself because there is no blood flow. I need arthroscopic surgery to repair it. The good news is, because of the insurance company authorizations and how long those take, I'll still be able to go to Florida and New York City before the surgery in about three weeks. WHEW!

...and now I'm getting ready for my Florida trip...I leave next week for 10 days in West Palm Beach!!

Home

My house is coming together. In the past six months I've painted the exterior, installed new carpet in the living room/dining room, bought and installed blinds/Roman shades in the kitchen and living room/dining room, and bought a brand new central air conditioner. For a 1950's ranch house, these are some major improvements! I still have some things on my 'to do' list -- the fence from the driveway to the backyard needs to be shored up, the sprinklers in the front yard need to be redone, and the carpet in the master bedroom needs to be ripped up and wood floors installed. I've also done some purging of things inside the house, remember those bags of things from my closet?

Tomorrow I'm going HOME for the 4th of July weekend. My daughter has never seen fireworks like they have in Las Vegas -- each family lighting them off in the street, in front of their own house. In Riverside, where I live, individual fireworks are illegal. Not in Vegas. Madison has never seen a sparkler. She's 10. It's time. I'm picking her up from summer school at 11:30 and we're hitting the road. If traffic is good, we'll be there by 3:00ish. My uncle is having a BBQ and the entire family will be there. Good times, good times!

We'll be in Vegas until Monday morning. Madison has summer school Monday and I have an appointment with an orthopedic specialist about my knee. School starts at 8:00am so we'll leave Vegas by 4:30am and I'll drop Madison off at school. We've done this many times and it works well. She sleeps in the car while I drive. I'll nap once I get back from the ortho doctor. I'm hoping to find out exactly what is going on with my knee -- it's been four weeks since I fell roller skating and I am still in pain. Today I picked up my x-rays so I'm all set.

Took Madison to see the American Girl movie today. It's set during the Depression, and while it presents an idealized view of soup kitchens and hobo camps, it's still worth seeing.