School Days, School Days

Well, it's official...I'm going (back) to graduate school! I applied, and have been accepted (today!) to a dual-license program at Lesley University in Cambridge. I'll be working towards licenses in Elementary Ed. and as a Reading Specialist. I will start classes in the fall and hope to be finished in the next 3 years, give or take. After much debating, it feels good to be going back to my roots in education. And it will feel even better, I'm sure, to be officially licensed...once and for all...when all's said and done.

Preparing for Summer

One of the bloggers I follow just posted an extensive list of lists for summer reading. There's a kids' list, too, for those of you with small people to entertain over the long, warm, dog days of summer:

Summer Reading 2009

Enjoy!

Update!

Trivia question from the Most Productive Weekend...Ever post, updated with a photo.

Q: What do four adults and a rain barrel have in common?

A: They all fit into a Prius.

Note to neighbors painting your fence:

Take the time to cover your plants. Paint-splattered leaves are an eye-sore.

P.S. These short posts make me think I should join Twitter. But I don't want to. So there.

More Hints

I promise that I'll explain, in more detail, upcoming changes but for the moment I'm just sharing our vacation itinerary for Maine:

Sat. July 18: Somerville --> Wells
July 19-24: In Wells
Sat. July 25: Wells --> Scarborough
Sun. July 26: In Scarborough
Mon. July 27: Scarborough --> Searsport
July 28-30: In Searsport
Fri. July 31: Searsport --> Friendship
Sat. Aug 1: In Friendship
Sun. Aug 2: Friendship --> Somerville

We have a lot of fun things to do before July 18th (play softball on Sunday, start summer soccer, attend a wedding in Baltimore, hike in NH, celebrate our 5th anniversary) but I'm already looking forward to two weeks in Maine in the middle of the summer! Ahhhh....

Spring photos

Some random pictures from the last couple of months.

With Lucy at her christening. The lighting was tough in the church, so it's not a great picture. But, note that Lucy clearly thinks I'm awesome.

Pictures from the Volvo Ocean Race, for which Boston was one of the stops. We happened to be downtown on the waterfront with friend Kim who was visiting from NYC.

Very cool sponsorship. Those are all shipping cans; inside were three separate shopping areas and two bars. Did I mention I love Puma shoes?

Made completely from Legos, people. That's my arm on the bottom left because I'm looking to see how the exterior legos are attached to the frame (which is real). 

Kate's dream vehicle.

Adam's dream vehicle. 

Just neat.

Another great weekend at Black River House....


...with great friends who make you laugh....


...and split an appetizer basket...


...after an 8 mile bike ride.



It POURED the night we were here and Kate caught the last gasp of the storm, as the sun pushed through. Those dots on the water are the rain drops.

Most Productive Weekend...Ever

And the fact that I'm actually composing a blog entry just pushes the whole thing over the edge. I'm not going to lie; the Kesslers were a force to be reckoned with on May 16 and 17. 

Let's start with a trivia question: What do four adults and a rain barrel have in common? Answer at the end of this post!

Itinerary and visual documentary:

Saturday, May 16 - Errands (i.e. big box store-o-rama)

1. Goodwill drop-off
2. Ace Wheel Works (for new tires/tubes for Kate's bike)
3. Target
4. Home Depot
5. PetSmart
6. Babies 'R Us (shower gifts for friends, people! let's not start any rumors)
7. Michael's Arts & Crafts
8. Whole Foods

*SPROUT Fundraiser and Silent Auction to benefit Waltham Fields Community Farm

• We bid on and won Red Sox tix for Kate's parents (ones that I actually asked my cousin to donate! oh well...) and gift certificates to Finale and Ten Tables.

Sunday, May 17 - At home

*Made bread (rye dough, to make loaf for dinner)

*Porch gardening (Kate's new plantings)

*Porch redecorating 

Patty wants to join the porch party.

*Bikes (tune-ups and outdoor storage)

In addition to removing the kickstand from my bike, I changed Kate's tubes/tires and fixed her front and rear brakes. Since when could I do any of this? Basically, since last weekend following tutelage by friend Dave Sachs. Look at me now, teach!

The trusty new Blackburn Air Tower 2 floor pump. 60 psi in no time, yo.

We lost our storage space in a neighbor's garage, so I rigged this up to keep the rain (or, more realistically, most of the rain) off the bikes. Landlord Gary is nicely allowing us to keep them inside the fence in his yard.

*Picture hanging 

A gift from Sara & Brian for goddaugther Lucy's christening. They'll eventually give me a picture of the two of us from that day, but I kind of like Sara's drawing. 

Anyone who knows me (and most of you reading this do!) will tell you that hanging pictures is no small task for me. I've gotten myself into all kinds of trouble in the past.

*Not done yet....

Dinner

There are many times we are more than happy to sleep late and do very little over the course of a weekend. But, on this weekend, it felt really nice to check so many things off of the to-do/want-to lists. 

Oh yes, the answer to trivia question: They all fit into a Prius!   (The Hagbergs attended SPROUT and won a rain barrel. Pictures to follow.)

Who's Counting?

I'm especially excited b/c my last day of work is also the beginning of our two-week vacation.

More details to come...

Reunited

 

Kate, Anna, Sarah

We spent the weekend in the Berkshires w/ some NYC friends and laughed most of the time. Miss you girls!

Wednesday funny

When commenting on our friends Mairead and Jason's blog, the word verification that Blogger makes you do spelled out "eurple."

Whatever...it made me grin. As are these Peach Rings that I am eating, having splurged at CVS. Best 99 cents I've spent in a while.

And, yes, I'm procrastinating.