Notes left on my white board

I'm not so great as you're English teacher....

Vacationing in your own city

We all needed a break.
Meg was overworked planning for the upcoming photo shoot and fashion event.
Jamie had her last final for her Masters Degree two days prior.
I have students this year that make me straddle between laughter and a strong desire to drink.
And V? Well, Vanessa just needs any excuse to spend money.

...Actually, V works as a doctor at a jail, but she downplays it. She also has her private practice and she often flies out to help her dad at his clinic. But she's always like, "Oh, I don't do much..."

So the Friday before Christmas, V treated us to a hotel room at Terranea. If you've never visited this resort, it's only about 15 minutes from where we live, but it's like entering another city. Here's the map of Terranea. Click on the link to see what I mean.

We all left work early (except for Meg, who if you know anything about the fashion industry, you know there's no such thing as "leaving early"). The three of us basked on the porch of our oceanside room until sunset, reading our two faves: The New Yorker and Us Magazine. Brilliance and trash -- a perfect combo. I don't know how to use Photoshop, so I assure you these photos have no added colors to them, but check out the sunset:


For those locals, Terranea is a great place to get away for dinner. They have a few restaurants to choose from. We picked the one, Mar'Sel, where you couldn't understand the menu. Think I'm kidding? And I quote: "leg confit and goose liver foie gras." WTF? I learned many important dining facts that night. Roasted salsify is not salsa. Char is fish, not something blackened on a grill. The chef was amazing, despite his tattoo of salt on his arm.

Also, if you're a local, they have a jazz band that plays in the lobby on Friday nights. It's a bunch of older men, but be careful, they will call you out if you are four girls sitting on the couch with cocktails and your heads in four novels. I wrote this dialogue on my iPhone immediately after it happened because I couldn't believe it just did:

(Setting: A fireplace. Four girls on a couch enjoying their wine and their books before dinner. Old men setting up their band equipment. Background noise: Meg giggling throughout this entire interchange)

OLD MAN: Is this the book club?
VANESSA: Ohhh. How sad. We just got called out on a Friday night.
OLD MAN: We're going to be playing music in a little bit. Is that going to distract your book club?
JAMIE: No. When the music starts, we become the dance club.
OLD MAN: You're funny. You should be on stage. There's one leaving in the morning.
(he walks away)
ME: (to the girls privately) Like a stage coach? The stage coach is leaving?
VANESSA: What does that even mean?
JAMIE: I don't know. I think he just asked me to sleep with him.

After cocktails, we had a guy give us a ride in a golf cart to Mar'Sel, and on the way, he told us of a man who pays $30,000 a month just to live at the resort. We asked if there were a lot of families that came here, and he informed us us that currently the resort is doing "Elf Tuck-ins", where you can order one for your kids, and a worker dresses up in an elf costume and comes to read a story and tuck you in. We were like, "We HAVE TO call for an Elf Tuck-in". Fortunately for them, we were stuffed after a glorious dinner of who-knows-what, and instead we walked over to Nelson's for an after dinner glass of wine by the firepits.
In the morning, we woke up to this sunrise. Doesn't it look like a painting?
And locals... want to have a morning with a beautiful view? You don't have to spend the night to have this kind of ocean-front buffet breakfast:
On our way from the gym to our massages (glorious), we noticed this on a golf cart:
And we were like, "Hey, lady, there's a bird on your golf cart." Apparently, she knew. In fact, here is the coolest thing I learned -- even cooler than Elf Tuck-ins and Salsify. It only takes one bird of prey to keep out all the seagulls from this 120-acre resort. ONE! The resort has three because they do a bird show, where they explain it all, but suddenly I looked around and realized, there were NO SEAGULLS IN SIGHT! When does that happen on the coast of California?

In the beginning, the trainers would set the bird free for a 45 second flight multiple times throughout the day. Now, they just have to release him once a day, and that is enough to keep the seagulls away. Up close these birds are gorgeous. Check out the eyes on this owl.

It took me four pictures before I actually got his face on camera.
He really loved pulling an "Exorcist" move and twisting his head backwards. Maybe he was just camera shy. I was like a deer in headlights staring at his face. The stripes, the beak, the colors, the gorgeous eyes. It's creatures like this where you're like, "Damn, God, you're clever!"

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!

Wow, isn't it funny how when hair is attached to someone's head, it's so beautiful, but the second it's not attached, it becomes gross? Like you can run your fingers through it, and it's oh so pretty, but if you find it in your salad, you're ready to puke? Yeah, that's my hair below:

About two years ago, I thought, I should let my hair grow out and cut it for "Locks of Love", an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. I have had quite a few friends who have donned wigs thanks to that lovely friend called "cancer", but I honestly don't think my thought process was that noble. It was more like Hmm, your hair grows dang fast. You should make a wig or something. Wait a sec....

Trust me, I'm telling you, this wasn't a totally selfless move, because once it got long, I totally fell in love with it, so I kept it.
Yesterday wasn't a significant anniversary of my hair growing venture, and it wasn't a follicular holiday, or a memory of someone's head shaving day. I was just feeling impulsive, so I chopped it off.

Here's the before:
Where'd it all go?
All gone! Mom told me to clean my room before the new year, because there's some Mexican tradition that you are supposed to get everything in order before the New Year (ie throw out old stuff, clean, organize, cut out bad habits). Then on New Year's Day you're supposed to do everything you WANT to do, and that (magically and Mexicanly) will set the tone for what the whole year will be like. I just cut off my hair. Much easier than the bedroom debacle.
Maybe it will magically and Mexicanly signify a year of cutting off everything heavy -- lifting, lightening, dismissing... like the cop dismissing that $240 ticket for that dumb No Turn on Red that was covered by the non-Mexican tree?

One can dream, she thinks as she pulls out her checkbook...

Snowboarding and Snakes

This is what I have been doing for the past week. I'm in South Lake Tahoe, snowboarding both California and Nevada, depending on which lift you take. The snow isn't the softest, but perhaps it would help if I could land a jump on something besides my head. I am in love (perhaps in an unhealthy way) with my helmet. I have quite a dependent relationship with him. So yes, Lake Tahoe... check out the view, if you can get past my parents' retro one-piece ski outfits.

They sure don't make ski suits like they used to. You can never lose your parents for long when they're donned in purple, teal, and hot pink. So about the view. Behind them you can see Lake Tahoe.

Here are some cool facts about this glorious and freezing freshwater monstrosity.

It's located ACROSS California and Nevada. That means there's lake in California and there's also lake in Nevada. It's the largest alpine lake in North America, and alpine lake means a lake at high altitude, usually starting at 5000 feet above sea level. It's gorgeous, cold, and sparkly, and rumor has it that the visibility is a phenomenal 75 feet in some places. Speaking of feet, it also measures 1645 feet deep, making it the second deepest lake in America. The first deepest is Crater Lake in Oregon, at a whopping 1945 feet of drowning space.

It measures 22 miles across at its longest point (that's the distance from Long Beach to Catalina Island). Talk about a lengthy wake boarding ride. If you want to take a jog around the shoreline, get ready for a 72-mile trek.

If you're into the super long trek, and are one of those agro-hiker types, there's the 165 mile Tahoe Rim Trail, that spans the perimeter of the Lake, but up on the mountains and ridges. You can walk it, run it, bike it, or make a horse do it for you.

Speaking of animals, there are many forms of wildlife, for instance, my roommate:

Meet "Lucille".

I'm staying at my cousin's house, and she has a sweet little (not so much little) corn snake in the bedroom. Corn snakes, AKA red-rat snakes, are called "corn snakes" because of their corn-on-the-cob like pattern on their bellies -- and the fact that they hang out in corn fields. They're very sweet (comparatively speaking), and they're not likely to bite you -- they kill their prey by constriction (strangling them).

Anyway, I came home to find "Lucille" wanted to take a field trip. She had used her strangulation strength to push her cage open and take a trip across the room. I walked in the room and I was like, "Uh-oh... empty cage. Not good." I giggled when I thought of my roommate back at home, Jamie, who won't even talk about snakes. In fact, I emailed her a pic of Lucille in her cage, and she wouldn't even open it. So while I played "Where's Waldo" in the bedroom, searching under bedspreads and pillows, I was imagining J and how much she would have FAH-reaked if she walked in on this. It took a while to spot her. Lucille would have won the crown at The National Hide-and-Go-Seek Tourney. I can't imagine trying to find her in a corn field -- the same exact color as a stalk of corn. Luckily she was hiding in a potted plant, wrapped firmly around the stiff green leaves. And what a strong girl! It took both my dad and me to peel her off of the plant. Here's me trying to settle down her whipping body. It felt like an arm-wrestling match. Check out the cool corn-on-the-cob belly -- even with little blue corn kernels mixed in.
The guy who lives downstairs told me that she was probably just hungry. She didn't eat the other day, and so he froze the field mouse for a hungrier time. Guess you can freeze live mice, and as long as you heat them up later, they're good as new. Mmm... anyone for microwaved mice?

Africa: Multi-tasking

I had to take this picture because she is my hero. Sheesh, woman, I can't even stack tupperware correctly. She has mastered multi-tasking, whereas I can't even remember to blog if I have more than one errand to run. Today I darted out of the house and got all the way to my car TWICE... without my car keys.

No adventures to speak of, but I will try to post more Africa stories soon.

November is Gone!

Strange to think that in one month, we will have crossed the decade mark into the 21st century.

The New York Times has released their "100 Notable Books of 2009". I probably haven't read any of them, considering I am constantly submerged in Teen Lit, but I thought you'd enjoy looking at the list. It's a bit daunting -- 100 is a lot to cover in a lifetime, much less in a year! -- but maybe you can treat yourself to one pre-Christmas present at Barnes & Nobles.

In other news, this weekend was a four day vacation for me. Wednesday was an early day, 30 minute classes, which gives me enough time to sit my students down and take roll. Instead, I taught them how to make lanyard bracelets. It was much more productive than any English assignment I would have attempted that day. In addition, they hopped up on my board and left me very touching messages. I've grown accustomed to them, but you might still get a kick out of their abrasive charm:

For The Love of Two Wheels

The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets. ~Christopher Morley

I'm in the mood for a bike ride. I NEED a bike ride. I can't be sad, stressed, or annoyed while riding a bike. It's just impossible. It's one of those insta-fixes, the marriage of you pedaling and the wind responding. And it's just dang fun. I hardly see kids riding bikes through neighborhoods anymore. That's all I did as a kid. Maybe it's the neighborhood, or maybe it's video games -- who knows? All I know is I can't wait to soar on mine when I get home today. :) Here are some great bicycle quotes to inspire you to go out and ride!


The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine. ~John Howard

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. ~Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. ~H.G. Wells

Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein


While in New York, I came across this fellow. Anyone have a good caption for this one?

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