Vacation Event Confirmed

My new favorite commercial right now is the advertisement for Dairy Queen's new Monster Cookie Blizzard. It has a hideous cuteness to it :)

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One of my vacation weeks for the summer is slowly coming up, June 19-23. I had no idea what I was going to do. Of course I plan to head to Abilene to spend quality time with family and friends. But I wanted something special to do to make it really feel like vacation. And tonight I got confirmation of my special vacation event.

At the end of the week Marcus and I are going to see Les Miserables in Dallas! I'm so excited! This is one of my favorite musicals. I have listened to the music since middle school but have never seen the production on stage. We have 4th row seats on the balcony which is pretty good.

I shall await in utter anticipation.

Summer Happenings

This Sunday was going to be my first time to attend the Graduates and young professionals class. (My 3 year old class is over and I am taking the summer off. I am scheduled as a summer substitue teacher and will be teaching the Wednesday night 5-year-old class in the fall). Unfortunately this Sunday all of the classes were combined in the auditorium--there is always next week. But I found out the GAP class is having a game night this Thursday. Also the GAP girls are starting a Monday night bible study which I plan to attend. This way I will be connected with two groups: the Aggie group and the GAP group. Also there is a women's knitting class that will be starting on Wednesday nights. This will help me get to know more women in the church. I'm very excited about these new summer opportunities!

Sunday night, after church, Sarah and I went to Pei Wei, one of my favorite restaurants--well, one on a large list of restaurants. Apparently, my order was forgotten. When Sarah's dish came out the waitress came to apologize profusely and tell me that my order was just now cooking. To make up for the inconveinence, she gave both Sarah and I a coupon for a free lettuce wrap!

I received my tax refund today--whoo hoo! So I think pretty soon I'm going to get a chair to match my fabulous couch.

*Place Title Here*

It is now 11:13 pm and I really should be in bed, getting rested for my day of work tomorrow. But one of my favorite romantic comedies is on--Only You. You know those movies that just give you a happy calming feeling? This movie does it to me everytime. Robert Downey Jr.--how can you not fall for his cute quirkiness? Another reason to love this movie: it references Roman Holiday--another one of my favorite romance movies.

Sometimes I wish my life was like a movie...as I'm sure many people do. Not just a romance movie--I would enjoy an action/adventure moment in my life or a mystery. I think I could do without a horror/suspense though :)

"All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players."

"Life's like a movie. Write your own ending. Keep believing. Keep pretending."

Last Day of School/Tours!

Although most public schools have their last days today, some do not evacuate until Friday...it is those few who chose to inhabit the museum. And we could easily tell it was the day before the last day. I gave tours straight from 10:30-1:30. My first group was a mix of 1st-3rd graders--30 of them--all very, very talkative. While trying to round them up numerous times I was amazed as the teachers and parents talked or sat instead of helping. So by the end of this first tour I was a little drained. Then came the first group of hyper, sweaty, ready for summer 4th graders. These groups were incredibly huge--more students than we normally take (and there is a reason for that). During the whole tour I had to speak at the loudest volume my voice would go in order for all of the students to hear me. After this tour there was mass confusion at the front of the museum as my group and Anne's group were slowly leaving and our next two groups were trying to come inside! Ahh!

Towards the end of the last tour I was holding onto my throat as I talked to keep it going. Once the kids left I retired to the back for my lunch. And then Anne and I celebrated with a cup of Blue Bell ice cream--well deserved!

Now begins the leisure summer months. We will have an occasional tour here and there (mostly adult groups) but the rest of the time I will find special little projects to keep my busy--like cleaning out the filing cabinets!

Escape

The end of the school year is near...and it is quite easily seen in the students and the teachers. Today was suppose to be a simple day--one tour at 9:30 and another at 12:30. But it gets complicated when the teacher forgets she changed the time to an hour earlier and they arrive an hour late. So there was a bit of chaos for about 45 minutes in the museum.

After the tour Anne and I escaped from the museum! We had to deliver the art contest projects to the schools in Brenham and also deliver all kinds of business things to Blinn College. After our deliveries Anne decided to show me around the town. I saw Blue Bell Creamery--someday I'm going to go tour it. Maybe when people come to visit me we will go--you get free ice cream if that tempts anyone to come visit! Anne and I were gone over 2 and a half hours...it was great! And again another day to procrastinate on my project ;)

Procrastination, what's that?

Over the past few months I have slowly been working on my June Discovery Room display on transportation. Once March, April, and May came along this project was put on the back burner as tours consumed me. But now as June begins to loom, I realize this needs to be finished by the end of this week. I realize I have no drive to work on this. I find anything else to do. So procrastination has has followed me all the way to work...you think after school it would leave you alone. Hopefully I will find my motivatin to finish the project.

*I have been experiencing a sharp pain in the bottom of my left foot...not too sure what it is...

Lazy Weekend

Well, I made it through the week and I am pooped. I decided this weekend was going to be full of laying on the couch and watching movies/tv. This is my first weekend in a month to not have something to do. So Friday after work I got a FreeBirds burrito, rented two movies, and commenced relaxing. The first movie I watched was The Producers, a movie I have been meaning to see. It was ok--not what I was expecting. It also was a little slow at times. The second movie I rented was Everything is Illuminated, an independent film starring Elijah Wood. It was very good and I would highly recommend it!

This evening I watched a show on Food Network that discussed the different food at Disney World. My desire to go there was increased 200% by watching this show. (Also my desire to learn how to make large, decorative cakes was provoked). One of my biggest goals: make it to Disney World before I die. Some day...

Vaguely Familiar

There is a weird phenomenon that occassionally occurrs in my life but lately it has been happening far too often. I often have people who tell me I look familiar to them or that I remind them of somebody. Usually this happens over a space of time but lately it had become more frequent. Two weeks ago at church I had a young married couple come up to me before service to apologize for staring at me. (I personally didn't notice them staring...if I had I might have been a little unnerved. The lady explained that I looked exactly like her sister and they just couldn't get over the similarity. After service that same Sunday a lady I met stated that I reminded her of one of her good friends. This past Sunday I had two instances where people I met said I looked very familiar.

This happens so often that I wonder am I a clone or is there a part of my life that I don't remember. Maybe I have met these people before. Maybe I just have "one of those faces". It's sometimes very bizarre. Does anyone else have this problem?

Little Tired

I have not had a chance to catch up from my 3 hours of sleep Saturday night. I think about taking a nap when I get home from work but I've had other things to do--mainly cleaning up my apartment. My day off this week was scheduled for Thursday. Because of all the tours we have had in May I have had to come into work on Mondays which is usually my weekend. Our part time education assistant, Judy, is unable to come to work this week because her husband had emergency quadruple bipass surgery. I was happy to work for her because she desperatly needed to be with him. But I'm really starting to feel exhausted. The way it was going to work out was I would work Monday through Saturday this week, get Sunday of, then work Monday through Saturday again! I proabably could have made it but I don't really think I want to try. My boss, Houston felt sorry for me and said he would work for me this Saturday. So I get to sleep in and relax! A week and a half more till our busy time is over.

Bachlorette--Austin Style

This Saturday after work I headed out for Christy's new house in Austin to meet up with the original Abilene crew for Kelly Haseltine's bachlorette party. Christy, Heather, Jessica (Kelly's sister), Trish (who I haven't seen since October)and I went to paint the town! After a dinner at Razoo's we head to downtown...mainly 6th street. We had to find a place that would allow under 21 year olds for Jessica. We went to a piano bar where we got Kelly to sit on the piano while the singer sang to her.

We then went upstairs to another room with a band with an amazing black singer. While up there the drummer from downstairs bought all of us a round of shots! Also the same drummer, probably my dad's age, asked Trish, the only married woman of the group, to dance. Before we left the singer got our bachlorette party up on the dance floor. Trish and I had a scary encounter with a drunk guy on the balcony. We weren't sure what he was talking about and quickly slipped back inside. We returned to Christy's a little after 2:00. After some m&m's, cake, and chips and dip (just like our old slumber parties) we headed to bed.

Then I woke up at 6:00 in order to drive back to College Station in time to teach my 3 year old class--Whoa!

I Feel Faint

Today during one of my upstairs tours I had a fourth grade girl faint! I had the kids in the medical section and I was telling them about how doctors use to bleed people as a cure for illnesses. Just as I started to talk about using leeches to suck people's blood...down she fell like a sack of potatoes! I thought she had tripped but when she didn't get right back up I knew what had happened. She was only out for a couple seconds and then the teacher took her to get some fresh air. I'm sure the talk of blood and medical stuff just got to her.

I use to be really bad when it came to talking about the inner workings of the body. When I was little I couldn't even hear the word blood. It was the "b" word. In my 5th grade Sex Ed class I fainted, banging my head on the table, and in 6th grade I threw up. At times I still can get a qwizzy (sp?) during some talks.

I had a lot of fun at my party last night. I met Andrei at his apartment and helped him finish getting the spaghetti noodles ready. Then we packed his car up and headed to the club house to meet everyone. He lives in a really nice apartment complex with an amazing pool--I wish we had brought our swimsuits. My salad went over very well--which is good because I've never made a "group salad" before. I ended up knowing about half of the people from my girl's devo and the Aggie class. We played ping pong and pool. We learned two valuable lessons last night: (1) Ping pong balls do not come out when dropped in the pool table (2) Do not try to retrieve the ping pong ball with the pool table balls as they well ALL get stuck :) I had a great time getting to know new people and hanging out with people I already knew!

Well, it's happened. I succombed to the masses who congregate on myspace.com. I was determined to stay off forever--no one could possibly make me convert...except one. I received an email from Eric Fiss aka EFitt. Eric was part of the "Lion's Den" crew from freshman year but then transfered to San Diego. Over the years I have occassionally kept in touch with him. Once he told me he was on myspace I jumped on the bandwagon. So far I haven't done too much on it...I'm still more partial to facebook.

www.myspace.com/crawfordee

My social calendar has slowed down a bit this week. I may try to hang out with people tomorrow night since I'm off on Wednesday. I was invited by Andrei, a guy from church, to an end of the semester get together at his apartment--I'm quite excited about this. Then Saturday after work I will be making my way to Austin for Kelly Haseltine's bachlorette party! I love staying busy!

Dance the Night Away

Well, I had a fantastic time dancing the night away last night. After the devo Garrett, Andy, Sarah, Sarah, Mandy, Amanda, Justin, Natalie, and I made our way to Time Square. It was a very nice facility with a huge room filled with pool tables and a room for dancing...including a stage for those who are completely confident in their dancing abilities. The problem was there were not many people there. So we decided to make our way to the Hall of Fame more commonly known as the Hall. It was full of dancing fools! At first we all stood around talking--rather loudly over the music. Then the Cotton Eye Joe began playing and all of us girls ran out to the dance floor. I've learned it's best not to wear flip flops when performing that dance. Right at the start of the song my shoe came off and the people in front start coming toward it. I think I invented a new version of the Cotton Eye. Then the hip hop music started. So in the midst of the bumping and griding individuals, (which was quite a shock to me--I've never seen that in person before) there was a small circle of Church of Christers trying to fit in with the mix. Later I got to freshen up on my two-step skills with Garrett. Apparently I'm a little rusty--I have to work more on sliding my moves instead of hopping. We stayed there until 12:30--whoo! Right before leaving Sarah and I were standing by ourselves and actually were asked to dance by two guys. Quite flattering but we turned them down...I don't enjoy dancing with strange guys I don't know. All in all it was a great night. But I sure felt it this morning at work!

Enjoyable Day

I was dreading my work load today. We had four tours listed all from the same school...all 7th graders. The majority of the middle school groups have been filled with students who are very closed mouthed and give the impression that they are bored with what you are saying. My first group was mainly all boys who appeared to have been held back because they were towering over me (which is not hard to do). They were absolutely wonderful! Upstairs they listened intently and asked lots of questions. My next two groups were the same way--full of curiosity and good questions. The last group had to leave early so we allowed them to look on their own for 10 minutes on each floor with Judy and I supervising. While on the second floor I had many girls come up to me asking me to tell them about certain objects or a section of the exhibit. I was absolutely floored! I made sure to inform the teachers on how wonderful their entire group was.

Tonight a large group of us are heading out after devo to a place called Time Square to celebrate Mandy's b-day. Time Square is a bar/dance place without country music (Hallelujah). It also has pool, darts and other activities. I'm pretty excited about this!

Busy Social Life

This weekend was jam-packed with lots of fun. The Invisible Children campout was wonderful. Christy and I wrote our letters and made our art projects. I got plenty of sleep while Christy stayed up socializing but we both woke up cold and in a layer of dew--yum! Christy stayed with me from Saturday through Monday and it was lots of fun--reminds me of the days in the dorm.

This week I am so incredibly busy. Of course work is full of tour after tour (May is the busiest of our months) but I also have lots going on after work. Here's a look at my schedule:

Monday: party at my place with Christy, Heather, and Jonathan
Tuesday: Girl's Devo party at Valerie's
Wednesday: Church
Thursday: 9:00 devo; then Mandy's 21st birthday celebration (possibly dancing at The Hall--excitement)
Friday: rest/work on lesson plan for Sunday
Saturday: Robin comes to visit--yeah!!!!