Remember Me?!

You know I was just starting to get the hang of this blogging thing finally and then I had to go and get a job! I'm so grateful to be working in this economy and the state of our school board this year but I really did enjoy my summer. I've set several "goals" for myself going into this new school year. Simple things like laying my clothes out the night before, packing a lunch in the evenings, etc. The next one on the list is obviously to build some time into my schedule to craft. I have so many projects on the brain and I'm really excited for them all. They are all very simple but do-able - hence my excitement.

Oh, yeah, my beautiful sister and her man got engaged!!! NBD. Wahoo!!! We went for a celebratory dinner at the Creperie... om nom nom. I had scallops, perfectly cooked scallops... and Flirt cupcakes for dessert back at Mom's... my blue jeans will thank me later. Anywho, in the car ride between the two epic food adventures I decided to conduct some self-portraits. A unique passion of mine, guests at our home will often find such spectacles on their cameras several days post party. What can I say? It's a gift. Perhaps they should also put a distracted passenger bylaw into effect to prevent such disastrous occurrences... but then you couldn't laugh at this. Remember me?!

A teacher at school once told me that I reminded him of Jenny McCarthy. I asked if that was because I was beautiful. He replied: "No. It's because your face seems to be made out of leather rubber. How do you make all of those faces?"

These are actually not my finest work...some are just too similar. It was hard to give them all a name. Any suggestions for the last, most nostrilly one? (Or I would love some hilarious renames!)

"Kitty, Kitty", *Sniff, Sniff*

I made it! School is officially out, my 186 report cards are complete and I have lugged all of my stuff out of the school... and most is still sitting in my car. It was a challenging semester (I may have mentioned this one or two times before...*wink*) but I got through, and more importantly, most of my students got through with me. I don't really want to get into anymore "shop talk" but I do want to say that I will miss my school and the kids. There is a (brilliant) glimmer of hope that I will be back at the same school working full-time, if on a temp, next year. With the hundreds of brilliant teachers who are out of work here in Edmonton, I will NOT complain! So here is a picture of me on my last day of school, bedraggled and sad looking in multiple facets. If I am back next year I will not have a classroom of my own anymore but will be forced to wander the school on a cart like a gypsy. Oh government, can't we just have a few more dollars so that I can have a classroom, as well as less than 35 students? Asking too much? I figured. So long delightful classroom! But what's more is that I have these ubber fancy nails to lighten the mood. I got these hilariously gaudy but irresistibly "me" "Salon Effects by Sally Hansen the other day and I can't get enough! Mom and I have been on multiple missions to find more - no shocker that I have to race the 14 year olds to the shelves - they're really hard to get :) These ones are called "Kitty, Kitty" which makes them all the more better!

Camping in Alberta/When Will I Learn

This past weekend was David's mother's side's (usage of apostrophes questionable) annual camping trip at Jarvis Bay (Silvan Lake, Alberta). Half of this side of the family lives in Calgary so this is a nice mid-way point for us to meet. As per usual Alberta weather - expect the unexpected. Friday night was very cold and we spent all evening crowded around the fire playing camp fire games and making the best of it. Having taught all day I decided to go to bed "early" sometime between 11 and midnight only to find that despite my touque (sometimes worn on my head, other moments me socked feet), fleece jammies and a heavy duty sleeping bag I was shivering so badly that I could not sleep. At 2 am I went to find the hubby to try to convince the radiator of  man to get his butt back to the tent. Whilst waiting for him I found the ultimate solution and a little shut eye thanks to my LuluLemon hoodie which I managed to put my feet through. Honestly, those things are soooo warm. In the morning, David and I woke up at immediately the same time. No, we are not so connected that our circadian rhythms are in sync. We both woke at the same time because our tent had fallen on our faces and the cold snow on top of it awakened us! Yeah. Snow. I thought we were out of there for sure but we built a new fire and toughed it out and by 3:00pm it was 17 degrees out and lovely camping weather. More about the weekend when I managed to scrap some of these pictures but here's a pics from our adventurous stay.

Trying to stay warm in bed and questioning our choice in provinces to live.

 Great book! Highly recommend if you're into neuropathology or just think that learning about how the brain works or, in this case, doesn't work is extraordinarily interesting!

Little BIL playing the gey-tar. Very talented.

 David's camping beard... yummy... Didn't know he had the mountain man in 'em but I kinda like it :P

Trying to stay warm. Heart.

Learn to Nacissist...

A favourite (mostly of David’s) signature saying around our home is “learn to _________”. The blank could be filled with a verb, I guess, but is most often filled with adjectives, adverbs or nouns. For instance, if I was having trouble finding some viral video about a teenage pop star in angst or something, David might comment: “learn to Miley Cyrus”... I guess it’s just one of those things you just had to be there for...

Not sure about this page. I haven’t posted it for two reasons: (1) I feel like it needs some distressing, etc. but I’m too lazy to take it apart and put it back together (2) I feel like such a loser when all I scrapbook are the handful of pictures where I think I look decent. I am one of those girls who suffers from a complete and total body-dysmorphic-self-conscious-beat-yourself-up-‘cause-you’re-not-good-enough complex. For most of my life I have been very un-photogenic; so much so that people near and dear to me have, in a kind way, said as much themselves. Yes, part of this is because I make ridiculous faces at the camera 99% of the time. However, that just solidifies the picture as weird/funny/funny-ugly thus not allowing me to fall into the category (god forbid) of unattractive. So the narcissist in me has started to keep a folder of pics entitled “Me”; only the photos which I consider to be me at my best go in there. But wait, it gets worse. Every now and then I pull up the folder and go through the files reminding myself that I’m not half bad. Is that sick? Is it nothing? Is it just plain weird?

Well, whatever it is, it feels kind of good to share the quirky tid-bit about myself on the good ol’ interweb. Now I just hope someone has a similar tendency so I can’t sleep at night ;)

Glamour, Above All Else

Teaching is clearly taking a toll on me lately (as evident by the bags under my eyes). There are only 3 WEEKS left of classes before exams and my students are itching to get outside and away from their books. Actually, not just itching, practically clawing to get out. If I'm being honest - so am I! It's been a hard year and a hard assignment this semester. I tried to give myself a break tonight by giving myself a mini facial. I couldn't help but take a picture once I put on this mask. It has the most unforgiving likeliness to baby poop.

You know me, I can't risk a missed opportunity for a stupid face and a worse photo... Hope your long weekend was restful and that you didn't put anything on your face that looks like it came out of a diaper!

Don't be a Drag, Just be a Queen

The dust, feathers, eyelashes and miscellaneous costume paraphernalia has settled and I'm still here. My 28th birthday was another great excuse to get my friends together and have a fantastic get together... in drag of course. Originally I invited everyone to, what I called a "tickle trunk" party. More often than not we have theme parties but I recognize that not everyone is as "into it" as we/I are/am. So my thought was to put out a bunch of costume pieces and some cardboard cut-outs you put your head in etc., and have everyone be a outrageous (or not) as they wanted to. Great idea. Stole it from Jill. But then Jill had another idea, she wanted to dress up as a male drag queen. Flash back to my 26th birthday: equal amounts of glitter, hilarity and "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" antics. That party was one of my best costume ideas yet! So Jill and I decided to relive the party from a few years ago by dressing up ourselves. Just her and I. When Victoria got there she dolled up in record speed and the three of us looked like idiots for the rest of the evenings. Many people played along with the "everything goes" theme, including Heather (astronaut outfit, shiny silver wing, butterfly wings and a top hat) and Jen (boa, Cruella Deville wig). Yours truly? See for yourself:

 Terrifying I know. But admit it, you want to try drag now. Don't 'cha? And here are some of my gifts. I'm so spoiled! Note the homemade card with googly eyes. The brown card stock in the background has been made to look like cork by my SIL Jen using a little black ink and a mean flick of the wrist. The phrenology head is wicked! Jill found it for me. She's so smart! I just recently bought some lazer cut chipboard from TM with a phrenology head. I reminds me of my psychology days... sigh. Those were the days....

 Beautiful crafting supplies from the hubby. I'm dying to use that yellow Basic Grey paper - yum!

  Beautiful flowers from my mom who found the time to be sooo thoughtful while taking care of my step-father overseas. Geez. What a lady.

Thank you loving friends and family. May day was delightful!

MySpace Photos

Sigh. "MySpace" photos (or what some may call long-arms) are my favorite. Hilarious. Awkward facial expressions, distant eyes, a messy bedroom in the background. So funny! Victoria cut my hair this week and I love it. I was concerned that if I did not love it our friendship would be over and working together would be uncomfortable. V assured my that this would not be the case and she was going to make me look good. She came through! I lurve it and I've already tried it with headbands, clips, messy... who knew short hair could do so many things? Lisa did, that's who. And so, my "MySpace" photos of my new do:

Stay calm. Carry on.

One of Jill's favorite sayings: stay calm and carry on.

This is my new mantra. There are some (for lack of a better word) uncomfortable things going on in my life but I also have lots to be grateful for. Thus, I shall stick to the positice until I snap and write a ranting, biting, scratching, spitting blog post that will make you all shudder. Nah. Stay calm. Carry on.

You know sometimes I feel like I have to give up teaching. I want to do so much for my students. I always have this constant feeling that I have not done all that I could, that kids have slipped through the cracks, that I've missed goldern opportunities. Plainly, that I am not the teacher that I dream of being. Today, however, one of the department heads at our school stopped me in the hall today to tell me that "all of the kids are talking about me". Apparently some of them do think I half decent. Not to toot my own proverbial horn - but I needed that.

In other news... here is a picture from the break of my husband and I being our dorky selves. Decked out in our Oiler's gear before going to the game (thanks Dad!), we look like we are trying to converse with the camera. Trickery, as we are really just trying to get our small Oiler's Christmas tree in the background with us. Check out my cool vintage sweater from Mom. Do you think that the Oil is using my mantra as well? Sigh.

My best Zach Stortini impression. (I was unwilling to knock out some teeth for this photo.)

Be Funky

So I'm working on some wedding invites and save the dates for a good friend of mine who is sadly living too far away from me in T-dot. I am really enjoying this new past time - I've discovered I'm really into computer and graphic design and should do this in my next life (note to self). Anywho, one of the save the dates is something adorable that I totally stole from some nice couple in the states. I will give the website credit at a later date when I show my version compared to theirs. It's amazing what you can do without Photoshop and a limited knowledge of Microsoft Word, really! While you anxiously (Ha!) await the photos on the invites, I bring you Be Funky, a website (from what I can gather) completely dedicated to 17 year olds, enabling them to make funky photos to place on their myspace page. Because I do not have Photoshop yet, I was forced to search for a free online photo editing resource. (I needed the photos to look cartoonish or hand-drawn.) And so I played around with Be Funky. It's free, easy and totally rad. I have big plans for this site - I promise to remove all notions of young girls making pouty faces in their long-arm photos. Here are some examples...

Yikes!

I should be in a vampire movie with eyes like this:I had to have them dilated today to check everything out for my imminent LASER SURGERY!!! That's right! I'm going to be able to see when I wake up for the first time since grade 2. As I am still waiting on a teaching job some very generous donations from the Bank of Mom and the Bank of Dad, oh and a whole lot of Atavan, have made this miracle possible. I am so excited (and also terrified)!!!

Cupcake Queen!

So I'm having a pretty sweet day today all in all. I made some ridiculously cute cupcakes! My friend Amanda bought me this awesome cupcake book which I had yet to try out. Granted they were time consuming, but come on, how adorable is this garden? I must admit that I cheated and used cake mix but I was really more concerned with the decorating. Yum!
Also, half of my students had their final exam today. It went really well and their average was super high - wahoo! In honor of the biology exam I wore my most nerdy but equally awesome science shirt...

Look at Me Go!

I know. A post. Shocking. I'm worse than Mernickle now ;)

So me and the boss lady did some crafting this past late night crop. Here are the fruits of my labor. Lisa was kind enough to model them on her BEAUTIFUL freckled skin (I heart freckles)but the pictures just didn't have the same level of detail.

In other news I got a new camera. Hooray! And it takes really nice photos... including the first ever nice picture of me. I know. I've shown everyone... and it's my facebook profile picture... but you don't understand how I tend to ruin photos. I'm a relatively decent looking gal in real life but NEVER in pictures. Look ma! No scrunchie face!