The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, kicking off the Lenten season. I don't give anything up for Lent, but I do try to be more intentional about improving my spiritual life by praying more or reading my Bible more or something. This year, one of the girls in small group had this idea about writing a letter to someone you love every day during Lent. I haven't figured out how this will bring me closer to God yet, but I think it's a brilliant idea (in addition to increasing my Bible reading). So every day, I'll be writing a little letter to someone. But just so you know, if you don't get a letter, it's not because I don't love you; it's probably because I got really busy and didn't follow through, like in so many other aspects of my life. Update on my week of excitement: I went to a workshop on autism yesterday that was enjoyable. Today I did eat Paczkis and drink champagne with my small group girls, but I also had to go to a wake- Sarah's grandpa died

Ok, I'm trying the excitement thing again. I have a busy week coming up, and although I am a mess, I have hope. :) On Monday, I meet with my personal trainer for the first time. I may finally be pretty again. Also, I don't have to go to work; I get to go to a workshop on autism instead. Tuesday is Small Group. We are going to eat Paczkis and drink champagne and finally finish our John study (that's taken like, a year). Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. I'm going to church before work, then after work is class, which will probably be over with early because it's our last class. Thursday night I'm meeting with someone from the DAR to start my official application and work on proving the relationships I'm claiming. Friday night I'm getting my tattoo! And Saturday night is my birthday party at DC's!

Why do guys love bitches? I'm watching Gone With the Wind on TCM and falling in love with Rhett Butler. But guys like that never go for nice girls. How could he be so in love with Scarlett? She's terrible! I just don't get it. And that's how it always is. Ugh.

I made a Wordle of my list of things to do this summer. How am I just now discovering this? It's so fun! "> title="Wordle: Things to do this summer"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/564422/Things_to_do_this_summer" alt="Wordle: Things to do this summer" style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

My brother and I are getting tattoos next Friday. Right now, I have one on the inside of my ankle that I am not crazy about. It's a heart that's been broken down the middle and bound back up again. It's too plain; it needs something. So Andy drew this up for me: I need advice. Roses are trashy, right? But hearts are too, and I already have one of those. I might as well go all out. And I think it's kind of classic and elegant. I was thinking that maybe I should get another flower, but as Andy pointed out, the rose really lends itself to the heart shape. Another decision I need to make is where to put it. Yes, I already have the heart on my ankle, but Marci (the tattoo artist) is brilliant with cover-ups. So I could get that changed at a later date. (I was even thinking of covering it up with a little Petunia, since that's what my grandma always used to call me.) Would the rose look good on my shoulder, or should I still get it on my ankle? It seems like i

This is what I have been for about the past month. What's funny is that I can trace it all back to one specific event. Things have not been going well since. A lot of it is very personal, so I won't be posting it on the internet for everyone to read. But it involves drama and deceit. Let's review some of the things that have happened in the past few weeks: I was in a bad car accident. I did something that was hurtful to one of my best friends. I locked myself out of my apartment. I found out a rumor was being spread about me at work. I got to class and completely forgot it was my week to give a big presentation. I got sick. Someone who is very dear to me has decided to leave our small group, partly because of my beliefs and the way I live my life. Have I left anything out? I have some seriously bad karma.

My students are like animals- they can smell weakness. I am sick. They know it and try to take advantage. So I have to work even harder than I do on healthy days. I have to show them they can't get away with anything. Today they were being particularly crazy after lunch. I won't go into detail as to how I punished the kids who weren't behaving, but they were miserable. And the rest of the class got to play Catch Phrase. I've decided this game is the answer for kids who have trouble expressing themselves verbally. It was fascinating to watch them play. My honor roll students gave a steady stream of clues. My average kids kept messing up and using one of the words in the phrase, or resorted to gestures. My low kids just said, "Um... Um..." and couldn't really get out any clues. So I think that Catch Phrase will be a regular part of my classroom now. How fun is that? My friends and I love that game; we play almost every year at our annual pre-Th

Today I took Lil Sis to the Art Institute. It was such a pleasure to watch her discover art. The Impressionists were her favorite, especially Monet's water lilies and this painting by Renoir. I was totally in teacher mode, asking her lots of questions about the paintings. It really concerns me how limited her vocabulary is. For example, we were looking at this painting, which was originally attributed to Rembrandt, but now they think it was done by one of his students. I asked Khalia about the look on the girl's face. She said, "Happy." And I said, "Really? What makes you think she's happy?" Khalia could tell she'd gotten the answer wrong, so she quickly changed her answer to "mad." First of all, this shows that she has a lot of problems with inferential thinking. Secondly, those seem to be the only emotions she really knew how to describe when we looked at paintings. I need to figure out some sneaky ways to build her vocabulary. A

During Read Aloud today, I noticed that Dylan was reading The Giver under his desk instead of listening. "Dylan, research shows that read alouds are beneficial to students all the way through high school. You will be less likely to go to jail and will make more money. Please put the book away." "Treated!" someone yelled. "What?" I was confused. "I was just stating a fact." "You treated him with education, Miss B," De'Shawn said. "He was educationally treated."

Faye and I went to DC's last night as usual. We walked in at the same time as this obnoxious family, and I thought to myself, we need to avoid them. (The kids were around our age; I'm not talking about little kids.) So we put our stuff down on our usual picnic table, and I went out to dance to "Mind Your Own Business." Faye chose to sit that one out, and when I came back, the drunk uncle was talking to Faye. About me, apparently. He introduced himself and said he wanted me to meet his nephew. Ugh. So I meet his nephew, who, at first, seems nice. Super tall, though- he is 6'6". It made slow dancing difficult, as I am only 5'1". Anyway, we talk and he seems all right. I'm not interested in dating him, but I never mind meeting new people. Well, like 10 minutes after I meet him, he goes away for a few minutes and his uncles comes over and asks if he's told me about his dad yet. Then he proceeds to tell me this whole story about how hi

Remember how excited I was at the beginning of the week? It has been a week of disappointments. RENT still has not arrived. Ugly Betty is being canceled. Nina and I couldn't find any cute rain boots. Dinner did not go as planned last night. Everyone canceled last minute (with good reason, they weren't being flaky or anything), so it was just me and Nina. We went to Cuatro, which ended up being amazing but expensive. Although it wouldn't have been that expensive if I hadn't had 3 $10 Sangrias. They were just so delicious. And I had these potato crepes with zucchini and creme brulee for dessert... it was a perfect dinner. But we were sad that 4 other people couldn't make it. Nina and I were supposed to go hiking today (because the high is 53!). She said to call her at 9:30 to make sure she's up. (She was going out for a friend's birthday last night.) I just called and she didn't answer, meaning she had some crazy night out and isn't going hik

Tonight I realized I really hate the sound of my front door closing as people leave.

Can I just take a moment to be obnoxious and just gush about how excited I am for this week? Tonight, Gossip Girl made me scream like an adolescent girl. Tomorrow, RENT Filmed Live on Broadway will be arriving at my house!!!! I'll be watching it as soon as it arrives. Then I get to go see my small group gals and talk about God. On Friday, I'm having dinner with some of my closest friends who are like family. We always see each other at the holidays and say, "Let's do this more often" and we never do. But we're finally doing something about it. On Saturday, I'm going hiking!!!!! It's going to be close to 50 degrees! Who cares if it's rainy? I'm going to get some adorable rain boots and jump in puddles and climb around and just enjoy being outside! I'm also going to see "He's Just Not That Into You" this weekend, which I'm excited about. The book is brilliant; it made me realize what an idiot I was about my ex and ho

I know it's only February, but I can't stop thinking about summer. I have so many ideas for this year. 1. Learn guitar. 2. Go four-wheeling with paintball guns 3. Architectural tour with Dad 4. Ghost hunting 5. Watch the sunrise 6. Make friends with someone in a rural area 7. Go to a rodeo 8. Road trip- not sure where 9. Play baseball at the Field of Dreams field 10. Hiking 11. Go whitewater rafting and not be terrified 12. Devil's Lake 13. Memphis 14. Find a really good tree to climb (besides the one at Grandma's) 15. Have a water balloon fight 16. Nap in a hammock 17. Get a badminton set for Mom and Dad's yard 18. Finish the quilt with Grandma 19. Finally master the art of making Rice Krispie treats. With vegan marshmallows, of course. 20. Swim in my parents' pool 21. Get married in Vegas 22. Eat blue snowcones 23. Use chalk to decorate the sidewalk in front of my apartment 24. Play Bingo. 25. Go to an observatory and look at the sta