Well, It's summer again now and I have more free time to basically sit around and do nothing! :) I've been catching up on my 'net' stuff. I also finally decided to give Sudoku a try and I haven't been able to put the book down. I dream about rows and boxes of numbers now :P Benjamin will be 3 soon and he is a super talker and super cute, of course.
Next year at work I will be teaching French 4 and 5 honors for the first time. I'm planning lots of cool things for the 5s, including epals. I have already found a class with which to correspond in France and am already sending emails with the teacher.. what fun! I have 4 French movies to watch this summer and teach as well as 2 new books. Yay!
Well, happy summer!
25 June 2006
16 October 2005
I'm Back!... ?.....
Well, as expected, I haven't been keeping up with this blog.. but here's whats been going on with me...
I'm back to work of course and things are going well. It's been an ok year so far, not too hard. I really like my students this year and that is always a plus. I've had many college recommendations to write this year, more than ever. I really do like writing them but they take so long! I still feel flattered when students ask me to write one for them. Other school stuff is going ok too. I am going to be a co-presenter at a conference in a few weeks and that is a lot of work, but we're getting there. I created the Power Point for it but I have to get my act together on what exactly I will be talking about. I still have 3 more days... :)
I got contact lenses! That's the big news in my life right now. They are still new - I got them 4 days ago- but it's going ok. They are going to take some getting used to, thats for sure.
Benjamin is awesome. He is saying new words and phrases everyday. He is also gaining new perspective on things and starting to mentally put things together. He knows that he is "Ben" and now everything is Ben's... Ben's seat, Ben's shoes, Ben's food, etc. So cute! He can count up to 20 and puts together 4-5 words sentences all the time. His favorite thing to do is boss me around :P Mama sit! Mama get down and play! Mama juice! And of course, Dada is his favorite person in the whole world!
Well, that's me for now.. lets see if I get back within 3 months!
I'm back to work of course and things are going well. It's been an ok year so far, not too hard. I really like my students this year and that is always a plus. I've had many college recommendations to write this year, more than ever. I really do like writing them but they take so long! I still feel flattered when students ask me to write one for them. Other school stuff is going ok too. I am going to be a co-presenter at a conference in a few weeks and that is a lot of work, but we're getting there. I created the Power Point for it but I have to get my act together on what exactly I will be talking about. I still have 3 more days... :)
I got contact lenses! That's the big news in my life right now. They are still new - I got them 4 days ago- but it's going ok. They are going to take some getting used to, thats for sure.
Benjamin is awesome. He is saying new words and phrases everyday. He is also gaining new perspective on things and starting to mentally put things together. He knows that he is "Ben" and now everything is Ben's... Ben's seat, Ben's shoes, Ben's food, etc. So cute! He can count up to 20 and puts together 4-5 words sentences all the time. His favorite thing to do is boss me around :P Mama sit! Mama get down and play! Mama juice! And of course, Dada is his favorite person in the whole world!
Well, that's me for now.. lets see if I get back within 3 months!
14 August 2005
New Medievia Website!
Well after many months of wishing for a new site, a website design contest, and about 3 weeks of hard work, Medievia has a NEW Website!!
Check out all our hard work! www.medievia.com/newsite.html
YAY!
Check out all our hard work! www.medievia.com/newsite.html
YAY!
09 August 2005
Going Back to School
So it's about 2 weeks now that I need to go back to work. It's strange because it's like something "clicked" in my brain and now I realise it so my brain is in teacher mode. I'm now thinking of a thousand things I could do differently this year. Part of being a teacher is adjusting and changing to make things better for the students. So, the start of the year is a great time to try somthing new and make changes to established routines.
One thing I know I do well for sure at my job is being organized. The main reason why I'm so organized is because I get really stressed out if I'm not. I just don't know how disorganized teachers get by :P There is so much paperwork, emails, phone calles, lesson plans, seating charts, etc etc that you have paper everywhere in addition to the files and emails on your computer. Oh, and voicemail too. Not to mention the 12o or so students I need to teach :) Anyways, as I tell my students, organization is the key to success.
That being said, of course I'm thinking about better ways to organize. I took my posters down off the walls in June which I hadn't done for 2 summers. I have a LOT of posters and stuff from France and Quebec that I hang up too. I need to rethink where it all should go! But, this is fun for me, so I'm not complaining. The start of the school year is a nice refreshing start every time. But then comes the rest of the year...
My goal for today is to go in for a few hours with Benjamin and get started. I only have 2 weeks left!!
One thing I know I do well for sure at my job is being organized. The main reason why I'm so organized is because I get really stressed out if I'm not. I just don't know how disorganized teachers get by :P There is so much paperwork, emails, phone calles, lesson plans, seating charts, etc etc that you have paper everywhere in addition to the files and emails on your computer. Oh, and voicemail too. Not to mention the 12o or so students I need to teach :) Anyways, as I tell my students, organization is the key to success.
That being said, of course I'm thinking about better ways to organize. I took my posters down off the walls in June which I hadn't done for 2 summers. I have a LOT of posters and stuff from France and Quebec that I hang up too. I need to rethink where it all should go! But, this is fun for me, so I'm not complaining. The start of the school year is a nice refreshing start every time. But then comes the rest of the year...
My goal for today is to go in for a few hours with Benjamin and get started. I only have 2 weeks left!!
04 August 2005
New Hair!
Well, I did it and it's done! I think it looks great, but I haven't done the styling myself yet :P The salon was VERY nice, of course. While I was driving there I thought to myself "Im sure I'll see one of my students/ex-students there". Well, sure enough, 2 girls that graduated last year worked there as receptionists! Anyways...
I got my smock on and sat down with a nice glass of lemon-water as I waited for my colorist. She came out and took me over to a line of chairs facing a wall with flat-screen tvs on it. The tvs were showing make-overs :) This was the coloring station. It was interesting to me that there were no mirrors here. I guess they don't want you to see yourself with a head full of foil and dye stuff.
Anyways, my colorist Monica came out and I told her I wanted highlights, but whatever she thought might look good. So we agreed on "warm" highlights and we also had to dye the rest of my hair brown to get rid of the yucky CVS color I put in 8 months ago. So, she began to foil...
"Do you live around here?", Monica asked. I explained that I lived about 2 minutes away and proceeded to explain where are street is. "What's the name of the street?" I told her. "I live on that street!" So, my colorist lives 3 houses up on the right! She lives with her parents and has lived here all her life. For the rest of the color treatment she gave me the scoop on all our neighbors. What a small world!
After drying under a dryer and perusing several magazines I received the best hairwashing I've ever had, done by Claire. It lasted about 15 minutes and was awesome. She even asked me if I wanted my feet reclined! (I said no)
Enter Brooke, hairstylist supreme. Tall, thin, short blond stylish hair, she could be a model. She was very excited about attacking my shoulder-length hair. I told her I wanted easy to manage, shape, and style. She cut it all one length shorter and then went to work on the layering.... amazing really... much different than SuperCuts. After cutting, she styled and styled and I paid close attention so I could try to replicate it here at home (won't happen). All she used was a round brush and a blowdryer, and voila! C'est fini...
http://www.medievia.com/soleil/hair.html
I got my smock on and sat down with a nice glass of lemon-water as I waited for my colorist. She came out and took me over to a line of chairs facing a wall with flat-screen tvs on it. The tvs were showing make-overs :) This was the coloring station. It was interesting to me that there were no mirrors here. I guess they don't want you to see yourself with a head full of foil and dye stuff.
Anyways, my colorist Monica came out and I told her I wanted highlights, but whatever she thought might look good. So we agreed on "warm" highlights and we also had to dye the rest of my hair brown to get rid of the yucky CVS color I put in 8 months ago. So, she began to foil...
"Do you live around here?", Monica asked. I explained that I lived about 2 minutes away and proceeded to explain where are street is. "What's the name of the street?" I told her. "I live on that street!" So, my colorist lives 3 houses up on the right! She lives with her parents and has lived here all her life. For the rest of the color treatment she gave me the scoop on all our neighbors. What a small world!
After drying under a dryer and perusing several magazines I received the best hairwashing I've ever had, done by Claire. It lasted about 15 minutes and was awesome. She even asked me if I wanted my feet reclined! (I said no)
Enter Brooke, hairstylist supreme. Tall, thin, short blond stylish hair, she could be a model. She was very excited about attacking my shoulder-length hair. I told her I wanted easy to manage, shape, and style. She cut it all one length shorter and then went to work on the layering.... amazing really... much different than SuperCuts. After cutting, she styled and styled and I paid close attention so I could try to replicate it here at home (won't happen). All she used was a round brush and a blowdryer, and voila! C'est fini...
http://www.medievia.com/soleil/hair.html
02 August 2005
Hair
Let me just tell you a little about the history of my hair. When I was little my hair was short and curly with a perm, given by my mom. As I got older, I had a little more say in my hair-do but still continued to get perms as per the advice of my mom. Middle school- awful 80s cuts, usually permed, trying to be Madonna. In high school I yearned to have long hair but did not have the patience. I tried many different cuts, colors, curliness, but never long. In college I continued with my experimentation with hair styles, dying, highlighting, cutting myself, etc. But again, never long. Finally, after graduation from college and as life got busier, my hair got longer. No more perms either. Well, I did get one perm with longer hair, but regretted it and hated waiting for it to grow out.
I have been growing my hair pretty much from that time until last year. Before I got my hair cut to my shoulders last fall, my hair was all one length, brown, to the middle of my back. When I cut it to my shoulders, I dyed it myself auburn, and that's the look I have now, except not so auburn since the dye has faded/grown out.
Every single time I've gotten my hair cut that I remember has been at a SuperCuts quality place- Hair Cuttery, Holiday, Super Cuts, etc. - all the same - cheap haircut place. So, today, I decided that I'm going to take my all one length brown shoulder-length hair to a fancy schmancy salon and see what they come up with. I just got off the phone and I'm going tomorrow at 5 for a color consultation and cut! Wish me luck!
I have been growing my hair pretty much from that time until last year. Before I got my hair cut to my shoulders last fall, my hair was all one length, brown, to the middle of my back. When I cut it to my shoulders, I dyed it myself auburn, and that's the look I have now, except not so auburn since the dye has faded/grown out.
Every single time I've gotten my hair cut that I remember has been at a SuperCuts quality place- Hair Cuttery, Holiday, Super Cuts, etc. - all the same - cheap haircut place. So, today, I decided that I'm going to take my all one length brown shoulder-length hair to a fancy schmancy salon and see what they come up with. I just got off the phone and I'm going tomorrow at 5 for a color consultation and cut! Wish me luck!
01 August 2005
A healthy baby boy at Burger King
Today I took Benjamin for his 2 year medical checkup. Overall, he's healthy and growing great - Yay! He was a good boy in the office until the doctor came in the little room. He was ok at first but once he started touching him the volume rose a few notches. Overall he was great though, and no shots!
Afterwards I took him to Burger King for lunch - they have a huge indoor playground/climbing thing. We ate first - I got him a chicken nuggets kids meal. He ate the fries, I ate the chicken. Well, I should say, he ate the ketchup. He loves to dip the fries in the ketchup and then suck the ketchup off, over and over. The fry usually never gets eaten. Instead, it gets discarded into the container and a crunchier fry takes its place as ketchup utensil :P
After we ate, we checked out the playground/climbing Benjamintrap. It is designed so children can climb up and get stuck up there. It is also designed to be too small for parents to fit up inside it comfortably. Needless to say, but Benjamin happily climbed up the steps inside it, got scared, and "forgot" how to turn around and climb back down. He was inside it standing at the top looking at me through this small hole, holding his arms out to me. I tried to coax him down but no go. So up I go, climbing up inside this thing that's too small for me to climb in. But up I went and I got him. He was happy to see me but still too scared to go back down. It was a bit of a struggle but we made it! I think I'll skip Burger King next time :P
Afterwards I took him to Burger King for lunch - they have a huge indoor playground/climbing thing. We ate first - I got him a chicken nuggets kids meal. He ate the fries, I ate the chicken. Well, I should say, he ate the ketchup. He loves to dip the fries in the ketchup and then suck the ketchup off, over and over. The fry usually never gets eaten. Instead, it gets discarded into the container and a crunchier fry takes its place as ketchup utensil :P
After we ate, we checked out the playground/climbing Benjamintrap. It is designed so children can climb up and get stuck up there. It is also designed to be too small for parents to fit up inside it comfortably. Needless to say, but Benjamin happily climbed up the steps inside it, got scared, and "forgot" how to turn around and climb back down. He was inside it standing at the top looking at me through this small hole, holding his arms out to me. I tried to coax him down but no go. So up I go, climbing up inside this thing that's too small for me to climb in. But up I went and I got him. He was happy to see me but still too scared to go back down. It was a bit of a struggle but we made it! I think I'll skip Burger King next time :P
Clothes
So, one of the jobs on my "Summer Todo List" was/is to organize my mess of clothes. I want to clean house and donate all the clothes I'm never going to wear anymore. Easier said than done...Since I've been many shapes and sizes over the past 5 years or so, I've accumulated quite a mass of clothes, also all shapes and sizes. I have pants - blue, black, olive green, khaki - in sizes 8-16. I have shirts and sweaters from M-XL. I have dresses and work clothes for all ranges too. So, my task was/is to go through the clothes, REALLY get rid of the things I haven't worn for the past 3 years (going to GoodWill), and organize things by size, in large storage containers.
But, why don't I just get rid of all the clothes that no longer fit me? Well, I aim to get back to that size 8, so don't want to give them away in case that happens anytime soon :P I don't want to dispose of the larger sizes either in case of pregnancy #2, if and when that may ever happen. So, organize I must.
I started with my pants. I have WAY too many pairs of pants. I have a large storage container now for each size: 16/pregnancy, 14, 12, 8 (I'm currently wearing the 10s, so they aren't in containers). The containers fit nicely at the top of my closet... nice and organized!
I'm 1/2 way done organizing my work clothes. Out of all the dresses hanging in my closet, I happily put about 1/3 of them in my GoodWill pile. I haven't gone through them in years and there were a lot of old things there! Yay!
Next I need to tackle my sweaters and sweatshirts. Many of them have "sentimental" value to them as I've had them since high school and college and can't bear to part with them. Most of the sentimental value items are things I will most likely not wear again. So, what to do? Do I put them in a storage box at the top of my closet for the sake of keeping them just to take out and look at every once and awhile, or do I give them to GoodWill? Hrm, since I'm a packrat, I'm sure I'll keep them.
Some days I wish life were like Star Trek when everyone wears the same uniform all the time. I wouldn't have to waste my time thinking and writing about clothes!
But, why don't I just get rid of all the clothes that no longer fit me? Well, I aim to get back to that size 8, so don't want to give them away in case that happens anytime soon :P I don't want to dispose of the larger sizes either in case of pregnancy #2, if and when that may ever happen. So, organize I must.
I started with my pants. I have WAY too many pairs of pants. I have a large storage container now for each size: 16/pregnancy, 14, 12, 8 (I'm currently wearing the 10s, so they aren't in containers). The containers fit nicely at the top of my closet... nice and organized!
I'm 1/2 way done organizing my work clothes. Out of all the dresses hanging in my closet, I happily put about 1/3 of them in my GoodWill pile. I haven't gone through them in years and there were a lot of old things there! Yay!
Next I need to tackle my sweaters and sweatshirts. Many of them have "sentimental" value to them as I've had them since high school and college and can't bear to part with them. Most of the sentimental value items are things I will most likely not wear again. So, what to do? Do I put them in a storage box at the top of my closet for the sake of keeping them just to take out and look at every once and awhile, or do I give them to GoodWill? Hrm, since I'm a packrat, I'm sure I'll keep them.
Some days I wish life were like Star Trek when everyone wears the same uniform all the time. I wouldn't have to waste my time thinking and writing about clothes!
31 July 2005
Summer Vacation
So, since I decided to have this blog and if I want there to be stuff here, I actually have to post, here goes....
So, I'm a teacher and I get my summers, well 8 weeks, off. "Off" is such a peculiar word because yes, I'm not getting up every morning and going to a workplace. But, although I am not in my classroom teaching everyday, I am quite occupied with thinking about school, dreaming about school, contemplating new projects, planning new lessons, etc. I am a teacher 12 months out of the year for sure, and after 9 years now, I really do look forward to going back to school in August (remember when it was September??)
Another reason I am not "off" - Medievia. We are working very hard this summer to get some new life into the game. Dubbed "The Summer of Medievia V", we are in the throes of releasing new programming, new adventures, a new website, and a lot of new work! I have been busy all summer, hours a day, trying to market the game. I have no experience with PR or marketing, but I do pretty well. I also serve as the head cheerleader for the game, getting players motivated enough to vote for us and donate to the game they love.
Benjamin is a full time job himself :) He has just turned 2, so he is go go go go go all the time. He has decided not to nap more days this week than he has actually napped. Needless to say, it is difficult working, well, doing anything, with a 2 year old around. He plays very well by himself but he needs mommy lots! But, since he is my beloved cutie, he gets all the time he wants.
Summer vacation is more than half over now and although when Mike asked me the other day if I was looking forward to going back to work I said "no", I'm starting to get more motivated :) I redid my Madame Krause website the other day and although it's not wonderful, I like the new design lots. I've also started thinking about going back and getting units reoganized and new ideas for projects. Like it or not, the last week of August is almost here and I have to be ready!
So, I'm a teacher and I get my summers, well 8 weeks, off. "Off" is such a peculiar word because yes, I'm not getting up every morning and going to a workplace. But, although I am not in my classroom teaching everyday, I am quite occupied with thinking about school, dreaming about school, contemplating new projects, planning new lessons, etc. I am a teacher 12 months out of the year for sure, and after 9 years now, I really do look forward to going back to school in August (remember when it was September??)
Another reason I am not "off" - Medievia. We are working very hard this summer to get some new life into the game. Dubbed "The Summer of Medievia V", we are in the throes of releasing new programming, new adventures, a new website, and a lot of new work! I have been busy all summer, hours a day, trying to market the game. I have no experience with PR or marketing, but I do pretty well. I also serve as the head cheerleader for the game, getting players motivated enough to vote for us and donate to the game they love.
Benjamin is a full time job himself :) He has just turned 2, so he is go go go go go all the time. He has decided not to nap more days this week than he has actually napped. Needless to say, it is difficult working, well, doing anything, with a 2 year old around. He plays very well by himself but he needs mommy lots! But, since he is my beloved cutie, he gets all the time he wants.
Summer vacation is more than half over now and although when Mike asked me the other day if I was looking forward to going back to work I said "no", I'm starting to get more motivated :) I redid my Madame Krause website the other day and although it's not wonderful, I like the new design lots. I've also started thinking about going back and getting units reoganized and new ideas for projects. Like it or not, the last week of August is almost here and I have to be ready!
30 July 2005
It's all about the Links
I've created this blog mainly as a place where I can post the links to websites I've created and also websites that belong to family members, friends, etc.
Here's what the links are:
Here's what the links are:
- Medievia ~ Medievia is the game that my husband Mike and I run. Medievia is a multiplayer online text based role-playing game that has been in development since 1991. Do you Dare Enter?
- The Country Deli ~ The website for the restaurant that my dad & stepmom own and that my sister and bro-n-law help run. I used to work there! :)
- Benjamin's Page ~ This is the site that I created for my 2 year old son Benjamin.
- Madame Krause Site ~ This is the site that I use for my students and their parents at Wissahickon High School. I just redid the whole site a few days ago!
- Soleil's Sun Spot ~ This is my personal website that has links to pictures of me, my husband Mike, our animals, our wedding, etc.
- The Learning Potential of MUDs ~ This is the website of my Master's Thesis that I did on MUDs
- Vote for Medievia ~ Click here to vote for Medievia :)
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