Steph!
/BIG HUGE HUGS
Sounds fantastic to me!! I'm jealous! I wish I could have been there. It's boring here. Haha.
Vero, that's amazing. You're really getting noticed out there!! Who knows, maybe soon we'll be buying Vero Sauve paintings here in the US pretty soon!
But really. That's fantastic.
And i'm very sorry about your dog, honey. That's horrible.
Sending you tons of hugs and snuggles.
Things are still going alright here.
A little bumpy, and I'm still trying to balance myself out... It's hard... Hard to function every day, without looking at my phone every 10 seconds, wondering when I'm going to get a call.
But I'm trying.
And I will be here more often. So hopefully speaking to you lovely ladies will help keep my mind positive.
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Aha! Unidentified particulates. The two sweetest words I know.
So back on May 26, my brother and I went to the Balloon Festival they have here. I have never been to it before. They launch the balloons really, really early in the morning, so getting up at 4:30 am was not my favorite part of it, but it was really cool seeing all the balloons. I did put a lot of photos on Facebook but I know not all of you are on there so I'll share a few here. I took over 100 photos, not all of them are good, so I'll just put 3 or 4 here. And also, my photo of the mountains I took the other night while waiting for the moon rise. I didn't get any good photos of the moon but I like my mountain photo. You should be able to click on the photos and make them larger to see them.
And the mountain one
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Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.-Camille Pissarro
Sharon, your mountain photo is lovely. And the vibrant colors of the balloons are really fun.
My aunt once went on a balloon ride, many years ago. And usually once a year someone uses the giant schoolyard across the street from my grandma's house to start their balloon journey. I can look down at the field from my bedroom window and watch them set up the balloon on the ground and then fill it and fire it up. And then up up and away they go! It's pretty neat!
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I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating [& sharing their experience]. I don't care if it's a book, a film, a painting, a dance, a piece of theater, a piece of music… I think this world would be unlivable without art. ~ S. Soderbergh
Thanks Sherry. There were about 30 balloons, took about an hour and a half for all of them to take off, and all sorts of colors. Plus some animal shaped balloons, besides the zebra and the panda that can be seen in that one photo, there was also a monkey.
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Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.-Camille Pissarro
DOMA IS DEAD.
And I could not be happier. I'm like... dancing in the streets, singing out loud, happy.
And then on top of it all, my facebook is full of people posting bible verses, like it's going to bring it back. Going to negate what happened. this moment in time... Equality.
It kills me to see that so many people are so against humans having rights.
How can you spend your life hating a person, who you know is real, in hopes to not upset a being that may or may not be real?
Agh.
Sorry. How is everyone?
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Aha! Unidentified particulates. The two sweetest words I know.
Okay a bit late to the Party but Sharon your Pics are AMAZING! Are you a Photographer? if not you should really go down that Pathway;D
Oh My Friend and I are going to be in the U.S in a couple of Days (L.A&N.Y) for the First Time & I was Wondering if there's any Places you all reccommend Us to Visit/Eat?
Hi ladies,
Wow it's been ages since I've been here.. life got in the way -(
As many of you know I got my notice at the end of February, which terminate as per 31/7 - my now old manager came up with the idea that I took entire July off (holiday) and I excepted it. So now I am on holiday
The office and I bid our farewell last Friday and it was hard to say goodbye.. at the end I had trouble to keep calm and not begin to shed a few tears.
I had a feeling that the office had a small farewell present for me - thought it would be a giftcertificate to a sportshop - since they know that I go to the gym on a daily basis and love it.. but no!
It was a giftcertificate (DKK 1500) but to a travel agency called Apollo - they handle all bookings to a sportsresort in Fuertaventura called Playitas (well in DK) - never saw it comming, so trust me when I say I was pretty speechless. For the last 2 years when we have spoken about holidays, I've might have mentioned that I always wanted to go.. Didn't think any of it when we talked about it during breakfest at work..
So now Operation Playitas is on!
Sawing money where I can in order to have enough money for when I book my spot but I will be sometime next year.. Now I also got something to focus on - working even harder on loosing weight.
That will help me from loosing my mind, knowing that in a month I am official unemployed.
Kayleigh: sorry to hear about your Grandmother, big hugs!
Sherry and Vero: congrats ladies on your jobs.. envy
Better get going.. got 3 hours gym time ahead of me
Now I should have time to drop in more often.. see you later, ladies..
Love you all.. big hugs!!
Hanne
That's amazing, Hanne! Vacation.
And yay for the traveling!
How is all the gym time going? Seems I should probably go to the gym too... Been lazy lately! Haha.
I'm sorry that you're going to be unemployed, though. That stinks.
I hope finding a job where you are is easier than it is here!!
Big hugs to you.
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Aha! Unidentified particulates. The two sweetest words I know.
I feel like I've been cooped up with very little change in my schedule over the past however many months, and I'm hitting a stage where it's finally getting to me. I find myself feeling tense, like I need to go for a good long run somewhere. And I don't even jog or run! I just need to MOVE, or be somewhere else for a while, get out from beyond these four confining walls and shake things up a bit, do something fun, for crying out loud.
But I can't. Because I've got this internship work to complete, and I've got so much more to do for it and very little time left (mainly because as marvelous as all these women from the internship are, they had a lot of trouble coming together as a group to decide what exactly they wanted for their organization's website and brochure, which delayed things quite a bit, leaving me with less time to get it all done). So, no time for explorations beyond the proverbial fence. Not yet.
*sigh*
How's everybody else doing?
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I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating [& sharing their experience]. I don't care if it's a book, a film, a painting, a dance, a piece of theater, a piece of music… I think this world would be unlivable without art. ~ S. Soderbergh
I have a vacation coming up. Wanna spend a few days in London. And maybe visit some friends in Berlin. London turns out to be a bit complicated. The dates I wanna spend there the hotel is completely booked. As I am on a budget I cannot affort to spend too much money on the hotel. Finding another hotel is always a risk. In London you never know what you get. Now I try to switch dates and looking for a cheap flight. But I guess final decisions will be made not before next weekend. Don't know about Berlin, though. Wanna spend a few days in London again this December, because David is doing theatre there again. We'll see!
So, that's a quick update from me. Work is ... , well, at least it's getting me the money to visit my favourite cities, my friends and see some of my favourite actors! I appreciate that!
Take care, guys! Love you!
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Angela: Well, what about love? What do you have to say about love?
Hodgins: It´s overrated-most of the time Dexter: They make it look so easy-connecting with another human being. It's like no one told them it's the hardest thing in the world.
We're going to London too - this week! Travelling today and back on Sunday. We will be 'doing' a Prom, a jazz concert, a play at the Globe and a French-Canadian circus! Plus calling in to see friends for their silver wedding celebrations. So don't be alarmed if I disappear for a bit. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Let's hope the huge thunderstorm that woke us this morning doesn't presage the weather for the rest of the week!!
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"We make our lives out of chaos and hope. And love." - Angela Montenegro
Hope you have (Had probably by the time you read this) a great trip Steph! Sounds great.
Well, the saga about my student internship continues. Last week I found out that I was assigned to a teacher that didn't work at the school I had been assigned. Which I didn't know until Friday, but I was given a new assignment, new school and teacher. Which was fine. Because she didn't know if I was able to attend this week during teacher professional development, I didn't start on the 22nd like I was supposed to, but started today. But then I meet my teacher, and she is pregnant and due in September. This is an issue because we have to have a certified teacher in our content area (for me math) in the classroom when we are there, we cannot work with substitutes. This particular teacher does have a co-teacher, something they do a lot of here for classes with special education students and regular curriculum students in the same classroom, but this teacher hasn't been approved by MY school's secondary education program. My teacher and the assistant principal at the school seemed to think this wasn't a big deal, but when I came home I e-mailed my secondary education adviser (who is also the person that does the placements for all secondary ed students at my school) and she said she'd have to check with the school but it is possible I might have to move again. I REALLY don't want to have to switch schools, I like this one and both the teachers. I like the plans they have for the three of us in the classroom and I've met all these people. If I get switched it probably means going in to a new school and meeting another teacher. Plus the fact that another school will probably be even further away than this one is, gas prices definitely are an issue. At least my adviser said she MIGHT have to move me and not that she DOES have to move me. So I'm hoping that means that I don't have to be moved.
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Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.-Camille Pissarro
Goodness, Sharon! Such drama! You'd think they'd have this all sorted out and organized like clockwork, since they probably set up these internships for new teachers every year. Yet, here you are, having to move around and deal with the bureaucracy of it all. No fun! I hope you get to stick with the teachers you like.
I'm right there with you in 'challenging internship' mode. At first, it was weeks of challenge because my internship employers didn't know exactly what they wanted, so all the questions I asked them kind of threw them and they (all the board members) had to come to agreements on everything. There was much delay, which kept me from getting a lot of design work done. I lost a lot of time that should have been used for the design part (and all the back and forth that comes with making adjustments or entirely new designs and then make more adjustments, until everything's been given final approval). But I finally got in tune with my employers and then they were all on the ball, meeting with me and going over all the details, and I got a lot done.
But then I hit a different kind of issue. The last time I met with my advisor was in mid-June, to discuss ways to handle the delays that were happening because of the employers needing more time to decide what they wanted for their website. Then, based on that meeting with my advisor, I created options for my employers based on suggestions from my advisor, and I let my advisor know how things were going. But I didn't hear back from her. No worries, because at that point I had a lot of design work to get done, and the employers were excited and working with me on what they wanted. But after the design was done and approved, I hit a point where I needed my advisor's help. So I sent her another email. No response. I sent her a concerned email. No response. I left her a phone message. No response. I left a message with the career center, asking them if they'd been in contact with her because I was having trouble. No response. I sent my advisor another email, this time updating her on everything I'd been working on while waiting for her to respond to my need for help. Again, no response. I contacted the career center again, and they tried to reach her. No response. But my fellow students and some of the college employees had said they'd seen her on campus, so......???? It's been 5 weeks since I last met with my advisor. I've needed her counsel and had to do things in a different, possibly less professional way because I couldn't get her help. And now we have less than 2 weeks left in the internship and I still haven't heard from her. I don't know what is going on, and it's frustrating because I feel like it reflects badly on me as the student intern because I'm not able to do everything I promised I would do, not without my advisor's assistance.
The thing is, if she had some sort of emergency pop up, where she simply could not continue helping me with this internship, then all she had to do was let me know, or let the career center know so that they could find another teacher to take her place. She doesn't even have to tell me the details if it's a private family matter or something. She just needs to communicate with me that things have come up and she needs to exit the project. But to not say anything at all is just not right. I'm left feeling frustrated and disappointed, and it's also not fair to my internship employers who -- well, they're not paying me for this work, but they did sign a specific contract and it was understood that I would have someone helping me with the project. So I hope they don't feel short-changed because of it or that could cause problems.
I'm doing the best I can, but there are some things we (as students) never learned fully, and it's those kinds of details for which I still need guidance.
Greetings to all. If you hadn’t noticed, I am back from our anniversary trip to London, which was absolutely fantastic. I’m about to tell you what we did but it may be a brief account as I have just written a long one which my wonderful version of Word froze twice, recovering the first time and deleting it all the second time. Don’t remind me to save as I go along. Believe me, I know!
Anyway, before I get into all that, I offer my sympathies to you, Sherry and Sharon, for your internship experiences, which, it seems to me, could have been avoided or at least ameliorated by a little careful thought and planning on the part of your organisers. Hope you get it all worked out, Sharon – it sounds truly infuriating.
Sooo, London. I have literally walked my feet off this week. Soreness, blisters and bleeding despite carefully timed rest sessions and frequent shoe changes. Of course, it has been a muggy, at times boiling, few days and that is hard on the ankles and soles even when not spending long periods standing on airless Tube trains and negotiating hot pavements. We have also spent a huge amount of dosh! Although one expects higher prices in the capital, I do think charging for toilets in all the main stations and demanding NINE POUNDS PER ITEM at Paddington left luggage office is a bit excessive.
However, all this is peripheral. We kept busy the whole time and enjoyed every moment. Apart from the shows we went to see, we got round to the Museum of London (fascinating and brilliantly restructured since my last visit), the South Bank and the Thames (all the theatres), Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square, the West End for shopping (3 new sundresses and new shoes), Southwark Cathedral and Changing of the Guard (lots of walking and waiting around outside Buckingham Palace, but well worth it, especially for hubby, who loves military history, music and spectacle).
I have to say that the Prom, where we heard Elgar’s Falstaff and Tchaikovsky 4 among others, was terrific. The Albert Hall is an impressive venue at all times and the music is always of superb standard, but of course at Prom time you have a really intimate atmosphere, with Prommers standing in the arena soaking up the ambiance and dedicated to the music. We were in the seats, but the feel of musical appreciation without snobbery was all-pervading. There were exceptions, of course – the couple on my right kept chatting intermittently and the woman was on her phone much of the time (texting and browsing, not talking, thank goodness, or I would have hit her, as I really feel this is the rudest attitude possible towards other concertgoers and performers) – but generally there was great respect and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
The following day we ‘did’ ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the new Shakespeare’s Globe. This is a stunning experience, as the new building is a faithful copy of Shakespeare’s original theatre, with a similar apron-type stage, open roof and standing arena, traditional performances of Shakespeare plays, authentic music and full engagement with the audience. I adored it, never having been before. The actors are first class and the audience is refreshingly mixed, with lots of young kids obviously revelling in the informal experience. I think that the play was the best part of a really wonderful break, and I think it felt all the more authentic for being a matinée. Google the Globe!
That evening we went along to a very different show – a French-Canadian family troupe performing a spectacle based on the theme of lumberjacking (the show is called ‘Timber’). It wasn’t a traditional circus, but it was traditional family entertainment, featuring as it did singing, dancing and clowning as well as impressive acrobatics. Because of its lumberjack focus there was much throwing around of real logs and juggling with real saws and axes, which was scary but fun!
Our final evening outing of the trip was different again, when we went to a studio theatre laid out as an intimate cabaret, with tables and wine, to see Barb Jungr, one of the most talented and versatile singers I have heard, whose concerts we always attend when we can and whose jazzy, imaginative style can be applied to most musical genres. On this occasion she was doing a Bob Dylan set, which was excellent. I have never been a Dylan fan, but Barb is able to put a new spin on it all and make you see the poetry behind the composer’s whining interpretations of his own material. A superb ending to our London sojourn.
But there was more to come! Next we travelled down to a quiet little village in the countryside to attend our university friends’ silver wedding celebrations! Not only were we accommodated in the most gorgeous little hotel, but it was a fabulous night, with excellent food and band (though I did feel sorry for the caterers, who, despite being under a gazebo outside with the hog roast, were not fully sheltered from the pouring rain into which the blazing sun had deteriorated); the real thrill, however, was seeing so many friends, a very few of whom we haven’t seen for 20 years or more. To exchange news and mingle with not only our university gang, but also the whole next generation they have produced and who are now finding niches for themselves, was wonderful.
I really do feel as if I have had a proper holiday and am ready to tackle the various jobs and obligations which are incumbent on me now. And I wish everyone else here at least a few days like this over the summer!
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"We make our lives out of chaos and hope. And love." - Angela Montenegro
It sounds glorious, Steph! I am so glad you got the chance to get away and enjoy yourself (despite the state of your poor feet!). It sounds like a wonderful way to spend some time, all of it. Lovely!
You should be able to click on the photos and make them larger to see them. 
It's pretty neat!
At least my adviser said she MIGHT have to move me and not that she DOES have to move me. So I'm hoping that means that I don't have to be moved.