Number of the Day

Ok, faithful readers. Today's number is 238. Why such a strange number, you ask? Well it just so happens to be Michael's score on Step 1 (a.k.a. that big scary test he took before we went home). Since you have no reference for whether this is good or not- I will tell you. It is very good. Way to go, Michael!

Buckley

Let me introduce you to the newest member of our household. We purchased Buckley this afternoon at Lowe's. I think he will be a charming addition to our home.

Spring is in Full Swing

Saturday was quite the eventful day here in Cville. There was a parade celebrating the Dogwood Festival. The flowering dogwood is the state flower. They are in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully I will remember the camera on our next walk. There was also the weekly city market which runs from April to November. And then there was Foxfield Races.

Anyway, we started the day with a family trip to the city market to check out the vendors. I checked their website to see if pets were allowed. They didn't mention it so we brought Theo only to find out that he was not allowed in. So we brought him back home. Most vendors were selling plants to grow veggies. Duh! You have to wait for the veggies to grow before they can sell them. So we left the market empty handed. There are also people selling food, art, jewelry and flowers and some raising money or awareness for causes. It's pretty neat.

Since the market is downtown we headed to the other side of the downtown mall to the parade route. Michael apparently loves parades. Did you know this?
We were really amazed to see the side of Cville that you don't see every day. Think Mardi Gras minus the alcohol. We saw a lady hit her kid and the people standing next to us lit up some cigarettes. It certainly wasn't the same crowd from the city market. Nevertheless we stayed for a good bit of the parade. Long enough to see Santa, some people doing figure eights on Seg Ways,
and a group of women Jazzercising down the route. I think the Jazzercisers were the highlight.

After sitting around the house all day, hiding from the heat (it's in the 90's), we went to our friends' house (who are raising a German Shepherd to be a service dog) for a play date. They have a deck that has a platform low enough to the ground for Theo to run under with no problem. It was fun to see him running around. When he runs, he reminds me of Falkor, the luck dragon, from The Neverending Story.

I almost forgot to mention- Theo's Hippo has returned. You may remember it from this video. It was his first love and we lost it when we went to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. Henry was recently seen playing with it and Michael was able to locate it. Theo and Hippo had a lot of catching up to do.

Wow. Where to begin.

Sorry I've neglected the blog during our trip home. Maybe I'll make a list about what we were up to.

Hanging out with family

Hanging out with friends
Wishing I could hang out with more friends
Knitting easter surprises

Walking
Not walking enough
Attending weddings and catching up with old friends
Picking up our wedding photos
Shopping with Mom
Spending time with Mimi
Cleaning out my closet at my parents'
Feeling happy and recharged
Eating:

• boiled crawfish at Uncle Mark's
  
• boiled crabs at Bogwalk with the Perry's
  
• fried green tomatoes and gulf shrimp; crab and asparagus soup from Fremin's
  
• fried shrimp from Chester's
  
• crawfish ravioli from Cafe Milano
• shrimp cakes; seafood stuffed flounder; triple chocolate mousse from Cafe Dominique
  
• smothered chicken; roast, rice & gravy; red beans & rice at Mom's house
• Easter lunch at both our families'
  
• crawfish enchiladas (thanks Andrew) and my tiramisu for Mr Ernie's bday
  
• quesadillas and 2 for 1 margaritas at La Casa del Sol with Monique before pedicures
  
• lemon pepper and Hawaiian bbq wings from Wing Stop
• fried catfish from Flanagan's
• shrimp and grits at Refuel in NOLA with Monique and Leah
• praline cupcake at Bee Sweet Cupcakes on Magazine with Monique, Leah and Amy O

• Frostop with Kristie
• Eggs D'ville from the Grapevine with Mom & Dad
• Pepper's pizza with Mom & Dad and the Perry's

Having drinks at Piazza with Amy S and Monique
Road tripping to Memphis to visit a friend from Ukraine who I met in France

Eating at The Dinner Bell in McComb, Mississippi
Eating at Central BBQ in Memphis
Waking up at 6:15 the next morning to the fire alarm in our hotel
Thinking it was actually the alarm clock
Trying to kill the alarm clock
Eventually processing Michael telling me it was really the fire alarm
Grabbing Theo and making it to the first step on the stairs only to hear it finally stop
Deciding to continue the road trip to Danville, Kentucky
Running in the yard with Henry, Michael, Theo and Gipper
Visiting with Rebecca, Dennis, Henry and Gipper
Watering the grass with Henry
Enjoying Dennis' fantastic burgers and mushrooms
Watching Spongebob with the Chatham's before bed
Sleeping like a log
Photographing Theo's first encounter with a mullet at our last stop on the way home

Learning that the mullet was actually asking Michael for money and wasn't interested in the dog
Admiring rural West Virginia and Virginia
Crossing my fingers that someone cut our grass
Coming home to a jungle in our yard
Hearing our duplex neighbor outside with a manual push mower (YAY)
Unpacking
Feeling grateful for such a wonderful trip

I'm so paid

Good news. I was offered the job for Camp Leader which I interviewed for a few weeks ago. I'm so excited! I think it will be a great experience and lots of fun. It will probably be exhausting but it's also going to look great on my resume. It makes me feel like someone loves me. Man is it tough to find a job when you don't know anyone. Today the secretary at the high school told me how much they appreciate what I'm doing. Isn't that nice? Sunny Fridays probably make everyone want to be nice. Especially the Friday before Spring Break.

Speaking of today, that rain shower that snuck up on me lasted about 5 or 10 minutes. The rest of the day was in the 70's and windy. White and gray clouds raced by with time to spare some much wanted sunshine. The trees with the white flowers which I showed you a few posts ago have bright green leaves now. The wind has been blowing the little white petals around. It looks like confetti. How fun! Welcome spring! I promise I will try to get a picture of the confetti. Although it will be impossible to capture the fun factor of it blowing through the air.

Dinner was great tonight. A new recipe from our River Roads entertaining cookbook - chicken tortellini with a side of roasted zucchini and carrots with rosemary. I also couldn't help but pick up a bottle of Menage a Trois' White wine. Two nights ago I made wine-glazed chicken from our Southern Living cookbook. I think both recipes will be favorites. Now we're just waiting for our food to go down and the wine to wear off so we can go downtown and get chocolate, strawberry and banana crepes from this hole in the wall called The Flat.

Things are going well in third grade. We're rounding and learning about fact families. Reviewing for standardized testing which they will take in two weeks. Their spring break is next week. So I'll be missing about two weeks of class. There has been a suggestion to clone me. It's really too bad I started this volunteer work too late to talk about it in my essay for grad school. However, one of the ESL teachers told me about a couple other programs I can look into. One is a Masters of Teaching program at a women's college about 45 minutes from here. The great thing is that they offer night and weekend classes here in Charlottesville. The program is accredited so now I just want to find out more about the program. I am hoping I can find a teacher who went there. The deadline for the fall is July 15 or so. So I have time.

In other news, The Needle Lady is now having a social knitting night twice a month. Hooray! I really enjoy these gatherings. I happened upon my next knitting project thankfully yesterday. How silly would I be without a project on knitting night! Knitters are so friendly. It was a small group of us last night. About 4 or 5. I won't be here for the next night but they will be continuing the twice a month get togethers until August. Now that I have a job I can start on projects for Christmas!

Oh and something else that might be interesting... One of the participants in the program I attended in France is in Memphis visiting her sister. (She is from Ukraine.) She will be there until the 23rd so Michael and I are thinking about driving back through Memphis on the way home. It should extend the driving time by about 3 hours. How neat.

Ohhh last thing... we went for a walk today and guess what we saw? Tulips!! Yellow and purple. Which reminds me of this dress. Pink tulips. Just like Michael gave me when he proposed. Too bad it is $170 and dry clean only.

That's it. Crepe time. Hasta la vista... baby.

April Showers

I was on poopy pick up detail this morning. There was a drop of rain every now and then. All of a sudden I heard a noise like wind rushing through the trees so I looked up mid pick-up to see a wall of rain coming toward me. I tied up the trash bags while running to the trash can then into the house. I can't remember the last time I was caught in the rain. It was kind of fun actually.

Happy Friday.

(and I started working on an update post last night so I promise you will have it tonight- I know you've been waiting!)

Crazy Flakes

On our daily runs we usually meet a few nice people- especially at the rotunda on campus. Today a couple little girls asked to pet Theo. The littler one asked in between getting jumped on if Theo had "crazy flakes" this morning. I told her that he eats them every day. How precious.