ouch.

well, yet another mole removal for yours truly - story of my life.  this brings me to the number 5, each one with a scar that is 1 to 2 inches.  so i'm having a bit of a pity party for myself this evening as my dear adorable husband makes me some delicious tacos.  but, the lesson i learned (a bit late) is to WEAR YOUR SUNSCREEN.  in highschool, I would burn and turn into a red lobster while my friends turned a lovely golden brown (yes, I'm talking about you kakkie, alison and anna).

while the video below is a bit corny and i agree with most of its points - i am a huge advocate of remembering to wear your sunscreen and getting your moles checked regularly.

xoxox

the sunscreen video

the great debate.

for as long as i can remember, jeff and i have always had the debate of "do we get a cat or a dog."  jeff votes for a dog and i vote for a cat.  this is probably because i grew up with cats and jeff grew up with dogs.  but as much as we talk about it - we cannot seem to sway the other.  so our projected compromise is to get a kitten and a puppy at the same time so they will grow up together and love each other.  it can happen right?  well, that is our plan anyway and this plan is not happening anytime soon because we need to buy a place first, which is probably where we should start....

i did find these charming pictures of cats and dogs in their very well designed and styled homes on none other than design sponge - one of my favorite blogs to get decorating ideas.

for the cat lovers:

and for the dog lovers:

i'm sorry...but how can you resist this face???

and so what are you? a dog lover, a cat lover, a fish lover, a hamster lover, or a lover of all animals???

lower school art: part one.

as promised....here are some pictures of my students' work.

this mosaic is a project my 2nd graders finished at the end of last year.  

it took us a LOOOOONG time to complete it and it was a total labor of love....i started to despise this project as it was very time consuming.

my 2nd graders made the letters, gators (our mascot is the mighty mighty gator) and painted the tiles.

then, i broke the tiles (great stress reliever), arranged them, and grouted the sign.

it now hangs in the entrance of our lower school.

while i'm happy with the finished product, i will NEVER do another mosaic project of this magnitude.

decorative turtles created by my 1st graders.

they showed me what they had learned about patterns and I showed them how watercolor paint resists the oil pastel.

some family tree sculptures created by my 2nd graders.

collaged - colorful self-portraits made by my 3rd graders.

a little art history lesson for my 4th graders - to learn about one of the first abstract artists: Kandinsky.

more pictures from my middle school students coming soon!

congrats congrats!

kata and drew got engaged this weekend!

kata (jeff's sister) was all giggly as we chatted this morning and she told us the story of how drew popped the question in arkansas last night.  they are celebrating this evening with friends and family and we really wish we could be there to toast the newly engaged couple.  boooo to living so far away.  BUT, we couldn't be happier for these two and look forward to all the celebrations we will have with them in the coming months.  congrats once again kata and drew and hooray for marriage - it is so much fun. 

the lovely miss O.

jeff and i had the absolute JOY to babysit the lovely miss olivia or "O" this past weekend.

O is the daughter of our dear friends, megan and jason cheek, and she is such a DOLL.

we were tag teaming the whole baby sitting thing with other dear friends, carol and sean buckley.

so we ventured to the cheeks new adorable adode in takoma park and had a ball playing with olivia.

i'm so impressed with how independent and mesmerized sweet olivia is with books.

it is simply amazing to watch her - she LOVES books. 

it must be all those books that were read to her in the womb :)

hooray! reading with auntie carol.

football fun.

as many of you already know, i don't watch or attend many football games.

but my sweet friend julie invited me to the recent redskins vs. texans game and boy did we have some football fun.

the tailgating spread was just my style - complete with mimosas, white wine spritzers, and yummy sandwiches with prosciutto, apple and cheese.

jeff also attended the game courtesy of fish, so we got to play with them too.

thanks julie for the fun times!

me, mr. redskin and julie

jeff, julie, me and fish

cuties julie and andrew

life with jeffrey.

 

this is my husband - jeffrey....

smooches xoxox

(pictures were taken this weekend at jeff's work picnic at kta group)

soy milk.

my new favorite breakfast involves yummy yummy soy milk.  i'm pretty late to jump on the "soy milk train" -  i just had reservations about how soy can be made into tofu and ice-cream...i just couldn't wrap my head around the whole concept. 

anyways, i was getting a little tired of my toast and peanut butter breakfasts and decided to finally give soy milk (vanilla flavored) a try - and boy is it delicious!  i love how it is sweet, packed with protein and stays with me until lunch time.

if you haven't jumped on the "soy milk train" - i totally recommend it!

wow.

i cannot believe it is already september - mid september to be exact.  fall is right around the corner for us in dc and i love feeling the crisp air as we start our days this week.  

other things i love about fall in dc:
1. scarves
2. red, orange, and yellow leaves
3. boots
4. sitting outside on our stoop
5. layers (wearing layers that is.....)
6. the month of october - it is one of my favorites
7. festive gords


what are some of your favorite things about fall??

pretty pretty paper bowls.

aren't these paper bowls the prettiest?!  i found them when i was browsing on one of my favorite design blogs - design sponge - and thought i had to share.  i just cannot believe these lovely bowls are made of paper. 

these fabulous bowls are from gretel home and are made from recycled paper bands attached in a tight spiral.  once they are finished they are coated with a water-resistant finish to make them tough and durable.

i might just need to put these decorative bowls on my christmas list - yes - i said christmas list, but my mom is already asking for mine.  so hint hint mama - i would love some of these bowls in purple, blue or black/white - maybe even orange.

xoxoxo

nats game: part II.

jeffrey and i headed to the nats game again this weekend

and enjoyed more five guys hamburgers, popcorn and cotton candy.

we also adored the fabulous 70 degree weather and the fireworks show afterwards.

it was a lovely friday night.

 

happy as a clam

it's friday yall.

and we hope everyone has a happy weekend!

out and about.

labor day weekend in dc was glorious.  the weather was perfect and all we wanted to do was to get outside.  we began with a visit to one of our favorite dc spots - the national gallery of art's sculpture garden to lounge and enjoy the scenery.  we also hopped over to the hirshhorn museum of art to browse some of the latest pieces of modern art.

the next day we had some kayaking fun with our lovely friends the nolands (aka katie and dave).  we had a groupon for kayaking at jack's boathouse and thought this weekend would be the perfect time to use it.  and it was - we had a ball!

hope your labor days were just as delightful!

afghan food.

to kick off the long weekend, we dined with our wonderful friends the buckleys (aka sean and carol) at this delicious afghan place.  now this was the first experience we had eating afghan food and i must say i was pleasantly surprised.  i was worried the food would be super spicy, which i'm not a big fan of.  the food was full of spices - but nothing too spicy.  


so we got in the car and drove the distance for some good afghan food in nova (northern virginia) and ate at a delightful little place called maizbon.  we started with burtaa, which is grilled eggplant with light tomato sauce mixed with garlic yogurt sauce and served with fresh baked naan. (pictured above)

jeff and carol had the shorba, which are chunks of lamb, with potatoes, carrots, fresh cilantro, and spices, served over bread soaked in lamb broth.

i had the qabuli palau brown, which was basmati rice served over lamb meat and topped with raisins and carrots - so delicious!  and sean ordered a dish very similar to mine except it didn't have raisins and carrots - just a large leg of lamb under his brown rice (i cannot seem to recall his exact dish.)

we then ended on a lovely note of baklava and yogurt with rose water for dessert.  but, the best part of this delightful place was that we got to bring our own wine (with no corking fee) - so we wondered in with our four bottles of wine and had a grand time of drinking and enjoying afghan food.

utterly exhausted.

first week of school - done - and i couldn't be more exhausted.  the first week back was a great success.  i received many "welcome back" hugs from the little ones and a warm welcome from my new middle schoolers.  of course everyone is on their best behavior since its the first week of school - so hopefully that will last as long as possible. 

so i used to see my brother, zachary, sleeping like this with his hands folded above his head and i would think - man how does he sleep like that - it looks so uncomfortable.  and then low and behold it turns out i sleep like that as well.  it must be in our dna.......who knew? 

p.s. - jeffrey likes to take pictures of me while i'm sleeping, which i kinda find a bit creepy.  i mean is that normal?