Alas! Earwax!

Last week was rough. Going back to work after such a busy, fun-filled spring break was almost unbearable, so I've been consoling myself by looking back at pictures and eating Cadbury eggs -- I can't bring myself to actually eat my chocolate frog.

Hogwarts

Shopping for wands at Ollivanders

Delicious butterbeer

In the castle

Owl Post

Hagrid's hut

Monster Book of Monsters

Hermione's Yule Ball dress

In the castle

Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom

Mandrakes!

Now back to real life.

But speaking of this post's title, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans were a cool $11.

Orlando Spring Break

I am so sad that spring break is over. My family and I went to Orlando to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (duh!) and Disney World. Other than drinking copious amounts of butterbeer, checking out Hogwarts, and having a wand choose me, I spent my time relaxing, visiting with family, and (unfortunately) doing some grading. I honestly think I'll be sadder about going back to school tomorrow than my students.

I'm still trying to pull together my pictures from the trip, but here are a few.

Hogsmeade

Hogwarts

And oh yeah, I finally cut my hair.

Tortuga Twins, Turkey Legs, and Caricatures

It has been ages since I've been to the Renaissance Festival. I've gone at least five or six times, but I think that the last time I went was when me and Tyler had just started dating -- maybe 6 years ago?

Anyway, I was looking through pictures at my parents' house and came across this gem (circa 1997?).

And then this gem (circa 2004).

We are in almost the exact same pose (plus another Tortuga Twin). Slightly creepy, no? Especially since at least 98% of the jokes from their show went completely over my head in the first picture, but then in the second picture I'm pretty sure blondie was hitting on all of us. Okay, who am I kidding, I was not being hit on, but that's beside the point.

All creepiness aside, I do want to go back, eat a delicious turkey leg, and maybe get another caricature done by that artist with the awesome laugh.

Maybe once it stops raining every weekend.

Here we go again...

As you may have noticed, I think about and talk about my hair way too much, maybe to the point of obsession. Yes -- definitely to the point of obsession.

Ever since I last cut my hair, I've been wanting to try a pixie cut but I hesitate because I just don't know how it will look on me. Trying to picture it, I'll bobby-pin my hair like crazy but I know it's not the same.

Anyway, I'm going to do it, but now I'm torn about just how short of a pixie cut I want and whether I should dye my hair darker too. Here is my current inspiration. Any suggestions?

Emma Watson

theneotraditionalist

theglamourai

Carey Mulligan

And of course my Mom & Aunt Kelly. :)

Working for the weekend...

I was at work this afternoon looking on TED for a video to show to my juniors. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything for them, but I did find something for me. Maybe for you too.

From now on, I am going to make a more conscious effort to think and do more than just work. Of course, the act of deciding not to think about work may inadvertently cause me to think about work, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

This video is worth 10 minutes of your time.

Goodbye, Goldie. Hello, Puli.

Today I got rid of my first car. It was always having problems and about a month ago, it broke down on my way to work.

I loved the color (gold/metallicmustard/whatever), but I think that was its only endearing quality. I was ready to part ways with Goldie, but I never anticipated that the hardest part would be listening to it get pulled onto the tow truck.

The car was stuck in park and wouldn't go into neutral, so it screeched all the way up and almost sounded like it was crying out, "Please don't sell me for scrap! Please don't sell me for scrap! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

It was awful. I felt like an evil villain from a Disney movie about cars with human personalities (aka Cars).

Here is a picture from four and a half years ago when I first got Goldie.

On an entirely unrelated note, Tyler and I were looking at dogs and have decided that pulis are the coolest dogs ever.

My Stats

Not gonna lie, I've been a little obsessive about checking my blog's "stats" because how cool is it that you can see what countries your blog is being viewed from? Pretty sweet, right?

I'm not sure what I did to get 38 page views from Australia and 11 from France, but I'm definitely not complaining.

Avez-vous deja vu... l'anniversaire de mon grand-pere.

It has not been the best week, so to relax and procrastinate on all of the things that I need to get done before Tuesday, I've been resorting to my "avez-vous deja vu" youtube obsession. Let the French nonsense commence.

Edit: Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Cue Star Wars theme...

Does your boyfriend shave with a lightsaber?

Yeah, I didn't think so...

What is it with us and Star Wars all of a sudden?

Baby girl

Born February 3rd, my niece Nicaea Grace is finally here.
Congratulations to Aaron and Lynette!

Obviously this is not a picture of Nicaea, but it makes me laugh.