weekend update

This weekend, it actually felt like fall. The temps have cooled down, the trees are starting to change, and I am super excited. Autumn in Virginia is simply amazing, equal to a Michigan autumn (which is probably why I like it). Virginia has Michigan beat during springtime, though. That's due to VA having beautiful, fragrant flowering trees and bushes, and Michigan does not.
But VA kinda has Michigan beat this fall, seeing as how VA's state government isn't shutting down on Monday. David told me about it last night and I hope that everyone we know and love in MI comes through this okay. As much as it has the possibly to seriously suck, maybe it's exactly what Michigan needs? A wake up call, rock bottom, etc. etc. Where else can you go, you know? That's only a guess; my wishful thinking. Anyway, like I said, I hope everyone comes through it okay and it doesn't go to the point of many, many people losing jobs (like MI needs any more of that). What a crappy situation.

But, anyway, due to the beautiful weather and having extra time and energy, we headed downtown. We even went early enough to catch some of the famer's market! I love walking through the downtown/CW area in fall. We found some nice gummy candy, as well as some lambic, a Shakespeare stout (pretty delish) and a sparkling sake that knocked our socks off. We watched some movies, did the laundry, lazed around--all the good stuff weekends have.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off from school. I've felt really rushed and disorganized and used our dentist appointment tomorrow afternoon to take the whole day off, rather than a half day. Our first grades our due by mid-day Tuesday, so tomorrow will give me a lot of time to plan both of the next units and get those grades it. I'm a little worried though: it's the first time my students will have a sub. Hopefully, they do a good job.

I'm sad I missed this epsiode live last night, cause I missed this.

Oh, Kanye. I love your music, your big mouth (that always gets you into trouble), and your great sense of humor about it all. Way to show them how to be a celebrity.

except for maybe sumi wrestling

This weekend was an eventful one. We hosted a poker/game night on Friday. It was tons of fun and a great chance to get to know some people in David's programs. They're hilarious. I got to chat with two others in the "wives/girlfriends" category, which was nice. After a few of the dudes got out in poker, we played Apples to Apples (of course). After poker was finished, we played a 12-person game of Catch Phrase. A few people left and the remaining people watched Nip/Tuck with us.

Saturday we met our first Nor'easter. A nor'easter is a weather thing that happens on this coast that was new to us. It rained a lot. That's an understatement. David forgot to put my rear two windows up after running an errand Friday night and four hours of dumping rain drenched a good chunk of my backseat. My car is still drying out. The whole area is drying out. This picture is of Monticello Road, right near us.

We did make it to Plan 9 to pick up our weekly allowance of music. We checked out Books A Million and found they have a great selection of magazines and a pleasant environment. Also, we checked out the sandwich place Subway Station, which always smelled really good. It was amazing. Almost as good as the Pita Pit, Scott.

Sunday, we went to see Sandra Day O'Conner speak. What an amazing woman. I have two videos of her and tried to take a good amount of pictures. I'll put them up on the flickr site soon. She has quite the sense of humor and an amazing point of view. Very intelligent and very fair. It was a nice way to see her, too. It was a completely informal feeling set-up. We sat on the floor of the University Center (as David put it: The Bernhard Center/Bronco Mall with class.) like an assembly at an elementary school. Kids were everywhere. They had a panel that asked some great questions and then the crowd got to ask some questions. It was wonderful.

After the assembly, we were walking back to downtown/the car and saw a HAWK EATING A SQUIRREL. It was CRAZY! I wasn't the only person to take pictures, either. That bird was huge and it was just tearing that squirrel apart and daring anyone to come near it. It was pretty amazing. I called Meg afterwards and told her about our eventful day.

This morning was relaxed. I was able to sleep in until 7:15, get up, slowly get ready, go to WaWa (it really is a glorified 7-11... with amazing food) and get some coffee, and drive into work. Today was our first full Parent/Teacher Conferences day. It went from 10:30-6:30 and wasn't too shabby. We got to go out for lunch from 2-3, so everyone was starving by then, but it was a pretty laid back day. I finished The Color of Water because I didn't have too much left and didn't have too many parents come by. Ah well.