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Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Happy Early Thanksgiving!
I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! I'm off work tomorrow so I don't know if I'll have a chance to post. (I'll be having too much fun doing... um... nothing!) Actually, I'm planning on baking cookies and sneaking little (or big) pieces of dough. So for all of you, have a very happy turkey day and eat to your heart's content! Don't let anyone tell you not to!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Random Thoughts for Today
1. There's nothing like feeling a baby move inside you. You can be totally alone and quiet and all of a sudden you feel a kick or a roll and it reminds you that you're not alone. I'm sure it's something I'll miss once other people have access to this baby, not just me!
2. I love the rain, and if the sky opened up right now and just dumped buckets down on us there wouldn't be a happier girl in Northern CA!!
3. Thinking of rain makes me crave Campell's potato brocolli soup.
4. Sometimes at work I like to poke around in the supply closet. Not to steal anything, but just because I love school supplies. I like to take out the colored markers and write my name in fancy loopy circles.
5. One more essay you should read if you a) have a daughter or b) are a daughter. So basically everybody! It's called "Four Generations" by Joyce Maynard (it's only about 8 paragraphs long) and it's so sweet yet sad.
6. Why do girls show their thongs? It's really annoying and tacky.
7. Before you get pregnant, people will tell you, "Maternity clothes aren't so bad!" And they don't seem bad, at first. But then you get sick of wearing the same pair of jeans or jean skirt every flippin' day and you start thinking longingly of all the cute stuff in your closet which might be out of style by the time you can squeeze back into it! Not that style becomes all that important either. I can't tell you the last time I blow-dried my hair or did anymore with clothes other than make sure they matched!
8. My favorite time of day is bedtime, when Juan and I are snuggled under lots of blankets and quietly reading our books with our cats at our feet. We don't say that much to each other, other than reading a particularly funny/insightful passage out loud. We never talk about what we need to do the next day, although we do occasionally recognize to each other that we should value the peace and quiet.
9. I apologize for how self-indulgent this blog has turned out to be. Chalk it up to a lot of spare time at work.
2. I love the rain, and if the sky opened up right now and just dumped buckets down on us there wouldn't be a happier girl in Northern CA!!
3. Thinking of rain makes me crave Campell's potato brocolli soup.
4. Sometimes at work I like to poke around in the supply closet. Not to steal anything, but just because I love school supplies. I like to take out the colored markers and write my name in fancy loopy circles.
5. One more essay you should read if you a) have a daughter or b) are a daughter. So basically everybody! It's called "Four Generations" by Joyce Maynard (it's only about 8 paragraphs long) and it's so sweet yet sad.
6. Why do girls show their thongs? It's really annoying and tacky.
7. Before you get pregnant, people will tell you, "Maternity clothes aren't so bad!" And they don't seem bad, at first. But then you get sick of wearing the same pair of jeans or jean skirt every flippin' day and you start thinking longingly of all the cute stuff in your closet which might be out of style by the time you can squeeze back into it! Not that style becomes all that important either. I can't tell you the last time I blow-dried my hair or did anymore with clothes other than make sure they matched!
8. My favorite time of day is bedtime, when Juan and I are snuggled under lots of blankets and quietly reading our books with our cats at our feet. We don't say that much to each other, other than reading a particularly funny/insightful passage out loud. We never talk about what we need to do the next day, although we do occasionally recognize to each other that we should value the peace and quiet.
9. I apologize for how self-indulgent this blog has turned out to be. Chalk it up to a lot of spare time at work.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Wonderful Things to Read
For those essay aficionados, I am currently reading The Seagull Reader (which has to be a direct ripoff of The Penguin Reader, but what can you expect from Norton?) Nevertheless, it has tons of great, thought-provoking essays. Some of my favorites include:
1. "Graduation" by Maya Angelou. You may have read this in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, but it's worth reading again. It's very poignant and makes you question our own (sometimes low) expectations that we quite often unknowingly place on others.
2. "Why Don't We Complain Anymore?" by William F. Buckley Jr. Although it was written on a train in 1961, it's just as true today: people are afraid to complain. He writes of the train being 85 degrees and yet not a single person wants to complain to the conductor, so they all just sit there, sweating and sticking their heads out of the window. He says, "We are all increasingly anxious in America to be unobtrusive," which I think is an incredibly accurate statement, even 45 years later.
3. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. This is an essay every person, black, white, old, young, should read. It does not preach liberal or conservative values, it simply speaks of basic human rights in such a eloquent, understated manner that you may find yourself inexplicably moved to tears while reading. It also makes you ashamed that something as basic as human rights have been corrupted and manipulated by our heavily split partisan system.
My favorite part: "I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
4. Absolutely anything by Joan Didion. She is my favorite essayist, not only because she is both accessible and yet somehow erudite, she is also from the Central Valley, and much of what she writes is influenced by her childhood in the dusty heart of California. If you read her with a highlighter you will find that entire pages will be yellow. And every blogger should read "On Keeping a Notebook" because it defines what we all do here: talk about ourselves.
1. "Graduation" by Maya Angelou. You may have read this in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, but it's worth reading again. It's very poignant and makes you question our own (sometimes low) expectations that we quite often unknowingly place on others.
2. "Why Don't We Complain Anymore?" by William F. Buckley Jr. Although it was written on a train in 1961, it's just as true today: people are afraid to complain. He writes of the train being 85 degrees and yet not a single person wants to complain to the conductor, so they all just sit there, sweating and sticking their heads out of the window. He says, "We are all increasingly anxious in America to be unobtrusive," which I think is an incredibly accurate statement, even 45 years later.
3. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. This is an essay every person, black, white, old, young, should read. It does not preach liberal or conservative values, it simply speaks of basic human rights in such a eloquent, understated manner that you may find yourself inexplicably moved to tears while reading. It also makes you ashamed that something as basic as human rights have been corrupted and manipulated by our heavily split partisan system.
My favorite part: "I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
4. Absolutely anything by Joan Didion. She is my favorite essayist, not only because she is both accessible and yet somehow erudite, she is also from the Central Valley, and much of what she writes is influenced by her childhood in the dusty heart of California. If you read her with a highlighter you will find that entire pages will be yellow. And every blogger should read "On Keeping a Notebook" because it defines what we all do here: talk about ourselves.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
8 Reasons I'm Not Ready to Become a Mother
(Which is probably why we're given nine months to get used to the idea)
1. We cleaned out our fridge on Sunday and the only things edible were slices of american cheese, half a tomato and diet coke.
2. I am so behind on the laundry I had to buy new underwear!
3. My cat sleeps at my feet and scratches at them if I shift around during the night. Therefore, I'm a little scared of her.
4. At Target, I zoom right past the boring bottles and pacifier sections and instead am only interested in the clothes.
5. Our baby has no name, and it doesn't look like she'll ever have one!!
6. I stopped reading the pregnancy books because they got boring, and am now reading smut again.
7. I had to keep myself from alternating between laughing and cringing while watching the birthing video at our prenatal class.
8. I am more interested in the snacks and the other people at the prenatal class than what we're being taught.
SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE TO APPLY FOR A LICENSE TO HAVE A BABY????
1. We cleaned out our fridge on Sunday and the only things edible were slices of american cheese, half a tomato and diet coke.
2. I am so behind on the laundry I had to buy new underwear!
3. My cat sleeps at my feet and scratches at them if I shift around during the night. Therefore, I'm a little scared of her.
4. At Target, I zoom right past the boring bottles and pacifier sections and instead am only interested in the clothes.
5. Our baby has no name, and it doesn't look like she'll ever have one!!
6. I stopped reading the pregnancy books because they got boring, and am now reading smut again.
7. I had to keep myself from alternating between laughing and cringing while watching the birthing video at our prenatal class.
8. I am more interested in the snacks and the other people at the prenatal class than what we're being taught.
SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE TO APPLY FOR A LICENSE TO HAVE A BABY????
Monday, November 13, 2006
Snowy Weekend!
This past weekend Juan and I took a spontaneous trip up to Alpine County, which is a few hours south of Tahoe and absolutely gorgeous! We left on Friday, on a beautiful Fall day. We had a picnic at Lake Alpine and read books by a roaring fire. It was every cliched movie you've ever seen. Saturday morning, however, we woke up to an amazing, thick blanket of snow. We're valley kids, so we still run around and squeal when we see snow. We almost got snowed in, but we braved it and our trusty Jeep took us back down to safety! (And boringness! Is that a word? I should know, I'm an English teacher, for crying out loud!)
Kira's Wedding
My best friend Kira got married this month and I was a bridesmaid. I almost grew out of my bridesmaid dress but I made it! YES!!
Guate, Guate!
Here are some pictures from our summer trip to Guatemala. We had a great time, but I was very happy to reach the first world again!
Just Startin' Out...
Hi Guys! So I'm officially blogging. I resisted this for a long time (don't ask me why, cause I've been on myspace for over a year... it's not like I have standards) but here I am, setting up a blog for our little family. I'm at work (don't ask me why I'm not working, knowing me should be enough of an answer for that!) so there won't be any pictures this time around, although they should come soon.
So here's an update on our lives:
In May, we moved from Davis back to Elk Grove, and it's really nice to be near my family and friends again. Davis certainly wasn't the moon, but it was far enough way to miss out on all the spontaneous get togethers and game nights!
Juan is teaching 7th and 8th grade English at California Middle School in Land Park, and he's been recently made the Leadership teacher, which makes him busier, but I think he has fun, too.
I'm working at Woodland Community College as an instructional assistant, which means I hold office hours for twenty hours a week and try to teach grammar, rhetoric and composition. It's not the most exciting job, but it's what I signed up for! I graduated in May from UC Davis with my MA, and it's looking like I'll be able to segueway this job into a full time teaching position. Yay me!
We both love being in education because of all the perks: Read: TIME OFF. Those of you who know us know we love to travel. Which makes sense, since we met in London! This summer we went to Guatemala and Honduras for a month and we've had tons of little weekend trips since then. We're trying to get all the traveling we can in before Baby Girl Valdes comes in February!
And that, perhaps, is the biggest news. Sometime around Valentine's Day we're expecting a little pink bundle. We're really excited, although we've done nothing to prepare other than shop. Here's hoping we have a baby's room by February!
So that's all the news on our little happy lives. Stay tuned for pictures and I'll try to keep you entertained with my rapacious wit and sparkling repartee.
So here's an update on our lives:
In May, we moved from Davis back to Elk Grove, and it's really nice to be near my family and friends again. Davis certainly wasn't the moon, but it was far enough way to miss out on all the spontaneous get togethers and game nights!
Juan is teaching 7th and 8th grade English at California Middle School in Land Park, and he's been recently made the Leadership teacher, which makes him busier, but I think he has fun, too.
I'm working at Woodland Community College as an instructional assistant, which means I hold office hours for twenty hours a week and try to teach grammar, rhetoric and composition. It's not the most exciting job, but it's what I signed up for! I graduated in May from UC Davis with my MA, and it's looking like I'll be able to segueway this job into a full time teaching position. Yay me!
We both love being in education because of all the perks: Read: TIME OFF. Those of you who know us know we love to travel. Which makes sense, since we met in London! This summer we went to Guatemala and Honduras for a month and we've had tons of little weekend trips since then. We're trying to get all the traveling we can in before Baby Girl Valdes comes in February!
And that, perhaps, is the biggest news. Sometime around Valentine's Day we're expecting a little pink bundle. We're really excited, although we've done nothing to prepare other than shop. Here's hoping we have a baby's room by February!
So that's all the news on our little happy lives. Stay tuned for pictures and I'll try to keep you entertained with my rapacious wit and sparkling repartee.
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