american country living

had a wonderful getaway to rural pennsylvania a few weekends ago - complete with a few stops on the road & new people & country adventures!

m & i left right after school on friday, and did the 4 hour drive to annville, pa in a fabulous mix of lightning, thunderstorms, and darkness. we stopped in scranton, to get a driving tour of where she went to college. reminded me of denison, and my own college days in middle-of-nowhere ohio :)

saturday was chalk-full of activities: breakfast at a nearby diner of baked berry oatmeal (delicious), then off to partake in a distinctly rural american activity - shooting. a friend of a friend of a friend owns a few guns, and was happy enough to give us some lessons and let us shoot at a target in a field. on yes, mcdonald's farm. not even kidding - that was the name of the place. it was wonderful, driving a huge truck across fields and through a muddy stream. the whole time i'm thinking, this is what people actually do?! shooting was actually a blast, regardless of political leanings and such. being outside, doing something different, in a new place...it just revitalizes me.

we also visited a nearby brewery for lunch, right near hershey park (no, didn't make it to the chocolate town..next time). delicious beer flights and a great pulled pork sandwich...pretty classy stuff for rural pa ;)

the week after was full of work: fractions, mexico planning, wrapping up our black history unit & trying to figure out my summer. i've found a couple fantastic coffee shops within 15/20 minutes from home, so i've pinned those as my need-to-be-productive locations. had a wonderful dinner & work session with a friend one evening (goat cheese, arugula & caramelized onion pizza!) & a byob pottery-making ladies night!

sam summer & creative pizzas

pre-baking    "eat.travel.love." utensil jar

to all the full-time teachers

i do have a draft for a real post waiting (on pictures of course)...but i have to give a huge props to all the full-time teachers out there. my lead has been out sick pretty much all of this week (and will be pretty MIA the rest of the week), and WOW is it exhausting doing this alone. and prepping. and being organized. and getting enough sleep. attempting to eat well. exercise has gone completely out the window. 

i haven't thought about anything but school in days. school...and sleep.

an apple (or a bottle of wine) for all the teachers out there. 

& happy may!!

a spring clean

        As the weather starts to warm up, and the sun begins to stay out I'm struck with a need to catch up & get down to work before the summer weather hits. Maybe it's the annual fervor of a school year wrapping up, but spring tends to launch me forward...thinking of the summer and reflecting on how this year has gone and thinking back on where I was a year ago. Soon, I won't be able to say "ohh this time last year I was ____ in France/the UK/Italy..etc" When will I go back? Where will I go after this second year in New Canaan? Where do I want to be? What do I want to do? These are the thoughts I'm launching into...but before I can go forward I have to go back, even if it's just a summary



     Spring break was a struggle getting to, and once it arrived it was incredibly apparent how much we all needed a break. I immediately flew south, to Florida. Left my computer up north, and managed to mostly de-tech for five days. Fantastic. Time with grandparents, with myself, the beach, sailing, great dinners & drinks & time reading. A true vacation.

out on the docks

palms

Islandia

beaches & sun & paris

cocktail hour

black & whites are best

quite the strong sand castle

& then back north it was - to greet my best scottish friend in NYC! The adventures that ensured were...adventures..but we had a blast seeing NYC and CT and Boston. Here are some snapshots of her trip here!

view from the Top of the Rock!

flowers on the high line

paintings along the high line

Kicks v Celtics!

in Boston!

France reunions in NYC are da best

obligatory delicious cup of chowder

        Two weeks off made it difficult for everyone to get back into the swing of things at school, but we're already three weeks into the final push! I'm teaching fractions & decimals for the next couple weeks, then leaping into a 6 week unit on Mexican culture & immigration with the two other third grade apprentices...and then - DONE!

happy spring cleaning everyone :)

bisous

just when you think it's spring...

     another nor'easter swings through & we've got yet another snow day! on one hand, a whole day of teaching lost is starting to really put a damper on a few units! but then again, i LOVE the winter. and snow. and when you look out your window at 6am to a winter wonderland...i just can't hate. it's still falling too! and snow day = blog post.

     asia visited for a long weekend, and we had a fantastic time wandering around nyc. we visited the 9/11 memorial & reflected on that day we still remember..and how the children i teach know it as a part of history - not their lives. it's an unsettling feeling, but also comforting. i hope nothing like that happens in their lifetime. we also went down to battery park, to get a faraway glimpse of the lovely lady liberty & ellis island. warmed up with soup in chelsea market, and then trekked up to the high line - a walkway built on old railroad tracks in the meatpacking district. danced nights away & had great conversations about france, our present, and what we want our futures to look like.

reflecting pool in the foundation of one of the world trade centers

names

reflections on what will be the museum

little lady liberty

<3

teas in chelsea market

lights :)

photoshoot time!

on the high line

meatpacking district

bfff

happy galentines day!

you know how last year i was valentines-ing it up in france? asia & i did a fun little photoshoot, had a relaxing day filled with french wine & baked treats...and it was perfection.

well, turns out having 18 little valentines is pretty fantastic too :) 

kids finally finished their february book reports - hence the wall full of adorable bears

we made valentine "mailboxes" the day before, so as they arrived at school the kids crowded around bags to mail their valentines & get sneak peeks into their own mailbox

beautiful day to celebrate love :)

my own mailbox

LOVE 

the rest of vday was spent with great friends - toasting to us, being young, being single & living the fabulous lives we do

champagne & raspberries!

dinnertime

 ~ a happy (belated) valentines to you all ~ 

bises

a real nor'easter

snowsnowsnow!

nemo was fabulous, a pain perhaps in some ways, but it spurred me to get over to waveny park in new canaan with a few friends

here are some pics of our snowventures!

mountain in the middle of town

gorgeous connecticut tundra

denison does nemo!

B & I

the sledding hill

finding nemo out east

a snowy compound

now THIS is winter

cars have been shoveled and plowed out, gloves thoroughly soaked through, a trek into town for 

bagels, hot tea & plans for sledding

brings me back to days in evanston - building igloos and snow forts with family & friends, broomball on a make-shift ice rinks, "glaciers" on the lake, sledding at the paddle courts, and hot chocolate with mini marshmallows

with a february birthday i've always had a soft spot for winter, and days like these remind me why

here's to a new england winter! :)