Tuesday, April 29, 2008

RSVP Comedians

Yesterday's RSVP's really got me laughing.
 
Good job guys.
 
 

Monday, April 28, 2008

Baby Back Ribs

I had the pleasure of meeting with Julie and Bree in Willow Bend Mall in Plano last week.

It's worth pointing out that Julie and I both found the experience so strange we are both blogging about it.

Why oh why is there a playground where the kids are playing on steaks and eggs and french toast?











It's a question we both asked ourselves.

You might think it's not that strange...but think about this...

On my drive home I wondered what kind of playgrounds I might see kids playing on in Turkey.











Or in China.











Or our friends to the South.














Now can we all agree that kids climbing on a steak is odd?

And yes, I promise I asked Bree's mom before putting her on tacos and then putting her on my blog.

Bree's mom's got a great sense of humor.

I hope someday she'll photoshop my child onto regional cuisine playgrounds.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Return My Cymbas

Or at least that's what my dad spent most of his life thinking the song said.

"Return to sender" is I think what Elvis Presley was trying to say.



Either way, the hard work paid off and the first batch of rsvp's came yesterday.




It's a lot of fun seeing all your handwriting and the sweet messages you write.

So far it's all yes's; though my magic-wielding uncle has yet to reply - but I'm sure he'll be there. He's contracted to go on at 8.



This is one happy girl.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Turkey Times

At a baby shower this weekend one of my friends asked me where Chris and I were going to live after we got married...in a house, in an apartment...
Wait, I thought, how does she not know we are moving to Turkey?
 
And then I realized, a picture is not always worth a thousand words.
 
The flag of Turkey in the last post was not meant to indicate that Chris and I are honeymooning in Turkey.
 
No.
 
We are in fact moving there.
 
The stats are as follows:
 
-Sarah teaching 3rd grade at Bilkent University Prep School (BUPS for short).  It is a bilingual American School.  http://www.bupsbis.bilkent.edu.tr/
 
-Chris, since he doesn't have his teaching certification, will be interning at all grade levels.
 
-Both of us will be working on our masters degrees at Bilkent University
 
-The gig is for 2 years.  Yes we will be home for holidays.
 
-I found out about ISS, the company that staffs all American schools abroad, about 3 years ago.  I was not then qualified to apply.  One must have at least 2 years teaching abroad, and 3 years stateside.  So getting a job this year was quite an honor.
 
-I was accepted in Nov. to the ISS program (http://www.iss.edu/), and Chris and I went in Feb. to NYC to a grand interview fair.  Over 300 schools.  It was insane.
 
-We narrowed our choices to Turkey, China, Malaysia and Japan, and went with Turkey based on salary and how much we thought we would enjoy our surroundings there.
 
-Not that it's any of your business, but the school is paying for our flights, our 2 bedroom apt., laptops, our masters degree program, relocation fees, visas, they're paying us a tax-free salary equivalent to that in the states, all of our health care is free, we still have summers off, and there will be doner kebabs at every corner.  yes.
 
-We leave sometime mid-August
 
-Our actual honeymoon is to Costa Rica.
 
So...that being said...who will be the first to visit Turkey?
 
 

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Stuff It

Monday Chris and I lured our folks into helping us stuff the wedding invites.

Nothing says fun family bonding like stacking, stamping, stuffing and organizing over one hundred invitations. We had quite the assembly line.

Each time I pulled an envelope I announced the name of the invitee and we reflected on our relationship with that person.

"Ah...she's been cutting my hair since I was in the 4th grade.."
"Ah...they're having their second little one."
"Wait, why did we invite his parents but not him?!"

So there were a couple of oversights, but quality control is on it.

All invites have been assembled and are in the mail.

You can be sure yours was sealed with love.

P.S. Since Chris and I will soon blog together, from now on I'm going to try my hand at some absurdist humor, so bear with me.

P.S.S. Sometimes you may see things in this blog that don't make sense immediately.

P.S.S.S. The picture above is not my family stuffing invites.

No, they're just hanging out.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Up Next...


Canada

Austria

The Czech Republic

Hungary
England
France
Belgium

The Netherlands
The Caribbean

India
Australia
Mexico
Costa Rica
Argentina
Spain

Germany Coming soon...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Where's My Electric Eel?

Yesterday the second graders and I learned that an electric eel can give a shock of up to 650 volts - over five times the voltage needed to light a standard household light bulb.
 
So last night at 4am when the storm came ripping through my apartment complex, taking my electricity with it, I asked myself, where is an electric eel when you need one?
 
I stayed awake for two hours patiently waiting for the electricial gods to rain their power down on me.
Nada.
 
I had to call in to work as I couldn't see to get ready this morning.
 
I ended up taking a shower with a candle lit, and bringing my make-up bag to school to try to look somewhat presentable.
 
I had to take two different detours as electricial lines are down everywhere.  My neighborhood looks like a war zone.
 
Upon seeing me the kids said "Ms. Mathis, you look different."
 
Yes. 
Yes, I do. 
This is the look of utter exhaustion.
 
Supposively the power is going to be on when I get home.
 
It's sad really how useless and how helpless one can feel without a TV, radio, phone, internet, lights, microwave...
 
I felt, and still feel, completely powerless.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

I'm a Designer

I don't have any before pictures.

If you've been here then you have your own. Flip back in your mind.

Here's the after:















Nice little spot to read:

















I think my future in-laws might have thought I was over-exaggerating when I said I organized ALL weekend long.
Here's my junk drawer (just go look to at your own junk drawer for a before picture):














Bathroom didn't get any redesign, but it's good:

















Bedroom still the same













save for this new permanent pile in the corner.  

It's the "anything concerning the wedding pile."














There's still a lot I want to do but so far I'm happy with the change.
Especially the PC to MAC change (note the duel taking place on the coffee table)













I'm a designer.

Back In Business

Wow.
 
One week without posting anything and the complaints just come pouring in.  I didn't realize how much everyone looks forward to reading the blog everyday. 
It's like trying to go without mosquitos in summer.
 
My trouble right now is that the PC with all the good stuff on it is at school, while Maya the MAC waits patiently at home to be filled with pictures and documents.
 
Apparently I broke my external hard drive, and apparently this is bad, so apparently we'll be going photo-less for a little while.
 
This is okay though because we're all literate.
 
I can tell you this...I redecorated my apartment and have since decided that I'm a designer.
 
That's right.
 
I'm a designer, a photographer, a teacher and someday I hope to be a published author.
 
Does writing this blog get me any closer?

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

It's Twins!

Today Maya arrived.
Maya Alexandra Computer, or MAC for short.
She weighed in at 5.4lbs and is 14.1 inches long.


Her brother also arrived shortly after. He has yet to be named but both are healthy and doing fine!

Having MAC's is something we've been thinking about doing for years and not a decision we made lightly.

They are expensive, a lot of work and quite time consuming.

But we have had more fun in the last two hours with these babies than we have ever had in all our years with PC's.

No one should ever have to use a PC. It's just cruel.

We are officially proud Apple snobs.