Book 6!

I finished book 6 this morning!

 The author actually lives here in town, and I love her work. She has a beautiful way of capturing characters' voices, and this was no exception. Each section is told from a different family member's viewpoint, and the book tells the story of the family's ghost story. It's truly excellent, and I am sad to tell these characters goodbye.

Spring

It is officially spring in NC:

 The Bradford pears are in full bloom. The neighborhood is gorgeous and smells like fish.

Porch Kitten

Spring has sprung around here, and Jet is not complaining:

 We had to get her back used to going on the harness outside for when our vet came, but she loves it! The other two cats tolerate being outside with us, but Jet loves it. In fact, she low-key growls when we want to take the harness off now! She loves watching the birds and sniffing the air, and I love the porch time with her. She is the snuggliest and finally my cat!

Another Big Weekend

This was another really busy weekend!

Friday, Brad and I celebrated Valentine's Day at our favorite restaurant and hotel in Chapel Hill. Il Paleo is the best Italian food I've had outside of Tuscany, and spending the night means we get more time together and we can both enjoy the excellent wine. We went out to brunch on Saturday and generally pretended we had no responsibilities for 18 hours, which was blissful. That also made my afternoon at work a very hard turn.

Sunday, I started my day in the pottery studio. I finished my first commissioned works:

And I threw a mug for Issa:

She is very in to mushrooms these days:

Sunday afternoon, we girls went to the ballet:

 We saw four gorgeous pieces and then met the boys for burgers! 

It was a very fun weekend, but now I am sleepy...

You Know You are Tired When...

Last weekend wasn't really a weekend. While it was amazing, it was also exhausting. This week has also had a lot of extra stuff, which means I'm exhausted. 

Wednesday is my long day. I started at a school, and I taught until 8. When I walked out of class, I got to the parking lot and it was almost empty. There were two cars, and neither was mind. I started to panic and was convinced my car had been stolen. Just as I was starting to call security, I looked back toward my building:

See that black car. That would be mine. I got a prime parking space right next to the building. And I forgot. And I had walked right past it. 

Here's to a more restful weekend...
 

Another One Read

I finished book 5 Monday:

 I love Glennon, and I have now officially read all of her books--just backwards. I so appreciate her raw honesty and perspective. This will be one of those memoirs I keep and occasionally return to.

Dance Family

Last night was Sweetheart Night at dance. Parents were invited in to a class to dance with our kiddos. Brad and I both went to hip hop, and we had way too much fun! five other parents were there, and I love that we were all able to just have fun. Clearly our kids have the dance talent, but we brought the enthusiasm.

One of the other dads also sent us some pictures last night that he caught of Issa on Sunday:

This last one just blew me away:

He's a computer programmer, but clearly he is also an artist.

I know Issa loves being with her dance family, and I'm so grateful that we have gotten some good friends in the deal, too.

 

A Big Dance Weekend

This was Alliance Weekend for Issa! Our studio hosts a series of classes and then a showcase for three studios in the area.

Saturday, Issa did five classes and had a great time! She is usually not a huge fan of convention style classes, but she was having a great dance day and made a few new friends!

Sunday, she put each of her dance on stage for the first time. I ended up needing to be on ticket duty, so I didn't get a lot of pictures.

Her first dance was her modern dance, and they nailed it:

This is by far her most difficult dance, and she felt really good about it.

She is also competing a contemporary hip hop dance:

It looked great, and she has a ton of fun with it.

She also put her contemporary solo on stage for the first time:

She is dancing to one of my cousin's songs this year, and it is truly gorgeous. I can't wait to see where this season takes us!

 

We Will Take Third!

This was a bit weekend, so each day is getting it's own post!

Saturday, Brad and I spent the entire day in the bleachers:

Evan had his end of season tournament. We put him on the bus at 7:15, and we were at the site by 8:45. The teams were seated on one side of the gym and parents on the other. This was our first time having two mats going, which was a lot to take in, but I was so proud of our team! When our first wrestler took the mat, the whole team came down to cheer:

They soon got kicked back to the bleachers, but I loved watching them support each other all day.

Evan wrestled four times. He won his first match quickly, lost the second against the number 2 in his weight class (who ultimately finished second), and then won the last two. Meaning he took third! And the team took second:

We will be forever grateful for his coaches.

He learned so much this year, and they threw them an end of year party after school today. I think this is just the beginning of a very successful wrestling story.

 

 

Books 3 and 4

I finished two books in the past few days!

Thursday I finished The Pope's Elephant:

It's a non-fiction book written by one of our neighbor's father! It chronicles the arrival, life, and impact of an Indian elephant to the Vatican during Pope Leo X's reign. I love Italian history, and this text really chronicles the politics surrounding the papacy. It was incredibly well-written, and I make use the first chapter the next time I take grad students abroad! I also really want to go back to the Vatican and look for the carvings of Hanno the elephant that still remain.

This morning, I finished the next fiction book, The Columnist:

 Honestly, I have no idea where I got this book, but it was on the pile. It's a fictional memoir of a political columnist. There were parts I loved, but the beginning is tough. I think the fictional author isn't proud of his younger self and the writing is supposed to highlight that, but it just wasn't great. I about gave up on it, but the middle got really good. Then it just kind of ended. All in all, I don't recommend it.

A Wild Weekend

We had a very busy weekend! We were all together for Evan's meet on Friday. They played their rivals on their turf, and Evan got another pin:

He had 14 second left in the first period when he got this one. He got him down quickly, but it took a while to get those shoulder blades all the way down:

The team won overall, and we went to Radius to celebrate!

Issa had dance all day Saturday, but we were able to squeeze in a family game night:

The kids won in Beat the Parents, which meant donuts for breakfast Sunday.

It was a beautiful springy day. I managed to take a long walk and enjoy a little porch time with Buddy:

Brad went down with a 24-hour stomach bug yesterday, and it took Issa and I out today. We are both on the upswing, but we are pretty tired and just feel gross. Fingers crossed Evan manages to miss this one!

 

A Big Week

It has been a super busy week! Work has been bizarre, but we've also had some extra fun with the kiddos.

Tuesday night, Brad and I both drove a group of dancers to DPAC to see Cats:

DPAC had a contest to submit original choreo to the music from the show. Monarch participated, and they won 20 tickets! They had no idea it was a contest when they made the film. They just thought it was a bit of team fun. It's not Issa's favorite show, but she still had fun seeing it with her friends!

Wednesday, Evan had his last home wrestling meet, and they had a ceremony for the eighth graders. It was absolute hilarity. The parents were given one set of directions and the wrestlers were given another. We were first, and we had no idea what was going on. But, I got a hug:

And a flower:

And Evan got a pin! His record right now is 8-4, and he has his last regular meet tonight! After that we will know what cede he has for the tournament next weekend! We can't believe how much he has grown this season, and I'm so glad we got to celebrate with him this week.