hey

remember back when it was teacher's day, and six whole people boosted my ego by telling me i'm a great teacher?

yeah. me, too.

and remember how i was wishing and hoping that the parents' association would bring in some chocolate croissants from the french bakery down the street? well, guess what i found in the workroom the very next day?! that's right, chocolate croissants!

and guess what i found in the workroom a couple weeks later? MORE chocolate croissants!

that was almost as exciting as the last day of school. almost.

it's official

My baby sister is married, and is now off honeymooning in Yosemite and San Francisco. (I think.)

The wedding turned out to be fantastic, mainly because Shady was stubborn and planned everything exactly the way that she wanted, regardless of what anyone (and by anyone I mean Mom) thought.

They pulled off the alligator-shaped groomscake. How cool does this look? I had no idea little Brandon was such a cake artist:

The wedding cake had a layer of rice krispie treats (which I didn't have a chance to try) and two layers of cheesecake. They also made this themselves. Pretty, pretty:

Little Brandon is the oldest of the Harpdogs, and he and his siblings all look alike. Even the 5-year-old. I'm told my family looks alike, too, but whatever:

And she danced to Freebird, which I don't really understand. But I'm pretty sure dad was excited:

I'm pretty sure the kids had fun:

And her dress was beautiful. It's pretty in the picture, but it looks way better in person. Trust me:

so i married an ax murderer

Has anyone ever seen this movie? Because the ax murderer bears a striking resemblance to my roommate. Minus the murderer part. Seriously.

so close

There are only three days of school left. And then it will no longer be my first year at this school. It hasn't really felt like my first year since about the third week, but still...

In other news, my five days of freedom are over. My roommate is back. Not that I don't love her or anything, but sometimes I really miss living alone.

I still have not received my economic stimulus check. Unlike Ashley, most of mine is going into the bank. But having a lot of money in the bank makes me very happy. So much for stimulating the economy.

tourist season

As of this weekend, it is officially tourist season here in DC. Sometimes it's just fun to go downtown and watch the tourists look lost and confused. I have learned that there are some rules that all toursts must follow:

Rule #1: Every time you cross the street, stop and block the sidewalk to make sure that everyone is with you.

Rule #2: Speak loudly enough for everyone (whether they're in your group or not) to know where you're going and how you're getting there.

Rule #3: Always double and triple-check the map. It doesn't matter if you looked at it two minutes ago, it may have changed. Or the museum may have moved.

Rule #4: Walk in rows of at least 4 so you take up the whole sidewalk.

three days

until ALL of my roommates go out of town. for FIVE DAYS. five blessed days basking in the glorious sunshine of freedom.

food

one great thing about living in DC is the food. there are thousands of restaurants with thousands of different types of food. so far i have tried the following:

Ethiopian. Excellent, as long as it's a good restaurant. But if you don't like eating mush, this isn't for you.

Korean. Also delicious. The spicy tofu soup is excellent, and they had some ribs that melted my heart.

Chinese. (Real chinese) Custard buns are my new favorite dessert. Honey walnut shrimp is my new favorite meal. If there's a restaurant near you that serves dim sum, try it out.

Lebanese. Not my favorite, but I need to give it a second chance. I think I made a poor choice when I ordered, because everybody else's food looked way better than mine.

Indian. There's a place 45 minutes away from my house that is SO worth the drive just for the naan.

Japanese. I could eat sushi every day for the rest of my life and die a happy woman.

Maryland Crabs. Yum.

Vietnamese. Not bad, but if I'm going to pay for soup, I'd rather have the korean tofu soup.

French. We tried out a nice French restaurant during restaurant week. Great deal, good food, snobby waiter. What more could you expect from a French restaurant?

happy teachers day!!!

tell your favorite teacher (ahem) how awesome he or she is. sometimes we really need to hear it.

the parents at our school are providing a luncheon for us today. they're pretty much the best parents association ever. they make me want to jump for joy. now if only i could convince them to bring in more chocolate croissants from the french bakery down the street.

great week

The crabs Thursday night were delicious. Quite possibly one of the best meals I've eaten in a very long time. Yes, they're a lot of work for just a little meat, but the flavor was great, and the restaurant put a spicy rub on them that gave them a little kick. Perfecto.

I also stopped by the mall on Thursday to pick up the vacuum we bought for our apartment, and obviously needed to check in my favorite stores just to see what the sales were like. Good thing I did, because I bought a 100% cashmere sweater that was originally $100 for only $10!!! Don't ask me how I do it, I'm just lucky.

weekend recap

My weekend was enjoyable for so many reasons:

• I joined the DC Restaurant Adventure Club. Every Thursday night, we try out a new local restaurant just for fun. This week is Maryland Crabs.
• We made cinnamon sugar popcorn. Easy to make and tastes absolutely heavenly.
• We ate cinnamon sugar popcorn while watching Waitress. Funny movie, with a great ending. No matter how crappy your life is, being dishonest will not make it better.
• I chapheroned prom and the prom after-party. I was supposed to make breakfast for the kids Sunday morning, but they all got tired and left before I had a chance.
• I made a magnetic rail gun. I went ahead with the JB Weld, and it works beautifully. I'm so excited to show my classes tomorrow.
• I found a website with an unbelievable amount of resources for my class. It took me about 10 minutes to plan my lesson for Monday. What a relief.

post #3 (for bexar)

I'm having my students build little stirling engines this week. I spent the majority of my weekend building my own for troubleshooting purposes. I'm pretty sure they're going to be awesome.

And we built marshmallow blow guns last night for the forthcoming summer marshmallow wars. I can't wait.

I also recently discovered instructables.com. It's the best website known to man. It even trumps craigslist. What a miracle! My summer will now be filled with project after fun project.

gauss accelerator

I'm trying to build one. It looks like it should be easy, but it's not working! I'm thinking I need to use some JB Weld to secure the magnets to the rail. Any suggestions?

Dear Bexar,

I am sorry for the lack of posts recently. I will do better.

Love,

Your most fun sister

summer is coming

And because summer is coming, there is an obvious need for homemade ice-cream. So I bought this ice cream maker:

Only $25! And it got great reviews. All it has to do is last me through the summer and it'll be well worth the cost. First up is ginger ice cream, to go along with the citrus-marinated shish kabobs we're making this weekend.

This weekend will be spent basking in the sunshine with a book (Winter of our Discontent), lots of ice cream, and a grill.

more spain

The Easter bunny came all the way to Spain! How did he find us there?




The Alhambra had lots of pools. Once we finally got in:



Spainiards celebrate Easter in a BIG way.

While we were hiking, we found a hidden passageway.

Traveling with Brian wore me out.

spain, in pictures

This is how we felt when we landed:

After Brian took us on our death tour, we decided to abandon the bikes. But it was naptime in Spain, so we basked in the sunshine while we waited for the bike shop to open up.

We decided that hiking would be safer than darting in front of moving cars. It was beautiful:

While we were in Granada, Ashley decided to dress up as a missionary:

We stuck our feet in the Mediterranean:

Then we were almost attacked by a shark:

I found the geographic center of Spain. I also found a great jacket on sale! Look how cute it is:

The entire main floor of the Prado museum was closed, so we had to find art elsewhere:

my weekend, in pictures

Most of my weekend was spent eating and watching conference in between meals.

Saturday morning, we had aebilskivers for breakfast, stuffed with cream cheese frosting and topped with berry sauce:

For dinner, homemade macaroni and cheese with cheese sauce and steaks marinated in whiskey. I've never been one for homemade mac and cheese, but wow, this was good:

Sunday morning, I made peach french toast (with real french bread):

and chicken bryan with asparagus for dinner:

I think I gained ten pounds.

another story

So, we were sitting around the apartment last week, eating the salads that we had bought for dinner when Julie brings in a box of chocolate and offers every one a piece. Then the following conversation ensued:

Rochelle: Thanks, but I'm trying to be healthy, so I'll pass.

Julie (in a serious tone): But this chocolate is from Switzerland, so it's good for you.

Me: That makes absolutely no sense.

Julie (getting just a bit defensive): Yeah, it does. It's from Switzerland. So it's real chocolate. So it's good for you.

This girl gets stranger every day.

since i've been back

After I slept for a VERY long time, I headed out to DC's cherry blossom festival, where we walked around the tidal basin,

took lots of pictures,

and ate cinnamon almonds. Yum.

Tonight, we're headed out for Sushi. We're trying a new place that we're heard good things about. I'm so excited.

spain

oh, so many stories to tell. we decided that while costa rica was the trip of many adventures, spain was the trip of many stories. such as

• when we walked around the Alhambra for an hour searching for the entrance
• or how, if I had a dollar for every time Brian looked at a map and said "Um, I think we need to go back where we started" my entire trip would be paid for
• or how we rode bikes along the beach in Valencia
• and driving in Spain almost gave me a heart attack

Stay tuned for pictures and details. You won't regret it!