news

I am officially registered for the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon!!! Registration opened at 3:00 today, and sold out at 5:23. Good thing I was ready!

Spring break is in two weeks! That means only 11 school days left. Ahhhh.... I am planting an herb garden in my dining room, giving the puppy a bath (he needs one), watching The Hunger Games, and catching up on reading. And doing some running so that I am (hopefully) more prepared for this year's marathon than last year's.

genius

So my friend Hilary gave me homemade eucalyptus-lavender homemade brown sugar and almond oil body scrub for Christmas. It pretty much changed my life.

Now, at the risk of sounding like I'm from Utah, I am considering starting a crafting club so that I can learn to make these things for myself.

PS - cutting processed foods from my diet might be my favorite New Year's resolution of my life. I am eating better than I ever have in my life. (sorry mom). I feel like I am eating at a fancy restaurant every night, except it's cheaper and healthier.

a few things

First of all, I really love my Nike Free running shoes. I will never go back to regular running shoes again. My feet are thanking me.

Registration for the Marine Corps Marathon opens March 7!!! I will be running with a friend of mine. Anyone else care to join us? It's going to be pretty awesome. If you are not up to running a marathon, you are welcome to come cheer me on (October 28 2012). I have already mapped out where I would like my fans to meet me and what items I would like for them to provide for me. (#1 on my list is an ice cold Dr. Pepper)

I am in the process of making big plans for the summer... I may or may not be applying for a summer enrichment grant through my school, which means they will pay to send me to Japan or Ireland or wherever I want to go. That would make my summer pretty awesome.

valentines day present

From me to you! Because I love you all so much and all that....

Type this function into google:

sqrt(cos(x))cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5

Pretty awesome, huh?

new year's resolutions

Now that it's February I can share the New Year's resolutions that I am actually keeping. I have two. (What can I say, I'm ambitious)

1. Stop eating processed foods. This one is easier than I thought it would be. I spend Sunday afternoon baking snacks, breakfast foods, and dinner for the week. I have never eaten so well in my life. Home-cooked meals really are so much better than packaged foods. I also started an herb garden (and by started I mean I bought a rosemary plant at Trader Joe's and have kept it alive for a month). I will be adding more herbs in the spring.

2. Make my bed every day. I made my bed when I lived with Katelyn because she is by far the cleanest person I've ever met and it made me self-conscious. So I pretended to be clean too. (haha). So far having my bed made every day really brightens my day when I get home. Maybe next I'll organize my closet or something outrageous like that.

a few updates

Just because....

1. I keep trying to do my Christmas shopping and I keep finding spectacular sales on things that I want. So I have bought myself several Christmas presents. Friends and family: um... I still have some time.

2. I am loving having a sewing machine. I just recently hemmed, took in, or otherwise altered about 5 skirts that just didn't fit right anymore. It's like a whole new closet without spending any money!

3. I also bought myself a skirt from Fossil (which was on clearance) and since it was SUPER long, I cut it, hemmed it, and made it into a knee-length pencil skirt. Then I used the rest of the fabric to make myself a shirt! I am pretty much a miracle worker.

4. I have made a New Year's resolution (which I started early) to not eat any more processed foods (with a few exceptions). I have therefore been cooking a lot, and find it more enjoyable than I would have thought. I also have become master of the grilled cheese sandwich (gourmet varieties).

5. 4 days of school left until winter break! The last week is always the worst. The kids are ready to be gone, and all have the attention span of a flea. I am giving all of my classes quizzes on Friday. I am mean.

oh, and a favor

my students are working on capstone projects. please go to our class blog and comment on their proposals. ask questions, give suggestions, etc. your input is greatly appreciated.

bulliscapstones.blogspot.com

thanks!

a quick poll

watch these two videos. what school would you rather attend? (or which one would you most likely send your kids to?) why?

Carpe Diem Marketing Video - Final Cut from Nicholas Tucker on Vimeo.

homecoming

This weekend was homecoming at our school, and I had the privilege of chaperoning the dance. (awesome, by the way.) The dance started at 8:00, but two of our Chinese exchange students showed up at 7:30. The concept of "fashionably late" does not translate into Chinese very well.

mad skills

So in my AP class we are trying to figure out whether or not this video is real: (Um... pretty sure it's not. But they were supposed to prove that it couldn't be real.)

Then we headed down to the gym to film some half-court shot attempts so that we could compare them to the youtube video. My excellent basketball skills were captured on film.

happy hurricane

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home last night to pick up some essentials (like double-stuff Oreos). You know, just in case the power goes out or it floods or something. Everybody else seemed to have the same idea, so periodically store management would make announcements about what lanes were open, etc, and letting us know that they hope we have a great weekend and "enjoy the hurricane".

I have Oreos and Gilmore Girls so I most definitely will, thank you.

who wants to see my new house???

Oh, everybody does?? That's awesome.

My building. I live in the back left corner - nice and shady, which means I hardly even have to use my air conditioning. Awesome!!!

The bathroom (before):

The bathroom (now): The yellow is much darker than it looks here. I sewed a curtain to go around the bottom of the sink (it is odd-shaped and there are NO cabinets that fit it properly) and bought gray towels, bathmat, and shower curtain.

The kitchen (before):

Kitchen (after): I replaced the ugly gold knobs with nice sleek handles and painted (gasp) navy blue. I realized halfway through that the color was going to have to stay whether I liked it or not (I do NOT have the energy to paint over navy blue walls right now) but luckily, I really like how it turned out. Yay!

Dining room (before)

Dining room (now): The walls are actually a little darker than they appear in the pic. It's a nice, rich yellow. I can't quite figure out what to put on the windows... Any suggestions?

And my roommate: His name is Elian and he doesn't know it yet, but I have made an appointment to rob him of his manhood. I'm pretty sure we'll both be much happier that way. And by both of us, I mean me and my poor abused pillows. He is sitting on top of the fabric that I purchased that I am planning on using to make a rug. Nice print, huh?

how embarrassing

I am quite possibly the only person in the DC metro area who did NOT feel the earthquake today. The Commando sent me a text asking if I was okay, which I found very confusing.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to post about it!

so close

In about a week, I will offically be a homeowner.

In preparation for the big event, I have NOT:

started packing

started cleaning

looked for a roommate

found movers

but I HAVE:

spent an obscene amount of time browsing paint colors and decorating options.

so much time, so little to do

So you would think that having summers off would mean lots of time for updates and stories of all the fun I'm having. As it turns out, having all the free time in the world can make one a bit lazy. Huh.

But in case you are worried that I have been sleeping my days away, fear not! I am making good use of my summer. Carrie, Mom, Ashley, Bethany, and Mabel came to visit. I ate lots of cupcakes and took them to all of my favorite restaurants.

I made an offer on a condo in a great area out here. Hopefully on July 29 I will be an official homeowner!! Now I need to get Shady out here to help me pick out paint colors. (Pretty please? I'll buy you dinner and take you to get a massage!)

I am still training for the St George marathon, and still hate running on a treadmill. It gets more and more agonizing every week. But even if it kills me, I'm not quitting.

I joined Twitter! So if anybody wants mundane updates on what I'm having for lunch or how many hours I spent at the pool, you can follow me! (I actually joined because there's a whole community of science and math teachers on Twitter sharing resources and ideas for their classes. So my Tweets just might be less interesting to you than what I'm having for lunch. It's a toss-up.)

I have read 2 whole books in the past 2 days, so I am on the fast track to reading more books this year than Ryan. Now I just need to decide what book I want to make him buy me....

so so close

The end of the school year is almost here, and it could not come soon enough.

It's been a long year. I need a break.

But only 6 days left. 3 review days and 3 exam days. And then I am as free as a little birdie.

Hopefully this will be a sumer full of good change. I need it. I have recently been talking a lot with my favorite coworker. (He is not everybody's favorite coworker. Just mine. In fact, a lot of people find him abrasive and rude. I find him refreshingly honest. But that's just me.) He has challenged me to approach next year with more gumption. I think I'm up for the challenge. (That's part of having gumption, by the way. Being up for challenges. And I now have gumption. When I was little my mom told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. And I want to be gumptious. So now I am. (If that's a word))

awkward

We had a new substitute teacher here at school today, so I decided that it would be polite to make idle talk with him. When he told me his name, I thought that he said "Shark". So I went on and on about what an awesome name to have. His name is not Shark. It's something totally boring like "Shawn"' or something. (No offense, Shawn.)

Awkward.

bragging (again)

So today I was at the mall (because that's where my bank is... this just might be the death of me) when I stopped by a little store that sells hair care products. (I am out of shampoo.) I ended up buying over $100 worth of shampoo and other hair products for a mere $18. I'm pretty sure I have magical powers when it comes to sales.

a nerdy story

So we are currently wrapping up our unit on electromagnetism in my class, so we are obviously discussing induced currents. Which means that we are also discussing the meaning of the word "induced". (As it turns out, most 16-year-olds do not know the meaning of "induced". (Definition: to cause or to make something happen, as in "induced labor" or "chemically induced coma") Side note: the "induced labor" example freaked out the boys in the class. They asked me to please never mention labor ever again. I obliged.)

So anyway, our school's theme this year is "make it happen". Our new headmaster is a go-getter kind of guy. So I suggested to the class that we replace our school theme. Instead of "make it happen" it could be simplified to "induce". Great idea, right?

(I don't think the kids took it seriously. So I suggested it to my colleagues. I don't think they took it seriously either.)

physics fail

we watched this video in my class today. is it mean that i find it kind of funny?