Did you think I forgot about you?

Clearly, I rarely have/make time for this blog anymore. How in the world did I post something more than just a picture for 365 days in a row my first year here? Some days I can easily post my picture on The View Across Town and other days I'm running around my house with my iPhone taking pictures of things at 11:30pm.

To share a little bit more of what I have been doing ... this post will serve as a way to catch up through photos. Here are some of my 2nd favorites from the first few weeks of 2012 that weren't picked for the other blog. Enjoy!

A visit to Park Place on January 1st for a post-holidays family brunch.

And then a family dinner that night at Molly & Erik's. This little one went around the entire table taking dessert orders (with the short-order cook, Molly, in the kitchen). She did a great job! Her reward was her own bowl of ice cream with a Girl Scout cookie on the side (that she didn't know existed until this night).

The first day back to work was tough, but I did get to go out to lunch with my fabulous teammates! Have you been to Unforked yet? It's awesome!

Playing around with the new iPhone lenses I got for Christmas from Mom. I love this macro shot.

A profile shot of my silly schnoodle.

I love my Instagram app more and more each day. This was a quick shot I took when out walking Minners.

Looking at her Momma!

Staying up too late on a school night. It's always hard to get back in bedtime routine after a break from school.

I like this one because I love to take pictures like this of the sky with beautiful clouds. Here is the same scene ... in a paint by numbers kind of way :)

We FINALLY got a little bit of snow. It didn't last long, not that I'm complaining. It's always very pretty ... but walking a dog in the snow is one of my least favorite parts of winter.

A new "portrait" taken against my favorite piece of art in my condo. Jill says it makes for the perfect photo studio background.

Wearing flip flops. In January. In Kansas. Love it! See? I told you the snow didn't last long.

A perfect day to head to the dog park. We've been close to 10 times this "winter".

Here is a photograph that's very close to the painting 5 pictures up. Such a great day to be outside!

I hope to get back to sharing things on this blog more often. I realize I may have lost many of my regular readers since it's been a while. Keep coming back ... you never know what I'll post next!

Crafty time + Crayons = Happy Girl

I saw this project on one of my favorite blogs and knew that I HAD to make it. Apparently this melted crayon art is all over Pinterest, which I have yet to play on because I know I'll never leave my laptop.

Last weekend, I headed to Wal-Mart for a deal on Crayola Crayons, because they are the only acceptable brand of crayons. If you are a parent who shops for school supplies, please don't send your kid to school with Rose Art supplies ... they just don't do the trick! Jill came with me because she saw the link and also wanted to make some art for her classroom!

We each bought a box of 64 and an additional box of 48 for this project. We picked out the pretty colors ... who knew there are so many versions of brown in a box of crayons?

Jill went with blues, purples, white and a few reds. I went with a rainbow of colors, primarily pink. Are you surprised? After we picked out enough crayons, we carefully hot-glued them to the canvases. I had canvases left over from a previous crafty project that I ended up hating. The canvases were about 18x24 inches. We used painter's tape to line them up straight when gluing. About 1/4 inch was left between the top of the crayons and the edge of the canvas.

LOTS of crayons ... glued on our canvases. At first, I thought I wanted to glue my crayons with the color names facing out, but Jill & I decided that the Crayola label facing out added some interesting graphics to the art.

And here comes the hard part. Get a friend to hold your canvas upright. Use your hair dryer on HIGH heat and LOW air flow to heat up the crayons. The papers will start to glisten & then you'll see the tips of the crayons start to drip, drip, drip onto the canvas. I started on one side and melted about 8 crayons at a time. They will start to melt, and you can get them to melt more or less depending on how much you put the hair dryer on them. The entire canvas took about 35-45 minutes to get it looking the way I wanted it.

Then, it was Jilly's turn. This was when she said to me, "Betsy. Even your hair dryer is pink!" :) Her crayons were glued onto the canvas vertically, so she wanted them to drip a bit more/longer than mine did. We realized it is boring to be the "holder" of the canvas, but it is a lot of fun to watch the crayons melt right before your eyes.

My finished product! I'm pretty pleased with it. That brown-looking crayon in the middle of the oranges is actually gold. It didn't look as pretty as I thought it would :( Oh well! It's the first time I've done this.

I took it to school on Monday and hung it up in my room. My students oooooh'd and aaaaah'd over it. Lots of fun & I have a feeling a few of them might tackle this project at home, too!

Road Trip!

Early yesterday morning, Kristin & I got in the car and headed out for a drive. To Denver. We came here to visit Emilie and pick up Julie at the Denver airport on the way to join in the fun.

Teacher Invasion, as Emilie calls it.

The last few summers, we've had plans to get together in the summer for fun, laughs, adventure, food, drinks, and relaxation. Last year it was Chicago. This year, Denver. Emilie assures us she won't be living in another new town next year for us to head to :)

I haven't taken a big road trip like this since the last time Julie & I headed to Denver for a job fair about 8 years ago. It was a blast! I don't normally like being in the car for extended periods of time, but when I'm driving, it's not so bad. So, I hopped in the driver's seat. Kristin was a great co-pilot and we made lots of memories! We made great time, with minimal stops, so we even had time to stop at Prairie Dog Town. For those of you not familiar with this tourist stop, I'll just tell you that their current claim to fame is a 6-legged cow. Oh, and the extra legs come out of the cow's neck. Just wait until I share pictures :)

The first night was a blast, and being able to walk & sit outside without breaking into a sweat is enough to make me love this city. I can't wait to see what today brings us!

Craftpalooza

Kathryn, Jill & I planned to have a crafty weekend. Jill worked on her dishcloths for her giveaway contest. Kathryn came to create a cookie sheet calendar similar to the one I made a few years ago. Here is a picture review of the process!

Ta da! All done! It took me an ENTIRE Spring Break to complete my calendar and with our hard work, we finished Kat's in just under 4 hours. We even have an idea for our next crafty project. Love craft time with the girls :)

Just 16 months ago ...

... these two love birds were announcing their engagement! And today ... THEY'RE GETTING MARRIED! Many changes have happened in their worlds in the last 16 months, but the one thing that never changed was Kristin & Matt's love for each other. If anything, their love has only grown stronger!

I can't wait to be there tonight to help you celebrate the start of your marriage together! I know it is going to be a fabulous party ... you wouldn't have it any other way! I love you both very much.

Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Zender!

Too busy to post about the last few weeks, but I can do it quickly with pictures!

I started back to work (unofficially) in my classroom early in August. It takes a lot of time to get things unpacked, uncovered, and organized. I was happy to head back in with my new camera, to share my room with better photographs. Here is my new calendar set ... may not be exciting to most, but I was happy to have something fresh this year (even though it was a hand-me-down)!

Here is my new, FABULOUS, fabric banner that the author of one of my favorite blogs, Whatever, made for me. I found a picture of this banner on one of her blog posts & knew she was the creator. I left a comment & she emailed me later that night! After much encouragement on Megan's end that I could make one myself, I thought it would look better if I could pay her to make one for me. It arrived just in time for school to start! It was the perfect way to tie in my current, bright decorations. The kids really love it, too!

Here is poor Minnie after her day of shots with Dr. Jed. This year wasn't as bad as years past, thanks to antihistamines the day before, during and after her vaccinations. She sure was tired, though :(

The unbelievable sunflowers in Jill's garden! Look at how much taller it is than Mitzi. There were beautiful orangey pink ones, too!

I needed a change & asked for your advice. Molly sent me the link to this idea. I liked it, but had another idea instead.

Jill helped me one night to empty out the jars, clean the jars and then fill the jars with various glass pebbles. I LOVE the way they look now!

I finally got to put my Jayhawk license plate on my new car. I bought it the year that I got my VW Bug, and minutes after I bought it, I realized I didn't have a front plate. Now I can share my KU pride!

Enjoyed my last official day of summer at the pool. This summer, I was fascinated with the clouds and the reflection lines in the pool water. I didn't have my camera with me at the pool very often, but I did make sure to take some final pictures.

As a family, we went out for a "Going Back to School" dinner the night before my meetings started. I picked Los Cabos in Mission Farms because of their giant patio outside and because the weather had finally decided to cooperate a bit. This little one was begging for "moe sasa" (translation: more salsa) during the entire meal. She even liked the spicier ones that I couldn't handle :)

At the end of our meal, we saw three vans that held hot air balloons. We stuck around long enough to watch them inflate & take off. Quite the experience for Ellen!

Great night for picture-taking, too. I was sad I had just removed my new Canon from my purse and had to use my point & shoot for these pictures, but they still turned out.

This year at school, we voted on a Western/Cowboy theme. We've never had an all-school theme before, but it was really fun to see how everyone decorated. I just did a few things here & there, because I really like my regular decorations. Becky, down the hall from me, created this mural out of bulletin board paper & wrapping paper. SO FUN!

The first weekend after school started, some KC friends flew out to Columbus, Ohio to surprise Julie for an early 30th birthday party! We went straight to the party from the airport and she was BEYOND surprised!

The next day, Mike & Julie opened up their house to all the family and friends for a BBQ. My camera was passed around the table for everyone to play. Becca changed some settings for me, and took this great picture. I have a lot to learn!

Here's a picture of all the girls. Exactly a year ago, we were together for our 10 year reunion. Glad we got to celebrate together!

I hope to have more updates this year, but it's going to be a busy one. I'm going to be working towards my National Board Certification, which will mean about 300 hours of work (outside of my job) between now and March when my portfolio is due. If I become a hermit and have a hard time keeping in touch this year, now you'll know why. Writing here and continuing with my 365 photo blog have been easy ways for me to keep in touch with others, even though it's not face-to-face time. Keep checking back from time to time!

Just kidding ... .. .

Kristin, Emilie and I spent the majority of our visit in Chicago "being" Judy Grimes and then laughing uncontrollably. You can imagine how much Julie liked us by the end of her visit ;)

This one is good, too!

Here are a few more Judy Grimes videos if you haven't had enough, just kidding, you've had enough, you should stop watching, just kidding, watch me, just kidding, watch TV, just kidding, TV is bad for you, just kidding, TV is a great baby sitter, just kidding, babies are TV sitters, just kidding, just kidding, just kidding!

Off to Chicago!

** Pretend Julie is in this picture, too! **

Yippee! Time for a vacation. Today, I left for Chicago with Kristin. Julie is joining us from Columbus. We'll be staying with Emilie! It's been so long since I've visited Chicago ... I'm almost embarrassed. This picture was from July of 2007 (I CAN'T believe it's been that long) when I stayed with Em & KK for close to a week over the 4th. Then in May of 2008, I went again for Julie's bachelorette party. Since 2008, I've been basically stuck in Kansas City with a lack of funds for plane tickets and pricey weekends out of town. Paying a mortgage really cut into the travel/fun category of my budget :(

However, I started saving up again & planned a trip out this summer. It is just what I need!

I'm taking my laptop, simply so I can upload pictures each day and hopefully get my daily photo posted on the other blog. Keep checking back there to see what is happening in Chicago.

We have dinner plans, tickets to a Cubs game (my first), plans to head to the Taste of Lincoln Avenue street fest, we'd like to squeeze in pedicures and pool time, and mostly we're just excited about having time to talk and catch up.

Hoping the weather is neither beastly hot nor full of thunderstorms like it has been here in Kansas City. I'm taking my new Canon Rebel with me; I think that will be a great opportunity for me to get used to the settings. I can't wait to report when I get back ... stay tuned for pictures!

"Feeling Good"

Last Saturday, I was sitting around all day, being SUPER bored.

Then, at 6:30, I get a call from my friend Rachel. "What are you doing? Want to go to the Michael Bublè concert tonight? We need to leave between 7:15 & 7:30." I was so flustered, I wasn't sure what to say. I probably wasted a good 5 minutes just debating with Rachel whether or not I could get ready in time.

I didn't have anything else going on, and had just whined about the fact that Jill got to see his concert in Wichita & Julie was going in Columbus. So ... YES! I hurried to get ready and then went to meet up with Rachel and her sister & brother-in-law.

We had AWESOME seats! I've never been to the Sprint Center for a concert, only for the Big 12 tournament, but I was still surprised how awesome it was!

I have a great video of his song, "Feeling Good" from the encore, but stoopid Blogger took a year to upload it & then it wasn't actually in my post :( I've been singing in all day, every day, since I got home from the concert.

I had a WONDERFUL time and I'm an even bigger Michael Bublè fan than I was before the concert. Thanks for the invite, Rachel!

Tie-Dying is NOT for perfectionists!

What? You don't think I'm a perfectionist? I guess I don't think I am either ... but when it comes to crafty things, I don't have a lot of patience with a difficult learning curve.

When I want to start a new craft, I jump all in! I buy all the materials at once. I think this new craft will become my new favorite hobby & it's okay to spend all my time and money on it. P.S. DON'T ever look in my craft closet at all the yarn, stamps, scrapbook supplies and paint that haven't been touched for months.

When Mom taught me how to knit, I learned, but that was it. Just knitting. Don't ask me to turn my stitches around to purl. Don't ask me to read directions. Don't ask me to follow a pattern.

Then I thought I could easily pick up crocheting in a short amount of time to make a baby blanket for Molly when she was already about 5 months pregnant. I became so frustrated with my hands that were stuck in knitting mode and I almost stabbed myself with my crochet hook. That was the end of my crochet craft time. It's a good thing Mom convinced me NOT to buy the yarn & pattern books I wanted to when I first walked into Michael's.

And here we are to the new (to me) craft portion of this story.

Jill mentioned that she had tie-dyed some t-shirts with her yearbook students as a fun end-of-the-year activity. She then bought a few tie-dye kits since summer was quickly approaching. I've never tie-dyed before ... or if I have, I don't remember it.

We FINALLY found time to get together for a belated birthday BBQ and to try out our dying skills. Adam was our resident expert since he was apparently a tie-dying fool in his former life :) Jill pulled out all the dyes and a giant handful of rubber bands. And we were off!

Jilly & Mitz working hard to get the perfect twists & bands on their shirts.

Adam & Heather, doing more of the same.

Here I am with finished product #1. Leggings for Ellen. My title refers to the fact that I had a VERY difficult time understanding that there is no right or wrong way to band up your fabric. There also was a serious amount of dye mixing! COLORS MIXING UP! Me no likey! I like things to be just so! I used yellow & blue on her pants with the hopes they would mix up just a bit to form some green bands.
This is the second shirt I made, and I did a bulls-eye pattern for Jill's shirt.

Here's all our equipment. It was messy ... also something I don't like. Good thing Jilly came prepared with gloves. That is my other tank top in the ziploc baggie on the bottom left of the picture.

Jill was dressed for the evening. This is the shirt she made with her yearbook kids. She had great tips for us after seeing how her first shirt came out: wet your shirt, because the dye seems to soak in better, and continue to squeeze dye on the fabric, even when you think you are done, because the insides need to get color, too! This picture also shows her breaking Adam's cardinal rule ... and cutting the rubber bands off BEFORE her shirt had dried! She gave it about an hour.

I think it came out great! She then was able to hang in on their clothesline to dry over night.

Here are my finished products:

Ellen's leggings. I'm hoping she'll grow at some point in the future so she can wear them! They are pretty cute with the ruffles on the bottom. I wished I had picked other colors, because I didn't realize the yellow would be that bright. I also thought the colors wouldn't mix as much as they did. The biggest challenge will be finding a shirt to match these pants.

And here's the tank-top I made for myself. I haven't washed it since it's dried, but I LOVE the way the pattern came out!

Not too bad for my first attempts at tie-dying, huh? Who wants to join us for round two?