Love Is All We Need

Las Vegas 2/17-2/21

I am back from Vegas and as we all know......what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! LOL!! I went with my neighbor Barb and her daughter Amy, and their friend Nancy. Nancy's daughter Jenny lives in Vegas, so she met up and stayed with us. We had a blast. We stayed at the Rio, which is an all suites hotel and casino. The rooms were huge and gorgeous.

We went everywhere! The Bellagio, Venetian, Mirage, Treasure Island, Paris, Bally's, Planet Hollywood, Caesars, New York New York, Harrah's, MGM, Tropicana, and even old Vegas....The Golden Nugget, 4 Queens, and Binion's Horseshoe.

I got to ride the roller coaster at New York, New York, which was awesome. It goes outside and we got to see the whole strip.

We all went to the Venetian where Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum was. It was fun. They even had a scary haunted house inside that we walked through. I screamed sooooo loud!

One night, Barb, Amy and I went to see Folies Bergere at the Tropicana. It is the oldest running burlesque show in Vegas. We saw lots of boobies and fancy show girl costumes. I thought it was awesome. I got pretty wasted that night and met some new friends. I also had a very interesting and humorous conversation with a cab driver named Bursalov. LOL!!!!!!

Another highlight of the trip was going to see Cirque du Soleil 'O' Show.

It is performed totally over water. We got seats in the fifth row! All I have to say is....amazing!!!!!! The performers are unbelievable and leave you in awe of their talents.

We went to the VooDoo lounge for drinks and some dancing. The view from the outside deck was breathtaking! You can see the whole strip from up there.

Some of the other memorable things I saw were the water show outside the Bellagio, the inside of New York New York, the inside of Paris, the roller coaster at New York, and the view from the VooDoo lounge.

Bellagio water show---

Barf

At around noon today I began feeling like crap. I am not sure why, but I think it was something I ate. Who knows... I am lucky I coteach with someone and was able to leave to go home. I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to drive myself home. As I was leaving school, I turned down Portland Ave. and called my mom up to let her know I wasn't feeling good. As soon as she picked up, I had to say hold on. I threw the phone down and had to pull off the road into a parking lot. I was able to open the door and yak all over the place. Freakin' nasty!!! Once I finished, I looked up and in the building next door, a waiting room full of people were watching me. I then remembered my mom was on the phone and picked it back up. She had heard me puking the whole time.

Anyways...I made it home finally and went straight up to bed. I didn't get out of bed until 6pm. Now everyone is asking me if I am preggers. The answer is NO.

I am feeling a bit better now and will hopefully be able to make it to work in the morning. I have a really nice/easy day tomorrow and I want to save my sick time up to use to go to the condo next week.

Inauguration

Well...I just finished watching Obama's inauguration with my fourth graders at school and I am somewhat shocked and a little appalled. Now may I remind you that I work in the city and the majority of my students are African American. With that being so, you would think that they would care about Obama and want to watch this historic moment in history........nope. Not my students. A couple made snoring noises, the girls were playing around with each other, my autistic student was jumping up and down giving the thumbs down, and a couple did actually fall asleep. I thought showing them would be an enjoyable, memorable experience. I was wrong. It seemed as if I was torturing them.

I was going to have them do a writing task explaining how this (January 20th, 2009) is an important day in American history. I am not sure I will get much out of them...we shall see.

An update on my life.....Joey and I have really taken an initiative to become healthier and to live a healthier lifestyle. We have a weight challenge we recently started and we are looking in to taking yoga together. Any unprocessed foods were thrown out of our cupboards and fridge/freezer. Fresh is the best!!! I will let everyone know how we are doing and if we are keeping up with our motivation. :-)

I will try to write more on here...I know it has been a while. Happy New Year and I hope everyone is doing well.

Thanksgiving 2008

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

YYYYYYYYYYYYYY

So thankful for one another!

Joe and I decided we wanted to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house again this year. My mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law came. Joey and I were going to fry a turkey, but we decided against it. Instead we got a turkey and brined it for 8 hours and cooked it special. It was absolutely the most delicious, juiciest turkey I have ever had.

Along with it, I made a chestnut sage stuffing and cheesy mashed potatoes. Everyone enjoyed the meal and my dad even said that it was the best turkey he had ever tasted....which for him to say, is really a compliment. We had a nice time and we are thankful for everything we have...including each other.

Somebody was sleepy afterward.

Rocky had fun playing with Uncle Aaron.

Leslie served up some yummy pie.

Our New Condo

This is Joe and I's new condo in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

It is on the Intracoastal canal (Coral Ridge Isles area)

The condo is newly remodeled and has two master bedrooms and two full baths. We can also bring Rocky, because pets are allowed!

It is on the water, so we might get a three seater jet ski to put at the dock. We can also just hang out by the pool area.

Here is some more info on the area:

Coral Ridge Isles is a beautiful Fort Lauderdale real estate neighborhood consisting of 1,000 homes with nearly 400 of these being waterfront homes with ocean access.

Coral Ridge Isles is an upscale Fort Lauderdale real estate community located just minutes from the turquoise blue Atlantic and is replete with wonderful entertainment, dining, shopping, transportation and education options.

In close proximity to the Coral Ridge Isles community, are fine restaurants on the beach where you can dig your toes in the sand while you enjoy the freshest bounty from the sea or friendly neighborhood grilles, upscale steak houses, ethnic foods, and fabulous dining options with food prepared right at your table. On one hand, there are dinner shows that thrill visitors with the excitement of fire and dance and, on the other, romantic waterfront dining experiences with multi-million dollar yachts gliding by.

I have already started shopping for furniture and can't wait to go down for a nice relaxing vacation!

Cooking Class

For my 28th birthday, Joey got me a gift certificate for the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua. I had been there with Joe before and I fell in love with the hands-on kitchen and thought it would be fun to take a class there. I looked online and booked a class. It was called Mushroom Madness. The menu items sounded yummy.

Well, last night I went for my cooking class. My neighbor, Barb, and her daughter came too. I had an absolute blast!!!!!!! The kitchen was gorgeous and the class was full. Amy, my neighbor's daughter, and I were the youngest people there. We were nervous about our lack of culinary experience. Everyone else looked as if they knew what they were doing. Amy and I were partners as well. We worked together on the Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Ragout. It was fun to search around the kitchen for our ingredients and to be held responsible for making the meal taste yummy.

Amy is a pro

There were three cooking islands, four stations at each island, and two people at each station. After we finished creating our yummy meals with mushrooms, we gathered it all and got to eat it all up. There was beef wellington, mushroom risotto, a mushroom soup, mushroom biscotti, vegetable and mushroom lasagna, portobello mushroom burgers, some other mushroom appetizer, and my yummy pork tenderloin dish. They served us NYS wine as we stuffed our faces with the delicious creations. We even got to take home left overs. Joey munched on some when I got home and was surprised at my special new skills.

What a masterpiece!!

I had a blast and am already looking in to returning to take another class.

http://www.nywcc.com/

Update on Dad

I spoke to my mom on the phone this morning and she says that my dad has really been trying his best to cut down on the smoking. I was relieved to hear this and am proud of him. It has got to be a very difficult thing to stop something that you have been so used to doing...especially when it is so addicting. He is even trying it without the patch or any of those pills. So, I say, "NICE JOB DAD!!" Keep up the good work!