Fabulously Fashionable

One highlight of being a 5th teacher at my school is our annual Spring Enrichment Clusters.Each teacher grades 3-5 is responsible for holding one, either themselves or a parent. It happens every Friday for the last hour of school. Students get an opportunity to take the "class" of their choice and learn about all various interests: sewing, language, woodcarving, robotics, chess, photography, yoga, running, cooking. etc. Basically a really cool "hobby/interest group". 

Last year, I channeled my past cheerleader & taught some girls a dance and various cheers I remembered from high school days. This year, I'm heading up a fashion class! I figured I've learned a lot in my years... come a long way from my preppy Limited Two outfits, awkward teen Wet Seal uber trend-follower, quick jeans/flip-flops/t-shirt outfits of college, thereafter to come 180 degrees to care about my wardrobe with a balance of class, comfort and trendiness. So I will try to educate a few 4/5th grade girls. 

We'll see how far I can steer them away from Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch! :) I couldn't even breathe or hear when I walked in the other day to experience my little girl demographics. I've turned into an old lady who's sensible (insert my mom here)! The ONLY naked man I WANT to see is my husband...my distaste for those places would altogether be another post! Ah, I definitely can't wait for the next 6 weeks! Here's to molding young minds!

(image is a collection of Christa Taylor's line)

You know you're a teacher...

when you tell your dog to "have a seat" before getting a leash on her. You can tell how wiggly my class was today on this rainy Wednesday.

A Nothing Day

We had a lovely Saturday, doing absolutely nothing. We only left the house once to walk to the Farmer's Market in the morning. The rest of the day we just hung out. We both finished reading our books. William smoked a cigar. I hardly left the couch or my book. It was a perfect day!

2nd Hand Party

This past Friday I hosted a 2nd hand soiree. It turned out to be such a success! I love getting clothes from others rather than stores. Usually girls take such good care of their clothes and I know we all have things that we're just so over wearing but they are still totally wearable. So I decided to invite some friends over for food and shopping! I wish I took pictures of our set-up down stairs-- it was great. We organized table tops, arm chairs, and our two coat racks full of clothes. We had shopping bags in one hand and a glass of wine in the other! Only a few girls were able to make it, but we all found awesome things. I even scored a pair of brown heeled boots, sweet dress, and a juicy sweat-suit! Another girl found a complete outfit for an up-coming wedding! All for the price of FREE (my favorite price, by the way!)
I'm definitely going to do this again later this year. And the best part was just hanging out, catching up, and meeting new people. I also have to post William's centerpiece for our TV station (our TV died so we don't have one now). He created it all on his own, based on a picture from a Pottery Barn catalog. :) My husband is so talented!

It's been a long week!

But nothing like a butt-warmer to keep things in perspective.

I found Pancho resting with my exhausted husband this evening. Hilarious!

Cal State Hayward

An Arterburn family tradition to take pictures the first day of school right in front of the door. I think my mom starting doing this so the door could be a comparison of my growth through the ages. I think this will be a Swenson tradition too. We did it Monday for William's first day at State school. So far, so good-- besides a few scheduling frustrations that worked out. You can tell by the porch light-- it was too early for both of us!! We definitely enjoyed sleeping in during break!

Pure Insight to My Week

I have nothing to say other than: please visit my mother's blog for a full hilarious report on my week. Enough said. :) 

Thank you, Mom! You helped me keep my sanity this week! I love you!

One Down, One More To Go...

We're back from the city, just in time to wash clothes, say hello to our sweet dogs, and pack up again! Tomorrow we leave for Orange County to celebrate Christmas Swenson style...meaning lots of people, crazy kids, and yummy food in a packed house! Yippie! We're so excited! It's been forever since we've been down there. And we are so fortunate to be able to take the dogs with us too. I've also SO missed seeing baby Josiah (my youngest nephew) grow up into a toddler!

**A special congratulations to Wesley and Carolyn (Josiah's parents) as we just learned of baby number two due in July!** That makes grandbaby #12 for Mama Judy! Can't wait for more family time!

A Restful Christmas

I know. This is old, past due, etc. I've been avoiding the fact that I haven't blogged in so long, but William kindly uploaded some pictures so it makes posting easier. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We spend both days with my parents since we leave on Wednesday for Orange County and the Swenson's Christmas celebration. We started a new Arterburn tradition of Cioppino seafood soup for Christmas Eve Dinner. We even got to wear fancy bibs that my mom and I found when we went shopping in the city! So fashionable!William and I hosted Christmas morning with coffee and Æbleskiver (Danish pancakes). We opened gifts then headed to the movies to see Benjamin Button. Dad was so disappointed that he couldn't start an another new Arterburn tradition: hiking the ridge-- it was cold, rainy, and not outdoor weather. Next came a much needed nap (Jess) and a trip to the dog park (William), then back to my parents for Christmas dinner. We had both been super exhuasted with the ending of school that it was so wonderful to have both days be so low key. This Christmas season just flew by both of us. My dad was again let down this year: we didn't decorate or get a tree. Maybe next year?!

The City

Hooray for a wonderful 1st year anniversary celebrated in San Francisco!! Our hotel was great, we would recommend it to anyone. Hotel Rex is a super quaint boutique hotel with lots of personality. We enjoyed Friday night live jazz the first night and every night we received a complementary glass of wine. And it was close to everything-- we walked everywhere.During our trip, we did the classic tourist spots: Alcatraz, the Wharf, Pier 39, Coit Tower, Phantom of the Opera Performance, Chinatown, Union & Fillmore St. Shops, Union Square, Embarcadaro/Ferry Building-- Sat. morning for the farmer's market. They were all great! We did hit a snag Sunday morning, when I went to print out our theater tickets. I realized that I bought them for the night before--Saturday! It was such an ordeal thereafter with lots of stress and worry (on my part). William was fabulous & even when the phone customer service was no help at all, he was totally calm. We were SO THANKFUL that we were given seats after we walked down to the theater and talked to someone in person. It all turned out great, but had such potential to be a disaster! Phew! :) Here we are, relieved to be given some grace by the box office.
We also tried to do some non-tourists things which now as I list them, may seem a bit random: post office, public library/Chinatown branch, goodwill, local leather/shoe service shop, Safeway, and hole-in-the-wall restaurants. The places we went to eat were all fabulous and definitely full of city people. :) I'm not sure how much we blended in-- especially with William's cowboy hat & boots.

It was also such a blessing to have so much free time together. And we both can't believe how fast the year has passed. It's so awesome to experience what just one year can do to our intimacy, connection, and understanding of one another. We can't wait to see what the future years will bring as we grow together! One mutual revelation: we're both still working on mastering the whole mind-reading thing. We figure a lot of our miscomunications would be solved by this simple skill. ;) Ha!!