We got Maui'd

This summer 30 of our friends flew out to Maui to see us get married and have a great vacation.

You Could Be Happy

My friends made a short film called "You Could Be Happy." They asked me to be the hand model for the poster. So, that's my hand!

Sex and the City Tour of New York City

When I arrived in NYC on Christmas Eve at 6am, I had to entertain myself while my friend finished up at the office for the day. I knew that it was going to be cold and rainy before I got there so I booked the Sex and the City Bus Tour. I thought it would be about 20 people in a smallish bus. No, there were two full-sized tour buses--each bus with it's own guide and about 50 people per bus. In the bus, there are small t.v.s where they show clips from episodes before or after they explained what you were looking at. One of the main reasons that I took the tour, other than being a fan, was because I knew that it would take me out of Midtown into the Meat Packing District (MePa supposedly it is called now) and into the Village--two areas with which I was not familiar.

You get off the bus three times. The first time was at a sex shop, a little uncomfortable for me watching middle aged women by the now infamous vibrator "the rabbit."

Second you get to walk around a little bit on Bleecker St. around 11th. They point out Magnolia Bakery--where the ladies would get scrumptious cupcakes. You get a free cup cake included in the price of the tour.

Outside of the bakery

Some of there delicious cup cakes

Finally, you get off at Aidan and Steve's bar. You can buy a cosmopolitan for $8--supposedly discounted.

Here I am having a cosmo with two Irish ladies that befriended me since I was alone on the tour.

Walking Food and Culture Tour of Greenwich Village

When I was in NYC last week, I went on a food and culture walking tour of the West Village. We walked around Bleecker Street and our guide also took us into the historic district of Greenwich Village. Above is a picture of the friendly and fun guide, Marie and me.

We made several stops, but I am just going to talk about a few. One of the stops was Faicco's Italian Deli.

We were a group of 16--the max size for the tour. The guide would talk about the place and then run in and get samples. We usually ate them on the street because the places were too small to accommodate us.

This is the best arancini I have ever had. Don't ask for arancini at the deli though--ask for "rice bawls."

We stopped at a contemporary Italian restaurant also.

Amaranth prepared as a risotto.

Our final stop was an Italian pastry shop. We got to try freshly prepared cannoli that were still crispy.

On the tour, our guide also showed us some historic sites. I just took a picture a building very important to pop culture --NBC used this building as the site for Friends. It was really filmed in Los Angeles, but they used this building's exterior.

This was a great tour. I would even recommend it to New Yorkers who are looking for a fun way to find new places to go out to eat or learn about the history of the area.

New York City at Christmas

I went to New York City for Christmas this year. These are the pictures from when I went to the top of the Empire State Building.

NYC skyline

It was really cold. Here I am freezing! It was worth it though. It was a great view of the city.

In the very back you can see the Statue of Liberty. It was not the clearest day.

Dia de los Muertos

My Spanish 4 class decorated sugar skulls for Dia de los Muertos. They turned out really cute and the students really liked doing the activity. I got the activity packet from Teacher Discovery.

Teachers Most Addicted to Coffee

For some reason, my fellow teachers nominated me for the yearbook as "Teacher Most Addicted to Coffee." What they didn't realize is that the coffee mug I bring most days is full of green tea and not coffee. I'm not saying I don't drink coffee-I do about 3-4 times a week, but I can live without it. So, here I am with the male teacher nominated for the same "award." They are cute pictures so I thought I would post them.