Why I love my drive to work!

Nothing is more peaceful then my morning drive to work.  While the rain and snow lately have sucked, the clouds that produce them are beautiful.  I get to drive through the fields and get a little beaty to settle me before I face my students.  Here are some pictures I took on my drive during the last couple of weeks.  Don't worry, I didn't crash or anything while taking them! I hope you enjoy. 

                                              

She really did it!

I can't believe it, but mom just IM'd me that she bought a new car. I know, I'm as shocked as the rest of you. I'm so proud of my little Lavs-PLACK. She and Steve went down to KIA and traded in the Volvo for a new KIA Sadona. Go miss mini-van. Here's the woman in her beautiful new mini-van.  She'll be paying for it the rest of her life, but I think it's worth it.  I can't wait for our next road trip in this beauty!!!

I'm so lucky

So tonight, I hosted my church's young adult and family dinner at my friends Greg and Melissa's house (cause I couldn't run mom and Steve off  like that), plus I didn't want to clean... Those of you who know me, know that's the truth.  Anyway, as  always we had an amazing time and lots of fun.  We went with an Italian theme, mostly because I really wanted lasagna.  The food was delicious and the company fabulous.

So before we start to eat, we gather outside for a blessing...or so I thought.  But the truth is my friends had all plotted together to surprise me with a gift celebrating my impending graduation from Gonzaga Grad school.  Needless to say I was surprised, and I got a little teary (of course).  I always think of my Masters as just something I'm doing, and really not that big of deal, I guess because it's just part of the teaching gig.  My friends reminded me that it is an 

accomplishment to be celebrated.  I've worked very hard these last two years, and they reminded me of that fact.  They all pitched in to buy me a little bling for the big event, a beautiful cross necklace with a diamond center (this picture doesn't do it justice).  

So for those of you who read my little blog, thank you so much.  I was pretty speechless tonight, and couldn't say anything at the time.  Your gift was amazing and unexpected, and your friendships bring such joy into my life.  I am so blessed by you all. 

Hawaii here I come!

Well, it's official. I am heading to Hawaii this summer for my dear friend Emily's wedding. I got online and purchased my hotel, car rental and flight last night, using up the money our government grudgingly gave back to me in my tax return.

I have to admit, I can't wait for July to get here! I've never been to Hawaii, so some time on the beautiful island of Oahu, and time with Em are high on my list of things to do. It will be time well earned after defending my thesis at the end of June.

The only drawbacks are that I'm going by myself, although I know Emily will keep me plenty busy and entertained, and that I won't get there in time to see Dane before he and his soon-to-be-wife head off on their honeymoon to Europe. The trip isn't as long as I wanted to go, but it will be quality none-the-less. I like to think of it as a snapshot so I can see what I want to do on my next visit.

I tried to talk my siblings and parents into joining me, but no takers yet. None of them are able (or willing) to pop off to Hawaii in the beginning of July. Oh well, I guess I'll just enjoy the tropics on my own, for now.

Graduation... almost

Most of you know that I'm a bit crazy trying to do my Masters while teaching. It's been a ton of work, but the end is in sight! I just have 2 more classes & I'm on my way. The official date is May 10th. I get to walk then & recieve my diploma, although I'll still have to write my thesis & defend in June. I guess that's the easy part! :) Now, if I can just find the motivation to finish all the papers and presentations I have left to do. Ah well, I'll get it done. Thanks to all of you for the support these last 2 years. I couldn't have gotten through all this without all of you!

DC- all fun...

Now that the blog's gone private, I can let you all in on the real deal for my trip to DC. I have to say that my students were amazing. Lindy (my co-advisor) and I had so much fun with them. Even the couple boys that we were a little worried about were amazing. Seriously, I'm already looking forward to the next trip we take with our NHS students. I don't know why I didn't do this before.

Our trip was quick and crazy. Aaron (our tour director) had a jam-packed schedule for us, but still managed to give us just enough time at every site. He even planned in a couple of extra stops we hadn't scheduled, including the Kennedy Center, The National Cathedral (I loved that, you could fit four St. John's inside of it), and a ride on the subway. It was so funny watching our group on the subway. They'll be real pros the next time they need to ride one! Actually, most of my sanity on the trip was due to Lindy and Aaron (as they both already know). Between the two of them and our driver Keith, I laughed more then I have in quite some time, which was definitely needed.

No the trip was amazing, it was some of the parents I could have done without. Overall, we had a nice group of parents. They had a great time, were flexible, and had as much fun watching the students as we did. But towards the end of the trip, I had a not-so-pleasant encounter with one of the moms. I won't go into details, but I definitely felt like crap after her pre-dinner "talk" was over. Aaron for sure earned his tip helping me through that lovely little discussion. I rallied by our tour through Old-Town Alexandria though, and has some nice "tourist" time with Lindy looking through the little shops. On the plus side, I think the adults involved were feeling better by the end of the trip. In fact, two of the older ladies who were with us, Joan and Vikki, sent Lindy and me thank you cards and fans, so that we could practice our fan flirting (a little lesson we learned during our tour in Alexandria).

Perhaps the worst part of the trip (other then the confrontation) was the airport. One of my parents (I'm sure you can't guess who) told me upon arrival that a few of them didn't have seat assignments yet, so she had talked some of the parents into upgrading to get them. To preface this story, I should say that everyone did have seat assignments and none of this was necessary, but because we had group seating, it wasn't showing up when she tried to check herself into the flight early. Anyway, after the confrontation the previous night, I didn't have the energy to fight her on it, so I let her go in while I got the kids situated to find out the scoop. She and some other parents decided to upgrade and thus were in line infront of us. We couldn't check the students and rest of the group in until they were done because they were clogging up the system by making this change. So the real problem was that the airline's computer was getting confused by all the upgrades so it took forever to check in our studnets because it didn't know who had checked in and who hadn't (plus, the parents also started checking in students-their own children, and others which I didn't realize they were doing at first). Anyway, Aaron-the-most-amazing-tour-director-in-the-whole-world, Lindy and I, finally got it straightened out with the airline worker, checked everybody's luggage as "Ashley" and got our kids to security about 15 minutes before the plane boarded. I left them there and sprinted to my own flight (through another gate), and got a call from Lindy to let me know everyone was on. Needless to say, it was a good thing I wasn't on the flight with my students because I was pretty pissed off at the situation. Actually, all three of us were pretty angry...but, we all made it, so it was good. Mostly, it's just annoying because if everyone had just listened to Aaron, none of the issues would have happened.

But even with those two not-so-wonderful events, our trip and time in DC was amazing. I saw a ton of things I'd never seen before. The students had amazing adventures. We did everything we set out to do and so much more. Other then not being clear enough before going with the parents what the tour would be like (how could I have been, I'd never been on one), I wouldn't change a thing. I can't wait to do this again with a new group of students. Our group reaffirmed during the week (and since returning home) what a life-changing thing travelling to new places can be, especially at a school where people may have never left the Pacific Northwest. It's going to be amazing to do this again with another group of students.

Denver Airport continued

So after I posted, I walked over to my new gate assignment. Not only did I run into the Burrills, but as I was studying, I got tapped on the shoulder by the father of one of my tennis players. It really is a small world!

Denver Airport

So I haven't really blogged about DC too much yet, mostly due to incredible tiredness & non-stop working, but I promise I'll get to it soon . In the meantime, this one goes out to my mom because it's the reason she hates going out in public with me. I'll start w/ the DC part of way story.

So I'm trying to get my tour group checked through security for our Capital tour (a little like airport security, but you get to leave your shoes on). I'm waiting on the other side for my students to come through whenI hear a voice shout, "Pia!"& I get hugged from behind. I turned around and it was Katie,one of the J H girls from our youthgroup. She & another girl, Kimberly, were there with Sac JH at the same time as us. We ran into them again at the Library of Congress (not as shocking because they're right next to each other). Oh & I saw Ed Begley Jr. on the way to the L of C (one of Lav's favorite actors-sorry no pics Mom). So anyway, fun to run into my girls in DC, Typical Pia moment right?

So fast-forward to a half-hour ago. I'd just got into the Denver Airport for my 3 hour layover & decided to wander around a bit. I was looking at some artwork in one of the shops when in walks a couple from my church, the Burrills. They are on their way home from Minnesota. We are on the same United flight home. Like I said, small world.

In other news, we had a tornado warning last night. Not to worry, I didn't have a Wizard-of-Oz moment, but there was a funnel near the airport last night. I'm feeling pretty good about getting out on time because another storm front was coming through today. Actually, three of our group of five weren't able to get out today due to a late flight arrival in Iowa. They are staying one more night. I've never been so glad to fly United. I'm ready for clean clothes & my own bed after 2 weeks away. The picture is the view from my window this morning!

The blog's going private

So, I've been getting quite a few fake comments (likely linking to viruses), so I've decided to make my blog private... I know it's a little bit of a pain, but I think it's time. That and I don't want my students "lurking" on my site and learning too much dirt about me! I'm going to be switching over this weekend, so if you'd like me to keep you on my list of people that can access everything, leave me a comment or shoot me an email. I'm not sure if I have everyone's email addresses, so this would be the easiest way for me not to leave anyone out.

thanks guys!

WASL, WASL, WASL

Sorry, this is going to be short because I'm on the hotel internet/computer. For some reason, I can't get my room's internet connection to work unless I'm in the bathroom... I only know that because I was desperate to get my DC pics uploaded and tried everywhere.

WASL range-finding is not as hideous as it sounds. I know you all were worried. I'm learning a ton about how they set the anchors (scoring guideline papers), and how they actually score the persuasive writing (previously a bit of a mystery for me). Appearantly, I am a pretty decent teacher. I didn't tell them too many stupid things when it comes to writing, so I'm feeling much better about that. Also, my scoring has been pretty much in line with the three Pearson directors we're training with, and Nikki (the director of the writing WASL from WA), so that feels good too. Actually, one of the guys told me today that he was really impressed with the way I was scoring...maybe I have a future with Pearson if I get bored of teaching. Too bad tehy are stationed in Iowa.

One of the girls and I went for a walk this afternoon and found an artists co-op with some pretty cool art. BZ, Sue and Mom would have gone crazy for some of the stuff in there. I was pretty good, but I might try and sneak back tomorrow and buy something. I need to decide if I can stuff anything else in my bags! :)

Miss you all and can't wait to get home. Just three more days till I get to sleep in my own bed! Yeah!

DC a smashing hit!

Sorry no pics right now, since I'm in a hotel without free wireless. I'm going to try and go to a coffeeshop tonight to upload some photos. I scoped it out last night. DC was amazing (as always). The kids had such a great time. They were pretty overwhelmed by everything, and by the breakneck speed we were seeing things. This trip was more of a snapshot (as my co-advisor Lindy would say), they got to see all the major sites, plus a few extras. Now, when they go back, they will have an idea of what they want to see more of, and how much time to devote to each place. Other then some occasional adult ruffled-feathers (tiredness isn't fun), I had a fun time too. Aaron (our tour guide) and Keith (our bus driver) were amazing, and so funny. I think I spent half the trip just laughing up front with them. I will definitely request that dynamic duo the next time I travel to DC, if they are both still doing tours. We could not have had a better team (at least from my standpoint). Aaron is probably the only reason I'm still sane. :) I loved watching the kids take everything in. I think this experience changed their world-view a bit, especially those who don't do any travelling outside of the Northwest. My favorite adventure was a spontaeous one due to a request from one of my students coming back from the zoo: we rode the subway. It was great for them to experience a new way of travelling, and I think they understand why so many people use it now. If they go to a major city or abroad, they will know how the subway system works now, and not be too cautious to try it. If you haven't done it yet, check out our trip site fnshdc.blogspot.org. We posted student reflections and what not at the end of each day.

OK, signing off right now. I am onto my next adventure, dong WASL rangefinding in Iowa City (I got my students checked in and left them with Lindy at security, while I dashed to catch my flight). This is day two. I know it sounds wacko, but I am really excited about this because it's such a great learning opportunity. I'll be able to go back with understanding of not only how they set the scores for the Writing WASL, but also how the score the Persuasive essays, a mystery to most of us, since teachers don't help score that at the HS level. Have a lovely day all!

Made it to DC

Hey faithful readers! I am in DC and have made it through the first day of our tour without losing any students (or purposefully leaving them behind). A success in my book! I probably won't have time to blog on both pages, so check out what we're up to at my other blog for the trip fnshdc.blogspot.com. I and my students will be updating there daily, and I should get some pictures posted too. In the meantime, I hope your day has been as great as mine!