General-type update...
Hey all.
Slight life update. Read if you wish.
So the rest of my finals after the African-American History Final from Hell went pretty well. My transcript looks really funny now with 2/3's A's of varying degrees, 1/3 B's of varying degrees, and 1 D. Whatever, the good news is that I heard back from Levine and he asked around to be sure, I don't have to take any more history courses and I'm fine as long as the rest of my grades are good, which they are. I've got a cumulative 3.49, and while that's mediocre for the School of Ed, it's nothing to complain about in any other field of study, I'd say.
Mother's Day was a fun time. Morning with my mother's side of the family for brunch, evening with my father's side. I love my family - everyone is pretty open and always welcoming. I had my 2 year old cousin on my lap at my aunt and uncle's house in the morning and I pretended it was her playing "Happy Birthday" to my mom on the piano. :D And then music as always at the Battinelli grandparents' house. We were seriously louder that day than I ever remember! We can sing and play instruments with each other for hours. :)
Monday thru Thursday, Laura and I went to the nursery school Mom works at to help them out with the "senior" (4-year-old XD) scrapbooks again like last year. I LOVE putting together the "Celebrations" page and seeing what the little ones were for Halloween. Good turnout of Disney costumes this year! - a Belle, an Ariel, an Aurora, a Snow White (along with a couple Barbie princesses and "standard" princesses), 2 Minnie Mouses, and a Tow Mater. ;D The kids say the cutest things, too, and I love when they sing "A, You're Adorable" lol.
Friday I chaperoned Joey's Spanish Trip to NYC and made my old middle school Spanish teacher feel old and slightly awkward XD. It was fun - first, the kids did an acting workshop in Spanish in the barrio, then the Hispanic Heritage Museum where I dicovered that my darling little brother is a budding history nerd, hehe! After that, the real fun began with some shopping in Little Italy and Chinatown (Joey bought himself an "Italian Stallion" shirt that says "Everyone Loves an Italian Boy" on the back, which amuses me when I see him wear it), and then I introduced my boys to the wonders of Urban Outfitters :D. Dinner at a Mexican Restaurant called Gonzales Y Gonzales, followed by a subway to Times Square, to finish the night on Broadway (albiet in the 3rd or 4th row from the back of the balcony).
We saw THE LITTLE MERMAID!! I was definitely more excited about it than the kids. I thought it was fantastic, especially the sets and costumes, oh my God. So amazing. I really loved the attention to detail with them too, like how after Sebastian's escapade with Cheif Louis in "Les Poissons", he had little bits of "garnish" still hanging off him for a scene or so. "Under the Sea" was hands down the best musical number. Sierra Boggess is perfect as Ariel, too. I think she absolutely nailed her role better than anyone else in the show (except maybe Flounder. He was so adorable!). I think my favorite part was how they moved the ship and the "waves" up and down to make it look like you were really going under the sea - and the effects when Eric falls overboard, especially. Way realistic. Awesomely cool. I also loved how all the sea creatures were on Heelies, lol. The only downside to that was that I thought the combo of Heelise and those magnificent costumes took away from some of the dancing. The only thing that I had a slight problem with was the voices and Eric - I thought Triton's voice wasn't commanding enough, Ursula's not raspy enough, Sebastian's seemed a high as well (although that didn't bother me as much because I thought he was fantastic, the delivery of Sebastian's memorable lines was right on...somebody's gotta nail dat girl's fins to da floor...lol). And Eric just seemed obnoxious to me, pretty much not the prince we all fell in love with as little girls. I couldn't get over the ponytail thing (perhaps those of you who have seen the show will agree?), I thought his voice was a little high, and...I don't know. Just being nitpicky because I was so used to the movie version my whole life, so feel free to agree/disagree. I'm not downplaying the show itself at all, though. It was fantastic and anyone who has the means to should DEFINITELY see it because it is pretty freaking awesome.
Saturday night, Mom and Dad surprised me for my birthday a day early ('cause Dad was working at the firehouse Sunday :( ) at Nana and Popi's house with a strawberry shortcake from DiMare's, mmmm!!!
And then Sunday, I turned 21!! Hooray, birthday!!! :D
I drove up to Branford for Greg's graduation brunch that morning, his mom had invited me weeks ago not knowing it was my birthday...not that it mattered, really. I met a lot of his family there, and was the only young girl, lol! (Our table was me and Greg, his brother and his 3 cousins, all slightly older and all of them older than me, lol). Turns out I share a birthday with his cousin, too. Everyone kept getting confused. Lol. I also met his Babcia (Polish for grandmother)...Greg learned how to introduce me to her in Polish, and she gave me a huge hug and kissed me on the cheek :) (Greg told me last night that the next morning, she came up to him and said (something to this effect) in English, "You have very nice girl, very nice. Mama likes, Papa likes. Very, very nice.") After the brunch, a bunch of us all went back to the house, and Greg and his brother, cousin, and I watched 2 out of 3 Indiana Jones movies in the marathon, hehe.
Only to be interrupted at about 3:07 p.m. by a birthday message ordered by my sister. My phone rang...Disney greeting? Turns out that (thank you, Laura) Belle wanted to call and wish me a happy birthday, and birthdays must be so fun when you get to be as grown up as you are, and omigosh, my favorite cake is strawberry shortcake, too! Can you guess what present I would wish for on my birthday? If you guessed a book, you're right!! Happy Birthday from everyone here at the castle!!!
That night, at home, presents after being mauled by the remnants of the night before's strawberry shortcake by Mikey. All over my face. :-P 21 must be the Birthday of the Shiny Things, though. In order of appearance: a gorgeous silver heart bracelet from Greg, the Enchanted DVD (!!!) from my brothers, a framed picture from when I met Belle in Disney from my sister, and a pair of absolutely beautiful gold, diamond and emerald (my birthstone) earrings from Mom and Dad.
Then Monday it was back to Lindamood Bell for the summer. I won't get into it, it frustrates me to no end (and today in particular was freakin' CRAPTASTIC), but I'll just say that I thought re-training would be easier. MUCH easier. I just think too much and try too hard. Typical. So with a calming down night tonight, I'll be good to go by the time I need to start teaching. Tomorrow is Observation Day.
So that's all for now!! Sorry about the long entry. But as you can see...I've been SUPER DUPER BUSY since my last update!! Ciao... :)
Slight life update. Read if you wish.
So the rest of my finals after the African-American History Final from Hell went pretty well. My transcript looks really funny now with 2/3's A's of varying degrees, 1/3 B's of varying degrees, and 1 D. Whatever, the good news is that I heard back from Levine and he asked around to be sure, I don't have to take any more history courses and I'm fine as long as the rest of my grades are good, which they are. I've got a cumulative 3.49, and while that's mediocre for the School of Ed, it's nothing to complain about in any other field of study, I'd say.
Mother's Day was a fun time. Morning with my mother's side of the family for brunch, evening with my father's side. I love my family - everyone is pretty open and always welcoming. I had my 2 year old cousin on my lap at my aunt and uncle's house in the morning and I pretended it was her playing "Happy Birthday" to my mom on the piano. :D And then music as always at the Battinelli grandparents' house. We were seriously louder that day than I ever remember! We can sing and play instruments with each other for hours. :)
Monday thru Thursday, Laura and I went to the nursery school Mom works at to help them out with the "senior" (4-year-old XD) scrapbooks again like last year. I LOVE putting together the "Celebrations" page and seeing what the little ones were for Halloween. Good turnout of Disney costumes this year! - a Belle, an Ariel, an Aurora, a Snow White (along with a couple Barbie princesses and "standard" princesses), 2 Minnie Mouses, and a Tow Mater. ;D The kids say the cutest things, too, and I love when they sing "A, You're Adorable" lol.
Friday I chaperoned Joey's Spanish Trip to NYC and made my old middle school Spanish teacher feel old and slightly awkward XD. It was fun - first, the kids did an acting workshop in Spanish in the barrio, then the Hispanic Heritage Museum where I dicovered that my darling little brother is a budding history nerd, hehe! After that, the real fun began with some shopping in Little Italy and Chinatown (Joey bought himself an "Italian Stallion" shirt that says "Everyone Loves an Italian Boy" on the back, which amuses me when I see him wear it), and then I introduced my boys to the wonders of Urban Outfitters :D. Dinner at a Mexican Restaurant called Gonzales Y Gonzales, followed by a subway to Times Square, to finish the night on Broadway (albiet in the 3rd or 4th row from the back of the balcony).
We saw THE LITTLE MERMAID!! I was definitely more excited about it than the kids. I thought it was fantastic, especially the sets and costumes, oh my God. So amazing. I really loved the attention to detail with them too, like how after Sebastian's escapade with Cheif Louis in "Les Poissons", he had little bits of "garnish" still hanging off him for a scene or so. "Under the Sea" was hands down the best musical number. Sierra Boggess is perfect as Ariel, too. I think she absolutely nailed her role better than anyone else in the show (except maybe Flounder. He was so adorable!). I think my favorite part was how they moved the ship and the "waves" up and down to make it look like you were really going under the sea - and the effects when Eric falls overboard, especially. Way realistic. Awesomely cool. I also loved how all the sea creatures were on Heelies, lol. The only downside to that was that I thought the combo of Heelise and those magnificent costumes took away from some of the dancing. The only thing that I had a slight problem with was the voices and Eric - I thought Triton's voice wasn't commanding enough, Ursula's not raspy enough, Sebastian's seemed a high as well (although that didn't bother me as much because I thought he was fantastic, the delivery of Sebastian's memorable lines was right on...somebody's gotta nail dat girl's fins to da floor...lol). And Eric just seemed obnoxious to me, pretty much not the prince we all fell in love with as little girls. I couldn't get over the ponytail thing (perhaps those of you who have seen the show will agree?), I thought his voice was a little high, and...I don't know. Just being nitpicky because I was so used to the movie version my whole life, so feel free to agree/disagree. I'm not downplaying the show itself at all, though. It was fantastic and anyone who has the means to should DEFINITELY see it because it is pretty freaking awesome.
Saturday night, Mom and Dad surprised me for my birthday a day early ('cause Dad was working at the firehouse Sunday :( ) at Nana and Popi's house with a strawberry shortcake from DiMare's, mmmm!!!
And then Sunday, I turned 21!! Hooray, birthday!!! :D
I drove up to Branford for Greg's graduation brunch that morning, his mom had invited me weeks ago not knowing it was my birthday...not that it mattered, really. I met a lot of his family there, and was the only young girl, lol! (Our table was me and Greg, his brother and his 3 cousins, all slightly older and all of them older than me, lol). Turns out I share a birthday with his cousin, too. Everyone kept getting confused. Lol. I also met his Babcia (Polish for grandmother)...Greg learned how to introduce me to her in Polish, and she gave me a huge hug and kissed me on the cheek :) (Greg told me last night that the next morning, she came up to him and said (something to this effect) in English, "You have very nice girl, very nice. Mama likes, Papa likes. Very, very nice.") After the brunch, a bunch of us all went back to the house, and Greg and his brother, cousin, and I watched 2 out of 3 Indiana Jones movies in the marathon, hehe.
Only to be interrupted at about 3:07 p.m. by a birthday message ordered by my sister. My phone rang...Disney greeting? Turns out that (thank you, Laura) Belle wanted to call and wish me a happy birthday, and birthdays must be so fun when you get to be as grown up as you are, and omigosh, my favorite cake is strawberry shortcake, too! Can you guess what present I would wish for on my birthday? If you guessed a book, you're right!! Happy Birthday from everyone here at the castle!!!
That night, at home, presents after being mauled by the remnants of the night before's strawberry shortcake by Mikey. All over my face. :-P 21 must be the Birthday of the Shiny Things, though. In order of appearance: a gorgeous silver heart bracelet from Greg, the Enchanted DVD (!!!) from my brothers, a framed picture from when I met Belle in Disney from my sister, and a pair of absolutely beautiful gold, diamond and emerald (my birthstone) earrings from Mom and Dad.
Then Monday it was back to Lindamood Bell for the summer. I won't get into it, it frustrates me to no end (and today in particular was freakin' CRAPTASTIC), but I'll just say that I thought re-training would be easier. MUCH easier. I just think too much and try too hard. Typical. So with a calming down night tonight, I'll be good to go by the time I need to start teaching. Tomorrow is Observation Day.
So that's all for now!! Sorry about the long entry. But as you can see...I've been SUPER DUPER BUSY since my last update!! Ciao... :)