Dear Wendy, Deanna, and related parties,

Some of you have taken issue with my choice of footwear. And by "some of you," I mean everyone in the lower 48 states, including 94.1's Mark and Mercedes, several coworkers, and my mother. However, MY footwear leaves my feet feeling pampered, comfy cozy, and perhaps most importantly, fully intact... while your choice of footwear leaves your feet looking like this:


I've come to terms with the fact that my shoes are made of rubbery plastic. Why can't the world just let us be? (cue the theme from the 1970's version of Romeo & Juliet)

My point? My shoes are awesome. Are your shoes available in every color of the rainbow, in a myriad of styles? Didn't think so. So in the words of our friend Sinbad circa 1993, "BoooooooYAH."

Love,
Heather

I was just getting used to glorious indulgences of the weekend: staying up past 11pm, taking my dog to the park in the middle of the day, wearing jeans... And as I sit here blogging at midnight while watching TVland, I sadly realize that the weekend is over. Seven and a half hours from now, I'll be pulling into the parking lot at work, wearing sensible shoes and a blazer. Sigh.

I wonder if people in "9-5" professions (other than teaching) experience this same end-of-weekend nostalgia... or if it's just a school-related anxiety.

In any case, I'm really satisfied with my work this year. I have a big class with students that have all sorts of strengths and challenges. I go home at the end of the day proud of my students. I don't dread Mondays anymore. I feel jittery excitement when I get to go back to work. There are numerous possible reasons for this: I teach at my elementary school alma matter, I'm in a real classroom as opposed to a trailer on the outskirts of the actual school, I'm not bound by NCLB... this list could go on and on.

The point is, I'm really happy with the direction my career is heading. So there.

On a dear friend's myspace, my profile picture is ominously placed in this manner:


Is this not disturbing?

Kudos to anyone who can name the person whose profile ironically juxtaposes these photos.

I love the digital age because I can update my blog all out of order, but then my great-great-great grandchildren who will read this someday in their Jetson spaceship house will be fooled into thinking that I have a intricately detailed and organized blog which serves as a history of blah... blah... blah...

The point? I'll be updating my blog out of order. So check back and I may have awesome pics of Europe added post-vacation, and those entries will be located before my current tales of Seinfeldian nothingness. Have a super day!

I heard this awesome song by Ingrid Michaelson today on an Old Navy commercial. It's called, "The Way I Am." The lyrics are here for your viewing enjoyment:

If you were falling, then I would catch you.
You need a light, I'd find a match.

Cuz I love the way you say good morning.
And you take me the way I am.

If you are chilly, here take my sweater.
Your head is aching, I'll make it better.

Cuz I love the way you call me baby.
And you take me the way I am.

I'd buy you Rogaine if you start losing all your hair.
Sew on patches to all you tear.

Cuz I love you more than I could ever promise.
And you take me the way I am.
You take me the way I am.
You take me the way I am.

This song struck a chord (haha, music pun).

(If this is confusing and you would like me to elaborate, I can. Much has happened recently.)

You can hear part of the song here: http://www.cabin24records.com/ingridmi/mp3s/thewayiam.mp3
You can listen to the song here: http://www.myspace.com/ingridmichaelson
I recommend it. Please do it.

5 things...

aka: a random survey adapted from Wendy
(photos coming as soon as blogger-photo-adding isn't broken anymore!)

5 Jobs I've had
1. Custom Art Framer @ Aaron Brothers
2. teleprompter operator for the KBYU evening news
3. Camera Operator @ KBYU
4. Sports Broadcaster @ the 2002 Winter Olympics
5. Elementary School Teacher

5 Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
1. That Thing You Do
2. About A Boy
3. The Muppet Movie
4. A Christmas Story
5. Elizabethtown

5 Places I've Lived
1. Las Vegas
2. Provo
3. Nauvoo, Illinois
4. Korea
5. Germany

5 TV Shows I Enjoy
1. The Office
2. Arrested Development
3. Scrubs
4. M*A*S*H
5. South Park

5 Places I've Been on Vacation
1. Portland
2. Phoenix
3. France
4. Italy
5. Liechtenstein (not many people can say that!)

5 Favorite Restaurants
1. Cafe Rio!!!
2. BJ's Brewery
3. Cheesecake Factory
4. In-N-Out
5. Hash House A Go Go

5 Websites I Visit Daily
1. the onion
2. gmail
3. imdb
4. msypace
5. facebook

5 Places I'd Rather Be Right Now
1. Hawaii
2. Germany
3. asleep in my bed
4. Portland
5. Provo... NOT!!!! haha

Sunday, June 24, 2007: daytrip to Stasbourg, France

There is so much from Europe that I need to catch up on. I wish I had kept a detailed, entertaining, witty blog from the whole trip. Unfortunately, I did not. I did, however, take flobbity jillion photos (literally), which makes documenting my travels much easier.

The following video is from a daytrip to Strasbourg. This was my very first visit to France! I was so excited to cross the Germany/France border. Don't worry, I caught the whole thing on video tape. An unlucky few of you may someday have the opportunity to watch my 6+ hours of home video from the Europe trip. But for now, please enjoy an 8-minute video of highlights. (The resolution is pretty low because I had to compress it quite a bit... but you get the idea.)



Thanks to wikipedia, I discovered some interesting facts about this beautiful French city on the German border:
1) During Christmas celebrations in 1999, there as an al-Qaeda plot to blow up the Christmas market near the beautiful Strasbourg Cathedral. Thankfully, German authorities foiled this plot.
2) In 2001, during an open air concert, a single tree falling killed thirteen people and injured nearly a hundred. That must have been one HUGE tree, not like the puny ones growing in Las Vegas.
3) Strasbourg is home to "Arte," a French/German television network dedicated to the arts and to cultural programming.

This city is beautiful. I enjoyed a relaxing walk along the banks of the Ill River, which flows through the city. I also enjoyed a gorgeous view of the entire city from the top of the Strasbourg Cathedral via a plethora of stairs on a narrow circular staircase enclosed alternately by dark enclosures and cage-like metal bars. We were nearly 470 feet from the ground! It was the world's tallest building from 1625 until 1847. Even today, it is still the fourth tallest church in the world (or the seventh tallest, depending on the source). In any case, for a claustrophobe with a fear of heights, I felt a certain sense of accomplishment by facing not one but TWO fears.

This was my first visit to a European cathedral. In 1999, I visited the Cathedral of the Madelaine in SLC with the BYU Honors program; this visit was unfortunately colored by pious BYU students rudely commenting (inside the cathedral) on how they couldn't feel the spirit inside this building. How embarrassing. Visiting the intricately adorned Strasbourg Cathedral inspired within me a certain kinship with the architects and craftsmen who worked so hard to build this building of worship. LDS people often pay tribute to the pioneers who sacrificed to build temples. Is this not the same thing? Throughout time and across cultures, people have been inspired to create beautiful works of art/ music /literature /architecture to worship diety.

The view from the top of the Strasbourg Cathedral was breathtaking. As I continue to write about my travels in Europe, I will probably use the word "breathtaking" over and over again, enough to annoy the general readership of this blog. But it's the truth! I have seen so many sights that have literally taken my breath away. At the risk of sounding like a cheeseball, this has truly been a once-in-a-lifetime summer. Stay tuned for further updates.

Love, Heather

My plane left for Germany on June 17th at 2:20pm. The airport suggested being at the airport by 11:20am. I finished packing at 10:45am. I started out the packing my two suitcases in an extremely anal manner, even making a color-coded Microsoft Word document detailing where each item was packed in each suitcase. Towards the end, however, I was just shoving things in where they would fit. Some things didn't fit. Oh well.

At the airport, my mom dropped me off at the ominous sounding "Terminal 2," where international non-stop flights departed. My mom kept shaking her head, saying, "In all my 30 years in Vegas I've never been to Terminal 2."

Well, apparently she wasn't the only one. Walking into Terminal 2 of the McCarren Airport felt like stepping back in time to 1976. Apparently they have not updated (or cleaned) it since then. Even the parking ticket was yellowed. It looked like they bought rolls and rolls of parking tickets in bulk back then and haven't used them all yet.

My gate, Gate 4, was located conveniently right across from the miniscule and non-threatening security checkpoint. As I was about to enter the line for security, a man who was clearly dressed as a suicide bomber

made his way through the line. After he surprisingly made it through security without so much as a warning or stern frown from a TSA agent, I watched him like a hawk to make sure he was going to a different gate than mine. Seriously, if you are going to an airport, why dress like a suicide bomber? Didn't his wife/partner say something like, "Hugo, better pack your suicide bombing vest in your checked luggage. You don't want to call attention to yourself."

Anyway, the flight was pleasant. I sat next to a beautiful German exchange student who spoke English effortlessly without any trace of an accent. I would have probably thought she was American, had she not told me she was German. This 17-year-old girl spoke several European languages and had seen many more countries on the globe than I had. The plane hadn't even touched ground in Europe yet, and I was already feeling like a stupid American.

My birthday is on March 29th. That's right folks. March 29th. I will be 26 years old.

So I've been meaning to post these photos for awhile. Oops. We saw Phantom of the Opera, Tournament of Kings, and let's not forget Disney on Ice. Phantom was all right. The sets were fabulous. We also visited M&M World, saw a couple IMax films at the Luxor with Ty & AC, aaaaand saw Moulin Rouge.

Yes, the photos are kind of small. But if you click on them, they will get big. Very big.

That is all for now. Love, Heather


@ the Luxor with Ty and A.C.

My brother Kenny and his lovely wife, Ozge, were in town last week, and I met my nephew for the first time! His name is Derin, and we share the same birthday!



Kenny, Derin, me

This has been a frustrating day.

Happy New Year!


Tomorrow is the first day back at work since December 15th. I love being a teacher. Since winter break started, I have made the following accomplishments:
* overcame the flu. twice.
* watched M*A*S*H (the movie). twice.
* rented 6 movies from Netflix
* saw Briana! on New Year's Eve!

Here are the exciting highlights of my cousin Amber's wedding.
My Cousin's Wedding

Add to My Profile | More Videos


More highlights!

Dear Santa,

It's not like I'm assuming that people want to buy Christmas gifts for me. However, I thought I would make it easier by posting an online list to make everyone's job easier. And isn't that what the holidays are all about?





1. the Sims complete collection for Mac $49.95
http://store.apple.com/1-800-780-5009/WebObjects/EducationIndividual.woa/6594004/wa/PSLID?mco=19333EFC&nplm=TH418LL%2FA&wosid=bc3IWwkV304e3EswHeJ02xIQa4e

2. The real kicker: Black 30Gb iPod $249.95
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=2A9354F3&nclm=iPod

3. Gift certificate to anywhere

4. Disney's Cars on widescreen $16
http://www.amazon.com/Cars-Widescreen-Owen-Wilson/dp/B00005JNS0/ref=pd_ys_home_pop_img/002-3739278-1890429

5. Freaks & Geeks: The Complete Series $45.99
http://www.amazon.com/Freaks-Geeks-Complete/dp/B0001EQHXO/sr=8-1/qid=1164406275/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3739278-1890429?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

6. How I Met Your Mother, Season 1 < $30
http://www.amazon.com/How-Met-Your-Mother-Season/dp/B000HT3P7E/sr=1-1/qid=1164406310/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3739278-1890429?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

7. Undeclared $45
http://www.amazon.com/Undeclared-Complete-Jay-Baruchel/dp/B00092ZM7U/sr=1-3/qid=1164406310/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-3739278-1890429?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

Briana and I spent a fun filled Labor Day weekend in Portland. We visited the Chinese Gardens, Portland Zoo, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where we took a tour of a working submarine. I love Portland!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Here's a fun filled video of how I celebrated with my first graders.

Wow, so I haven't posted in a really long time. Duh. Well, for those of you who are interested, this is how it 's gone down:

* (8/28) I started teaching 4th grade. Rock on.
* (9/1-4) visited Biggy B in Portland
* (9/22) Um, there weren't 4th graders to warrant having five 4th grade classes. So being the newest teacher, I got put in the surplus pool. This was on Friday. I had three hours to move out of my classroom and into a portable trailer.
* (9/23) The next day was B&K's wedding, in Utah.
* (9/25) I took a job teaching 1st grade at the same school. It started Monday. Shortly thereafter, I realized that most 1st graders don't know how to read.
* (10/9-25) Most stressful month EVER!!!

So I decided that taking 10 credits while simultaneously teaching a new grade level was not only over-ambitious, but also quite stupid. As a teacher, I was looking forward to stable work hours, free weekends, and leisurely evenings. So far, this has not been the case.

I've also learned a cruel, cruel fact of the real world: the more money you make, the more taxes they take out.

On a somber note...
I'm really angry with D.P. I think this is one of the stages of grief. I never really had a chance to grieve or mourn, because I didn't hear from his mom until almost two months after he died. She found my number and contact information in his journal. There is still some speculation over whether or not it was a suicide or an accident. I think it was a suicide. For awhile, I was totally in denial, and I secretly wished that he faked his own death. I still don't believe that he's really gone. I hate this. Well, I've been through denial, and I'm currently angry. The last remaining stages are bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. So that's what I've got to look forward to.

Wow, this was depressing. So, um, anyway, I'll leave you with some photos of my fourth grade classroom before I had to pack it up and move into a portable.