Korean in the dirrty South.

While millions of Americans roast hot dogs on the grill or slam their brews down on a bar table with their cheers of victory or moans of defeat, I decided to go against the grain for the 2011 basketball Championship games. My dear friends invited me over for a Korean fiesta and in true Korean-anglo fashion, a delicious pear-apple pastry made by the very talented Thuy. I don't know what surprised me more- that a bonafide Vietnamese threw down this Korean feast, or that the spread tasted as good if not better than a legit Korean ajuma. I'm still smacking my lips together over this one. The colors of Koreana.
My mamacita 4 life.

Goooo Mavs!

Salivating, yet?

Baby brah and his mamacita.

Stephen swagman Baker.

Apple-pear pasty/tart. Bombsizzle.

You can do no wrong with a scoopful (or two, or three) of Blue Bonnet.

The amazing chef, Huong, to my right, and the lovely Le (+ future) ladies to my left. Sigh. What a glorious day!

Out with the old, in with the New....

If anyone knows me, they know I'm a wuss when it comes to hair. The first time I colored my hair, I was 16 and rendezvouing on my first out-of-state internship in farm-filled Iowa, where I granted some chick all-out access to my virgin hair. It was during the times where boxed dye gave you a cap, punched out with little holes all over the surface, through which you were supposed to pull out chunks of hair and dunk them in bleach. Needless to say, the results were less than spiffy, leaving me horrified and with the sort of "chunky" tiger-striped highlights I swore only valley girls and bimbos outfitted. Anyway, since coming to NOLA and finding a stylist I swear by, I've taken another leap of faith. Here's just a few of the looks in my evolution of hair.

The first time I colored my hair, I hated it. I went from an almost noir-black to an all over red-dy tint. Here's me looking all sex-a-fied.
Then I graduated to a richer, chocolate brown, interlaced with wisps of out-grown honey. My hair was soooo long!
And the most recent look with me, featuring the new 'do: short, funky and darker all around. What'dya think?

The Kumbaya diaries.

To kick off my short-lived summer vacay as a graduating 2nd year teacher (and corps member, yay-ah!), we took to the foothills of the incredible Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Besides the fact that I had been nature deprived living in a concrete jungle the past few years, I was so taken by the charm of the town, the breath-taking panoramic backdrops and the adorable little cabin nestled in the mountains, our very own "Heaven Sent". Besides hiking, white-river rafting, tubing, horseback riding, hot-tubbing and exploring the beauty all around us, the ladies and I spent quality time bonding and laughing and reminiscing (not to mention, a few other unmentionable hijinxes!). Altogether, wonderful times that won't soon be forgotten. Here's to our Girl's Trip 2011. Salud! in the middle of a magical kingdom

dandelion magic

Beauty.

preaching from the pulpit

cabin fever

serenity.

Boo!

Ms. Katherine Nesser, fashion model extraordinare

me and mie chan!

caterpillar oasis

budding fern

monarch butterfly

at the top of rainbow falls

Thee Hobbit and his 4 sister-wives

extreme adventures in white water rafting

The gorgeous backdrop of the Smokies.

We Are the World.

The Motley Crew.

The best part of living in New Orleans- bar none- is the opportunity to work with some of the coolest kids in the city-wait, scratch that- I mean, the whole freakin' world. It's always an adventure, manuevering day to day through the handful of zany, boisterous and always unpredictable experiences that have come to define my teaching experience in NOLA. Perhaps what I love most about it is the fact there's never a dull moment; the mood of the hour changes just as much as the infamously bi-polar sunny-now-stormy skies above the place we call home. A calm, balmy sea can just as quickly turn overcast and thunderous with the flick of an over-turned chair or a swift and mighty curve ball of a runt's shoe-turned-weapon. All madness aside, my kids are amazing. A bunch of fun, wild, wide-eyed, dream-filled chitlins who possess as much heart as brilliance up in that cranium-filled noggin' a theirs.

Jeremiah, show-casing his butterfly.
Whoaaa, this is so tight!

Hey there, Mr. Potato head!

playing kitchen.

BUGS!!!!!!!

skyscraper.

What can I do you for, Ms. S?

Car heaven.

Higher, make it higher!

girly girls.

tuff boys.

School's fun when it's Writer's Workshop!

Recess rocks!

Look- I'ma model!

Can I just bottle up this smile and wear it on a rainy day?

Teaching ordering numbers on a # line.

Guided Reading Rockstars.

Discovering new worlds in Independent Reading time.

Best line leaders NOCP ever saw.

Numbers, numbers, everywhere.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!