12.09 my birthday month

la cuisine française.
malbec.
oysters.
karaoke.
chocolate.
music.
warm things.

just a few things that made me smile big this birthday. <3

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08.12.09 donald sutherland!

i'm at yew for a staff Christmas dinner and that guy with the white hair over there is indeed mr. sutherland. he's lookin good!

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07.12.09 sick of myself

actually, i'm sick of myself being sick!
so i'm chillin and i hear this version of this song that takes me waaaaaay back to my once shiny and innocent youth...

of course, i absolutely love matthew sweet's version. his guitar playing makes me miss my sister. the o.g. version of this song is for annie :)

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21.11.09 moving day

how many times do i hafta tell you?!

ahhh, the little joys of being the door watcher as my boss moves. i know they're serious, but these signs are similar to a nagging mother!

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20.11.09 a glass of wine

this is a glass of mission hill chard at rodney's. i like these servings. it has that dome of surface tension on it!... oh and the potato encrusted halibut is delish too.

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07.11.09 kiwis!

this is the fruit of the kiwi vines my dad raised in our yard... we had to pick them so that the squirrels would stop getting at them. dirty squirrels.

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25.10.09 gypsy

this cat is so frickin cute. her name is gypsy and is my little sister's new kitten. the only way this kitty can get any cuter is if she starts to fart rainbows! in which case, you WILL be seeing more of her.
ooooh she's so cute!!!

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24.10.09 francis and charlene's wedding, langley bc

this is a personalized chocolate bar as a place card setting and giveaway for the wedding. very cute. congrats francis and charlene!

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23.10.09 françois-olivier roberge is adrian grenier?!

sitting at the french immersion conference in richmond this morning, i was shocked at the striking resemblance the keynote speaker had to vincent chase! this man is actually a champion canadian speed skater training to qualify for the 2010 games. c'est super-cool!

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17.10.09 @djneilarmstrong, fortune sound club

i am officially in love with this man's talent. keep on makin peeps smile with your skills, mr. armstrong. i fell even more love with you now that i've witnessed you live. very sincerely, miss marion.

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11.10.09 jesus also makes burritos, budgie's on kingsway

and this is to kick off sunday right.

my friend wanted a delicious non meat burrito so we went to budgie's. and of all days, this day he decided to wear a humourous t-shirt. and then we saw a burrito making man in the kitchen...
this picture captured the moment. check out his heavenly glow!

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11.10.09 mirrorball, fortune sound club

this was taken the last time i was at the fortune sound club in chinatown. i went on a friday (they play less house on fridays than other days). it is an impressive club. yes, the sound system is awesome, but the venue itself is so eye pleasing! tall ceilings, enough seating that is placed close enough to the wall so that people can still pass by without having to squeeze past the wallflowers and the dancers on the dance floor. my fave club in vancouver as of late. props.

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t o d a y

TODAY IS THE GREATEST DAY I'VE EVER KNOWN...

isn't it funny that sometimes, when you're on vacation, you're more busy than when you were working?

since class ended in the very end of june, i have been in and out of vancouver. i didn't make a huge plan to go back to europe (still a trip that's overdue!) or book myself up to the neck with tutoring (which in retrospect, could've been a good idea). short of my trip to cali, i have been busy every weekend with a family reunion, weddings, and trips to kelowna, whistler, seattle, victoria... who knew there were only so few weekends in the summer?

so today, i will keep it simple. i'll do things i love doing on a lazy day: play with music and do laundry :)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T! find out what it means to...

... kids.

seriously, ask a kid to explain respect and then give you an example of how they show it. if they don't succeed, tell their parents to teach them. it is NOT the job of a teacher to teach basic life skills such as courtesy, good behaviour and respect (self as well as towards others). a kid should learn about that as soon as they can crawl. teachers are there to show kids where to apply these skills in different settings (in class, at assemblies, etc...).
if you disagree, please post in my comments any suggestions on how to successfully get disrespectful, self-centred 8 year olds how to respect themselves and their friends.

this morning, i had to try and run the dance club of 40+ kids. one kid wouldn't stop talking over me and the other sat in a corner and pouted because she "couldn't understand". the talkative kid decided that learning the dance routine without talking was more fun than sitting on the bench. the pouty kid decided that despite me offering to help her, she would rather give up dance club. fine by me... i had a lesson to teach.

later, the pouty kid didn't like where her teacher placed her in the church pews. she began to pout again. church went on irregardless.

after church, the pouty kid decided to make one of her classmates feel unwanted by acting disgusted as her classmate approached her. once the classmate got fuming mad, the pouty kid laughed at her. i had to step in at this point. i told the kid that she should really think about how she makes others feel and how it could hurt. she said "i don't care". this is the attitude she gave me the rest of the morning. it was a loooooong morning and a lot more happened with just this pouty kid, to the point where i had to physically bring her to the principal's office. if you find yourself one step away from giving an 8 year old girl a full nelson, it's not a good situation.

so for any parents out there, get to teaching that respect. it won't teach itself, that's for sure.

sick days

so i thought that a sick day could double as a "catch up on your work at home" day... yeah, no dice.

it's just such a waste when you're indoors on such a nice day, you feel the need to be productive. especially since monday and tuesday for me were spent indoors at the CEC. incidentally, i went to 4 breakout sessions at that conference. i learned this:

- that www.wordle.net is a cute idea.
- that daily physical activity for classrooms looks dorky but it's fun.
- that nowadays, children need to be taught how to involve their parents in their lives (by having dinner together and sparking conversation).
- that children from K-3 learn algebraic thinking easily with simple repetition (probably works with other concepts too).
- that closing keynote speaker sister claire from boston touched on some good points about catholicism and education, but she's gotta curb her rambling (30min overtime is TOO long).

good, but not the best things i could have pulled out of an annual 2 day conference.

today, in the comfort of my bed, i learned:

- that the Net Generation is not the dumbest, but the smartest generation so far.
- that all teachers are good teachers. it's just that there are so few who are open to change, adaptation, and innovation.
- that helping someone is different from enabling someone, be they adult or child.
- that love conquers all... but if you're doing something for someone you love and it sucks, love won't make it suck less.

just to clarify, that last one didn't happen in my bed. i wrote it in cuz i had to get out of my comfy bed.

enough blogging for now... back to "work".