Blog — "weather"

I'm sure everyone is sick about talking about how cold it is. However, I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that aside from when I'm sleeping at night under my warm down comforter, I haven't felt warm for more than an hour straight over the last week or so. Apparently I have the metabolism of a hummingbird, because once I'm cold there's no going back. So how do I survive the cold with the...

I'm sure everyone is sick about talking about how cold it is. However, I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that aside from when I'm sleeping at night under my warm down comforter, I haven't felt warm for more than an hour straight over the last week or so. Apparently I have the metabolism of a hummingbird, because once I'm cold there's no going back. So how do I survive the cold with the metabolism of a hummingbird?

I go with a pair of socks, a pair of skinny jean, a pair of knee high socks over said skinny jeans and original pair of socks, and then some boots just for added insulation.


Then on the top, I go for a tank top, a tee, a long-sleeved shirt, and then a sweater. I like to add a scarf and hat to keep heat from leaking out of my head. And then.... then. If I'm still not warm enough, obviously I turn to my hot foil press as a heat source.


And that, my friends, is how I survive the cold with the metabolism of a hummingbird. Hope you're all staying warm out there wherever you may be! And if you live in a warm location... well, just don't talk to me! ;)

I am noticeably more busy these days. I say noticeably because my posts are becoming more few and far between than they had been a month ago. After a delayed start of school this week due to power outages caused by Hurricane Irene, we're finally back in full swing as school started Wednesday. Since I've missed my punch list the last two Wednesday due to back to school events, I thought I'd stop by to share a few thing on this Saturday afternoon that I've been super excited about recently.

We've been making an effort to put to use the few vases we have. On a weekend trip to the grocery or farmer's market, we've made the point to pick up a small bouquet of flowers. Having the bright flowers certainly add some color and fun to the house.


The few days after the hurricane brought very temperate weather and lots of sun. With highs in the 70s last week, we were able to enjoy having all of the windows in the house wide open with lots of fresh breeze through the house. We weren't the only ones that enjoyed it-- Lilah loves sitting by the front window especially when it's open and smelling all of those smells she picks up with her nose.


Three days into the school year I can already say I am so excited to be teaching Social Studies again. Day three of teaching and I showed my students some photos of the Anasazi cliff dwellings in New Mexico at Bandelier National Monument. Some of them were legitimately excited about it just because I was excited to tell them about my own experience there. And teaching a skill like main idea didn't seem so dull to me considering I had the Social Studies aspect there. Thank goodness!

I've been working on becoming a morning person. How? By getting up at 6am and arriving at school by 7:45 instead of 8:45, the latest time I am allowed to arrive as the school day starts at 9. Three days in a row I've made it by 7:45. I'm quite proud of myself. The new schedule-- wake up at 6am and do yoga for half an hour (which also entails lots of love and morning greetings from Finn while doing yoga and can be a bit tricky). Coffee and breakfast for about 20 minutes and then off too the shower to get ready and out the door by 7:35. I have to admit, the yoga helps me wake up and by the time I get to school I feel ready to start the day instead of feeling overly groggy.

Weekend plans? Head to my aunt and uncle's place tonight for dinner. Tomorrow, walk down to the Inner Harbor to see if we can spot some car racing action. The Grand Prix has made its way to Baltimore this weekend and while I have some major qualms with the whole thing (and we're talking MAJOR as in who has the right to cut down 130 full grown trees from our downtown without resident permission?!) I still get back to my Indiana roots and wouldn't mind seeing, and hearing for that matter, a few Indy cars.

Hope you're all enjoying a long holiday weekend and that you all have plenty of opportunity for relaxation!

Power outages that cause the first day of school to be cancelled. And why was I excited about that? We had planned to drive down to Wolf Trap to see Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers. I knew it'd be an hour and fifteen minute drive back up to Baltimore after the show so I was relieved that I wouldn't have to wake up early this morning for school.

Bruce Hornsby has been one of my favorites since I was a small child. He is an incredibly talented pianist, songwriter, and singer. He's played for and toured with the best of them including the Grateful Dead and Ricky Skaggs. He's one of those musicians that could play just about anything without even thinking about what he is doing-- a complete natural. And as if Bruce isn't an amazing musician as is, we were lucky enough to see the Punch Brothers open the show resulting in Chris Thile playing with Bruce for the majority of the set. What's better than a hurricane? School cancellations, Bruce Hornsby on piano, and Chris Thile on mandolin.


Excuse the craptastic sound quality, but I wanted to share anyway in the event you could hear just the slightest bit.

Unscathed by Irene, the evening turned out to be one of the best in terms of weather that we've had all summer long. We were lucky to have power the whole time. A bit of water leaked in under our front door, but was soaked by the towel we had put in place. Several trees were downed in Patterson Park, but that was about it. Of and our Black Eyed Susan trellis was a few inches askew. Needless to say, we were impacted nearly as badly as they had predicted. However, the majority of the west side of the city struggled with power outages as well as my school's neighborhood a mere five minutes away. Let's just say as an extreme weather enthusiast I was a little disappointed. Now I'll just have to hope for a blizzard this winter!

But back to the subject of Bruuuuuuuuuuce. Here's a better video of one of his most recent songs that seemed appropriate for this past weekend.

I've been missing the last week. I've been in my classroom getting things ready for school on Monday. After finally finishing up Friday afternoon, we are now faced with the possibility that school may not open on Monday after all. You see, lately, I've been a magnet for natural disasters and I seem to have brought not one, but two of them our way this week.

Some of you may remember the lovely North Carolina tornado, coming right at us as we headed south on I-95 to Florida.

Then there was also the time that we got stuck in this blizzard on Christmas Day in Nebraska as we were driving to have a family Christmas at my sister's house in Colorado.


Yes, that's the view out the windshield on I-80.

Then there was the blizzard in Baltimore.



And there was the time last summer when we were driving back from my parents' house in Indiana on I-80/90 that we got stuck driving in the worst thunderstorm I have experienced in my life. There was a tornado warning at the time and we were sure we were going to run into one.

Oh, also, I almost got struck by lightning this summer after opening my front door during a thunderstorm. The bolt hit a tv dish across the street, a mere 20 feet away, with a blue glow wrapping around the house. You could hear it buzz and the thunder that accompanied it scared me out of my socks.

If that isn't enough, this Tuesday we had an earthquake. While I had been in two before, they were only just a quick bump. This one, however, was a good 30 seconds of intense shaking and rumbling-- enough that you could actually hear it.

And now, here I sit in my house sipping my coffee waiting for Irene. No one really knows how bad it'll be in Baltimore, but they've predicted power outage for days. I certainly can't be the judge of that because we didn't live here when Hurricane Isabel came through.  Most of the teachers at my school think we won't have school Monday due to flooding and power outages. As for me, I just made sure I had a good stock of coffee. We ran out Friday morning and I certainly wasn't going to go without in the case that the worst happens. Clearly, I have my priorities straight.