Freedom!!

It's official...school's out! Today was the students' last day. I just have to go in for a few hours tomorrow and I'm free as a bird. So many plans and goals for the summer. Just to name a few...

1. Not only plant a garden, but harvest something from it.
2. Get a crap ton of wedding plans/projects done.
3. Exercise regularly.
4. Actually learn chord names for the uke.
5. Make a homemade pizza.

A celebratory summer picture from my Hawaii trip in 2009

The Graduate

Here's to you, Kelsie VanDyke! Miss Tessie graduated yesterday from Hanover College, Magna Cum Laude. For all of you that don't know what that means (and that was me until yesterday), it means she graduated with high honors. Only two people have a higher honor than her in the entire senior class. She's a smartie.
I feel like I just graduated from Hanover, so seeing her walk across the stage yesterday was a very strange experience. My little sister is joining the work force. She's now a fellow teaching colleague of mine. Super weird...
Anyway, congrats, Tessie! Couldn't be more proud of you. No doubt in my mind that you will impact every student that comes your way in Attica.

Accepting that hard-earned diploma from Dr. DeWine

The Graduate

 

Not only does she teach, but she also flies!

 

The family and Grandma and Grandpa

 

Tessie and I at The Point

Triple Thumbs Up for graduating!

If Hannah and Jake ever form an indie band, this will be their cover.

Kessing Haus Cafe

I've been raving to Jake about a local coffee house for weeks, and we finally got a chance to go together today. A fellow committee member introduced me to the Kessing Haus Cafe, and now I'm hooked. I've gone twice this week already.  It's in the heart of Oldenburg, IN, which is the cutest little German town you will ever see. They use fair trade coffee and try to use locally grown ingredients whenever possible. Right up my alley. :) Today I had a french vanilla latte, and Jake and I inhaled their panini sandwich. It was that good. If you are ever in the Oldenburg area, I highly recommend you stop by!

Inside the Kessing Haus Cafe

Jake's mocha latte

Panini. yummy.

Hi Little Guy!

Jake and I decided to give a garden the 'ol college try this summer. Neither of us has much garden experience; Mom and I actually let a lot of our veggies rot a few years ago when we planted a garden on a whim. BUT, this time, it's different (hopefully). Right now, we have cucumbers, carrots, jalapeños, cilantro, and basil. We're starting small and see how we do this year...

Look who we found peeking out of the dirt!

Last One, I Promise...

Ok, I'm sharing my last Bleach video from our concerts this past weekend. Can you tell that I can't get enough of them? My poor ipod, it's probably sick and tired of playing them by now, but come on friends, I've waited seven years. Can you blame me?

Still Coming off the Concert High...

I'm still reminiscing about the whirlwind concert weekend that we had with one of our favorites, Bleach. It was such a different atmosphere for a concert; it seemed more like a family reunion after seven years of not seeing each other. Every time I turned around there was another old friend of the band who wanted to say hello to them. The members' kids were running around, looking up in awe at their dads while everyone sang along with them. You could tell just how appreciative they were to have everyone's support after seven years away. It was very cool.

Happy Birthday, Tessie!

My darling little sis Tessie is turning the "double deuce" (22) today! The family and I headed to Hanover for lunch to celebrate BUT, some very special friends helped us ring in her birthday a day early...

Davy and Sam of Bleach sing Happy Birthday to Tessie

PS- Happy 14th Birthday to cousin Alex, too! :)

Bleach is Alive!!!

Good Gravy, I've had a fabulous weekend. So fabulous, in fact, that I didn't even have time to post something yesterday, or earlier today. What would cause me to say the word "fabulous" three times in as many sentences? Bleach. Bleach is back. What the heck is Bleach? Bleach is a christian rock band that Miss Tessie and I fell in love with way back in my early high school years. They broke up the end of my senior year of high school. Fast forward seven years....and they are currently back together to do a little recording and a short four states tour with two stops within driving distance.
Bleach holds a very special place in my heart. I first heard of them when Pastor Art held a mission retreat and Bleach played a show there. This was a time when my spiritual life was rapidly growing, and I've always associated them with it. Here were five super cool guys who were in a band...AND they're talking about how important God is in their lives. It was exactly what an impressionable high schooler needed. There was definitely a reason they have been a part of the music aspect of my life.
Anyway, I can most definitely say that not much has changed with their live show in seven years....except they may be a little more tired when it's over. :)
You'll be hearing much more about the two (yes, I said two) shows that we attended this weekend. Here's a little sneak peak from the concert at The 86 Club on Friday.

Tessie, Davy from Bleach, and I

"Sun Stands Still" from the Friday concert (notice Jake rocking out)

Thursday Music Post

There's certain music you can listen to where you can put on your headphones and step outside of things for a moment. You can be in your own world, and it is good. Jónsi is like that for me. Who is Jónsi? He's only the newest music obsession of mine. I've seriously only been listening to his album for about a week, but it is amazing. Do you know the band Sigur Rós? Well, Jónsi is their lead singer, and he has his own solo stuff. I've been currently listening to his album titled "Go." It's hard for me to really put into words what this album does to me. I feel peaceful, happy, and disconnected (in a good way). There is nothing quite like it out there. One of my favorite things said about this album was a review someone wrote about it on Amazon.com:

"In fact, I'd say that this album is played in the afterlife where you're running around in an eternal Spring field while you run through flowers."

That one put me over the edge when I considered buying it, and you know what? The person who wrote that review was exactly right. I always imagine myself doing that very thing while listening to this album, and it's beautiful. I now leave you with one of my favorite songs on the album - "Tornado."

P.S. This album is only $5 on Amazon MP3s for the month of May!

Dear Uke

Dear Uke,
Sorry that the only thing I've played on you for the past two weeks continually has been  "La Cucaracha" during my Spanish classes. You've been a good sport, playing a Latin American folk song instead of something from your native Hawaii.  I promise after school is out I'll bust out something cool, like my "Beatles for Ukulele" book. Hopefully you'll get more street cred that way when you talk to the other ukes in the area. Another thing, I'll try to start remembering chord names instead of just memorizing where my fingers go during songs. Maybe that's the reason I only know two songs at the moment...
Anyway, you've made me feel like a rockstar this week when my students were impressed I play an instrument, and I am oh so grateful.

Here uke is, sharing the spotlight with Dad's guitar

La Fería del Colegio para Hispanos

I'm in an organization that helps the Hispanic Community in my area. Tonight, we had a college fair for Hispanic students and parents to learn about the opportunities they have for college- whether they are documented or not. I know now that I have taken so much for granted because my family was very familiar with the whole college application process. For example, here are some of the questions from tonight's session: What is a scholarship? What is an SAT? If no one in your family has ever gone to college, how would you know? Something to be thankful for, all you college grads!

Miss Amanda (aka "little") and I pre-graduation from Hanover College

Hot and Sour Soup

Well, we did end up trying a very involved recipe from this book on Friday, and I'm getting around to sharing those pictures now. Jake and I made Hot and Sour soup, a personal favorite of his from Chinese restaurants. This included quite a list of ingredients, including fresh ginger, sesame oil, and tofu. Oh my, THAT shopping trip was more like a page from "Where's Waldo: Grocery Edition". The whole tofu texture thing is still new to me, but it turned out quite good!

 Jake adding the cilantro

Yep, this was the first tofu buy for me!

 Finished product!

Hanover Visit

Jake and I met Bugs today at Hanover to visit with Miss Tessie before she graduates in a few weeks. We headed to The Downtowner for lunch (it's a favorite of HC students) and then visited with Chuck, Shelly, and Miss Ashton (who is getting SO big!).
We even stopped by the library to visit our IS's which are on file and looked at Mom's, which was done on a typewriter. Mad props to Mom for typing out a 70-page paper with few errors!
We rounded out the day with a visit to The Point for some frame-worthy pictures. Thanks to Miss Tessie for hosting the 'ol Hanover Alums for an afternoon!

                                         Miss Ashton shows her old babysitter how big she is

Mom and my IS from the library

 Some shots from The Point. We don't look like old alumni, do we?

Thursday Music Post?

Well that didn't take long. It's only my second post and I got off schedule. Kik was mad at me because it ruined her consecutive day post streak. Sorry Kik.

Anyway, I'm trying to really get outside the box with this whole "music post" thing, so tonight's post is just that! If you've never heard of TED, I suggest going to the website and listening to some of the talks. They are awesome! The following video is taken from TED's website. They let you download it for free! I found this using Stumbleupon (if you don't know it, look it up!), and since Kik is an aspiring ukulele player, I figured she would appreciate it. Enjoy!

Best. Compliment. Ever.

I believe today I was given the best compliment I have ever heard in my three years of teaching. This compliment was given to me by a 2nd grade boy:

"Ms. VanDyke, your class was better than Gym today!!"

Now, if you have ever been around a 7-8 year-old boy, you know this is the highest compliment a teacher can recieve. Gym is as close to recess as you can get during the day.

What were they doing, you may ask? They were exploring the website Quest for Compassion.
It was made through the organization Compassion International (which I am a big fan of). It gives kids a chance to virtually explore countries around the world and find out what life is like for the kids that live there. Many of the homes these kids live in are shacks or other sub-par housing. I love how Compassion explains and approaches these issues. I highly recommend it to any church workers/teachers/parents out there!

Something Borrowed

Heading to the movies tonight to see Something Borrowed with some family and friends. I feel more legit seeing this movie because I read the book before I even knew the movie was coming out (mad props to Miss Aud for recommending it!). I highly recommend reading the book, even if you go see the movie. It would make a wonderful beach read this summer!

Everything?! Really?

This is my newest (huge) read to tackle. Miss Blair gave me this cookbook for my birthday. She's quite the cook (she did introduce Jake and I to quinoa, which we're mildly obsessed with at the moment), so I very much trust her that this is worth the intimidating thickness. It begins by telling you some basics to cooking in general. For example, some staples to keep in your kitchen so that you can whip up just about anything without going to the store for ingredients. That's the info that I need. I'm kind of new at this whole Mom-not-cooking-for-me thing, so you better start from square one, thank you very much.
I made a sauce for pasta tonight, which went very well. I'm going to try my hand at a far more complicated recipe this weekend, which I'll divulge if I actually go through with it...

If I find any more winners I'll make sure to share!

Happy Mom's Day!

Although I've inherited some not-so-desirable traits from my family (double chin, my inability to cut a pie correctly), there is one thing that I hope I carry on to the best of my ability; Today (Mother's Day) my mom invited some family friends to our celebratory lunch who had just lost their Grandma a few weeks ago when they didn't have other plans. My Grandma invited a newly-widowed neighbor to lunch today so she wouldn't be alone before her out of town kids could get there. Even though it was their special day, they were willing to share it with others so that their day could be special as well. These are just a few of the many selfless acts these two do on a daily basis, and I think the world of them because of that. Happy Mom's Day to all of the Moms that are near and dear to my heart! 

Here's a picture of some lovely ladies in my life: Mommy-O, Gramma, Tessie, and me

Another blogging Mommy I got to spend the day with: Miss Hannah Belle! You can read about this uber-creative mommy-o here.

You Haven't Seen That?!

Has there ever been a part of Pop Culture that you confess that you have never seen, and everyone in the room says, "You haven't seen that?!" Well, I'm usually on the accusatory end of the exchange, but not today...
While channel surfing, it was revealed that I have never seen the "Back to the Future" trilogy. I thought Jake's heart was going to stop. Sure, I've seen bits and pieces over the years, but never all together. I caught the end of the first and the beginning of the second today, and finally saw the iconic, ever-quoted scene below:

Mr. Willy Wonka

Happy Friday! Doesn't it feel good to say that? We made it!

Jake and I had a nice little evening tonight. We met Mom and Dad at Lil Charlie's for dinner. One of my favorite restaurants around. You need to try the Bulldog Burger. You just need to.
Then, we went to see my Junior High students' rendition of "Willy Wonka," which was awesome (congrats to Miss Christy and Miss Staci!). Augustus Gloop especially deserves mad props. That kid nailed a German accent AND lederhosen at the same time. Very proud of the kiddos tonight.
We ended the night with some old fashioned chocolate chip cookies that are tempting me in the next room. Warm cookies and cold milk? Yes, please! They'll be lucky if they see the morning!

Thursday Music Post

Hi there! I bet you're wondering who this guy is! Well, I'm Miss Kik's fiance, Mr. Jake! She's asked me to write a music post every Thursday, so this is the first of the Thursday Music Posts. Who knows what will go here. Sometimes it could be a brief post about a new band I've found (or just an obscure band I like a lot), and sometimes I could write a longer post about music in general. I guess it's going to have to be whatever catches my fancy!

This week I want to introduce you to a band called "Beirut." Actually, they aren't really a "band" at all; it's just one guy! Well, it started as one guy but has since grown into a multi-member band. I first discovered Beirut when I was browsing around CDs at a local music store in Louisville, KY called Ear X-Tacy. I suggest checking out this store. Here's their website: http://www.earx-tacy.com/

What drew me in to this band was the fact it was just one guy, and he was 19 years old (at the time). Also, a marketing point he used was the fact there were NO guitars on any of the songs, which sounded pretty amazing. Needless to say, if you are an indie freak, you will like this band. Wikipedia classifies them as Balkan Folk, World Music, Indie Folk, and Electronica. One instrument of choice by this band is the ukulele, and as you get to know Miss Kik you'll learn that's her instrument of choice.

Anyway, I could say whatever about them and it wouldn't do them justice. Just watch the video and do what I did. Fall in love. (Don't tell Kik).

That's it for this week's Thursday Music Post. Adios!

Sseko Sandals

I debuted my newest sandal purchase today at school. Sseko sandals are made by women in Uganda in the months before they head to "University." In that time, they raise money so that they can afford to go to college. After these women come back with their degrees, they can work as accountants, management, etc. in the Sseko company. How cool is that?! I love that a for-profit business can still be morally responsible. AND... they're super comfortable. I wore them all day teaching and my feet don't hurt. Trust me, that's saying something.

Lake Jake

We've had a record amount of rainfall in the area, and the rain FINALLY let up for the afternoon. I've been experiencing a little bit of cabin fever, so Jake and I went on a walk. We came across a flooded road and gave into our urge to just keep walking though it. For some reason, that made made my day. I blame the cabin fever. I've go soggy shoes and pruny feet to show for it! 

PS- New favorite dessert alert: Strawberry shortcake with....ready for this? Nutella in the middle. Take my word for it, it takes it to a whole new level. It will be repeated, I'm sure.

Hello gorgeous!

I talked Jake into getting Qdoba for dinner tonight. I'm currently stuck on the Ancho Chile Burrito, thanks to my wonderful fiance. I can't make a habit of this when I start living close to one!

Hipster Weekend in Columbus

I visited Miss Blair this weekend in Columbus, Ohio, where she's in Med School (I love bragging about that!). Knowing my very Hipster tendencies, she took me to North Market, full of local coffee shops and other goodies, all of which were fair trade, of course. :) I also highly recommend Northstar Café if you would like to continue your hipster tour of Columbus. I'm already planning a trip back, possibly as a stop on the way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ah, Summer. So many plans for you this year...

Yummy Belgian Waffle and coffee

Every good market needs some veggies       

 

Miss Blair overlooking North Market

Post Numero Uno

Welcome to my little blog! I never saw myself as the "blogging" type, but it just seems like to perfect way to document a time in my life that I am so excited to start (more on that later). You'll also see that I tend to call my friends by "Mister" or "Miss" such-and-such. Hence, the title of my blog. So excited to get started!