Be Grateful #7

We were at this concert last night, which is why I didn't get to post.  I'm just giddy over the panorama option on my new (Zach's old) iPhone!

1)  I'm so thankful Zach and I got to travel to Tulsa and Kansas City this weekend.  I'm thankful we got to go to the zoo, see some friends, eat some good food, and hear Florence + the Machine live!  I also have to say I'm thankful that we got our hotel room for free by joining a rewards program that awarded 80,000 points upon enrollment AND that we got upgraded for being a member of said rewards program AND our hotel only cost 20,000 points...so we can get more free hotel stays when we travel again.  :)

2)  I'm thankful Zach (or was it Terry and Adriane?) introduced me to World Market.  I love that place.  I would die if we had one.  I just wish they hadn't gotten rid of Crunchies.

3)  I'm thankful we will be halfway through the semester next week!  Next week, one class is taking their midterm; this week, another class is workshopping papers, turning them in next Tuesday, and beginning the new unit, which is my FAVORITE; after next Thursday, I'll be done at Phoenix.  :)

4)  I'm thankful for my two students who were sincerely disappointed when they found out I was teaching Composition II in the spring because they wanted to take me again.

5)  I'm thankful for places that offer sweet tea.  Mixing sugar into iced tea is not the same, and non-sugar sweeteners are GROSS.

6)  I'm thankful to have a home to which I can come home.  (Can you tell I've been teaching grammar for three hours this evening?  Woof.)

7)  I'm thankful it's the holiday (and candy!) season!  We have to get some candy corn M&M's; I tried them tonight, and they taste like cake batter!!

8)  I'm thankful for new episodes of shows on Netflix.  Time to catch up on Parks & Rec...

Photo a Day in September #29

29.  Animal

 the only elephant we saw up close

(Somehow, we missed the elephants when we were walking around.  Zach and I saw them on our train ride.)

 tour-twa-ziz

(Tortoises pronounced the French way.)

 the striped donkeys

 This giraffe was a total CREEP.  He was 20 and chasing three- and five-year-olds (giraffes, that is).

 Ah, this picture doesn't capture the ugly gray flamingo.  but do you see the injured one?  He was FED UP with his bandages...

 Sea animals?

 Of course, I had to photograph some birds...

This bird looks fake. Like out-of-a-Yeats'-philosophical-poem fake.

 Even amphibians need their beauty sleep.  (Who knew?  I didn't.  Amphibians are beautiful.  ;)

I tried to post this last night, but I couldn't get my Photo Stream to load my photos.  We are out of town this weekend (Tulsa, then Kansas City), and we were staying at a friend's house, so I was on her Internet.  Zach had already fallen asleep, so I had no one to figure out what was going on with my Photo Stream.  So I surrendered and went to sleep.  :(

We came down (well, over) to Tulsa Saturday afternoon, had lunch at Wendy's, and met Sheena and Dallas at the zoo.  Zach found some LivingSocial vouchers for the zoo back in May, and we tried to use them when we were over in June.  However, we ran out of time, so we planned to come back in the fall to use them.  This was seriously the only time we could go this fall.

It was an enjoyable afternoon.  We saw lots of cool animals, including a family of monkeys in which the tiniest one was swinging on his "mommy's" tail and catching her poop!  Zach captured the poop moment on video, but narrowly missed the swinging one.  Sheena and Dallas had to leave earlier (for separate obligations), but Zach and I stayed and rode the train around the zoo.

On our way out, it started to pour.  Sheena had a family dinner, so we were going to go back to her house, so I could work on some class stuff (grading and planning) and Zach could work on some insurance stuff with his scooter.  But I was already hungry, so we headed to Andolini's for pizza instead.  They have AMAZING pizza:

 We did pineapple and red onion this time.  My husband LOVES pineapple pizza.

I was freezing in the restaurant.  I made Zach give me his jacket, which he offered on our first date.  :)

(We hadn't received our food yet, and I was ready to jump over the sneeze guard to where they were tossing pizza crust to steal some garlic knots!)

After dinner, we went back to Sheena's, and I attempted to grade a few outlines before I gave in to girl talk.  Then Dallas came over, and we watched The Five-Year Engagement, which had some dark moments but ended well.  Zach didn't watch much of the movie because his TMJ was bothering him:

 He finally woke up after falling asleep and caught the last third of the movie.  All in all, it was a good trip to Tulsa!

Be Grateful #6

yummy white chocolate cream brûlée at Greenhouse Grill before Noises Off

1)  I am thankful it's week six of the semester.  Only ten to go until finals (I believe ;)!  I do enjoy my classes (teaching and students), but as this is only my second semester to teach, it's still rough at times.  Speaking of that, I'm relieved that the quality for my Phoenix class this time around is much higher.
2)  I am happy that we bought a Theatre Squared subscription so we can go to hilarious plays every other month.  Noises Off made my weekend.
3)  I am grateful for the encouragement I find in the Quaker meeting we attend.  We don't get to go as often as we like, but when we do, we are never disappointed in meeting with Friends and with God.
4)  I feel appreciated by my workplace this week.  They honored us part-time folks last Friday with a video and a certificate.  :)
5)  I am so proud of my husband, who was one of two people from our division accepted to an advanced leadership training program.  He's going to keep doing great things!
6)  I am pleased that husby and I got to celebrate our anniversary (third wedding/fourth together) with a low-key celebration.  It was so sweet!
7)  I am ready for the weekend:  Vietnamese home cooking in our home, zoo times in Tulsa, and Florence + the Machine in Kansas City!

Fondue is Fundoings

So about a week and a half ago, we had little fondue shindig at The Owlery, and it was so much fun.  The food was AMAZING, y'all.  The cheese fondue was gone in about an hour!  We hope this becomes an annual event since we got our fondue pot from Jenni for our wedding . . . and we are only now using it for the first time.  (The SHAME, folks.  The HORROR!)  It was so easy (and SCARY) to use Sterno to melt chocolate into a boiling mess of sugary sweet chocolatey soup.  Ahhh.

Onto the photos!

(Someday, I promise, I will have a nice camera again.)

We hung lanterns on our porch to make it festive.  :)

 I made this extra large so you folks could hopefully read it.

Fun-Do-Mentals

 savory spread

Roasted potatoes in cheese fondue is slap-yo-mama good!

 sweet spread

Amy prepares to dig in.  Actually, I guess she already did since the skewer is in her mouth.  Hmmm.

 Sheena gets more red.

 Sheena and Jess chill on the belanterned balcony.  (Yes, I just invented the word "belanterned.")

 I gave my camera to Zach so I would actually be in some photos.  I think you can tell which ones he took.  ;)

 Ladies

 my eye

 I don't know what was so funny to Mervin and Dallas...

 Zach regales the group with the story of our iPhone in the lion's den (er, cage--true story that I will share sometime ;).

 themed-dinner makers
Once a month, we have a themed dinner.  It's such fun!  Next up is Moroccan, I think?

 The Tulsa Folks

 My husband bombed the Jeb...yeah-I-can't-EVER-spell-their-last-name's.

We're from the Pharr side.

And cat photos (after we spiked their water with catnip on the day of the party):

Hobie, who usually FEARS strangers, was very social and posed for a photo.

Typically social Dinah spent most of her time hiding on the stairs...

 ...until I gave her more catnip so she would come out.

This pillow is also how we drug our cats.  Hobie has had it for as long as I have known him.  *lol*

 Then they entertained us all by chasing the laser!

Hope you enjoyed looking at our party!  If you have a chance to have fondue, DOOO!  *wink wink*