summer is...

guided by voices
champagne in the afternoon
being burned by the grill
dirty fingernails
flowering fruit trees
wishing you had a dog
inappropriate clothing
excuses to go to happy hour

can you wait?

This morning I am watching the Hornets Nuggets game, hoping the Hornets can get it together and win! There are so many movies we still want to see, but they take a backseat to Basketball for now. I will try to not get sucked into the NFL draft today.

The list:
Slumdog Millionaire
Gran Torino (I am going to try to rent this today)
Revolutionary Road
The Wrestler
Defiance
State of Play
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Il Divo
Wendy and Lucy
The Reader (I want to see this one, I am going to try to fit it in this weekend.)

I have been listening to NPR's coverage of Detroit over the last few days and am inspired to take a deeper look at the city depicted in the arts. Did you know the original script for Gran Torino took place in Minneapolis and Clint Eastwood switched it to Detroit? The move was for a tax break and symbolism. Go Pistons!

Esther Grace Maguire

Sometime around 4:30 on Saturday morning, Heather and I became an Aunt and Uncle. My sister and Gary had a baby!
This is Esther Grace:


I got to go down and see her shortly after she was born. She was mostly sleeping and looking pretty comfy wrapped up like a burrito.


See ya later Esther! Let me know if you wanna come hang out in Seattle sometime.

Last night we went out. It has been along time. The last 3 weeks have been dominated by my job. we went to see Blue Velvet on the big screen at Central Cinema, a cool cinema where you can eat and drink while watching a movie. (Sort of like at home) It was amazing! I have seen the movie several hundred times, but never on the big screen. (I feel very lucky to have married someone who has the same taste as me!)

I am on Spring Break now, still nursing a wicked cold and leave for Kauai tomorrow morning for a much needed vacation! We have been taking it easy due to the germs going around and the weather that refuses to clear and warm. I finally picked up Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog! So great! Joss continues his reign! Can't wait to see what he comes up with next. While nerding out I found a Map of the Verse! Very cool...add this to my list. If you are reading this and are a Whedonist, vote for Dr. Horrible for the Streamy Audience Choice award.

We went to the Sounders first game and it was awesome!!! We look forward to going to more games and watching our new team on tv too! They are really good and we were starved for some local live sports!!!

Bush Street in San Francisco's new street sign.

The Big Picture website has some amazing photos of the historic day.

Devoutdolls Octobabies are so adorable and edgy.

Reader Photos of the inauguration day uploaded to the NYT.

If you like that old time banjo music, check out the Field Recorders' Collective.

At paste magazine you can personalize the famous Shepard Fairey Obama poster.

Who doesn't like a youtube dog video?



Have a great weekend!

take a few moments to say goodbye to George....

I had to work today...it was worth it!

p.s. it was spirit hat day, so i supplied the students with red, white and blue hats and gloves for this historic day. these photos are right before lunch, that's why we are lined up and ready for recess. i had to hold my emotions in all day long, luckily we have a TV in our classroom, so we watched part of the inauguration this morning. it was amazing and more importantly....the kids love President Obama. With that in mind, I do believe that he will change our world in more ways than we can ever imagine.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."

-- Martin Luther King Jr., Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963

In the spirit of MLK Jr. the call to service for this national holiday is needed now more than ever. USA Service is one website where you can find service opportunities. I plan on donating feminine hygiene products and some canned food to a local food bank. On the Second Harvest website you can find local food banks. I am counting on my Animal Shelter hours as my ongoing commitment to my local community...I hope that with this initiative the volunteering bug will spread.

Oh course I have the day off. The sun is shining and it is slowly getting warmer. Yesterday I got the vacuum and other stuff for the house. So, today I am hoping to take it easy.
There are 13 basketball games on today! I will probably only watch 3, thank goodness we do not have cable, huh?! As I was looking up the start times I came across the article The Meaning of Obama: NBA Embraces New Leader's Message and it sounds as if Dreams from my Father would be right up my alley. (For more reasons than one.) I am excited in general, but it is even more exciting to think of an active, in shape president who also plays and watches basketball.

Warren Skalski/NBAE via Getty Images

... And I could play basketball, with a consuming passion that would always exceed my limited talent ... --Barack Obama

Schmancy is a cool store in downtown Seattle, which is having some problems in the current economy. Nancy and Fancy are located in the same block and the three of them have some great, handcrafted toys, housewares and jewelry. We never go out shopping, but yesterday we went downtown and braved the wind and cold temperatures to take care of some of our needs.

Zanadu was one stop and we picked up a stack of comics, which was exciting. We rarely get to go to the comics store together. Pull Shapes , B.P.R.D., Hellboy, Echo and blue monday were all procured and I stayed in bed today and read them while Topher went to work. Lucky me!

Topher is home now and we thought we were going to go to a movie, but instead we are going to watch the Flight of the Conchords. Work this week was okay, Friday was pajama day and most classes had parties. We watched Underdog and had popcorn and hot cocoa and cider. The students could all bring one stuffed animal, so the younger grades were pretty bananas with all the excitement. It was pretty cute! Tonight Topher is going to see the dwarves with his buddies and I plan on continuing to do the stuff I go on the weekends, yoga, cleaning, reading, knitting and getting ready for the week...

We decided to go out on a real date (Thanks Mom!) for New Years Eve. (With new clothes and haircuts to boot!) We headed home before midnight, while we still could walk and the rest of the night was fun and a bit of a blur. We played our favorite songs from 2008 for each other and drank some bubbly. Here is the only photo of us together from the night, but the rest are pretty funny!

2008 was great and we can not wait to see what 2009 brings us!

Happy New Year!