Old Dog. New Tricks.

For some people, packing for a trip is an art form. Clothing is chosen with care and placed in a suitcase precisely, toiletries are in the correct ziplock-type bags to prevent spillage, etc. For me, packing for a trip has been a study in procrastination. I leave everything to the last minute. Case in point, when moving to Prague to teach, I left off packing until the night before. I ended up with way more stuff than I needed, and it was jumbled together in my suitcases in a tangle of clothes, shoes, and other miscellaneous junk. You would have thought I would have learned from my past mistakes and started culling the things to be packed for my return journey to the states last year in plenty of time to fit everything I needed into two suitcases and been able to ship the rest. Not so much. I crammed as much as I could into two suitcases, boxed up some stuff to ship home, and left the rest while I went out with my roommates and friends to drink more than I should have with an international flight the next day. I ended up having to pay a fee because my suitcases were over the weight limit for the domestic flight from New York to Ohio.

It's a year later, almost to the date, and I have a trip coming up. It's not so big as a trans-Atlantic move, and I'm not flying--I'm driving to Nashville for the North American National Championships for Irish Dance. I leave Thursday morning, and wonder of wonders, I started packing my suitcase last night. This old dog has learned a new trick.

Welcome to the World

Monday morning, Kaden Allen entered the world. I'd like to congratulate mom Lori, dad Chad, and big brother Kegan!

Opposites attract

More meaningful posts later, but watching giant Kournti learn foxtrot from shorty Jean Marc Generaux was the funniest thing I've seen in a while.

June 12 of 12

I had a late start to this month's 12 of 12, because I forgot it was 12 of 12 day until almost 4 pm. Luckily, I had my camera in my purse. Better late than never!



3:45-ish I had a caffeine craving and got an iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks.





4:00 pm: I must have had caramel on the brain. Recipes like David Lebovitz's make me want to get an ice cream maker.





7:30 pm: Walking to my car after a 1 hour zumba class. I've been going to classes at least 3x per week, I'm addicted!





7:35 pm: My dinky softball glove from almost 14 years ago. I recently joined a social softball team. I think I need to get a bigger glove--this on is a little small.





7:45 pm: A bird in my yard.





7:45 pm: Citronella lamps on the back porch. It gets very buggy in my neighborhood due to a semi-wetland at the bottom of the hill behind our house.





8:00 pm: My avocado treelings have grown quite a bit since I started them from seeds in January. I'm quite proud of them, even though I'm pretty minimal when it comes to gardening. My thumb has a hint of green.





8:05 pm: I became certified as a zumba instructor almost a month ago. It was mostly for my own benefit--to understand a bit more of the choreography and movement involved. I became part of the zumba instructors network (ZIN) and my new choreography dvd & accompanying music came in the mail today. I'm so excited, I can't wait to try it out!





8:10 pm: The crazy out of control rose bush in front of the house.





8:15 pm: One of my cucumber plants. Soon I'll have cucumbers instead of flowers.





8:20 pm: Silly puppies ready to go inside.





8:40 pm: Andy shamelessly begging for table food.