the evolution of Leni

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

It's 1am and I'm exhausted. I am not even half way done with my Teaching Event (TE) and that stresses me out. It is not due until March 2, but I was really hoping to have it done by tonight. (Tonight being Sunday evening.)

I am going to finish up the task I am currently working on, save a back up copy (just in case) and then get a couple hours of sleep. My alarm is set for 4am, the time that M will be waking up. We'll have a quick early morning Starbucks date before he hits the road to go back to LA for work. I will stay at Starbucks [with what I predict will be a VENTI] and work on my TE until it's time for me to teach the first graders.

Here's to a SUPER productive week where I do an awesome job on my TE and somehow manage to get enough sleep to teach and tutor and play well in my soccer play off games -- which are on Tuesday and Thursday!

Ready, Set, Go!!

Bittersweet Friday

I'm glad that it's finally Friday and that this terrible week is finally over, but I'm not nearly as far on my Teaching Event as I wish I were. I was hoping to be done (or close to done) BEFORE the weekend started. I guess that was just wishful thinking. Hopefully I can find the time to babysit, tutor, finish my TE and relax this weekend!

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Here's to a productive yet relaxing weekend!

 

Worst Week Ever!

I walked out to my car after teaching today to find that someone hit my car and didn't leave a note. [Thanks, a**hole.] I'm stressed out from my teaching event, and still dealing with this issue only it's a little worse this week, this was the LAST thing I needed to deal with. The damage to my car is less than my deductible, so all expenses to fix it all come out of my pocket. My deductible is $1000 and, clearly, I don't have the money to fix it. I'm livid.

The only happy note I have to offer is that we won our first playoff soccer game tonight. While it feels good, it doesn't make up for the terrible week I've been having! Please let my luck turn around soon.

 

Camera Comparison

M spent the past weekend with me even though I was gone for more than half of it. I had to get up at 6:30am the last three days to babysit. I also tutored on Saturday afternoon and Monday afternoon.

M and I did find some time on Sunday to walk around Newport Beach for an hour or so. [We took some pictures in a photo booth and I lost two games of ski ball to M!] M and I also walked around and took some photos together outside. I had my little point-and-shoot camera, as usual, but also brought along my old Sony DSC-F828.

I've had the Sony F828 since 2003. It's only 8 mega-pixels and somehow manages to take better photos than my 12 MP Nikon S630 (bought in 2009) point-and-shoot.

Here is a good example of what I'm talking about. The first two photos were taken with the Nikon S630 with two different settings to try and get the background to show up.

 

Notice how the background is overexposed in both of those first two photos? Below is the Sony F828 photo. The colors are better and you can see the background. Clearly a big difference!

 

I didn't actually plan to compare the cameras, it just ended up happening when the first photos with the point-and-shoot didn't come out well. Otherwise, I would have brought my other Nikon to compare. I just so happened to have those two on my because I use them to take photos and video in the first grade classroom.

It's crazy that a camera that is 6 years OLDER with fewer mega-pixels would take better photos than one with newer technology! What I love about the Sony F828 is that I can always rely on it to take good photos. Because of it's age, it is the camera that I can take everywhere (including on vacations) and don't have to worry about. It's never failed me; night time, day time, low light, bright light ... this camera does an awesome job.

Spunky Love

Spunky has been so lovey that it's beginning to get a little annoying. Without my sisters here to play with her as well, she turns to me for all of her attention. Lex mailed both of us a Valentine (it was literally addressed to "Leni and Smushy Cat"). It was the cutest valentine I had ever seen and it even came with a heart shaped silly band!

I opend the card with Spunky in my lap,  read it and then put in the coffee table. I walked into the kitchen to grad some dinner and came back to see this:

Her punishment was to take one more photo with it (which was difficult because all she wanted to do was bite and play with it!)

 

 

Crunch Time

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I love this image. It made me smile when I saw it and I hope it did the same to you.

The next seven days are going to be tough for me. I have a week to finish my Teaching Event and I juggle the usual teaching, tutoring, classes and studying to do on top of that.

Ready, set, GO!

 

Loveliness You Don't Want To Miss

I have this adorable video for you today. I hope you have an enjoyable and productive President's day.

I found this beautiful video via Black Eiffel. You can view similar videos in other languages here.

Valentine's Decor

Love is all over my apartment and I love it.

 

A little "I LOVE YOU" banner above my bed. [I think I might leave this one up awhile.]

 

 

In the dark:

And of course the tent:

 

At some point this weekend, I think M and I are supposed to celebrate Valentine's day. Not sure when or how that will happen. M already saw all the decor when he visited me last week, so it won't be a surprise. He also knows that I plan on keeping it around for at least the month of February.

I'm also back to babysitting this weekend. I have the 7:30am-11:30am shift on both Saturday and Sunday. This Monday is a holiday, so at least I'll get that day off from school! I might have to babysit on Monday morning again, but they wont let me know until Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully M won't have to work either. (Or perhaps he can at least work from home!)

In addition, I also have a huge project (known as the "Teaching Event" or PACT) that I need to work on this weekend. It is rumored to be about 100 pages long when it's finished.  I have a couple of weeks to finish it up, but I need to at least get started on it so that I'm not up all night to finish it before the due date!

Have a romantic and productive weekend!

 

 

In A Rut.

I'm in a rut. A BIG, FAT rut. I don't know exactly how to get out of it. I have this overwhelming feeling of unhappiness. A bit of a depression, perhaps. I've been trying to keep myself busy and surrounded by happy things and thoughts, but nothing seems to help. I even tried wallowing in my own pity for awhile hoping that it would then pass. Apparently it decided to stay even though I wanted it to go.

Bags full of Valentines.

The first graders had a Valentine's day party on Friday. Because I have class on day Friday, I'm not able to make it to the first grade classroom. Yesterday was Lincoln's birthday, and therefore a holiday, so I got my Valentine's today.

I spent the night going through all my Valentine's from the little first graders. They're so cute. Spunky really thought they were all for her. I tried to tell her that they were mine, but she wouldn't hear any of it!

While the little notes and candy were my favorite, Spunky loved the ribbons and bags.