I've been tagged by Claudia. Here are the rules and what it all means:
Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random things, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, you choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them to be tagged.
1. If I could have any jobs in the world it would be a stage actress (musicals) - join the club, right? - or to make muppets. Muppets. Sesame Street. Could you ever have a bad day if it was your job to make Elmo's? How does one go about applying for that job?
2. I have always wanted to live in a studio apartment on a main downtown street in an East Coast city. It doesn't have to be a big apartment or particularly nice (no roaches though), but just be able to look out over the city as people are living and moving and going places. To be right in the middle of the action would be so interesting. And why do I want to be in the middle of the action - or observing it, anyway?
3. Becuase I enjoy busy places. Airports. Malls in the days just before Christmas. Fairs and carnivals. Sporting events. I like watching people, wondering where they are going and what their lives are like. And seeing how people interact with each other when they don't think anyone notices. I'll skip a traffic jam, though.
4. My dream vacation would be to visit Italy and the Greek islands. It looks so romantic and expensive. Hunky Italian men, all the pizza you could ever want, the accents, the museums, the history...
5. I'm not a sucker for shoes. For me it's white shirts all the way. I'll take 'em with colars, without, button down, pullover, sweaters, t-shirts, tank tops (to go under things, of course)...bring 'em to me baby!
6. My secret ambitions are to be a poet and a professional scrapbooker. I'm not bad at either one, but I'm not great either. But I would love to do it. Even if just one poem made it to an anthology somewhere, I would be satisfied. But there are so very many people who write and are very good. Becuase I don't write in a journal, poems and scrapbooks are cathartic for me.
7. The most fun I've ever had (and one of those things that you would love to do but never thought you'd get the chance to do) was be in a band with my friends Megan and Alisha. We had about a seven month stint, but we played regularly at The BlueKat, a local club which no longer exists, and a few other places in the area (SUU, Groovefest, Brian Head concert series...). It happened by accident. After knowing Meg for years but never hearing her sing, I stumbled upon her as she played a song that she wrote. I loved it - her songs didn't sould like they were written by someone who was writing their first songs. My roomate Alisha was a great guitar player and had sung in a group as well. Neither had met each other and so I invited Meg to come to my house and play with Alisha becuase I though they might appreciate each other's talent. Then I got out my mandolin - which I still don't play well, but I started picking out a harmony. We went to a local record store and played a few songs at their open mic night, and were asked to play at the opening of the BlueKat. We quickly got together about 30 minutes worth of music and were suddenly a band. We had at least one show a week for the next few months. Mostly we got paid in a meal or a soda, but it was so fun. But big kid life kicked in and it came to an untimely end. I'd do it again in a hearbeat though.
8. My favorite places to be are museums and watching theatre productions. I love it. I want to work in a museum (master degree in museum education???). Like I mentioned before, I would love to work as an actress. So if I can't be one, the next best thing is watching shows, right?
9. Confession time...guilty pleasures...soundtracks to musicals in which I can pretend I am the lead singer (Wicked and How To Succeed In Business are my top picks); Justin Timberlake (blush); Anything with Keri Russell in it including the made for TV movies; Dancing With The Stars; three MTV reality shows - The Hills, Life of Ryan, and Newport Harbor. Newport Harbor is a train wreck, but I can't turn away!
10. Most of my monthly expendible cash goes to eating out. My mother would probably say Walmart, which is second, but I spend more money on eating out than anywhere else. My mission - besides teacher parking spots - is to find the best pizza in Utah, using two WI pizza joints as the standard. I'm still looking. I also love seafood. Crab or lobster. Not much of that here, which is probably a good thing. Shrimp is a distant but sometimes sufficient substitue.
My nephew is precious. He is the sunshine in a dark world. He is peace amid the chaos. The harmony to the discord. He is the smartest baby ever to live. And I am his favorite person besides his parents to play with. So what does that make me? Only the coolest aunt ever! 
Heeey youu guuuys! Cannon Beach
The old growth forests are breathtaking! This one is at Cape Meares State Forest.
I am so lucky to have someone I have so much fun with!
Um, Little People, Big World...love the show, saw the farm from a distance, good times!
Downtown Portland is fantastically hip and cozy at the same time...my kind of city.
A true Mini. Think they'd fit?
I decided it was about time I updated this thing so that frightning holloween image that stares back at me when I pull up my blog wasn't haunting me anymore. Lots of little things have been going on along the way but I haven't said much about them, so permit me to hodgepodge my way through this update. First, Cedar City has participated in a National Endowment for the Arts program called The Big Read for the last two years. Basically, the community agrees on a book to study and there are community activities to participat in based on the plot or themes in the book. Just about every book on the NEA's list are books taught at Cedar High (we're soooo cool). One thing the community did this year to promote reading was to make "Read" posters - usually highlighting celebreties with their favorite books - showcasing community member and students with their favorite picks. Your's truly graces one of these posters, now hanging in the Cedar City Library. 
Homecoming was a month ago, but it was a blast. Cedar High is steeped in tradition, one of which is to decorate every inch of the main level. I helped/chaperoned again this year (now one of my traditions). 
Mikie is growing up so much, and he loves playing with his Uncle Mark and Uncle Clayton.
This spring, as school came to a close, a graduating student gave me a pastel drawing he had made of the fingers of Kolob Canyon. It is beautiful but to display it, it needed a frame becuase it smudges so easily. So I went to have a frame made for it. No big deal, right? I'm guessing $50 is what it would cost. It isn't a standard size so buying a frame at Walmart would be impossible. So I had a frame made. Now I need an insurance policy for it becuase it cost so much! I was going to display it in my classroom, but now that the frame could be sold on the black market and make a kid enough money to by a handgun or a years worth of drugs I am having second thoughts.
Very rarely does a person get to meet the author of a book she enjoys. Even more infrequently does a teacher get to meet the author of a book she teaches becuase of our inclination to teach books by dead people. I recently got to meet Orson Scott Card, the author of Ender's Game. At the end of the previous school year, I was searching for a book that would appeal to the boys in my classess. Girls will read anything, but if a boy doesn't like the book we're reading he'll just stop. I finally came to Ender's Game. A week before school started, Mr. Card was in town to speak at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and was scheduled to do a book signing later that day. I found out the day before, and was planning all of the things I was going to say to him. I was second in line, I approached the table, and...and...I couldln't think of anything to say! And after a moment of stuttering - during which time he is signing my books - words just started spewing from my mouth. I "gushed," said one of my friends who attended with me (I attended with my English teacher friends from work). It was pretty embarassing as there were many many people behind me in line, including my colleagues, but he was very gracious about it and kindly obliged to take a picture with us. Nice man and fabulous book!
