"My name is Emily..."

"....and it's been one week since my last blog post."

"Hi, Emily!"

"Where have you been Emily?"

"Seriously Ghetto Barbie, are you going to update before you leave for Israel?"

All things I've heard in the last week. Not kidding. You'd think I've been busy with pre-trip of a lifetime prep, or correcting papers before trip of a lifetime, or working on Pro-Cert Schmo-Cert, or writing up 5 days of sub plans, or running stairs at Lynden High School, or getting a head start on report cards since they're due the week I get back from trip of a lifetime. Lord grant me strength. And a personal assistant.

So it's been a whirlwind of a week.

First of all, I've been staying with this doll face for the last 10 days.

Isn't she just the cutest thing. That's her "Nanny Em is coming to stay with meeeeeeeeeee!" face. It's an excited face.

And this is her "Nanny Em is making chicken enchiladas for dinner and I'm going to daydream about them ALL DAY in class and at work after school" face. She loves Nanny's chicken enchiladas. It's the only reason she puts up with me and my constant whining about pro-cert schmo-cert.

And this is her "Nanny Em is leaving me and taking her chicken enchiladas with her!" face. It's been two days since I left the poor thing crying at the end of her drive-way. A can of cream of mushroom soup and defrosted chicken breasts in her hand. I should probably call and check on her. It was a good ten days. It's a team effort really. I feed her her favorite Nanny Em treats and she helps me correct math papers. If that isn't an equal partnership, I don't know what is.

In other non-nanny related news, I've been a busy bee. I'll spare you the boring details of educational related hoop jumping and only fill you in on the stuff you really care about. The current state of my hair grow out. Kidding. But it's getting out of control. I'm considering hair extensions and just ending it all. The agony of grow out, I mean. But I digress.

Friday night, some beloved friends and I celebrated the commence of the weekend with a Settlers of Catan tournament. I use the term "tournament" very loosely. Basically we had two tables going. The top 3 winners from each table would play in the final game. The losers would play in their own "Best loser" game. It's essentially just like our own March Madness except we started with the final four games. I have no pictures from the Settlers palooza, but I did take something away from the evening. A bitter taste of defeat. And a realization that I am an incredibly sore loser. Especially when you lose to someone who spent half the game saying, "I don't even know what I'm doooooooing!" Well, I did know what I was doing. I had a strategy. And I lost to Miss No Strategy Whatsoever. But I love her, so it's OK. I guess. Ugh. Still a little bitter.

Last night, a dear friend of mine assembled some other dear friends of mine for a "Safe Travels" party. Though it quickly became a "Don't get blown up!" party. Sheesh. Some people are so negative.

We ate dinner at the Copper Hog.

I love this picture. If I had a dollar for every picture of me yelling instructions to the camera man AS he's taking the picture....let's just say I could go to Israel every year. 5 times.

This cutie patootie couple is getting married in June. It will be my very first Canadian wedding. I'm going to be wearing red. With a white maple leaf necklace.

Ugh. The lighting in these places is just terrible. Don't architects and electricians take photography into consideration when they design and wire these places?!?


Then my buddy Marc and I played darts.

And similar to my bowling game later in the evening, it was ugly, people. Very ugly. Though when bowling, every person was equally as bad, so my ego didn't need the customary coddling on the car ride home.


Lord have mercy. Look at my hair. The direct result of grow out with a desperately needed highlight mixed with a light drizzle on the way into the restaurant. A deadly combination.

It was a wonderful night. We laughed. A lot. We ate. A lot. We bowled. And were bad. Then we all hugged each other, said goodnight, and went home.

The end.

Tomorrow I'll be posting my official "I'M LEAVING FOR EGYPT AND ISRAEL TOMORROW, AND I'M SO EXCITED THAT I'M TALKING IN ALL CAPS!" post. I will take you through each agonizing step of packing, as well as other pre-trip of a lifetime rituals. Like spending 4 hours in the bathroom, because my nerves are wreaking havoc on my body. Nah, I'm just kidding. I am very calm. I'm a picture of serenity. Honestly. Ask my friends. They're all worried enough for me. I'm just incredibly excited to be spending 12 days in the presence of God. No papers to correct. No pro-cert schmo-cert to work on. No horrifying tests to study for. No meetings to attend. Just me and God. And about 35 other people. But you get what I mean.

Until then, I bid you adieu.