Butler Sisters' Best Week Ever Part Deux

So of course, I don't have any pictures of this fun-filled seven days.
Double of course, I'm writing about it weeks after it happened.
But it was just so wonderful, that it actually brought me back to blogging after an insane few weeks (months?) of travel and end of school year activities.

MEB came to visit me in early June and the following list is comprised of just some of the fantastical events: (in random order)

Harry Potter, the Exhibit

Dinner at neighborhood faves Lomzyniaka and Amarin Cafe

Improv Show at the Magnet Theater

Beach Day at Brighton Beach

Doughnuts at Peter Pan Bakery

Drinks at enid's

Numpang sandwiches in Union Square

Chocolate coma induced by dessert at Max Brenner

Greenpoint neighborhood tour

Check out the links, and it will be just as if you were here for all the fun! Sort of.

Seeing Red

The title is a funny pun, see, because I have pink eye....and I'm mad about it. There has been an ongoing pink eye epidemic at my school for the past few weeks and I thought I had successfully avoided it through obsessive hand-washing, but apparently my eyes are just an irresistible environment for infectious disease. Gross.
So I was pretty unhappy about that when I woke up today, but then I was able to get an early doctor's appointment this morning and get some eye drops, and then Fer and I went to brunch together at Lokal, and it was a beautiful sunny day, so I'm actually feeling pretty good right now. Nice try conjunctivitis, but you can't keep Jessica Butler down.

It's Never Too Early for Cake

That was the title of an e-mail sent by my school principal this morning announcing that a student's grandmother had brought in a pineapple upside-down cake for the staff. Yes, the love just kept on coming for Teacher Appreciation Week. I felt like this showed extra special appreciation for me, as pineapple upside-down cake is my absolute favorite cake. (I know I'm such a 1950's housewife.)
So yes, I had a large, sugary piece of cake at 9:30 am today. I'd like to think the carbohydrate rush had a beneficial effect on my teaching, but there's probably no evidence for that.
And this is an ACTUAL picture of the cake. Don't be too jealous.
I will also include a link to a pineapple upside-down cake recipe in case anyone is feeling inclined to make me a belated birthday dessert.

Feeling the love

So I'm not going to provide you with any inspirational quotes about teaching here, because this just isn't this kind of blog (a serious one that is). But it WAS Teacher Appreciation Day on Tuesday, which has been extended into Teacher Appreciation Week at my school. We've been spoiled with a lot of special treats, including these beautiful flowers from the Parent Association. Yay!

Middle Schoolers Keepin it Real

Not much to report today. My middle school students have some big state tests coming up this week. Today I tried to work with them to develop positive self-talk and some messages they could use to encourage themselves during the test which feels interminable to them. They were supposed to make bright, colorful little signs with shiny messages like "Keep going!" and "I know how to do this!" I don't think too many of them bought it though. Probably the only honest one was the boy wrote "After I finish this I can do something else" and drew a picture of himself hanging out with friends at a Chinese restaurant.

*Trumpet Fanfare*

Announcing......the return of Rate Jess' Day!!
For no real reason other than feeling the need to share more of my daily life with friends and family through the interweb, I have decided to attempt a reentry into the blogosphere. I thought they had taken my page down due to some "objectionable materials" or "copyright infringement", but turns out that it was just a punishment for my extreme blogging laziness.

First big news of this new blogging era:
I'm also making another attempt at learning to play guitar (since trying to squeeze a piano into our apartment is unlikely at this point). Today I learned to play a slow and somewhat less than smooth version of Matt Nathanson's "Come on Get Higher." Check it out here:
Come On Get Higher on Youtube

And welcome back faithful readers!

Bollywood!!

Even though this happened on Monday night, I have been thinking about it ever since, so I have to blog about it despite lack of recentness (invented word). I went to a Bollywood dance class at a studio on the west side and had the best time! Finally got to live out my fantasy of taking part in a decadent Indian wedding, as we learned the dance to a song that the instructor said is really popular to play at weddings. Well, kind of...considering that I was surrounded by sweaty, middle-aged women in work-out gear, rather than glamorous, good-looking movie stars decked out in vibrant wedding finery. Regardless, I had so much fun, and had to look up the song when I got home so I could practice my moves. Check out this video that shows the song being performed in the movie of the same name: Om Shanti Om.

Things I have Done

The internet is working! Who knows how long it will last- must write quickly! Here is a list of things I have done in the past few days:
- Got new haircut! Really more of a trim, but big improvement. Would like to post pictures, but I haven't even brushed my teeth yet this morning, and feel it would take an inordinate amount of effort to get myself photo-ready. (Lazy.)

- Went to MOMA and finally saw the Matisse exhibit, as well as an exhibit of student work made in a class taught by our friend Gina Llerena, which was awesome!

- Voyaged across the East River to Governor's Island for Free Bike Friday, but was immensely disappointed when they cut off the line right ahead of me and I couldn't get a bike. Walked around dejectedly and glowered at everyone having the time of their lives riding their bikes around in the beautiful sunshine until I could catch the next ferry back.

- Found my new favorite TV show- "La Rosa de Guadalupe" on Univision.

- Went to Boca Juniors Argentine steakhouse in Queens, to watch the Boca Juniors game (appropriately). Ate entirely too much red meat.

- Stopped by a weird magic shop on the way back to the subway. Fer and I feared the proprietors would use their skills of redirection and illusion to relieve us of all our valuables, but we managed to escape only a few dollars lighter and bought a pretty cool trick deck for one of Fers students. I was entertained with card tricks the whole train ride home.

- Made an awesome peach/mango/banana smoothie. (An attempt to balance out my carnivorous luncheon.)

- Sent my mom a fantastic ABBA e-card for her birthday- TODAY August 15th!

Movie Review

Fer and I went to see a late showing of Dinner for Schmucks last night, which I went into with fairly low expectations based on reviews and reactions from friends. My expectations were not exceeded. While I find Steve Carrell and Zach Galifinakis pretty consistently hilarious, I think I would have better satisfied my comedy cravings by watching reruns of the Office and "Between Two Ferns". Which isn't to say the movie was completely charmless- there were some funny one liners, and the "mousterpieces" really cracked me up. Final verdict- a good choice for a late night vacation flick, but not worth the $12 NYC ticket price. Now tell me that isn't more useful than some silly star rating system.

Cannonball!!!

Lemme tell you, I love vacation, and I really love vacation here in Charlotte. I have no complaints about a day like yesterday, when we spent the whole afternoon at the pool with our good friends the Eddes. Although we were defeated in pool volleyball, I was on the victorious team in the salad bowl game!
We've also been eating some good food, which of course is a crucial component of any successful vacation in my book. On Tuesday night we went to New South Kitchen, where I had fried green tomatoes for the first time, followed by low country crab cakes, as well as some fantastic pecan pie. Mmm Southern cuisine- I could get used to this.

Chillin in the Queen City

We're on vacation in Charlotte, North Carolina! Had a bit of a fracas involving missing our flight yesterday, but after a long, pleasant (not so much) conversation with our friendly Delta representative, and a short trip from JFK to LaGuardia airport, we found our way here late last night. Highlight of the day was getting a dinner of 2 sizeable pizzas and two beers for $15. Our NYC-wired brains almost short-circuited when we saw the check.
Had a relaxing day here so far- necessary to recover from the stresses of travel yesterday (life is so hard). Went to the pool, which is lovely lovely and we plan to return every day. Only exception to the relaxation agenda was this morning when I dragged Fer with me on a seemingly endless trek to find a drugstore, oops. Umm, I didn't bring a camera on vacation (gasp!) so sadly I can't provide any fantastic pictures of our fun, unless I somehow figure out how to transfer pictures from the Blackberry to the computer (i.e. don't hold your breath).

MOMA!

I went to the MOMA (which receives my vote for cutest art museum name) today because I get free admission with my school ID and wanted to see the new Matisse exhibit. By the time I got there they didn't have any more timed admission tickets to the exhibit, which is apparently very popular, judging by this lack of tickets and abundance of Frenchies wandering around looking bemused. But it was ok because there are lots of other amazing things to see there- which some other museum patrons seemed to fail to understand as they stormed away from the ticket counter in outrage. I really liked an exhibit of works by female photographers and a "sound sculpture" called Days.

New News!

I'm not even gonna bother with the whole explanations bit this time...I'm just a bad blogger. But the internet is working this morning and inspiration struck, so here's some jess butler updates for y'all. I got a new job! Which most of you probably know, since thankfully I am (marginally) better at keeping in touch with my family and friends than keeping up with this blog. For the next year I will be the speech-language pathologist at a system of 3 charter schools in the South Bronx. I've already started observing, planning, and meeting everyone at the middle and high schools over the past 3 weeks. Now I have 2 weeks vacation before I start with the middle school- yippee!!
In other news- an eventful day in Central Park for me yesterday. I arrived at 7 in the morning to sit on line for free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park ("free" as in they only cost you six hours of your day). Was gleeful to obtain said tickets at 1 pm, even though they were for the show without Al Pacino (less famous people - boo hiss!). While wandering out of the park I was drawn to the sounds of jazz coming from the bandshell and suddenly found myself standing in a long line of people waiting for....something. While I was initially unsure of what this something was, I figured if this many people were waiting it was probably something a) good and b) free. And indeed it was! I had happened onto the celebration of Korea Day in the park where they were giving out plentiful samples of Korean food as well as demonstrating other aspects of Korean culture (which were interesting, but less delicious). I ended up consuming a Korean food feast, before continuing on my way out of the park. I returned later that evening with Fer for the show (A Winter's Tale) and we enjoyed a lovely evening of beautiful warm weather and open-air theater.

Busy Bee

Backdated: June 5, 2010 **

It's been a busy week! But at the end of it all- this little bee is now a MASTER of SCIENCE! I graduated! Beyond earning my degree, I would like to think that this title now grants me the power to answer any scientific question with absolute authority. I've been told that's not how it works however. The graduation ceremony for my program was held on Wednesday evening, and it was both a best day ever/you posted this event. Let me break it down for you, and have you decide.

Best Day Ever!

• Fer and my dad both came to support me and clap when I walked across the stage- it meant a lot to have both of them there celebrating with me.
• I received an award! With a cash prize!
• We all received congratulatory gifts in honor of our two years of hard work
• Brooke and I managed to get our pictures in the slide show even though we were never invited to all the A-list events organized by our classmates

You Posted This?

• Before the ceremony, graduates and families were invited to a reception dubbed a "mocktail" hour- an array of fruit, vegetable and cheese platters were laid out in the lobby of our ancient academic building, accompanied by a table full of bottles of soda. Similar to what you might attend for your child's preschool graduation. Seriously, we finished graduate school- they couldn't spring for a couple bottles of wine?
• Exact amount of aforementioned cash prize is TBD. Based on past financial dealings with Hunter, I'm prepared for the worst.
• The congratulatory gift was a crappy purple coffee cup
• One of the pictures of Brooke and me showed us in Rite Aid, bundled up in heavy winter coats and hats, holding pints of ice cream and grinning like mad women in anticipation of eating it

**Disclaimer: Various technological/internet connectivity issues have prevented me from posting this when I originally wrote, as I was on the Megabus headed to PY to visit my family. Lots has happened since then and I will attempt to address all the new news soon!

A few things...

1) I have come to the realization that participating in a boot camp class is a commitment to what some would call "extreme" pain for the next 3 days. I am still wincing when walking up and down stairs today.
2) I am not meant to live alone. When left to my own devices I allow myself to be swallowed up by an overwhelming wave of inertia, causing me to spend most of my time indoors staring at some type of glowing screen. Fer has been away for only two days, and in that time I have managed to watch 3 full-length movies, innumerable YouTube clips, 2 episodes of House, and half of a Mexican soap opera. Thankfully I was rescued from solitude today by Brooke, who kindly invited me to lunch at Caracas Arepas Bar. It was delicioso, and saved me from eating another meal consisting entirely of spoonfuls of peanut butter out of the jar. She also deserves a shout-out for giving me her free sample of freeze-dried bananas that we got while walking through a street fair.
3) While free events are really awesome, sometimes the crowd that attends them is not. Tonight I went to a cool and free arts festival at Theater for the New City, which is really close to the apartment. It was a fun way to spend the night and I got to see a few performances that I really enjoyed. The company left a bit to be desired however- apparently a majority of the audience members were under the impression that the zero dollars they spent for their seats gave them the right to boss everyone around and demand complete silence at all times. One lady actually shushed me and gestured for me to stop turning the pages of my program. Oh of course, I can see how the gentle swish of paper would be an assault on your ears, distracting you from the terrible poem being read aloud on stage as a filler between acts. Sheesh.

Yes Drill Sargeant!

So yesterday I was invited to dinner at the home of one of Fer's students (along with Fer of course). I hopped on a train over to Jersey City and spent a fantastic evening full of sushi, wine, dance performances, and......karaoke. I know, dream come true right?
But then today I was feeling guilty about skipping running group and instead eating 4 tons of sushi and custard and cheesecake. So I decided to finally go to this boot camp exercise class that I've been planning on attending for about a month now. And, sadly, I discovered that I am not the same spry young thing I was 5 or 6 years ago. The days when I delighted in being bullied into infinite sets of crunches and squats and lunges seem to be gone. Everything hurts.

The Wonder of the Internet!

With my newfound free time, I seem to have developed an unhealthy propensity to watch YouTube videos whenever I have 5 minutes that are not occupied by other activities. Downside: a lot of hours lost watching completely inane videos such as makeup tutorials (I wear makeup maybe once a month). Upside: finding some cool new music- like this! Check it out.

Los Ronaldos: No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti

I Am The Law

Yea...it's not as great as it sounds. After returning from a lovely trip to lovely Charlotte this weekend, I reported for jury duty on Monday morning as a dutiful citizen should. And I got picked for 4 weeks of grand jury service! I didn't even know what a grand jury was, having not been in a courtroom since my mock trial in AP History. (Boy, we defended the dickens out of FDR). Anyways, after now hearing several explanations in verbal, written and video form of the history, purpose and particulars of grand jury service I now feel confident that I understand my task. Sooo...I guess it's all up to me to keep the streets of Manhattan safe for all. Never fear denizens of this fine metropolis, Jessica Butler is on the case. And I'll be filling all my readers in on all the exciting details of the criminals that face the wrath of my justice. Just kidding- I don't relish the thought of being charged with a felony for revealing the secret proceedings that take place within the grand jury room. You'll all have to remain content with the mundane details of my daily life that I typically dole out to you. Please don't stop reading.

Big Day!

So yesterday was a Big Day!! Here's why:

First real job interviews with the KIPP schools. I think it went well despite the fact that I may have been squinting with one eye for most of the time....stupid contacts.

Last class of graduate school! It was strangely anticlimactic, but then I went out for some drinks with Brooke and Mariam and we toasted to the end of grad school several times...so obviously that made it seem more real.

My mom won Fingerlakes Home and Careers Teacher of the Year!! Send flowers, words of congratulations and blank checks!

I'm leaving for a short weekend trip to Charlotte today, so may not post again until Monday- have a happy weekend!

Spring Showers and Springer Ladies

Went for lunch on this rainy rainy afternoon at 88 Orchard with my friend Brooke and her mom Ilene. My bistro salad with dates, walnuts, goat cheese and red onion was delectable, but the real treat was the company I got to enjoy. Brooke's mom is visiting from Malta where she now lives. Last time she was here I met her and Brooke at a Starbucks, where Ilene had her first taste of that strong Seattle brew. Since then I've been keeping track of her through her fantastic blog: an-american-in-malta. On this current trip I begged her to write about some of the positive things about the Big Apple after reading a few posts chronicling some of her NYC misadventures. She kindly complied, and even dedicated the post to me! It made my day! So go check out her blog and learn more about ex-pat life in Malta!