So, I went to my 20th reunion and lived to tell about it! Tuesday, Jul 7 2009

What do you get when you put 50 women from a now defunct all-girls’ Catholic high school in a ballroom together? A PAWTY! (look up N’Awlins speak to decipher)

Interestingly, not much has changed. We had a girls’ night dinner on Friday night and the big shebang at a fancy French Quarter hotel on Saturday, with spouses invited (about half took up that offer.) Most of us hadn’t seen each other since we promised to K.I.T. when we left school in May 1989. Some had gone to the 5, 10, or 15 year reunions. However, with the popularity of facebook, we found almost 70% of our class online. Not everyone could attend because, unlike the NOLA tradition of staying near family, many classmates had moved away. Some were for jobs, some for spouses, some for Katrina. But, we were able to get about 50-60 girls in for the two-night affair.

Funny thing. When I looked around at the tables… we were all sitting in our cafeteria spots. Habits are hard to break, even after twenty years. We eventually mingled and realized what we’d been missing all this time. We all went out afterward to a (you can picture it in your head) Bourbon St. bar and danced and sang until 4 a.m. In the time since the reunion there have been sporadic gatherings and promises of monthly ones to come.

We’ll see but, I know I hope the spirit of our school continues on.

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Summertime… and the living ain’t so easy Tuesday, Jun 30 2009

It’s been one hellacious summer; already.

My library had to be packed up to move to the new school site and I had to prepare my library for the new school.  (oodles of fun, I HIGHLY recommend it)

It’s hot as Hades out there, can’t even stand to walk outside, much less partake in any family events.  I only have one kiddo left in summer camp.  And, she’s raring to go to Kindergarten so she’s not really digging the whole summer camp scene. The eighth grader and fourth grader are itching to get at my last nerve, but I have locked it away and they can’t have it.

GNOWP has gone on without me, sadly.  I couldn’t participate this year, much to my dismay.  At least I still got to keep in touch with them via Twitter and facebook.

I’m gearing up for the new school opening this August.  I’ll likely be back to work on July 20th to get the ball rolling.  Luckily, my two youngest, have tested into the academic magnet school where I am, so they’ll be with me and get a great enriching education.  BUT, it means all new uniforms, new friends, new everything.  I have a feeling they’ll be OK.

As for me… I’ve been doing what else.. reading and watching TV.  I rewarded myself with a Kindle2 for lots of overtime work and I’m thoroughly addicted.  Keeping up with my favorite authors on Twitter has become a new fave pastime.  Check some of them out at my twitter page http://twitter.com/noladawn

I promise (ok, I’ll make an attempt) to keep my blog updated more often.  Life tends to get away with you when you work too many hours and have three active kids.

Missed y’all!

NOLADawn

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Just Because Friday, Aug 15 2008

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

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Wordless Wednesday- What’s more amazing than the circus? Tuesday, Jul 1 2008

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Summer Fun Thursday, Jun 26 2008

So, summer is off and running… I’m still working, sort of.  I’m helping out with the Greater New Orleans Writing Project, voluntarily 😀  It ends on July 9th, then I’ll have two weeks off before the Advanced GNOWP Institue starts, which I’m taking as a student…  Yay!  That lasts two weeks, then school starts back for me on August 6th.  So much for summer, huh?!  I have had some fun though.  Tuesday night I took my eldest daughter (going on 12 -going on 30-) to see Carrie Underwood.  By some sheer luck I snagged floor seats right next to the ramp where she walks out on the day of the concert!  Fantastic show!  It was her last date of the tour.  Then, last night hubby and I took the entire brood, plus our son’s best friend, to see the Ringling Bros. Circus.  They had a blast (as did I!)  We’re planning on taking them to the brand new Audubon Institute Insectarium that opened a few weeks ago.  It’s in the U.S. Customs House, which was sitting empty on Canal Street.  Since I last blogged we have also gained a new family member, a kitten we rescued from a lunatic teenager that was trying to drown him in a bucket of water.  Hubby came to the rescue and Gus now rules the house, even though he weighs not 2 pounds soaking wet!  Charlie has again taken on the “Baby Daddy” role.  Such a great Dad!

I’ll check back in as my super summer progresses…

Gus-Gus

Carrie Underwood

Big Kitties at the Circus

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I’m not dead… Thursday, Apr 17 2008

Sorry I haven’t been around.  School is really hectic this time of year.  Add to that the three kids, four cats, two dogs, National Poetry Month :D, gearing up for the Writing Project this summer, and- oh I don’t know- trying to sleep… and blogging has taken a bit of a back seat.  Plus, there’s that little addiction I have to PackRat on facebook LOL

Miss you all, I’ll be back in June in full force!

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Wordless Wednesday #21- No TV for you!! Tuesday, Nov 27 2007

TV?? No TV for you! Not while cats are around!!

View more WW participants!

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Manic Monday- Rank Sunday, Nov 25 2007

 

Rank

When I think of rank while blogging of course the fact that my Google Page Rank has dropped from 4 to 2 in a week and that my Technorati Rank has dropped from the 200s to 38 in the last month are in the forefront… but I’ll leave that to Mo to talk about on The Mo Show this week.

Instead I’ll discuss interesting rank orders for my beloved city of NOLA 😀

• Ranks #17 as Best city for singles.
• The port of New Orleans ranks 5th in the WORLD for trade.
• Ranks #1 in Travel and Leisure… gee, I wonder why?
• Unfortunately… ranks #8 for Dangerous Cities (but hey, Hartford, CT beat us for 7th place!)
• And, #50 for business… bring your money back to NOLA!

Visit Mo for more Manic Monday info!

 Header created by Janna!

 

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Cool new site… Friday, Nov 23 2007

FreeRice is a site where you can play a vocabulary game to boost your verbal skills and feed hungry people at the same time. How awesome is that? I have to admit, it’s quite addictive.

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I’m back…. Tuesday, Nov 20 2007

Back from my trip to NYC, that is. It was super busy and I didn’t get to go to any of the fabulous places that Steven recommended. We didn’t get to our hotel until 2am thanks to delays in our flights. The rest of the trip was fully taken up by the conference, but I was so happy by that. I met and got to speak to some of my all time favorite children’s authors; Jerry Spinelli, James Howe, Linda Sue Park, Walter Dean Myers, Katherine Paterson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Sarah Weeks… Wow! what an amazing time it was. James Howe asked ME if he could give me a hug! Not the other way around!! So, all I really saw of NYC was the walk back and forth from the Convention Center to our hotel, but I saw Times Square, 7th Avenue, and Broadway. I guess that will do for now 😀 Plus, I got to eat some amazing Brownie Cheesecake at Lindy’s.

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Too overwhelmed… Monday, Nov 12 2007

I guess that would put it mildly.  I’m exhausted because I volunteered all weekend at our school’s booth at the town fair.  Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast… but now I’m paying for it.  The big girl was sick today and my dear mother left work early to come and get her and take her to her house so we could both go to work.  Tomorrow interim reports go home.  Wednesday night is Family Math Night (of which I’m in charge) and I’m leaving Wednesday afternoon to go to NYC for my conference so I’m busy getting the entire thing ready now.

And, the worst news of all, my darling nephew-to-be has been diagnosed with cancer.  My niece will be 26 in two weeks; he will be 30 next month.  He has malignant melanoma and went through his second major surgery today in a week.  Next week he starts chemo and radiation.  This shouldn’t happen to anyone, much less a healthy, vigorous, young man.  He is an Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Deputy… you know the ones that you saw pictures of standing on the interstate guarding the prisoners because the prison was under water???  That was him.  They were supposed to get married on Leap Day.  He will just be finishing his rounds of chemo and radiation then so they have had to postpone the wedding because he just won’t have the energy for any of it.

Life is just not fair.

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Manic Monday- Earth Monday, Nov 5 2007

 

Manic Monday: Earth

 

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a child of the 70s or because I grew up in a city where nature is so vitally important to us but I have always been so tied to the Earth. I can remember as a kid being mad seeing people throw trash on the ground. Now, I want to take out my cell phone and call in the plate number of the people I see doing it.

 

We all know the effects that Katrina had on New Orleans, but what many did not take the time (or didn’t care) to learn was that Katrina was not just a natural event that came upon NOLA. Had Katrina happened twenty years ago, the damage would not been as harsh, levee faults or not. The reason being that our marsh land, which serves as a buffer between the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana loses the amount of 20 football fields a day to erosion. After the 2005 hurricane season, Louisiana lost 217 square miles of wetlands. Without these wetlands, hurricanes do not have anything to slow them down and break the blow of the storm. They then hit with full force. If you have a chance to see the IMAX film, Hurricane on the Bayou, I highly recommend it. It began filming before Katrina and was halted when the storm hit. When you see it you will get a clear picture on how much we Louisianians depend on Mother Earth and how fragile our relationship with her is.

Love your mother!

 

Visit Mo for more Manic Monday info!

 

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Weekend NaBloPoMo and Trick-or-Treaters Sunday, Nov 4 2007

Couldn’t post yesterday as our internet was spotty, so here’s today installment for November’s Blogfest! How about some cute trick-or-treaters to make your weekend???

My three candy seekers…

The boy

The duck

The big girl and a friend’s daughter

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Keep on swimming…. Friday, Nov 2 2007

I became a teacher because I like to be meaningful in the lives of the children that I teach. Why is it that I am more increasingly having to deal with “adults” who act like children? Didn’t these people go to college and get a degree to be professionals? Ugh, some days I wish I had a nice quiet job in a cube somewhere.

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November already…. Thursday, Nov 1 2007

It’s been a hectic school year and I haven’t been posting much. So, what do I do??? I join NaBloPoMo to make sure I post more! Join me this month to raise the proverbial blogging roof, shall we?

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