What An Eventful Week!

First things first: on Sunday, November 17, I attended a Friendsgiving in Beverly Hills and signed myself to bring a pie - because I've always wanted to learn to make them and was too lazy or intimidated until now, so I made sure I would be forced into it. I bought a pre-made pie crust too, just in case, and started working on the dessert very early in the morning so I would know if I would need to stop by the store to buy an entire pie or not, depending on the outcome of this one. I went with a blueberry maple recipe (I didn't need the pressure of the pumpkin pie, and I like blueberries) and it turned out alright! Not bad for a first attempt.

Halfway through, the crust in order

My lattice-topped blueberry maple pie!

The next night, Monday, November 18, Shannon flew in, newly engaged, from England! I had an appointment that afternoon and my mom waited for me and picked me up to drive to LAX together. She sent me this picture of my cat while she was waiting at the house for me to get home.

Khaleesi del Creepy Laser Cat

Shannon's flight was on time, we celebrated with some chicken and waffles at Roscoe's in Inglewood, and headed home.

My LAX adventures always surprise me

The next day was another big day! After the priceless help from my best friend Alice and her husband Andrei, I had negotiated my way to buying my very own car. It's not my first car (hint Saturn hint) but the first car I'd ever bought myself, so my mom drove me down to Capistrano to sign for it and pick it up from the dealership (Shannon came too). Talk about intimidating. It was also very surreal, but I am now the title holder of a 2010 silver Mazda 3i Sport!

Waiting to get into the paperwork. On a scale of 1-10, this picture puts Shannon's jet-lag at roughly 11

X MARKS THE SPOT!

Officially a proud owner

Me and my salesman. There was a long story here. Suffice it to say he will probably be a source of stories for a few years coming

Me behind the wheel with my first passenger... Shanni!

There I go... vroom vroom!

The day after that (yesterday) and today, I had a 7:00am call time for a sub job at a middle school up in the Orangecrest neighborhood, so I was getting up at 5:30am (delighted to not have to tie my hair up and put multiple layers on to survive a morning drive in the open-air Jeep - and I could even hear the radio!) so that is why I still haven't had a chance to take any decent pictures of the car, but I've also been preoccupied with my days. The last I had heard, my former 6th grade teacher now taught at this middle school. He was, and remains to this day, one of the biggest sources of inspiration in my life, that I can hardly stand to express it. I was checking in with the office yesterday, nervous, wondering if he was around, when I heard his voice. I turned, he was across the room, and he saw me and his jaw dropped. I honestly don't know the last time I had seen him, maybe in high school, and our reunion hug was actually so emotional that the office workers all got quiet and stepped away, and the principal's secretary just let him show me to the classroom I would be in and fill me in on procedures. He told me that he had just been thinking about me - he carries around (the original!) copy of a story that I wrote in 6th grade, and reads it to his classes every year (I had no idea) and he had just read it to his class this week. We made plans to eat lunch together and I would spend my conference periods in his classroom as well. Now, the kids at this school were great anyway, and the teacher next door told me the usual teacher had a great hold on her classes and they were well-behaved, but these past two days, these kids were above and beyond any expectations I could ever hold for middle schoolers, and I'm thinking it had something to do with my 6th grade teacher. He has always been very well-respected wherever he went, and was even featured in the Inland Empire magazine as a teacher who made a difference, and the word got out very quickly that I was both his former student, and the author of the essay he reads each year. I have the feeling that the respect they had for him translated over onto me a little bit. When I was in his class during my conference period, I introduced myself and did a little question-and-answer with them. I felt like a celebrity. All from a dumb story I wrote when I was eleven. Watching him teach though, was eerie. First of all, he's hardly aged, and all his mannerisms were exactly the same. I honestly felt like I had time-traveled back to 6th grade. I think part of it is just that I haven't lived here in so long either, so much of my life growing up feels like a distant previous life, but being at that school yesterday and today was nothing short of joyful, and making me wonder if I shouldn't go back for my teaching credential.

And as if that weren't enough... tomorrow is Kittens' golden birthday! Twenty-two on the twenty-second. I don't know about you, but I bet she's feeling 22...