So, the title of this blog post is misleading. I actually do not have a super exciting life. But, if the past week counts, then I do. I thought all week about the direction I want to take this blog entry, and I still have no idea, so here goes. I've promised to do this once a week, so I must.
On Sunday (July 5) I went to Las Vegas with my teaching partner, the 2 first grade teachers, one of the first grade teacher's husbands, one of the second grade teachers, and my teaching partner's sister and friend. Those of us who are teachers attended the teaching conferences held at the Venetian in Vegas, which is where we also got to stay. Rumor has it, it's one of the nicer hotels in Vegas (especially for the girl who considers a $90 a night hotel to be "expensive" ((sidenote: when did i get like that? Ugh!)) This place is a little different than your typical "Holiday Inn" in that... it's not. It's like a small town, where inside there is a "canal", where people are actually taken on gondolas, led by men (gondoliers?) who sing at unnaturally high pitches while standing on the edge of a boat shaped like a banana. Much of this we witnessed while sitting at a Mexican restaurant, where I had the world's most interesting, delightful margarita, a Jalapeno- Pineapple Margarita. It sounds crazy, but it was delightful and it felt healthy (as healthy as margaritas can be.) I came home and Pinterested the recipe and, of course, it wasn't nearly as good, but I tried.
All of this took place the first night we were there. On Monday, our conferences began with a key note speaker, Todd Parr, children's book author. He writes some really interestingly-illustrated books for kids on sensitive topics like saying goodbye, families, and... underwear. He was fun to listen to. Sometimes I get wrapped up in the "job" of teaching Kindergarten, and it's nice to have a little reminder that to kids, underwear really is entertaining (and sometimes it is to adults as well.)
We decided to splurge and attend the Beatles: LOVE Cirque du Soleil Monday night at the Mirage. My aforementioned "frugal" spending attitude almost prevented me from attending this amazing show, but I'm glad I went for it. At $104, it was worth every single penny. (I definitely came home afterwards and googled Cirque du Soleil performers because I had to know exactly how people get into that business, how much they make, and if I could do it (just kidding on that last one, but it was so freakin' cool!) The entire show was choreographed to Beatles songs, and there was some acting, many set changes, and many stunts that made all of us about lose our breath or pee our pants. But none of those things happened, so that is fortunate. We were amazed! It's definitely an experience I'll never forget!
The rest of the week was a little more low-key, with conference sessions each day from 830-4ish, necessary pool time, dinners out as a group every night, and a few walks down the strip. If you ask me, it was the perfect mixture of a "business" and "pleasure" trip.
My head is still spinning with all of the new ideas I got from the conference, and I'm still trying to figure out which ones I'll be able to successfully implement, and how. I can't believe so many schools are going back in 2 weeks- we don't go back until August 17! I'm thankful to have that time to continue planning my "game plan" for a new school year and a new group of kiddos.
As my life goes, as soon as I got home from Vegas, life got back to usual. Well, as usual as life can get when you are still on "The Vegas" time zone. Friday night I went to bed at 10 Indy time and woke up ready for the day at 1 a.m... Saturday night I finally fell asleep at 3 a.m. Anyway, Saturday I drove 200 miles between checking on the dogs I'm dogsitting (there are 5), going to a family reunion, and then to a friend's birthday party. Sunday seemed a bit low-key with a sweet little baby shower to attend. Today things got back to normal watching the kids, with the added twist of also watching 5 dogs. (I'm trying to make it sound like all of this isn't a lot- it's reverse psychology.) :)
I feel like this post has been pretty boring, but I promise I'll redeem myself, eventually, when I have less than 4 people/animals to take care of, and more than 5 hours of consecutive sleep. :)
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