hard times...

haha, not really - it's all in my head, but it has been a rough month in my head...

in this, my 8th year of teaching, i still had anxiety nightmares during the first month of school. why? why? and then, as always, i got sick at the beg of the year. and i couldn't even stay home because of the crazy heat wave that hit LA this past week. i went to work just to be in an air-conditioned place because i didn't want to drown in my own sweat at home. awwww, poor me! another night, i got covered in mosquito bites - in LA? there's no mosquitoes in LA but i have the mysterious bites on my arms and legs. AND i found out my feet have low arches...now i have to wear these special insoles in my shoes!

haha, but i'm just being ridiculous. most of the month, other than the nightmares and sickness has been fine. in fact, i've had some fun times:

another Hollywood Bowl night:

my small grp at the Sound-of-Music-Sing-along!
yes, we paid $20 to simply watch the movie on a big screen, but it was with over 17,000 other people and there's something absolutely priceless about singing the Sound of Music songs at the top of your lungs with over 17,000 other people! and i do mean TOP-OF-YOUR-LUNGS singing!

per tradition, there was a costume contest before the show, and it was so much fun to see! there are the men dressed as nuns, the girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, the brown paper packages tied up with string, and then there are always some totally new ones. these are the winners of the contest:

3rd place: the opening scene to the movie - a spinning Maria on the hill with a helicopter overhead. 2nd place: a needle pulling thread. 1st place (they won a cruise trip!): 8 little asian kids who represented all the notes of the scale. but i also liked the "clock with the absurd little bird" and "drop of golden sun."

on one of the wkeds, D and I visited the Reagan Presidential Library. i hadn't realized how many monumentous events happened during his term. what an incredible man.

holding the President's hand...

i also attended the 8th baby shower of '08 and got to meet more of the babies whose showers i attended earlier this year. exciting stuff!!

it never ceases to amaze me - the miracle of life.
and just as amazing, we got to witness a baptism at the church retreat this past wked. the retreat was good, but my favorite part was seeing this man surrender his life to Christ. it's a miracle b/c "repenting is death" and who would choose that on their own? but it's beautiful when someone finally admits he doesn't have it all together, but can finally rest in the fact that he doesn't have to do it all. it's a beautiful life.