Today I returned to work, and therefore, returned to reality. I had a great summer and I feel ready to start the school year. I am hoping this year will be better than the last.

My last weekend before school was spent with family and friends. On Friday, Adam’s parents came down and we ate at one of my new favorite restaurants here in Eugene, b2 Wine Bar. A yummy dinner was followed by a yummy Sweet Life cheescake. On Saturday morning, we ventured to Eugene’s Saturday Market where I purchased my new Lego earrings! My students will love them.

On Sunday, I learned how to can. With a large garden growing in our side yard, we had a large amount of tomatoes red and ripe. So when life gives you tomatoes…make tomato sauce. Susan, Sara and Rachel came over and helped me with my first time canning. While it can be time consuming, its a very easy process. I have a feeling I will be doing this more often.

Hmmm…what to can next?

Since Adam and I took a week of ’stay-cation’ (aka a vacation at home), we decided to work on some house projects.

The main project was our guest room. We wanted to create a simplistic and relaxing guest room for our families and friends when they stay over night with us (and reservations are already being taken for Duck games). Although it is not done yet, here is what it looks like now. Rachel calls the room ‘ the milkshake room’ as the walls look like a chocolate milkshake. The color turned out a little too pink for me, but I like how it turned out. I will be adding more colorful decor including beautiful lilly pictures from Adam’s mom, more colorful decorative pieces all around and we have yet to decide to stain or paint the short bookshelf. While a big portion of it is done, there is still more to do.

And the other project…get ready for this. It is no surprise to our friends and family that Adam enjoys Star Wars, Star Trek, Legos and many other ‘nerdy’ type things. Over this past week the man cave has turned into a nerd cave. Adam’s mom has so graciously saved a large portion of his toys from his childhood…and this week, they made their way into the man cave. Take a look. So if you ever want to play with the Star Wars toys you had as a kid, you know where to go.

Piece by piece, the house gets a little better with each project.

So most of you know that I am not a huge spontaneous person. However, there are a few occasions where I can be. What I have quickly learned is that some of the best ideas come from the spur of the moment. Yesterday afternoon, I had a hankering for Mexican food. There is a great Mexican food place in Salem. So my hankering ended up in a trip up to Salem. We drove to Adam’s parents for a margaritas on their back deck, then headed to dinner at La Hacienda Real. We had great food and conversation. After discussing paint colors and art for our guest room (our next house project), we drove home and were in bed by 10pm! It was a great impromptu trip!

Check out the ninth bullet down on my superintendent’s blog