Missy's Wedding Weekend!

I wrote a post a while back about being super excited for my best friend Missy's wedding weekend.  Her wedding actually ended up being postponed due to Hurricane Irene, and was moved to Sunday September 11th.  Not the best of days, especially on the ten year anniversary, but it was a new open date, two weeks after her original wedding date...and most people were available to attend.  My sister, her husband and I were kind of happy to have an excuse to get out of NYC during that weekend, not to be paranoid...but now that I live in NYC, there is definitely a different sense of awareness when it comes to terrorist threats. 

I took my one personal day for the Monday after her wedding so that I would not be exhausted at work, and it allowed me an extra day up in Providence!

Saturday night we had rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Atwells Avenue in Providence, and ate yummy Italian food and laughed and had a great time!

Missy and I at dinner. 

I stayed with my friend Rebecca during the weekend, and Malomar was able to go wild playing with her dog Lucy!  It was awesome to be able to catch up Rebecca and have a sleepover!  

Me, Lucy, Rebecca

Me and Becca

Sunday we met up at the hotel to get the beautiful bride ready.  I made Missy a birdcage veil for her wedding, but pretended that I didn't make her one and handed her a little kids costume veil instead.  Nothing like playing a joke on the bride to keep her calm, right?  Hey...I was a good bridesmaid, I didn't even tell her that my bridesmaid dress FLEW out of my convertible on the way to the rehearsal!

The following pictures are mostly from phones, some are not mine...I kept my real camera tucked away and spent the night dancing like a lunatic.  So fun!

{Enjoy!}

Lovely ladies on the way to the wedding. 

Melissa, the gorgeous bride, and I...drinking champagne before the big event. 

Ali (Mark's sister, now Missy's sister in law) and Missy

Photo: Richele Souza.  The vows. 

The reception was a blast!  Food was amazing, company was great...the music selection was non-stop amazing and last but not least, there were props!  Seriously the most fun ever!

Photo: Gina DeLuca

Photo: Gina DeLuca

Photo: Richele Souza

Zak and I.  This was actually taken later in the night, when we continued dancing in Providence because hours and hours of dancing somehow didn't satisfy us.  But we brought our props with us!

Photo: Richele Souza.  This was by far the sweetest moment of the night.  Missy's brother Mark rehearsed and performed the Thriller dance for her wedding.  It was absolutely heartwarming to see him come out of his shell like that for her!

It was honestly the most perfect weekend, and most fun wedding ever.  I am so incredibly happy for Mark and Melissa...

<3

xoh!

d

Sunday's Song

I am well aware that it is Monday and I am posting a Sunday's song...but this is the song that was coursing through my brain yesterday during my best friend Melissa's wedding.

So many countless nights dancing with her, each of us throwing one arm up in the air, the other hand on each others hip screaming and laughing and smiling and loving....

and being best friends...

xoh!

d

A Peek into my Studio Classroom!

Inspired by one of my favorite sweet and talented bloggers, Sarah from anonymous was a woman, I decided to be a little copy cat and do a Peek Into My Classroom Teacher inspired post as well.

Sarah is a 7th and 8th grade English Teacher way across the country in Utah, and I am an Art + Design teacher in NYC, grades K-4.

My classroom is also a studio, where the students build, share, draw, sculpt, paint and create every time they step foot through my door.

The door to my classroom

Front and center is my SmartBoard: the best teaching tool EVER! (no seriously, EVER!)

A reminder about how to sit, using Artists and works of art of course!

Above the SmartBoard: little touches of whimsy. These guys come in handy!

Classroom focus, and small in-studio student gallery

Plenty of books, and I always reference where in the world the Art + Design is from.  

Organization is key.  I have over 600 students a week as well as a reading class each day.  Organization is my Zen, as is positivity!  

word wall

I cannot stress how awesome wet wipes are in an Elementary Art classroom.  No waiting in line for the sink, no mess with soap and water and paper towels...and more time to make Art!

Hope you enjoyed a sneak peek into my classroom, and thanks Sarah for the inspiration!

xoh!

d

Makeover!

My dear friend Jenn is a total babe. 

There is absolutely no getting around that.  To boot, Jenn is an amazingly talented teacher, with a warm and inviting personality.  She is bubbly and intelligent, hardworking and fun to be around.

One night we got out of work early and headed over to Otto's Shrunken Head for beers.  Jenn had been talking to me about wanting a makeover, and at Otto's we decided it was time to take action!

Me and Jenn, Otto's

A girl stumbled passed up, sapphic with wild curly black hair and a cut up man's tshirt on, draped over her body.  She paired the black shirt with tight jeans and slip on shoes.  She looked effortlessly chic and Jenn pointed her out as all of our eyes followed her out the door.  "I want to look like that!" Apparently, Jenn's taste did not exactly match her current style.  Brooke and I almost fell off our bar stools, Jenn has always looked so sweet and innocent to me!

Drunkenly (I had 2 beers: which apparently is WAY too much for me lately)...I screamed "makeover!" and we decided to take Jenn from Pollyanna to someone with a slightly harder edge.  Jenn's gripe was...no matter how beautiful Jenn is, she felt like she wasn't taken seriously because she looks so innocent with her long blond hair, dimples and rosy cheeks.

Jenn and Brooke, Otto's

Three of us, Brooke, Jenn and I headed over to Buffalo Exchange to shop after much deliberation over the exact darker shade Jenn's hair should be.  If you live in NYC or are visiting and have not been to Buffalo Exchange...seriously go...it was awesome!  I spent way too much because the beers led me to believe that everything looked absolutely fabulous on me.  When I got home I was relieved to find my purchases were actually really great.  If I needed to return though, it would be no problem...Buffalo Exchange works on a buy, sell, trade system anyway!

About a week later, Jenn had an appointment at a Salon and I just KNEW she was going to go in and get highlights and wuss out.  So, as a natural lover of makeovers and change, I went along with her.  We got to her Salon and she started in with "maybe you can just do some highlights" and I interrupted and said "nope...Jenn wants to go DARK! Let's do it!"

I am telling you, she would have wussed out! 

Before

The cut begins (in the back, this stylist is SMART!)

Jenn is only slightly terrified. She has NEVER changed her hair color before, just highlights!

No turning back now!

Post dye, pre-bang cut. I think she is still unsure!

Jenn is excited, and amazed at herself for such a big change!

End result: babeola!

Sometimes you just need a friendly push in order to take the leap.  Jenn is super excited about her makeover...and doesn't look 12 anymore! 

SUCCESS!

xoh!

d

Sign Changing

When I was younger and living in Lancaster Pennsylvania, there were not a lot of structured things to do to preoccupy ourselves.

So we got into trouble. 

One of the things we would do is change signs.  You know the signs that have all of the letters in black and they are on a little grid?  You can change the letters around and make the sign say HILARIOUS things.  At least, as teenagers, we thought it was hilarious.

I kind of miss changing signs, but now I need to be a little less obtuse about defacing property and set a good example *yawn*.  Naturally, when I saw a link to this post, I pretty much ate up all of the altered signs on it.  Although the sign altering is different than the signs we changed...mostly store signs, and sometimes signs outside churches (stop judging me)...I still love them.

Here are a few of my favorites!

Happy Thursday!

xoh!

d