You Are What You Eat - Day 1

This week my 5th grade students have been looking at Guiseppe Arcimboldo portraits and then making their own portrait using only fruits and vegetables. These are two great examples that were started today. I'll post their progress until they are complete.

I love the wheat chin in this one... I love the strawberries in this one...

Dinner last night

Last night I grilled chicken for dinner. Most of this chicken will go into chicken salad later. That's the grill pan that I got for my birthday last year from my dad and Leslie. I love it! And this is the salad that I made to go with my grilled chicken. I tossed baby Italian greens with a balsamic dressing and added halved grapes, navel orange sections, and sliced almonds.

Girl's Weekend in College Station

I drove to College Station yesterday to meet Lizzie and Mom for Parent's Weekend at A&M. I got there early with a few hours to kill, so I took Georgie for a long walk around campus while I sipped my new favorite drink - vanilla iced coffee from McDonald's. We mainly stuck to the big open area between the Architecture building and the Oceanography building. It was a gorgeous day and there were several great photo ops, but I left my camera at Lizzie's apartment on accident...bummer. Later Saturday night, Lizzie, Mom, and I went to a Zeta party (Lizzie's sorority) at a jewelry store where the guests could try on anything in the store and nibble on hors d'oeuvres. Lizzie had fun trying on some gianormous engagement rings. We went out for Mexican food and margaritas afterwards. Again...no pictures. Dang!

Finally at the last minute before we all said goodbye on Sunday, I managed to snap some pics. Here is our pretty Mom getting packed to go.

...and Lizzie looking cute and fixing her hair with Skipper at her side as always.

Skipper loves Lizzie so much, he sits and waits against the door anytime she leaves.

Here is Lizzie's (and her roommates) cute living room. Notice the super chic round blue vase on her TV cabinet...a gift from moi!

Georgie and I posed together on Lizzie's front porch before driving home.

Someone was really pooped out after that long drive home.

Earthly Delights

I'm standing in front of a beautiful work of art painted by my sweetie, John. The painting is titled Earthly Delights and went to a collection in Rome recently. Notice the heart pattern in the background which plays into the allegory of "earthly delights." This painting really reflects John's fascination with birds, insects, and flowers......so does this cute photo!

My classroom

Here is my awesome classroom. I have spent many many hours here during the last 3 years (my first two years teaching were in a different classroom). This has been a special place to me and I hope the next art teacher enjoys it as much as I have. My favorite part of the room is the art history timeline that goes around the room near the ceiling. Also notice the lovely tulip painting on the right painted by my sweetie last year when he spent the day with me at school as the "guest artist from New York." I never told the kids that he was also my boyfriend becuase I wanted the focus to be on the fact that he was an artist and not "Ms. Trout's boyfriend!" It was funny to see their reaction when they noticed the picture of John and me on my desk. They would say, "Ms. Trout! Is that you with John Newsom the artist?!" And then they would ask suspisciously, "So is he your boyfriend?" It was really cute.
This is the artist's library. Guess whoooo painted the owl? I LOVE that owl painting!
Here is another beautiful painting that John was so kind to paint for my classroom. I absolutely love the ladybugs (and so do the kids!) I also turned one of my chalkboards into a "Surreal Gallery" and "Curation Station". Students can create a surreal scene using magnets I made from magazine pictures (this idea was borrowed from MAQ-Mobile Arts Quest) or curate an exhibit with magnetized mini artworks.
My desk is in the corner.My art club painted the ceiling tiles last year.

My fairytale engagement

This picture was taken just moments after John and I got engaged. This was the happiest moment in our lives (so far)! He planned the most romantic proposal. He took me to the top of Rockafellar Center on St. Patrick's Day at sunset, overlooking our future home together, got on one knee and asked me to marry him and gave me the most beautiful diamond ring I've ever seen. We stayed on the observation deck for over an hour just watching the sunset and embracing. We were so excited!

Group Hug March 2008

We had our semi-annual Group Hug to celebrate birthdays and mine and John's engagement. Kristina surprised us with these really cute cupcakes that looked like the Muppets...Oscar the Grouch, Miss Piggy, and Big Bird. Miss Piggy was having issues with her noses.

Happy Birthday Paula and Cassie!

Paula, Kristina, and Cassie pose with an Oscar the Grouch cupcake.

We love our Big Bird cupcake!

Look at my pretty Big Bird cupcake!

Kristina tempts Paula and Gwen with the Big Bird cupcake. Prince and Ed resist her temptations. Later, Chau gave out backrubs and Paula and Ed discovered something cool on the ceiling.