Tastes like Summertime!

I would like to introduce you to my new favorite summer beverage-Raspberry Lemonade Green Tea!  And it is super easy to make.

You need:

One jug of Arizona Diet Green Tea

Do not be afraid of the "diet"ness or "green tea"ness of this beverage.  If you know me, you know I don't do diet beverages and I don't care for green tea.  But I promise you won't taste either!

One can of frozen raspberry lemonade, thawed.

Pour out a little bit of the green tea from the jug-about to the top of the label-enough to make room for the thawed raspberry lemonade mixture.

Pour thawed raspberry lemonade into jug, replace lid and shake well.

Super easy and super tasty.  It tastes like summer!

I was afraid this would happen . . .

Yes, yes.  I see that it has been over a year since I blogged.  This was one of my fears when beginning the blog-that I would be unable to keep it going.

Since the arrival of my new toy-a netbook and wireless internet-I thought I might get back to blogging.  After all, now I can do it in front of the television!

And then I began to discover that friends were no longer linking my blog.  Because, I assume, once someone fails to blog after a year, they are dead to the blog world.

So, I am trying to start this thing up again.  I've gotten as a far as changing the background (snaps blogger for having some super fun backgrounds!) And now I will happily take suggestions for blog posts :)

Sinatra Swims!

Yesterday my parents took me to my grandparents house to go swimming. Of course, initially I was unaware of their intent to have me get in the giant bathtub in my grandparents' back yard. I thought we were just going over there so I could run around in their super-awesome backyard, mark my territory, and chase birds and squirrels. And maybe bury a few things in their flower beds.

It isn't that I am scared of the giant bathtub. I often get really close to it so that I can look at my reflection or quench my thirst. But since we all know that getting in a bathtub means you're about to get a bath, I had no reason to venture past the side, because baths disturb my manly dog scent, which I work so hard to maintain.

But then my parents got in the giant bathtub, and, I can't lie. I was curious. So I got on the top step for a little while-just to see what it was all about. As you can see from the following video, I soon discovered they wanted me to go all the way in the bathtub-or pool as they called it. I was not so sure about that.



Well after that my parents got smart and started offering me treats. And I just couldn't resist.



Later on, my grandparents got home and I showed them how good I could swim. Mom didn't get any video of that, but trust me, I swam from the steps all the way around the shallow end and back again several times.

I don't want to brag, but today I discovered that I am practically the Michael Phelps of the dog world.

The Power of Read Aloud

One of my favorite new read alouds is a book called Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman. Katie's owner, Sara Ann, brings home 3 kittens, and Katie (the dog) wants desperately to play with them. Unfortunately her eagerness gets the best of her every time, and her howling and running about scare the kittens away. She learns that she has to be calm and have self-control if she is going to get the kittens to love her back.


The story line is excellent and is perfectly punctuated by illustrations that capture Katie's uncontrollable excitement (her wagging tail is my favorite). The kids love to hear it, I love to read it, and it is a great lesson about the importance - and difficulty-of having self control.

I read this book to first grade last week. We identified the problem-Katie wants the kittens to like her, but her behavior scares them and gets her in trouble with Sara Ann. We identified how Katie solved her problem-she had to be calm and quiet even though she was so excited. And we applied it to our own lives. But since the first graders were wiggling the entire time, I wasn't sure how much of an impact the lesson had.

Until today.

I was having my daily morning meeting with one of our "special" first grade friends. I meet with him every day to pump him up and remind him to behave. We were talking about how a kid in his class really bothers him and it makes him want to act out. I told him that no matter what this other boy did, he needed to hold his anger and frustration inside and just act calm and ignore him.

And he says, "Just like that story you read about the dog who wanted to play with the kittens?"

And after I pulled myself off the floor, I said, "Yes! It is exactly like Katie Loves the Kittens. You have to have self control!"

I love my job.

Now go read to a child.

OMG YOU GUYS!

Last month, I had the great privilege of going downtown to the Hobby Center to see Legally Blonde: The Musical with my friends Stephanie and April. We made an evening of it, going to Gringos for dinner, and dressing up-with Steph and April making sure to don some of Elle's signature color-pink.

Because I visit broadway.com daily to keep up with the latest in theatre news, I knew there was a slight possibility that we would get to see Laura Bell Bundy in the role of Elle. You see, LBB originated the role of Elle Woods on Broadway and was only coming to three cities on the tour because the touring Elle, Becky Gulsvig, broke her toe. LBB was going to alternate performances with an understudy (Lauren Zakrin-from Legally Blonde:The Search for Elle Woods) until Gulsvig was well. So you can imagine how excited I was to open the playbill and find this:

I'm pretty sure we all kept saying-OMG! I can't believe we're getting to see Laura Bell Bundy! And, I'm not going to lie, I called my sister-the actress and theatre aficionado-at intermission to tell her/brag about it.

While waiting for the curtain to go up, we took lots of pictures of ourselves grinning excitedly.



And the production did not disappoint. It was incredible! (Though you won't find any pics of it here because that is a little bit illegal).

When the show was over, we high-tailed it to the stage door in hopes of having a chance to hobnob with the actors. There were A TON of people there, and a body guard who assured us that there was no one left in the building and that we were waiting outside for nothing. However, I channeled my mad, stage door stalker skills-which I honed in NYC after seeing The Producers-and assured Steph and April that if we could wait a little longer, our patience would surely be rewarded. We waited amidst quite a few annoying and giggly adolescent girls in hopes of catching a glimpse of LBB.

And about 30 minutes later-less many of the above mentioned annoying adolescents- the stage door opened and (cue angelic music here) out walked LBB!

Not only did she autograph our playbills, she took pics with us!

Before leaving, we paid tribute to our favorite sorority, Delta Nu, by throwing down our hand signs. Steph is making the Delta, I am making the "N" for Nu (which I later realized was backwards), and April is mainly looking embarrassed to be with us.

Once we got into the elevator, we felt it was finally acceptable to express our excitement over the entire evening. Basically there was lots of squealing, laughing and picture taking.


April finally channeled her inner Delta Nu!


And we rounded off our evening with a little bend and snap in the parking garage.

Thanks for a wonderful time girls!
SNAPS!

25 Random Things About Me

This activity has been making the rounds on Facebook, so I figured if it was already written, it could totally double as a blog post.

1. My dream job would allow me to read children's and YA literature, write reviews, teach college courses about it and travel to events where I could hobnob with authors and big wigs in the publishing industry.

2. If I had to do my life over, I would pursue a career in musical theatre.

3. I enjoy watching beauty pageants and figure skating.

4. I have never consumed an alcoholic beverage.

5. When I go shopping, I never take the item at the front of the shelf or the rack because I think it has been touched by too many other people. So I take the one that is 2 or 3 behind.

6. I love office/school supplies. Even if I go to Office Max with a list, I leave with much more than I came for. Thus I am no longer allowed there without a chaperone.

7. When I was little, I used to think old people's poop was white. Probably because their hair was white and they were old.

8. I also used to think women got pregnant from kissing.

9. I am a perfectionist. I like details and symmetry.

10. I love to frolic around my house for no particular reason.

11. I love working with kids, but I do not love the state of the public school system in Texas.

12. Talking to large groups of people doesn't phase me, but I get very nervous and shy when trying to meet new people or make new friends.

13. I was on drill team for two years in high school and loved it!

14. I was diagnosed with depression about 5 years ago.

15. I sing in a barbershop quartet.

16. I believe singing is the best medicine for a headache or a bad day.

17. I enjoy working out, but I hate having to get up at 5:00 a.m. to do so.

18. If I ever win the lottery, I will hire a chef to create and maintain and salad and fruit bar in my home.

19. I didn't watch MTV until I was in college.

20. I don't like scary movies. I don't like the dark. I don't like for people to try and scare me.

21. Whenever I go back to the Baylor campus, I feel calm, joyful and nostalgic.

22. All my college roommates had names starting with "J."

23. I love reality television, but I do have standards when it comes to the ones I will watch.

24. I own a librarian action figure. Her name is Nancy Pearl and she came with "shushing" action.

25. I tend to be an overachiever, which is why I am compelled to list 30 things on a list that is only supposed to be 25.

26. I think there are some books that every librarian is supposed to have read, and therefore feel guilty that I have not read them. Some of these books are: The Chronicles of Narnia, Little Women, and Old Yeller.

27. I never finished reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens in college, and now his ghost haunts me each Christmas through the variety of versions of "A Christmas Carol" shown on TV.

28. A couple of years ago, it was determined that I had arthritis in both my knees. I had to have a series of shots of artificial joint fluid under my knee caps. As a result, needles and shots no longer bother me a bit.

29. I prefer to write with pen and paper first and then transfer my work to the computer. I find my ideas flow more freely that way.

30. I love to take naps.

Start Spreading the News!

I'M HERE!

In case you don't know, I am Sean and Katie's beagle, Sinatra. I came to live with them about 3 weeks ago and I am LOVING IT! For my first post, I will list all the things I have done since coming to live with the Curry family.

1. Sniffed everything
2. Marked the fence that separates my yard from the neighbor dogs' yard
3. Marked one of Sean's shoes
4. Rested
5. Gone for lots of walks
6. Checked my messages and left messages for other dogs during my walks
7. Cleaned out Katie's purse
8. Chewed the gum in Katie's purse
9. Jumped on many surfaces, including the kitchen counter, kitchen table, couch, futon, bed and the desk in the office (I am a very good jumper-my vertical rivals that of many pro basketball players)
   
10. Dismembered and disemboweled some toys, including a snowman and an elephant (I was kind and tore out his eyes first so he wouldn't have to watch me)
11. Eaten a set of small salt and pepper shakers
12. Escaped from my kennel
13. Visited my grandparent's house for the first time
14. Loved on my Aunt Lindsay
15. Met my dog cousin Queenie
16. Crawled under the beds
17. Nosed through the trash-I love trash!
18. Climbed in the trunk of Katie's car
19. Chewed up a chip clip
20. Found hiding places for all my rawhide bones so they can't find them/eat them
    
21. Taken several baths
22. Gave Katie a black eye when I accidentally stepped on it (In my defense, we were playing and her head was in the path of my wiggly legs)
23. Played with Sean's action figures and found out he doesn't like that so much
24. Destroyed the annoying can they shake at me when they think I am making bad choices
    
25. Posed for pictures

Speaking of pictures, here are some wonderful pictures of me for you to look at.

Sean and me

Resting in the sun

I have one blue eye and one brown eye. Sean says it gives me that "Bond villain" quality.

The can I destroyed

They made me a stocking! I love my stocking!

Investigating the contents of my stocking

Giving Lindsay kisses

Well, I think it is time for me to do some more resting. But I am sure I will have more to blog about soon!