Valentine's E-Cards 12:02 p.m. 2004-02-10

Current Listening: Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Current Reading: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Recipe of the Day: Lemonade Caipirinhas, Kir aux Murs
Check out my Valentines

I have been hard at work, preparing for Valentine's Day. I now have 7 Valentines colorized and entered into my Photo Center. Just last night, I took advantage of Bravenet's e-card service to set them up as e-cards for people to send for Valentines Day (or any day - I think that, just because they are in the shape of a heart doesn't mean they can't be used for other occasions!). The service still needs some tweaking, but it's a fun idea. Just today, I altered the images in Photoshop to make them smaller - I sent a few cards last night, and the images were huge. I think I scaled them down.

Can I say how much I love my new scanner? It was a Christmas gift from my hubby. I am having a blast with it!

We are in the middle of Conference Week this week - the kids get out at 1:25, and we are supposed to schedule conferences with their parents from 1:45 to around 3:00. On Tuesday nights (tonight), we traditionally stay until around 7:00 or 8:00 PM. I will hopefully not have to stay that long. I am going to run errands, and return at 4:00PM, when I am supposed to have a conference. Somebody is providing free pork barbecue sandwiches for dinner, so I guess I'll save sushi for another night!

This past weekend, I took advantage of my public library. They have many PBS series on videotape, but what did I get? The first six episodes of The Sopranos. I am going back today, and I hope they have tape 3 and 4! Pretty neat - I think that I have only seen the first episode - a long time ago, when I had free HBO on trial.

My husband and I also went out to eat and to see a movie last Friday night. We finally tried El Gaucho, which is around the corner from where we live. It is a grill owned by a Uraguayan/Argentinian couple, with a totally Americanized son as chef. This is not to be confused with The Gaucho Grill, which is across I-85. My husband had a scrumptious shish kabob thingy marinated in chimichurri sauce. I had a Uruguayan specialty, which was a pounded steak topped with cheese, ham, and a fried egg with a side of fries and a potato salad. Apparently, they don't live very long in Uruguay! I was only able to manage the steak topping, and took the steak home to put in a quesadilla the following day.

We went to the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, because it was the only place that was showing The Triplets of Belleville. The parking was heinous! My husband finally dropped me off to get tickets, and had to park a five-minute walk away! Yikes. And the film, well, it was very strange... My husband liked it because it was not really in French - it was a wierd mixture of sounds, garbled French, and music. You would have to see it to appreciate it!

Saturday, I went to a Mary Kay party for my mother. It was fun - even if it involved getting up at 9:30 AM (Don't give me that look - I like to sleep late on Saturdays - say, noon!). I ended up purchasing the Age-Defying Package, which includes cleanser, moisturizer, plus supplemental moisturizers - one for day and one for night. I also got a tube of foundation with the package. I ordered the eye makeup remover and got a free gift with purchase, which were travel sizes of the cleanser and moisturizer. I guess it's about time I tried to care for my skin... But, if age is not defied, then I will be pissed!

I had two interesting cultural exchanges yesterday. First, I was walking in the hall when a fellow teacher commented on how small my waist is. I instantly shot back a comment about the size of my behind. This teacher was an African-American, and she started laughing. She asked where I got a behind like that, without being at least part black (I can say Black, because those are now my people, I guess!). She couldn't believe that at least one of my grandparents wasn't African-American... I am sure my family would be amused. It was always suspected that I was part Mexican, because of my penchant towards flamboyant fabrics.

Speaking of Mexicans, I got a new perspective about that culture - via California. The mother and aunt of one of my California transplants came for conference yesterday afternoon. I won't comment on the fact that this thirteen year old was born in the United States and is still in ESOL... Okay, I guess I just did. Anyway, as the conference was coming to a close, her mother and aunt explained that people (bus drivers? teachers?) were calling this child names. When I asked them to explain, they said that "Mexican" to them is the same as the "N" word for African-Americans. "Hispanic" is preferable (you can tell they are from California...).

I think I actually said, "But you are from Mexico..." but that apparently was not relevant.

I also said that I had heard that "Latino" or "Latina" was preferred in California, because of the Conquistador inferences (just to let them know I was not some ignorant redneck who called Mexicans Mexicans to their faces!)

Oy vey!

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