Black History Program

Our Evolution of Rhythm and Soul Black History Program tonight was awesome! I am tired though, after a 13- hour work day!

WINE NOT? Birthday fun at Wine Tasting!

When in California, do as the Californians do...? Right? Go to a winery? I thought, what better way to jump start 22 than go to a wine tasting!  It was a gorgeous day outside, beautiful drive, and we had so much fun! I found a groupon  for Winery By the Creek, so that's where we went. It could have been called Winery In The Middle of Nowhere. haha Seriously, if we had been traveling in the dark along this small windy road, it would have been the perfect location for a horror movie. However, because it was a perfect, gorgeous drive into the mountains, everything was glorious! 

We arrived at the winery and were taken to this really neat cavelike tasting room, full of set tables and barrels. The flight of 6 wines were paired with fine, fancy cheeses, and a piece of chocolate. Both were to be consumed clockwise. The man leading us in the tasting was the owner and founder of the winery, so he really knew what he was talking about! Before sampling every glass, we would hold it up to the light, check the red for brilliance, get a good three or so whiffs of the wine, then finally drink! Along the way everyone would tell stories and after it was over we went to a pub next door for pizza and macaroni! It was a fabulous end to a perfect birthday! 

Feelin' 22 never felt so good!

Despite my efforts to stay FOREVER 21, I have to say that if this what

 FEELIN' TWENTY-TWO is like, then I'm all in! 

My birthday started with texts from Texas friends around 10pm here, midnight TX time. This was fabulous, and also confusing, when was my real birthday? Then at midnight, California time, my roommate, Jocelyn, surprised me with "Happy Birthday" cupcakes all lit up and ready to be blown out! I thought she was baking for her class, but it was for me! :)

The fun didn't end there, in my 5:30 AM cycling class, after it was over, I went up to my instructor to let her know that cycling was the perfect way to start a new year, then she got everyone left in there to sing to me. That's not all, next, the lady who controls the music found the audio happy birthday, and they played that for me too! 

At work, my friend brought me balloons, so all day everyone knew it was my birthday. 

"Miss, why you got balloons...it's your birthday or something?"

"How old are you? 32? 18?"

"Gimme a balloon, I want the helium!" 

Some of my students sang to me, and one of them even got in front of the whole class in sixth period and sang the "Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to Ya" song solo! It was wonderful! Then in our final circle for work, they brought out a cupcake for Jackki and me (her birthday is tomorrow) then they smashed them in our faces! 

I got home to find a sweet package from my parents, perfect timing! My mom send me a giant birthday card, cute invidiudally wrapped goodies, and even put in a gift for Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's day with instructions to wait to open.  I got so many sweet calls and texts too! Lastly, for dinner a bunch of friends from work met up with Jackki and I at this really good Italian restaurant! 

A LOT happened today, and I'm so thankful for every bit of it!

Being away from home, I wouldn't have expected to have such a great birthday, 

but honestly this was one of the best! 

Let's make History!

We put on a history fair for our after school kids today! Everything from The Secret War, Native Americans, Japanese Internment, Annexation of Hawaii, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, The Holocaust, Mexican Immigration Reform, and the experiences of 9/11 from our very own former air force vet! 

Many day after school is a struggle. We're tired. The kids are tired. No one is 100% excited about being there, but today's event made the hours go by fast and I think everyone had a good time and learned a lot! 

Totally 90's Duh!

Even though our students at President's Day off, we had to "work". But, luckily today "working" meant getting to spend quality time with our team, corps members from other schools, and ended with a 90's themed talent show! 

We started off our morning being treated to breakfast at a near by coffee shop by our program manager. It was a good time where everyone got to talk about some favorites and some struggles. To say that working with such a diverse group can be hard be an understatement, but after talking to everyone today, I realized it's also one of our team's biggest attributes and what I love most about our team. We are there for each other, to laugh, complain, vent, rant, inspire, and sometimes keep each other in check. I'm so grateful for my team and this City Year. 

Pixar!

Another great weekend with my friend Annmarie and Zach! 

My new friend Zach works for Pixar, so I got a personal tour! It was so much fun and there was so much to see! 

• break room with every cereal imaginable, and milk too! 
• cool artwork from different Pixar movies, especially Monster's Inc. 2 because it's the most recent
• Theaters galore- big ones, small ones, medium sized ones 
• sand volleyball court and pool, for when you just need a break

Starry night!

Beautiful starry night with  my Capernaum friends!

Love is in the air!

So many sweets from Valentine's Day, the sweetest though, was probably getting off work early! 

State of the City!

Tonight City Year was invited to attend Mayor Kevin Johnson's (former NBA Kings player) State of the City Address. It was cool to be able to see his vision and plans for Sacramento, as well as some of the goals that were achieved in 2013. 

There are big plans to build a new Kings arena as a focal point near Downtown! 

Dance of the Royals!

Lao and I posing during the middle school dance! 

Science Fair!

Today we put on a science fair for our RP after school kids! Everyone had fun learning, yes, even my middle schoolers were engaged! 

Happy Birthday Rosa!

You probably don't know, but today would have been Rosa Parks' 101st Birthday!

Today we celebrated a woman who with one act, changed a nation. It is because of Rosa Parks, along with many others, that the students I serve come from all different ethnicitys. It's because of great sacrifices for equality that I'm able to serve on a team where together we represent many different cultures. Today is a day to recognize the importance of the people who have gone before us and a day to strive to build a stronger community, nation, and world for all of us! It was also a day for....

cookies, lots of cookies.

Over 900 cookies were donated to help our school celebrate Rosa Parks' birthday from Safeway. (grocery store chain in California) We visited elementary classrooms during the day to talk about why Rosa Parks was so important and then during the middle school lunch we asked them to respond to different questions regarding Rosa Parks. Of course we did get some off the wall answers ( like Rosa Parks built our school or She was a nice black lady. Or she was born in Sacramento) but more than those answers we found that many of our students were aware of the sacrifices she and others like her have made and most of them were able to recognize how her act, that may seem small, can stretch pretty far- so far that we're still striving for equality for all people today. 

It was fun talking to first graders this morning and asking them to look around. 

I said, "Look around at your classmates. Does everyone look the same? Do we all have the same skin color?

"NO"

"What about your friends? Raise your hand if you have friends that don't look like you, that have a different skin color than you!"

-hands shot up across the room-

It really is insane to think that 50-60 years ago the had I asked the same questions, I would have gotten totally different answers. We have come a long way, but we still have a ways to go! Like I told the kids today, it's up to YOU to be the next Rosa Parks, the next MLK, the next generation to take a stand for what you believe in!

Cheers to you, Rosa Parks! And thank you for the legacy you've left us! 

Don't just do something! Stand there!

Nope. Not a typo. You may be all too familiar with the phrase "Don't just stand there, Do something!" There is nothing wrong with this saying and in many instances it's a good message to step in and change the world, help people out, do service..... However in a world where we are always on the move, always doing something and in many cases doing what my students call "doin' too much", it's important to take a step back from it all and be still. This weekend during our North Cal Capernaum Training Day we were reminded that sometimes we don't need to do anything. Sometimes we need to just 

Stand there. Kneel there. Pray there. Listen there. Be still there.

This was a wonderful weekend, where I got to be with my Capernuam family and I also got to visit with the lovely Stephani Joseph! What's really cool about helping with Sacramento Capernaum  is that Nick Palermo, who founded Capernaum, is just down the road in San Jose! He led some activities this weekend and gave everyone a copy of his book, which was really cool! I also got to meet some of the first Capernaum friends, you can see them too in the bottom side pictures. To the left is Steve, the first Capernaum friend, and then Adam, one of the first and also the funniest! I got both of them to sign my book too! 

Sunday pretty much was centered around food! Steph came out with my Capernaum peeps and I for dinner Saturday night and then we went to the movies. Sunday morning we went to a really cute farmer's marker, then breakfast, coffee, and cupcakes! Also Whole Foods, haha, it was wonderful!

Steph and I could not resist the temptations of deliciousness this weekend