PAVEing a Blog

Not sure if this link will work, but two things to check out…

the pics from returning to Mexico on my facebook album:

and the new reviews of books as we start to go through the Young Adult Lit books from ALAN, and my students and myself mail the reviews to the authors!

Details and awesome stories from the road will com next, as well as detailing/explaining the Three Kings celebration in Mexico!

Heading here today as the last day of vacation..

El placer y el orden

Con obras del Museo d’ Orsay reunimos una selección de más de 60 piezas que, a partir de dos núcleos temáticos, representan la apropiación de estos dos conceptos en las esferas pública y privada a finales del siglo XIX.

Museo Nacional de Arte

and I get to pick up Kinah today!  🙂    🙂   And a list a mile long of things to do, but in 2013, regarding my resolutions, I have learned to breathe, pick them off one by one, and enjoy the trip along the way!

Just a quick note, I have been driving since 7:30 AM this morn and just got in to Mexico, I left Friday morn – 6:00 AM and ta da, and yes, I am seeing triple once I sat down, so to bed, for about 20 hours, and then I will update – three days in, three days out, SLEEP TIME!

😉

It feels good to be home…

Okay, so being one of my last posts before I head on the road, I decided to come into school quickly, my heart can’t take seeing too many people without making me stay another day – and seeing Mrs Moore, Mr Bleile, Mrs Cox-Cannon, The Sigai’s, Shawna, Tammy, and Erin, all almost made me stay the whole time….so this picture is one of many I carry with me to Mexico…

I realized I can be ready to go back and forth yet it is much harder to see people I feel so much for, and that takes time to get used to yet I miss these people sooo much, it hurts sometimes, and yes, (it is important to keep those ties together no matter what happens…”)   Staying at the Betts’ house  the last day, the house itself oozes into your skin the comfortableness and “welcomeness” that the Betts themselves have, and this makes it even harder to leave, but oh so bittersweet to return…  Christmas has come in so many ways that do not involve presents, even after the 2012 year this year, I have nothing but to be more than thankful for family and friends, the best gifts of all!  I miss so many people and I am rich beyond belief for the friends I have in so many places!

Don’t forget to check out the new reviews on books coming out in January, February, and March 2013 at this link on my blog!   We have many Young Adult lit texts that are coming out, and trust me, these are for adults too and get you involved in various issues that are on the news and in the world today!  🙂

Wednesday – a day to catch up with many things here in DE, and get this, – I was able to meet with Wayne Cannon – my Kiwanis/Key Club Advisor counterpart in crime at Seaford – He is AWESOME! – yesterday – catching up with new exchange student Pim – Visiting with Jeanine and Chuck, represent AFS – AND Glenn and Lennie!  WOW!   It was AWESOME – AWESOME 🙂    Then back to today and arranging to meet awesome Tammy Pham tomorrow who is my co-conspirator in traveling back to Driving Directions from Seaford, Delaware to Mexico City, undefined | MapQuest

– and ending a night on Wednesday with an AWESOME, incredible student, Sarah McCarthy who truly epitomizes a positive outlook and optimistic look on life – she is a dear – and a warrior of a positive mentality – making my night pretty nice to know I had her as a student and seen she has become another great young lady –  just for a moment I have to state, that IS one huge benefit that outweighs others in being a teacher – seeing your former students go on and being amazing in so any ways that can’t be measured in a state test – truly the gift that you receive later but is worth more than most you receive during the moment  🙂

Gearing up for the roadtrip home, and right now looks like the trip is predicted at 345.92 in gas, 42 hours and 46 minutes, 2563.61 miles, so I am curious to see how close I come to that….(fingers crossed).  🙂

Okay well, 40 minutes left..and a few memories to look back on before 2013 occurs…

Tonight I was able to meet with long time friend and confidante, Linn Duryea, at Bethany – we went to Dos Locos, a mexican restaurant at Rehoboth Beach – where I met Danielle Levredge and boyfriend, tonight being the night before they leave for Morocco – Paris for a month!  I am so glad I got a chance to see her before we left – wow! We walked Rohoboth Beach – boardwalk – get this – the picture on the left has a cross and a stuffed animal for every single student that died in the Connecticut school shooting – somber and awesome to know that this is something to reflect on coming into a new year – then Starbuck’s – (wow, we do not have any of those?!  LOL) – then onto what used to be Timothy’s (now Beachcomber’s) – to hear the band Divine Proportion – they were rockin’ good with covers and a tune that was awesome!  🙂   Back as the Duryea’s and celebrating together with friends, and as they say, the way you spend the new year at the end is the way you spend it in the new year – friends is a good way to start  🙂

Okay – resolutions – very important –

1 – Being more available and aware of the events, birthdays, etc for my friends everywhere…

2 – Pushing myself in the writing area to be published and to represent my Nano rumblings in a more published forum…

3 – Become more fluent in Spanish

4- Incorporate technology and education on a librarian level as a profession – and use technology to impact many many more people and mediums

5 – Get back on track with running, and improving my overall physical shape.

6 – Be more environmentally active as I was in DE, and do this on a more global scale.

7 – Improve my blog and reach more countries, reach more people, and impact them in a more beneficial way.

Happy New Year everyone, please feel free to leave a comment of one important resolution of yours is!

I have had many questions about what the fiscal cliff is, so I have this link that helped explain it to me…

Fiscal Cliff

I think I am most upset that an agreement has not been reached and that it seems individuals are too stubborn to put what is best for the country first.  I have questions though:  Is this a result of a bipartisan group in the Congress?   What affect will this have on school loans, credit cards, banking, and credit cards/lending in the U.S.?  Will this push other countries ahead of the U.S. in the economy?  What will this do for education, industry, and the value of the dollar?  Will an agreement be the ONLY thing that will save this from being worsened?  Any comments/questions you have, I would love to see/hear them here to help clarify this.  🙂    Thanks!

Here are some pics from the road on the way from Mexico to Delaware, sure, there are a few pics missing however, I have to save some room for some cool pics on the way back  🙂  This is he view out of Mexico, about 4 hours out of Mexico City – noticing the line of trucks an buses coming INTO the interstate, I was on the way in the other direction – WHEW   🙂

Then I felt this view, about 20 minutes outside of Nuevo Laredo, close to the border by about 1 hour,  was a breath taker, and wow – a picture worth a thousand words?  I just could stare and admire the mountains…

This next photo was before Neuvo Laredo – but I just admired the solitude, isolation, and just raw geography of Mexico as you see this – making driving through this country a peaceful, almost meditating experience, which adds personality to the idea of cross country driving.

The next photo, emerging from Mexico into the states, from Bridge #1, at Laredo – not a great, clear picture, but just the same, amazed I was here at 7:00 PM the first day out, happy to be entering the states! (Referring to the night picture below)    I was also afraid of taking photos at the border so I laid off trying to clear the picture as I waited to come into the states.

Next, we see the morning of the second day, a morning heading out of Victoria, Texas, (with the tree shadow picture) with an awesome sunrise.  (There were sheep in front of me, but it is difficult to

see those!)  However, my first morning after I started out, I began to get excited knowing I was getting out of the southern U.S. and making my way north.  Fuel, gas, wow.  Truck stops, I never paid more than the nether regions of 2.89 – 2.99 per gallons, so I was upset seeing 2.33 per gallon with the exception of far out places…loved the price and mileage I obtained between truck stops…below is $3.03 which still was in the mentality of being high after hitting a run of 2.89 area costs per gallon, but overall, I knew these were the places to fuel up as frequently as possible.

Love this pricing, yessss….

a little higher, I still liked the pricing on the interstate – so hope this will be the case as I look for these areas on the way back…:)

I couldn’t get a good pic of this while I was driving, so looking into my rearview window – I snapped the profile of Houston as I bypassed it and went towards Louisiana,

and this was the view from  inside the Mountaineer, my directions propped in the middle, and me killing off the chocolate kisses given to me by my students at ASF, yes, this was the third box of kisses, I believe I knocked them off in one day – my lapse from eating chocolate being broken in by gifts and adding some extra benefit, I did see one in a store in Mexico,

but maybe the Yoo Hoo just tasted better because I bought it in the states, ohmygosh – Yoo Hoo is awesome!

Moving on, we begin through Mississippi, I can feel the direction of Delaware slowly…:)

Then as you see below the Mississippi pic, the second morning on the road pic showed the road in front of you…second morning/day I found myself trying to get out of Tennessee and into Virginia, out of VA the third day to get to DE  :)…

and seeing that sign of Welcome to Maryland, VERY, VERY excited – VERY to be out of Virginia, honestly, it seemed like this took FOREVER, longer than Texas  🙂   When I was able to see the Bay Bridge, wow,

I knew I had made it finally on the third day!

One thing that I realized, I loved making the trip, it allowed me to take in how many scenes I had forgotten to see and the changes from Mexico to Delaware  were beautiful, so yes, three days does not measure a plane trip that can get me to DE the same day, yet the experiences along the way were better than the convenience of speed, and helped me to anticipate the arrival with family even more 🙂

As we prepare to return to DE, and before New Year’s even hits, I as almost everyone realizes, that family  is the most important facet of a New Year’s resolution, and one

that seems to matter most.

In looking at our pictures here you see delicious food,  and circles of family that can’t remember that last time we were all together in these numbers.    This becomes the most valuable item and gift over the holidays.  You can roam anywhere, discover far away places, and feel confident in doing so when you know you have family tucked inside somewhere.  🙂    

Don’t hesitate to check out the What and where Should I read section of this blog, as new texts and reviews are being added every day.  The Goodreads widget you see on the bottom right is perfect, as you can see a snapshot of the new books we churn through each day – 🙂

Onto Delaware and then we will see where out adventures will turn next 🙂