malden and wellesley

here begins loads of posts about my thanksgiving-week-east-coast-tour.

i took a red-eye to boston, which was a little bit terrible but toooootally worth it once i met saydi on the curb (and turned on the seat warmer in her car – holy cow the cold sure took my breath away) and shared hot oatmeal with these bed-headed children at their home in malden:

saydi, hazel and i bundled up and drove out to our alma mater/future school – wellesley college. as always, it was so fun to be back on campus, to walk the paths of my college experience, to remember and be grateful. wellesley is a magical place.
 
we went to the common room and dining hall where both saydi and i spent so much time as college students, walked along the path by the lake (it was soooo bitter cold), stopped by the library, and enjoyed classic wellesley quirks like this sign and platform 9 3/4!
  

wellesley will always be a tender home and spectacular place for me.
after our freezing walk around campus, we went to church in the neighboring town of weston, where i had the joyous opportunity to meet in person my friend katie. katie found this blog a while back and several months ago wrote me an email with a few questions. we continued emailing sporadically, and katie expressed her interest in the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. we continued to correspond as katie met with the missionaries, read the book of mormon, shared beautiful spiritual experiences, and made the decision to be baptized. learning about and taking a small part in this incredible girl’s faith journey was a huge, huge blessing in my life – a super bright spot when things in my heart seemed pretty black. katie is a truly beautiful human being with such an earnest, golden, faithful and brave heart, and she continually inspired me through our email exchanges. on november 10, katie emailed me a picture from her baptism, and i thought my heart would burst with joy. it was so so fun to meet her in real life, to sit next to her during sacrament meeting, and to talk face-to-face. i am so blessed to know this pearl of a girl and can’t wait to hear about her many faithful adventures to come.

we also went to the last of saydi and jeff’s church meetings in malden, and then went home for a cozy pajama party. it was so blustery outside and it felt so good to bundle up, cook sunday dinner together, sip hot coco by the fire, make saydi and my favourite cookies (molasses spice) and talk and play together. i love those shumways so so much!

next up: a 17-degree run along the charles river and other boston adventures…then on to dc and nyc!

bracing myself

  

in a few hours i am getting on a plane that will fly through the night over the entire continental united states, and i’ll wake up tomorrow morning in boston! where the high temperature all day will be twenty-eight degrees! luckily my second day in boston we’ll get up to freezing at thirty-two. sheesh.

i’m afraid california has actually made me a cold wimp.

i’ll spend two days in boston, then a day and a half in washington, dc and then thanksgiving day and the day after in new york city. and not a mid-forties high in sight! my bag is stuffed with layers and i am bracing myself.

although i’m a little terrified about the cold, i am also bracing myself for a wicked good time with my siblings, siblings-in-law and nieces and nephews. it’s going to be a whirlwind thanksgiving week east coast tour, and i am super excited!

i probably won’t be doing much blogging until december – so happy thanksgiving, all! i have so, so, so much to be grateful for and i am glad for a season to really reflect on all my many, many blessings.

life is beautiful! even if it’s going to be pretttttty cold for a while…

vineyard autumn

on saturday, kelsey and i woke up early and drove north for a bike ride through the sonoma vineyards.

it was a really stupendous day. i just cannot get over those gorgeous rows of foliage, gilded under the slanty autumn sunshine. a napa/sonoma bike ride in the fall is something i have done every single november since i moved to northern california {2010 / 2011 / 2012}, and it’s just the best (i daresay vineyard autumn competes with mountain autumn!).

this is me saying, “can you believe how magnificent this day is??” we enjoyed splendidly perfect weather.
we went down some random dirt road and found the most amazing untouched spot – we were seriously stunned. it was incredibly peaceful and outrageously beautiful.
  
after our ride, we drove up sonoma highway to have a picnic in the gardens at the st. jean chateau winery. 
and stopped at another winery that also had an olive tree grove and olive oil tasting.

 

we ate dinner at a celebrated restaurant in the town of sonoma called the girl and the fig. the food was very california fresh and super tasty.

and then we drove back to the city, blasting beautiful music, as the sun set. of course we had to stop at the lookout point in the marin headlands to soak in the perfectly clear view of the bridge and the city, as well as the full moon moonlight on the bay. i’ve never been in that spot without being really cold and nearly blown over by the wind – but saturday night it was so calm and pristine and perfect. we just watched the bridge glow and the city glimmer for a while.

wow! the world is deliciously beautiful.

 

she's always up for thai

this little post is dedicated to my angel friend brittany. (and that really terrible quality picture is us in the most fantastically kitschy thai restaurant, eating curry after we engaged in some serious retail therapy at the milpitas outlets...)

three of the last four fridays, brittany and i have decided, just as we've both left the middle schools where we work, to go out for thai food together. brittany says "thai is always a good idea" - she's always up for it (i love it when she speaks to the waitress in thai - she served a 18-month mission for our church there). sharing food and conversation with this girl is one of my favourite things ever.

 

brittany really is an angel for me. i honestly don't know what i would have done without her the past couple of months. she has been so gentle with me when i've felt so fragile, has done incredibly kind things for me, and has shared so much sincere empathy. she lets me talk when i want to talk understands when i don't. she checks in on me and drinks tea with me and goes all kinds of places with me and is just an amazingly good friend. she also happens to be a fantastic celebrator and a perfect dinner-party-planning partner; she appreciates and teaches me about art and literature and other beautiful things; she engages me in wonderfully challenging and stimulating conversations; she really makes me laugh.

 

and, she's always up for thai.

 

“i have spoken here of heavenly help, of angels dispatched to bless us in time of need. but when we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of god, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day...indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of god manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good that angelic is the only word that comes to mind.”
-jeffrey r. holland

making the ordinary beautiful

i love love love how this artist has made something so everyday (and even a little yucky) into something really magnificently pretty.

last night i saw the movie about time, which is essentially about relishing the beauty of normal, routine life and especially family relationships.

today i am feeling reminded that life is so beautiful, and empowered to see the ordinary as extraordinary - for so it is! 

being challenged

 
last friday, at the very end of our staff meeting, someone mentioned something about there being no school on monday. from the back of the classroom i exclaimed, “what??” i had no idea we had veteran’s day off. “wait, you mean there is no school for students or meetings for teachers and admin??” my co-workers were pretty amused, and i was absolutely ecstatic. an unexpected day off?? what a stellar surprise.

i spent veteran’s day sleeping, organizing, shopping, exercising, relaxing, writing and eating. it was glorious.

yesterday i had to unexpectedly sub, filling in for a teacher who spent the morning throwing up in the school bathroom. it was an extremely challenging day for me – let’s just say i almost broke into tears in front of 40 seventh graders (after having already broken into quite a passionate and loud lecture on unacceptable behavior).

after that arduous day, i had a conversation with my roommate about her new job. she went on about the catered lunches and endlessly available snacks, the awesome facilities, the good pay and the general easiness of her tasks. i thought to myself…what am i doing in my job?! it is really hard! and very limited free food!!

and then, this morning at school breakfast, three sixth grade girls ran in the door of the cafeteria with their arms out wide and we had a quick group hug while they chattered a bright “good morning!” then, a seventh grade boy brought me a big blooming flower that had fallen from the rosebush in the front of the school. when i started to dance to the music i always turn on during breakfast, a sassy sixth grader just looked me up and down and said, “no, miss eyre, just no.” a couple more high fives and thank yous later, i realized this stuff is better than catered lunch.

i was really, really grateful for a day off. but – every other day i am really grateful to be doing important, good work.

p.s. isn’t “yay” just such a happy word? that image above is about what flashed through my head when i heard i had monday off.
p.p.s. i recently re-discovered jewel and hootie and the blowfish and can’t stop listening to their music from the 90s. must have middle school on the brain. but seriously – that’s some good stuff.