It's the most Wonderful time of the Year!

It is such a wonderful time of year. Christmas and New Year's ..warm hot chocolate, decorating, Christmas music, cookie parties, holiday parties, shopping and wrapping gifts, and brown little packages tied up with string...these are a few of my favorite things :) I love it so much! As crazy as it gets and as busy as it gets I just love this time. I am not a cold weather person, I do prefer the sweaty heat in California, however the cold too can be refreshing when you are nicely bundled up. But of course for some people it still is not cold enough in California-not for me.

So we decorated for Christmas yesterday. It was a lot of fun. I put on Christmas music and since I was quite organized with my packaging last year, putting everything out was quite easy. Vicken helped a lot. He did almost all of the tree..it was quite yummy! It looks great. Traditions are so important to start within families, so this is one of our traditions putting up the tree together and I think it will stick when kids come too. Here some pictures of our decorations. Enjoy!

This is on our buffet. The picture behind it is a painting my sister did for Vicken and me for our first anniversary. It is a painting of my bridal bouquet-very thoughtful and for sure beautiful.

Our Tree
Purple and Silver

A closer look at the ornaments

With the lights on!
Wishing everyone a happy healthy fun filled Christmas season. I will be back to post about the cookie party and more holiday fun stuff!

Oh How Fun...

I have been wanting to see Wicked for months now. They are showing at the Pantages. Ever since the phenomena swept over Los Angeles. My sister really wanted to see it too. So we figured this weekend would be perfect. For every showing of Wicked they do a raffle 2 and half hours before the performance. You go in put in your name and about 26 names are called and if you win for $25 buckaroonies you get to sit in orchestra seats which usually sell for over 100 dollars. So my sister and I decided to give it a shot we went in early and gave our names. There were people there who had seen the show over 6 times that was insane. They called the first name and it wasn't ours. So I turned to Nora and said if we don't win we will come back the next weekend. Then the guy pulled another name, he stumbled on the name so I assumed it must be mine cause it is so hard to pronounce. It turned to be Nora's name and we won tickets! !!! It was funny too cause from the beginning I told Nora they are going to call your name. We went to watch the show and we were in row A that means front row..the first row. It was crazy. Being up there you feel like you are part of the show and the excitement. We both loved the show!It was a beautiful story about how people should be loved for who they are and sometimes all of us are a little misunderstood! I recommend this show and I hope to see it before May again before it goes off stage.

Well I was not right about my surprise from Vicken but it was what I wanted. I have been wanting to go to CRAFT for months now and finally I got the chance. Vicken took me for my birthday and I had a true Top Chef experience (I am a big fan of the show). We had amuse bouche (a tiny bite size piece of food served before courses to amuse the mouth). We had porkj belly I had always seen it on the show but wanted to taste...it was good kind of like bacon and meat in one. Of course Vicken had the steak and I had braised pork (which was really good). What I loved about the experience was every course is served it's like eating at a friends house you get to share all your meals. It was cool. We had fun and it was quite yummy. Would recommend this spot for sure!

I'm Thankful!

First off...sorry for my delay in posts. It has been a busy couple of weeks. However, I am going to try very hard to post every other day at least even though Christmas is around the corner.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving this week and my birthday happened to fall on the same day. I can list all the many small and large people and things I am thankful for however most of all I am thankful to God for blessing me with such a beautiful, fulfilled healthful and happy life. He is the one who has surrounded me with amazing people such as Vicken and my parents, sister, Vicken's parents and Raffi and Betty. and to this I am thankful and grateful. There are so many other people in my life who I am thankful to have just for their helpfulness, their happy thoughts, their prayers, the moments of laughter and of course this list will go on and on, but this is where I will stop! I am just thankful to God.


Well... it was also my birthday..Turned the BIG 27- This is not old, but when I think about my mom was on baby number 2. Oh well..that was back in the day:) My birthday with family was nice. However tonight Vicken has surprise in store. I took a guess at where he is taking me and shared this with him, he just chuckled so I must be right. I will let you know if I was right with pictures and of course my review.

Have a great weekend. I am sure enjoying having 5 days off the joys of being a teacher!

Happy Halloween

Hi Everyone,

Hope everyone had a good and safe Halloween. If you took the kids Trick or Treating make sure they don't eat all that candy!

-From my previous post-decided to work on practicing to love unconditionally it has been good so far. The power of loving others like yourself can be truly amazing. But sometimes hormones get in the way!

Take care will be back soon!

Happy Sunday!

Found this mantra online! These are somethings to practice daily. A few things I would add are- always have Faith and Hope. Love unconditionally-Two simple words however the practice is quite difficult. I will challenge myself this week- to practice these thoughts. I will let you know how successful it is. :)

Happy Sunday

More School-or no more!

For the past few weeks I have been pondering this program
I am not sure if I want to go ahead and apply and see what God has in store for me or not even take the chance of applying. A few reasons for my thoughts..The Pros and Cons

The Cons
1) Do I really want to go back to school now? (I maybe lazy)
2) Am I ready for the stress of the papers and a dissertation? Just the mere thought of having to do an interview in front of the acceptance committee freaks me out.
3) I do want to have a baby at some point (no time soon for you lurkers out there) and I have talked to people that had kids while in the program . But I just feel bad its not fair to a baby if I am not able to cherish their growing moments and I have to be at school! I want to savor each moment with a future baby!
4) What about time with Vicken and our family. Because sometimes you need to say No

The Pros...
1) I know that one day I want to get a doctoral degree. I love academia and I love learning about the art of teaching, as crazy as it sounds I do love reading educational research. Working at a public school I also have gotten to learn more and enjoy the governments role in public education. I enjoy the aspect of how education is so interlocked. From the student to the parent to the teacher. As well as what you learn in Kindergarten effects you through high school and beyond. We can't just say well that was elementary school and its done-No its not its a building block. (I am off my soapbox!)
2) The program at UCLA is made for people who work, you go to class one time a week then on Saturdays.-if you are good at time management (which I think I am) I can be able to juggle family, work and school. (AM I READY-NOT SURE)
3) Career changes can be on the way with such a degree but do I want to make a change?

So these are just a few of my thoughts..in the end whatever decision is made I will be happy with it. I also know that I do not have to be 26 to go back to school-as I have heard from so many people in my family this is America and you can go later too. So technically what's my rush? I graduated with my B.A. at 21 and with my Master's at 26-So I ask again what is my rush?

Busy Week

As you can tell from my posting it has been a busy week. It seems this is how its going to be for a while. I have a boom of private clients I have been seeing and I am part of AAOP (Armenian Autism Outreach Project) oh and I have a full time job and oh I have a husband too! so these things have taken up much time. Don't get me wrong I am grateful for all these things. Sometimes I wonder if I take on certain responsibilities to just challenge myself ? and see can I really do it? We will find out in June if I really did all of it!
I am also so blessed to have Vicken. Cause he is not the nagging husband at all. If there is food he will eat, if not he will buy something. (so important in an armenian marriage) It's interesting too because Vicken has had a busy week too and I have seen him but we have not had much of our "bonding time" which I love. These 7 days until Sunday are packed with fun good things..but they are packed. so I can't wait till two weeks from now when I go out of town for some fun filled girls get away and relaxation!

Food for Thought

God’s Coffee

A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general…

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee..

When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the small gathering… "You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems.”

He continued…”Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups… Then you began eyeing each other’s cups….”

”Now consider this: Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups. They are just tools to shape and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live. Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that God has provided us… God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups. Enjoy your coffee!”

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The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything… So please remember: Live simply. Love generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly. Leave the Rest to God.

Love this!

Kids say the darnest things...

Story 1:
In the fourth grade reading curriculum students need to read a story about the Titanic. Then they must complete a workbook page. The question on the page is Would you ever like to take a trip on an ocean liner? Why or Why not?
Student response: No, I would never want to go on an ocean liner because if it sinks women and children need to get off first and I will never see my dad :)
Teacher: Well all ocean liners don't sink.
Student: Oh okay then...I guess I will go on it!

Story 2:
I was testing a student. The word problem stated " Bob has to use a pay phone to call Jim. He needs .65cents What is the least amount of coins he can use to make the phone call?"
Student thinks..Hmmm, Use a cell phone! and his reaction was duhhh how stupid you don't know that!

There is so much more but somehow I forget..so I will make sure to post them here so I can remember all the reasons why working with children is so rewarding.

I love Fall-Continuation

I love Fall

Fall is one of my favorite seasons! Warm sweaters, long boots and some cloudy/rainy days. I love orange and the reds and I love my mom's Thanksgiving Turkey! Now that I learned how to post images I will be back with pretty little things.
Enjoy!

My Job

A lot of people are confused with what I do. I am not sure why there is a confusion, but I am going to try explain it. My job title is a Resource Specialist. Yes I do have my own classroom on campus and I do see students throughout the day. There are two categories of what I do. First, students who have disabilities (learning disabilities, speech problems, autism, add or visual problems) and if they are below grade level, then they come into my classroom for hour or more depending on their need and I work with them in a small group to help them get better at the skill they are working on. The second area of my job is talking (consulting/collaborating) with teachers on students who have problems in their classroom. Then we will set up a meeting and I will test a student and find out if there is an academic problem or not and if they end up having an academic problem they start coming to RSP. BTW this is the shorter version of the explanation. :)

Anyway, a few weeks ago they called me from the district office letting me know that they are going to need me to homeschool a six year old girl who has cancer. My first reaction was Do I have too! Then after thinking about it for a while I thought it is a good learning opportunity for me and I will be helping this little girl. So yesterday was my first day with her. I walked into her home and there she was...really cute no hair (all shaved or fallen out cause of chemo) and the biggest smile on her face! Her mom told me later she was waiting anxiously to see me. She was looking forward to her teacher. We worked together and she was the best student I have ever had! Of course she does not have a disability..she is just being homeschooled while she is going through with chemo. But she is such a strong girl. She tried so hard to do everything perfectly. She would write a letter and if it went out of the line she would apologize (so cute!) and for a 6 year old shes got the best handwriting I have seen -even compared to the typical students!

Anyway, the cancer she has is Ewing's Sarcoma. It is a rare case of bone cancer which usually happens to teenagers, but unfortunately happened to this little six year old. At first I had a fear that it might be too depressing to work with her, but after yesterday and today I have grown to becoming more fond of her. She is so sweet and so strong! and I pray she gets better soon! It is amazing how we think we can't handle certain things but God knows better. With this new student of mine God is also teaching me to be grateful for all the people we have around us and to savor each moment! I will try to be back tomorrow!

Finally...a Blog

Finally..I am starting a blog. This has been on my list of to do's for a while but I have not got around to it. You may ask why start a blog who reads it ..Well first I love blogs! I have more than a dozen blogs bookmarked. Not that I love reading about other people :) But I just love some of the creative blogs out there that really inspire me -be it scrapbooking or cooking! (you can find some of them on this blog) This blog is to just journal my daily events! Life goes by so fast and sometimes I even forget how fast so I wanted to make a blog so I can remember my daily experiences. This blog is also a challenge to myself to get more tech savvy. Finally..this way I can truly realize how important each moment is and to cherish it. Somehow I do not say it enough that enough anymore, but when I was dating my husband, everywhere we went together or did that was different, or an event in our lives that was special or even ordinary I would say to him "this is a moment" so I want to savor every moment out there! I would love to hear from you guys...so post a message say hello and Don't be a quiet lurker! Hopefully I can inspire you to make a blog and Cherish every moment!