Pedicure Pandemonium

Many people  have spoken and I have listened. Many of the teachers at school told me I deserved pedicure when they noticed that I was the only woman at the Michael Jackson dance tribute without my toenails painted. The uproar that followed the photo of Jim painting my toenails made me re-think my frugalness. So today I went to the salon where I have my hair cut and a nice young lady gave me a pedicure that lasted almost an hour. And my teacher friends were right~ I did deserve a pedicure!

My pedicure started with a nice foot soak in warm soapy water in a foot Jacuzzi, followed by the sanding and buffing of my feet.

After my cuticles were attended to, and moisturizer massaged into my feet and calfs it was time for the polish. I chose a deep raspberry pink color.

And here is the finished product! We'll see how long it lasts, but it sure was an enjoyable experience!

The rest of today was a washout, with numerous thunderstorms rolling through. Although there were brief glimpses of the sun! I did get a bunch of jobs done today, including making some Chocolate Chip cookies using dark chocolate chips and adding raisins. Jim loves them!

Yesterday was my first official day of summer vacation (the weekend didn't count, I always have weekends), and I went to lunch with 2 friends who also work in the schools. Jean, Sherri and I went to Pelican's Nest for a birthday lunch for Sherri.  This place is right on the river, so after a leisurely lunch, we hiked up the new River Walk trail. 

We got caught in a few raindrops on our way back to the car. It was a fun afternoon and a great way to start summer. 

Yesterday I also finished knitting a pair of socks that I started about 2 years ago. I bought the yarn in Ottawa and tried a new way (for me) of knitting socks~from the toe up! There are things I liked about this sock construction, namely that I could make the sock go as high up my leg as I had yarn, as well as having to learn new techniques for starting and turning the heel. I was not crazy about how the heel turned out, but I have since read about other options for doing the heel on toe up socks and will try one of those ways in future sock projects. Here is  a  photo of me modeling my new socks (pre-pedicure!):
Tomorrow I get my summer haircut (short) and will start packing up for Jenny Lake.

I recently got a phone call from my friend Judy, who asked me if I would like to judge the sewing competition at the Monroe County Fair! After thinking for a moment, I said, "yes!" I used to sew a great deal and always felt that I was quite competent at it (thanks Mom!). So, on Sunday, July 12th, I will report to the fairgrounds and see what kind of projects are entered. It should be a fun and learning experience. 

Hope all is well.

And the Weekend Continues

Here it is, Sunday night and I am not ironing, reviewing my lesson plans in my mind, or thinking about meals and clothes for the upcoming week! Love summer vacation, especially these first few days!

We had a fairly low-key weekend. Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market in the mall parking lot and I was delighted to find the "lettuce lady" had returned and I could get a bag full of her freshly cut field greens and leaf lettuce for $1.50! We also bought strawberries, cherries, a cucumber, garlic, green beans, a red pepper, radishes and scallions.
I will visit the Farmer's Market on Thursday morning before going to camp, and load up on salad fixings.

I ran a bunch of errands on Saturday afternoon including a stop at Geva Theater to get us each a season ticket for 6 of their upcoming performances, starting in September and going through May. They offered quite a deal for educators, with my season ticket costing about half of Jim's ticket. I look forward to the line-up of productions.

We took Jim's parents out for one of their Christmas gift dinners, visiting Ricci's restaurant. We had a good meal and spent most of the time talking about their upcoming move. After dinner we returned to their house so Jim could take some photos of his Dad's guns to show to a couple of colleagues who know guns. Jim spent the rest of the evening searching the internet for info about the 3 guns that Porge owns. This will be a learning process, for sure.

Today we were up real early so we could volunteer our services at the Harborfest 10K race that started and finished at the beach at Charlotte. I helped with registration while Jim got one of the water stops set up. After the race started, I went to the finish line and helped get the post-race food set up. Once most of the runners had crossed the finish line, I got on my bike, which rode to the beach in the backseat of the Beetle and rode up the new trail along the river, where the last of the runners were coming in. I stopped to talk to Jim at his water stop and then continued on. This is a really pretty trail as it goes along the river and then on a boardwalk out over a wide spot in the river. 
Once the trail ended at Lake Avenue, I turned around and retraced my route back to the beach and then rode west on Beach Avenue and Edgemere Drive. I stopped at Bob and Sally's house and all looked in order there.
I continued my ride by heading south and ended up with 27 miles when I pulled into our driveway. The morning hours ended up being the best part of the day as the rain came in after lunch. 

Corey called today to report that he was safely home from his weekend adventure that included a concert in Albany, a night at Jenny Lake, and then a short backpacking trip into the St. Regis area. He and his buddy, Steve, were eaten alive by the mosquitos while backpacking! Corey says he plans to be at camp for the Fourth of July~ that will be good~lots of family all together.

We see from Bob and Sally's blog that they got to spend some time with Tucker and Allison. I hope it was a good visit for all. 

Tonight's news is reporting that reports of tributes to Michael Jackson are starting to pour in. I don't suppose that there will be coverage of one of the earliest tributes that took place at Longridge School on Friday morning! Michael's music was put on the PA system and most of the staff danced around the halls for about 10 minutes! It was great!

Hope all is well.