jennifer patel

Yep, we're still eating ice cream every day.  Look for us soon on Biggest Loser: Blended Family Edition  On my first day back to work after a year hiatus, I felt unfamiliar with many things that were once fast, routine, no brainers.  It seemed to take forever for me to set up my computer (the most important part of teaching), to make a mental list and gather supplies for my new area, and to kick start those neural pathways that were just a little overgrown.  I did manage to walk into my old classroom out of habit, only to recognize that it was no longer mine (even though a lot of my stuff is still in there) and I sure did manage to blow a kiss to the IT guy who helped me set up my computer.  It was more of a thank you gesture, but also because I haven't socialized with adults in a professional setting in over a year (and I really wasn't proficient in that area to begin with, even when I was many years in the game).  Add it to the list of awkward excha...

Galveston (more specifically Surfside) holds a special place in my childhood memories. My Mom's side of the family would rent a house every summer for a week.  My Grandparents would get there first and get a few days of peace and quiet before my Mom and her 5 siblings rolled in with their kids and spouses. I feel so lucky that I got to spend time every summer going to the beach and playing with my cousins.  The gulf beach really was beautiful back in the day.  I never saw a "real beach" (what people believe to be) until I was in college, so maybe it's all perspective...but they used to have shells and sand dollars, and not mounds of seaweed at Surfside.  It must have been the hurricanes, or moon and tides, or global warming, or my childhood bangs that changed the physical appearance of the same beach today that people say, "eww, gross.  You're going to the gulf?  How ugly is that beach?" I can still see how beautiful it is. My blonde, blonde cou...

There are some things that subtly remind me that I'm Asian (besides mirrors). I mix up my 'Ls' and 'Rs' often, especially when overly tired or carelessly thinking. I couldn't say 'world' (wuld) until middle school and couldn't say 'Jerusalem' (Jelusalem) until high school. While all the other kids in CCD class were praying about whatever, I was praying the teacher didn't call on me to read out loud because Jerusalem is every other word in The Bible . I, unfortunately, can be textbook passive aggressive. "Man, Jennifer. You're never angry about anything..." It's because I just got even sucka! I've taken great strides to overcome this, but there's always room for improvement. Alex is already passive aggressive at two. My parents learned real quick that guilt was the best punishment for me. I think I got spanked once. Even Alex has somehow tapped into this and lays it on thick.  Sometimes I lay awake at night...

We spent a large part of July living out of a suitcase. Here's a huge photo dump w/commentary.  Feel free to stop reading at any time.  Let's be honest, this is really a post for grandparents.  After Galveston, we took a trip to Tulia to see V's parents.  My sister-in-law and her kids were also there so there was entertainment in the form of cousins.  Every time they heard the train, they would run up to this chair and climb to get a peek of it across the street. Tulia is very small.  I can run around the whole town in half an hour.  That being said, you would think that I would have scoped out places to take the kids, but all I could come up with was a park two blocks away that I later learned is the drug park.  There were broken pieces of glass in the rocks and graffiti on the equipment, but these two guys made lemonade and found ways to use the trash in their play.  Did they play with used straws?  Sure....