Reading Roundup 2013, Week 14 AND Birthday RECAP!

Whew!
I’m officially in my 30s.
I have to say, it’s fun so far.

Anyway, let’s do the reading stuff first, shall we?

Only 5 books.
I KNOW!
But I had a pretty busy birthday…week, actually.

Here’s what I read:
Two GREAT YA novels!
The first, Jellicoe Road, recommended by a friend I met at BIg Sur,
IS A MUST READ!

It’s one of the four or five books that I’ve read that have made me think:
“Yes, this is why I’m a writer,” and “Yes, I need to write about something this emotionally true.”

And Scarlet is really fun.
The second book in the Lunar Chronicles.
The first one, Cinder, has some Cinderella in it.
And this one has a bit of Little Red Riding Hood.
Great!
Chasing Vermeer? A fun art mystery!
Blue Balliet is coming to Hicklebee’s, so I’m working my way through her books now.
And it IS National Poetry Month; it’s about time that I read some poetry.
This collection is really funny.
Plus, you can NEVER go wrong with some Matthew Cordell illustrations.

And I read this one at the airport, on my way to the staff meeting in Tustin, CA that happened on my birthday:

It was AWESOME.
Just like I thought it would be.

And they’re coming to Hicklebee’s.
I have to work on a new thank you note.
I’ve met Jon Klassen three times, and each time he got a different thank you note.
But I only have three versions!
Thank you, Jon Klassen, for forcing me to make new thank you notes.
(No, really. Otherwise I wouldn’t make the time for it!)

Ok,
now on to the BIRTHDAY WEEK!
My birthday was FRIDAY, April 5th.

But celebrations started Wednesday,
because that was my last day at capoeira before my birthday.

and THREE birthday rodas.

Usually in the roda, you play two people and then you have a break.
When it’s your birthday, you have to play against EVERYONE.
Here’s a video of mine.
Please note: I had already worked a full day,
then taught two hours of  kids classes,
played in TWO birthday rodas with the kids,
and then trained another 1.5 hours.

So, I’m not at my best!
Also, the people playing me aren’t trying to be mean;
when it’s your birthday, people are supposed to try and trick you and take you down!

The last guy I play is our mestre/teacher, Papiba!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yJV_X5uGLY]

Ok then we’re going to skip ahead to my actual birthday, FRIDAY!
I was in Tustin for work.
We had a staff meeting.

Then we had a capoeira fundraiser.
I got to hang out with the kids.
I brought tons of books, art supplies, and paper.

I even got some of the older kids into reading to the younger kids!

That night I even did maculélé.
It’s capoeira but also some stick fighting too, in grass skirts.
I WISH I could find a video of it!

But I do have a video of this super cute reader’s theater moment:
Elephant and Piggie’s voices are done by brothers!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfsnXsbh7II]

Then it was Saturday.
Not pictured: rolling over HUGE waves and wiping out a lot surfing.
The waves were crashing quickly and it wasn’t an easy surf.
But I got a good workout.

Then my good friend came over with her two kids and we had an ice cream party.
It was a great idea:

You had to eat your age (or a divisor of it if you didn’t want THAT much sugar)
in toppings!

They made me (yes, HOMEMADE) strawberry ice cream with chocolate chunks, MY FAVORITE!

Everyone had to write up a sheet about what they wanted.
The mystery ingredient was site unseen!
We all got one though, and then found out it was:

Surprisingly, they tasted good in the ice cream.
Here’s what mine ended up being:

The rest of Saturday was chill.

Sunday on the other hand started with this:

Here’s some vine videos of how the batches turned out.
This is the second batch, with brownie bits.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBayJwlFn5Y]

And this is the first batch, with chocolate chips and pb cups![youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MnYsFDWDTs] I’m excited about how they turned out.
When people came over for the party, the kids hugged me when I said I had homemade ice cream.
One said, “Can I stay here forever?”

It was awesome.
I played a lot of cornhole (yes, beanbag toss, but it’s actually called cornhole)
and did really well.

I did snap one photo of the food:

So, as you can see, it was an eventful week.
Now I’m on a sort of vacation.
I’m still working, but I’m on a trip for work,
so I have more time than I normally do during the week.

I’m also not training capoeira, so I’m doing some in my hotel room.
But hopefully I can do a lot more reading!

Whew.
How were your weeks you guys?

We’re enthusiastically yours still,
KE and SS