Randomness

Home For Now

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

I just got home last night from 4 amazingly exhausting and intellectually stimulating days at Harvard talking about charter schools.  I learned more than I thought possible and made some amazing connections in this really small community that is charter schools.  My brain is still buzzing with so much information that I can’t wait to begin to be able to process some of it.  I know that will take a few days.

It was so great to see my kids and husband when I arrived.   I missed them so much.  I am glad that I don’t travel a lot for work.  When I write that statement, I’m conflicted.  Not about how I feel, but about the statement itself.  Because in reality, I do travel quite a bit for work.  I will continue to travel more for work.  I leave again in 3 weeks for a 3 day trip for work.  I will travel at least 6 days a month with my new job–two night away every other week (more than likely).  I love it, because it keeps my job interesting.  I hate it, because I miss my family and we are such a unit that it is hard when one of us is gone.

But I am home now and my to do list is quickly filling up.  Quickly.

 

Change Is Afoot

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

So, I’m just going to say it–because it has been eating at me for a week now.  I got a new job.  A great new job.  An amazing new job.  But I won’t be blogging much about my great new job.  It is a fabulous opportunity and it comes with a very hefty pay raise.  Like almost double what I currently make.  So that’s awesome and means that my husband is currently car shopping and adding an iPad to his Christmas list. I am eying a second Epiphanie bag.

I am still working in the charter school sector but have a fancy new title of Director–I won’t say more as I don’t want to necessarily be goggled with my job and connected here.  I know, it’s sad.

But I am so happy.  I can’t wait to get to start my new job.  I am sad about leaving my current job, but my boss is amazing and she has been so supportive about my leaving, etc.  What is even nicer and goes to further support my belief that things in life happen the way they are supposed to happen is that I didn’t apply for this job.  The job found me.  It is nice to be a first choice for a job you didn’t apply for.  Knowing that your new boss thinks you are the best one for the job and not just the best one that applied.  So, I’m feeling pretty good about myself.  Hopefully good enough to stay way from the chocolate that calls to me from my desk.

I am committed to doing a two week sugar detox–hoping to push it to nearly 4 weeks.  I’ll be honest–I am going to have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving with homemade whipped cream.  But, I am really serious about getting healthy–it’s less about losing weight for me now than it is being healthy.

Part of this might have to do with the fact that I just read 15 student papers analyzing Food, Inc.   Wants to make me not eat anything from a store.  I certainly am not buying tomatoes that aren’t organic and locally grown anymore.

So, things are changing.  Now only if I could figure out how to get my kids to stop whining or my husband to put the dishes in the sink and not on the counter.

 

Random Act Of Cuteness

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with life right now…everything is crazy busy and intellectually over stimulating.  I am working on posts surrounding education, homework, etc but wanted something light for today.

Last night on our way home from dance class, Zoë picked up a sweater she had left in the car.  It’s a bit of a hippy sweater–brown crochet tank–with colored flowers and fringe.  It’s cute.  Zoë was holding it up and asked me to look.  I then had to remind her that I was driving and that I can’t look.

“Tell me what it is.”

“My Ho-ka-pon-tas sweater” she said.

I died laughing.  I know she was trying to say Pocahontas sweater, even though I have no idea who might have called it that.  So of course, I had to ask her three more times what kind of sweater it was just to her her say Ho-ka-pon-tas.

I then made her tell her dad when we got home.

Sometimes you just need a laugh and if your kids can’t provide that for you…I don’t know what to say.

 

 

 

102.96 Miles

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

So, yesterday my best friend and I rode a century to celebrate my 40th birthday.  We had planned on doing one at the end of August (when I officially turned 40), but schedules, etc., didn’t cooperate.  We set off yesterday am around 7:30 and rode through the streets of our city–to the river–across the river–along the river–took a ferry across the river–rode across and island in the river that forced me to ride 4+miles of hills all going up–took another ferry–rode through farm land and back uphill to our finish line.

It was a great day and I was able to finish 100 miles in under 8 hours (7:58).  This will by no means win me any awards–but I will take it as there were a lot of hills and I am not a fan of hills and I can’t fly up them like others are able to.  I owe much to my amazing best friend–who probably could have finished in about 6 hours–but she is awesome and waits on my slow ass.

I finished with relative ease–except for the wind at miles 90-96 and it was a strong wind and it sucked and it hurt.  I learned that I need to eat more–I really conked at the end.  But when you are riding it’s hard to eat a lot (I burned 6800 calories) when you are working so hard.  But, I’ll remember that for next time.  Yes, next time.  This is not my last century.  Next year my goal is 100 in under 7 hours and 30 minutes.  I know it’s not a huge change from this time–but 30 minutes really matters.

I’m back to eating clean again–I took a break last week, because I was out of town for work and well–really–just lazy.

 

It Was Like Date Night At The Dollar Store

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

On Saturday, my husband and I were fortunate enough to have some people take our children for us.  Not just some people…my awesome dad and bonus mom.  It was so nice.  Bill and I decided we’d go to a movie–it had been forever and we really wanted to see Pirates of the Carribean 4 (I know didn’t that come out like last year or something).  So, we get to the theater and ask for Pirates at 6:30.  I was skeptical and worried because I didn’t see it listed on the big signs.

“Two dollars.”

“What?” we both question

“Two dollars.”

We look curiously at the ticket seller.  She’s a high school student and probably thinks these poor people never get out.

“It’s one of our dollar movie specials.”

“Are we on camera?” Bill asks

“No.”  She is laughing at us.  She is probably telling this story to some other high school girl as I am typing this.

“Two dollars?”  Bill asks again.

“yep.”

So he forks over the two dollars and we walk in like we won the lottery.  But really, a movie for $2.  I am such a cheap date.