Saturday, December 30, 2017

2017 Year in Review


2016 may have been my first complete year without graduate school but 2017 was my first complete year without graduate school and the proper time to plan trips. The result was several incredible journeys with friends and family and my most country-countingest year ever: 21!*

Before I re-hash some favorites, I’ve just come back from a trip with Dad to Honduras and Guatemala. We cruised Mayan ruins, saw Star Wars in Spanish, and visited a fort.** The trip trifecta, if you will. 








I also neglected to post about a lovely Thanksgiving week at Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia.*** The island was beautiful and it was incredible to be so close to home and feel so remote. We rode bikes, toured old homes, and were thankful for each other’s company. The Thanksgiving trifecta, if you still will.









Looking back at the many trips of 2017, I have a lot of favorite things beyond the amazing places I visited. In perhaps chronological order:


  • In Lebanon I ate a magical dessert that was delicious and also was a giant chocolate ball that dissolved when a sauce was poured on it and revealed the gourmet equivalent of a Nestle’s Crunch bar inside. I would be lying if I said I didn’t think of it often.


  • To fly to and from French Guiana/Suriname/Guyana, AT and I had a completely bonkers flight plan that included four different Caribbean countries. We got stuck in one and flew a completely empty plane out of it.****


  • Teachers Summer was a reality in London with frolleagues in one of my all time favorite cities. 




  • What “favorite things” list would be complete without a tribute to the queen of all things that are favorites?


  • The accidental theme of riding bicycles places with fellow sporty people.*****




  • Hamilton. 



  • Friendships? More like friendTRIPS!










  • 2018 needs more beaches, but St. Lucia came through after hurricanes canceled a few other plans. 


  • And of course, these goofs. 











I can’t wait to see where 2018 will take me. I hope everyone has a wonderful start to the new year!
Love,
KT

*As always, country counting is designated by the Traveler’s Century Club. I continue to remind you that I did not make the list but I must now disclose that I am a local chapter advisor.******

**We now consider ourselves to be fort experts (Fortperts? Expforts?) and I can tell you this one was highly enjoyable due to: 1) no insane climb to get there, 2) abundant greenery and flowers, 3) no lectures about how people were tortured. The fort trifecta, if you must. 

***This was not a failure on the trip’s fault and was 100% a failure on December’s fault. December is a very busy time to be a musician, a teacher, or a music teacher, let alone all three. 

****Also I forgot to pack underwear so now whenever I pack for a trip someone in the family asks if I packed underwear this time and laughs. You’re welcome, family. 

*****Not pictured is bikes in Indianapolis with Robert. Probably because we were on actual roads and neither of us would have been coordinated enough to take a picture, ride a bike, and avoid crashing into traffic. 


******A completely separate story that I am happy to share in person about how improperly timed meals can lead you to make questionable life choices. 

Sunday, November 12, 2017

#BUmeangirlsDC

This blog is neither teacher nor summer. It is a huge time saver from starting my college reunion blog, though!

A selection of BU's finest Allegrettos rendezvoused in DC this weekend for a much-too-fast, less-than-48 hours of fun and frolicking centered around the preview of the musical, "Mean Girls." We saw it together in college and have quoted it constantly ever since. When I first heard it was being made into a musical by the Queen-of-All-Things Tina Fey, I knew we had to be there.

We saw some history and ate lots of food before and after the show but mostly just looked, like, really pretty everywhere we went.





We swung by some sights and posed with judgement or posed absurdly, whichever felt the most right.*






Ptarcie took all the selfies:





 I posed with my heroes:**



We all learned many facts we did not learn in history class. I have since concluded that if teachers led with more bizarre factoids, it might make the student buy-in higher.*** Case and point:

Oh, and, #obvs, we saw Mean Girls!! It was funny, it was fetch, it was not the last time I'll see it.****



Should I start planning next fall's reunion? Whatever. I'm getting cheese fries.
-KT

*Except Rey, he always smiled appropriately.
**And got the subtitle for my as-yet-to-be-written self-titled memoir.
***Get ready to focus on random composer gossip, my students!
****And definitely not the last time I'll think about being Ms. Norbury in a community theater production.