Pi day unravelled

Today is Pi day... you know like 3.14..... Working at a middle school it's a big deal i guess, cousin Kelly can confirm that too. How did we ever both end up working at Middle schools???
Anyway, If you don't know it, my confession is that i am not mathematically inclined at all! It is a big fat blank in my head when it comes to doing math. I just don't get it at all. Believe me, I have tried! All my life teachers have said, "if she would only apply herself, she would be fine". What the heck does that mean? Apply myself? Oh believe me I apply myself. The problem with math is when i see numbers they may as well be symbols with no value. A math person sees the number 3 and sees 3 parts, I just see a number that is the equivalent to nothing or unicorns or rainbows or mostly a squiggly line.
I had an instructor once say, "You have Math Anxiety". You think? Its not like i CAN'T do math, I can... I mean in high school I took Algebra, Geomtry, Advanced Algebra, Trigonometry (ok so i dropped that) plus chemistry and physics (ok so I dropped that too) and I never failed and I usually got by with a B average in class. But I had to work really really hard. This is why in college I chose to be a Literature major. I get Shakespeare and Poetry, but math. PUKE! I admire and am envious of people who math just comes naturally to them. They are lucky. I will stick to books though.
So here is my Pi poem written by Joan Aiken, whose father is my favorite poet, Conrad Aiken. Maybe if math were put into poetry more often, maybe i would understand it better? Hmmm...
Happy Pi day!

Pi in the Sky
By Joan Aiken

Who'll solve my problem?

asks the moon

Moving across the sky

Who'll calculate my radius

And multiply by Pi?
The shining flood of light I pour

By half a world is shared

And yet this area,

figured out

Is merely Pi r2
The laws of Pi all circles must

Unquestioningly obey

Yet lovely as a lily,

I Float heedless on my way
My proud contention this,

which once The ancient Romans held:

Luna se moven -- briefly put

The moon is self-propelled.
Night's Queen I trace a silvery

Circumference of sky

And share my cold and regal sway

With nobody but Pi.

Deep thoughts by...

Just so you don't just think my life revolves around swanky restaurants, project runway and food... Here are a few inspirational things I've read recently.

The first one is from the book, Into the Wild. The story is inspired by the life of a young man who left everything behind, lived simply and died living that simplicity in Alaska. Crazy or not, something he wrote in a letter to a friend, made me think.

"You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us, it is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living. My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances." ~Christopher McCandless

The second is from good ol' Max Lucado.

"There is a rawness and wonder to life. Pursue it. Hunt for it. Sell out to get it. Don't listen to the whines of those who have settled for a second rate life and want you to do the same so they won't feel guilty. Your goal is not to live long; it's to live. Jesus says the options are clear. On one side there is the voice of safety. You can build a fire in the hearth, stay inside, and stay warm and dry and safe...
Or you can hear the voice of adventure--God's adventure. Instead of building a fire in your hearth, build a fire in your heart. Follow God's impulses. Adopt the child. Move overseas. Teach the class. Change careers. Run for office. Make a difference. Sure it isn't safe, but what is?"
~Max Lucado

One last one:

"I wish I could have a tragic love affair and get so bummed out that I'd just quit my job and become a bum for a few years, cause i was thinking about doing that anyway."
~Jack Handey

Im a bit o' the mutt...

People often ask me what my nationality is and being that my last name is French, they choose that one right away. Well folks, let me break it down for you:
From my dad i get: French, German, Welsh, Native American Chippewa
From my mom i get: German, Irish, Scottish and Welsh

So I can celebrate many holidays, including Bastille Day and St. Patrick's Day. I can eat sour kraut with the best of them, wear killer kilts and I pull off feathers pretty well too!

Chambers It Is!

Kelly, Kyle and I had an ANTM pick the model's pool last season or cycle as Tyra calls it. Kelly was the winner, but both her and I picked Seleisha to be ANTM! So as a prize to all of us we decided to go eat at the new Uber-Trendy Hotel restaurant, Chamber's Kitchen located in the swanky Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis.


The three of us made our way to Chambers and we were promptly seated for our 6:30 dinner reservations. Chambers is a minimalist paradise, very white and chic.

For my starter I had the Smoked Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Passion Fruit Mustard and Cumin Honey. Very delicious, and it was placed on a bed of avocados so all the flavors just enhanced each other. For dinner i got the Duck a L’Orange with Asian Pear and Crystallized Tamarind. If I'm going to go to a nice restaurant i will typically get the duck. This duck meal was tender and very nice, although the skin could've been a little crispier. Kyle and i both got the duck, and we were trying to figure out the different flavors they had added. I still think the duck at W.A. Frost takes the cake, best meal I've ever eaten hands down! We finished our meals with dessert. Now we were very intrigued by this one menu item called Ovaltine Kulfi. Could there really be Ovaltine in it? Like the powdered mix you add to your milk? More Ovaltine Please! But our server just said it was a fabulous chocolate they made! I got that! Fabulous was right! With caramelized banana and caramel, a large chocolate fudge type bar with cream and caramel popcorn on top! WOW!

After dinner we made our way upstairs to the rooftop bar called the Ice Chamber. The whole bar is literally made out of ice! There was also a nice fire pit to warm up to outside. Kelly said, "Only in Minnesota!" As we were leaving we spotted a rather large gorilla sculpture. Although partially covered in snow there was a very massive black log-looking thing in front of the gorilla. Kyle said, "Is that supposed to be his turd?" and Kelly said, "No, It's the gorilla's arm!" To then which we noticed, yes indeed, the gorilla was missing an arm. This is exactly why i love modern art! One armed gorillas! Well, for a swanky night out the vlach-robideau clan did good.

CHONIES!!!

Leeza & Salinaaaas!

MAYJAH!

As if they would pick anyone else! He's Ferosh! He's Avant Garde!

He's Christian Siriano, winner of Project Runway!

Posh said it was MAYJAH!

Gold

A year ago today my life was going in one direction, came to a screeching halt and started going another direction. Actually I don't know where my life was going, maybe it was already stopped, waiting to begin? Either way, today marks one year in my life of new sabrina. I'm not going to dish all the details, all my faithful readers know my story... But on this day last year a girl stopped waiting and starting living. How did she do it? well a lot of crying, a lot of praying and some really amazing friends! So I guess that is my advice to heartbreak and life changes: Cry, Pray and Friends! I think there is a book out right now called Eat, Pray, Love... That makes sense too... But I like my version better! Well this a new chapter, something better, something brighter. Thank you to all my dear and faithful friends! Your presence in my life has made all the difference, I think they need to come up with a new word for blessed.

He knows the way that I take, and when he has tried me, I shall come forth as Gold.
~Job 23:10

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters

and purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

it is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you every where

like a shadow or a friend.

~Naomi Shihab Nye