JANUARY: We celebrated the New Year in the middle of nowhere, San Pedro de Atacama, a small city in the Atacama Desert in Chile. We were midway through our trip to Chile, and it was fun to view some of the crazy New Years celebrations of the Chilean people. I was on break from grad school until mid-January, but everything started back up just after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. My second student teaching placement was at P.S. 163 on the Upper West Side, and was happy to have just two graduate school classes for the final semester - woohoo!! Late in the month I met up with Katie, Ally and Jackie for a girls night, dinner and drinks downtown, and Jared caught-up with Greg over drinks one evening in January too.
FEBRUARY: We had an easy Valentine’s Day Dinner at Talde, here in Park Slope. I helped my mom, Grandma, Aunt Sheila, Olivia and Patrice celebrate Aunt Rita’s 90th Birthday with a small pizza and ice-cream party on Friday evening in Westbury. I was also able to visit my second grade class at P.S. 33 (from my Fall 2016 student teaching placement) which MADE. MY. DAY. Those little kids are still some of my favorite people.
MARCH: Jared kicked off the month on a photo expedition with Rich, to some crazy abandoned locations in…New Jersey, and came back with some unique photos. We spent a weekend on Long Island to celebrate Ashlyn’s baby shower for Baby Bruno one Sunday afternoon, where Jared and I both got to visit with lots of family and family-friends. We also had a chance to visit with Bob (over dinner) and then with both Bob and Katie for drinks that weekend too. The following week I attended Jared’s cousin Cassandra’s bridal shower with Ashlyn, which was a nice Sunday, midday event in Nassau. Woven in here someplace was a standard HFH program associate happy hour gathering (water for me!) at St. Dymphna, our go to dive-bar.
APRIL: Early in the month I met Karel and Helen for an early dinner one evening after school, and over April break I went to a Yankee game with all five of the Gillece's, where the Yanks celebrated a win. Jared and I hosted my dad and mom and Olivia, my Grandma, and Aunt Sheila, Uncle Jim, Sean and Tommy for Easter dinner. It was a bit snug, but everyone had a nice afternoon. We attended Jared’s cousin Cassandra’s wedding in Franklin Square, as well as the the reception, held at the lovely Westbury Manor. We had a great afternoon visiting with members of the Verdi family at-large. We also hosted a nice Sunday evening dinner with Jared’s and my parents before the month ended.
