snow, snow, snow

we woke up to a dusting of snow today and the forecast is predicting an absurd amount of snow for this weekend.  i guess we can't complain too much since we've been lucky thus far this winter and haven't had too much snow.  (i'm happy that we don't have any shows scheduled for this weekend or else they would have to be cancelled.)

even though it was just a dusting, leko had no interest in getting out of bed this morning and i really can't blame him.  it was cute to see him snuggled up in his blanket watching the large flakes fall outside the bedroom window.  i felt awful moving him so that i could go to work.  i'm looking forward to getting home tonight and snuggling with him all weekend long if we're snowed in!

have a good weekend and stay warm!

love, laurie

hello, spring semester

ah, it's that time of year again and the spring semester is upon us.  my syllabus is updated and ready to go and i'm dreading the fact that my class roster is telling me that my class is over enrolled once again meaning that i have too many students signed up to take my class (with even more on a waiting list) and there's no way we'll ever get through all of their projects in the time allotted for the class.  course caps are in place for a reason people, stop over enrolling classes! 

i had to laugh when i found this buzzfeed article this morning about clever professors.  sometimes the students make us crazy.  glad buzzfeed compiled these gems for a good laugh!

i have been teaching the exact same course for the past 11 years now (yes, that's right, over a decade) and have managed to not go completely crazy yet.  here we go, spring semester . . . fingers crossed for a good group of kids this go around!

love, laurie

blast from the past

i was looking through an electronic folder on the computer of old pictures and came across photos from the first day we brought leko home.  oh my goodness, my heart burst looking back at how tiny he was!!!  it's hard to remember that he was actually once that small!

i couldn't resist sharing this picture.  even though it's a little blurry i love it so much.  it was the first time he sat in our bed and he was so small compared to the bed.  i'm so happy that seven years later he still loves to cuddle up in bed with us.  what a cutie! 

love, laurie

happy 75th, aunt ruth!

on sunday afternoon, my parents threw a 75th birthday party at their house for our aunt ruth.  we enjoyed salad and veggie lasagna for dinner followed by cannoli birthday cake for dessert.  it was nice to see everyone and we all had a great time.  happy 75th, aunt ruth!

love, laurie

disney on ice

the tour of disney on ice: 100 years of magic came to our local arena this past weekend.  we weren't originally planning on going to the show, but when we found out at the last minute that we were free on thursday night, we decided to grab some tickets and ryan's parents, and go see the show. 

it has been decades since i've seen disney on ice, and ryan had never seen an ice show like this, so we were excited to go.  the show was really well done and we really enjoyed it!  it featured over 30 disney songs and the costumes, sets, and special effects were great!  above are a few photos i snapped on my phone during the show.

love, laurie

birthday treats

^the friday before my birthday, my co-workers surprised me with a card, a pair of earrings, and cupcakes at work!  it was so sweet of them and the cupcakes were so good!^

^i love all of the freebies and discounts that come during your birthday month!  this year i was happy to get a free birthday (veggie) burger a johnny rockets.  ryan and i went out for dinner on a weeknight before my birthday and made a little burger/fry/shake date of it.^

^on the morning of my birthday we went out for sunday breakfast at a new restaurant that opened near us.  the food was sooooo good and we can't wait to go back!^

have a great weekend!
love, laurie

look, ma, i'm on tv . . . again

over the last three years, i have had the opportunity to go our our local tv station's "pa live" segment to promote upcoming shows several times (oct 2018 / may 2018 / june 2017 / june 2016).  yesterday i visited the studio again to promote an upcoming musical-comedy at the theatre and think i now want an anchor spot on the segment since i've been on it 5 times!

it's always a lot of fun to do the show and i always look forward to going there.  here is a link to the segment that aired live yesterday.

love, laurie

electric city aquarium

we were looking for something to do on sunday for my birthday and all of our plans kept falling through because things were either booked up, sold out, closed, etc.  we finally decided to check out the new electric city aquarium that recently opened in our area.  here are a few pictures we snapped on our phones while at the aquarium . . .

love, laurie

dancing with the stars live tour!

ryan and i have been huge fans of the tv show "dancing with the stars" for years.  we love to watch every episode with leko (it's leko's favorite show)!  we have been dreaming of seeing the dancing with the stars live tour for such a long time but have never been able to afford tickets since tickets average $200-$400 whenever the show comes to a city near us.

on friday afternoon i noticed that the tour was coming to the turning stone resort casino in upstate ny that night.  just for the heck of it i looked at tickets and found two tickets left in the seventh row for only $59!  i never thought we would make it to the show in time since we were both working late and the venue was 3 hours away.  we decided to give it a try, bought the tickets online, flew home from work, and then drove straight up to upstate ny.

we ran into the venue and sat down in our incredible seventh row seats, and as soon as we hit the seats the house lights went out and the show started.  talk about timing!!!

the show was absolutely incredible and we were like two kids at disney the whole time smiling from ear-to-ear watching our favorite dancers.  we took a ton of videos on our phones during the show.  here are a few photos we snapped on our phones.  it was a night we'll both never forget and it was definitely the best way to kick off my birthday weekend!  this year's tour was called "a night to remember" and it most certainly a night to remember!

love, laurie