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My dad is a retired elementary teacher.
My mom is a retired elementary teacher.
My grandmother taught elementary school for a bit.
My sister has an elementary teaching credential.
I fought becoming a teacher for so long, but it's hard to fight something that has been surrounding you your entire life. You could say it's in my blood. And yes, I teach elementary school.

But teaching is just what I do, it's not what I am. What I am is a performer. With education so deeply rooted in my genetics, this performance tendency must be a fluke, right? Maybe not quite.

I grew up not only as the daughter of two teachers, but also as the daughter of a musician. My father's love for music is something very valuable that he has passed on to me. He taught me and showed me how to appreciate music, and the importance of challenging myself.

Teaching was just something my father did, but what my father is is a musician. During his teaching career, he brought his guitar into his classroom. He made time to be in a band. He 'jammed' with buddies. And for the past 20 years, he has been a constant fixture in our church's praise band as both a guitar player and drummer.

Dad and I singing at church camp-1993ish

When my dad retired from teaching, he had plans for his music. He was going to perform. He spent money on equipment, he put together a demo CD, he took voice lessons. He started getting gigs at retirement centers and such. But now, he is playing at farmer's markets, private parties and in downtown Visalia!

So yes, teaching is what I do...but what I am is a feather duster, a cloth merchant, a prostitute, a naval nurse, a scientist, a wardrobe consultant, and whatever else I want to be!

Strawberry pies forever

I changed the title of my blog. People were making comments about how weird it was...which is kind of true. It was an odd name, and it required a lot of explanation. Plus, I'm afraid it was off-putting. So I've changed the name of my blog. I feel like 'slice of life' is appropriate, as I am a recreational baker with a bit of a specialty when it comes to pies (if I do say so myself).
My dad has actually taken to calling me 'pie-girl', a moniker -like my apron- I wear with great pride! (If only the it came with my own pie-maker in shining armor).

This year marks the second-annual Chambers Family Memorial Day BBQ...and last year all I was in charge of was music, but this year I was on dessert duty! Because strawberries are delicious, and in season, I decided that a strawberry pie would be perfect. Also, there is a strawberry stand bike-riding distance from the house. (A bike ride justifies a hefty slice of pie, right?)

Dad made his 'famous' ribs n' chicken, mom spruced up the backyard and I did my part to make our Memorial day one to remember!

#ChristianConcertProblems

Last night I got to experience The Rock and Worship Roadshow

The experience included driving about an hour or so to Fresno, waiting in line for about half an hour, and then rocking out in worship for about 4 or 5 hours...with about 15,000 or so other Christians!

I love going to concerts, nothing beats a live show! My favorite thing about Christian concerts though, is the array of people you see there. From the very young (we're talking actual babies) to this old couple who were probably in their 60's. People of every race and background, soccer moms and punks with mohawks...all coming together because they all worship the same God! Plus, if you see a cute guy at a Christian concert, you've automatically got so much in common...which leads me to #ChristianConcertProblem numero uno:

Is it a wedding ring, or a purity ring?

"Maybe it's a purity ring, we are at a Christian concert"-my friend, K!

While waiting in line, there were three people in front of me and K. Two guys and a girl. One of guys was very obviously in a couple with the girl...so K and I snuck a peek at the left hand of the other guy. A ring, but no wife.

This ties in to my second #ChristianConcertProblem

Sitting by an entire high school youth group, instead of a couple of cute Jesus-loving guys

Right? And then when there are some cute guys in the row in front of you, one of them is just goofy enough to be cute (but inexplicably has a super pretty girlfriend*) and the other, well...how do introduce yourself to a random stranger without him thinking you're a brazen hussy?

-sigh-

Then K and I ended up 'window shopping' for our future husbands while bands of cute musicians occupied the stage ("and he's a Christian!"). I decided I'm going to marry the guitar player from Disciple and K is going to marry the keyboardist from Tenth Avenue North...no rings on either! So we're just going to live happily ever after as the wives of Christian rock stars!

*re: the goofy guy with the pretty girlfriend. This combination always confuses me. For one, the pretty girls should leave the goofy guys for girls like me. For another, you never see the combination in reverse...for this reason I know I will never have a super duper hot boyfriend. Or, apparently a goofy one...since they seem to be snatched up by all the pretty girls.

White Horse

I may be 25 years old...but I'm convinced that there is a teenager inside of me. And she listens to Taylor Swift!! My inner teenager relates to TSwizzle's music and feels as though these songs were written specifically for me. My outer adult realizes that this is ridiculous and is slightly ashamed to share an iTunes account with the younger version. I like her sassy 'I don't need you' songs, I like her fun, upbeat 'I have a crush on you' songs, and I like her 'I love you, but you love someone else' songs...like this one:

Are adults not allowed to have or express these feelings? Are teenage girls the only ones allowed to be sulky and moody (or sassy or upbeat or whatever) when it comes to boys? I guess by now, as an adult my life (which one would assume includes my 'love life') should be more together than this...

It's not

'Cause this ain't a fairytale

It's my life!

Ever since I got my new computer...

...something has been really bothering me. It has nothing to do with the PC to Mac switch. In fact I am so totally sold on this Mac that I've had for, what? Like, two and half weeks? Yeah, my work computer is totally annoying me. I am sooo over PCs...ha! I'm never going back, I am so in love with my Mac; it's easy to use, my desktop stays nice and organized, everything I need rests conveniently in my doc. I've even got the Mac version of a 'right click' down pat! I am such a pro. Plus having a Mac makes me look and feel super cool, because...let's face it...Macs give their users an air of 'yeah-I'm-cool-but-I-don't-care-because-I-use-a-Mac'
And now to the bee in my proverbial bonnet...the play count in my iTunes. Songs that had a play count in the 40s have been played, like, once. On top of that, I have 2000 songs (that's four and a half days worth) that haven't even been listened to yet. I don't know why this is bugging me so much. Maybe it's the inaccuracy of it? Or the fact that I tend to get my panties in a twist over the silliest little things? I don't know. But it bugs. Hard core!

Wonderfultown

New York, New York!!
I've only been to NYC twice in my entire life. And the last time I was there, it was hardly for more than 36 hours. But I loved it!! I wouldn't want to live there, or anything...it's a little 'I don't want to live on the moon'
There is just something about a big city (and all that theatre!!) that has a wonderfully strange effect on me. It's such a high to be around all that hustle and bustle. Besides the fact that I wander around looking like a country bug...
The first time I went was with my sister, and I can't imagine anyone else who I'd rather go with! We were there for a week and we saw Broadway shows and went to museums and spent almost a whole day in Central Park. We went to Ellis Island and found 'Grandpa Tony' in the immigration records (my dad's mom's dad). We went to the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building. We saw the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero, we shopped and ate hotdogs from a cart. We had breakfast at Tiffany's on 5th Avenue and we saw a taping of the Today Show. And we barely scraped the surface of what the city has to offer.
I can't wait to go back again. But until then I have my memories, my pictures and my mug:


In other news...I got a new computer, so I've been working on transferring all my files. It took me almost all day yesterday to make sure I had all my music. I thought that was complicated (3228 songs...whew)--I am dreading trudging through all my pictures. Trying to figure out which ones transferred on my external hard-drive and which ones didn't. And sorting them because they didn't stay in their files when I stuck them in iPhoto...urgh

Play by Playlists

I got to see 'Jon' a few days ago, and I'm not gonna lie...it was nice. He could get an Olympic gold medal in hugging, he literally picks me up off the ground.
Which is nice (I'm a bit of a hug connoisseur), but it makes things difficult. I'm trying to decide if pining over Jon is worth it, or if I need to just get over it. Which is why I have developed two iTunes playlists; one is called 'pining', the other: 'over it'
I will share them now

Pining:
Accidentally in Love (Counting Crows)
Alone (Glee Cast Version)
Being in Love (The Music Man)
Clumsy (Fergie)
Eternal Flame (The Bangles)
Gimme, Gimme (Thoroughly Modern Millie)
Goodnight, My Someone (The Music Man)
Holding Out for a Hero (Bonnie Tyler)
Hopelessly Devoted to You (Kristin Chenoweth via the Pushing Daisies soundtrack)
I Can Hear the Bells (Hairspray)
I Know it's Today (Shrek: The Musical)
I Want to Hold Your Hand (from Across the Universe)
I Want You to Want Me (Letters to Cleo)
It's About Time (Jamie Cullum)
Mamma Mia (Mamma Mia)
Maybe This Time (Cabaret)
My Junk (Spring Awakening)
The One I'm Waiting For (Relient K)
Somebody to Love (Queen)
Someday my Prince Will Come (Snow White)
Taylor, the Latte Boy (K-Chen)
Vanilla Twilight (Owl City)
You Don't Know Me (Michael Buble)

Over It:
Adelaide's Lament (Guys & Dolls)
Bowling Ball (Superchic[k])
Bust Your Windows (Glee Cast version)
Devastation and Reform (Relient K)
Don't Rain on My Parade (Funny Girl)
Down With Love (Michael Buble & Holly Palmer)
Gives You Hell (All American Rejects)
Gotta Go My Own Way (High School Musical)
I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair (South Pacific)
I'm Not That Girl (Wicked)
I Don't Need a Soul (Relient K)
I Hate Men (Kiss Me, Kate)
I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
If You Had, But You Didn't (K-Chen)
The Middle (Jimmy Eat World)
Over It (Relient K)
Princes & Frogs (Superchic[k])
There's a Fine, Fine Line (Avenue Q)
These Boots Are Made for Walking (Nancy Sinatra)
What Did I Ever See in Him (Bye Bye Birdie)
You're So Vain (Carly Simon)


I didn't make these playlists specifically for Jon, they were the result of the previous Mr. Monet (a particularly Monet-ish mistake)-though I added a few songs specifically for Jon (I think Michael Buble's You Don't Know Me is pretty perfect for 'us'...if there was an us, which there's not. Just a me and a him...but hey, a girl can dream!)