Greetings from Richmond

I am in Richmond, attending a conference on using writing workshop in the classroom. So let's get the negative out of the way first, so that I can rave about how absolutely wonderful this conference is.

Despite being the state capital, Richmond is one of the most unattractive, unfriendly cities I've been to in the entire state. It is old, rundown, and the people somehow match the city. They are a grumpy, mopey bunch who are not particularly inclined to being helpful. Fortunately, I'm only here for two days.

On the other hand, I'm not here to sight see, I'm here to attend a workshop by Judith Gould. I've used her 4-Square writing method for several years, and jumped at the chance to attend a workshop taught by her. I have not been disappointed. The day was not only packed full of information that can be readily taken back to my classroom, but she's so dynamic, so personable, that the day was alot of fun. I only wish that I had somebody else from the school here with me, but in my off time this afternoon, I got a ton of schoolwork finished, as well as planning for the "little" (we're now expecting 15 people) wine and dessert party we're having on Saturday. It's been on my mind so much, in fact, that when asked to free write for 10 minutes during the workshop today, I came up with this:

The shopping list is a reminder of all I have yet to do before Saturday. Seeing as how it's our last year at the Beach, we decided it was time to officially host a holiday party. This seemed like a fantastic idea a month or so ago, when we had yet to hit Thanksgiving an the thought was still looming on the horizon. We had a blast writing the guest list, selecting the invites, talking about how we'd decorate the house. Even last week, buying the tree from the same place we went last year. I rolled my eyes when oh-so-NOT-Hispanic husband practiced his college Spanish on the migrant workers, and then beamed at me like a proud 4 year old. "See? See what I did?"

But now? Now I'm terrified. How do I pull off an event that at the beginning of the week was only six people...and has since blossomed into 15? Kevin says, "You're not competing." But that's so like a man. Of course I'm competing! Women are always competing. Women will remember what was on the tree, what I served, whether or not there was enough seating.

And then the timer went off.

Let's call this whole day an example of "multitasking."