"Spring Break"

The school gave us two days off for spring break, which is why I include quotation marks around those words. It was simply a long weekend! Nonetheless, I enjoyed a few days off. During this time, I went out of town to get some things done, including searching for homes, I had a bridal shower, and I enjoyed time with friends downtown who were in town for the weekend. I also had Easter dinner at the river because we decided to do a cookout with friends--the best non-traditional Easter dinner ever! Overall, it was a great weekend. Now I sit trying to stay focused on school work because I do have a four-day week ahead of me. I had planned to get work done last night, but J and I took a nap at 7:30 p.m., then when we woke up at 8:30 p.m., we decided to go back to sleep. I slept over 12 hours! Here are some pictures of the weekend -- the cake picture is a preview of my larger wedding cake for June! :) Enjoy.

{Pictures to come soon--computer isn't running quick enough right now!}

e-m-o-t-i-o-n

Motion and Emotion are the two words that seem to describe my day. I've been in motion all day; I've been packing, hanging out with friends, planning for school, and teaching. The reason for the latter word? I have been emotional through most of these activities. I'm excited about school ending, sad about the kids leaving, and stressed about planning--all at once. I very grateful and excited to see friends and family this weekend, but I am also a little anxious about going out of town tomorrow and getting all of the things done that I need to. I am not ready for all of the attention to be on me (bridal shower) because I'm just not that kind of person, but yet I'm really excited and hopeful about it. Thing is, I have been a fairly outgoing and loud-ish person for a while now, but deep down, there are still tendencies to be shy. I prefer not to open gifts in front of people when they give them to me (weird, I know), and I also prefer to become the life of the party, but not start out as the main event. It's an interesting and complicated mindset. However, it's who I am, so I try to work with it. I'm going to try to just relax and enjoy seeing everyone and receiving gifts. It's hard for me to realize that people are traveling just to come to a bridal shower - just another typical wedding event - but what I need to realize is that I am important to a lot of people, and this event is very special to them, too. It's okay for me to share my excitement and thanks; they're all in it with me and for me.

Have a wonderful weekend--I'll attempt to take some pictures as I drive around my future home. I can't believe it's already Thursday! Road trip!

Significantly Better!

Of course, after the complaining yesterday, my days goes very well today. I am more awake now, but this is because I grabbed a coffee on the way home and got energized as I went to dinner with Laurie.

I feel like I have so many stories to tell you, but I just don't have the time to sit and type them out. Plus, so many little things have happened, and I always talk them out first, so I'm not really sure where to begin.

I hope you have a good Wednesday. It's hard to believe tomorrow is Wednesday already because Thursday is my Friday, and Thursday I head out of town to begin my busy weekend. I am still thankful for a long weekend. I hope to catch you up on things soon, but for now, I'm going to finish planning for tomorrow, and go to bed!

Case of the Mondays

It's not that I'm in a bad mood, but I am exhausted. I can't begin to express how tired I feel. My dad always used to (and still does) come home and roll his eyes around in his head because his eyes were/are tired, and now, I don't blame him a bit.

Off to roll my eyes around...

This week flew by...

Once Thursday hit, we all were wondering how it could be true. It felt like the week was just...gone. I can't say that any of us were complaining--it was such a great feeling!! Spring fever has hit us all, and next week we have "Spring Break" (2 days off), so it's really going to be challenging to teach. Luckily we have four days.

This Thursday I'll be heading to my parents house right after work. I'm hoping to get new tires put on that evening. On Friday, I'd like to drive around to find a place to live--I'll probably take my brother along. My dad will be working on the car all day. Saturday is my bridal shower, and Sunday, I'll be spending the morning with my family, then heading back to J for Easter dinner. After break, it will be a steady count down until the end of the year. It's going to be especially difficult to get up early each morning because J will be done with his job this week, so he won't have to get up. Ah well, only 4.5 weeks with my seniors left, if you can believe it!

I have pictures from this past week, but I'll post them later. I enjoyed a few cookouts, a few sunny evenings, and I had a fun time with the students all week. They're excited about graduation--not only because they're done with high school, but also that I will be their "friend" instead of teacher. Good times.

Enjoy this beautiful Sunday evening--so excited about the good weather ahead! I've already been to the river today with Laurie, and it can only get warmer! Talk to you soon. D
I

A little over two months.. wowza!

5 days!?

Oh my--how is it that it has been five days without me posting? How is it that I just haven't been blogging as faithfully as I used to? It must be the warm weather getting me outside away from technology (sort of). For instance, today my friends and I did some bird calling. Basically, we used the smart phone to make bird calls. This created anger in the surrounding birds and entertainment for all!

Where do I begin with what I've been up to this week? Well, we had two cookouts on our friend's mini grill - one night of steak and another of burgers. We started using the neighborhood grill, but it's surrounded by bushes (some idiot put them there), and we caught the bush on fire. This isn't just a small bush, either. This is a bush taller than us. Let's just say it was a chaotic few minutes of my friends and I running back and forth with water bowls, screaming profanities throughout the neighborhood. Good times.

What else has happened this week? I had two parent-teacher conferences, and they went very well! You know you're a young teacher when the parents end with "bless your heart" or "thank you honey." At least they're being nice, and maybe they won't have outrageous expectations! Let me stay looking young!

I love my pets. I took Sadie on a walk today which only reinforced my love for dogs. We met another dog, and I automatically burst into my dog sweet-talk, spoiling it with pets--and I didn't even know the thing! I used to always be skiddish of dogs--especially those unknown. I'm a completely changed woman. Sadie still growled a little at the horses, which is absolutely adorable, because that's what she did when she was a puppy. I'll have to show you the pictures side-by-side soon--priceless!

My kitty was stalking a fly today, so Justin lifted her and let her catch it. She killed the thing, then tried to eat it! It was so funny to watch--it was such a task to eat such a small fly. She didn't even finish eating it, so we threw it away. I'm just glad she can kill flies--I hate them.

My wedding is in mid-June, and it's getting very close. I have a bridal shower in two weeks. I am finding that more people can come than expected, and I'm more than grateful. It's weird to think that people actually want to come to these things...I guess I'm not giving myself enough credit? I just assume people have more exciting things to do. Weddings are actually a huge deal, and people really take them seriously! (I already see that people have bought us our pots and pans, among other things! yay!)

I'm absolutely thrilled that we had a day of beautiful weather. It's been a couple weeks of cold, rainy days, which really ends up wearing on you. I'm realizing how amazing it is to be able to have my camera in-hand, without my hands being cold! It's so great. This means I can take pictures anytime I want now without struggling, and I can share some with you.

Below are some pictures of the past couple of weeks--they're not in any particular order, and I'll try to explain each one in the caption. Have a wonderful (yet dreaded) Monday, and I look forward to updating this blog in a couple of days!

We bought Sadie a new "baby." She has yet to destroy her other baby, the Hedghog, and she seems to enjoy mothering them.

Sadie, all grown up, looking at the horses (and the leash getting in the way).

Ginny bird-calling with the smart phone.

Ava catching her fly!

Ava working on her fly...

April 5, 2011

My taste of spring.

Cloudy with a chance of rain.

That isn't the weather outside today--it's actually gorgeous today. However, yesterday I was surprised and pounded with a cold out of nowhere. My head is clogged, my ears are clogged, my brain is clogged...and it's parent-teacher conference week. Joy! I really hope to feel better soon, but my throat hurts quite badly, and I even seem to have some white patches on it, so it seems a though I might have to go to the doctor.

Hope you're feeling cheery and healthy!

xo

Great weekend so far!

This weekend has been very enjoyable so far! Yesterday, Justin made chocolate chip muffins as we were waiting to go to the high school choir concert. At 7 pm, we went to watch many of my students perform in various choir for the high school. The high school I work in actually won a competition for Glee because they were so good! The concert was so enjoyable! I absolutely loved it. It made me want to go back to school to major in music. I was so proud of the students, and they were so happy to see me there. They got to meet "Johnny Knoxville" (they claim J looks like him) too. It was, overall, a great way to spend our Friday night.

Today, Justin made breakfast and lunch, so that was a treat for me. We've been getting taxes done and cleaning the place a bit. We've also been outside when the sun comes out (very strange weather today), and we've done some things for the wedding. Oh yeah, and we watched "Megamind" this morning and called it our "Saturday Morning Cartoons" -- just like when we were kids.

This evening, I plan on recording some music -- even though I might be getting sick -- and watching the Modern Family episode I missed. I'm also going to do some grading or planning so that tomorrow isn't completely overwhelming. It's parent teacher conference week!! Wish me luck.

I'm hoping to get out to take pictures tomorrow. I realize it's the first bit of warm weather, and I can finally use my camera comfortably! Every other time I've used it, it's been really cold and no fun to use.

Enjoy your weekend!