b.b.

*so there are like 250,000 reasons why i want to be a teacher, one of which are these things called "snow days" growing up in memphis i was not very familiar with the concept of snow days, but since i have been student teaching here in jackson we have had 3 snow days--yes 3 SNOW DAYS since january 7th!!! so needless to say snow days are perks for being a teacher, although it does throw off planning and whatnot but nonetheless it's a day off...

*not to worry-my HP obsession is still going strong!!!!! i am almost finished with book #4 and i am still hooked!!

*i almost have all my bridesmaids stuff done-still haven't officially given them to these special women in my life, but the gift is done for most, and almost done for the last one!! it will be good to finally ask them and share the memories of the planning process with each of them!!

*amanda and i have finally put the finishing touches on "craftopia" we finally did the letters for the wall and we hung some of the paper lanterns in the corner and it's organized and everything!! its pretty awesome. amanda is also working to get the paintings done for the living room and i think when she gets done with that i think we are finally going to have people over for a party--finally!!

*be proud of me-i have only had 1 coke a week for the last 2 1/2 weeks. i have told myself, no cokes or anything and if i do good for that week i get to stop by and get a diet dp with cherry in it from the pilot station near school. and boy has this worked-no cokes for me and it really gives me something to look forward to after a "week well-done" so, i still need to work on snacking and watching how much koolaid and coffee that i drink...but i am trying very hard to get a routine down and fit working out into this routine...

*oh, and only 298 days until the big day--holy crap!!

*oh and on a more serious note, i have finally been able to have a conversation with my mom about a certain situation that was weighing on my mind for months now...a last straw was pulled and i think mom was finally allowing herself to see it through miranda "rose colored glasses" and that has helped me be more confident about my initial decision that i made several months ago...

k, i am done.

love.

"let all that you do be done with love." 1 Corinthians 16:14

good morning weekend.

so today i got to sleep in, and it was pretty good, i just feel like i have wasted away several hours...never thought i would say that and agree with mama jo and papa (they used to always say i slept away half the day when i would sleep in--and now i know why) so needless to say i woke up, did dishes, made coffee, and i am going to continue with the doing of laundry, picking up around the apartment, and LESSON PLANNING...

"Let all that you do be done with love" ~1 Corinthians 16:14

so a disclaimer...if you get offended easily, don't continue to read.

ok, so drew and i are sitting here watching the news and they are talking about the obama girls and some other little girls who have started a fan club-cute, i know-and the girls mom was talking and was saying stuff like "...it's great for african americans..." and "...it's good for african american girls to have role models..." and stuff like that and drew and i talked about how unless you have duel citizenship for both america and africa, you really aren't african american...i know that people use the term to be politically correct and all but if you really think about it it's not that accurate. most people that are considered "african american" have never even been to africa let alone have duel citizenship. by no means am i saying anything derogatory or am i meaning to be disrespectful but its quite frustrating sometimes.

to sum this all up WE ARE ALL AMERICANS! and that's it, we talk about wanting to be a "United Nation" and to bring this change and get rid of the barriers that divide us, but when you call yourself out as a ------ American (whatever you might want to call yourself, African American, Chineese American, Australian American, whatever) a barrier is not taken down, but built. to quote the pledge (which i know some people will rebut with "well black people were slaves when this was written"-but come on people we live in the year 2009, stop being stupid) "one nation, under GOD"

now you may ask, what do i think "african americans" should be called...and my response is this, all people-from whatever background-whatever color-whatever religious background-whatever socioeconomic status-whatever age-whatever sex-whatever...we are all AMERICANS.

the end.






McRib.

good morning

so i have definitely fallen behind on the whole blogging thing...i guess that's what a long weekend and days spent in a 2nd grade classroom and being lazy will do to a person...i do have a few updates, one of which i will explain more on the wedding blog, but due to the thoughts of sparklers and woods not mixing the dixon wouldn't let us have sparklers at the reception so we moved the wedding reception location...to le pavillon. so go read the wedding blog if you want the full story and hopefully some pictures. anyways, my other update is the update about my previous weekend...so it was staff reunion and parts of the weekend were great and wonderful but then-like most things-there were parts that were very difficult. the first part was pretty freakin good! i got to learn how to tree climb via troy. the website is www.newtribe.com and if you have time-GO LOOK AT THE PICTURES!! on and it's the same thing that i blogged about before when troy was getting trained and certified. but anyways, it was the most peaceful, beautiful thing that i have done in a long time and i can only imagine how much more amazing it will be to do it the spring/summer when the trees are full!! anyways i also got to do ropes with dani, for possibly the last time, and it was pretty good. it was COLD and the group was not our most cooperative group...but it was still a great experience. my weekend continued with some tough times, it was rough to be at camp hearing all these great people talking about how they were applying and about next summer and it's tough when something is such a huge part of your life and the role that you have played for 3 years now is no longer the role you are going to play. and then the "what would have happened if i said yes" thought popped into my head on several occasions and after several LONG and wonderful talks with dani helped my head but my heart still hurts when i think about it...

anyways, i have to cut this short, basically my monday was a day full of wedding planning in memphis with mom and amanda, i will blog on the wedding blog about it later.

got to get ready for school!

love all!

so how crazy is it that jackson-madison county schools got out today-not because it was snowing, or there was ice on the ground, or power outages, or anything else like that, but because it is so cold. now granted it's freakin cold outside-especially for jackson-but it is very cold but nevertheless that school system closed today! so i didn't have to get up and go in today-so that's kind of good...

anyways, i am going to go get ready and run some errands and then head to the shore!!!

love.

update since friday...

happy monday to all!

it's hard for me to believe that today was yet another day STUDENT TEACHING!! today was my first day teaching a lesson in this classroom and it was awesome! i started teaching with social studies and it was a good choice, the lesson today was about trade and trade routes and it was great. i had the kids do some activities mixed with worksheets and they seemed to respond quite well!

backtracking now, my friday evening was nice-i was def. in bed and asleep by around 10:00, yes 10 and i am a 22 year old college kid who was in bed by 10...but it was great! plus saturday morning i had to be up and at union by no later than 7:30 to take *crossing fingers* my last 2 praxis tests! hopefully i passed them with flying colors so i do not have to retake any!!

saturday morning/early afternoon was spent in and out of a classroom at union and then my afternoon including doing absolutely NOTHING!!

sunday was a nice day, i went to henderson for the youth sunday that josh was planning. it was a time that i got to visit with and hang out with the youth again and on top of that help josh out and listen to daniel and drew play and sing in church-which makes me very happy!! and yet again, last night i was an old woman, asleep by 11 at the latest! fabulous!!!

anyways, the whole student teaching experience is getting better, the kids are responding to me and i am starting to take on the responsibilities-however it will never be "the real thing" until i get into my own classroom hopefully next august!!

this weekend is the summer 2008 reunion and i cannot wait.

love you all

so i have survived 3 days...and it's been a pretty good experience! today we had a kid go home sick with a temp of 105...kind of scary. and i have 2 praxis tests in the morning...shoot me please! i will also start teaching a subject on monday-i will be taking social studies, an easy subject. i am glad to start with an easy one, and it's the last one of the day, so i like that even better...i have my lesson pretty much planned out, so hopefully after the praxis stuff i will be able to relax for the rest of the weekend. manda and i are thinking about going to see wedding wars, but well see if that happens-i might possibly crash tomorrow afternoon...ok i am going to cut this post short because i want to goto bed, i am so freakin tired!!

love all.

day 1

so today was my very first day in the classroom for the entire day and it was a great experience. i will be spending the first 7 weeks in this 2nd grade classroom at nova elementary school. my observing teacher is Mrs. Pat Evans and she is great. The system at Nova is a very unique one in the fact that they basically run as separate grade "pods" the physical school building is a circle with little pods off a center room. the 2nd grade "pod" has 4 teachers/classrooms and these students change classes...yes, 2nd graders who change classes just like older students-blows my mind. so when i take over and teach lessons i will be teaching a "high ability" reading group, a "low ability" reading group, a "high ability" math group, a "low ability" math group, and her homeroom will be in there each morning and then right before lunch and then the afternoon for social studies.
i am excited and not very nervous any more so thats good, sleep should come much much easier tonight!

i will try and continue to update each day.

LOVE ALL

things i must do before tomorrow.

so tomorrow begins this amazing journey called student teaching. yes tomorrow morning begins a journey into the real world, i will get my first tastes at what being a real, full time, real life teacher is going to be like...i am both excited and terrified, confident and intimidated, prepared and clueless all for the same thing and i couldn't be more---oh i don't know....all i really know is that i have to clean up my room, get my desk area cleaned up, do laundry, pick out my outfit for tomorrow, get my bag together, pack my lunch, work out, and sleep all before tomorrow morning. oh and i would like to go on and have my breakdown tonight rather than in the morning, so that might have to happen-but we will see.

so if you are up at around 8ish in the morning, or really any time tomorrow and you want to throw and extra word up to the big guy upstairs for me that would be great, k,thanks.

ill blog all about it tomorrow...eventually.

love.

step #1 in accomplishing said new years resolution/wedding goals...spend 30 minutes with the wii fit and jillian michaels yelling at me...and a nalgene full of water, that is now less than 1/2 full.

so first of all, i can't believe that i am sitting here watching the bachelor...but there's nothing else on television. i can't decide if it's completely horrible of if i kind-of-kinda-like-it...
oh and amanda and i have our first fire in our fireplace...i am excited, amanda isn't as enthused...she "doesn't want to smell like a campfire" so yea, i like it, it has that awesome crackling campfire sound and smell that i absolutely love! drew was over here when i started it and i was like, can we PLEASE have a fireplace in our house/apartment...cause i LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!
so tomorrow is the day, tomorrow i have student teaching orientation!! hopefully i will find out what grade and teacher i will be with for the next 7 weeks...i hope it's a younger grade, or the 2nd grade that i observed in last semester. i had a great teacher and the students were awesome!! so if that happens i will be very happy with that, i just hope and pray that i don't end up in a math classroom...i really want reading/english/spelling class, like really really really really bad!!!!
oh, and tonight our (mine and drew) Harry Potter box/collectors edition set came in!! books 1-7 in the "trunk" collectors edition and i am so excited. i am also going to continue with book #4 and can't wait to get into the book!
oh, another random thing...tonight i got the animal crossing game for the wii and i started it earlier and it eventually got to be lots of fun!
ok well i am going to end this rambling post and go sit by the fire and read harry potter!!

*it's such a good feeling when hard work gets recognized and praised!!! i facebook chatted my education professor to ask her what time i had to be at school for student teaching orientation tomorrow and ask her how her recovery was going and our conversation turned to my case study that i did for her last semester...and she complemented me on how great my case study was and how she wants to use it as an example one for next semester and whatnot...so that got me feeling good this morning. then she was like, oh and i loved your game explanation sheet things that i had created to describe each activity and game that i used in tutoring. and she was like i liked those so much that they are now a requirement for the next students to do that assignment...so that made me feel even better!!
*still getting over this sickness/sinus problems/whatever...
*i start student teaching on wednesday!!!!! ahh, we have orientation tomorrow from like 9-3 and i am not sure what to expect from it but i am excited nonetheless...i will def. keep this updated with my experiences as a student teacher!

-gotta cut this short, i need a shower.

so i'm sick...

so earlier this week drew-and his mom-got strep while we were in dyersburg. drew's dad took care of his mom while i took care of drew-and i was nervous about getting sick because i get strep very easily...and what-do-you-know, i am sick. but i'm pretty sure it's not strep, no fever and i am pretty sure it's sinus stuff, just without the infection-all clear for now. but i have decided that if i don't get better tomorrow i am calling dave's office on monday and getting in to see him!!

on a side note-went to tunica with drewby today, mainly in search of dress pants for student teaching and with hopes of finding some trouser jeans...and guess what. I FOUND BOTH. and on top of a new pair of dress pants, i also got 2 pairs of jeans, like regular jeans, that fit me perfectly!!! and i found 2 different pairs of trouser jeans, a more dressy pair and then a casual pair, either way i am super excited! drew and i are in search of a taylor here in jackson because 1 pair of my trouser jeans must be hemmed a bit and drew got a pair of kahkis that need to be hemmed as well.

so, i am off to medicate myself and watch harry potter.

oh, and amanda set our apartment on fire. accident of course and it's not that bad, just some spots on the floor...more to come later.

goodnight.

going to memphis today...

so drew and i are heading to memphis today for several reasons...#1 there's a lakeshore reunion dinner tonight in memphis #2 we are going to tunica tomorrow to go shopping #3 taking home a whole bunch of my alpha gam t-shirts, tear, for my mom to start on a t-shirt quilt #4 to try and sell some of the clothes that i never wear at plato's closet-we'll see how that goes

...but before we goto memphis drew and i have a long to-do list...

-shower

-pack

-load car

-take christmas stuff to drew's apartment to put in his garage

-take drew to get a new drivers liscense

-drive to memphis

oh and i am scared i am starting to get sick...that or my throat hurts because i slept with my mouth open. hopefully the second one!!