About Me

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I am a twenty-something second year teacher living in the midwest. I am a Christian woman and proud of it! I am the middle child of three girls. I am the proud aunt of the very beautiful Lil E and Lil C!! I love TV, movies, reading, and baseball. I am in my second year of teaching , but my first year teaching kindergarten. It has been quite the journey!

29 August 2011

Linky Round-Up

I saw two videos online today that I just had to share :)

The first is pretty much the best video ever. As I wrote about here I loved watching the Glee Project. Cameron ended up winning the Bing Fan Favorite (I hate Bing, btw). Apparently, Cameron decided include his BFF and Glee Project winner Damian in this video (I think he got to do this video because he was the fan favorite...) Which I think is super sweet. Anyway, they are singing Haven't Met You Yet, which is one of my very favoritest songs Enjoy!



Clip #2 aired during the VMA's last night. I did not watch, there was a How I Met Your Mother Marathon on... It is a teaser trailer for Hunger Games!!!!!!! Yay! Don't get too excited, it is very short as they are still filming the movie, but it is nice to see anway. There is some debate about whether the male voice is Peeta or Gale. Listen for yourself and post your thoughts in the comments. Personally I think either guy would give Katniss that type of speech, but I think the voice sounds more like Liam Hemsworth (Gale), but I'm not certain.

28 August 2011

The Perfect Beach Day

Friday night one of my BFFs from college, LH, came to visit! I was so excited to see a familiar face! She got in town late Friday night, so we could start off Saturday bright and early.

We decided to check out a local breakfast place. The food was really good, but LH's coffee left much to be desired. She couldn't even drink the first cup it was so yucky, but she got a new cup and she could at least drink it. We decided it would be a great place to take non-coffee drinkers, but if you like coffee I will not take you there!

After breakfast, we got ready to head to the beach. On our way we stopped at the local Farmer's Market. It was like a Farmer's Market/Pet Expo. Half the booths were about pets (veterinarians, pet stores, etc.) and the rest was food. Weird. Once we navigated away from the pet venues, we enjoyed it. LH bought some dried tomato chip things.

Next we wandered around downtown, popping into a few shops, before hitting the beach. LH walked way far down the beach, which was a long walk, but it got us away from the crazy weekend crowds. We enjoyed alternating between laying out and going in the water for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing!

We were going to get lunch, but the cafe we stopped in was expensive and since it was already mid-afternoon and we were planning to eat dinner out, so we just got ice cream :) Neither of us see anything wrong with having ice cream for lunch now and again, this is why we are friends.

After "lunch" we decided to walk along the lake, stopping at some historical type markers. Then we hit the beach, walking with our feet in the water, enjoying good conversation.

We got some yummy dinner at a local restaurant and went back to the beach for a little bit more relaxation before LH had to hit the road.

It was sooooooooo nice to spend the day with LH and to enjoy the Gorgeous weather! It was the perfect beach day!!

(LH took some photos, if she posts them, I'll add them to the post, hopefully I'll fix my camera soon.)

26 August 2011

Red Skirt

A couple of days ago I was walking around my cute little downtown, getting a lay of the land. I snuck into an adorable little bookstore. I could have spent forever in there! Plus they have a wall where authors sign their name/do an illustration. The best one was the author of Amelia's Notebook, who drew a sketch of Amelia. So cute!

While I was there I saw a sign for a book talk and signing to be held the next night. Not having anything to do and looking for a little culture, I signed up. I also bought the author's book and Thirteen Reasons Why (which the lovely Busy Bee Lauren highly recommended.)

So last night I went back, not having read the book, to hear the book talk, because I love to read and I love to meet authors. I don't usually pass up the chance to get a book signed either. (My sophomore year at Grand Valley I went to the Community Reading Project Author talk and signing without having read the book because I heard about it just the day before. I was one of like two people there who hadn't read it, but I'm still glad I went...)

I decided to dress up a little bit, well, dressed up compared to the shorts and tees I've been wearing to work in my classroom. I wore a cute purple plaid dress that Momma altered so it's not so low cut, a black and white polka dot headband, some cute gray peeptoe shoes and a fun beachy, wicker bag. (My camera is still out of commission, sorry for all of the pictureless blogs!)

I walked into the bookstore, with my book clutched in my hand (actually it was in my purse) and I was seriously the youngest person there by probably at least 20 years. Now, the author is a Michiganian. Her book is called The Red Skirt and is about her life as a nun and her decision to leave the convent. So I guess I should have figured that most of the audience would be older women, but it was still weird. Another young woman about my age did come in, albeit with her mother. It turns out she was a former student of the author!

The talk was very interesting, mostly about how she decided to write, her writing process, trying to find a publisher. Which was nice, especially since I hadn't read the book yet. She was very careful not to give too much about the book away, which I appreciated.

Then I waited rather impatiently in the book signing line. Lots of the people actually knew the author, which led to some lengthy conversations. Luckily Big Sis was texting me to keep me from being too bored (Sidenote: Can we discuss the fact that Google Chrome does not recognize texting as a word...)

When I was second in line, Patricia, the author, looked at me and said, "Oh, I know you. What's your name? I know you, right?" Cue me being awkward and saying I didn't think we knew each other and no I was not a former student. I'm just a twentysomething to enjoys going to book talks on books she's never read to get an autograph from an author I've never read, for fun! :)

We were chatting when it was my turn and I mentioned that I had just moved to town. She said, "You are going to make great friends here. It just takes time." It was so sweet. She didn't know me at all, but she really lifted my spirits with her comments. She also wrote a lovely note in my book about the adventures I'll have and wishing me luck.

I haven't read the book yet, but from what everyone around me was saying it's excellent!

25 August 2011

Glee Project


The night before we saw Glee Live! we were looking for something to get us in the Glee spirit (not that it takes much...) It just happened to be the night of the Glee Project premiere. So we watched and Momma, Daddy and I were hooked :)

My favorites were Damian
He's a cute Irishman with a rockin' accent. He's not the best singer or dancer, but he's such a sweetie and definitely grew a lot duirng the competition.

Cameron
The adorable, lovable dork. He ended up quitting the competition because he felt that some of the things the show asked him to do conflicted with his Christian values. When he left, he saved his best bro Damian who would have been going home... Such a cute bromance.

And Hannah
Hannah is so awesome. She is so pretty and a fabulous rapper. Who knew? I wish she had made it further (if she'd gotten to the next week she would have made the finals and got a 2-episode role on Glee.)

I didn't get to watch the finale live because my cable wasn't hooked up yet. I made the mistake of going on Twitter Monday morning before watching the finale. I was careful to avoid Cameron and Damian's tweets, but Kevin McHale (Artie) posted something congratulating the winners :(

In the finale, all of the old contestants came back. When Damian saw Cameron and Hannah he said, "The Threesome's back together!" and they all hugged. It was so sweet! Then when it was his final performance he dedicated it to them. This is why I love him!

The final four (Lindsay, Alex, Samuel and Damian!!!) were on stage ready to have the winner announced. Ryan Murphy told Lindsay and Alex that they did not win the Glee Project. Then he told Samuel that he had won the Glee Project. He was all excited and Damian was all sweet and understanding. Then Ryan said, "Damian, you have also won the Glee Project." They both got 7-episode arcs on Glee. Yay for Damian. He was so cute freaking out when he found out he won too! Adorable. They talked about him playing a foreign exchange student that Brittany can never understand :)

Another thing I loved about the Glee Project: Zach Woodlee, the choreographer of Glee and The Glee Project.
He is so adorable. He has the best smile and laugh ever and he is so excitable! I just love him! And when we watched the special features on Lil Sis's Glee DVDs, he was on some of the features. I am sad I won't get to see him every week...

But I'm glad I'll get to see Damian for at least 7 episodes!

24 August 2011

Alone, But Not Lonely

I think one of the things that has definitely helped me make this transition, is that I don't mind being alone sometimes. Of course I miss my friends and family and would rather be able to spend more time with them, but I don't mind having time to myself.

Even when I lived with roommates, I enjoyed the evenings I was alone in the apartment (not as much as the evenings I spent out with them). When I lived at home, I found myself craving some alone time because someone was always around :)

This part of my personality has made it easier for me to do things alone here. I've been to the beach by myself twice and have plans to attend a book talk tomorrow night, solo. While it's sometimes awkward to be hanging out at the beach alone (and a bit dangerous. After relaxing in the waves for awhile, the waves got bigger and I wasn't comfortable staying in the water, since no one around was paying attention to me. I didn't want a wave to knock me under and have no one know I was in trouble!) But I really don't mind reading and relaxing on the beach by myself. Or walking around downtown (which is what I did this afternoon). I didn't have to worry that I was going to slow or fast for anyone else. No one was bothered by how long I spent in the bookstore. I didn't have to go in stores I didn't want to or skip stores I really wanted to stop in.

I always enjoy doing these things with friends and family, but I don't mind doing them on my own either... I was even planning on going to the movies alone this weekend, but now Laura's coming out. Yay!! I can't wait to see a friendly face :)

23 August 2011

My Classroom!!

Today I finally got to see my classroom! It is so nice to know what it looks like and where all (well at least some...) of my stuff will go! I can't wait until it is all cutsied up.

I met with my mentor teacher this morning. JP is the other third grade teacher at my school. He's very nice and super helpful, but it was tough because I didn't really even know where to start or what questions to ask. He helped me arrange my students' desks into tables and turn my teacher desk around (why the previous teacher had the her desk facing a wall I'm not sure...)

Then we went over some curriculum stuff and the programs that they teach. This part was pretty stressful and overwhelming, but I've decided to take one teacher's manual home a night and just get familiar with them. Tonight was our reading book. I've already taught their math program, which is nice. It's one subject area I won't have to stress over, at least for the first semester, since I've already taught all of those lessons in student teaching.

Finally, he helped me plan out my supply order. No one ordered any supplies for my room yet, so I got to do that today. It sounded like a lot of money, but it was tough just spending that!

I stopped home for lunch and went back to school to meet with my principal. She said to just work in my room and she's stop in to talk. I rearranged a lot of the stuff that was in the room, putting it where I wanted it. This included lugging six class sets of textbooks from one side of the room to the other. After about three of the sets, I decided to put the books on a chair and drag the chair across the room. It saved many trips and my arms! I cleaned out the supply closet and hung up some bulletin board boarders. Fun times :) It is so nice to think that this is MY classroom. I'm not sharing or borrowing, this is mine and I can arrange it however I want!

Just as I was getting ready to leave, the principal popped in and asked how it was going. She told me to go home and think about something else. So I came home, watched an episode of Everwood and did lots of school stuff while I watched the Tigers. But I did give myself an hour to read and didn't do anything during dinner :)

Today I was a bit homesick and upset, most of which I attribute to how overwhelmed I was. I got to talk to Momma and Lil Sis and just keeping busy and being productive cheered me up!

I'm back to school in the morning for a day of working in my room.

22 August 2011

This is where I live

Yesterday I made the journey across the state to my new apartment. There were many tears as I gave Momma and Daddy hugs and hopped into the car. Momma said it was nice that she and Daddy didn't have to leave me crying at my new place. It was like I was leaving, instead of them leaving me. Maybe for you Momma, but I had to drive for three hours away from you!

Actually it wasn't too bad. The Tigers were on the radio, which kept my mind off leaving home. It was a crazy game(The Tigs went up 7-0 in the 3rd. Porch let 5 runs score in the 4th, he got taken out. Then we scored, then they scored twice, so it was 8-7. In the bottom of the ninth, the Indians had men on 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out. They hit a long fly ball, which Apple Jax caught and threw out the guy at third who was heading home. Tigers win!)

Then I had to carry all my stuff and all my groceries to my apartment. It took probs 7 trips! My arms are very sore today.

After eating dinner I decided to take a walk. I knew there was a nice path by the lake downtown, so I drove downtown. When I got there I decided I wanted to read on the beach as the sun set :) Luckily the beach is within walking distance of downtown!!

As I was walking out to the beach, I just kept thinking, "This is where I live." It felt like a vacation or something, but I kept reminding myself this is where I live. I'm not here with a definitive end point, like when I went to college. I live here now. It was actually a pretty good revelation. I think somehow it helped me feel less homesick, though I'm not sure why.

So I sad on the beach (with no towel or blanket, gotta put one in my car for trips like this :) reading, watching the sunset and talking with Big Sis on the phone. It was wonderful. I feel so blessed to not only have this job, but to get to live in this nice small town, right on Lake Michigan. Sadly my phone was having issues, so I couldn't take any picures :( But I reminded myself I can come back down any day I want, because this is where I live.

21 August 2011

Getting Back Into This Blogging Thing

Soooooooooooo... It's been a long time :) I haven't posted since April! Crazy, but I started a new long-term job in April and it was very stressful and kept me very busy, with little time for blogging. Sorry!

However, I am going to try to jump back into the blogging world. I am about (i.e. today) to move across state for a new job. I got a job teaching third grade on the west side of Michigan!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and grateful for this job. There are so many amazing teachers out there who haven't found jobs and I feel so blessed to have found one. And I feel very blessed that I didn't have to go out of state.

But my new school and apartment are about 3 hours away from home, which is going to be rough. There is a group of teachers from my school who live nearby, one even lives in my building. But it's going to be rough being so far away from my family, especially after living at home for a year. I love my family so so so much and I am going to miss them like crazy!!

It is nice because I'm only about three hours away from Big Sis, too! I'm halfway between home and Big Sis, so trips out to see her and Lil E will be just as convenient as going home.

I'm hoping that blogging will help me feel a little less homesick and fill some of my down time (although as a first year teacher, I'm not sure how much downtime I'll have...) But I will try to post as often as I can.