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!

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

Sorry!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I spent my second spring break visiting with family and friends around the midwest and then hosting a visit from Big Sis and Lil E. Today, instead of writing a fabulously interesting post about these happenings for you I spent the day doing two things.

1) Reading City of Fallen Angels. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Craziness. Will discuss in depth later. Also, I found a typo, it is on page 422. Look for it.

2) Reading Mark Reads the Hunger Games Basically, I feel as if I just re-read the whole series in the span of about one week. Be warned, he uses lots of bad language, but I loved his responses to each chapter.

So later this week I should have some lovely posts about the last week of my life, but today I enjoyed good books and beautiful sunshine!!

Fly Away Home

Last night I was flipping through the guide on our TV and saw that the movie "Fly Away Home" was on. I was so excited!! Lil Sis was very jealous when I texted her about it :)

If you haven't seen this movie you must! It came out in 1996, so it has lots of awesome fashion :)

It is the story of a girl who moves in with her dad after her mom dies. Anna Paquin plays the little girl, Amy.


Jeff Daniels plays her dad. I love Jeff Daniels: he's from Michigan, he wrote a song about the Tigers, enough said.


She rescues some goose eggs and raises the baby goslings.


The geese imprint on Amy, so she has to teach them to fly and migrate south for the winter. Her dad creates these two planes that look like geese, so the two of them can fly the birds south to a preserve.


It's a pretty legit movie. Also it's based on a true story.

Right after the movie came out, Lil Sis and I saw a book at the library called Fly Away Home. We figured it was a story about the movie, so we checked it out.

Boy were we in for a shock. It is the story of a boy and his father who live in an airport because they have no place else to live. It is an excellent story, very touching, but not when you are 6 and 8 and thinking you are checking out a feel good story about a girl and some geese...

Let's Dance!

I love picking winners the first week of DWTS and seeing if they end up the winners. Often they do win (i.e. Drew Lachey, Apolo Ohno, Helio Castroneves, Kristi Yamaguchi, Brooke Burke). I've had a bit of a dry spell the last few seasons, but Jennifer Grey and Donny Osmond were my second place predictions... Last season my top three- Jennifer, Kyle Massey and Bristol Palin were the top three! I have some mad predicting skillz.

Here are my Top 5 for Season 12-

5) Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke- I wasn't that impressed with him last week, but this week he was cute, funny and a good dancer. Plus I love Cheryl!



4) Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas- Gotta love the Disney Channel Star! I loved her last week, but this week I wasn't lovin' her jive... Also they're adorablespice together.



3) Kirstie Alley and Maks- She floored me last week with her cha-cha. I mean she's sixty years old and she rocked it! Her quickstep wasn't quite as good, but still very impressive. I'm not really sure why I like Kirstie Alley so much, the only thing I really know her from is Toothless, one of those Sunday Night Disney movies where Alley is the tooth fairy... But I do like her and Maks of course :)


2)Hines Ward and Kym Johnson- He is adorable!!! and a great dancer. I was very impressed with him. Plus him teaching Kym his "lingo" this week- hilarious!


1)Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff- I cannot believe that this dude is almost fifty- he looks so young! He is a cutie and a really great dancer! He seems very classy and fun and he's very well-spoken. I hope he keeps getting better and wins the whole thing. Also, Karina is engaged to Brad Penny who is a pitcher for the Tigers, so I've got to root for her :)

Boo Yah!

When we were planning our epic Florida trip (chronicled here, here here and here)we discovered that renting a car when you are 21-24 is annoying. It said online that there would be a fee because I was so young, then we found out that it would double the price of the car! Yikes! We weren't so happy about that, but we were OK with it, there wasn't really anything we could do about it.

Renting the car was the part I was most nervous about. I've flown without my parents, stayed at hotels, gone to baseball games, etc. But I'd never rented a car without them and I didn't really know what I was doing. When we got to the rental counter (after a super duper duper long wait) everything was going well, we even got a free upgrade because they didn't have the right kind of car :)

Then the agent noticed that I was under 25, mentioned the extra fee and asked for my proof of insurance. I am thinking, 'what?!?!?!?!?!' I said I didn't have it and she said that then I would have to buy insurance through the rental company... I told her that wasn't posted anywhere online when I was going about renting the car. She said, "It's not on the website, it's just one of those things you have to know."

Excuse me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! How can you have a policy that is not posted on your website???? So I asked if this was just the case that I needed insurance because I was under 25 and told yes. The woman tried to "get me a good deal" and just make me pay for the absolute essentials instead of a complete plan for the "low, low" price of $45 A DAY!!!!! which basically doubled the price of the car again... What?

But I didn't have a choice, so I paid it and decided to not worry about it until we got home. I got the car and we left.

We, obviously, had a fantastic trip and tried not to worry our pretty little heads about the extra costs.

This weekend I received an e-mail asking me to take their customer service survey. I practically rubbed my hands in glee! The actual survey didn't leave much room for me to complain, but I rated their agents badly and said that I would never rent from them again.

At the end of the survey it told me that if I needed a response for a rep. to contact them via e-mail, which I did. I send them this awesome, strongly-worded e-mail

As a driver aged 21-14 I knew when I picked up my car that I would be charged an additional $27 a day due to my age. However, when I was at the counter, I was informed that if I didn't have my proof of insurance I would have to purchase insurance through Thrifty. As I had not seen this anywhere on *******'s website when researching car rentals, I was shocked. Especially since this insurance would be $45 per day, essentially doubling the cost of renting a car. When I informed the worker that I didn't know this policy because I hadn't read it anywhere on the website, she responded, that it isn't on the website, "it's just one of those things that you have to know."It is completely unacceptable to have a policy that your customers are supposed to "just know." My father has rented plenty of cars and has never heard of this policy. If this policy had been displayed on your website when it discusses extra fees for underage drivers, I would have brought my insurance and avoided this problem. I was appalled with this exorbitant extra fee and will never book with ******* again unless this problem is resolved to my satisfaction.

I felt pretty awesome and pumped after I wrote it. I'm not generally confrontational and it felt super to write this.

I got an e-mail back the next business day, saying that they apologized for the customer service I received (and that lady's blatant rudeness and scheminess) and basically that I could have signed a waiver and not had to pay any insurance... and that they would refund all of the money we paid for insurance! Victory!!

But super annoyed that the agent tried to make it seem like she was doing me a service by picking and choosing the coverage I needed and really she was scamming me...

But all's well that ends well. I guess.

(I think this is the last Florida post... :)

Dr. Seussical

Islands of Adventure, where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter also houses a Dr. Seuss Island. After exhausting all of the adventures of Harry Potter World we headed to check out the Dr. Seussville.

It was so cute and fun! Plus we got 85 cent pop refills in our butterbeer mugs! It was much less crowded than the Harry Potter Island. Here are some of my favorite shots of the afternoon:










Such a fun time! I can't wait to share these pictures with my future students on Dr. Seuss' birthday. We went on two rides in Seussville- A spinny Cat in the Hat ride and a Seuss creature Merry-Go-Round.