JUST FOR FUN

I haven't posted anything in a while. And sadly I am not going to take the time right now to write about all that is going on as I am not in the writing mood. Things are great though. The school year is off to an amazing start and things are running much more smoothly than last year.

For the time being, I am going to complete the following survey I was awarded by a fellow blogger and hs friend. This is called the Over The Top Award and you can only use one word in your response. ONLY ONE WORD...this should be interesting.... So here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? SIDE
2. Your hair? SHORT
3. Your mother? NURTURING
4. Your father? HUMOROUS
5. Your favorite food? BACON
6. Your dream last night? ODD
7. Your favorite drink? CHERRY COKE
8. Your dream/goal? PEACE
9. What room are you in? GREAT
10. Your hobby? SEWING
11. Your fear?
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? NORTH
13. Where were you last night? HOME
14. Something that you aren’t? UNHAPPY
15. Muffins? PUMPKIN
16. Wish list item? KAYAK
17. Where did you grow up? CHARLOTTE
18. Last thing you did? MESSAGED
19. What are you wearing? CLOTHES
20. Your TV? OLD
21. Your pets? SALLY
22. Friends? AWAY
23. Your life? AMAZING
24. Your mood? JOLLY
25. Missing someone? RONI
26. Vehicle? AWESOME
27. Something you’re not wearing? BRA
28. Your favorite store? TARGET
29. Your favorite color? BLUE
30. When was the last time you laughed? YESTERDAY
31. Last time you cried? MONTHS
32. Your best friend? RONI
33. One place that I go to over and over? WORK
34. One person who emails me regularly? JESS
35. Favorite place to eat? MOTO

The rest of the award requires me to give the award to 6 other blogs but I am feeling lazy and only have 4 blogs to award so I am going to skip that part. I promise to update soon.

Fun in NC

Well, I am the official blog slacker. I had hoped to keep this up when I moved to the Raleigh area so that my family could keep in touch but I have failed miserably. So here's to catching up.

I have been back in the great state of NC for 3 months now. I love it. My new place is fantastic. Much larger than my previous places with all the amenities, such as a dish washer! I know it is pretty sad that I get so excited about a dish washer but I loathe washing dishes. Now I just loathe unloading the thing, haha.

The community I am living in is great. Just across the parking lot from my building is the fitness center and pool. Within 15 or so steps from my door, I can see and enjoy the beautiful community pond. Sally rather enjoys this as well. She gets to wade around on occasion and attempts to chase the geese and ducks that swim there. It is quite amusing. In addition, I can easily walk to the grocery, doctor, dentist, bank, movie theater and to just about any type of restaurant. Sally and I often take advantage of this perk. Can you tell I am really enjoying life here?

The area is of course quite a bit larger than NE TN but you wouldn't generally know it. On average traffic isn't too bad. And I rarely have to leave the Wake Forest area, which is much like a smaller version of Johnson City, so it works quite well actually.

The school I am working at is fantastic. I had some troubles adjusting at first. The kids are not nearly as motivated as I am used to. Completing assignments is not a priority overall and studying is pretty much out of the question for a lot of my students. This mentality is hard to comprehend but I am beginning to find ways to work with it. Though I will never understand nor accept it. I truly love what I am doing. Seeing the successes of my kids makes me so happy. There have been many times when I was almost in tears over kids grades. Not because they were so bad but because a student had worked so hard to bring a grade up and had succeeded. I think I am usually more excited for the student than he/she is, but I am ok with that.

The job itself can be very time consuming. I get to work every morning at 7:15 and leave around 4. I spend a little time with Sally, usually taking her to the dog park for an hour or so. Then I come back home and work on lesson plans until around 9 or 10. It makes for long days but I enjoy it. I know next year will not be nearly as time consuming as I hope to have most of my planning done before the fall semester begins.

This summer I will be working from home for a developer in TN. This was a great opportunity I could not pass up. I was going to have to work this summer and hated the idea of being on some random schedule (I thrive off routine). I will have the flexibility to work when and how I need. I will have time to work on school things and to travel. I couldn't ask for a better set up.

Sally has done really great with the move. She did not handle the long hours alone very well at first. Can't really blame her though. Ten hours alone Monday through Friday really was asking a lot of her. After the second or third week, she began tearing up the carpet by the patio door, which is unacceptable. I was afraid I was going to have to get rid of her, this idea tore me apart. However, I found out that there was a doggy day camp within walking distance. I took her there one day to try it out and she has been going every Tues and Thurs since. Not only does it break up the long week, it has helped her learn how to play with other dogs. She was very skiddish and afraid to play at the dog park when we first moved here. But now she does great, though she is a bit of a snob.

Sally is truly a great dog. Overall, she is very well behaved. She gets excited when meeting new people but calms down relatively quickly. She has been house trained since she was 3 months old. She likes to do anything I do such as having her teeth brushed, hair dryed and so forth. She is quite funny really. Since I have had such a great time with her, I have decided to add another member to our little family. So, I am in the process of looking for a second dog. I am deciding between two currently. One is a year old female and pretty much a mirror image of Sally. The other is a 4 month old boxer rescue (I can do male or female with the boxer). I hope to have my mind made up and the puppy adopted by the end of May. I am hoping by getting the second dog, I can save money each week by eliminating trips to day camp as the dogs will have companionship during the day.

Well that about wraps up what has been going on and what is and will be going on. Here are a couple pics. (I will post pics of the inside of the apt eventually but I am still working on some design things).




Sitting by the community pond. Enjoying the beautiful weather and working on lesson plans. Sally was out there too but wouldnt stay in front of the camera. (the beauty of this is it is only 15 or so steps from my door)







At Lake Gaston last weekend. Sally enjoyed her first boat ride. And she finally swam. Prior to this, she was jumping from place to place in the water. It was quite cute but I wanted her to swim after balls and such. Thankfully this dog absolutely loves the water and just about anything I do.











Me with Laura at Lake Gaston. I work with Laura and she and her boyfriend Jason (weird I know) live just two buildings over. I have really enjoyed getting to know them. Jason has nicknamed me 'The Chef' as I am almost always cooking something. I rather like the nickname though.

Update

Well, it has been a while since I last blogged. Much has happened. I have moved to Wake Forest. Started a new job as a math teacher. Made some new friends. And started a new life for myself. I am loving it. I thoroughly enjoy living in the Raleigh area. I love teaching. And I love hanging out with my new friends. Amazingly, I have been very active in social activities which is very odd for me. In fact, I went out with people from work during my first week here and have hung out with my teacher friend Laura every weekend since. It is great! We clicked right away and the best part is, she lives in my complex! Well, just thought I would give a brief update. Things have been so busy I haven't been able to blog. We were out of school yesterday and today due to snow but I have been catching up on grading and planning. I will try to blog more about my teaching experiences and such in the near future.

Better get some rest. No delays or closings for tomorrow.

ON THE MOVE....

Wake Forest, Here I (and Sally) Come!!!

Can you tell I am excited?

I have been offered (& accepted) a job teaching math at a high school in Franklin Co., NC just outside of Raleigh/Wake Co. I am very excited about the move and the new opportunities it will bring. I look forward to working with the children and impacting their lives as I know they will impact mine.

I am excited about getting back to my roots. My grandmother (and grandfather?) were from Wake Co. I hope to find a genealogical library or the like in the area to do some family tree research. Also, I look forward to being close enough to visit my beloved granny's grave for the first time.

I am very anxious and nervous about this process also. I have never lived this far from home. Though I am not really concerned about that. I love the adventure and the distance doesn't bother me greatly. I am quite upset about being so far from Veronica. Six hours is a great distance but at least we have phones and the internet. Otherwise, I would be lost. In addition, the process of moving is a bit overwhelming. The initial costs are quite high and getting furniture and such to Wake Forest could be a challenge, financially and logistically. But all will work out I am sure.

Nonetheless, a new chapter in my life is beginning. A fresh start is what I will be making. I couldn't be any happier. I look forward to seeing what joys, challenges, triumphs, obstacles and so forth come my way. It is an exciting time!

Christmas 2008

I decided to change things up a bit this Christmas season and made all my gifts. I had a great time coming up with ideas and even more fun making and giving these gifts. For mom, I made a pair of wide-leg lounge pants. I used Amy Butler's pattern from her In Stitches book.

I also used an Amy Butler pattern for Emily's gift. I made her the In-Town Bag. This was the first purse I had made and found it to be much easier than I had expected.

For Brett and Kevin, I made fleece blankets. Brett's was a Beatles print and Kevin's a UNC print.

My last gift was for Veronica. I also made her Amy Butler's wide-leg lounge pants. All the gifts turned out great. I can't wait to do it again next year.

I even managed to use some excess fabric to make myself a pair of lounge pants before I left for Disney.

As far as gifts for me are concerned, I received Seasons 1-3 of House (which I am thoroughly enjoying), some sewing supplies and storage tote, gift cards and a much needed flashlight. It was a great Christmas, possibly one of the best actually.

Disney Vacation 2008

For Christmas this year, my mom's parents took the entire family (aunt, uncles, cousins) to Disney World for a week, there were 14 people in all on this trip. I must say, it was an awesome gift. I had never made this trip before so I was quite excited, and a little skeptical.

A large part of me was dreading this trip as I do not handle extended periods of time with other people very well. I live alone and have for the better part of 5 years now. I am not a very social person so I am not used to being around a lot of people for more than a couple hours at a time. I am also the kind of person who desperately needs my alone time. Somehow, I did manage to do quite well. I flew down to Orlando/Sanford on the 26th (everyone else was driving) and left on the 30th. Unfortunately, I do not get paid vacations or holidays so I had to return early in order to work and make up as much of the time I had already missed. (Which by the way sucked! I even worked on Christmas Day to make up some of the hours.)


Anyway, here is the rundown of my part of the trip.

Friday: We didn't do much that night since most everyone was tired from traveling. My flight down was quite amazing. I flew Allegiant Air (which I highly recommend). I paid $200 round trip for my flight, which was an amazing price flying out of the Tri.

On the flight to Orlando, they hold a raffle. You can enter anywhere from $5-$20 and receive anywhere from 10 tickets to 70. After all the money is collected, numbers are drawn for various tourist-like prizes. At the end, one last ticket is drawn and the winner receives all the money collected. (there are approx. 185 seats on the plane so the cash could be quite substantial). Well, I am not the gambling kind so I was going to opt out of this event, especially since I only carried $50 with me to last the entire 3 days I was there. Well, after much consideration, I decided that $5 wasn't much money and I could do without one meal if needed, heck, I could win the money. I entered my $5 and got tickets ###60-69 (I can't remember the first 3 #'s). It was a long shot but it could happen.

Well, they started drawing numbers and giving away prizes. It came to the last prize before the $$ and my numbers still hadn't been drawn. The ticket was drawn and again no prize for me. Finally, it was time for the big drawing...the cash drawing. The stewardess allowed a little one sitting at the front of the plane to draw the winning ticket. They spend some time dragging out announcing the winner. They state that the prize is more than $100, more than $120, more than $140...it's $160. This entire time I am saying to myself ###6 something. Well, they read the numbers FINALLY and it was ###61. I won $160 on my flight! How awesome is that!?! I was so excited I didn't quit smiling for the remainder of the night. I came home with all the money I had taken and more. What a great feeling.



Saturday: We all ventured to Animal Kingdom. Brett, Emily, Courtney and I (is that correct?) managed to get away from the rest of the group and we had a blast. Around 5 we decided to venture over to the Magic Kingdom at which point we met up with the others. We decided to call it a night and went back to the condos where we played a very entertaining game of Phase 10.

Sunday: Kevin and Mom decided to join Brett, Emily, Courtney and myself at Magic Kingdom. We had a great time. Kevin found his alternative personality (a velocaraptur) and kept us entertained most of the day. I don't think I have laughed that much in a really long time. I truly LOVED hanging out with my amazing siblings and my wonderful cousin Courtney.

Monday: The six of us plus Courtney's brothers Tradd and Brandon, went to Hollywood Studios/MGM. We didn't have much time here as we had a lunch scheduled at Epcot later in the day. We did manage to ride Tower of Terror though. I was a nervous wreck. I will ride just about anything but I am not a fan of free falling. The ride was a blast though.

For lunch, we ventured to Epcot to meet up with everyone else. We had reservations at a German restaurant and the food was fantastic! I have never eaten German food before but I am a major fan now.

After lunch, we enjoyed a candlelight procession in an amphitheater in the American section. Noone really knew what to expect but it turned out great. There was a 50 piece orchestra, 386 choir members (80 Disney cast members, 6 professional singers, and 300 guest singers from various churches and schools) and 2 narrators, who happened to be Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance on this particular evening. Chrsitmas songs were sung and the Christmas story was told.

Afterward, we rushed back to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic. We waited in line for a ridiculous amount of time as the show was running behind schedule. People were packed in to a small area and most were becoming quite annoyed. I know we were. Finally we started moving and it seriously seemed like a herd of cattle. People were trying to push others along, one almost pushing Courtney down. It was absurd. The show was amazing though. A laser, water and fire spectacular. It was indeed Fantasmic...haha.

(Ursula is being shown in the water that is shooting up...quite cool)

Tuesday: Nothing exciting really happened. I flew home in the afternoon and did nothing in the morning. No raffle was played on the flight home unfortunately. Part of me was sad to leave. I had such a great time and miss so much hanging out with my siblings. But another part of me was desperately needing my space and schedule back. Plus, I missed my puppy. It was a wonderful vacation that I will not soon forget.

Thank you so much Papa and Grandma!