You've Seen the Best Already

I'm so glad the day is almost over! I was a ball of emotion today for many reasons. And by emotions I mean crabby, irritated, crying! Ah! I'm sure my students were just as glad to leave me as I was ;)

Tomorrow a couple of my colleagues and I will be teaching at our school's "University". It's something we designed for teachers to be better teachers! I'm excited for the opportunity but teachers are the worst! Ha! I just hope everyone finds our classes beneficial and not a waste of time!

I can't believe November is here. You better believe I have started my Christmas list! And if I only get a Canon Rebel, I'll be happy. And a Kindle. That's it. I swear.

Guess I didn't have much to write about, just felt like writing. I've been missing Jessie; tomorrow will be 7 months already! Wow.

I'm looking forward to cool weather, snow in the high country, and down comforters.

I Got 25 Bucks and a Cracker

Aye.

The week is over! And I'm on fall break. Best break ever. Why? Because there is no pressure. No pressure to go on vacation, no pressure to have a plan every single day, and no pressure to plan for the next school week.

Really, my job is super. I had Thursday and Friday to sort of "catch up" on things and no students. I took this time to think about the chances of it raining next week so that I could get up in the morning, crawl downstairs with my down comforter, open the windows, and snuggle up on the couch and watch the boob tube all day. Doesn't that sound fabulous? Who cares if it's still 90 degrees out? I'm so looking forward to these days.

Last night, the hubs and I went to one of our favorite places, Amano. I love it because it's in our neck of the woods and it's a lovely neighborhood tiny restaurant with gourmet dishes but a casual atmosphere. I usually order the same thing and last time we went I had the pizza special, which was delicious. This time i tried the eggplant rollitini. Filling, but very good. It came with a side of orzo with garlic and collard greens and roasted veggies. Yum! I went to bed at a modest 8:30, falling asleep on the wrong side of the bed, and woke up at a lovely 8:00. Wow. We hit up the gym, then I proceeded to eat more food with my sis. I really like food.

Anyhoo, I'm a little late, but I'm ready to bust out the fall / Halloween decorations soon. I first have to find them. My first attempt at the attic was unsuccessful. I'm sure they're in the garage. Of course I wouldn't look in the easy spot first. That is my Saturday evening. What's yours?

You Suddenly Complete Me

Gooooooooooood morning!

Every day for the past two weeks I've said, "I can't believe it's already _________ (insert day of week)!" It's sort of a good thing the weeks are going by fast, I guess. I don't know what we're rushing along for, but  it always makes work feel a little easier.

This past weekend, J and I went to Flagstaff and brought the dogs with us. It was quite an adventure from the car ride, them having lunch with us (and Chase getting loose and wanting to hang out with us), and even going to the park for Octoberfest and the great dog park that Flagstaff has. The weather was wonderful and it was a nice, relaxing time. I was excited we got to see my brother. I'm so glad he decided to go to NAU and he is too! It's such a great place. Ahhh.

Anyway, this week is testing so we don't have any groups. Yesterday I got tons of work done and I'm hoping to do the same this week. Jonathan has fall break this week so he's been catching up on HIS laundry (he is terrible with laundry!) so it's been nice to come home to less to do. We also decided to join the gym they just opened in our neighborhood. I'm SO excited to start going. And I'm really going because it is so close and J is a great motivator. We went last night and did 20 minutes of cardio, then about 45 minutes of machine stuff (build me some muscle!). I'm also interested in their yoga class and I think I'll go tomorrow. Doing yoga at a gym is such a better deal than a yoga studio. Even though the levels might not be as varied, I'd rather pay $25 a month for a gym than $150 for a month of yoga!

This weekend is Megan and Andrew's wedding (don't cha love weddings?!) and that is about all we have planned. I have one more week of school after this week and then I get fall break. Yay! It kinda stinks we don't have the same fall break now since I switched districts but I'm kind of a loner and enjoy that time :)

Contract time!

For Me This is Heaven

Music has always been something I've treasured. I've used it to cheer me up. I've used it to sulk. I've used it to reminisce, cry, laugh, move, quote. It's always had a huge effect on me.

Sometimes I go through music ruts. I wait for new songs or artists and nothing shows us or impresses me. When this happens I revert back to oldies but goodies: Third Eye Blind, Tori Amos, Vanessa Carlton, and songs that make me think of college from The Starting Line, Finch, The Used, etc.

This Tuesday a new CD came out that got me excited about music again. Jimmy Eat World's Invented felt like a CD I haven't listened to in a while and seriously missed. I've been listening to JEW since high school and it's gotten me through some rough times. They always have a way of putting words to things I can't express. It always seems like the albums were written for me. Their songs are timeless and I will never get sick of hearing the intro to 23 or the Weatherford and Casey Moore's references in If You Don't, Dont (hey, I lived right there!). Nothing will remind me of sitting at the McConnell desk in college than A Sunday or Crush. In 2004, Polaris accompanied me on many solo drives in Flagstaff when I needed alone time to think.

Their new album isn't breakthrough or amazing or completely different from anything they've done, but that's why I love it. It's familiar and it speaks to me. And those connections that people have are the only things that should matter to musicians.

I'll gladly sing my Whooooaaaa-ohhh-oh-ohhhhhs on October 30th at the Marquee and feel tingly and teary-eyed when 23 is played.

We Become the Things We Do

Wowza! It's Friday already tomorrow! Hard to believe that we were in Flagstaff a week ago tomorrow. The madness! Yes, madness. Lots and lots of fun... it's hard to go back there and not be in college mood. Lots of wine was consumed, a little dancing was done, some things were lost, and a good time was had by all. That is all.

Mooooooving on... this week actually went pretty fast, minus a few bumps in the road that got me in a cruddy mood for a little bit. I sort of milked it though. I told J I wasn't having that great of a day yesterday and that some Pizzeria Bianco was needed. So of course he obliged. We got there later than normal due to work and meetings, got in the first seating, AND there was still seats left after everyone went in. It was rare form. But so delicious, as always.

Not much is happening this weekend but coming up I have a wedding shower, a wedding, and a weekend with the boys. I think we're going to take a trip up north (and I'm taking a sick day!) and bringing the dogs with us. It's almost fall break time. Well, J has his two weeks before mine so we'll be using his for our stay-cation time :)

That's about all the boring things happening in my life ;) I'm catching up on Teen Mom and some DVR'd shows, then it's bedtime. I LOVE going to bed before 9. Such a loser, I know.

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

 Happy Thursday! I'm getting super duper excited for this weekend and Flagstaff! I just checked the weather and it's going to be nice and chilly ;)

Yesterday was J & I's 6 month wedding anniversary! Yes, we celebrated six months. We went out to Postino's for some delicious bruschetta and creme brulee, then we went home and opened up our Vintage Dom Perignon champagne we received as a gift. We drank the whole bottle, which wasn't very difficult. I didn't wake up with a headache or anything so I guess that's a good sign.

This week has been kind of crazy at work. I have yet to get groups in here. Hopefully tomorrow. There's been a lot of schedule changes which has made my job even more difficult since the sixth grade schedule was all over the place to begin with. I'm excited to get working with kiddos. I'm going to have very small groups and of course every teacher thinks they're going to perform miracles. The middle school is sort of a stressful place for a teacher, especially with a population like ours. It's really our last chance to help them out and keep them in school and hope hope hope that they don't drop out. It's a very defeating feeling when you've given everything to work with students and they don't make the right choices. Such is our job, though! All you can hope for is that the students realize that you genuinely care about them and even if they say nothing to you, hope that you made some sort of smidgen of difference in their life. No pressure!

In other news, we have a new addition to our family: a kitten! I honestly do not like cats and never thought I'd want to adopt one, but it was so hard having our foster babies in our house since they were four weeks old and not wanting to keep one! We went to the Humane Society to see if any of them were left. We really went back for one (with the patch on his eye) and ended up getting the crazy jumper, climber, and scratcher. His name is Charlie and he's calmed down quite a bit. He's really funny. The dogs are used to him by now and his shenanigans. They were picking on him a little this morning, which was fun to watch. No more pets!

I'm off to eat our Rosh Hashanah leftovers with the leadership team and continue working away. Have a super weekend!

You're My Good Feeling

Whew, what a busy week! Really glad tomorrow is Friday and I can have some R & R with the husband!

On Sunday, my sister and I saw Something Corporate. Now if you are a SoCo fan, you'll know it was always thought impossible to hear Konstantine live. Well we did and it was just as perfect as I could've imagined it! The show was awesome. So much great energy and a lot of "mature" fans, so it's wasn't super obnoxious :)

This week has been a little hectic at work doing really obnoxious test scanning (over and over and over because of a glitch). I'll tell you it feels a little more than a glitch when you have over 40 teachers with 30 something kids in them with tests in two subjects. Ahhh! I finally got to test some kids today and started getting excited about working with kiddos again.

On Saturday we may be getting our kitties out to finally be adopted. This week they have hit what seems like the terrible twos. They are full of energy and climb like little monkeys! Our house could use a break from the madness. They have to weigh two pounds so we're filling their bellies up :)

I book our weekend for Flagstaff! Katy, Allison, Jenn and I will be having a girls weekend up there. Very excited! And I will get to take my brother out because... Today he moved in to his dorm! It's so weird to think that I was his same age when I was up there for the first time. Sort of scary to be honest. I hope he likes it and does well!

Maxxing and relaxing and heading to bed! I loved going to bed so early!

Please Write My Folks and Throw Away My Keys

Good morning! I've been awake since 6:30 because today is a special day...it's Something Corporate concert day :) :) Something Corporate brings me back to college days and makes me so happy.

This weekend was nice and low-key. I guess I was saving up for tonight. On Friday I came home and cleaned because what's better than waking up on Saturday to a clean house? Some friends wanted to go out but these days I actually think about the next day and how much nicer it will be to wake up refreshed instead of slightly (or majorly) hungover. 

Yesterday we attempted to get Jonathan's air conditioning fixed and spent all morning waiting around for the diagnosis. He's going to have to take Monday off to get it fixed. Not convenient (or cheap) but a necessity right now in Arizona. I ended up going to Gap to use my Groupon (got some cute jeans!) and hung out at Barnes and Noble. I got a professional book that is relevant to my job right now. It stinks that you can't use the educator discount on professional books. I'm using it, although indirectly, in the class.

Today I'm going to do some yoga, go grocery shopping, and get ready for the week. It's going to be a busy one! 

Have a nice week :) 

Things I Learned This Week

• Customer "service" is not what it used to be. 
• Always ask to speak with someone higher up.
• Crying works.
• Middle school teachers do not allow a word in edgewise. 
• My job is pretty dang cool.
• Exercising with a friend is way better than alone.
• Bloody mary's after exercising is okay. 

I Found Some Kinda Fairytale

Well today is it! It's "day-before-the-first-day-of-school eve." Today was spent shoe shopping (success!) and organizing. I wouldn't call myself the most organized person (no one would, actually) but I do enjoy being organized and I know how much stress it can take off your day-to-day living. I always like to get the week off to the right start because it makes such a difference. I actually enjoy Monday's most of the time because it sets the tone for the week. A few things I did that hopefully get they week (and school year) off to the right start:

• Ironing: I'm a big fan of unwrinkled clothes :) By ironing on Sunday night, I know what I'm going to wear for the week and it takes away one more thing I need to do either right before bed or in the morning. 
• Laundry: I had two loads of laundry that needed to be folded and put away. Every time I come upstairs it was staring me in the face. Now that it's out of my way, it takes the stress out of just looking at it and having it pile up more!
• Lunches: I made lunches for Jonathan and I tonight. Saves a step in the morning and takes away an excuse to eat crappy at lunchtime. Fortunately it's pretty difficult in our profession to go out for lunch!
• Exercise: I've been in a little funk with my transition into full time work again. Thus, we've been doing a lot of eating out and a lot of relaxing (read: not working out). I found Body by Bethenny (I love her) and I really liked her workout DVD. It's yoga plus weights (separate) and the yoga was challenging for me, yet doable. The weights target exactly what I want to target (arms) and I KNOW I'm going to feel it tomorrow. I'm looking forward to doing this DVD regularly. 
• Quick Clean: You don't need to do a deep clean, but just de-cluttering and cleaning up will clear your mind! 

All these things will make it easier to come home and unwind, make dinner, and of course, do my exercise DVD :)

Tomorrow will be a pretty low-key day for me. Apparently I will be helping kids in the morning as far as finding where they need to go (I don't know if I'll be much of a help, I'm still lost in that building!) and then organizing the book room. The rest of the week will be training and getting ready for testing! 

How do you prepare for the week ahead? Have a super week! 

Go With Peace and Love

Happy Saturday! I enjoyed my day and I hope you did too. A lot of it was spent running around and getting things done with J. We got our DVR box back (now that we're a two income family, it's how we roll, hahah!) and fabric for bulletin boards, ate breakfast, and then J helped me in my classroom for a little bit. 

Later on, J went to the football game (Go, Cards!) and I did some more running around...the fun kind. Got some cute tops, replaced some makeup, and some shower stuff. I didn't find any shoes :( Hopefully tomorrow. While shopping my car battery died (boo!) and Progressive came to save the day! It really took them about 15 minutes from when I called to come jump my car. Awesomeness! I went to get my battery checked and it was no bueno. I just missed my 2 year warranty by a few weeks so instead of a free battery, I had to pay $25, which isn't too bad. I FINALLY got my eyebrows waxed. After tomorrow I'll be ready for the new school year starting Monday! Yay!

I am very grateful for all the people that made my day fabulous, including, but not limited to, the Roadside service guy, the lady who put my car battery in, and the eyebrow groomer. That is all.

Enjoy your weekend and be grateful for those people that make our life wonderful in little ways :)

I Won't Always Live Not Stopping

Hellllooooo!

Hope you had a great day because I did! I am currently watching the DBacks game with my feet propped up perfectly content. Our after work drink may have something to do with my content-ness (I was craving a bloody mary all day!).

Today I met my "team" at work. I have a weird position where not much really applies to me and I don't really have a "place" I belong so my team is three other specialists and myself. They are all super cool and I feel so lucky with my job. As a previous classroom teacher, I KNOW how much work it is to be a classroom teacher. This position is really a dream job (so far!) and I am glad I worked hard for my masters and paid my dues in the classroom!

Anyway, in other news, the kittens are doing great. They're healthy, eating and pooping on their own, and becoming social butterflies. They are a lot of work as far as giving them their medicine, feeding the separately, and that darn litter box, but we'll miss them when they're gone :( Please pay no mind to the terrible picture of me, but look at that cute kitten face. This kitten (Jackson) comes over the gate every night to come hang out with us. He's precious. I knew he was a trouble maker from the first day we met.

Well I've got a lot of beginning of the year stuff to print up so I better get cracking. I forgot to mention that Allison asked me to be in her wedding in May. So excited! This year's been full of high highs and low lows and a lot of the highs are babies and weddings! Yay!

Toodaloo!

You're Everywhere

What a great weekend! We enjoyed getting out of the heat and into the beautiful Flagstaff. Allison, J and I went up for the Cardinals scrimmage and the Big Red Pour.

We left bright (dark) and early Saturday morning and got to Flagstaff where it was cloudy and looking like rain. The scrimmage was moved to the Dome because it did start to rain. Pour, actually. We were soaked while waiting to get inside but had a great time once we were there. After the practice we went back to the hotel, dried off, and got ready for lunch. I love Charley's so we ate a delicious meal there, watching the rain continue to come down. We decided to go to the second half of the beer fest and hope that the rain would let up. The weather was still pretty cold so we didn't exactly prepare (that's what packing at 4 a.m. will do) so we did some shopping for warmer clothes.

Our hotel had a free happy hour that we of course took advantage of. When it was time to walk downtown the sun came out. Yay!

The beer fest was okay...the different breweries were running out of beer and there ended up not being a whole lot of options. We watched a few songs by Michelle Branch, gave away our remaining beers on our passport, and hit up good ole Maloney's. We had drinks and good convo. At the end of the night my sandal broke so I proceeded to walk through the bar and to get a cab barefoot. Lovely. We woke up this morning for breakfast and headed back. I was still shoeless. Haha.

I love, love, love Flagstaff. It will always be a bittersweet place for me, more so now, but I hope one day, if we're not living there, we have a second home there. Hopefully the dogs will be able to come with us next time; our hotel we stayed at allows pets for no fee! Fabulous!

Excited for the week and planning and getting ready for the year!

Up the Stairs at Weatherford

Happy Sunday! I'm enjoying today since it's not actually feeling like a Sunday. I usually don't feel like I accomplish a lot on Sunday except waiting for Monday to roll around. I helped Jonathan in his classroom today and we ran some errands and had lunch out. The weather today is absolutely gorgeous though. Cloudy and on and off sprinkles. Love it!

Tomorrow is the big day: J begins the year with kids and I go back for "new" teacher stuff. I'm excited and nervous and all those feelings you get when you start a new job. We had a short orientation for paperwork and I was pleasantly surprised with the organization. Hopefully a step up from my last district!

It's also getting closer to that first paycheck. When you've gone almost a year and a half as a one income family, this day cannot come soon enough! We're thinking about each taking $500 out of our paychecks ($2000 total per month between the two of us) and then just using that towards mortgage and bills. Whatever is left over we can just roll into the next month. That sounds doable right now so I hope it works out! Does anyone have any budgeting tricks that work for them?

The kitties have a vet appointment Tuesday and I work at the restaurant a few days this week (almost the end!) and then we're heading up to Flagstaff! Not something we can really afford at this point but with Jonathan's love of the Cards and my love of the Flag, it's something we're looking forward to and we think is worth it :) We're probably only staying one night so it shouldn't be too bad!

Our book club met this week (what an interesting evening that was) and we decided as our next book to be the popular The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We reallllllly all enjoyed The Help and I highly recommend it. It was written so wonderfully and you immediately fall in love with the characters.

I'm going to get the house ready for the week. Nothing worse than starting the week with a messy house!  Back to reality tomorrow!!

You've Been Famous Since Your Birth

I'm patiently waiting for my favorite dinner (veggie pot pie) to finish cooking so I thought I'd update the bloggy blog a little. Also, I have this obsession with Tetris Live that I need to get over. Actually, the computer should just be taken away from me! 

Jonathan went back to school today (kids come next week) and I still have this week left and two more weeks until students come back. I guess that will allow to hopefully be pretty productive in preparing for the school year. Have I mentioned how excited I am to have a real job again? And feel like an adult?! I did a little school clothes shopping today which got me excited even more :) I just need to replenish my shoe supply! 

Our foster babies are doing well, although I think one of them has a kitty cold. Another day or two and they can venture around our house and play with the dogs, as long as they're all healthy. Jake is in love with them. If you know Jake, you'll know he's a mama's boy. If I go downstairs, he follows; if I go to bed, so does he. Not now. He sits in front of the gate that separates the kitties room and stares at them like he's watching TV. It's the cutest thing ever. Hopefully he doesn't eat them once he meets them. Chase, on the other hand, could care less. Anyone that takes away our attention, he doesn't like. 

Tomorrow I'll be meeting my cousin and mom for dinner since my cousin is in town for work. Then we're meeting for book club on Wednesday at La Bocca, yum! Also, I'm looking forward to Flagstaff in less than two weeks! We'll be going for the Cardinal's scrimmage game plus a beer festival of sorts called the Big Red Pour. Yay! Actually, I could go to Flagstaff to drive around and be happy :)

The oven's beeping. Time for din-din!

Savoring the Moment

Hello!

I've been savoring the last few days of summer with the both of us home, hanging out in our cool cave, determined to stay out of the heat and sun. Jonathan's been playing Madden like it's the end of the world. The songs are constantly in my head from the Madden soundtrack (circa 2008!). I've been reading, baking, doing laundry, playing with our new foster kitties, and relaxing.

Know what else I've been savoring? The last few pages of The Help. Our book club was pushed back a week because other people have real jobs and kids and couldn't be reading on the beach or on airplanes as easily as I was. So I didn't feel too much pressure to finish it all at once. I have about 40 pages left and I'm reading a few pages at a time because I don't want it to end! It's such a delicious read!

Our (4) foster babies are doing well. The babies are super adorable at 4 weeks old and mom is starting to warm up to us. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they need to be secluded for about a week. We have the kiddie gate up in our extra room and Jake is in love with one of them. He sits and stares at him for a long time and when Jake leaves the kitty meows for him. So cute! We do need names for all of them. Isn't that fun, we get to name them? The one with the eye patch is the curious, noisy type. The black one loves his mama and eats all of the time. The other one is chill and super duper cute with funny eyes.

I'm about to start on our new puzzle (seriously, I used to be cool). Katy inspired me when I visited her in Cali and J wanted to do one so why not?!

Stay cool!!

West Coast Represent

I'm back from my wonderful time spent in California with the Russell's. That was my last "hurrah" before it's time to get back to the real world of... WORK! I'm very excited to start working again, as I've said before ;)

Cali was nice. We had a lot of down time, which was fine by me. Beaches and pools took up most of our time. We did have a fun time at the Angels game last night, with tickets courtesy of John. It was fun to go to a new stadium and take the train there. It was sort of a hassle because I left my phone on the train on the way back (AHHHH!!) but luckily I realized it soon enough so I was able to pick it up this morning in San Diego. That's what train drinking does to you.

The drive home today was long, hot, and my book on CD (Firefly Lane) was putting me to sleep. I tried to pull over to shut my eyes for a few minutes (probably not the safest idea) in a gas station parking lot but after about 30 seconds I was sweating and suffocating from the heat. I decided to get out of the car, use the restroom, and get a Wild Cherry Pepsi. Not delicious, especially since I could taste the cup. Soda has been pretty much eliminated from my diet, but I wanted something naughty since I was by myself. Hehe! I was excited to see my boys and be sweaty in my hot house. The Russell's froze me out with their AC!

Jonathan was going to take me to our neighborhood restaurant, Amano's, for dinner. We pulled up and they were closed! We decided to go to Cibo instead, which was nice. Crowded and noisy, but we had a nice time. I opted for dessert instead of wine (Nutella + bananas, hello!!) and we ended up taking the equivalent of a full pizza home. It's nice to go out to dinner once in a while but we really like cooking a staying in. Although I'll probably be pizza-ed out since our book club meeting for The Help is this week at La Bocca. I did score a sweet coupon to use there, however. We'll have to decide what our next book will be. So many options!

Currently I'm watching J play Madden 08 (what year is it?!) and sweating. Really. I'm excited to sleep in my bed and do some more relaxing tomorrow. The end of summer is near... working a few days this week and then one more week before it's time to go back! And hopefully it starts cooling down. Where's the monsoons? I live for rain and thunderstorms!

Must catch up on magazines. Obviously my mind is all over the place.

P.S. I posted some pics from vacay on Facebook, as well as my photo blog http://picturexthis.wordpress.com.

Home on the Ranage

Gooooood morning!

I'm fueling up on breakfast right now because I took a run this morning. I was hoping to avoid the sun but in order to do that I would've had to wake up at 5, which didn't sound fun. Instead I opted for 7:30 and 90 degrees. Besides literally dripping with sweat the whole time, the last few minutes on my way home were TOUGH!

It's nice to be home from our vacation. As much as I love traveling, I love coming home even more. I missed the doggies and my bed. We did have a good time and it was nice to show Jonathan parts of my childhood. I took him around to some houses I lived in in Wisconsin (I lived in a LOT!) and reminisce about the days there.

In Chetek, we partook in a ton of eating and drinking, hence the running I'm doing. We went to the street dance which we were very disappointed with. It was small and you had to pay to get through a fence so we stood outside the fence for a few minutes. There were a lot of boat rides and bar visits, which we were not able to do when we were younger, of course :) The house we stayed in was great and it was nice being with family!

In Milwaukee, we went to a Brewer's game with my dad and step-mom. It was my first time at Miller Park! My dad drove us around the lakefront afterwards where I got to see the house that I always claimed when we drove past it. Still looks the same! We also went to Bastille Days downtown. We probably should've waited to eat until we got there because there were so many food options. We had a few beers and watched the start of the run and called it a night. On Friday we went to the museum, which is one of my favorite places. Phoenix has nothing to even compare to it. Not much has changed inside that museum!

On Wednesday I will be going to San Diego to visit Katy (so far, that's the plan!). The week after that, J has to go back to work :( I won't be going till August 2nd. I feel bad since he only has a few days off before going back. Such is life!

It's time for coffee. Some time today I need to get an oil change and that's my big plan for the day :) I hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

I'm Baaaaack

Gosh a week is a long time away from my doggies :*( I'm glad to be back!!

After a long day of traveling and having to work early tomorrow, I'm off to bed but will update soon. I had a great time!

You can see some of my pictures at http://picturexthis.wordpress.com 

Adios

Life Up North

One of my favorite memories of growing up in Wisconsin was traveling up north to Chetek and my great-grandma's lake home. I was pretty young, so some of my memories may be jumbled, but these are events that stick out the most and I think they all include my cousin, Nicole:

• going to the Miss Chetek pageant at the local high school
• going to Ben Franklin with my aunt and cousin to purchase fake flowers and everything needed to have our own beauty pageant 
• taking the canoe out and "accidentally" flipping it over in the middle of the lake (family was not happy)
• calling my cousin porcupine legs because she shaved her legs (obviously not that well) and we had to sleep together and her legs rubbed up on mine
• going to the street dance and digging for money in a pile of sawdust
• watching the church lady on Saturday Night Live
• watching the men butcher the fish they caught that would later be our dinner
• betting that our family couldn't tell the difference between Nicole and I's handwriting...they told us to spell "guess" and I spelled "geuss". Fail. 
• picking green beans at the neighbor lady's house
• visiting the cemetery with my grandma and placing flowers on deserted graves

Ahh, good times. I reminisce because we will be there on Saturday. Not the same house but the same small town. I think back now about how much you take for granted when you are a child. What we would give to still have that property in our family, right on the lake! We'll be in a newer cabin and will still get to do all of the fun lake stuff. I wonder if I'll remember any landmarks there and how much it has changed. Now we can go out with the adults and experience what they did when we were wee ones :) I'll update with fun pictures on my photo blog http://picturexthis.wordpress.com (hopefully if the technology is available!). Most of all I'm excited to cool off! Have you walked outside today? Ick! It's 101 degrees, humid, and not even 11:00 a.m. 

I must clean the house for our house/dog sitter. Enjoy your day!

Fur Mommy and Daddy

On Sunday I went to an orientation for the Arizona Humane Society. Since the AHS and I are Facebook friends (haha) I knew that they were in desperate need for foster homes for their kiddos. I thought I would go see how we could help. Since we can't really get any more pets until we have a giant house with oodles of land, we could at least help out with some animals that needed it. The duration will be from a few days to a few weeks. If we happen to get an animal of a deployed service person, it could be far longer than that.  We signed up for kittens/cats and puppies/dogs (no ferrets or mice allowed!). They may be injured, too young, under-socialized, or may need to gain some weight (not hard to do in this house!). Once we get back from vacation, we are ready and open for foster parenting!

I'm a huge lover of the Humane Society and an advocate of adopting your animals from there. Considering we got both of our babies from the AHS, I know there are cute, lovable, forever pets there! Do not support those mall pet stores and even breeders! And get your pets spayed and neutered!

That is all. 

Anyways, today I sure wish I was at Warped Tour! Well sort of. There's really one band I want to see badly enough to endure the god awful heat for and I don't really have anyone to go with (people work, ya know?). Hopefully they are touring this fall!!

I'm getting excited for our vacation to Wisconsin on Friday. Ready for water, boats, thunderstorms, cool weather, etc. And of course to see family :) You know what else I'm excited about...babies and weddings! All over the place! 

Forgive me, I've had Starbucks today. First time in a while. 

When I Grow Up

I don't normally have this much time on my hands.

In the past, even when I was teaching, my summers were busy with classes, summer school, and second jobs. Since I decided to return to school, and since decided it's not exactly feasible at this point to be unemployed for two years, I've had a hard time playing that role. Okay, I have a job, but I'm not working full time and definitely not making the same amount of money. And I like to say my IQ drops 50 points when I walk in the door.

Anyway, when I learned that the nursing program I've been stoked about since January 09 was over (at the exact moment I was applying), I felt sort of bummed, sort of relieved. Bummed that I wouldn't be able to finish something I was really excited about but relieved that I could put my Masters Degree to good use and start contributing to this family! I'm very lucky I scored the job I wanted, especially due to all of the terrible education cuts and the state of Arizona right now.

I secretly like to be busy and work a lot, although it has been pretty easy to not have a 5 day work week and be able to sleep in. But I'm ready! I'm ready to wake up at 5 a.m.! I'm ready to pay off my credit cards! I'm ready to pay for dinner when we go out! I'm ready to go on vacation!

Technically I still have a few weeks left of this life before being a grown up starts again. I'm going to enjoy it and not feel guilty, because after all, I have a good 30 plus years of work left in me :)

Back in the Game

Hey. Remember me? I know, I know, I can't make up my mind. Do I want to write? Take pictures of my food? Take pictures of my day? Blog about my wedding? Well I've decided, yes, I want to take pictures of my day and yes, I want to write. I've always been a writer and it's hard to just take a picture and not explain it with a long, drawn out caption. And of course, who really cares about my life that much? I of course want people to enjoy my writings and pictures but it's so fun to go back and read these. They put me exactly in that moment.

The truth is, I can't sleep. I have so much on my mind. I'd rather sit in the dark and strain my eyes than attempt to fall asleep after an hour of tossing and turning.

After reading my last post, it's funny (?) I wrote about Jessie. It's the last time I saw her and a large part of my off and on sleeping problems. Jessie's been gone for nearly three months now and there isn't a day that hasn't gone by where I haven't thought of her. Those thoughts are usually accompanied by tears. I still cannot believe what happened and why. I don't think I or anyone else will and I'm having a hard time with that. I have no regrets about the last time I saw her; we hugged goodbye and said we loved each other. But of course all I think about is the last time I was in Flagstaff before she died, exactly a month before. I didn't see her. We stopped by her office and touched her name on the door. I texted her to come out. Why didn't I call her? Why didn't I let her know how much I really wanted to see her? Why didn't I ask her why we never received any RSVP for any of our wedding stuff? Why couldn't I have one last memory of her? I know I can't kick myself for the rest of my life about this. I know that I have to be at peace with what has happened and know that there is a reason. I just wonder how long that takes? And will I start to feel guilty when I start to feel at peace? And why do I feel so consumed with how I feel and not about her children and her family?

I'm sorry to be so depressing. A lot of that needed to come out somehow and it just happened to be through the keyboard. But that's what this is for, right? :)

I'll be back soon with happy thoughts, rainbows, and unicorns. Until then, see what I did today at http://picturexthis.wordpress.com .