Goodbye 2013! Hello 2014!

So here goes the ol’ goodbye to-the-end-of-the-year post and hello-to –the-new-year ramblings!  Hey, everybody’s doin’ it, right? ;)

Twenty-thirteen.  How about a year of amazing things?  I wish I could capture all of these moments and put them in my pocket, but alas, a post will have to do =)

Well 2013 brought me a future with Cruz.  Although we really got engaged ONE YEAR AGO TODAY, I still think of it as a 2013 memory!  From that one memory, I have set our date, found a venue (our house) and chosen the beautiful ladies who’ll stand beside me on the day I say, “I Do!”  The dress has been chosen, as well as the colors.  (Aren’t those the most important pieces to a wedding?!)

2013 brought me a new opportunity for a new job.  Life as a curriculum coordinator has literally FLOWN by!  Without as much take home work, I’ve found myself free to do more things for myself after work.  I’ve found enjoyment in helping awesome teachers with technology, curriculum and in leading weekly meetings with grade levels.  I’ve sat through countless hours of trainings, administered and managed the administration of my first standardized test and have lived to tell about it!  I’ve developed great work relationships with the teachers at my school as well as my CC friends. Such wonderful outlets for laughter, hard work and problem solving.

2013 brought me my first full year of NO COLLEGE!  I didn’t quite remember what life was like prior to embarking on the quest for a Master’s degree back in 2009.  It sure does feel nice to read for pleasure and to live a little outside of Starbucks on Saturday mornings =)

2013 brought lots of ups and downs on our home building process.  Multiple times we needed the help and multiples times it came or it didn’t.  We didn’t finish by the end of the year, but I have high hopes that this process will come to a close in EARLY 2014.  I count my lucky stars each day that Cruz and I have had so many willing family members and friends to help us make decisions for our home, to pack our townhome and to move to our new home.  If only subcontracted help would operate in that same way!  Best wishes to those of you who want to go build your dream home.  All jokes aside, it was a process that I have loved/hated from the time we began to the time we are coming to a close.  I can’t say I’d do it again, but I can say I wouldn’t have it any other way.

2013 brought births of wonderful new babies and the pregnancies of my besties!  Rachel delivered precious little Porter in late November, Lindsey is expecting little Olivia Grace (OG) in early March  and Emily delivered that cutie Cooper in August.   Jessica’s little man Mason grabbed our heartstrings when he made his way into the world in February and  I have high hopes for 2014 that Rosa will land her a sweetie (or 3) no matter if she goes into labor during our wedding!  I wish each of these lovely ladies the very best in motherhood as they continue their journeys in 2014 <3

In 2014, I hope that many great things happen.  Sure, I wish for the wedding of my dreams to go off without a hitch, but chances are, it won’t.  I want tons of fresh green grass in front of our house to replace the giant mud hole that stands there now, but it probably won’t be to my liking.  I’d love to win a Mega Million to go ahead and get a jump start on my mountain of a mortgage, but highly doubt that’ll happen.  In 2014, I want as much family time, as much friend time and as much experience as my heart can take in.  I want to live and breathe and take time for myself that I’ve neglected since I’ve began teaching and building our house.  I want to FINALLY own my car (and will in January, whoop, whoop!) and enjoy nights walking my dogs at our new house.  I want to let the dishes sit in the sink overnight and know that it won’t cause the world to end.  I want to park in a garage and not have to scrape my car in the winter.  I want to go fishing with Cruz and learn to bait a hook and take off my catch.  I’d love to learn to drive his big truck around our farm and correctly park a trailer using a tractor (which I also need to learn how to drive).  I want to volunteer my time to help others.  I want to know that at the end of every day, I have helped someone, somehow.  I want to learn to cook on our new gas appliances because I know that I’ll need to be entertaining many friends and family as the holidays and our wedding day grow near.  I want to take the time to appreciate many of the people and things that I didn’t in 2013.  In 2014, I want to live the good life and walk by faith.

So tonight as you raise your glass of champs, beer, milk, apple cider or Robitussen at the stroke of midnight, here’s to you!  I challenge you to make 2014 be the best year yet!

Commitment

Commitment:

What a long word.  There are three m’s in there! What a complex word. Nice suffix“ment” at the end. What a wonderful word.  The word I’ve been waiting to truly and ultimately fulfill for over 10 years.  Commitment.

In the past few years, I’ve made many commitments in my life. Some I’d consider fairly major, while others fairly minor.  My first was my commitment to graduate from college.  I told myself and my family that I wanted a college degree.  And soooo, I earned it.  The next major commitment was my first “real” job.  I thought student teaching helped me get ready for what I dipped my toes into back in 2008, but boy was I in for an awakening (not necessarily of the rude kind, but nevertheless, DANG!)  The next commitment: moving out on my own.  All of the sudden extra trips here and there became a little too expensive when the bills had to be paid and you had to eat.  Then, I committed to beginning the construction on my own home with Cruz.  Talk about a HUGE commitment!  I can clearly remember sitting in my townhome floor with a set of lined paper, a charcoal pencil and a house stencil trying to draw out to scale, the house of our dreams.  From this experience, I’ve learned that I am a VERY spatial individual.  From there, I committed my time to a graduate degree.  This was yet another goal I set for myself, because I wanted to become a better teacher and leader for the students that I taught and the ones that looked up to me.  I committed to a new-to-me car somewhere in this mix, which I am PROUD to say I will OWN in January 2014, hooray!  And in December of 2013, I committed to Cruz, and told him that I’d marry him on our front porch. 

Which leads me to the commitment that I made today; I am proud to say that I have SAID YES TO MY WEDDING DRESS.  Yes, folks, I jumped and landed myself a great find.  I must say that in this entire wedding planning process, the dress selection seemed to be a weeee bit overwhelming.  I watched about 1.5 million hours of Bride Day on TLC this summer (yikes!) and have been reading numerous blog posts, articles and other online sources about how to “Select  YOUR dream dress!” or “Bridal Gown Etiquette”.  Talk about confusing!  I guess I had just assumed you walked in, the bridal consultant threw you into a gown or dress and you were walking outta there happily ever after.  (Hey, that’s how it worked on TV!)  You see, I had planned this whole experience out in my head to include myself, my bridesmaids, my matron of honor and the mothers.  I envisioned all of us in comfy sweats, bouncing from bridal store to bridal store, sipping on some type of Muscato or Mimosa throughout the day, trying to outfit me in the “perfect dress”  The more I thought of this, the more I was afraid I’d be stuck trying to make a final decision.  I tend to lean toward the thoughts of others, and in some cases, I don’t find that trait to be so bad.  Buuut, in the process of selecting a bridal gown for myself, probably not the best idea.  

So in efforts to get an idea of what I really wanted, I began a random search at an unnamed bridal store on my own.  I went up and down the aisles and aisles of dresses.  There were white, ivory, beaded, organza, lace, taffeta, satin, mermaid-style, fit-and-flare, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!  Goodness GRACIOUS the choices brides are given when trying to figure out what to wear on her wedding day!  I ended up snapping a few pics with my iPhone and did online searches for reviews for particular gowns that somewhat interested me.  The prices weren't too awful bad, but the reviews for customer service, for alterations and other items of interest were not par for the course.  (Love a good, honest person when it comes to product review!) 

I called up my matron of honor, had her meet me at Southern Bride in Yadkinville, NC and went to looking.  As soon as I walked into the boutique, I was greeted with the two most genuinely nice women.  They asked me the questions to try and get a feel of what I was going for.  From that point on, it was me, the consultant and my MOH.  I got into gowns, I came out of gowns, I had hair pieces added and taken away, I had belts added and taken away.  It was like playing dress up with a full grown adult. I had tried on about 8 or so dresses and had found one that I hadn’t really been that excited to try on originally, but LOVED the way it fit and felt on.  With all the details of the dress a secret, I can’t share tooooo much, but I was very excited about a unique design that fit me right off the rack (with a few alternations at the top, mostly!)  The best part was that, I had selected a gown that was going to be marked for 40% off.  Now if you know me, I am ALL ABOUT THE DEAL and ALL ABOUT THE CHEAP.  I can’t pass up a great buy.  I knew I didn’t want to spend a fortune, and had a particular amount saved up for a dress.  How lucky had I gotten?  A deal AND it fits overall?  I knew I needed one more look to be done, so I bid the wonderful staff goodnight at Southern Bride and made an appointment to return this morning.

Talk about Pinterest on OVERLOAD.  Ya'll, I spent most of Friday night looking and pinning ideas for hair, pinning dresses somewhat similar to the ones I had tried on and like the one that I was about 99.9% sure I wanted.  I tried searching for the SKU model numbers of the designers I tried on to see if I could find a better deal online.  I tried searching for themes like the one I have pictured in my mind for our wedding.  No matter how hard I tried, I kept seeing this one, particular unique dress.  At 4:00 am, I woke up and CONTINUED to think about this dress.  I showered, did laundry and still had it on my mind.  Then, I knew that this HAD to be the one.  There came the word again…commitment.  I had unintentionally committed myself to a dress, and once mothers viewed it, HAD TO HAVE IT.

10 am rolled around and my appointment began.  I slipped into my cowboy boots and threw the dress on again.  With my aunt on call from California via FaceTime and the mothers ready, I was able to debut what I had found.  A few tears later and some “Oohs” and “Aaahs” as well as tons of photos taken, I said YES TO MY DRESS.  Although this gown is made of fabric, beading, lace and string, it’s also a symbol of a commitment.  Did I pick it because I thought I looked nice in it? Well, yes.  Did I choose it because others liked me in it? Sure, it was nice to hear complimentary things said about me.  Does it match PERFECTLY for my wedding? You bet, like right down to a "T".  But I committed because I want my hubby-to-be to feel like I dressed myself just for him on the day that we commit to each other.  I want this to be a lasting impression on him forever.  I want this to be a memory that neither of us will never forget.

So stay tuned, friends.  Our date is set for September 26^th, 2014.  Countdown to commitment: Well, currently, 306, but hey, who's counting? =)

What's Love?

It's a signature and special message in my 2001 Forbush Falcon yearbook
It's a chance I took in December 2002
It's the stuffed turkey that still sits in my living room floor...in full strut
It's my ridiculous shedding habit which I'm trying to get under control 
It's listening to Pretty Little Liars on Tuesdays for half the year and listening to any type of sports broadcasting imaginable the other half
It's him pushing the grocery cart and paying while I try to check every item off the list and overly rearranging the bagging job
It's me getting frustrated at cooking new dishes and him rescuing my efforts before they turn to inedible carbon
It's Duplin wine, any variety, flavor, etc. will suffice
It's making decisions of what color the trim will be throughout our new home
It's his ability to beautifully miter a picture frame window after numerous You Tube videos, HGTV shows and DIY Pinterest pins
It's the fact he pumps the gas and I run in for the beer
It's trips to Taco Bell, Dick's Sporting Goods and New Town Bistro date nights
It's a 3:45 alarm on a Sunday morning, a text before he takes off, when he lands and a weekly "Good Luck Bebe" tweet/text around noon
It's a cheers at the bar with friends once RCR takes home a win
It's a snuggle on the couch watching those cars go around and around, waiting patiently for a shot of a man dressed in Caterpillar yellow with a large gas can thrown over his shoulder wearing a shiny apron
It's he takes out the trash
It's I lay out the bills with sticky notes every month
It's the echo of a staple gun Monday-Saturday after 4pm
It's the slop of a paintbrush Monday-Sunday (minus Fridays, sometimes)
It's the way I have to hoist myself up into a big blue Dodge Ram
It's the way he makes fun of me when I fall (out of the truck)
It's the numerous nights we didn't speak more than 30 minutes because I had a paper to write
It's the special message on my graduation cap that I wore on December 16th 2012 because he made that dream come true
It's our Boone
It's our Lizzie
It's a snapchat mid day
It's dressing by the flashlight app on my iPhone because he got in at 5:00am from the race
It's him dressing by the flashlight app because he's leaving at 4:00am for a race 
It's cussing the numerous number of black Sharpies I've pulled from my laundry
It's him cussing because I forgot to dry the laundry twice
It's 2,500 square feet of hickory hard woods on a po-dunk trailer and a diamond ring on a frosty December 31st morning



That's love. It's all love. <3

Curriculum-What? What's THAT Mean?

So…..WOW!  Long time, no post!  It seems like just yesterday I was packing up my 5^th grade classroom, moving boxes of odds and ends out and starting my summer job at Fo’ Tech!  Summer has come and gone and I’m now settled into my new position as Curriculum Coordinator.  (Well, settled might not be the best word at the moment, because I swear I find a way to make a new mistake almost daily and tend to choose the worst possible way to get from my butt to my elbow in every possible situation, but I am at least in my office now!)  Those two “months off”’ that us teachers/educators get just don’t seem quite long enough. 

As I've settled into my new position, I’ve learned quite a bit over the past month.  I began the journey by stopping in one or two times a week during the summer, just to get myself moved in slowly.  It helped with feeling overwhelmed and where to put all my stuff.  I began to learn who to ask for help, who was the guru of what information and who would be able to help provide me with guidance when I needed it the most.  This proved successful, because once I moved into the “meat” of this job, organizing an office was the least important thing on my mind! 

So what does a Curriculum Coordinator do?  I get this question a lot…and not just from kids, but parents and grown-ups too.  Well it’s a big mix of a little bit of everything!  To this current minute, hour, and day I know that my technical titles include, but are not limited to: Testing Coordinator, Limit English Proficient Coordinator (LEP), Curriculum Coordinator (CC), Learning Team Facilitator (LTF), third in line administrator, School Improvement Team (SIT) member, Behavior Support Team (BST) member, and Intervention Support Team (IST) member.  Even listing these jobs makes my head spin!  I tend to be the bearer of the chocolate, the hidden color printer office, the AR student putter-inner, the queen of scheduling trainings, the organizer of mass paper distribution from the district’s literacy, math, social studies and science departments, the official site of close-the-door –and-scream-because-your-class-is-driving-you-bat-ish-crazy,   the liaison between teachers and the central office, the short term technology-fixer-upper, the academic and sometimes behavior resource suggestor, and one of my most favorites, the official bus-rider hug-giver-outer as students depart for the day. 

Just in the month I’ve worked with the fine teachers and staff at Moore Magnet, I count my blessings every day.  I have always been a part of Moore up in room 215, but now being down in my office (or hotbox as I like to classify it) I don’t think I could successfully pull any of this off without the help from those wonderful souls.  I’ve come to learn that a whole lot of this job is being a working wealth of knowledge for people who need it quickly.  Not one person has been impatient with me when trying to get answers to their questions or concerns.  It’s sure nice to love what I do. 

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”-Confucius

What A Difference a Dollar Can Make!

So I must admit, I treat myself once a week to some kind of greasy, fattening, delicious breakfast before work.  When I roll through the Starbucks drive-thru, I leave with my hot chocolate and cinnamon swirl coffee cake.  If I hit up the Chick-fila , I’ll leave with my chicken mini meal complete with hash browns and orange juice.  At either restaurant, I’ll drop anywhere from $3-5 bucks each time.  Now, that $3-5 buck breakfast is not a necessity by any means.  I choose to indulge because I feel like I “deserve” it, like I worked hard enough to “earn” myself a little fattening goodie, a guilty pleasure, if you will.  As I check my account balance each month, it seems that I tend to spend roughly $25.00 on “fun” food.  That’s roughly **GASP** $300.00 a year!  Try as I might, sometimes that McDonald’s jingle “Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba I’m lovin’ it” just pulls me in! 

I connect my personal choices for breakfast “treats” each week to the choices that my students get when they get off the bus, van or when they arrive by car each week to school.  From August-June students in my school system have access to free-or-reduced breakfasts and lunches.  It’s amazing to see how many students participate in these programs.  I offer my kiddos time in the mornings to have a healthy snack as we work on our math lessons or reading lessons.  I feel that each year, more and more students will bring their breakfasts from the cafeteria in the mornings as their “snack”.  This is alarming, because it leads me to believe that students aren’t being fed at home before school.   It also causes me to wonder, “Are they getting the necessary meals that they need at night?” I think the scariest thing of all is what these particular kids do to get their meals in the summer.  How do these children eat when school is out for the summer?  Two meals that are usually prepared for them aren't as available in the summertime, unless parents can provide their children transportation to locations that prepare summer meals.

In response to this issue, a friend of mine and Cruz’s, Ray Wright, has spearheaded a campaign to combat against childhood hunger.  Ray is a pit crew coach, and member for RCRRacing in Welcome, NC.  Although I don’t know what Ray’s day looks like from the time he arrives to work until the time that he leaves, I do know that he spends a great amount of his own time promoting Pit Stops for Poverty (PSFP)on Facebook, on Twitter and at the track each weekend.  Alongside Ray is Cruz.  He has taken the initiative to help out with Pit Stops for Poverty digging through his closet, finding old crew shirts, gloves and other pit crew items to sale to raise money.  He helps Ray on the Pit Stops for Poverty Twitter and Vine accounts.  Together, they have really worked to organize a wonderful project to provide needy children with meals.  For those of you who watch NASCAR every week, it’s not just the drivers that make the sport what it is.  It’s the pit crews and the race crews who work the behind-the-scene magic as well.  On top of all of their current responsibilities, many of the RCR Racing pit crew and race crew members have taken their time to sale some of their old gear at the track to raise money.  They have tweeted and re-tweeted Pit Stops for Poverty tweets, promoting this organization’s excellent message to virtually anyone in the world.  They have gone above and beyond the call of “duty” if you will, and have put their own money into this great cause.

Well, because I'm a past math teacher, I have to throw in a tiny math lesson.  If you go back to my **GASP** roughly $300.00 per year that I tend to spend on breakfast "treats" I could have been giving just half of that to organizations like Pit Stops for Poverty.  If I donated $150 over the course of the year, I could provide funding for 1,050 meals for needy children.  How in the world would $150 make that many meals?  Well according to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, only $1 can provide enough funding to prepare 7 meals.  Take my $150 and multiply it by 7 and you have 1,050 meals! 

Not only do race fans have the ability to donate, but anyone can!  I know some folks aren’t into the NASCAR, but would still like to donate, you can access the link to Pit Stops for Poverty below and check out the details on childhood hunger statistics, interviews/videos of Ray Wright discussing Pit Stops for Poverty(PSFP) and how one dollar can truly make a difference!

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC: http://www.hungernwnc.org/

Twitter handle @stops4poverty

Vine: Pitstops for Poverty

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pit-Stops-for-Poverty/465490813538304?fref=ts

Pit Stops for Poverty(PSFP): http://www.pitstopsforpoverty.com/#

Article on PSFP from PitTalks: http://www.pittalks.com/2013/05/21/pit-stops-for-poverty-rcr-crews-looking-to-help-second-harvest-food-bank/

Article on PSFP from RCR Racing: http://www.rcrracing.com/news/index.cfm?cid=51961

WXII12 Video: http://www.wxii12.com/news/local-news/piedmont/Pit-Stops-For-Proverty-raising-funds-for-food-bank/-/10703612/20288548/-/oq391/-/index.html

Music

Music.  The intentions of music probably date back to pre-Biblical times that provided believers to a gateway to communicate with God, or whatever higher being that was believed to be.  Now, music seems to encompass multiple forms.  Some music is written to purely entertain.  Beats are created and mixes are stirred up to catchy rhythms that get people moving with friends, family or just by themselves…in their underwear…dancing in front of the mirror.  Other music is used with children or young adults to learn new concepts in a classroom.    For whatever reason music exists in history, I personally find music to be somewhat of a way to get my thoughts out of my head without juxtaposing the words and transposing the meanings of what I’m thinking, feeling or wanting to say.

I ramble on about music to set a point, I promise!  This past weekend, I spent a lot of time painting doors at our new home.  (By the way, for those of you who want to hang out this summer and I don’t answer your calls or texts on the first try, it’s safe to say that I’m covered in primer or latex paint at the time.  Not trying to screen a call, I swear!)  I spent most of that time by myself.  I don’t mind my “me” painting time.  It allows me to mindless brush (or slop) the paint on the door and to focus on the strokes.  Vertical strokes go UP the beadboard inserts while horizontal strokes go ACROSS the headers and footers of each door!  I was listening to the new Q104.1 and there was the weekend countdown from current country singles.  Starting at #30, the DJ’s worked their way down to #1.  Honestly, I stayed and painted the entire time, and heard all thirty songs.  There were some fun snippets of  “Guess that Year!” in between the countdown.  One particular song popped up that I haven’t heard in quite some time.  But as soon as the song came on, I pictured myself back to the last place I had been when it came on and I truly listened.

May 1999.  I’m at my 8^th grade graduation dance dressed in a hunter green, floor length gown that I had worn in my first cousin’s wedding.  I remember my hair was literally stacked on top of my head, chocked full of bobby pins that found their way out down in my dress and on the floor the entire night.  The stylist had put baby’s breath in my hair and created a shelf with my ridunculously-thick bangs.  I’m pretty sure I snuck on some mascara, although I am fairly certain I hadn’t started wearing make-up yet.  My school’s theme was “I Hope You Dance” and on that first song, it was obviously important that Lee Ann Womack belt out her top single as daughters danced with dads and sons danced with moms.  I remember this experience, because I got to dance with my dad.  This was something I don’t think I had ever done before, and it was a truly wonderful experience.  The lyrics and music blared in the background of that poor acoustic-deprived gym.  Balloons dotted the ceiling and a white handmade-bridge invited guests and their families into the gym over a makeshift stream.  Fans dabbled with twirling ribbons and those ribbons danced as long as the families did that night.  I don’t remember seeing anyone around my dad and I as we danced, but I remember crying like a baby because the lyrics to a song touched my heart. 

In the future, once Cruz and I finally set a date for our wedding, there will be more music to think about.  I know I’ll be choosing some awesome Pop2k hits from my “prime” as well as some good ol’ country that gets the boots a-stompin’.  There will be some oldies, but goodies, and of course the “Cuban” (Cupid) Shuffle will be thrown in there too.  But there’s one song that I am pretty sure of that my dad and I will dance to, and that’s Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance”

I’ll leave you with the lyrics to this special song.  I love you dad!

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'
Don't let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw

Finding My Niche Again...

Oh, Hi.  Yeah, it's been a whopping 2 months. I know that for me, life has been 110% hectic since my last post of a life-changing situtation which has been a great and wonderful transition into my late 20's. Just so you know, I'm still chewing on that one, and truly enjoying every. single. bit. =)

Regardless, I think today I'll share an experience I had this past weekend.  I ran into a past colleague in Target with her daughter, a brand new teacher.  Just as new teachers go, its a tough, tough world to jump into such a professional career without the "professional career" benefits.  You get a mentor to help, but chances are, that person isn't on your grade level.  You have teammates who can be of assistance, but only when they aren't drowning in their own layers of work.  You have administration to assist you with legalities, if they aren't in meetings.  Basically, good luck, because you've signed your life away to marry this profession.  In the 5 years that I've been in a classroom, I've learned that I over do everything.  I check, re-check and  triple-check.  Thanks to my dad, I've been encouraged to always put my all into my job, and I have personally found success in this school of thought.  However, it seems that I am fortunate compared to those around me.  I am fortunate that I have a team who have had my back when times have been tough with parents.  I have had an administration who cares about me, not just my EOG test score data.  I have had students and parents that overall, accept me for who I am and know that I do try my best for each and every one of them each and every day.  I hate it for the newbies.  Although everyone has to learn th reigns, it could be so much easier if there was a handbook for this profession.  Sorry Harry Wong, your time-classic "First Days of School" just isn't cutting it.  Yes, I am a hard critic.

My past collague's daughter had the same chipper, excited, I-can't-wait-to-have-my-own -classroom look  in her eye as we chatted about curriculum, classroom management and Common Core.  Sure, I did my share of complaining, but overall, I tried to maintain a positive outlook.  I realize that all jobs have their pitfalls, and that there is good and bad in any career choice that you make, but I realized that I'm missing that "new teacher" gleam.  Once I graduated from my Master's Program, I feel like I lost contact with some of my best resources for teaching any subject, not only reading.  I know I can improve my comfort level through a little recharging over spring break.  I can't wait for a bit of rest from the mental stress of my job and releave my physical stress on a paint roller and some iTunes action at our new place. 

I want to find my niche again.

That JUST Happened!

Yesterday, my life changed.  Yesterday the one thing I have wanted for the longest time, happened.  Yesterday, my friends, was a blur.

It wasn't a blur because my Holiday break is literally over tomorrow. (Insert sad face here) It wasn't a blur because we entertained for Cruz's family for our annual New Year's Eve Party. It wasn't a blur because of the champange consumption to top off the New Year. I've determined that it was a blur because friends, as I compose this blog post, I am now going to become Mrs. Joseph Cruz Gonzalez.

I woke up this morning (unusually early, might I add) getting out of bed the same way, except today, I slipped a diamond ring on my left hand.  Talk about INSANE! I'll admit, I had played this out in my head and what I had thought would happen a few times.  Now that it's here, talk about surreal. 

As you know we jumped deep into designing, financing and building our own dream home around two years ago.  I  thought we were crazy at times, because I was juggling a full time teaching job, a part time graduate school load and making house decisions about things I had NO CLUE about.  Cruz carried on with his job throughout the week and traveled almost every weekend full time on the Nationwide Series while he was invited to be back up for the Sprint Cup series.  Thinking about a wedding at this point in our lives would be an overload, for sure.  Now that graduate school is done and we've gotten through a big chunk of major house decisions, HELLO PLANNING!

I admit I've worn a smile since yesterday morning.  I can't stop glancing and my ring finger.  It feels strange to know that I'll get to be the bride, have the showers, enjoy the day.  I want to relish in the joy that this chapter of my life has to offer.  I am beginning my happily ever after.