Friday, April 30, 2010

Finally found

I found something yesterday that I've been looking for for about three months. Apparently I never looked hard enough because it was in a fairly obvious place. It's the battery charger for my camera. I've been without a camera for about a month now because of a dead battery and I've really missed it. I've been using Dave's camera and that's been really convenient but it'll definitely be nice to have my own again.

I think I'm going out on Sunday to take some photos. If they turn out all right, maybe I'll even post a few.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Two days in a row, what's going on?

I've been hearing some comments that I should update this more often. I used to be much better (I think) so I'll try again.


This picture is from Dave's phone when we were doing our engagement shoot with Liz.



He's working 7 days a week, 10 hour days right now. The afternoon shift (4pm until 2:30am). I'm not a huge fan of this but I know it's only for a few weeks (I keep reminding myself of this) so we can do it. I have to tell you, it's not a lot of fun and I'm not even the one doing it. I don't have too many more weeks of school left, then the countdown to the wedding will be nice and low... like less than a month :) People tell me that they look back at their engagements and it goes by really quickly but that's not how it feels right now.

Anyway. It was a productive day at school today! That's a huge bonus this time of year. It's difficult to stay on track and get a lot accomplished when the students are in the "it's the end of the year, we don't have to work anymore" mode. {even though we still have 5 or so weeks left}
Wednesday in my class is map day, my favorite day of the week. That makes it an easy day to teach because every class starts off with the map and in some cases, the presidents too. I'm meant to be a (history and) geography teacher because I just really enjoy maps. {Yes, I do realize I'm a nerd.}

Monday, April 26, 2010

It's called "Being a Teacher"...

Maybe I've forgotten I call this blog "Being a Teacher." Maybe I'm distracted with more exciting things in my life. Maybe I'll try to show that the wedding isn't the only thing I think about these days.... maybe.

Speaking of the wedding, I got the vases this weekend. Michelle and I spent some quality time at IKEA and filled up a cart with vases. Then we had to figure out how we were going to fit them in her car (we had the boys with us). When we got to her house we moved them into the garage... Sunday I had to transfer them to Karen J's car for the ride home. Today I had to transfer them to my car to come the rest of the way home (we didn't feel like doing it last night at 11:20 when we were pulling in to town). Finally this afternoon my brother Peter helped me bring them in the house. I found a spot for them and they're not moving! They're staying put until July. I'm making a big deal out of this, but it was a lot of vases!! Luckily I had help every step of the way.
No dress yet... I'm being patient. (Sort of.)

During the day I'm still a teacher :) The countdown is on: 15 days left for seniors and 24+exams for the rest of us! Year 2 is almost over ~ yea! We're making a big change for next year - we'll have block scheduling (5 different 77-minute classes per day) and trimesters. Sounds like it's going to be a lot of work but worth it in the end. One thing I'm excited about is a new class I get to teach: Wars in American History. I've started planning it a little and it's going to be a lot of fun!



Speaking of wars, the students made projects when we were studying the Vietnam War. This was one of them. I thought it was pretty creative. Can you tell what it is?

Some of my students have been realizing lately that I have a life outside of school. One (senior) student the other day told me "I saw you in Wal-Mart with your friends and you were laughing. It seemed really strange." Me: "The laugh?" Him: "No, that you have a life outside of school."
Someone else: "Miss H, we decided you must have a life besides being a teacher because you're engaged."
Another student: "Does your fiance like econ? Is that what you talk about with him in your free time?" (Ummm, yeah, that's exactly what we like to talk about... the US's free trade/tariff policies.)

In World History today a student asked why I have dry-erase markers on the ledge of my (green) chalkboard. I told her that they actually write really well on the green board, and you just have to use a wet cloth to erase it. I had a whole class looking at me with strange expressions on their faces and saying things like "whoa, that's cool! I've never heard of that before..."
I had to explain to them that I was joking and that the markers were for the white sticky easel paper I use sometimes over the board if I want to save something. I think I don't joke around with them enough because they didn't really know what to think.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Watching my email

I've started this habit of checking my email over and over wishing, hoping, waiting to see an email from the bridal shop saying my dress is in. Michelle's came in about a month early and Heidi's just came in too. The eta for mine is about a week away (or so) but I'm thinking (or hoping!) that it just might make it in early.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Happy Birthday Liz!

If you see this girl today, wish her a Happy Birthday!

Also, she did engagement photos for Dave and me on Saturday and I love how they turned out! I'm used to being on the other side of her camera, helping out or taking pictures along side of her. It took a little bit of getting used to being the subject, but it was a lot of fun!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

7:18

That's what time I got up this morning. Talk about a panic!! I usually get up around 6:45 so I had some scrambling to do. I was out the door by 7:36 and I think that's record time for me getting ready. I didn't skip anything, either... well, except the contacts. I wore glasses for the second time since January.

I've been busy looking at houses in the evenings. I think so far there are two maybes. Dave's most likely coming up this weekend so we're going to try to check them out together and see what he thinks. It would be really nice to close on a house before the end of the school year. That would give me a month before the wedding to work on it and move some stuff in.

Wedding plans are coming along. I'm having a lot of fun with it and I think that's how it's supposed to be :)
I'm still looking for glass vases for the tables. I would really like square or rectangle ones with a large opening and I'm not having the easiest time finding them (for a good price). Any ideas for me? I know I have lots of time left so I'm not worried yet. Besides that, I think almost everything is figured out. There's probably things I haven't thought of yet so we'll see as the time goes by.

My countdowns: six and a half weeks of school followed by one week of exams and (more importantly!) 11.5 weeks until the wedding!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Fun, relaxing vacation

It was so awesome! Fun, hot sun, relaxing, beautiful scenery, lots of reading (9 books!), good food, etc.

I kind of don't feel like organizing these and they are definitely not in chronological order. Better now unorganized than in two weeks and by then I'd forget it and probably never post them. So here they are...

Mambo Beach in Curacao. We spent three hours relaxing here, enjoying the heat and the water.

Deserted island somewhere in the Caribbean. It was cool to see after nothing but the wide open sea.

The waitstaff did the napkin ballet one night. It was pretty funny. I have a video clip of some of the other entertainment at the dining room. I've never attempted to put videos on here.... maybe another day.



Mambo Beach, Curacao again


Floating market in Wilemstad, Curacao.


The floating, swinging bridge in Wilemstad, Curacao. There were sweet colorful houses/buildings all over the island.



Market in Wilemstad, Curacao. YUM! They get all of their fresh fruit and veggies from nearby (48 miles away!) Venezuela. That was probably the closest I'll ever be to Venezuela as it's not on my list of places to see anytime soon. (or ever)


Eagle Beach, Aruba


Karen and Heidi on the catamaran in Aruba. Our ship the Westerdam in the background.


The catamaran.


Our home for 7 days