Friday, May 28, 2010

Congratulations Kelly!

I've been friends with Kelly since college.... well, that's not saying a lot because she's been in college for many, many years. I should say since we were both in college together.

We graduated together (me - Bachelor's Degree in Social Sciences - Education, Kelly - [her second degree] Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences) in December 2005 and she had her sights higher. Much higher. Since then she's been working on her goal of becoming an optometrist.

Friday, May 7th marked the end of that road for her.

When you officially become a doctor, you get "hooded." Here's the only picture I got of her on stage during this part of the ceremony.
Dave came with me and we both agreed that it was a cool ceremony. Different than any high school or college graduation we've been to. It was such a celebration of all of the hard work they had to put in for the past four years in Optometry School (and the years before that, too).


Her mom, dad, and youngest sister came to celebrate with her.

Dr. A!!!!
Congratulations, Kelly!! I'm so proud of you and excited that you get to "be" what you've been working so hard on for all these years.
She's an eye doctor! :)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Just because I like it so much

A few weeks ago I took a day off to go downstate to attend an important ceremony for a special friend. (More on that in my next post.)

One of the bonuses of this being down there was I got to see my fiance :)
He took a couple of days off of work, too, so we could actually see each other. We had a great weekend together; a mixture of relaxing and getting things done. I may have talked about this in another post.

My computer hasn't been letting me put pictures from my camera on here lately so it took me this long to get the pictures...

There were lots of good ones and this is one of my favorites.


I'm going to marry him in five weeks!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

It came!

My dress finally came yesterday!
It fits perfectly, no alterations needed :)
My sisters and mom helped me figure out what I'm wearing with it. I had some ideas so it was really good to (finally!) try them out and decide what goes the best.

Six more weeks!

Until then: finish school (no more seniors!, 8 days of class, 3 days of exams), work really hard on my 2 Master's classes, travel back and forth across the state a lot, and finish up a few wedding details.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Feeling really lucky: Our story

I helped Liz photograph a wedding today and even though it was a long and busy day, it was SO.MUCH.FUN! Many times throughout the day, the bride's personal attendant told us that we're so lucky and our job is so much fun. On days like today, we are lucky. Everything just seemed to work out perfectly and we captured some really great moments.

I hope my and Dave's big day goes so well!

***Warning: Long story ahead.***

I'm really lucky for another reason, the main thing on my mind. I'm so lucky because Dave and I "found" each other. We went to the same high school, except he was a senior when I was in ninth grade so we didn't know each other. We also went to the same college and overlapped there for a year and a half. Again, we didn't know each other. (We knew who each other was but that was about it.) After he graduated from college, he moved ~9 hours away for his career, I finished college, moved across the country, and came back. That was when we started to get to know each other. When he would come home to visit, he would hang out with my group of friends so we'd say hi or talk a little bit.

Then May last year :) He was home for Memorial Day weekend and came to Liz's with some guys when she was having people over. He and his friends stayed and visited with Liz and me for a few hours after everyone else had left that night. That's when I found out he was going to Mexico for the summer. I remember thinking "Wow, that really stinks. I get the whole summer off and he has to go and work in Mexico..." I was also planning on spending some time in his area of the state since my sister was having twins there. I thought it would've been fun to see him there but no such luck; he was going to Mexico. A couple of nights later he came to a bonfire my friends and I had and we ended up talking for a long time. Again I thought what a bummer that he was going to Mexico. We kept in touch after he left that weekend, and even more so when he went down to Mexico. It became a daily thing - sending and reading messages.

To make a long story short (or rather, to shorten up this long story), I was in the area when he flew back from Mexico for the July 4th weekend and he took me out on our first date. This picture is from that first weekend when we started dating.




I guess I could say that you know the rest of the story. Basically it comes down to this: we're getting married and it just so happens that it's going to be on the July 4th weekend. :)

It took quite a few times of us crossing paths, talking to each other, and seeing each other (over many years!) until we realized there was "something there." Now I'm back to how I started this story: I'm really lucky that we found each other.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Whataday

Today was a DAY at school. Students in third hour were giving me attitude for the first couple of minutes so I decided I wasn't going to put up with it and try to teach them... and I gave them tons of work to do instead.
Later that day a girl asked if that's what I was planning on doing today and I told her that no, we were going to watch a movie (we're studying September 11th). She was so annoyed. All day I heard about how the girls were annoyed at the boys who were giving me grief... I have a feeling it's not going to happen again. (It better not!!) It's one of the only times (maybe second?) I've ever had to do that so I guess that's good. But I was truly mad. Contrary to what most people probably think, teachers don't truly get mad very often. Or at least I don't.

The rest of the day was fun. Every other hour was great and productive so I'm not sure what happened in those few minutes.

Three more days for the seniors! Yea!!!
For me: 12 days, then 3 days of exams :)
We're wrapping things up!

But I start two classes in a few days. The kind where I'm the student and have to do tons of reading and writing. Hopefully my brain isn't too fried by the end of the school year because I have to be able to produce some good work.

I went this long without mentioning the wedding. Pretty good, don't you think? :) Our invitations are picked out and the order is going out for them tomorrow. Hopefully by the end of next week we'll be working on addressing them. I have to say, though, that I don't plan on sending them until the end of this month/beginning of June.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I think I'm in a contemplative mood tonight. Not sure if that's the right word but I've been thinking a lot. Reminiscing.
I'm going to Connecticut for a couple of days in June to visit "my boys" - the family I lived with and nannied for for close to a year. {That's when this whole blog started, and why it has "inct" [in connecticut] in the address.} They have three boys who were 6, 9, and 12 when I moved there. I cannot even believe this, but they are now 10, 13, and 16!! They are no longer the young boys I helped with math problems and with learning how to read. The squirt and peewee hockey games I drove them to and watched are no more. The oldest one is halfway through high school. I can't even begin to imagine how much they've grown since I lived there. I have gone back a couple of times to visit but it's been over a year. It looks like they're going to have a really busy summer so I don't think they'll be able to make it to the wedding so I wanted to go there before the wedding so I could see them again. I'm not sure when it will be after that. I really want Dave to meet them sometime but he has to work when I'm going... hopefully we'll be able to go together before too long.

It's strange going back to the small town I lived in. I made some great friendships while I was there and it seems like the girls should still be there (even though I'm gone). They're not. They were all there temporarily, too, nannying for a year. It's going to be weird driving past their streets or seeing our old spots (the train station for the city, Starbucks, the mall, Wendy's, IHop, etc.) without them being around.

I'm also going to spend a few hours in my favorite city :) Have I mentioned I really love NYC?!

Survivor

Can I just say that I enjoy Survivor? I got into it a few years ago and it's pretty much the one thing I watch. I usually have to catch it online...

Monday, May 10, 2010

Ergh

I was excited to come on here and post some photos from this past weekend but for some reason my computer isn't recognizing the connection to my camera so I can't upload any photos onto my computer. Shoot.

Kelly graduated from optometry school on Friday/Saturday! Dave and I went to her hooding ceremony on Friday evening and it was so cool. She's a doctor! I'm so proud of her! Way to go, Kelly!

It was a great weekend, but like always, too short. Dave took the weekend off of work so we got some quality time together. I also got to see Michelle, Ed, and the babies and Jules (!) for a few hours. On Saturday evening we went out for coffee with Dave's sister and brother-in-law. It was fun visiting and catching up with them. Just an awesome weekend!!

Back to school today. 14 days of school left, followed by 3 days of exams. {and the seniors only have five days left} Year 2 is almost history for me!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Once again

During second hour today some students came into my room with a "thank you letter" and a bag of treats. :) The letter contained words/phrases like "100 Grand," "Payday," "Extra" and "Rocks" etc... and the corresponding candy was in the bag. It was really cute and so thoughtful.

The students were not awesome today but that's been typical lately, especially since the seniors have less than two weeks left and the underclassmen feel like they should be done soon too. Last year I had heard about this attitude so I scheduled projects for the end of the year so I wasn't trying to keep their attention and keep them motivated. They have projects they have to work on so it's up to them to get it done. That time is coming up in all of my classes (and it has already started with the seniors)... and I know that means the end of the year!! :) Yea!

I ordered my wedding cake today. It was a lot of fun and ended up being easy... the hard part was the past few weeks looking, trying to decide what I wanted. When my mom and I got there and looked at the pictures, I knew right away what I liked (and she agreed). One more step done!

Katz and I are heading out of town right after school on Thursday. I told my students in one class today that I was going to be gone on Friday so they'd have a substitute. One girl said "Where are you going this time?" So I told her and she said "Wow, you have an awesome life! Someday that's going to be me..." I guess she thinks I travel a lot.

Have I mentioned I get to see my fiance on Thursday?! :)

Monday, May 3, 2010

A great day to be a teacher at **HS!

I found out this morning that it's Teacher Appreciation Week. When I got to school there was a thank you card and bag of goodies from our principal. Then during second hour students in National Honor Society came around with a cart to deliver breakfast to all of the teachers. We got muffins, fresh fruit, coffee, and juice! What a great morning! To top it off, the students were well-behaved. :)

I'm heading out of town on Thursday to see Dave for the weekend and to go to Kelly's graduation from optometry school. She'll be a doctor! I took Friday off of work and Dave has Friday and Saturday off so this time we'll get to see each other. I can't wait!