First Day(s) of School!

So this past week has been quite the overwhelming week! I had three teacher workdays and two days of teaching this week. The workdays were fine and I was able to be productive, but I got very overwhelmed on Monday when they were going over all of the policies, procedures, special circumstances, etc and I thought to myself "How in the world am I going to remember all of this stuff?" Being a teacher is a COMPLICATED job! Tuesday I worked on things for my classes during the workday and then we had orientation. I was able to meet several of my students and their parents and it was really nice, but scary being the peson at the front of the room! Apparently, I was successful though because I had several students go back to the administrative assistant and tell her that they liked me- sweet. Wednesday I spent most of the day in my classroom moving things around and getting it situated. It technically isn't *my* classroom because it is on the community college's campus and it will be used for night classes, but I was able to set up a desk area and arrange the tables so that I could move around a little easier. There are still things that I would like to do to it, but that can come later.

Thursday was a great day. It was a little complicated with the confusion of the first day of school and all, but I really got a good impression of my classes and I think it is going to be a great year. I have a wonderful group of students who are so dynamic and diverse and I can't wait to really get to know them. I hadn't planned quite enough stuff to do on the first day, and part of my plans were messed up because the students don't have their laptops yet (which I thought that they did), but I had planned for several days and just stole plans from Friday. Good lesson already learned! Fridays will be crazy days because they are half days every.single.friday. and the fact that my students come to me at a different time on Fridays then they do the rest of the week. I think I can make the craziness work by having independent work time on Fridays or student conferences or something- we'll see how it goes.

To make this job even crazier, I had to make sub plans for three days (Mon-Wed of this week) because I have county meetings to go to. I had my plans all set, but they were messed up due to the students not having their laptops. Oh the joys of the inconsistencies of teaching!!!!

Catch up!

Ok so here were my goals to do before work and the current standing of these goals:

* Catch up on my project 52.

--- fail. I am currently about 20 weeks behind on project 52. I really hope to catch up! Next year, I hope to actually do project 52 keeping in mind the true intention of the project.

* Get things together for my new apartment.

-- slowly but surely. I don't have everything together, but I have time to get that done. I also haven't started on my table project even though it has been sitting in my garage for about two weeks. I will get there.

* Do a deep clean and organize of my current room.

--- fail but may very well happen this afternoon as I am cleaning the rest of the house in anticipation of my grandparents' homecoming.

* Go to the beach

-- success! I did manage to go to the beach before school started. The water was way too rough for my liking and I could only manage to stay in for about 15 minutes, but the beach itself was wonderful.

* Do something fun and spontaneous.

-- success!

So 2.5/5, such a disappointment. Come back later for an update on the job!

Ponderings on relationships.

Wow, I fail at all of the goals I had set to do before school got back in session. Life just has a way of getting away from me and then I look back and think "where in the world has the time gone?!" In some senses, I also feel like time has a way of slowly ticking by and some things that realistically haven't been a part of your life for very long feel like they have been a part of you forever. Relationships have a way of falling into this later category; you start spending time with someone and feel like you know the person because you spend so much time together. Suddenly, everything starts to remind you of that person- the way someone else says something exactly the way that this person would, the the dance music at the club you are at, shows that you have watched together on tv, movies that you have seen or referenced, silly conversations that you have had, and so on. When you look back, you realize that in the realistic sense, you have not known this person for that long, but you have internalized everything that has come from your time together. It makes me think about the amazing impact that humans have on each other and what that impact means. What am I doing with the impact that I am having on those around me? Am I building them up and making something positive out of our interactions? What happens when something happens to damage that relationship?

Overwhelmed and excited

I am both overwhelmed and excited at the same time. I am super excited about starting my new job in less than 2 weeks. I mean, technically, I have already started, but according to the school system my first day is July 29th. I am so glad that I have been able to meet with the staff, get some resources, and have a meeting about my curriculum over the past few days- but I am still overwhelmed. The more I get into it, the more work I realize needs to be done. I am such a perfectionist and am so thorough in everything that I do, especially those things that relate to work, that I am just bogged down with it all at the moment. There is so much to be done over the next week and a half, and I just dont feel like I have enough time to get it all done.

What I really think my problem is is the fact that I need to just chunk this down into more manageable pieces. I am currently so swamped because I am thinking about the entire year and what this is going to look like, when in all honesty, I have no idea what this whole thing is going to look at it. A more realistic approach would be to look at it and take the first few weeks and attack those first. Once I have a realistic, working expectation of what is to come, then I can worry about the rest.

Expect a lot of job update posts to come in the next few days/weeks, because that is all I will be thinking about.

New job, things to do...

I am getting more and more excited about my new job :) Right now, the school is setting up a meeting between me and teachers at the "sister" school to go over curriculum for the classes that I will be teaching. I am so ready to get started, and I cannot believe that in about three weeks I will be TEACHING in my OWN classroom! I am going out to lunch with some of the faculty members on Friday, and I am so excited!

Between now and when I start work, I have several things that I would like to accomplish!

* Catch up on my project 52. I am going to just take a morning and go and knock out the different pictures to get back on track with this project.

* Get things together for my new apartment. I am officially moving out sometime in October. I am either living with my sister or by myself, depending on her life and what she has going on. I am planning on things as if I am moving out by myself. I am slowly purchasing things for my new place (such as the new towels, cookware, glasses, and such that I bought today) and putting them away. Some work needs to be done to some of my furniture including my kitchen table. Currently, the table is this horrible shade of green that is peeling and revealing an ugly gold color underneath. I want to strip the table (and chairs), paint it a new, fresh color, and fix up the chairs. Fixing up the chairs would mean that I need to find some padding and fabric to reupholster the chairs with. Such an exciting project! Some work may also need to be done to my bed as well, I will have to check on the condition of it.

* Do a deep clean and organize of my current room.

* Go to the beach

* Do something fun and spontaneous. I need to enjoy myself a little before going to work full time because it will be next summer before I can have some leisure time again! I am sure I will love my new job, but I have to enjoy myself a little before taking the plunge into the adult working world!

Project 52 Catch up: Week 10: Morning

Project 52 Catch up: Week 9: Patterns

Project 52 Catch up: Week 8: Pink

Project 52 Catch up: Week 7: Time

Project 52 Catch up: Week 6: Red

One of the other things that I would like to do during my remaining time over the summer is catch up on my project 52. I got sidetracked from my project 52 during my internship and have yet to go back to it. I am updating weeks 6-10 tonight and hopefully over the next few days/weeks I will catch up with 11-28. (Topics remaining: round, shine, envy, soft, perspective, love, start, free, texture, toys, downtown, summer, heat, fantasy, water, shadows, light, night)

Enjoy the next few posts!

Summer Goals

A check in with the summer goals!

* Run at least 4 x a week for the remainder of the summer (if not more)

- FAIL. Every time I wake up early to run, I find out that there is too much smoke outside from the brush fires in Pender County. I dont want to run outside when the air is so hazy :( I have gone to the gym some more, but I really want to run outside. I am going to try again tonight, we'll see how that goes.

* Create something- I haven't crafted in so long and I miss it!

- CHECK. See post below for my awesome new jewelry organizer. I want to make another for my boss (since she supplied me with all of the corks) and one more thats a little larger so I can house all my jewelry. I also want to do at least one more crafty thing, but I dont know what that is yet. I'll keep you updated.

* Read at least 5 new books off of my list

- IN PROGRESS. I have read "Turn of the Screw" by Henry James and "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. I was actually not all that impressed with either of these books, which is surprising considering how popular and iconic On the Road really is. I got through the first half of the book just fine, but the second half just seemed overly redundant and unnecessary. I kind of ruined the whole no buying books thing with a trip to Books a Million the other day. I got a book on John F Kennedy, a book called The Irregulars, One Day by John Nichols, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. A friend also lent me The Zombie Survival Guide, so I have plenty to choose from. I am thinking of reading The Zombie Survival Guide alongside another book? I think I am going to tackle The Scarlett Letter next off the list, time is ticking for 3 more reads OFF the list (plus whatever else I want to read not on the list)

* Find a job

- CHECK. I can't get into any details yet, but I am fairly certain that I have a job for the fall. I am recommended to the board of education for the position, but I guess I need to go in and sign paperwork and be accepted by the BOE?

* Pay off hospital bills from surgery

- Slowly but surely. I have knocked down the amounts on my two remaining bills, but I don't think these will be completely paid off by summer's end. At least I will have made a good dent in them?

What I did today

One of the things that I have been able to cross off my summer goals list is the one about creating something. I have been wanting to do this project for awhile, but I didn't have enough time or corks to do it with. Since I have been working at an Italian restaurant all summer (where we sell a LOT of wine), I was finally able to get the corks needed for this project :) I also had to find a cute frame to make this project complete. *Drum roll please*.....

My newest jewelry holder!

I also have been able to read two of the books off my list: Turn of the Screw and On the Road. More about that later!

Life as of late

Grad school- just a few days until it is done! I have been very proud of myself because I kept up with ALL of my work, have not procrastinated, and actually got a lot of work done well ahead of time! Unfortunately, I should have procrastinated this time because one of my professors actually decided to get rid of a major assignment because too many people looked "tired" and "overwhelmed." Guess who actually had already finished hers? That's right- this girl right here. TIme management people- it goes a long way.

Job Interview- it went really well yesterday! It was very low key and more like a conversation with several of the faculty members, but I think I liked this method better than the traditional type of interview. I have some things that I have to think about, but I should hear in a few days whether I got the job or not.

Running- I met my goal last week of four days. I will have to run today, tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday to meet it this week, but I think that it is do-able!

Weekend- This weekend I am going to my grandparent's 50th anniversary celebration and I am so excited about it! We are traveling to Greensboro. Friday my sisters and I are going shopping, Saturday is the vow renewal and celebration, and we will come home on Sunday. It will be a short trip but I am looking forward to the time away! The only down side to this is that I have to leave my precious Meredith for the weekend but I am leaving her with a family who will take very good care of her and who have a few dogs to keep her occupied!

Hot Hot Hot!

So I have gotten on a semi-regular running pattern again and it's about time! I decided that during these hot summer months I would probably do short runs, a mile or so in length, and work on speed more than anything. I of course will have some longer runs, but in general I am thinking this is a good way to go. When the fall months get here, that is when I will focus more on distance to get to the 10k on October 15th. The other day I posted about how abysmal my running time was for the mile, and now that I am hyper aware of that abysmal time, I was able to cut off three minutes so it is in the not quite as embarrassing range. Yes, that is how bad it was that I can cut off three minutes and still not really want to own my number right now....

Today's run was HOT and HUMID and WINDY! It is supposed to rain later today so the air was very heavy and I had to work a lot harder to get my run in. Even though I dont feel like I am any smaller since starting to run again, I do feel like things are starting to tighten up and that is always a good thing in my book :)

A week and a half until grad school is over! I am down to mostly big projects to do. I will have a final in each class and I have a research paper/presentation and a case study for one class, and a presentation for the other! I can't believe grad school is almost over. On one hand, this has felt like the longest year of my life and it felt like it would never end. On the other hand, looking back, it doesn't seem like it has been that long at all.

I am in the process of looking for a place of my own for the fall. I think it is time for me to move on, be more independent, and just live my life!

I got a job interview! I am super stoked! It is Wednesday so I will keep you updated!

Oh Life...

Summer school has taken over my life. Only two weeks left until complete freedom! Those two weeks, however, are going to be killer. I made myself a nice (long) list of all of the stuff I had to do between now and the END of grad school and it's not looking pretty folks. (and by stuff I mean reading, reflections, papers, quizzes, projects, tests, etc etc etc). I can do anything for two weeks right?!

The last few days I have been running a mile with out stopping. I should have never quit running after my 5k in October but I couldnt stand the thought of running in the cold- I wasn't that hardcore yet but I can't stop again this winter! So I am slowly building my stamina back up and I am hoping for a 10k in October (the same race as last year, just longer). My mile time is pretty abismal though, so abismal that I won't admit it right now. Maybe when I get to my ideal time (I think 8 min/mile is a pretty decent goal for a girl who has never been a runner?!) I will shamelessly admit what I am at now (don't worry, I won't forget this number).

I am contemplating joining WW. My sister joined about a month ago and has been seeing some fabulous results. I am hoping that I could get some similar results and have an accountability partner at the same time?!

I got a summer job at this restaurant, and I like it. I am liking the money coming in after almost a year of not having a job. Hallelujah income!

In honor of summer, I have a few goals:

* Run at least 4 x a week for the remainder of the summer (if not more)

* Create something- I haven't crafted in so long and I miss it!

* Read at least 5 new books off of my list

* Find a job

* Pay off hospital bills from surgery

and most importantly....

* Enjoy myself- it will be the first time that school is not in my immediate future and I feel like I need to take chances, enjoy my life a little, do something outside of my comfort zone!