Hectic

Tonight, I had dinne with Dan, his dad (and his dad's girlfriend) and a random cousin of his at Edelweiss, a delicious German restaurant here in Colorado Springs. It was a good meal, and I am so ready for bed now. I'm used to sitting at home most evenings, so being out three weeknights in a row this week is definitely taking its toll on this early-riser. It's crazy waking up before 6:00am, and it's not something I enjoy. Will I ever get used to it? Who knows? I can't imagine ever being okay with waking up so early.

Recently, I was thinking about waking up earlier than normal to work out BEFORE work instead of dreading it all day while at work, but I just don't think I can drag my sleepy butt out of that warm, comfy bed at 5:00. No way.

I think it's time to go snuggle up with my kitties and read for a bit. Tomorrow begins the hectic weekend that is Parents' Weekend at the Air Force Academy. I am still working on Friday, and that makes things even MORE hectic than normal. Oh well; I'll make it through and sleep really well on Monday! :)

Tuesday? What Tuesday?

Okay, so I completely spaced on posting yesterday. Oops. It was Back to School Night after school was over, so I was at work until 7:00pm. I can't believe that I've already taught for 11 days. Time DOES fly these days. Ahh!

I am getting ready to go to dinner with Dan and some of his family (his dad is in town for USAFA's Parents' Weekend), and I'm looking forward to my favorite German food: Edelweiss! :)

Wedding News!

Tonight, Dan and I met with a photographer, asked her tons of questions, talked about our vision for the wedding, and signed a contract with her! We can't wait for another set of engagement pictures next spring and for our wedding in 21 months! Time is flying!

Tomorrow night is Back to School Night, which means I'll be at work until 7:00 talking to parents. I hope several show up. :)

Exciting Week Ahead!

Well, it's Sunday night again, and I am NOT ready to wake up early tomorrow. However, it is going to be a great week! Tomorrow night, Dan and I are (probably) meeting with a potential wedding photographer. Tuesday evening is "Back to School Night", so I am excited to meet my students' parents! Wednesday, Dan's dad gets into town, and Thursday is the USAFA Girlfriends/Fiancées dinner at Red Robin! I am going to work on Friday instead of going to classes with Dan for USAFA's Parents' Weekend, but his dad will go with him. Friday evening, the Flying Team has an event planned for visitors, so that will be fun. Afterward, we are going to a Physics event. I am pretty excited to see where Dan does his Physics event... :)

On Saturday, Dan and I are running a 3.5 mile race called the Dirty Dash -- all through mud! :) And then college football starts, so we will be going to the Air Force v. Idaho State football game, and I'm EXTREMELY excited for that! I LOVE FOOTBALL. And the girlfriends will all be meeting up again for a picture, and that'll be fun. :)

I don't know what we're doing for the rest of the weekend, but I'm sure it'll be great! I can't believe this will be the fourth Parents' Weekend I've attended... and we only have one more to go! Ahh! :)

Blast From the Past: UCM Graduation in 2010

I haven't made a "Blast From the Past" post in about a week now, and I don't want to fall behind. I have so many memories I want to preserve. This is the last post from my time living in Missouri. Just a week after I graduated from UCM, I moved to Colorado Springs.

On May 8th, 2010, I graduated from the Honors College at the University of Central Missouri with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary English Education. Thinking back to that day, it was rather anticlimactic. I despise graduations in general, and mine was no exception. I was supposed to sit by my friend Michelle (her blog is HERE), but we ended up getting separated at the the end of a row. We even had matching (but opposite) Phi Sigma Pi stoles for our families to be able to find us easily. Oh well.

Before the ceremony, my family visited the Student Union where my Honors Project was on display. For that, I created a novella consisting of a series of short stories about my childhood life. They were funny stories to begin with, but while writing, I did embellish them quite a bit to make them fun to read. If I think of it, I may post one (or all) of them here before the year is up! :)

The ceremony was boring, as I said, but afterward, we all went for Mexican food and margaritas at my favorite restaurant in little old Warrensburg, MO. Chile rellenos and watermelon margaritas make for a good day any day!

Here are some pictures from the week leading up to graduation and the graduation itself... it's fun looking at these photos, and I miss all of my friends from college! I wish we weren't all so far away from each other. :(

before a night out... I miss my hair being that thick! 

another night out that week! 

me with my Little (Missy) and Jess in the background!

with Sam... my BFF... I miss him tons! 

with one of the professors I had for several English and English Ed. courses

My Honors Project on display... it was so nice  to see it there after working so hard on it for so long! 

My title page! (I completed this in the Fall of 2009 so I wouldn't have to worry about it while student teaching in the Spring of 2010)

I wish I had gotten this bound professionally instead of using a binder. Oh well. I still can, I guess! 

with my diploma :)

with my grandma and my aunt

with Sam (my BFF) and Katie (the other half of the Dynamic Duo)

with Charles and Michelle... we hung out a lot and took all of our classes together. I miss seeing them every day! 

I just wanted to show off the Phi Sigma Pi stole again... so pretty! :) And the purple and gold cords are also for Phi Sigma Pi... while the OTHER gold cords are for The Honors College! 

Well, that DEFINITELY took me back. I can't believe all of that was over two years ago. It's crazy how time flies...

Another Week Down

Can you believe it is already Friday evening? I can't! This week sure flew by. I am still happy as ever teaching my 8th graders, and I see a lot of fun happening this year in class. I can't wait to see them become lifelong learners instead of kids who sit through class only because they have to, rarely absorbing any information. We have such small classes that the discussion is GREAT, thoughts are RELEVANT, and the excitement is REAL.

I don't have too much planned for this weekend, but I'm hoping to lesson plan, read, and relax... a lot. :)

Oh, and look how good the garden looks! I am excited. That is a LOT of squash and corn! YAY! (The other half of the garden is also coming along, but it's so sporadic that all the pictures looked bad. We have picked some juicy tomatoes from it, though, and there's a pepper ready to be picked!)

WooHoo! :)

Our Outdoor Adventure

Last weekend, Dan and I decided to head out into the wilderness for a day. We were planning on camping under the stars the night before, but the cool temperatures scared us away from that (after a bad and extremely cold camping experience last fall), so we ended up just going out for the day. He's had his truck for several months now, but it was great to see what the Ram was capable of, and I can't wait to do something similar again.

We drove out to a trail Dan found online that was mostly for dirtbikes and 4x4s, but the Dodge Ram handled its own (with a few scares in small spots). We saw parts of the Waldo Canyon burn scar (depressing) and lots and lots of trees and wildlife. We took a short hike to a quarry that we found and had a picnic there (something we hadn't done all summer because of his travels). We found a very secluded area to shoot Dan's gun, and I was much better than last time (but still definitely not good -- but hey, I hit the target multiple times this time!!) Finally, we found our way to Farish Rec Area (where we are having our wedding) and fished and played with a chipmunk for a couple hours. It was great to spend an entire day with Dan (doesn't happen often since we're both so busy).

burn scar :( 

haha! 

our beautiful wedding ceremony location! :)

he stole our salmon eggs while we were fishing!

he stole our salmon eggs while we were fishing!

he stole our salmon eggs while we were fishing!

I had nothing... he was just crawling up on my hand -- so cool! :) 

We had an extremely fun day just hanging out in the wild, and I hope we are able to do it again before it gets cold! After all, we were up higher in the mountains, and it's always chillier there anyway. I hope you enjoyed the pictures -- especially of the little chipmunk friend! 

Smooth Sailing

Work/school (I don't know which to call it, haha) is still going great! It's been a full week with my kiddos now, and I can HONESTLY say that I am enjoying each and every day. I am SO HAPPY to be able to enjoy work. It's wonderful.

I'm still working on enjoying waking up early, though. I don't know if that will EVER happen.

Tonight, I got to Skype with a friend I haven't seen in a while, so that was fun. I love being able to stay in contact with friends when they move away. Where would everyone be without the Internet?

I am hoping to go to bed early tonight, so I better go be productive for a bit first...

The Color Run

Two weekends ago, I ran The Color Run -- aka the Happiest 5K on the Planet -- with Aaron. Dan couldn't make it because of Flying Team, but Aaron and I had a BLAST together! We were COVERED with paint at the end, and we had breakfast at La Baguette in downtown Colorado Springs directly afterward. We got SO many funny looks. :)

before and after! 

and now some action shots! 

Overall, the 5K was a blast! It was an AMAZING way to begin my weekend, and I can't wait to run it again next year! I'm running The Dirty Dash in 11 days, and I can't wait for that one!