I LOVE Christmas Time!

The past few days have been amazing! We've had snow the past 2 out of 3 days and there's nothing like snow to put me in the Christmas mood. I've been baking up a storm and rocking out to christmas music. Poor Keith even got stuck listening to me singing at the top of my lungs in the show...and if you know how terribly I sing then you'll realize how bad that is! I was singing "holly jolly christmas" if anyone cares. Not to mention that Christmas Eve keeps creeping closer and closer. Xmas Eve is possibly my favorite holiday moment ever. My whole family gets together at my mom's house and I know this sounds cheesy, but it's magical. I always feel so full...of food yeah, but of love too. And we've always seemed to have youngsters around to help us feel that xmas eve excitement. Can't wait! This year will be a special christmas for Keith and I, too, as it is kind of our first christmas together. We've never lived close enough to sleep in our own bed on xmas, but we do this year. In the past I've slept at my parents house and he's slept at his parent's house and we've done xmas morning with our own families. This year will be our first xmas morning together. My mom's a bit sad about that, but we plan to head out of here pretty early to open presents with them anyways. But my cookies are beeping that they're done....Merry Christmas everyone!

silly gym observations

Gym people always make me laugh. I was in the locker room after my workout and there was a younger-ish girl (probably college age) getting ready to work out. Everything that she did she had to look in the mirror...and that includes putting on deodorant. I dont' know about you, but I can find my armpits without looking at myself. And then before she leaves, she douses herself in perfum (like legit perfume, not like body splash). Strange. It seems to me that if you're just going to get all sweaty and gross its not worth making yourself smell good. Kind of a waste of money.
In other news, all of my NH friends are in my thoughts as they're working through this latest ice storm. I was feeling kind of sad that CT winters are kind of uneventful on the shore, but I don't feel so bad after this. some of them have been without power since Thursday! At least everyone is safe, but if there's anything that I can do for any of you, please let me know. We have plenty of warm beds and we love visitors!
In wedding news, we officially have a church! The Congregational Church in North Haven! The minister is this sweet, goofy kind of guy and the church is a quintessential New England protestant church. It's kind of small, but it'll be so nice to see it full of familiar faces! Can't wait. And...I'm becoming an eBay bride. I ordered some jewelry off of ebay the other day for very cheap. They should come in this week and if they look nice I may have to go crazy with other stuff! And it cost me about a fraction of the price it would have cost me to get them at a store. Can't wait to see them...

Fate is Funny...

So I haven't written in a while because this time of year tends to be crazy and with wedding crap on top of everything I've barely had time to make dinner most nights. Since I made this blog to talk about wedding stuff I'll do that first. I feel like this is the twentieth time I've said this, but....I think we finally have a church. The date is open, but because we're not members we have to be approved by the deacons...shouldn't be a problem though.
Now for the whole fate is funny thing. For those of you who don't know, my sister Kiersten is my maid of honor. Another FYI...we've had to change the date of the wedding from June to July. Kiersten is in the process of wrapping up her master's program in OT, a pretty awesome accomplishment. Because this is such an intensive program, leading up to their graduation they have a ton of fun events that they do to relax. She found out the other day that her graduation is on the Sat. that the wedding was supposed to be on! If that isn't someone up there watching out for us then I don't know what is. I've always been a firm believer that everything works out for a reason. When I blew my knee out in high school and had to back off of my gymnastics season, I started to coach a bit...sucked then, but what do I do now?? I teach and coach. Fate? Now there's this. As an older sister I've always felt a bit guilty that I overshadowed Kiersten's accomplishments....not on purpose of course, but when you do them first it always seems like a bigger deal. I would have felt awful if my wedding had conflicted with Kiersten's big day. Now we can celebrate all of her wonderfulness and then look forward to a celebration next weekend, too. Wooh!
In other news, school is pretty awesome. I feel so at home in this place already it's crazy! And we just found out that one of my co-workers is pregnant! This makes me happy because it means I'll have a little one to play with, but when he/she is screaming or smelly I can simply hand them back to mom or dad :) Also, we just put up our tree at home! I love Xmas and part of the reason is for all of the decorating and music that go along with it (yeah, the family thing is fun too). I have also recently discovered that TransSiberian Orchestra turns me into a grading machine! I sat down with a stack of papers that was practically to the moon, turned on my Xmas tree lights, put on TSO....and transformed! I got through my correcting faster than I ever have before. It was great. I recommend trying it if you're stuck for motivation. Alright, I've killed enough time here. Hope that everyone has a merry xmas!

1.89 ?!?

So let me start out by saying that I am loving gas prices. I don't remember them being this low since college! I filled my tank today from "Holy s@$t I'm not going to make it to the gas station" low to fuller than full and it cost me under $25! With gas a 1.89/gallon I can't go wrong. Not to mention that a tank of gas can last me for about ten years now because I have about a 2 mile commute to work, I'm golden...

And in other (less exaggerated) news, I am currently defrosting after a pretty intense faculty football game. At our high school today we had a bunch of homecoming activities. The kiddos sold some food in the commons as a fundraiser for various clubs and sports and then that's followed by the faculty football game and the powder puff game. The faculty game is against our neighbor town rival, East Haven. When I agreed to play I knew that it could get rough, but I'm a toughie. I had so much fun! I got hit a few times and got in some cheap hits on the other team too! What I wasn't expected was the amount of kids that stayed to watch their teachers attempt to be athletic! The bleachers were about half full, but when I say half full I mean very half full. The kids were all close together and sardined in there. So cool! It was a lot of fun and a great way for the newbie teacher to get to know some people and to have some fun. Now I'm just eagerly awaiting turkey day and getting to see the whole family. Wooh!

Phew

Finally a bright spot in this whole wedding planning debacle! I booked my photographer the other day. She's this crazy lady that I absolutely love. Turns out that she changed her packages too (but don't worry, they'll still honor the old packages unlike some other stupid place..::cough::hawthorne::cough). They are now offering an unlimited package where they'd be with us alllll day for only $200 more. That package originally eliminated the photo album, but when I sent an email to ask about it they agreed to toss it in free of charge if I upgraded to the unlimited package. Kind of cool! LaViera Photography has saved me from going crazy. We also booked the florist...awesome little place called the garden path in southington. The lady was so sweet and good at what she does, so that's officially all squared away. Now the only thing I'm lacking is someone to marry me. I emailed another minister to see if she was available and she wasn't but in her email she said, "don't worry, god will provide." So simple, yet such a profound thought. I always struggle for control. I like to know what's going to happen and to plan for anything in the future. If there's anything that I'm learning from this its that you can't plan for everything and that sometimes you need to just have faith that things will work out and go from there. That's not to say that I'm going to sit back and hope something falls in my lap, but it's at least comforting to know that what's meant to be will be. And if we made it through 8 (almost 9) years of dating, four of which were long distance, I'd say this is meant to be...

Ever feel like screaming?

I do! I jumped onto my email today after work to check some emails and lo and behold there's an email from the church in which I am supposed to be getting married saying that they can't marry me anymore. What the hell (or heaven)! If I wasn't so sure of the fact that I'm supposed to be marrying Keith I would think that someone up there was conspiring against us. I'm not sure where to turn from now. There's a possibility that an outside minister could possibly marry us at the church, but that will cost a lot of money...more money than I'd like to spend. Our other option is to get married outside by a JP at La Mirage. According to Farmer's Almanac the weather looks good (I know, superstitious, silly). Here's my thoughts...getting married in the church started out being very important to me. At this point, its looking less and less important. I've always been a firm believer that you can communicate with God anywhere and that you can be spiritual without being in church. If I were to get married outside of the church it isn't like I wouldn't be making a commitment in front of my family, friends, and God. He's gotta be able to see me no matter where I am, right? We'll see where this path takes us and hopefully I can get this squared away soon considering that I need to order invitations soon!

A quick observation

So I went to the gym today and it was very crowded. There were virtually no parking spaces left in the parking lot except ones that were far away. Not a big deal for me...after all I am going to the gym to get some exercise...walking a bit can't hurt, right? I'm walking in and I notice that there were at least 5 cars that were illegally parked either on the grass near the door or had made their own parking spaces to be closer to the door. Now, I know it was a bit chilly today, but really? Is it that necessary to save yourself a few steps when you're going to go plunk yourself on the treadmill anyways? Silly people.

On the wedding front I have officially picked out bridesmaids dresses....and changed my colors (again!). We're now going with a deep purple color....and the dresses are stunning. We all went to Davids Bridal the other day (minus A because she's in NH and I didn't want to inconvenience her too much) and picked out the dresses and everyone like the same one. So things are turning out a bit different than I imagined, but still working out awesome. An I'm officially the queen of indecision...no doubt about that.

And a catch-up on the housing situation. It's the end of October and I'm STILL AT THE CAMPGROUND!!! We had found that place in Cheshire only to move in and find it to be incredibly loud. I could hear the guy next door go to the bathroom! Gross! Needless to say, we moved out (and sacrificed our security deposit...crapola!) and found a new place in North Branford. We move in there at the end of the month and whether that's good or bad, we'll be there...because we have no where else to be :) No really, it'll be awesome and I know that Keith's happy because there's a man room downstairs that's already wired for surround sound. Anyhoo, I'll post some pics next time when I finally have a real roof that is non-mobile over my head...bye!

Home is Where the Heart Is....

...or at least I sure hope so! Considering that my physical home will be changing yet again this coming weekend, I'm realizing that home really is wherever Keith and I are. We made a wondeful home for ourselves in NH, and although our family wasn't there we have a wonderful "family" of friends that made NH feel like home. This summer, the campground has been home. The people here have been wonderful and it has been one of the best summers that I can remember having. This weekend Keith and I will move to Cheshire into a little townhouse (which is really cute) and that's more convenient to work for both Keith and I. Not to mention, it isn't a camper and has more than one floor...wooh! As soon as we're all set up I'll post some pictures here and of course visitors are always welcome!!!! We'll have plenty of floor space in which to throw some air mattresses and a spare bedroom, too! (Do you get the hint?). In other news, we officially sent out our save the dates to most of our guests for the wedding. Pretty exciting...hopefully people will find this blog through those (Hi!) and I'm sure I'll have more interesting things to post about soon...promise.

A quick catch up

So last time I spoke with you all I was just starting at Branford. Things have gotten into full swing and there definately have been some adjustments, but it's going well. A few thoughts:

• 8 period days are strange! I have been used to block scheduling (3 90-min. classes that meet for half a year). Now I teach 5 50-min classes a day plus have a duty. I have been exhausted! But I'm getting used to it and am starting to feel like I can actually teach something in 50 minutes.
• CT pays their teachers really well...enough said!
• The kids do really well with free time. When they have open periods they can pretty much go where they'd like. You would think this would lead to chaos, but no one really misbehaves terribly.
• I work with some really amazing, younger-ish teachers. Not that I haven't before, but Branford is strange. I think that 75% of the staff is under the age of 35. Seriously. And we are all in one staff room and they all actually collaborate and work together. Really neat atmosphere.
• These same colleagues LOVE HAPPY HOUR! I think someone goes every day of the week and if you don't go on Fridays then you're a loser.
• But despite all of this, I miss Nashua! I miss having people know who I am and having kids come by and poke their heads in. I miss my friends from Nashua and hearing their stories and having them know things about me and having adjacent classroom buddies (my rooms don't connect to anyone).

In other news, Keith officially started his new job today. He's working at a company in Chesire as a software support technician. We'll see how he likes it, but for now I think he's just depressed that he's back at work. I plan to make him a yummy dinner to celebrate/cheer him up. Speaking of which...gotta get to that....

Coming together

I feel like things with the wedding are finally starting to come together. After a lovely little church debacle (which I won't even start to get into because its long and boring) it looks like we'll be able to be married in the other congregational church in town. It isn't the church that I was confirmed at, but it is a church that I have been to considerably (my brother was confirmed there). And to be honest, I've always liked their services a wee bit better (that may be sacrilegious or something but oh well). We got our save the dates in the mail yesterday! So exciting.....no going back now. We also found a friend's dad from NH to be our DJ. He's a great guy and acquainted with both Keith and I. In fact, we've watched quite a few soccer games together as his son and keith have played together all the way through college. So that'll be nice. We found a photographer we like...now the only major things that are left are bridesmaids dresses and a florist. Nice!

In other news, I officially have to start school next week! I have orientation and then the week after next I'll be really really starting. Kind of overwhelmed about that, but I'll post more when I have more to talk about. About the only new development on that front is that I met the new chemistry teacher. She's nice, but she's no Allison....

Campground living is still going wonderfully. We had a nice weekend here this weekend with all of the old campground folks around. We did some campfire drinking, played some cards, and just relaxed. We floated in the river for a good chunk of time on Sunday which is the ultimate lazy sunday activity. It pretty much involves tossing a tube in the river, tying yourself to an anchor so you don't get swept away, and closing your eyes. Heavenly! We're looking forward to a trip to NH this weekend for a wedding and possibly a brief trip to winnipesauke...more later.

Almost over...

Just a quick post because I'm realizing that summer is coming to a close and by the end of the month I will be starting a job in a completely new place with new people and I'm slightly overwhelmed. I'm sure that I'll be fine, but I had gotten to be so comfortable at Nashua...I know that how I taught fit in well there and that the people I worked with were awesome. I just don't know what to expect this year except that the butterflies in my stomach before day 1 are sure to be bigger this year. I have orientations with central office tomorrow morning and then building orientation at the end of the month. So I guess here goes nothing...

On the wedding front things are going well. I still don't have a church to get married in yet (the church I had been at fell through....my fault), but we met with a photographer yesterday who was awesome! She just seemed like tons of fun and would put everyone there at ease. Plus she was reasonable priced. Good deal! Other than that, nothing much new. We went to our friends Adam and Courtney's wedding this past weekend. It was really nice and of course I was sure to take notes the entire time. I also got a chance to catch up with some old high school friends. I didn't realize how much I missed the company of some of those folks and it was great to catch up. We had a nice fire, some good drinks, and a nice late night visit to Denny's (yeah, kinda high school, but it was worth it). Welp, I have a Wii date that I should be getting to....bye!

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

Welp, we're in the middle of some severe thunderstorms for like the millionth day in a row and I'm sitting here in the camper that is currently without power. And I'm all alone. Needless to say, I'm bored to tears and everything in my camper (including myself) has taken on a permenently damp feeling. Other than that camping is going wonderfully well. Keith will be back this Wednesday from a work trip to New Orleans. He's been gone for close to 2 weeks now and I think I'm getting used to him being away. I've kept myself pretty busy trying to finish up some grad school work and visiting with the campground folks. We went out to dinner the other night at this Japanese hibachi grill where they cook in front of you. Pretty cool! There was fire on the grill and salt shakers tossed into the air and a whole lot of crazy cooking tricks. We also had some old campground friends that have since moved to California up for a night, so we got to do some visiting there too. Here's some campground pics that I was supposed to post last time to give you an idea of where we are and what we do.

Keith has been catching up on playing Beer Die, a drinking game made famous by the campground folks. He's been missing this terribly up in New Hampshire, so he's making up for lost time....

We've had lots of good campfires, too. The nice thing about the campground is that if you light a fire everyone comes and sits around it with you...lots of great chats. And usually s'mores are involved which is absolutly fantastic in my book!

Keith has also developed the genius idea of turning the TV around from inside the camper and playing Wii outside. This is Keith and a couple of buddies bowling (plus its a decent shot of my camper a.k.a. my summer home)

And after all that hard work, my boys like to take naps. Must be a rough life, huh?

Settling In

I had every intention of posting this with pictures of my new abode, but can't seem to find the connector cable for my camera so we'll have to simply settle for words. Keith and I have settled in quite nicely to our "summer home" (as my mother has taken to calling it). We're living in a camper for the summer at the same campground that he grew up at. It's been so nice for him because all of his old friends are still around and its been great to catch up. Don't think we're roughing it though...we have quite the setup. And Keith has figured out that if he sets the TV on a shelf and turns it around he can play his Wii outside through the window (I have pictures for proof....). We've had some wonderful relaxing campfires and some great late night chats with the neighbors. Rocky (my kitty) is adjusting wonderfully to being an outdoor kitty. In fact, he's become a totally different cat. He went from a pretty mean, ornery brat to the talk of the campground. He has made friends with EVERYONE here and lets complete strangers pet him. This from the cat who tried to take off anyone's hand that entered our apartment. He hasn't quite figured out though that a road is for cars not kitties and has taken to sprawling himself out in the middle of it and looking at cars like they're cramping his style. Ok for campground roads, probably not so okay for real roads. Think thats about it...we have a pretty busy month or so coming up so I'll try to keep this thing updated. Let's see how that goes.

Puzzle Pieces

The pieces are finally starting to fall into place! I just found out that I got a new job in Branford, CT. I'm a Branford Hornet now, I guess. The job has me teaching a few sections of underclassman biology and a few sections of upperclassman forensic science. I no next to nothing about forensics, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. The people at the school seem great, though I'm sure it will take some getting used to.
Along with all this excitment is the realization that I'm actually moving. Keith and I have made such great friends here over the past four years that NH really has become home. We're going to miss everyone so much! I was telling someone the other day that I'm finally to the point where I can go to the grocery store and see people I know (which is cool, but it means that I can't go looking too scrubby). We have some "old" friends back in CT, but it's going to be a strange adjustment.
Anyways, this week finds me out of school (wooh!) but packing up an apartment by myself...and I think Keith and I are packrats! We have so much junk! I've already filled about 5 big black garbage bags and am only about halfway done. Yipes! Guess I should probably go get back to that...

Some Decisions! Yeah!

So I can finally cross a few things off my list. Wooh! After a pretty rough go of things about the reception site, looks like we have chosen La Mirage in North Haven (well, I have...Keith's still in Africa). Here's a picture...
We had to move the date up to July 11th because the whole month of June was already booked, but that's ok. I figure it'll give me a few more weeks to make sure we're all set and it's an easy date to remember (7-11). Keith will have no excuses for forgetting anniversaries. Hehe. AAAnnnnddd...I have finally picked a dress! After all those "this is the one's" I found the one. You'll all just have to wait to see it :) Now we just have to move back to CT and find jobs and we'll be all set....

The First Hurdle....

Welp...we've officially hit snag numero uno. I'm sure there will be many more to come, but this was kind of a disappointing one. The place that we had booked for our reception decided to DRASTICALLY increase prices and then conveniently loose the contract that we had signed for the lower prices. Needless to say, that put us a bit over budget, so its back to the drawing board. Luckily our second choice, Lily Lake, is still available and I know there's many other beautiful places to have our reception. Just a bit disappointing. I suppose everything happens for a reason and at least I figured out they're unreliable now instead of the month of the wedding. Wish us happy hunting (well me, considering that Keith is in Africa so is slightly out of town for the next few weeks). Speaking of out of town, my friend from work left today to go get their daughter from China!!! The adoption process for them has been almost two years long (can you imagine...that's like the gestational period of an elephant...prob more than). So congrats to them and luck to us!

Indecision

So far this planning process has been pretty easy. Booked the reception hall and the church with relative ease. For those of you who know me, I can be an obsessive planner. I research and read and talk and always manage to be pretty efficient and effective at nailing down the details. Apparently this isn't the case with wedding dress shopping. I'm trying to get this detail done sooner rather than later because it will consume my every waking thought. I started looking not long after he proposed and the poor people at work and anyone who has gone shopping with me have heard "This is the one!" more times than I can count! Let me tell you, it was way easier to pick a husband than to pick the dress (i guess that's a good thing). My problem is that I want to go uncharacteristically dressy because this is my one final chance to really do that, but that's not really me. I love to get dolled up, but usually don't get as schnazzy as other folks. I don't want to walk into the church and have everyone wondering what I'm doing wearing a dress like that. On the other hand, I don't want to go with a simpler dress and then be regretting that decision the whole night. I think I have it narrowed down to 4 dresses (maybe 3) at the moment, although I've said that before and hopefully with a little help that will be narrowed down to one! Oh decisions!

First Post

Hey everyone! I know that was possibly the most unoriginal title for a first post ever, but oh well...deal. Anyways, I'm going to assume that most of you reading this know me, but for those that may not I am a high school teacher in New Hampshire though I am probably moving back to CT in the near future to be closer to my family and to settle down permenantly. I am engaged to my long time boyfriend (well, I guess now that's he's my fiance) Keith. He is a computer guy at SNHU.
We are currently working on planning a wedding and I just thought that I'd start up a blog so that I can remember this, but also so everyone else can keep up to date if they so choose. It's looking like life has some pretty major changes in store the next year and I'm not sure where we'll end up, so this way no matter where life takes us all of you lovely folks can know what's going on.
Keith and I got engaged the day before New Year's Eve on a pull off by Mt. Washington. I know, romanticaly, huh? Actually...it was. I didn't think it would be possible for Keith to surprise me as we'd been dating for 7 years, but when he told me to take some pictures and I turned around from that to find him on a knee...let's just say I was surprised. In fact, I believe the words "are you serious" crossed my lips (poor guy!) We're planning a June 27, 2009 wedding in CT (looks like reception will be at the Hawthorne Inn). That's about the only details I know for sure at this point. Dress shopping has been super fun already (but can't post pictures...dont want someone snooping) and we're working on figuring out our wedding party at this point. I do know that Kiersten (my sister) will be my maid of honor. Think that's about it for now, I'm sure there will be many more updates to come. Bye!