Just a reminder...

...to any of my followers here.  I moved my blog to http://www.mylifeaskradz.blogspot.com/.  Come follow me there...

I moved!

I have officially moved my blog to a new place because I am no longer counting down to my new name.  It's http://www.mylifeaskradz.blogspot.com/ .  Come follow me there for more frequently update (as my job now allows me a few moments a day to actually think).  Full catch up post to be expected on the new blog (complete with wedding pictures) soon.

A big 'ol sigh of relief...

I was laid off from work about 3 weeks ago. It sucked. Royally. I have tried to keep this fact quiet because I was petrified that I'd be out of work for a while and the last thing that I wanted was everyone talking about how I was unemployed at the wedding and hearing how sorry people are over and over again. No offense or anything, but sorry's aren't going to get me a job or earn me money.
The reason that I can finally say that I got laid off is because i got a new job! I'm super excited about it too. First, in case you don't know, I was a teacher and I have been saying that I wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Sure, I went through various dream careers including archeology, pharmacology (those were my dream jobs anwyays...what...they weren't yours too?), but for a large chunk of that time I have wanted to be a teacher. And for the past 5 years I have loved being a teacher. My career aspirations, though, have always been to be a "teacher's teacher". In fact, according to my mom, I decided at the age of 6 that "someone had to teach teachers so that's what I wanted to do). Up until a few weeks ago I figured that someday I'd end up teaching at a college in the education department.
When I started looking for jobs I decided to peek on monster. com just to see what was out there and ran across an "education specialist" position at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technologies. I applied on a whim....come to discover it's a pretty cool job. I went on 3 interviews an (wooh) got a job! I'll basically be designing teacher workshops/student programs that encourage students to enter into science/engineering/technology jobs. I get to get kids excited about science! How cool! So I'm jumping right into this...I start next Thursday. Can't wait!

Amazing blog!

So 2 posts in one day...clearly I am procrastinating on writing all those thank you notes from the shower. I just came across the most amazing blog ever if you grew up the 90s. http://childrenofthenineties.blogspot.com/ enjoy a good laugh!

I was showered!

My shower was this past Sunday. How amazing! I have to admit, I was completely nervous and a bit guilty about the fact that people had bought me so many gifts (the table was covered...and so was the floor beneath it!). Luckily, once I got over that initial nervousness it was wonderful. Good job mom and Mrs. R.! It was help at a golf course in town and we had a lunch-time banquet complete with salads, finger sandwiches, sweet tea, and spiked punch. With the sweet tea I felt like we were down south. After that we did gifts and I was completely blown away with how generous everyone is. I got everything that I could have asked for and more and some people were so clever. Keith's aunt and I are both avid readers and talk books a lot. She found this website www.booksbyyou.com where you choose a book, enter in information about people and then you get back a book that is personalized. She got Keith and I a book about race car owner (me) and her new driver (Keith) and their romance....ooooh! I doubt Keith will ever read it but it's so cute. I am also completely stocked to have the biggest party ever....so details on that will be forthcoming I guess. :) The shower was also good practice for the wedding day. I got kind of used to being the center of attention and learned that I need to not make so many faces. My poor cousin was trying to take pictures and managed to get a stupid picture of me practically every time! Might be tough to get good wedding pictures if I keep that up. Next wedding related thing is my final dress fitting next weekend. I can't wait!

The troops are getting restless

May is on the horizon. That combined with the warm weather mean that my students are going nuts! The end of the year is always rough. I usually am ready for summer as much as my students are, but I have to somehow make them think that I want to be in school doing school work and that what we are doing is vitally important (when I know in my mind that whether they remember the name of Darwin's ship is not going to make or break their future). Always fun...

Now sometimes the kiddos are clever. Yesterday one of the kids left school during 8th period (which is wrong, but he did have a study so at least he didn't skip class) and put a tarp in the back of his pickup truck, filled it with water, and drove back to school. This must have been planned in advance because half of the senior class had on their bathing suits and they had a "redneck hot tub party" after school. Innocent fun. It got me thinking about the silly things that we used to do back in high school that adults probably shook their heads at, but that made us laugh. Like the time in Chem class (not sure if you've heard this story Allison) where we were tye-dying clothes and our teacher told us we could tye-dye anything we wanted. Me and a buddy bought in underwear and sports bras. Or the times we used to go sneak into the local YMCA camp after dark to slide down the super long slide (in defense of my coolness it was a long slide that went down the side of a huge hill....and we had Wendy's trays).

Those innocent fun things are the reason that I love teaching high school kids. So much better than the doofus that thinks its fun to come to school drunk or high. Kiddos like that really grind my gears (family guy anyone?) In other news....actually can't think of any other news. So until I can think of something witty....bye

Starting to Feel It

Welp, we're 3 months it and the stress is finally kicking in. I'm doing a pretty good job keeping a cool exterior, but really I'm becoming a bit undone. That doesn't mean that I'm having second thoughts or cold feet or anything. I'm very sure of my decision to marry Keith. It's all the other stuff. Financially I'm not really sure how this is going to fall into place (I'm sure it will and I'm trying not to drive myself crazy, but it's a bit scary). And all those little details that I keep saying I can't do until later are finally here. Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy the process and all the highs and lows that go with it and i'm really trying to keep that in mind.
I'm having fun with some parts of it...I have my final fitting next month and these little meeting with our minister are actually pretty enjoyable. The parts that are getting to me are who to invite, who to have bring guests, and where to seat everyone. I'm also getting VERY anxious about my shower. I hate being the center of attention (I know, I teach...should be used to it, but this is different). My mother wanted to keep the date a surprise, but she ended up telling me which is for the better as now I don't have to worry about that. Now that I know when it is I just have to gear myself up for it. I know that it'll be fun, but I have a tendency to act strange when I know people are watching and to get a bit short tempered. I'm realizing that that sounds kind of selfish. After all, all those people are coming out for me and Keith and that's special....and I am appreciative...just a bit anxious. Bottom line is that I understand when people say that they just can't wait for it to get here. I'm tired of thinking about it already....

Ho hum...

Not sure what to post about as I've been feeling a bit ho hum lately. This time of year always seems to drage for. March always seems interminable and then the weeks in April before break seem like they'll never end! Luckily for me, March is over and vaca starts Friday...wooh. Keith actually has Friday off too, which is practically the first day that he's had off (with the exception of Xmas and New Years) since he started. That's a looooong time to work without even a day off and I know he's not entirely happy where he is. He's such a trooper though....keeps his complaining to a minimum. Otherwise, school has been going well with the exception of a few things. One of them is this incredibly unruly class that I have. It's really only a few kids, but they can get everyone off task so quickly. I'm not really a yeller and have used every trick in my arsenal and I still can't get to them. To make it worse, they're 4th quarter seniors...impossible to make them care. If any of you teacher folks out there have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Help!

Our marathon weekend...

So it's Sunday night and I think that I feel more tired than I did on Friday (not good). But we did have a fantastic weekend so I can't complain too much. Keith and I got back up to NH for practically the first time since we moved away this past summer. Friday we got to spend the night with the Krones family and catch up. It has been entirely too long! From there we headed up to Manch-vegas and visted with another old friend and then headed up to Conway for a night with some more friends. I had forgotten how beautiful northern NH is. We drove up 93 to 302 on the way up. If you're unfamiliar with the roads, the ride takes you through both notches, through the national forest, and right past Mt. Washington. It was a crystal clear day so you could see all the way up to the observatory on the top. Absolutly breathtaking! On the way home we too the Kancamagus Hwy, which also takes you through the national forest, but a different way. It's a scenic little road that follows the Saco River and takes you past all sorts of HUGE mountains and sheer cliffs. Add to it that it snowed a bit and it was picturesque. If you ever have a day where you're not sure what to do I totally recommend just taking a ride! And pack a picnic lunch if its nice out because there are lots of little scenic picnic spots along the way. Totally worth the gas money...

A New Addition...

It's been a while since I last posted so I figured it was time for a catchup. Truthfully, up until a few days ago, not much has been going on. I've been going to work, coming home, and not much else so there hasn't been too much to say. I did get Wii Fit the other day. Awesome little contraption. I've been using it pretty frequently and I don't know if it's doing me any good, but it's a lot of fun. It's a snippy little thing though! I missed a few days of weighing in and it got a bit pissy to me when I finally did go back. The jerk!

The new addition part of this is my new cousin (well second cousin I guess). My cousin Kim welcomed her son into the world last week. His name is Kaeden Cashman and he is absolutly precious. Mom and baby are both doing well. I'll get some pictures up here soon, but I figured I'd give them a little while before I attack them with a camera.

We have another new addition, too, to my family....my mother decided to get a dog. She picked up her little Yorkshire Terrier today and though I think that she's a bit crazy to get a dog, I'm sure he's precious. Again, pics will be coming soon as I'm going to see him on Friday! Yeah for new babies (human and animal)!

5 months to go...

Since I started this out to be a wedding blog so I'll give the wedding update. I opened my email this morning to an email reminding me that we are officially 5 months away...and I think we're doing pretty good. We have decided to print our own invitations and started printing those out the other night. Keith is pretty graphically inclined, so he even offered his opinion. The invites also involve thredding these shiny broach like things through some ribbon. Keith offered to help and it was probably the most priceless moment to see my future husband hunched over some silver ribbon with a shiny rhinestone thing in complete concentration mode. I complain sometimes that I feel like he hasn't really been involved in this whole wedding planning thing, but lately (as we've gotten down to the important details) he has kicked in big time. We registered at Bed Bath and Beyond the other day. Keith came and once again was completely into it. He's even going to the florist with me in a few weekends. I love it! It's so nice to know that he's here to help and that he's excited for the wedding too. I've read so many blogs and talked to so many people who had fiances that were totally hands off...and I think that if he did that I'd question whether he really wanted to be getting married. I have the most amazing man ever...

Oh...and Happy 200th B'day to Darwin!

And here we are again...

Well, here I am again anyways. So for those of you who don't know, when I was teaching in New Hampshire we went through a very messy contract dispute. In fact, we came about 7 hours away from going on strike. Scary. Throughout that entire time, threat of pink slips and job loss was tossed around like crazy (especially for those of us who weren't tenured. if you're not in the teaching world that pretty much means that your sh** doesn't stink anymore and you have to do something horrendous to lose your job). Anyways, that went on for about two of my four years in Nashua and was finally settled mid last year. It wasn't fun, but I survived.

Fast forward to today and once again I am faced with being pink slipped and/or losing my job. It's a pretty scary thing and one that I am taking pretty seriously, but at the same time am trying not to lose sleep over it. Branford is a pretty well off district usually, but the economy's touch, so we're feeling it now. Because of the relative comfort that most Branford teachers are used to, this is causing a good chunk of them to seriously lose it! There are people freaking out everywhere! I'm not...

I think I've gotten to a point with this whole debaucle that I realize that there is nothing that I can do about it. I can only go into work each day, do the best job that I can do, and go home. The decisions that are being made are above my head and at this point I'm just along for the ride. I could freak out...realistically, I probably should be freaking out...but that's only going to hurt my students and drive poor Keith crazy. So I'm along for the ride again...hope everything works out. I really like Branford.

In other news SparkPeople is working! I have been to the gym consistenly for two weeks! Not a big deal for most, but huge for me. And when I say "been to the gym" I mean that I've had a good workout. I am a master of going to the gym, farting around on the treadmill for a bit, doing a few crunches and saying that I worked out. Not anymore! I haven't lost any real poundage yet, but I feel great. And because I'm not really overweight I don't expect to see the pounds go flying away. I'll be content if my arms and back look hot in my wedding dress :) Which should be in within the next few weeks! can't wait!

Changes...

I got to thinking today about change (I have no idea why). I was realizing that 2009 is a big change year for me. To start with, in the past 5 months I have changed states, changed jobs, changed apartments (more than once!), made new friends, etc. In 2009 I will be changing my tax return status and my name as well as many other changes that go along with marriage. Now for me, all of these are planned changes. They are things that I knew were coming up in my life and have prepared for, even been excited for. Not all changes, however, are planned for. I think it's those changes that are trickier. This is all inspired by a friend/family member of mine who has become pregnant (who might be reading this...hi!). Obviously a major life change, maybe not so planned for, but change none the less. I think that how a person deals with unexpected change says a lot about their character. Some people pretend like it isn't happening, some get all sad and mopey and "woe is me", some pretend like its no big deal and inside are crumbling...and then there's those that embrace any changes that come at them and make the best out of that situation. I'd like to lump myself into that last category, but I think that I tend to fall into the 3rd category (the act like it's no biggie, but freak out on the inside). Totally unhealthy, I know. Actually, in writing this I'm thinking that I may be in for some unexpected changes throughout my 2009 as well and I'm going to make an honest effort to shift myself over to the 4th category. Because as much as change can be unwanted, unexpected, sometimes even needed or hoped for...it is inevitable. Guess we should all make sure that we handle change in a positive and healthy way. Wow...enough deep-ness.
Speaking of healthy, I was reading Carrie's blog about how she joined SparkPeople, so considering that I usually lack serious motivation I would join the website. It is a website that is kind of like WeightWatchers, but online and totally free. It has lots of great recipes and little groups to join and nutrition/exercise trackers. More importantly, it keeps that kind of thing on my mind. When I got engaged (over a year ago) I said that I was going to get back into shape. Plenty of time to get a wedding body that I want. Now that I'm less than 6 months out and have yet to loose a pound, I think it's time to get serious. So far so good. Now maybe i can get motivated to keep up with this blog thingy more often :)

Struck by Reality

This will be a short post because I have a million and a half things to do, but I just needed to post this. I have been planning this wedding for the past year. I have been checking things dutifully off of my list of things to do and booking places and paying deposits and all of that fun stuff for over 365 days. Then, all of a sudden, I realized today that I'm getting married. I know that that sounds kind of strange, but I've been planning things from a distance and not really thinking about details, but now that this is officially about 6 months away details are big on my mind. Not to mention that all of my girls have ordered their dresses and one of them came in already! My dress is due next month...can't wait! Reality has officially hit! Anyways, just thought it strange that it just hit me now that I'm really getting married and thought I'd share. Am I the only one who's done this???