adventures of an optimisitic perfectionist...

New Life and New Blog

2010-08-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

After more than a year of planning, I'm finally married!

And now that I'm married, I have a new name, a (some what) new life, and thus, a new blog to showcase our adventures as newlyweds! Check us out HERE!

Curling

2010-03-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

After watching women's curling at the Olympics, we were excited to try it ourselves. Seattle's Granite Curling Club has an Open House a few times a year where the public is allowed to come in and try curling with a small lesson. I discovered that curling is MUCH more difficult than it looks - you have to think about what your legs are doing, how hard you're pushing yourself forward, how you're holding the rock to give it a certain spin, AND not falling over! Well, I'm not a very coordinated person, so it was an interesting experience. :)

Sorry it's a bit blurry - it was hard to get a good picture in this room with all the lights and shiny ice.

Overall, we had a great time. There were A LOT of people there, so we didn't get as much practice time as we would have liked, but it was a great experience...and we can always go to another open house next year!

Bridesmaid Dresses

2010-03-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

Who knew picking out a bridesmaid dress that all my wonderful ladies and I would like could be such a difficult task?!

We (and by we, I mean the lovely and wonderful Megan and Sarah) tried on MANY dresses. They are such amazing friends - they tried on every dress I pulled off the rack. I had an idea of what I was looking for - something not TOO bridesmaid-y, , something that had the possibility of adding a sash to the waist, and something they might actually have a chance of wearing again.

Along our dress journey, we discovered we wanted something satin (the fabric seemed more appropriate for a church wedding) with a bit of ruching. Out of ALL the dresses the girls tried on, all 4 girls and myself liked the kelly green dress the best! I love the sweetheart neckline! Of course, we won't be getting it in kelly green...we have ordered it in black.

My mom reacted with shock and horror when I told her I wanted black bridesmaid dresses. A black dress just seems classier and MUCH less bridesmaid-y to me...it's also not as uncommon as it used to be. After seeing some other weddings (mostly recently Bachelor Jason's wedding), she has come around to the idea of a black dress. We're compromising by adding a blue sash to the dress...it should look very cute and add a nice pop of color.

So, what do you think?

Honeymoon!

2010-03-18T22:54:00.000-07:00

I've been busy working on lots of wedding things, one of which was booking our honeymoon! Scott and I decided we wanted to go some place warm that we would likely never go again. We were told the Carribean and Mexico were VERY hot and humid in July and August, so we voted not to go anywhere in that region. We loved the look of Bora-Bora, but with plane tickets at $5,000 for the two of us, that was out of the question! We decided to hit up AAA to get some advice. Our helpful agent, Yvette, suggested Fiji, "a poor man's Bora-Bora" as she described it.
After meeting with Yvette, we spent a month or so exploring our options and decided that we liked the resorts she had suggested the best, and we discovered that she was able to get us a much better price than we could on our own! So we went back to Yvette and booked! :)

We will be staying at a small, adult only island resort called Matamanoa. The island is part of the Mamanuca Islands (to the left of the main island, Viti Levu).

We had 2 travel options for getting to the island - a catamaran or a helicopter. While the helicopter was relatively expensive, we decided to splurge and go for it on our trip to the island. However, we were informed that they have a strict 30 lb baggage limit. Scott assures me I can do it, but for an overpacker like myself, this is a rather stressful idea! Oh well, I'll have to make it work! :)

The island looks absolutely beautiful!

We'll be staying in one of those beach front bures for 5 nights!

Then we'll head back to the main land for 2 nights to get a little more of the town feel of Fiji. We'll be staying at the Sofitel Resort in Nadi. Isn't it gorgeous?!

We are so excited to go and relax in the warmth of the Fijian sunshine!

Olympics 2010!

2010-02-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Scott and I took a trip up to Vancouver, BC for the Winter Olympics! We joined some friends of ours in Vancouver for exploring and fun. We spent Saturday exploring downtown and waiting in A LOT of lines.

This is part of the Olympic Village - notice the flags of each country on the building they are staying in.

We waited in so many lines it's ridiculous. This was us waiting in line for the Sky Train to go into downtown.

On Sunday, we all went to a Women's curling match! There were 4 games going at once, one of which was US vs. Canada (they kicked our butts!).

Later that day, we headed downtown to see the Olympic Torch. Again, we had to wait in line for about an hour...but it was fun to see it up close.

We felt so lucky to be a partake in the Olympic events. We'll likely never get to go to the Olympics again, so this was a once in a life time experience! :)

Valentine Crafts!

2010-02-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

I've never been a HUGE fan of Valentine's Day...especially before I met Scott. :) I'm definitely not into the commercialism of the holiday - I'm not interested in roses or chocolates in heart shaped boxes (I'm definitely into chocolate, just not in a heart shaped box). This year I've started following A LOT of craft blogs and was so inspired to decorate for the holiday. Here are two projects I've squeezed in between house projects and wedding planning...

LOVE Sign

For the L, I used some fabric I already had and bought some spray adhesive. One thing I learned about spray adhesive is that it is VERY hard to get off your fingers and it doesn't dry right away, so your fingers can stay tacky for a long time.

I painted the O pink and then used a hot glue gun to glue on pink and red buttons.
I used my new Cricut (thank you Costco for having an AMAZING sale!) to cut out hearts and used the spray adhesive to glue them on to the V. The spray adhesive didn't work to stick them around the corners...they've been falling off. So I need to get some Mod Podge to stick the pieces back on.
For the E, I painted it pink then used some spray adhesive to stick pink glitter to the letter.

Candy Heart Frame

In looking at many different blogs, I saw a lot of people using candy hearts for crafting. So I bought a cheap wood frame at JoAnns, painted it pink and used a hot glue gun to stick the candies to the frame. I bought a large bag of candy hearts and had a hard time finding enough "good" ones to use...clearly there is no quality control before the candies are bagged, many didn't even have any writing on them.

Engagement Pictures!

2010-01-08T21:18:00.001-08:00

The wedding photographer Scott and I booked was pretty busy this fall, so we scheduled our engagement session for the spring. However, we still wanted a professional looking picture to use on our save the dates and not one of our typical self-taken photos. Our friend, Joshua Schumacher, is an amazing photographer in the process of starting up his own photography business! We asked him to take a few photos of us. Well, a few photos turned into a complete photo shoot and Josh got some great pics - which I'm sure wasn't easy with how un-photogenic we can be! :) Neither of us could figure out how to "look like you love each other", we ended up looking like we were in pain, haha! :)

Here are some of our favorites:

We are so grateful to Josh and absolutely LOVE the photos! If you're interested, Josh does family pictures, wedding pictures, senior pictures, you name it - he is amazing! :)

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

Scott and I had a wonderful holiday season this year! We spent Christmas Eve opening presents with both families, Christmas Day celebrating with Scott's extended family and Julie's family friends, and the day after with my extended family in Stanwood. It was wonderful to see everyone and catch up...we have such amazing families!

Christmas Eve with my family.

Christmas morning with my soon to be sisters-in-law and our yummy Starbucks!

Rod family Christmas!

Flower Girls and Ring Bearer

2009-11-27T21:41:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving, my whole family got together to celebrate and catch-up. Scott and I decided this would be the perfect time to ask my little cousins to be a part of our wedding since it's not often that we are all together.

So, after asking their mommies for permission, I asked Lauren and Holly to be our flower girls and Craig to be our ring bearer. I'm not sure if they all understood what flower girl and ring bearer meant, but they sure were excited to eat the cookies I had baked them!
After a little explaining, Craig agreed to be our ring bearer, Lauren was very excited to be a flower girl, and Holly thought it would be fun, but wasn't sure "if they were coming or not". I love these kids...they crack me up. :)

I'm so excited to have Lauren, Holly, and Craig as a special part of our wedding!

Dress shopping

2009-11-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

The time has come to start wedding dress shopping! While some people seem to find their dream dress right away, I continue to search for my dream dress. I have now been to 6 stores and tried on at least 50 dresses.

I'm finding that I like one part of one dress and another part of a different dress. There is one dress that I've tired on 4 times and seem to compare with every other dress I try on. I continually think about it...I think it may be the one. The only reservation I have about the dress is that I can't actually try it on in my size. So I have to trust that it will look good - something I am having a hard time doing. We'll see how it goes...I need to make my decision before the new year. :)

Thanksgiving Fun!

2009-11-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

Scott and I were lucky enough to participate in 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year! The weekend before Thanksgiving we were invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with Friends. We used Scott's family recipe for yummy potato dumplings - they turned out amazing!

It was quiet a process. First, we boiled and peeled the potatoes.

Then we riced the potatoes before forming them into little balls. They were so yummy! :)

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family on the family farm. I am thankful for such an amazing and wonderful family and the memories we make together.

Scott and I were also able to spend some quality time with my adorable, little cousin, Brett.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-20T22:44:00.001-07:00

With all the work we've been doing to the house we haven't had a lot of free time to do other fun fall things. However, this past weekend we couldn't go into the house because of the fumes from the new finish on our hardwood floors. So we thought it would be a perfect weekend for the pumpkin patch! The rain almost ruined our adventure, but it was sunny out on Sunday so we headed to the pumpkin patch with Megan and Josh and their family!

We had a great time exploring the farm - looking in the barn, checking out the tractors, and of course, looking at all the animals! We searched the field for a perfect pumpkin...
and while this pumpkin was funny, it wasn't the perfect pumpkin for us.

In the end, we found a cute little pumpkin and brought it home to sit on our new front porch! (Let's hope our new neighbors won't smash it to pieces!).

Our New House!

2009-10-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

We officially have a new house! It took awhile (there were some issues with the bank since the house was an estate), but it's finally ours!
We closed at the end of September and since then we've spent our weekends cleaning, painting, and getting ready to move in! Since the whole top floor has hardwoods we decided to get them refinished before we moved in. We're so glad we did before moving in because it was a big process and we weren't able to go into the house for a week! When we finally stopped by the smell kept us out for a few extra days...it was so strong it burnt our eyes and made us gag!

This weekend will finally be move in weekend! Scott's apartment lease ends at the end of the month, so we have to get him out of there. :) I'll post more pictures as I take them! We can't wait to get everything situated so we can have visitors! :)

More news on our house!

2009-09-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Scott went along for the home inspection last Wednesday. After about 4 hours of inspecting, we got a good report about the house. Everything is in really good shape, just a few minor things to fix or replace. The inspector said it was one of the best houses he had seen in awhile...so that's good considering the house is 45 years old! We asked the sellers to take care of a couple of the larger repairs, and we found out today that they'll take care of 2 of our 3 wishes and give us some money toward the third, since that one is just normal wear and tear on the fireplace. So we'll get that all taken care of and then hopefully we'll be good to close! :)

End of Summer...

2009-09-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Since summer is coming to an end, Scott and I decided to take a last minute weekday trip to the beach! We settled on Westport since Scott had never been there, and it had been a long time since I had last been there. We wandered the town a bit, ate a yummy seafood lunch, and climbed to the top of the lighthouse!

After the lighthouse, we made our way to the beach. Even though it was misting heavily, we still enjoyed relaxing on a log and walking along the beach collecting cool rocks and shells!
Even though it was a bit of a cold, dreary day, we still had a blast enjoying our last days of summer!

My Bridesmaids!

2009-09-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

After all the busy-ness of wedding season, I finally sat down and thought about who I would like to be by my side as I plan my wedding and start my new life with Scott. I made my decision and searched around for some cute ways to ask. After going through a few different ideas, I settled on this cute little card:
I typed each girl's name on the front and stamped this cute dress stamp from Michaels.

On the inside, I found a cute poem for each girl that fit our relationship and included a picture of us! All the girls were excited to be part of my wedding and I'm so excited to have them by my side! :)

You can learn more about my bridal party and other wedding related things at our new wedding website.

Wedding Season!

2009-09-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

This year I was honored to be a part of two weddings - my best friends Megan and Sarah! It was so much fun helping them plan, run last minute errands, etc. Here are some pictures of the celebrations!

Sarah and Nick's wedding took place on the beautiful Bellingham Bay at Hotel Belweather.
An amazing group of elementary education friends!

Scott and I in our matching blues...it wasn't purposely planned! :)

Megan and Josh's wedding was on the Olympic Peninsula at the amazing Port Hadlock Inn in Port Hadlock!

Us girls getting our dance on! :)
After the rehearsal dinner, Scott and I took a little stroll though Port Townsend!

We had an amazing time at both weddings! We wish you the best of luck as you start your new lifes together Sarah and Nick and Megan and Josh! :)

Our New House!

2009-08-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

After 3 months of waiting for some news on the offer on our house, we began looking around at our other options. We decided to go out with our agent last Saturday. Friday night a new house came on the market and we were the first to see it on Saturday. We went back Sunday with my mom and friends from the area and we all fell in love with the house! We put an offer on it early Monday and they accepted it today! We do our inspection tomorrow...so we'll see how it goes! Scott and I are so excited to be homeowners! :)
You can see more pictures and learn more about the house here!

Our Wedding Location!

2009-08-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

Scott and I have finally decided on the location for our wedding reception! We absolutely love Langdon Farms Golf Club and have reserved it for our celebration! It's an easy 30 minute drive from the church. We're hoping the drive won't deter any of our friends or family.

This is the Red Shed where the reception will take place. Half of the walls are permanent, the other half has tent like closures in case it rains.
The big, beautiful red barn that houses a restaurant and the golf shop. It sits adjacent to the Red Shed.

Next up...find a photographer! :)

Wedding Adventures

2009-07-14T15:44:00.001-07:00

Scott and I met with the priest at St. James a week ago and figured out our date - July 24, 2010!

Since we finally had a date and time set with the church, I started casually looking for reception places. I knew I would need to book something soon, but when 3 out of the 4 places I e-mailed told me they were booked, I FREAKED! I ended up e-mailing 18 locations and talked Scott into taking an impromptu trip to the Vancouver area to look at some places. We spent about 10 hours driving around and looked at 5 different places, but we think we found our perfect location! It's called Langdon Farm Golf Club. I'm meeting with them next week and hopefully I'll have more information then!

We spent A LOT of time in the car (don't worry, we're parked here), but we had a ton of fun and surprisingly, never got frustrated with each other! :)

Sporting Events!

2009-07-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

\One of the best parts of summer is all the fun sporting events to attend in the beautiful weather! Last week Scott and I went to two events with our friend, Dan.

We went to a Seattle Sounder's Soccer game on Tuesday! This was probably one of the most fun games I've ever watched. The Sounders even have their own fan club chanting and cheering the entire game.

Then, on Friday, we went to a Mariner's game! Dan and his sister met us there and we had a great time! Sadly they lost, but we still had a lot of fun!

Our House!

2009-07-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

As many of you already know, Scott and I are currently in the process of buying a house! The house is in short sale, which means the homeowners are no longer able to make the full payment on the house and the bank has accepted to receive less than the homeowners owe the bank. This means buying this house will be a long process. We put our offer in over a month ago and the bank has finally acknowledge they received it and put in a request for an appraisal. Our agent told us the bank would have to accept our offer by today, July 2 for us to close by the end of July. Once the bank has an appraisal, it will take 13 business days for them to accept our offer. Which means we won't be able to close until the end of August. We're having a hard time waiting that long - we're already making plans for every room of the house and outside! The house currently has no front yard, so we'll have a blank slate! We can't wait to own our first house and start our new life together here!

Megan's Bridal Shower

2009-07-02T16:21:00.001-07:00

I have two amazing friends getting married this summer and I am so lucky to be a part of their days as a bridesmaid! The day after Sarah's bachelorette party, we had Megan's bridal shower. It was a gorgeous day and many lovely ladies attended to celebrate Megan with us! I meant to take more pictures, but got caught up doing other things.

One of the games we played was about how well Megan knows Josh (her fiance). For every question she missed, she was required to put a piece of gum in her mouth. After a few silly questions about animals and school mascots, Megan had a mouth full!
Another game we played was a cute scrapbook game I made! The scrapbook gives directions for it to be passed around the group. I got the idea from this website: Wedding Cram. Everyone enjoyed it and it was great to get to know some of the other ladies better.

Sarah's Bachelorette Party

2009-07-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

Sarah's Maid of Honor, Casey, and I planned a wonderful bachelorette party for my amazing friend Sarah! We started out at Chopstix: A Dueling Piano Bar. There were 7 other bachelorette parties there and we had a ton of fun with all the girls! I love these girls so much and we always have an amazing time together!

Birthday Cake!

2009-07-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

I had been planning on making a cake with fondant frosting for my friend Sarah's bachelorette party. It turned out that the place we were going would get us a cake as part of our party package. I was still really excited to try out fondant frosting, so I decided to make a birthday cake for myself! :)

My friend, Trudi, makes a lot of cakes with fondant frosting and provided me with this recipe. She suggested NOT making it the night before like they suggest on the website and it worked perfectly. She also suggested buying rubber gloves and coating them in Crisco, which was VERY helpful in keeping things slightly less messy. The cake turned out super cute...I will definitely be making another cake with fondant soon!

We're engaged!

2009-06-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend, Scott and I went to the beach with some friends. As we were leaving on Monday we stopped by the beach for one last time on the way out of town. It was a beautiful day (the nicest of the weekend), so we took a little walk down the beach. After walking for awhile, Scott turns to me and says "This would be such a romantic spot..." and I reply with "Shut up!" as this was the 3rd time he had said this in the past couple months. He then whips around holding the ring in front of me and asks me to marry him! :)

The funniest part of this story is that the night before I was doing some laundry at the beach house we stayed at and Scott asked me to wash a shirt he had gotten dirty at the beach. I got into his bag to get it out and to my shock, I saw a box! :) I knew what was inside, but with all my willpower, I restrained myself from looking inside. I expected it to come the next day, but Scott never got into his bag before we headed to the beach, so I figured he'd gotten nervous and had chickened out...little did I know he had the ring in his pocket all day! :)

Snow days!

2009-01-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Scott and I had a great time playing in the snow. The first night it fell we were with our friends Megan and Josh and we immediately headed outside to take it all in. A few weeks later we weren't so excited that the snow was still sticking around.

Megan and I playing in the new snow!

Scott and I a few weeks later taking a walk in the snow.

Halloween

2009-01-25T10:58:00.001-08:00

Scott and I dressed up for Halloween as Mario and Princess Peach! :) We had a great time celebrating this holiday with friends!

October Adventures

2009-01-25T10:47:00.001-08:00

Scott and I did so many fun things in October!

We took a day trip to Leavenworth with some friends to check out Oktober Fest! The town is beautiful in the fall. We had such a great time with our wonderful friends, Megan and Josh.
I really want to go to a pumpkin patch (Scott had never been to one), so we talked our friends Sarah and Nick into going with and we had a great time! We spent forever searching for the perfect pumpkins...Sarah and I set them down for a moment to take this cheesy photo and someone took mine from under Scott's feet! It was a traumatic pumpkin patch experience. :)

Our perfect pumpkins....before mine was stolen. :)
Scott and I in the corn maze!

Whistler Long Weekend

2009-01-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

I had a Tuesday off from school in November for Veteran's Day, so I took the Monday off and Scott and I took a long weekend in Whistler. Whistler was hosting Cornucopia: A Food and Wine Festival that weekend. When we arrived at our hotel on Friday night at 1am, we found that our hotel was hosting a black tie event. We looked VERY out of place in our jeans and t-shirts and got plenty of odd looks...a memorable way to start our adventure.
As it turns out, November is not a good month to go to Whistler...there is nothing to do. The lifts are closed, the gondola is closed...the summer activities are over and the winter activities haven't begun yet. So it was a forced relaxing weekend. We walked around the town, checked out the cute little stores, and relaxed, a lot!

On our drive home we stopped at the most amazing waterfall, Shannon Falls.

More of my classroom

2008-09-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

Now that my classroom is starting to get things up on the walls, it looks pretty different!
Our classroom promise with our circle of friends and student materials (folders, pencils, paper, etc).
Our calendar area and math resources.

Our classroom library and reading/writing resources.

My desk area and the chart we use at the carpet.

Long Beach

2008-09-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

Scott and I joined my family at Long Beach for the End of the World Classic Car Show. It was the first rod run Scott had ever been to and he LOVED it! We stayed at Cape Disappointment State Park...but sadly, we only made it to the beach for about 10 minutes total. Scott had never been to Long Beach before, so I showed him around. A trip to Long Beach wouldn't be complete without seeing Jake the Alligator Man! :)

On our drive home, we stopped at the Astoria Column. Sadly it was closed for repairs, so we couldn't climb to the top...but we still enjoyed the beautiful view of Astoria and the bridge!

Climbing Wind Mountain!

2008-09-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in September, Scott, his dad (Steve), and I hiked Wind Mountain in the gorge. Scott and I had to take many breaks along the way, and thought we might not make it..but we made it to the top and the view was beautiful!

My Classroom!

2008-09-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

My new classroom at Endeavour Elementary!
Room 141

Part of our classroom library
The front of the classroom

I'll have to take more pictures now that we're getting settled into our room...it looks much different with student work on the wall!

Wedding Season!

2008-09-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Scott and I started off at a friend from high school's wedding in Vancouver...Mallory and Jared!

Two weeks later we went to my friends, Anna and Tanner's, wedding in Seattle.

Elementary Education friends!

I was so lucky to take part in these beautiful days with such amazing friends!

Summer Adventures!

2008-09-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

MARINERS GAMES
Scott and I attended around 6 baseball games over the summer! We went with friends and on our own...every time was so fun!At the July 4th game...we got free season tickets from a friend, so we were in the front row of the 300 level! :)
WHIDBEY ISLAND
After the 4th of July, Scott and I took a trip to Whidbey Island to visit my family at their beach house.
Scott held a baby crab for the first time...he was so cute. :)
ALKI ADVENTURES
Scott and I spent a few evenings over the summer at Alki. It is such a beautiful place to walk along the beach, watch the sunset, and eat yummy food! :)
FRIDAY HARBOR
Scott, his dad, Steve, and I took a ferry to Friday Harbor for the day. It was a beautiful day and we had many fun adventures looking at boats and exploring the town of Friday Harbor.
OCEAN SHORES
Our last big harrah of summer was a trip to the beach with all our friends.
We drove the "long way" around the peninsula and stopped at this huge cedar tree along the way!
Such an amazing summer!

My 23rd Birthday! :)

2008-09-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't updated in awhile, so here goes! :)

For my birthday, Scott took me to the Melting Pot! Sarah was in town for the day, so she joined us for drinks and cheese fondu so we could celebrate our birthdays together (hers is the day before mine!).
My amazing friends in Seattle threw me a surprise party and Trudi made me the cutest teacher cake ever!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

I spent Memorial Day Weekend in Seattle with Scott. We had a great time! On Friday we went to Leavenworth for the day and even though it rained the whole time we still had fun looking through all the little shops. We found these funny hats at one shop (hopefully we don't get head lice from trying them on! eek!):
We also found these silly hamburger and hot dog hats:

On Saturday we went to the Woodland Park Zoo. It's something we've both wanted to do for awhile and when it ended up being such a beautiful day we decided it was a perfect day to go! It is such a beautiful zoo and we saw some amazing animals!
Sunday we headed up to Bellingham to visit friends and partake in the annual Ski to Sea festival. In my four years in Bellingham I had never checked out this festival and I was so glad to finally be able to go. It was another amazing and beautiful day which made the festival just that much more fun. There was also a car show at Boulevard Park which Scott thoroughly enjoyed! On our drive home we took Chuckanut Dr and stopped at Larrabee Park to watch the sunset...it was gorgeous.

On Monday we met up with our friends Megan and Josh for lunch and some shopping at IKEA! It was such a fun and relaxing day...perfect for the end of our long weekend. :)

My New Job!

2008-05-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I got offered a job in the Evergreen School District! It was a 2nd grade position at a brand new school that will be opening in the fall, so of course, I accepted! The school is called Endeavour and it will be a great experience opening a new school with a great new staff....a lot more work, especially as a first year teacher, but it will be fun! I'm also excited that it will be in 2nd grade...it's my favorite grade and it'll be nice to use what I learned in my internship. While I'm really excited for this new adventure I'm also sad that I won't be up in the Seattle area with Scott and my friends...maybe next year.

Usborne Kick Off Show! :)

2008-02-26T20:05:00.001-08:00

I will be having my first Usborne Book show on March 9th at 2pm. Everyone is invited to attend and bring friends...the more the merrier! :) Feel free to look at the books online with my online catalog. From this website you can also buy books through me, although you won't get in on the good deals from a home show. If you are interested in purchasing books for children in your life and are unable to attend the show, give me a call or e-mail me with the books you'd like and I'll order them! The books are so fun and such wonderful, quality books! I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do! :)

I am a business woman! :)

2008-01-31T17:38:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, substitute teaching is not a highly demanding job...I have MUCH more free time than when I was student teaching, so I've been trying to figure out my get rich plan and a hobby to occupy my free time. I looked into a few home businesses that operate on the party plan and decided to try Usborne Books. This will help me earn some travel money and free books for my future classroom! :) After I get all of my materials I can start having book shows...wanna host a show? :) And you can also buy books from my website: www.ubah.com/U2101. I'm so excited! I'll keep you updated on shows, etc...(does anyone actually read my blog?).

Taiwanese Kids!

2008-01-29T20:07:00.000-08:00

Teaching the Taiwanese kids has been an amazing experience so far. As their teacher I coordinate classroom visits so that they may participate in American school lessons and activities. I also create my own lessons to fill in empty spaces in the day. Today we went to Starbucks to experience a popular American shop. Starbucks was very generous and gave all the students a tall hot chocolate and a piece of coffee cake! The students loved it, especially when they found out that Starbucks started in Washington! :)

There are 11 Taiwanese kids and 3 Teacher's Assistants. Today they also brought with them a Taiwanese reporter who took pictures and asked a lot of questions for the children's section of their Taiwanese newspaper! :)

In the afternoon, after school, the Taiwanese students lead a Chinese Culture Camp for the students at Illahee. They teach them Ocarina (a type of instrument, kind of like a flute), Kong Fu, Chinese Yo-yo, Aboriginal dance, Erhu (Chinese violin), Chinese flute, and Chinese drums. It is amazing to see these kids teach the Illahee students. I supervise the Ocarina, so today I bought one from the Taiwanese students so I could learn to play too!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the Ocarina has 4 holes in the front and 2 in the back. You wear it around your neck and blow into the top (the blue area).

A get rich plan?

2008-01-15T23:53:00.000-08:00

I've decided I need a quick, get rich plan....this plan must not involve too much work or include weekends (cause I want to be able to visit friends!). I am not sure if this kind job even exists...but I need money for all of the adventures coming up that I want to take part in! :)
There are many trips in discussion: a weekend beach trip, a spring break Vegas trip, a trip to Florida to see the space shuttle launch, etc. Sadly, these all cost money. :(

Here are my ideas so far:
-Write a children's book (but what do I really know about writing a book?!)
-Get a night job (could involve weekends and they may not like the idea of me taking time off to travel)
-Tutor students (I'd have to find some first...)
-Clean houses (but who wants their house cleaned at night, and cleaning other people's dirt is no fun...)
-Make something to sell (not sure what i could make that people would buy, but its an idea!)
-Flip houses (however, this would first involve me having enough money to buy a house and remodel it...)
-"professional" gambler (this could also turn into a get even poorer plan though!)
-sell pampered chef, mary kay, or one of those other types of items (this would require other people to buy stuff...would you? :)

Sarah also suggested standing on a street corner. As she pointed out, this "job" would allow me to pick my own hours, would pay well, and would allow me to get in some much needed exercise...haha, we'll call this plan b for now... :)

As you can see my get rich plans so far are lousy....if you have any get rich plans for me, I would love to hear them! ;)

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

New Years was amazing this year! I got to spend it with some of my closest high school friends in Seattle. We had a view of the Space Needle from where we were at, so we were able to watch the fireworks at midnight. The was great food, yummy drinks and fun people to hang out with....

I absolutely love these girls...

All the girls. We found a convenient location for our shot glasses and used our shot glass drink holders as pretty, princess like hats! :)

Our first walk in the New Year...we're being healthy already! :)

My New Years Resolutions: (Maybe I'll be more likely to keep them if they are in print)
-Be healthier (eat better, exercise more, take better care of my body)
-Make more time to visit friends (in Seattle, Bellingham, etc.) I love my friends so much and don't see them nearly as much as I would like to!

Good luck with your New Years Resolutions!

Winter Break

2008-01-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

It has been so much fun seeing friends that I haven't seen in forever since everyone is in town for the holidays! One night we went bowling at Big Al's. I had never been to the bowling side before and it was so much fun! They even have it set up so that at each lane you can have bumpers pop up on your turn...I did so much better than usual! :)

Christmas with the Rods!

2008-01-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas a little early this year because my mom had to work on Christmas Day and we wanted to celebrate with family. We headed up to Stanwood and celebrated with the whole family...we had so much fun! Little Craig is such a fun little guy to watch...he is hilarious! We had a ton of fun hiding under the table and playing "where is Craig?".

Craig and Scott having a little pre-dinner cracker snack...they were delicious! :)

After dinner we opened presents...little Craig couldn't quite reach his hand to the bottom of this bag, so he found a different way to the bottom of the bag! :)

The cousins (minus Greg, Tami, Lauren, and Holly who couldn't make it over from Idaho).

GRADUATION!

2007-12-16T23:05:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I'm finally done!! It was a super quick 4 years, and I'm going to miss so many things...amazing friends that I won't see everyday, beautiful Bellingham, not living with my parents, etc.... :) At one point I had thought about not walking for graduation, but I am so glad I decided to! The actual ceremony wasn't all that fantastic, but getting ready for the ceremony, waiting around with friends before, and going out with friends afterwards was amazing! A highlight of the day was getting my name card before the ceremony and finding out I was graduating Magna Cum Laude...eek!!! :)

Woodring's elite hanging out before the ceremony :)

Sarah and I with our wonderful (and empty) diploma holders!

My family helped me out so much in the past 4 years...I owe them so much thanks for all they have done!

Out on town with the beautiful ELED ladies! I will miss seeing them everyday!

Subbing

2007-12-16T22:58:00.000-08:00

I am officially a substitute teacher! Since the Evergreen School District wouldn't allow me to get an Intern Sub Certificate (apparently they've never heard of it...), I was able to finish up my final evaluation early and get my real sub certificate in time to sub for my teacher while she was out prepping for her wedding! So far I've subbed 4 1/2 days and I get to sub one more before school is out on the 21st. It will be so nice to have money! Woohoo!!!

The kids and I had a lot of fun while my teacher was out! We made our Christmas presents for our parents and made cards to congratulate Ms. Robinson on her new marriage! We took a picture to put in a frame and signed the mat...it is super cute!

Aren't they cute?! (especially the one with the off centered mohawk! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family!! I love you all so much and I don't tell you nearly enough. With the recent loss of a friend and of a family member, I am reminded not to take anyone for granted. I am thankful to know you all and have you as part of my life. I hope you have a wonderful turkey day! I love you all!

Full Time Teaching!

2007-10-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

I started full time teaching this week and it is fabulous! We have 3 days of early release for conferences this week, so it makes an easy transition for me into full days. :) I love being full time and planning everything I want to do! We are doing a bunch of fun stuff this week and next for the fall and halloween season! Last week we created crazy/silly/monster people and today we wrote stories about them...the kids wrote some really creative stories. Next week we are doing some estimating and measuring with pumpkins! I'm really excited! Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures and I can post them!

My class!

2007-10-24T19:10:00.001-07:00

Isn't my class adorable?! This was on picture day, so everyone is here and they are all dressed up and looking cute! :)

Crabbing on the Oregon Coast

2007-10-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in September we went to the coast with the Gibbens as sort of a goodbye party for Michael, who is leaving soon for the Marines. We had a lot of fun...even with all the rain. We went crabbing, a first time experience for the Gibbens! We found a nice little spot on a pier in Garibaldi. We were there for hours and then finally we caught one "keeper." We also hit up the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We sampled the many yummy cheeses and had a delicious scoop of Tillamook ice cream!

The boys were so scared of those little baby crabs...

Dennis is not a fan of the crab...

Any crabs down there?

Dennis still wouldn't touch a crab...this is as close as he would get! :)

Harvest Festival with the Rods!

2007-10-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

The weekend of September 21-23 Mom and I went north to visit family. It was my Grandma's birthday, so we celebrated by going out to dinner with everyone. That weekend was also the Harvest Festival in Stanwood and I got the opportunity to hang out with my cousin and her beautiful baby, Craig. He is such a cute little guy. We also went with their friends "Mame" (Amy) and Gogo (Logan). We had soooo much fun digging potatoes, running through the grass, and going on a hay ride!

Craig picking potatoes!

Karen and Craig with their box of potatoes! :)

Grandma Jojo and Craig walking along the rows of potatoes.

Amy and Logan!

Picking dandelions in the tall farm grass!

Craig and Logan...such good friends!

Bulletin Boards!

2007-09-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

In my two weeks of student teaching I have made 2 bulletin boards! It has been so much fun being creative, I just wish there were more time to spend making them even cuter...I guess that's just a teacher's life.

This one is the welcoming bulletin board I made for Open House and the first day of school. It says, "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look Who's in Our Room!" Thanks for the wonderful idea Sarah! :)

This board is a combination of my class and another 2nd grade class. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the board is HUGE!

I've also created a plan for takeover in my classroom (muhahaha...just kidding). I will take over one subject at a time until I have control of the classroom. I'll be full time teaching for 4 weeks, and then I'll give back one subjet at a time until I'm done with student teaching! Here's the plan:
9/17 - Science
9/24 - Math
10/1 - One reading group
10/8 - Two reading groups
10/15 - Writing
10/22 - Full time!
10/29 - Full time!
11/5 - Full time!
11/12 - Full time!
Then I'll slowly give back control of the classroom.

Visiting the Rods

2007-09-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day weekend, my parents and I headed north to spend the weekend with my grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins in Stanwood. We had so much fun with little cousin Craig - he is such a cute, funny little boy! Here is a glimpse into our adventures! :)

We explored the farm and saw all the cows!

We picked apples in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard!

Craig LOVES to read and LOVES tractors even more, so we read a lot about tractors!! Here Craig is looking at a tractor magazine with mom.

Craig is searching this barn book for animals and tractors...Grandma JoJo is helping him!

We spent A LOT of time on the floor reading and playing.

Craig is checking out the tractor book with my Dad...aka GUS (Great Uncle Steve), we'll see if it catches on! :)

Student Teaching

2007-09-08T14:40:00.001-07:00

So far I am loving student teaching. The kids are adorable and overall, they are a really good class! Although I am very nervous to take over and teach on my own. Right now it seems so scary, but I'm sure as we get into more of a normal routine I'll feel more comfortable.
On Friday, we had an assembly with a ton of animals. It was really cool and the kids loved it. At the end they had all the teachers come up and stand in a line, and then they draped a snake on us! Eww! They put one in our arms and one on our shoulders...it felt sooo gross. But we did get to see some cool animals...they brought wolves, an eagle, a giant tortise, some baby cougars, and a bunch of other animals. It's so cute to see how excited the kids get to learn...I love it!

Family Vacation

2007-09-08T14:29:00.000-07:00

After camp ended, my parents and brother flew out to meet me at camp. We traveled from the Poconos to Gettysburg to the Amish Country in Lancaster to Philly and finally up to NYC. It was a fun trip, even though we almost killed each other in the car. We saw A TON of history and were able to travel to 6 states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virgina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York). It sounds like a lot, but it took us probably an hour to go from PA through Maryland and West Virginia to Virginia where we ate dinner! :)

Happy car times with my mom...

In Philly we rode the duck! It was a tour of Philly from land and water! So much fun...

The only family picture from the whole trip. In Philly on the oldest residental street in America!

Scott and I in New York...

My Summer Job...

2007-09-08T14:17:00.001-07:00

I spent this summer working at Camp Canadensis in Pennsylvania! It was amazing...although I might not have said that if you asked me while I was there! :) It was exhausting, but overall an amazing experience. I worked with the Junior Girls (7-9 years old). I have a ton of pictures and will show you ALL of them if you'll let me! :)
Here are a few:

My girls as soon as they got off the bus...along with my two co-counselors! We had an amazing bunk!

Some of the Junior Girl Counselors on Visiting Day! (We got pretty for the parents!)

A usual occurence at camp...it's my fault though, I had an empty lap! Haha! Can you see me under there?

My first Day off in Philly! I saw soooo much history!

Third day off in Atlantic City! It was a beautiful day!

Third day off in NYC! It was amazing...I DEFINITELY need to go visit again! :)

The Beginning...

2007-08-22T14:48:00.001-07:00

So here is my attempt to start a blog. We'll see how it goes with updating it and whatnot...but I'll try to stay on top of things so that I can keep you (my fans) updated on my life and current happenings! :) Love you all!