kiddie pools & 9 days

It's been so long since an update. My apologies for that. Life has just been crazy lately. And by crazy I mean that school is ending in less than 2 weeks (eeek!!!), I am desperately looking for a new job for next year, I am moving all my stuff into the fiancee's place on the 16th, moving home until the wedding, getting married in 55 days (!!!!!), taking care of a dog who has a new found love for kiddie pools....needless to say, it's been busy!

I am uneasy about packing up my classroom and leaving without a set job for next year, but I think it's the right thing to do. I don't see myself returning in the fall. And I know I'll be a happier person in the long run for making this decision. It's just a little scary moving on with no solid ground to be stepping on.

As the school year comes to an end, all I can say is I have come so far. I started out this year as a naive, young teacher and I am leaving a little bit wiser and a little bit stronger. That isn't to say that everything will be easy from here on out, but I do know that I am not where I was back in September. I look forward to year two....but there are little things I will miss from my first year.

Hope you all are enjoying the start of the summer. The sunshine, the humidity that we had here in Virginia today, the kiddie pools, the flip flops and popsicles....I am glad it's here! 9 more days of school and I will be soaking it all up!

meet my scrap pal

I have a dear "Scrap Pal" that I have made through the AMR message board. This gal has showered me with kindness and goodies for the past couple of weeks. This is just a very small dose of some of her sweetness...

With the wedding just 2 months and 1 week away (eeeeeek!!!), Jessica has gone out of her way to do special things for my day. She made this ADORABLE set of notecards in my wedding colors. Could she be any kinder?

And then her sweet mother, who I don't know if she is a scrapper, but she is certainly a talented beader, made me this cute bracelet, also in my wedding colors.

Jessica is too sweet for words and sends me the kindest, most motivating emails. As a first year teacher, I struggle...a lot. As a veteran teacher, she has been so helpful and provided me with so much advice. I am lucky to have found such a kind friend.

the last...

Here are the last of my NYC pictures. I am a bad blogger who too often forgets to update. These are from our last day in NYC. Central park, an outdoor fair/festival...so many pretty things!

day 2 of nyc

I am such a liar. Definitely didn't update with another post last night like I said I was going to do. Oops?

Moving on...Saturday in New York was nice. My sister had an event she had to do at work, so my mom and I went out exploring together. Kind of a funny sight since we had no idea what we were really doing. But we actually made it out okay. Our morning started with bagels from my sister's neighborhood bagel shop. YUM. Bagels are one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast, and they're even better when they come from NY I've decided. I love flower stands! They were all over the place thereMy sister's street in the upper east side

We went to SoHo and saw all the fun shops and neat things on the street. Eventually made it to Chinatown where I was a little overwhelmed by the massive amounts of people and fake purses. After making it through the mob that was Chinatown, we ended up on Mulberry Street, also known as Little Italy. My sister ended up meeting us there for lunch, which by the way, had the greatest marinara sauce I've ever had in my 24 years of life.An amazing paper store I found in SoHo called Kate's Paperie. It's full of all sorts of incredible paper and craft products. So many beautiful things. I wanted to take the whole store home with me. The American Crafts section at Kate's Paperie...I was drooling at this pointThe Scholastic Bookstore in SoHo...Elementary teacher's dream store!A little bit of Chinatown

Little ItalyLunch at Positano

Saturday night we got to see Legally Blonde: The Muscial. Cute show! And, it's still a newer show so we saw the orignial broadway cast. That was a first for me! My sister was able to get us cheap tickets through her job, so that was another plus!

My sis and I in Times Square after the play

More fun was had on Sunday...but that's another post for another time!

NYC

Last Friday, after a long day of travel, my mom and I finally made it to NYC. We landed safely and headed off to the upper east side where my sister resides in her teeny tiny one bedroom apartment. Friday night we got to eat at Serendipity (yum!). What a cool place. Had a great sandwich and some fabulous desserts. And on top of all that, I fell in love with all the neat light lamp covers!
Afterwards we visited a very cool candy store that is owned by Ralph Lauren's daughter, Dylan's Candy Bar. WOW. Never seen so much candy in my life. My mom and sis bought some candy...I just ate there's!

Gummy Frogs!So many jelly beans!These are the steps. They were backlit and full of candy!

It was a nice ending to a LONG day full of unpleasant surprises...lots of pictures left to share...look for another post either later tonight or tomorrow!

travelin'

Took a quick trip to NYC this weekend to visit my little sister who moved up there in January. My mom and I were to fly out around 8:00AM on Friday. Due to some storms up north, La Guardia airport shut down for 2 hours Friday morning, resulting in a flight cancellation for my mother and me. Our little fifty minute flight from Virginia to New York City ended up being a full day of travel, as we were shipped off to Atlanta where we faced many delays and crowds of annoyed passengers. We eventually got on a plane for NYC at 3:00PM, but the flight never left the ground until 4:05PM. Talk about a long day! My mom and I made the best of it though. Thanks to bridal magazines, fountain drinks, iPods, and library books, we made it through our long day.
We finally got into NYC sometime around 6:00PM. More on our trip to come!

27

Only 27 days 'till I will feel like a free woman again. School will be over, I will be able to sleep in, I can focus on the upcoming wedding, I can take Layla for long walks, I can visit the beach whenever I please, I will have a clean apartment again, I can catch up on my never ending list of books to read...just 27 days. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and while that is nice, I can't wait for this all to end. It has been the longest 8 months of my life. The past 8 months I have worked hard and put a lot of heart and sweat into my job. June 12 will be a great day full of celebration.
We took the puppy camping at the beach this weekend, and I decided that even though this may not be my favorite city to live in, I really do like being so close to the water. It's nice being able to see the ocean whenever I please. And it doesn't hurt that I have a great puppy who loves walking along the edge of the water.
Only 27 days 'till we can do this whenever we please!