Public speaking is SO my thing...

Not really. I know, I know. I'm a teacher. I get up every morning and spend 8 hours speaking in front of 23 people. Here's the catch: those 23 people? They range in age from 6-8. They're sweet. Oh and they adore me. Cocky? Possibly, but it's true. Even when I goof up and stutter, they just smile and laugh in a not mean way. One of the many reasons I love working with firsties.

But tomorrow, I have to get up in front of the college class that comes to my school every week and talk. I have to be knowledgeable. I have to NOT speak a mile a minute (which is exactly how I talk. I'd do a video blog so you can witness it yourself, but no thanks.) I'm flattered that my standards coach thinks I'm good enough to present to them, but still I'm REALLY not looking forward to it.

Yep. That describes my feelings exactly. Anybody out there understand where I'm coming from?

Tomorrow's my Friday!

Ha. I love how I am about to write about my weekend, when my next weekend officially starts tomorrow at 3:10. Woot, woot. Bring on Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was pretty darn great. Kicked off the holdiay season by attending one of my favorite holiday traditions: Nights of Lights.

St. Augustine hangs a ton of lights all over its public grounds, and most of the businesses (includng my alma mater, Flagler College) do the same. They have this huge lighting ceremony, with a big band playing holiday tunes. We all count down and flash! The lights turn on! (The build up is a little lame, but the lights are beautiful!)

These are some of the trees in the plaza with their lights. J and I are going to go back to take our engagement photos there. I can't wait!

Afterwards, Flagler hosts an alumni reception. They serve holiday treats and I get to catch up with my old professors and college peeps. This year, everyone gushed over my ring. :)

Sunday was FOOTBALL! My Jaguars PLAYED their HEARTS OUT!  I mean check out this picture of my favorite player, Paul Posluzsny:

Source

Yep. That's blood streaming down his face. He got hit hard, but still kept playing. Didn't come out until the drive was over. That's HEART I tell ya! (Sidenote: He's pretty cute, so I hope that injury doesn't leave a scar or anything.)

I think if we would have beaten the Texans, I would have cried. Straight up CRIED! Hopefully we get our second win this weekend. (Especially since I just made the last payment on my season tickets.) I need them to at least win two more games, so I don't feel like I completely blew a ton of money. )

One day down, one more to go. I'll be MIA this week. Heading up to Savannah to have Thanksgiving with J's family. Completely mind blowing, that next Thanksgiving I'll be MARRIED. :)

I'm thankful for many things this year, but one of those things is definitely this blog community that I became a part of. :) I hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Just another manic Thursday...

Yea, I changed the lyric. So sue me. :P

Today was crazy hectic. By hectic, I mean HECTIC!
 First I had a training with my principal. (Kinda boring since I already knew everything they taught us).

Then I grabbed lunch from the training center (seriously, their Waldorf chicken salad is the bomb! It's made by the same people in charge of our nasty school food!) and skedaddle my way back to school.

As I'm walking in, assistant principal yells at me to drop my stuff off and go open doors for her. Why? Because a preschooler is going bonkers and chucking chairs at his classmates. YES A PRESCHOOLER!

Then I had two meetings about kids in my class. After that, since I had a sub all day, I actually got to go to the work room and get grading done. Woot!

 Finally the day ended with me opening the door for my assistant principal again. This time she had to bring a student into the office who refused to get on his bus. But once he realized we were gonna call mama, he attempted to run after the bus in the middle of dismissal traffic. Like, I said HECTIC!

Plus the weather down here in Jacksonville is super gloomy. Cold and drizzly. I wouldn't mind this weather as much if I didn't have to deal with it every time I take a step out of my classroom. I also wouldn't mind it if I could just afford an endless amount of Starbucks peppermint white chocolate mochas.

Source: christmascup.tumblr.com via Maria on Pinterest

Mmm. Doesn't that picture totally make you want Starbucks now?

I hope everyone else had a better Thursday!

PS. I'd love you forever if you'd donate even one dollar to my DonorsChoose project. Click on HERE to find out how you can help!

Sundays are great...

when you have Monday off! There are many things about my job that make me happy, but the whole federal holiday off thing is definitely one of my favorites!

I've been slacking in the blog world. I miss all my blog friends! How are all of you??? After I finish lesson plans, I'm going to spend some time at my favorite Starbucks with my computer and catch up on everyone's posts. Girl scout honor!

So far this has been a great weekend:

• discovered Hart of Dixie on Netflix. It reminds me of Gilmore Girls. It's a little kooky, a little unbelievable but a definite escape.
• found my wedding dress! It's a style I never would of thought to try, but the minute I put it on it was perfect! Everyone ooh and aahed and I teared up. :)
• My college roommate came up to help me with my wedding dress search. I got to finally meet her second baby girl Aubrey. Aubrey is such a happy baby! I wish I lived closer to them. 
• J and I just relaxed today. Watched a couple football games (amazing how not into football I am when it's teams I could care less about!) and J surprised me. He bought all the ingredients to make his famous nachos. MMMMMMMM!
• My Donors Choose project got posted. I've already raised over 100 dollars to the purchase of listening center materials. If you want to help out, I'd love you forever. Head over to www.donorschoose.org/nalbino. 

Off to watch Revenge. Is it dorky that I am excited to watch it because I can sleep in tomorrow??? Such an old lady. 

Oof..

Boy was today a Monday. I normally don't complain about Mondays (yes, I'm a weirdo). But it was definitely a Monday. My kiddos were acting so silly and goofy and not following any of my directions. Thank goodness for left over candy. Oh and the fact that I only have them until 11:30 tomorrow.

My weekend was eh. J and I tried a new Mexican restaurant. At the time, I thought...ooo this is pretty good.  Saturday morning around 2 am... NEVER AGAIN! I had the worst stomachache ever all day Saturday. Completely bummed I missed my friend's surprise birthday dinner at the hamburger joint that doubles as a drag show venue! I did grab coffee with my friend Lauren, so that was a plus.

And..... I booked my wedding reception venue! We have a date. July 12, 2013. I'll be getting married at my childhood church and then partying it up at this gorgeous place:

Goregous right? One Ocean is the prettiest hotel on the beach and we are getting an incredible deal to have the reception.

J and I also booked our photographer and I'm going dress shopping this Saturday. It's still mind blowing to think that I'll be married this time next year, but I really can't wait!

Hope you all had fun weekends!

 

Perspective

Hello world.

I was going to post about how I picked a date (July 12) and how I have my wedding ceremony and reception locations picked (church I grew up in and this beautiful hotel down at the beach).

I was  going to post about how even though today was Halloween, my kids were and are pretty fantastic.

I was  going to post that my mother is driving me crazy with wedding planning and it's only been a week.

I was going to go into all that detail. Then I read something that just put everything in perspective. Something that reminds me that life is precious and to be cherished.

A teacher from my old school posted on her Facebook that a student who I knew last year fairly well (she was in my closest teammate's class) has been put into hospice. This student is a beautiful little girl and really smart. She was diagnosed last year T-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She responded well to treatment last year.

Upon seeing that status, I immediately texted my closest teammate. She quickly responded that the little girl's cancer returned in July. It keeps spreading and her body is not responding to treatments. Doctors have recommended that she be put in hospice but her parents are still searching for other options. My friend told she has been crying since she found it this afternoon at work.

It breaks my heat. I literally sat in the car at the Target parking lot and cried. And prayed. I prayed that some miracle happen so that this little girl lives.

So if you believe in prayer, please send one up for this beautiful soul. And if you don't, do you mind sending some positive thoughts her way? And some to my old school. It is a small school where all the kids know each other and all the teachers know the kids.

I'll fill you in on the frou frou stuff some other time.

It started the same

as any other weekend. J and I went to dinner with my vice principal and her family. Btw her daughter Avery is the cutest five year old I have ever met! Went to the fall festival. Got some fro-yo. You know. Perfectly normal Friday night stuff.

Fast forward to 11 p.m. The following words come out of J's mouth: "We need to talk."

I think: We need to talk. About what?
J: Are you happy?
Me: Of course. Why? Where are you going with this?
J: ::dead silence::
Me: What's wrong? Talk to me. Are you breaking up with me???
J: I don't know how to do this. (pulls out an ivory box and opens it) Do you want to marry me? I know I'm supposed to gush about you but this is so much harder than it looks in the movies!
Me: YES!

I'm engaged. It's completely surreal. J and I drove up to Savannah and told his family. Their reactions? Priceless! Telling my friends? So much fun.

I want to gush about it more, but my tummy hurts. So I'll just leave you a picture of my pretty ring.

Boy did good. Really REALLY good!

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans for Weekend Update!