A camping we will go!

Brian and I have been working lately on some of the preparations for our trip to Glacier National Park this summer. And let me tell you it's getting me super excited! So far we have booked our flights, hotels, and camp sites. But we did that a month or so ago. More recently we've started making purchases on some of the stuff we'll need for our trip. This weekend we bought some clothes and hiking shoes. We're still on the look out for a hammock. We plan to spend time this week getting our gear boxed up and shipped to his friend in Montana. (Cheaper than flying with it).

Last weekend we took a mini camping trip out to the flint hills. We went hiking at the Tall Grass Prairie Reserve National Park and it was amazing! We saw all sorts of beautiful scenery and a herd of BUFFALO! We ate lunch on top of a hill while we watched the buffalo chew and roll in the grass. It was so neat. I felt like a pioneer! We camped at the Council Grove lake campsites. Very nice facilities. And we were right on the lake! Literally I could put my feet in the water just by our campsite. Council Grove is a very cute little town. Their downtown is very old-fashiony and sweet. It was neat to walk up and down main street. We shared a chocolate shake at the soda shop and ate a yummy meal at the local Mexican restaurant. We walked along the river and looked at some of the historical areas of town. The weather got kinda scary with tornadoes popping up everywhere, but we were safe. Over all a good taste of what's to come next month!

Now in the mean time I'm back to more job applications, house cleaning, and camp preparations. Hoping this whole job thing gets figured out soon so I can breathe easy!

A Blessings Check-In

Because everyone needs one once and awhile.

1. An amazing man that I am lucky enough to call my boyfriend. I love him more than I ever thought I could love anyone outside of my family. Words cannot express how happy he makes me and how grateful I am to have him in my life.

2. The best friends a girl could ever ask for. I know I can count on them for anything. There's nothing we wouldn't do for each other. And I have to say I am the most blessed to have Kaleigh. I could not imagine life without her. Besides my mom and Brian she's the first person I call for everything. I only wish we lived closer to each other, but I am so grateful that even though we are far away we still stay close.

3. My family. I have the best one in the world. Seriously. The world. I thank God everyday for my mom and dad and the life the provided for me while growing up. Now as an adult they still support me in any way they can. They are there for me though good times and bad times. I love them with all of my heart. My brother and sister are amazing. They have grown up into such fantastic people. I love to watch my brother with his son and see what a great dad he is. My sister is going through such an exciting time in her life right now as she enters her last year of high school. Getting to watch her grow up has been one of the best experiences a sister can have.


4. And finally that I have a roof over my head, food on the table, and I am in good health. I'm going through a little bit of a rough patch right now, but I know everything is going to be fine. I'm going to find a new job that I love and helps me to take care of myself and Brian. I just thought now would be a good time to remind myself of all of the amazing people I have in my life and how lucky and blessed I am.

I Need A J-O-B

Let the application process begin! I spent ALL DAY yesterday filling out job applications. I got a few done, but there are still more to do. I'm really hoping this whole thing falls into place quickly. Not having a plan makes me nervous and it's hard to enjoy my summer knowing I don't have something to go back to in August. I forgot what a pain in the ass applying for jobs is. Every application wants basically the same thing but there are enough little differences that cause you to have to do about an hour of extra work per application. Now a days most are online applications which is nice, until you get to the part where they want you to upload a copy of every document EVER! I had to order a digital official transcript for $10 yesterday so I could upload it to an application. Fancy? Yes. Effective use of the paper transcript in my credential file that I have already paid for? No. I also had to go out to Copy Co.(twice; it didn't work the first time) to scan my teaching license so I would have a PDF to attach.  I still have more I should be working on today. At least 3 that I know of and possibly more if I find them.

Right now I'm getting ready to head to KC to hang out with Brian. He has been at Crown Center all week for a radar conference. He has some down time today so we're going to Union Station. Princess Diana's dress is still there so I think we're going to see that and have lunch. Tonight I'm going to Topeka to see Bridesmaids with Mom, Oscar, and Jess. I'm really excited about it. It's supposed to be hilarious. Friday I'm having lunch with one of my student's parents. She wants to know the story of how it all went down. I'm hoping it's the last time I will have to tell it. I'm ready to move on.


It's day 2 of summer vacation and it doesn't even feel like it. It's been storming and tornadoes every where all week. I'm ready to get out on the boat and get my tan on. Maybe next week!

And if one door opens to another door closed I hope you keep on walkin' 'til you find the window .

Kaleigh quoted this song lyric to me today and I think it sums up my situation perfectly right now. I'm finishing up my last day of work at Kennedy tomorrow then starting to hit the job search hard core. I'm really worried I'm not going to be able to find something that pays as much, has benefits, or that I like. I'm trying to stay positive. It just feels like 2 months is a really short amount of time to find a job. And really even less than that. I'd like to have found something before we leave for our trip to Glacier in July. I'm planning on applying for jobs in the Lawrence district and other districts in the area. I'm even applying for jobs that aren't teaching. Teaching is my number one choice, but if I can't do that I have to find something else.

I'm trying to stay positive and enjoy the things I have going on right now that are fun. Right now I'm re-living my single gal days. Brian is at a conference in Kansas City all week so I'm by myself. Tonight I cooked a yummy dinner and I'm going to relax with a glass of wine and watch a movie. Tomorrow night is the season finale of Glee (so of course I'll be glued in front of the tv for that). Then tomorrow I'm skipping the work day at school to get after some job applications. In the evening I'm going to go over to Tracy's and hang out with my girls. Wednesday is also the day I'm going to take my Lexapro down another step. I hope that goes okay. Thursday I'll be headed to Topeka to see Bridesmaids with Mom and Oscar. Then Friday Brian will be home!

And I do have to remind myself that even though I'm on the job hunt it is summer vacation and I need to enjoy it. Who knows, it could be my last summer off depending on what job I get. Might as well live it up.

“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged people who kept on working.”

They forgot mad as hell. The past 2 days have probably been pretty high on my top 10 list of worst ever. I've lost my job for what I (and most of my friends and family feel) are unfair reasons. I don't know what I am going to do. I have to finish out the school year and I really don't want to. I don't know if I'm going to be able to find another job. I don't know if I want to teach anymore. I feel relieved I am getting out of that horrible situation but scared and worried for the future.  I feel like a failure. I feel bullied. I feel frustrated. Thank God there are only 5 days of school left. I don't know what I would do if I had to stay any longer. I just want to finish my obligations and pack and get the hell out of there. I feel embarrassed and ashamed.

I know I need to think positive and take the next steps but it's really hard today. Thank God my mom is here now.

Aunt Flo got me actin' like Oscar

Ugh. I'm all out of sorts. And I'm blaming it on My Moon. And I made some not so smart decisions today that did not help my stress level. I ate like shit during snack day. I spent post snack day chatting with the girls instead of getting things checked off my mounting to-do list. I didn't work out. I attempted a new recipe that frustrated me while cooking. It made me an Oscar (the grouch).

I pouted and cried to Brian during dinner about how I'm worried about getting everything done at work. So many things going on in these next few weeks. Special events and end of the year things. Not to mention the grade cards, student improvement plans, inventories, and work for August that needs to be done. It's May of the 10-11 school year and I'm already freaking out about August of the 11-12 year! Brian asked if it would help to make a to-do list. (He knows I love lists and they calm me). I told him I've already made several lists! Duplicate lists! Lists of lists to make! Multiple calendars filled out. Sticky notes. List pads with dates, times, bullets. I'm so worried I'm going to slip up and miss one thing I have it written so many places there's no way I will forget.

And after I pouted, and we ate, and watched Castle. He had to go play WOW. I whined like a small, tantrum throwing child. I asked him repeatedly if it would really be a big deal if he didn't go. And when 7:30 rolled around I pulled out all the stops and cried. It didn't work. Sometimes I really freakin' hate that video game. He came home around 6:30 because of his swim workout. I was cooking dinner. We ate and watched tv. Then he goes to play while I clean up. It doesn't seem fair. We only spent an hour together. That's may 2 waking hours we've spent together today. I'll be asleep before he comes to bed. I know it's only twice a week that this happens but I still want to bitch about it. On a night like tonight where I'm feeling stressed and grumpy a nice cuddle on the couch would do me some good. I guess I'll just cuddle with myself, watch some Glee, and go to bed. Wha-Wha.

                                                                                

First day of calorie counting + $0.99 magaritas at El Mez with the girls = partial success!

So breakfast and lunch were great for my first day of calorie tracking with live strong. And I went to cycling. Awesome! Things went a little downhill at dinner. Met the girls at El Mez for $0.99 margaritas. I had 3. And some chips and salsa. And the pollo loco. And 2 of Pope's tortillas. So yeah. Didn't even enter it as I'm sure it was over the 900ish calories I had left. Meh. Oh well tomorrow is another day!

Starting my summer goal!

So I've lost about 15 pounds or so over the past few months without really trying that hard. I want to continue losing weight this summer, but I know in order to do that I need to work harder. I'm taking cycling and zumba classes 4 days a week right now, but I haven't really been keeping up with the zumba. A few times I have missed zumba I have gone on a bike ride instead and I'd like to keep that up. This summer I plan on biking more often, doing lots of walking, and hitting up the pool. I know I also need to start doing a better job of eating healthier. My eating habits aren't that awful, but they're not that great either. My biggest challenge is my sweet tooth. I seem to want dessert and chocolate ALL THE TIME! I know I can have that stuff, but just not as much as I am right now. I also tend to want to eat when I'm stressed. If I've had a rough day the first thing I want to do is come home and have some feel good food. Not a good idea. For awhile now Brian has talked to me about creating a profile on livestrong.com to keep track of my calories. That's what he does to lose/maintain his weight and it works really well for him. I created an account today to get started on the right track. I entered all of my info (age, height, weight, activity level) and it calculated how many calories I can have a day to lose 1 pound a week. I can eat 1,876 calories a day to meet my goal. Which really means nothing to me right now. I very rarely look at the calorie content of what I eat or pay attention to if what I'm having is actually one serving. So tomorrow might be quite a shock for me! My plan is to start looking and entering tomorrow. The way it's set up is actually pretty neat. You can look up the calorie content of what you eat, save meals you eat frequently to use again, and enter in how much exercise you've had to see how many calories you've burned. I think it will be really helpful. There is also a mobile app so I can do it on my iphone.

Hopefully it goes well! Wish me luck!

Cinco De Eat-O!

We had a FEAST! And it was delicious. Chicken tortilla soup, stuffed peppers, guacamole, and margaritas! Here's a picture

  

So freakin' good. Except now the corners of my lips burn from a sneaky jalapeno. Worth it. Now Brian and I are snuggled on the couch watching our Thursday night shows. Life is good!

I want to ride my bicycle..

So I did! I came home from work today with every intention of changing and heading to zumba. But it was SO nice outside! Plus I really didn't feel like getting back in the car and driving to the community building, parking, going downstairs, and working out in a stuff room. So I went on a bike ride instead. It was wonderful. I decided this time to try the bike/walking trail near our apartment. Usually I go over to the Prairie Park Nature Trail but I wanted a change of scene. It was pretty nice! Not too hilly, but the wind was coming fairly strong from the south so anytime I was headed in that direction it was challenging. I was out for about an hour and really enjoyed it. I think I'm going to make it my goal to do a lot of biking this summer. Not only because it will be relaxing and healthy, but because gas is 'spensive.

So things have been going okay with the contacts. I guess. It took me the good part of  an hour last night to get them out. I don't know what it was but I was having a really hard time and it got to the point where my eyes were stinging pretty bad from messing with them. I think I was looking too far toward my nose and I wasn't actually touching my contact, but touching my eye and irritating it. When I put them in this morning it only took me one try! I hardly noticed them today until my eyes got dry this afternoon. I think I need to get some drops. I decided to take them out after the kids left. It only took me about 20 minutes this time. I had to go to one of my coworkers for some coaching though! I think I've figured out that I'm going to have to look at my finger for now when I do it; at least until I get better.

I also wanted to share something totally adorable that my friend Rubi showed me today. I was chatting with her and some other ladies after work when she asked one of our coworkers who makes jewelry to make her a jewelry bouquet for her wedding. We had never heard of one before so she showed us some pictures from etsy. Here's one I really liked.

Isn't that gorgeous?!? Most of the ones listed on etsy run between $300-$800, but my Rubi said a friend of hers made one for only like $75. Here's another one that I thought would go really well with my ideal colors for me and Brian's wedding.

This one is pretty gorgeous too.

I'm sort of thinking I would like to do one for our wedding. They are just as beautiful if not more as real flowers. They are probably less expensive than real flowers. AND you get to keep this forever!

What do you think?

whoa contacts!

I got contacts today! Well sample contacts to try for a week. Then if I like them I will have them on the regular. A few weeks ago I went to the eye doctor to get new glasses. I decided I would try contacts as well. I really wanted to be able to not wear my glasses on occasions that called for dress up, and I wanted to rock sunglasses this summer. And so far so good. It took me awhile to get them in and take them out. It felt pretty weird at first and I was blinking a lot. Now I don't even notice them! Hopefully I can get them out tonight and back in tomorrow morning!

Weekend > Monday

My weekend was ahhmazing!!!! Last time I blogged I was taking the week off because I was super busy getting stuff done to lead up to the weekend and it was totally worth it. My brother's wedding was absolutely beautiful and I had the best time seeing him so happy and basking in the wedding loveliness. Here's a few pictures:

Doesn't it look lovely? I have to admit it got me super excited about planning my own wedding. Whenever Brian decides to pop the question!

I also had a lot of fun this weekend hanging out with the Riders. They got here Thursday night and we spent Friday playing around Lawrence before we headed to Topeka for the rehearsal dinner. Brian had to go into work so Kaleigh, Andrew, the kids, and I went downtown for breakfast. We met up with our old college roommate Ashely and her daughter Sophie. She's getting so big! She's 4 years old now. It doesn't seem possible that she's not a baby anymore. We had lunch and walked around a bit.  It was great getting to see Ashely again. Then Sunday after we got back to Lawrence we went to lunch at The Casbah then headed over to the art fair at South Park. It was awesome! They had so many vendors with really cool art. I couldn't resist picking up a little something. Kaleigh and I had been admiring a bag at Au Marche and it's creator turned out to be a girl with a both at the art fair! Her stuff was so cool. Very funky and creative. She didn't have the bag I was eying at her booth so I went back to Au Marche and bought it. Here it is!

Isn't it super cute?!? The line is called Textile Couture by Emily Hamblin. She has an etsy site but it's not up yet. So for now you can get her stuff at Au Marche. She has bags and tshirts.

After the art fair we had dinner at Mad Greek then headed down the street to Esquina for sangria. It was not too bad, but we wanted to drink more for free. Sooo...we came back to the apartment and busted open the Citron white wine, lemon, brandy beverage we had gotten at Somerset Ridge. Yum. Then sadly, the Riders had to be on their way back to Illinois. I sure wish we lived closer and got to see each other more often. But we always have a great time when we visit!

So today is Monday and my escapades last week have seriously thrown off my routine. I didn't blog at all last week so I almost forgot today. I hardly worked out last week because I was so busy in the evenings so I didn't work out today. I had every intention to, but it did not work out. First I forgot to pack my bag for zumba so I was going to have to come home to change. Then I decided it was too nice outside not to bike so I was going to do that instead. But, I started working on a grocery list and got to thinking that I had better go to the store before Brian got home so we could cook right away. He had to swim tonight and wouldn't be home until after 6. So my bike ride did not happen. I really need to get after it. I don't want to become lazy and put back on any weight that I have lost. People are noticing and telling me I look good which is super motivating to keep going. I also know it's going to be more of a challenge this summer when I don't have a regular schedule. I can't start slacking now before summer has even started! So no more skipping this week!