I liiiiiiiiiive!
Wow, it really has been forever, hasn't it?
Looking back, it's been about two years since I really updated this journal. Part of me can't believe it's been like that, part of me knows just how much my life has changed in that time.
For the most part, I've been consumed by the monster that goes by the name of college. The early childhood education program is INTENSE and anyone who knows me well can attest to that fact. For the first three semesters, I was spending two or three days a week on campus at GSU and then two days a week in an elementary classroom. Projects, projects, projects galore, all completed on no sleep. This past semester was my final semester of college (ohmygosh I finally graduated!!!) and I completed the traditional, 5 days a week in an elementary classroom, student teaching experience. Though the projects were a lot less, adding in the factors of being at a school an hour from my house, in a grade I never have wanted to teach (3rd, uuuuuugh), and having a teacher that constantly criticized me (even in front of my students!) and was never pleased with my work, I had quite the semester. But it's all done now, I earned my A and made the big walk in the funny cap and gown. And "real life" begins, hmm?
I don't have a job for next school year yet. The economy has made schools weary of hiring teachers and schools have increased the number of students that can be in a class from 22 to 30. It's amazing that a "safe" job like teaching has been affected by everything. Schools are starting to calm down, fortunately, and I've heard a lot of speculation that schools are going to start hiring around the middle of May, so hopefully I'll get a job soon. It's been kind of depressing to be sending out a million applications for like three months now and hearing zilch back. I'm certified to teach anything in elementary school and math and science in middle school (yay for overacheiving!), so hopefully I'll find a job 4th grade or up that's closer than my student teaching was. An hour long commute each way SUCKS. Especially when you have no car radio and you have to be at school at 7 am. Still, I'm trying not to stress too much about the job . . .
And as if that wasn't enough excitement, I got married in the middle of all of this. I believe the last times I was faithfully updating my journal, I had just met Jeremy. We started talking on Eharmony on December 14, 2006, met at Applebees about two weeks later on December 30th, got engaged at Epcot on June 17, 2007, and got married August 9, 2008. It's been amazing how quickly everything happened, but at the same time it's hard to imagine my life without him.
There's a lot of stuff to get used to now being married - learning each other's quirks, living away from my family, his crazy work schedules, living so far away from EVERYTHING (Seriously. Walmart is a 30 minute drive. The only fast food restaurant here is Dairy Queen.) But I think I've adjusted really well to all of these things. Now if we could just get our house cleaned up. I never knew how hard it was going to be to get moved into a house and settled in. This is especially hard because we don't have enough bookshelves and such to put our stuff in, so we've got a lot of piles for now. But married life is great - we get to do a lot of things together, go on lots of trips, and have the most adorable kitties (Jack and John - they're so sweet). I think it's going to be even better now that I don't have school to worry about and can shift my focus to things like cleaning and cooking. And job hunting.
Well, that's a basic overview of me right now. I'm going to start back to updating this a lot more regularly. I've already got a few entry topics - pictures galore, Walt Disney World trip summary, how I'm freaking out about the future . . . Maybe I'll even get started on one right away.
Looking back, it's been about two years since I really updated this journal. Part of me can't believe it's been like that, part of me knows just how much my life has changed in that time.
For the most part, I've been consumed by the monster that goes by the name of college. The early childhood education program is INTENSE and anyone who knows me well can attest to that fact. For the first three semesters, I was spending two or three days a week on campus at GSU and then two days a week in an elementary classroom. Projects, projects, projects galore, all completed on no sleep. This past semester was my final semester of college (ohmygosh I finally graduated!!!) and I completed the traditional, 5 days a week in an elementary classroom, student teaching experience. Though the projects were a lot less, adding in the factors of being at a school an hour from my house, in a grade I never have wanted to teach (3rd, uuuuuugh), and having a teacher that constantly criticized me (even in front of my students!) and was never pleased with my work, I had quite the semester. But it's all done now, I earned my A and made the big walk in the funny cap and gown. And "real life" begins, hmm?
I don't have a job for next school year yet. The economy has made schools weary of hiring teachers and schools have increased the number of students that can be in a class from 22 to 30. It's amazing that a "safe" job like teaching has been affected by everything. Schools are starting to calm down, fortunately, and I've heard a lot of speculation that schools are going to start hiring around the middle of May, so hopefully I'll get a job soon. It's been kind of depressing to be sending out a million applications for like three months now and hearing zilch back. I'm certified to teach anything in elementary school and math and science in middle school (yay for overacheiving!), so hopefully I'll find a job 4th grade or up that's closer than my student teaching was. An hour long commute each way SUCKS. Especially when you have no car radio and you have to be at school at 7 am. Still, I'm trying not to stress too much about the job . . .
And as if that wasn't enough excitement, I got married in the middle of all of this. I believe the last times I was faithfully updating my journal, I had just met Jeremy. We started talking on Eharmony on December 14, 2006, met at Applebees about two weeks later on December 30th, got engaged at Epcot on June 17, 2007, and got married August 9, 2008. It's been amazing how quickly everything happened, but at the same time it's hard to imagine my life without him.
There's a lot of stuff to get used to now being married - learning each other's quirks, living away from my family, his crazy work schedules, living so far away from EVERYTHING (Seriously. Walmart is a 30 minute drive. The only fast food restaurant here is Dairy Queen.) But I think I've adjusted really well to all of these things. Now if we could just get our house cleaned up. I never knew how hard it was going to be to get moved into a house and settled in. This is especially hard because we don't have enough bookshelves and such to put our stuff in, so we've got a lot of piles for now. But married life is great - we get to do a lot of things together, go on lots of trips, and have the most adorable kitties (Jack and John - they're so sweet). I think it's going to be even better now that I don't have school to worry about and can shift my focus to things like cleaning and cooking. And job hunting.
Well, that's a basic overview of me right now. I'm going to start back to updating this a lot more regularly. I've already got a few entry topics - pictures galore, Walt Disney World trip summary, how I'm freaking out about the future . . . Maybe I'll even get started on one right away.