How I Spent My New Years

• Is today really the last day of 2011? Happy New Year's Eve!
• There is definitely a lot to reflect on from this last year - but that will be for a different day; probably tomorrow. Today is for sewing with Krystle (we WILL finish our projects!) and a NYE party with camp friends (minus Carlee :(). It's going to be a fantastic way to ring in the new year and I am looking forward to 2012. Enjoy!

Bed of Dreams (Dec 30)

• Started the day with having to leave Carlee at the airport :/ Won't see her until the end of July. Also, she's having some interesting adventures at the bowl game...shoulda just stayed here.
• Krystle's bed is soooo comfortable. Fantastic sheets, a cushy mattress, tons of pillows and enough room for at least 2. No wonder I was in the the same spot for 7 hours - sleeping until she came back from her interview and then reading Hunger Games while she slept.
• Right now, Krystle and I are doing lots of sewing. Frantically trying to use up the remainder of our free time to finish some of the projects we've started...we can do it! (Especially with each other to shout our sewing machine frustrations at and lots of movies to watch.)
• Apparently, Krystle and I have been apart for too long - I complimented her on two different items of hers today...both of which I gave her. Hehe oops :)

Let's Go To The Mall (Dec 29)

• I helped Kristin pack a little bit today, but the best part (besides getting to hang out with Jane) was that I organized most of her tissue paper, in rainbow order, in a box whose size suggests it was made to hold folded tissue paper.
• I love George and Linda's house, but especially at Christmas time...they have 6 Christmas trees in it! (including ones in the bathroom and kitchen)
• Charlie brought a Kinect dance game to George and Linda's (camp party) and "Let's Go To The Mall" was on it!!!! It was fantastic to dance to. And I only hit one person (...sorry Isaiah).
• Sleepover #2 (in a row) with Carlee (and Krystle too but she is in the other room).

People Like You Are Why People Like Me Exist (Dec 28)

• Despite going to bed around 4 a.m., my body was ready to be awake by 9:30. So up I got, texted some friends, checked email. Which allowed me to have a fantastic conversation with the mom of one of my kindergarteners. She went to Korea for 4 months when she was 24 and was giving me tips and telling me all about her experience. It was really cool and really helpful.
• The boys and Carrie were still sleeping by 11, so I left to run some errands - including picking up Girl's remains. It was hard but I held myself together, which made me feel strong. Plus, after that, I realized I'd left my wallet at Remington's apt, so I had to go back and see my friends, which cheered me up.
• Then we went to breakfast/lunch at the East Egg and it was yummy :) And Ryan was awesome and paid for it, which is very helpful to unemployed me. Oh and I got High-Five Hugs from Ryan and Jason, which are crazy/fantastic.
• After breakfast, I came home and watched Sherlock/napped.
• Then I got to go to the Lindners' with Carlee and Krystle :D I haven't been there in too long and it was great to see all of them. Both Kathy and Al asked me about work and finishing school and I told them about Korea. But they also both asked about my family, which made me feel really great, that they care about them and they've never met them. We played lots of games (including Scategories, where Jewel deemed all iffy answers as "very creative" and, therefore, valid), ate yummy food, and just hung out.
• This morning, Remington asked me what I like to do in my free time (because, despite staying at his apt last night, I don't know him very well)...I realized that most of my free time is devoted to the people I love. I'm usually doing things with or helping the people in my life. I like my alone time, but I love being able to do something or nothing with my friends and family. I was kind of proud to be able to say that.

Little Miss Hazel Eyes (Dec 27)

• Fantastic time with camp friends tonight. Carlee wanted time with BKC people because she won't be here for NYE...so we had a party at the Hazels' :) Crafted Carlee's gift for her guard girls, listened to Christmas music and boy bands, ate cookies, played a very fun version of Pictionary and just enjoyed each other's company. I love hanging out with my family.
• After being at the Hazels', we went to Main St. (a common post-event hangout). I love my friends. Then we went to Remington's apartment and had some Captain (which I'd never had before...I liked it) and watched some videos and had a sleepover.

I Broke My Arm Christmas Shopping at the Mall (Dec 26)

[No, I did not break my arm shopping but that is a great title for a song.]

• Carlee and Krystle and I had a fantastic shopping day today. We didn't start until about 2 pm. We only had to stand in one long line. We got a lot of great stuff (for me, it was HP5, new shoes, on-sale shampoo, a Kindle cover that was cheaper and prettier than the one I returned, and a great Forever 21 necklace) for not very much money. We had dinner at McDonald's and had to place our order 3 times. We had the best crafting-idea/shopping-spasm ever, at Hobby Lobby. We finished the day at Main St. with Carrie, Jason, Justin, Amanda, and Phil. We exchanged gifts in the dark parking lot of Kohl's at midnight. Definition of "fantastic" :)

We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Dec 25)

• Today was filled with a lot of love and happiness. This should be expected but I have come to enjoy the time leading up to Christmas more than the day itself over the past several years (or at least, that's how I feel until the day of). I was surprised (yet again) with a fantastic day with all of my family and some really fantastic presents. Mom got me a Kindle! Ben got me HIMYM 1 & 2 and Bananagrams! And there were lots of other great things from Erin, Collin, Dad and Barbara. I'm so so glad it was such a good day.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Dec 24)

• Started the day at Meijer with Carlee and Krystle (I bought cat litter and motor oil...what everyone needs on Christmas Eve) and then we moved on to Biggby. We stayed for awhile and just talked and drank our coffee. It was lovely :)
• I have never been shopping on Christmas Eve before - I've always been done before then! But it actually wasn't too bad. And I am pretty excited to give my gifts this year, which never happens to me (I usually feel like I have to rush around to find presents that are good). There weren't THAT many people out and also, Ryan helped me solve a Fluxx problem. I do like shopping earlier in the season though, because it seems to make the purchasing of the gifts more worth it. Oh well, next year.
• It took me a very long time to wrap all those presents. If I went by wrapping alone, I'd only ever give books and movies...they wrap up so prettily and easily!
• Church was great. I don't think I've been to a Christmas Eve service at First Pres, but it sure was beautiful. I was slightly under-dressed, but oh so warm and comfortable so it was okay. It was fun to watch the couples (both older and younger...though I was more jealous of the younger couples...) sit together and just be happy :) We sang a lot of great songs (though not all of my favorites) and the message was really good. Made me remember all about the reason for Christmas :) After the service, we walked through the beautifully lit-up Bronson park.

We Need A Little Christmas (Dec 23)

• Well, I woke up and just started crying as I realized that today was the day we had to put Girl down. I can't believe she is not here anymore. It doesn't seem real because I haven't been back to my mom's yet. She was a loving, beautiful cat and I will miss her so much (and do already). My mom and dad were really supportive this morning (and leading up to it) and I really appreciate it. My dad was right about keeping the morning time and me not going...it would have been so much messier any other way. I was able to stay distracted by my kids and school today. Here are some of the things they said/did as we left for break/they realized I wouldn't be back when they returned:
• Charlie – “I hope you get that game you want!” (Bananagrams)
• Sahara – “I love you!” and she made sure to wish me a Merry Christmas at least 3 times
• Lauren – “You’re my favorite teacher ever.”
• Ella – gave me like 5 hugs
• Muhammad – blew me a kiss
• Sydney – asked when she would see me again
• I traveled around Kzoo to see Christmas lights with Krystle, Carlee, Kristin and Katie tonight. (Also, before we left, we were at Phil and Kristin's and Jane fell asleep on me :D) It was fabulous. We got to catch up a little and see the amazing light display on Long Rd. Then, we went back to Phil and Kristin's and hung out with Phil, Justin, Jason and Matt. :D

Final Night (Dec 22)

• Today, we had our holiday parties in my class and I got so many presents from my students today - it was crazy because I didn't even think about expecting ANY! It was really nice to be appreciated in that way and most of the gifts are either really yummy or useful.
• This evening, I spent my last night with Girl. She was confined to the mudroom, so I hung out in there and Ben, Carlee and Krystle joined me for awhile as well. Later, Ben and I discovered that the air mattress fit nice and snugly in there and we outfitted it for sleeping. The boys left sometime in the middle of the night but Girl and Chloe laid/slept with me the whole night. I cried a lot. I was glad to have that time, even though it was not enough.

Learning To Add Is Fun (Dec 21)

• Was able to get some Christmas shopping done today. I'm getting a little better at the gift-buying thing.
• One of my kindergarten girls hugged and said to me, "Thanks for helping us learn." It was so sweet and made me feel both great and guilty - as this morning I was more than a little cranky with them (not her in particular, but the group in general).
• Got to see Phil and Jason for like 2 minutes in a dark parking lot. Phil gave me money and Jason wondered aloud how safe it is for me to be going to Korea at this time...it was all very sinister.

I'm a Little Latke

• Went to Mandy's house for some healing time with Carlee, Mandy, her mom and her sister, Emily. They made latkes for dinner, to celebrate the first night of Hannukah! It was very cool and very yummy. And there was apple cobbler and peach tea.
• We had a grand plan of watching White Christmas and possibly crafting/sewing, but that was thwarted when we found the mini-BBT marathon on TBS. So we laughed a lot instead.

Sherlock Holmes Was As Good As His Word

• Best part of today, hands down = SHERLOCK HOLMES 2. Love love loved it. Laughed, [almost] cried, and got to see it with PP, Anna and Carlee. It was fantastic. I will be anxiously awaiting its DVD release in March/April and for someone to buy and ship it to me for my birthday...
• Also got to see (and show PP and Anna) the migrating reindeer on 6th St., which are one of my favorite parts of the holidays. 

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (Dec 18)

• Lazy day at Cara's finishing White Christmas, since PP and I both fell asleep about halfway through last night.
• When we got back to Kzoo, we went to Dad's and then made our way to Barbara's, where we immediately started decorating the tree. It turned out so pretty! Our tree has really strong branches this year, so we put all the ornaments on, including my baby carousel one and some from my apt Christmas box. Then we had a yummy spaghetti dinner, some of my Christmas cookies (which got even better after frosting) and Carlee and her mom and grandma came over. Oh, and we played Bananagrams and Apple Letters :)

Accidental Renovation (Dec 17)

• Had my first Korea meeting today. It was a little bit nice getting back into a routine of work/learning. But it also succeeded in making me nervous :/ (Dr. Koh did compliment me on how I have acknowledged that I hate change and am trying to change that though), and it seems like a good group of people who are going.
• Hung out in the new Pray-Harrold with PP for almost 2 hours, admiring the upgrades and changes and testing out the new furniture (we sat in these uncomfortable-looking chairs for more than an hour...clearly, my first impression of them was incorrect).
• Dom's. PP and I scrounged in our purses/wallets for all the change we had and did, in fact, manage to come up with $3.40 for 4 donuts. The girl working was a good sport, even though we paid with a lot of pennies.
• They are finally fixing the Stadium Blvd bridge...they totally took it out! Big empty space above and giant piles of dirt next to State Street now. Very strange.
• New make-up! I still can't find my make-up bag...I fear it is lost forever :( So I resigned myself to buy new stuff, mostly because we went to Conor's tonight for Melissa's graduation and I wanted to dress up. So, we stopped at CVS and found lots of things on sale! I got like $45 worth of make-up for about $15. Woohoo! We also wandered the store and found a razor vending machine. (Also, Melissa gave me a new pretty perfume.)
• Conor's for Melissa's graduation :) It was great to hang out with her and Cara and PP as we all got ready and then to meet Carrie and Adam at the bar. We chatted, drank a little, complained about the loud music - though mostly we were dancing in our chairs to it - it was kind of like being a real adult.

Save Your Cookies For Me! (Dec 16)

• Made and decorated Christmas cookies, while listening to my "We Need A Little Christmas" station on Pandora, with Ben tonight :) Collin, Barbara and Dad also decorated, and PP arrived around 10 so she kept me company too. It was a great Christmas-y activity :)

Little Encouragement

• Today wasn't such a good day. Make-up is missing, boots are ripped/leaking, morning kids (well, just one) were not great, missed Jeopardy, and it was raining all day and I didn't get to stay home and do nothing. Life is not awful. It was just a blah day that built up to stress and tears. But I got some encouragement from some good friends/family and a few hugs from some of my kindergarten girls.

Brave New Girl (Dec 13)

• I liked driving from Royal Oak to Kalamazoo today. It's a cool way to see all the different cities and towns that are in Michigan.
• I love New Girl. It may give me unrealistic expectations of living with boys and falling in love, but it's so adorable, you can't not love it. Nick is fantastic (though Katie claimed him first). And I love all the one-liners. Can't wait til it comes out on DVD!

Total Eclipse of the Heart

• Drove a long way to see my kids tonight, but it was worth it. I love them, as evidenced by other posts. I also loved that there were a lot of noises of excitement when I announced that I would be back next season (from parents, guard girls and band kids) :) It's nice to be loved.
• It was very strange leaving the banquet knowing that I won't see those people until next August and some I won't see again. Although I understand that there is no other way life can happen, that it often brings good things and that I'm a broken record on this point by now, I still don't like change.
• I had a little bit of a breakthrough with my kindergarteners today. I don't know if it was because they are getting used to me, because we had a lot of specials today and/or because I won't be there a full day tomorrow, but I found them cuter today. I like taking care of them. But it's hard to actually teach them things (which is not necessarily their fault...).
• Dawn called me asking the name of the Total Eclipse of the Heart video. I couldn't remember the name but after singing a few lines together over the phone, we figured it out. I miss her!

Lesson in Handwriting

• I still don't like giving gifts very much, but today I found some very good ones for several people and it was pretty fun.
• Thank to Jill and my 3rd graders, my cursive handwriting is much improved from this time last year.
• Mr. Weeldreyer asked my dad last week at church if I was seeing anyone...and then awkwardly introduced me to one of his sons today. Is my superintendent turning into my matchmaker?

Picturesque Countryside (Dec 10)

• Haircut and shopping with my brothers today. They are fun :) Oh and Collin is officially taller than me now (a fact that he is very proud of).
• I wish I had more money to buy local :/ Unfortunately, I will be wooed by sales at discounts at bigger stores until I have a steady income. I do shop at Mejier!
• We drove to Almena to cut down our tree today. I love how pretty the country is with an inch or so of snow. Everything looks so picturesque. We were all freezing, but it was fun finding the perfect one and cutting it down (...okay, watching my dad cut it down) ourselves.

Bullying the Jukebox (Dec 9)

• Babysat Jane tonight :) She's pretty cuddly when she's sleepy. Next time, I will remember to tuck her arms in so she doesn't keep waking herself up ;)
• I watched last week's episode of BBT. I didn't like it as much as other episodes from the season. I was a little surprised (and disappointed), with all the news about and movements against bullying lately, that the writers chose to end the episode the way they did :/

High School Confidential (Dec 8)

• Even though I was only at MHS for about 45 minutes tonight, I came away with some relatively stimulating thoughts:
• It’s a little sad to think how much my HS relationships have changed in the last 5 years. I was so close with a lot people, and they really changed my life, influenced who I am today. I mean, without band at Mattawan, I seriously have no idea what my life would be like. I kind of feel like I still know a lot about friends from MHS but I know I don’t. I’ve changed a lot through college and I can’t pretend they haven’t; especially when so many of them are married, in Americorps, traveling, etc.
• It’s interesting which relationships we hold onto. I know a lot of people who are still really close with a lot of people from high school. I know people (like me) who are friends with some people and acquaintances with others. Then there are people who aren’t friends with anyone and completely move on from the experience. It’s also pretty remarkable the paths of our relationships take. Like how I wasn’t friends with Katie Fahey until a few years ago. Or how I knew Phil when I first moved here but both value or need my relationship with him (and now Kristin) like 100x more.
• I am very very very grateful for the relationships I have. Carlee and Krystle, my amazing camp family, my fabulous roommates. I need them all. I’m also thankful for my family, though with some of my family members, I do wish I had a different relationship.
• All of these thoughts also make me a little sad to think of this in terms of my FHS kids. A lot of them are so close with so many people and so many of those kids are just plain fantastic. Some of them will stay friends, but probably most of them won’t; and all of them will change in some way. Hopefully, to become better versions of their current selves. But still, I hate change.
• I watched Friends (season 1) on VHS tonight. VHSs rock...you can fast forward through the obnoxious FBI warnings and they rewind on their own. If it weren’t so damn cold in this basement I’d just sleep here.

Watch Closely Now

• Today, I watched Say Yes To The Dress, What Not To Wear, various HGTV shows, P.S. I Love You, Jeopardy and Friends. Yep, I was lazy on my sick day :)

Being Boring (Dec 5)

• I don't have as many little adventures everyday with a regular schedule...it's a little boring!
• Today's adventure is that I am sick :( but I did get to watch White Christmas :)
• Also, I almost made one of little girls cry today. I might be too mean to be a kindergarten teacher...

Together Complete

• I bought a dress almost 5 years ago at H&M in Chicago when I went to visit Julia at Olivet during our freshman year of college. It's a really pretty vintage cut and print but I've never worn it because I didn't have brown shoes to match. So tonight, despite not budgeting any money for personal shopping this month, I stopped at Old Navy and got shoes and then at Target and got a cardigan - my outfit is now complete and I can wear it to the FHS Band Banquet next week. Wahoo!
• The salesgirl who rang me up at Target told me I was awesome when I told her I didn't need a bag for my cardigan :)

Light of Local Eyes (Dec 3)

• Got to hang out with the Eischeid's (and eventually Krystle) all day today. We decorated the house and tree, relaxed and played a lot. Krystle and I took lots of cute pictures of the girls, Jen made really yummy cookies and Andrew helped me fix my car. I love being able to spend so much time with this family :)
• Live & Local was great. Basically, as soon as I walked in I found the drumline and they A) were excited to see me and B) asked if I had any butterscotches. It was very funny. Then I got to see my guard girls (Kristina ran down the hall to me)...have I mentioned how much I love "my" kids? Plus, I got 3 pieces of a really yummy strawberry-rhubarb pie and, of course, the show was pretty good; I really liked the Harrison Dance Company's performance and Sara/Kristina's dance, and the drumline was seriously badass.

Lettuce Toss Yo' Salad (Dec 2)

• I got to end my week with my guard girls...yay! I think I may miss them more than they miss me, but whatever - I need time with not-kindergarteners! They got me some fantastic gifts, made me laugh (Oh Jackie...) and gave me lots of hugs.
• Anna and I ate what turned out to be $5 SIDE salads. On it's own, not that much money, but considering it was bag lettuce, with bag carrots, 1 hardboiled egg and bottled dressing, it was way too much. Overall, "fantastically mediocre" is how Anna described them, I believe.
• I'm about to fall asleep in "my" bed at the Eischeids. Love :)

December Baby

• Happy December!
• I'm ridiculously excited for Sherlock Holmes 2. It's going to be fantastic and I will be seeing it with my dedicated Sherlock Holmes Groupies.
• Better day at school today. And tomorrow I get to wear jeans.