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.