What a difference a year makes

A week ago last year I was wrapping up my 2nd year of teaching and preparing for an adventure in Russia.  On this day last year I was touring Moscow with 35 people I didn't know attempting a language that I am sure I failed miserably at.  When I got back from my trip I was off to the lake for my typical birthday festivities with my wonderful second family.  Last summer I was in talks with my best friend and we decide that this was no longer the place for us anymore.  This was a great starter job and starter town but we needed something else, something new, something different, something exciting.

Yep that's us!

Well...my best friend is moving away to her something else, something new, something different, something exciting in a new city and I am staying here because I found my something right here in this town.  I am super excited for her and her new home preparations.  Can you believe that I am at an age where I could be buying a house?. I didn't buy a house but she did and she has spent lots of time painting and coordinating and   looking for furniture - all very exciting.  But quickly after that excitement is felt, sadness creeps in.  I miss her already and she is technically not yet fully moved.  She is off on her new adventure 3 hours away :(


And me?  My new adventure started shortly after the school year began.  You remember 'that man' - as my bff so affectionately refers to him - from an earlier post.  Not really much to update you on there besides that we went skiing - something I hadn't done since I was in middle school one time with my youth group - so that was entertaining :) And he has, to my dismayed, reignited my affinity for NASCAR to the point where I watch it now, even if he isn't around.  I watch qualifying and practices and Nationwide races and read articles online about different drivers...it's really bad.  This year I have gone to three races - one of those weekends I even slept in a tent.  I relayed that story to a girl at work and she was adamant that I must love him if I would sleep in a tent for two nights and go to NASCAR races.  My only response to that was "yep!"

While I still have my same job and still live in my same apartment, my life is very different than last year.  No wild summers with far away trips or NKOTBSB concert with the bff.  Just taking it easy, staying in town, and hanging out with my man.  I do still need to get on that to-do list I already have planned out...maybe tomorrow :)

Liar, Liar Pants On Fire

Ok blog readers...I again apologize for the lack of communication on my part.  And I totally lied when I said I had nothing to tell you about.  I knew I was lying to you but I did it anyway.  And then my mom called me out on the lie so this is me repenting and desperately asking for your forgiveness.  I actually have some VERY exciting stuff going on in my life but I just didn't really know how to tell you about it.

We don't have a whole lot of pictures yet so this will suffice for now.

Distraction from blog #1: This has been my biggest distraction for the past four months...I have a man in my life!  His name is Jeremy and he is really really great!  We met through a lady that I work with whose kids go to the Rec center that he supervises.  Long story short our mutual acquaintance didn't really know either of us that well but it turns out that we have ALL KINDS of stuff in common.  It is a little strange/weird/both of those words tend to have bad connotations so we will go with "uncanny" how much we have in common.  A great thing about him is that he and my best friend have become pretty good friends and can hang out with each other watching football on Sunday and neither one gets upset when I take an hour nap on the couch.  They just talk it up...I am actually glad that they have each other to talk to about football because when it is just me and one of them watching football, they do a lot of talking and I do a lot of head nodding and half smiling!  My family also loves him and finds all kinds of reasons/excuses to see him or have me bring him home.  I met a lot of his family over Thanksgiving and they are so welcoming and sweet.  This whole experience has been a bit overwhelming for me and at points seems completely unreal how comfortable and normal (yet at the same time SO different and exciting and fun and AWESOME) this way of life has become for me.

Distraction from blog #2: School DUN DUN DUN  This year has been SUPER crazy for me.  I think I have gone on a rant about all of the crazy jobs and stuff that I am responsible for this year.  I believe you can get caught up on all of that here.  I even went on and on about how that had caused a delay in September so yeah...definite distraction.  But now that I have Distraction #1, Distraction #2 gets to take a back seat!!!  Muahahahaha take that school!

Distraction from blog #3: Allllllllllllllright so really I don't have other distractions that are keeping me from my blog. #1 is really the only legit thing WONDERFULLY taking up lots of my time.  But, there are lots of other things going on in my life that I will briefly mention here and hopefully getting around to posting more about them in the very near future.

- I got to see Lion King and Beauty & the Beast in 3D.  They are two of my favorite Disney movies and I got to see both with my incredible guy.  Lion King was on the 1st date...definitely a good sign!!!
- I am actively involved in two Journey Groups (sort of like small groups) at my church. One is people - guys and girls - my age and we meet on Sunday morning before worship and the other is women of all ages - 17+ - and we complete different Bible studies from Beth Moore.  Both are great groups and have helped me grow a lot in the last year/year and a half.
- Everyone in my family and most of my friends have smart phones and I do not.  Sad day for this girl and her tiny tiny budget.
- Today was the end of the 2nd Quarter and 1st Semester of school.  Half way to SUMMER!!!!!
- Girls' soccer starts in February - only a few weeks away.

I can't think of anything else but I know Laura will be very satisfied that I gave a list with a semi-nice number. Ok, so I thought I gave a list of five things and then I recounted and saw that it was six so maybe she won't like it too much.  Uh oh!  Anyway...for those of you less concerned about the number of things in a list I hope you enjoyed the very brief recap of my life.  And that you forgive me for lying to you in my last post.

Until I get the notion to write again...

--

Ok so on second thought there are only 5 things in the list but a formatting issue and a hyphen in one of the thoughts made me think it was six ideas.  Great!  

'Cause I Want It That Way!

Oh my goodness!!!!!  How could I have forgotten to tell you about my adventure to see NKOTBSB?  Let me just tell you, it was amazing.  I am sure I lost several cool points with some of you but I actually have way more cool points than any of you can count!  I turn into a 12 year old without even trying!  The lights went out and the smoke came on and I screamed and squealed like they were going to hear me above everyone else!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

New Kids on the Block

Backstreet Boys
They were like right there!
At one point Brian totally waved just to me!  Eye contact was made.

There was this little girl there that had a shirt on that said "I learned to walk by listening to Step by Step".  She had blond hair in pigtails and it was super cute.  But then there were these cougar ladies in front of us that were super dressed up like they were going to a cocktail party.  And then they left every 15 or so minutes so they could get more alcoholic drinks while I was screaming and belting out the songs and taking a hundred pictures.

All-in-all it was fantastic and if you don't get a chance to see them then I feel really sorry for you!

Traveling with friends!

Hey people!!!  I know you have been DYING for a story from Russia and I am just now ready to appease that request.  I have been home for just over a week now and have not done much more than upload all 800+ of my pictures to Facebook.  If you have the chance to check them out, do so under the warning that the only requests from people before I left included (1) Be safe. (2) Have fun. (3) Take lots of pictures.  So I did all 3 with an emphasis on #3!

Prior to the trip I didn't really know anyone else going.  I mean we had our 2 day workshop in March with a half hour "get-to-know-you, here are more details, did we scare you yet?" lunch but really I didn't know anyone.  Insert a 4 hour plane delay at RDU and problem is solved!

I met Tammy in the first line of the day - checking in at the "self check-in" computers.  We were both at the end of the line and struck up conversation about who knows what.  Probably a lot of "wow how long does it take to check in at the computer?" "why is this going so slow?" "oh, don't get that computer it seems to be giving people lots of fits." and so on.  After checking in, we got transferred to another line the "check in your luggage, get passport inspected, get actual ticket" line.  Joyful!  We also ended up next to each other on the plane to DC...score!  YAY friend #1!!!

Now that I am exhausted already and have yet to go through security, I sit down and strike up a conversation with Bess.  (I know look at me branching out and striking up conversations.  Such a big girl!)  Anyway, we dealt with the whole "my name is... I teach...in..." junk to be repeated at least 25 more times to the other travelers.  She has a very interesting story - she taught the new American Idol in English!  I had to text my mom right away because I knew she would want to know.  So anyway, we got past my little bit of star-struckness and had a unspoken plan to stick together - at least for the day.

After security and knowing that we would be at the airport for a while we decided to go on an adventure to find food; what may possibly be some of the last edible food of our trip (in my mind at least).  As we were wandering we came across Andi and invited her to join us on our quest.  Come to find out through the "my name is... I teach...in..." junk that she teaches at one of my feeder elementary schools.  SMALL WORLD!

From this point on the 4 of us verbally decided that we are going to stick together for this trip.  Short of one small incident, we never left a WOman behind!

Andi, Tammy, Bess, and me in Suzdal, Russia

I am not really sure how my trip would have gone without these girls, but I am really glad I had them!  We had a blast learning new things, being a sounding board when something or more likely someone was driving us crazy, or just to laugh and chat together.  We have plans to meet up at our post-travel workshop and get dinner and reminisce about our adventures.

Traveling 101: If you don't know anyone, meet them!  Some of them may actually turn out to be pretty darn cool!

I craft - no biggie

So I was spending the morning searching Amazon for new free books to put on my Kindle (because I only get free ebooks) and I was showing off my new Kindle cover/carrier that I got from Thirty-One (click the link to take you to Jordan's website to check out all the cool things you can buy).  The holder is actually a Fold-N-Go Organizer with notepad but a Kindle (or Nook) fits in nicely.  So anyway...downloading books, showing off my new cover and I stand up to put it away and my Kindle falls out the top! Hitting my computer and the falling to the floor...crash, bam, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I freaked out - but only slightly (which surprised me that I wasn't more freaked out).

So Laura and I decided something has to be done!  Her suggestion - get some ribbon or something like that and attach snaps to hold it in place but so that you can still take it out.  Guess what...I just so happen to have a snap attaching kit and ribbon.  Really random I am aware but also VERY awesome at that point in time.

I read the directions carefully before attempting anything - because I am a planner and because I won't do it if I can convince myself that it won't work.

OH!  Did I tell you that I had to listen to Jason Aldean while I crafted?

The first step is to poke holes in the fabric.  This makes me extremely nervous because I don't want random holes in it if it doesn't work.  I do a test hole in a portion that can't be seen and it works!  So here we go.  I measure for the hole very precisely - stretching a piece of ribbon across the distance, folding it in half and then seeing where the middle is, and then eye ball it with the hole puncher - like I said very precise.  I worked really hard to punch the hole, got most of it punched and finished it off with scissors.  Whew that was stressful but accomplished nonetheless.  Now I had to make a hole in the ribbon to attach the snap - I just used scissors for that knowing the hole punch would jack. it. up.

Now comes the attaching the snap part.  I looked at the diagram to figure out which piece is (A), (B), (C), and (D).  And then I went to town.  Hammering was involved!  And voila! one snap is completed!  Now I folded the ribbon over, again precisely measuring where the holes will go and repeated the above steps!  Now it is complete.  I also added little pieces of rubber (extra stuff used to secure a rug to a hardwood floor - also something I just happened to have laying around) to the underside of the snaps that touch the Kindle so that the metal of the snaps won't rub and mess it up.

Let me just tell you this thing looks AMAZING!!!  Way better than I thought it would.  I do have some critiques of it - the holes are just off center (maybe my precise measuring should have actually been precise), I could have done this and that a little differently, etc etc.  But really I am super excited about it and won't complain - too much.  For half an hour's work I got a revamped Thirty-One Fold-N-Go Organizer turned one-of-a-kind Kindle cover!  Some things money can't buy!

Speed dating...on a military base

Never thought you would ever hear/see those words coming from me did ya?  No, me either!  Well my friend Laura mentioned that she had been invited by a friend to go and then asked if I would do it too.  Normally my answer would be "heck no" but for some reason I agreed to go and even had to almost convince her it was a good idea.  I know its crazy but I have no idea why I wanted to go to this thing.  Again this is TOTALLY not in my character at all so who knows.  I went into the situation like this - I don't anticipate anything relationship-wise coming from this experience but it will definitely be an adventure and something to get me out of my comfort zone (but on purpose).

Anyway as we get up to the gate and we have to get the car inspected since none of us are military connected.  The first thing the guard asks is "what brings you ladies to base?"  What is the response the driver gives?  "We're going to speed dating."  OH FANTASTIC!!!!  Now I am super embarrassed to be here and would love for you to leave me at the gate; you can pick me up on your way home.  So we all laugh hysterically, get back in the car, and are on our way.

We get to the sports bar where the event is being held and now I am completely reconsidering the whole thing but once again I push on through.  We get out to the back patio area and are asked to sign in and then sign a waiver claiming we know that the group putting this thing together is not a dating service and are not liable for anything that does or does not happen.  Also, that I am not married.  Oh awesome.

Now we start off with a kind of mingling game thing.  There is a name tag on your back and you have to ask yes or no questions to find out who your person is.  Then you have to find out who your "other half" is; examples include Demi Moore - Ashton Kutcher or eggs - bacon or yin - yang etc.  My person was Robin and my other half was Batman who actually happened to be a very tall, handsome man from Norway who is on base taking a nine-ish month course here in the US.  Oh...and his name is Hans!

Anyway...let the speed dating begin.  The girls are all asked to sit down at a table (two girls to a table) and then the guys fill in across the table - pretty much like you see on tv.  Each mini date supposedly lasted 3 minutes although many of them seemed to drag on and on and on!  Basic questions got asked "what do you do" "tell me about yourself" etc.  By like the 15th person I was so tried of hearing my own schpeel that I said "I could tell you all about how I am a 6th grade teacher but I would rather make up an interesting lie and tell you that I am an astronaut."  The guy seemed to go with me on it so we talked about how it would be cool to be an astronaut.  This has nothing to do with whether or not he was interesting just I was sick of hearing myself say the same thing over and over again.

One tactic that helped out with uninteresting guys was that since we were outside and had to deal with lots of bugs - mosquitoes specifically - if I had nothing to say I would just wave my hand all around my face and say something like "oh goodness these bugs are crazy."

I will say that there were some really good looking and nice men there but alas many of them were younger than me and as suspected, no love connection was made.  I could tell you individual interesting stories but I don't feel like it at the moment and really I think you kinda had to be there for some of them to really be funny.

Verdict on this adventure: a fun experience that I would probably do again - with the same expectations/or lack of expectations as this time.

Summer trip

Ok ok I know my posts are getting further and further apart but really the 3 people that read this on a regular basis already know whatever it is that I am posting.  But, for those of you that don't know, I am going to Russia in 36 days!

Russia?  Yep!  Why?  Because how many people do I know that can say they have been to Russia?  Like 1 - and it was the Soviet Union when she was there.  Also, I am teaching 6th grade social studies this year which includes Russia in the curriculum.  But really I just love the idea of going somewhere far away - for a visit - and learning about the history and see how other people live.

In order to get ready for this trip I have been teaching my students some Russian to help me learn some Russian. I can now hold a conversation that goes something like this:
"Hello.  Good morning (or afternoon).  My name is Brandi.  What is your name?  Pleased to meet you.  Goodbye."  I can also say "please" and "thank you".

Yep.  That's about all I've got at the moment.  Not going to get me very far but like I told my students, if you can be polite, it can get you some help.  Plus I don't really think that I will be able to hide my American-ness while I am there anyway so whatever I learn will be a miracle.

I have stocked up on travel size necessities, space-safer bag things so I can pack for stuff, luggage locks that are TSA approved so they don't have to cut them off should they need to make sure I don't have a bomb, and a wall outlet adapter.  I am still waiting on my visa to come back from DC.  I had to send my passport to the Russian Embassy in DC to get the visa.  This is super scary because should something happen to that passport during transport or whatever, there is no way I will get another in time for the trip.  YIKES!!!  And the embassy has been closed for at least 6 weekdays in the last 2 weeks due to different holidays for Russia.

I also was flipping through the channels tonight and found out that I have a Russian Television channel that comes straight from Moscow but is in English.  I have been watching for about an hour and they are replaying the same exact footage that I saw when I first tuned in.  I think if I watch it a few times a week, I will know more info about the ins and outs of Russia.  Like did you know that every year they open up all of the museums all night, for one night for free to anyone that wants to come?  Or that Volgograd is powered by a hydroelectric dam on the Volga River that although provides enough power to run the town plus send extra over to Moscow is also cutting down on the sturgeon population responsible for the famous Russia caviar?  Or that there are only 1000 days until Sochi hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics?  Well, now you do!

I hope to learn more about the wonderful place I will travel to in a few short weeks.  Maybe you can learn something too!  I will keep you updated on the process of packing, etc and of course supply you with lots of stories and pictures when I get back.  Stay tuned.

Spring Cleaning

BEWARE: Nostalgia and extremely long run-on sentences included in this post.  You have been warned!

I paid all of my new bills for the month and then organized and put away all of my bills and paperwork that have created an enormous pile on my desk and surrounding area for the last few months.  Oh the joy of a clean desk!

In general, my "office" area has been driving me crazy...basically since moving in almost 2 years ago!  I am known for keeping things - all kinds of things - but in particular school things.  I have a giant box at my mom's house in the attic that has junk in there from kindergarten - finger paintings, awards for 'clean cubbie' and 'student of the week,' mini coloring books, teacher evaluations on my ability to identify shapes and colors, etc. - all the way up to high school classes - the contents from just about every single class I took in high school including my "portfolio" from ART I (I use quotations around portfolio to signify that no one else in the world would qualify the art within the portfolio to be actual art - but hey I need an elective and so art it was.).  Like I said I keep EVERYTHING!

Somethings I brought with me to my big girl place are my notebooks from my college classes.  Now I don't have ALL of my notebooks just the ones from my education classes - a total of 7 complete notebooks plus random other things like lesson plans + junk to go with lesson plans and readings for classes - from 3.5 math classes - the half was from a Calc 2 class that I had a bad professor/I was doing HORRIBLE in the class and therefore dropped it but picked it back up the next semester with a different professor (Most of my math classes were INSANE and therefore when I looked back at the majority of my tests I wonder how I actually passed the classes.) - 4 books I used for my math ed classes - I am taking those with me to school Monday - from only 1 history class - not sure what happened to the other 5 or so classes (I probably did really bad in those classes and gave up hope of ever finding the nostalgia in them.  Although I didn't do too hot in the one class I still have so not sure why that one made the cut.  But alas, I have it.) - and from a drama class - senior year, fall semester, last semester of classes before student teaching; I loved the class and the professor and met lots of fun freshmen who were so cute when they asked if I lived in HJ.

So all of this is to say that I spent the good part of an hour (probably more than an hour) "reorganizing" my college stuff in the crates I have them in.  I was actually able to get rid of a small pile of stuff (plus I'm taking those math books to school) and did move some things around but no one would probably notice any real difference.  I also realized that looking at bad grades I got on calculus tests and history papers and discrete home works don't really have a whole lot of impact on me today.  I did well enough to pass the classes and I graduated on time and got my degree - which I am currently using.  Who really cares about my ending GPA?  No one!  Do I even know what it was?  Nope!  Do I care?  Nope!  I reference the notebooks and stuff every once in a while for an idea for my lessons but really the stuff is there to remind me of my small accomplishments and give me a laugh when I notice I got a 40 on a CALC 2 test (the first time around).

I still have lots of stuff in my office area that I could get rid of or put somewhere, I just need more organizing tools and apparatuses (?) (apparati?) to better organize them.  Summer project...check!

Next spring cleaning task - closet.  I need to get rid of clothes but once again I KEEP EVERYTHING!  "I wore that shirt that one time and I might be able to wear it again."  I think I need Stacy and Clinton to come in and tell me that everything in there is gross and give me $5000 to get a new wardrobe!  HINT HINT, WINK WINK to all those that read this for a nomination!

I think I am done for now - no need bombarding you with too much info!  hehehe

A New Goal for the Week

Well I spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment - sweeping, swiffering, fan blade dusting, bookself dusting, laundry, dishes, bedroom, living room, dining nook, kitchen, laundry room, study, bathroom - not a place (except Christina's room/bathroom - that's all you my friend) left untouched!

So I have decided to have a goal for this week and see how it works out to make a new one each week while still maintaining those from past weeks. Anyway, I'll see how it goes.

Back to my goal. This week my goal is to wake up with my alarm clock on the first time and make my bed every morning. (I guess this really equates to two goals but I always like to dive head-first, all gung-ho in my new adventures. Why not this one too?)

Many of you may be saying these are easy/lame goals. Not for me.

Normally I let the snooze go 5-6 times and sometimes I run out of snooze times and my phone tells me I must get up because the alarm will not go off anymore this morning! Not only does that make me sad, I haven't really gotten any more rest dealing with the alarm every 5 minutes for the past 35 than I would have had I gotten up the first time. So, why not add a bit of extra time to my morning? Did I mention my alarm starts going off at 5:15 AM every weekday morning? Hence the 'not easy' part.

The second part of my goal - to make my bed - is really for looks rather than anything else. I really like the way my room looks after I have just cleaned it. It looks REALLY good! Everything is in its place (or at least tucked away somewhere so no one can see it) and organized. Normally my thought is, I am just going to sleep in it again tonight. What's the use of making it? Well, the use is that it looks nice and since I am getting up on time, I will have time to do it!

The key to making this goal a reality is to get up, not just wake up, but GET UP when the alarm goes off and make the bed right then. I will be less likely tempted to crawl back into the snuggly warmth. I say less likely tempted because it is 5:15 in the morning for goodness' sake!

Anyway, off to bed so that I have a good chance of fulfilling these goals on Day #1!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13

Super Saturday...Extravaganza

OK...so since I have lived in the area for a year and a half, I decided it might be time to spend a Saturday exploring it. And with whom is it best to do said exploring? Only a girl's bff, that's who! (or is it whom?)

First stop, The Green Bean. And just so you know, you can click name to get there or (I love the webpage address) go to greenbeanspaceship.com. Yeah a coffee shop and space ship all in one! Anyway, one of the girls I work with and her husband run/own two of these coffee shops in Fayetteville and I thought it would be fun to it check out. Obviously I don't drink coffee but their hot chocolate was AWE-SOME and the coffee-table-esq books and magazines on the table provided lots of enjoyment. It was interesting to listen to/eavesdrop on other people's random conversations. Then there was a point when Laura mentioned she likes analyzing other people's personalities so I got my own analysis...possibly to be explained to you at a later day; we shall see.

While at the coffee shop I mention that it might be fun to go by the Ft. Bragg Flea Market and Laura got this "heck no!" face goin' on. She doesn't like the idea of going to somewhere called a FLEA market and I told her it might be good to not touch/buy any fabricy items where fleas can congregate. Furthermore I thought it might be a good idea to think of it like a thrift store and went further to propose that we maybe suggest they re-name it to be Ft. Bragg Thrift Market instead to stave off any future grossed out feelings. AND since by going to the newly named, by us, thrift market we would be close, it might be a good idea to just swing by the used books store. Laura wasn't thrilled with these ideas because of the thought of spending money but alas, she conceded. We put a spending limit of $10 on ourselves so that we didn't over-do it.

We decide to go to the book store first (it was on the right side of the road) and let me just tell you that bookstores in general are some of my favorite places but slightly used books for cheap - you can't go wrong! Walking in Laura decided she wasn't going to spend any money - this one was gonna be tough for her so I remained skeptical. I on the other hand went straight for the FREE book shelf and picked out four books, 3 for me and 1 for research for my 6th graders - it is about Latin America. We then went to the 'Love Inspired' section and proceeded to read and laugh at the back descriptions of at least 20 books. I used restraint and didn't get anything from this section! I know it is shocking! I did end up getting a movie about Anne Frank - also to use at school - and 2 more leisure reading books for me. All-in-all I think I did really well...$6 - 6 books and a movie! Check me out! Laura, although tempted by many a cookbook, was able to stick to her plan of not buying anything. Yay her!

Now on to the flea market. One word...INTERESTING. We walked around for awhile looking but not buying. Some things - plates, glassware - looked like things we might buy but neither of us were really in a buying mood so we moved on. And then we went inside... Cue creepy music and smells (I couldn't think of an appropriate adjective for the "smells" so use your imagination). We meandered though the many stalls lined with chicken wire and definitely were not in a buying mood at this point so we moved quickly, surely missing out on many great items and deals but its whatever (as the kids are saying these days). AND moving on.

Now it is 3 o'clock, we have yet to eat anything today and what comes to mind? Olive Garden! Since Laura has gift cards from students and I got one from Santa Claus, why not? Now this is not your typical outing to Olive Garden. Because of a recent water main break in Fayetteville, there is concern with bacteria and other gross things in the water causing many places to operate out of their norm. Insert disposable everything.
Plasticware, styrofoam plates, to-go cups, paper napkins, plastic to-go containers for salad and soup...EVERYTHING! But it was great! Our wonderful waitress Tanithea was so not happy with how things had to be done bc of water issue and it made us laugh the whole time...the poor thing. I can understand how it would mess up your flow. They even served Coke products from 2 liter bottles! Hopefully for Tanithea's sake, all the water tests come back ok for tomorrow and she can get her groove back. But really it might be one of my best trips to OG. Of course the food and raspberry lemonade was delicious, as always!

I then spent an hour at the car wash to remove salt/sand from recent snow. Not fun but I rocked out to good tunes while I waited!

Laura and I also noticed that we like to add Extravaganza on to everything now and why not today as well! GREAT GREAT day!

NYC Adventure

OK so I think craziness is the best way to describe this past weekend adventure.

I would like to preface this story with...it was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure - as in never again will I do that!

Not really sure how it happened but I got talked into taking a quick trip to NYC. When I say quick I mean I was in the city for a short period of time. Travel time...not so quick.

At 10 pm on Friday I boarded a charter bus in the Franklinton Baptist parking lot with about 20 other people from Funkytown - many I haven't seen in a long while, others I had never met (and still don't know). 15ish minutes later we pulled into the Roses parking lot in Henderson where we acquired about 30 more people. Now comes the good part...I sat in a bus seat for 8ish hours. On a bus. A freezing cold bus. After I taught all day. My legs were cramped, I was cold, I was sitting up. I got about 2 hours of sleep in 15-20 min intervals and needless to say I WAS NOT a happy camper throughout the day on Saturday.

We got into the city at about 8am and got dumped in front of Macy's and told to be back at 6pm to leave. First stop - the bathroom. Second stop - the subway to go to Chinatown. We spent 4 HOURS in Chinatown/Little Italy making our ways into little backrooms, up creepy stairwells, etc in search of 'the it' handbag or other item that you just gotta have. Mine you, I don't know anything AT. ALL. about 'the it' anything let alone handbag so I just look to see if I find something I might possibly feel comfortable carrying. I did find a super cute "Coach" bag that I couldn't decide - at the time - whether or not I would keep for myself or give as a Christmas gift. I kept it for myself FYI. Did a bit more shopping/wandering around/following creepy people to sketchy places and then decided to go to our next destination.

Keep in mind that I am with two people that have never been to New York and are small town people used to strolling along - not in any kind of hurry. Subways are new to them and Joanna would prefer to NEVER EVER ride one again. The getting on and off of them was a bit of a task - making sure they were behind me and I didn't lose them. This includes the walking through large crowds. Every five seconds turning around to see that they are there.

If you know me at all and remember I DID NOT SLEEP and know that when I do not sleep I am a cranky pants. This day was not my cup of tea and not one of my shining moments. I made sure to not freak out on anyone but I am sure they knew I was not in a good mood and I am sure they felt a bit of my crankiness however unintentional toward them it was.

Anyway - back to my story - now we are in Times Square kinda like a been there, done that feeling. Walked to Central Park - again been there, done that. Not sure if it was my mood, the cold, or really that I am unimpressed not that I have been there a few times before.

By 4 we were back at Macy's wasting time and exhausted. The bus came at 6 and I was exhausted but not excited for another long bus ride. Not 30 minutes into our ride, in New Jersey, we feel a thump thump thump. You guessed it - blown tire. Apparently since it was a back double tire its all good - to the men on the trip anyway. Not only am I going on lack of sleep and uncomfortable in my tiny space but now I have to worry about a blown tire. Can this get any more ridiculous?

Oh but it can!

We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel - one of my all-time fav places - but I am really tired and not very hungry. I decided on breakfast and ordered a milk. Our waiter - fairly cute guy - says "I have a surprise for you when I bring your milk." REALLY?!?! What kind of surprise can you bring me with my milk? Yikes...a bit scared. Jody and Joanna are getting this scheming look on their faces and I just put my head down. Oh no! He brings my milk and it is in a frosted mug. He says "I like my milk really cold and wouldn't serve it to you any other way. No extra charge." OH MY GOODNESS. I look a hot mess - not a good thing - and this guy is trying to hit on me over milk. He comes back later - very attentive - but I am tired and so not cute plus we are in Jersey nothing gonna come from it not wasting what little energy I have - but it was pretty funny.

Back on the road. Jackie - a girl from work - texts me from her husband's office party with "I have a surprise 4 u..."
Response: "Oh goodness."
"I'll send a pic in a min..."
Response: "Oh goodness."
Its a guy that works with her husband - really cute.
"Need a pic of you."
(Remember hot mess here.)
Response: "Heck no. I'm a mess" blah blah blah self deprecating and ridiculousness to not send a pic.
"Don't u have a pic on ur phone."
Response: "NO. I don't make it a habit to take pics of myself on phone."
"He's offended." blah blah blah etc etc etc
REALLY 2 guys one night look a mess both trying to hit on me - not really - but still.

What do I do? Pray to God for guidance and clarity and sleep. Shaking my head!

Made it home - safely - sometime after 3 before 4 - fall into bed - not changing clothes or anything.

Adventure? I think yes!

New Adventures

I took a trip down south to Georgia this past weekend and it was A-MA-ZING! Laura and I spent about 24 hrs in Savannah and then drove a little further south to meet up with some of her family who have adopted me - which makes me super excited! Get ready people!

Savannah...



Got in mid-afternoon on Thursday and had a late lunch. We were both really tired and really full from lunch so we checked into the hotel - a Hilton - and took a little rest. No sleeping just relaxing - tv, internet, books, etc. Then at 8:30 we decided to go to dinner. The place we picked was closed - Veteran's Day I guess - so we went wandering. The wandering led us to River Street in the car. And now the interesting part comes...

As I was about to turn left on a side street, a car pulled up - IN MY LANE GOING THE WRONG WAY - so I had to do an evasive maneuver and ended up crossing two lanes of wrong way traffic, onto rail road tracks, and into the correct direction. At the time I really thought I had lost my mind but then drove past that road again and saw that the other person really was an idiot and so I felt justified in the breaking of traffic laws. Out-of-state tags probably wouldn't've been much help with a police encounter but luckily it didn't come to that so...moving on.

Get to River Street, walk around and NONE of the restaurants are open for dinner. "Kitchen just closed down. Sorry." Ok, let's just try and get drinks - we think. Oh look sketchy bar #482 on this road. OK...slight exaggeration but the point is, it is 9ish on a Thursday night in Savannah and there is no where to get dinner and all of the bars are empty or have those creepy people that look like regulars who started at 5.

Friday - yeah for taking a day off from school - we pack up, head out to cute cafe for quiche breakfast, and mosey around town for the day. Stop and buy ridiculous amounts of candy at the giant candy store and get a palmetto flower from a local. Head out about 3 and onto the next portion of the trip!

Hortense/Nahunta...

Oh, yeah...doesn't it already sound exciting? You bet! I get to see my adopted family...the Andersons! Friday we stayed with Elizabeth and Layton with Emma and baby Brooks. By the next morning, Emma was thinking we had moved in and were going to stay forever. I wish Emma! We stayed up until 1am talking with Layton and Elizabeth about everything and nothing and it was AWESOME!

Ok I tell you we stayed up until 1ish to then tell you we woke up at 4:45...to go HUNTING!! This was my first hunting trip ever in my life and I was dragging at the early morning hour until Layton arrived at the door with our camouflage clothing and then I got SUPER-AMPED and ready.to.go!

Jimmy, Layton's dad, came over to take us out hunting and Laura and I got our own guide and teacher of all things hunting! Jimmy was my guide and he told me all kinds of great information to help out and build my hunting skills - unfortunately I was sleep-deprived and really cold most of the time so my brain was malfunctioning and forgot those riveting tidbits :)

When my feet began to get numb, we decided to go on a "hunt"/trek through the forest to find us a deer. I am not sure how long we were hiking but it was A-WHILE. No deer were sighted but it was fun and I got more of those great tidbits. We decided to call it a morning and went back to the house. As we were sitting down to eat our second breakfast I looked out the window and saw two deer running through the side yard. Of course, when we come in the deer come out. I really wanted to shoot that shotgun...real bad!



Hunting round 2: squirrels are my target with a 22 caliber rifle in hand. I am feeling lucky about this hunt because I remember seeing lots of squirrels out on my first trip out so I knew I would get something. Guess what I got? Another hour trek through the woods, this time looking for squirrels. Seeing a couple but not getting any! Lame-o! Even though I didn't kill anything, I got to go hunting, and experience I don't know will be repeated anytime in the near future so it was a great time!

Dinner time...We go to eat dinner and I am EXHAUSTED...if I wasn't concerned about what people would think of me, I would have fallen face first into my plate asleep! But I held out for a few more hours until I finally go to bed - this night at Jimmy and Charlene's. Laura says that she is going to set her alarm for 9:30 in the morning and I am like, "really, why so early?" Her response is "well that's 12 hours from now so I think we'll be ok." I didn't know it was that early but I definitely took advantage of that 12 hours! It was great!

Sunday, we wake up, have a breakfast of toast and deer sausage, and then go out to see how a tree stand works-just to wrap up our first lesson in all-things hunting. Its a fairly ingenious apparatus but looks a little scary, not for me on this trip.

It was sad, as always, to say "adios" to the Anderson clan but we made sure to make "in the future" plans to go fishing! I guess I can count on them to help my outdoorsy skills!

Anyway...this a a very short (even if you doubt it) nutshell look at my weekend vacay. More info can be found on Laura's blog . Sorry no super long conclusion to make an extremely intelligent point but it is what it is!

HAPPY HUNTING!

Summer of Adventures - BEWARE it's a long one!

OK so no more whinny, woe is me posts about my summer. I have decided that this summer will be a compilation of adventures of all shapes, sizes, and companions. So...let's back up and start from the beginning.

So after the kiddos left on the last day of school, I began the packing and moving process to my new classroom on the 6th grade hallway. It provided me lots of time for reflection and fun with my coworkers - most of whom I will see a lot less of next year. At one point I took - I mean RODE - my rollie desk chair from my old classroom on the 7th grade hall over to my new classroom on the 6th grade hall. About hallway over there, I realized how unprofessional and ridiculous I looked so I stopped, left my chair there, went and got what I needed, and the rode my chair back to 7th grade! It was REALLY fun and definitely helps work out the leg muscles on the back of the upper leg (thigh?) and your calfs. I also got done with my ginormous checklist early and twiddled my thumbs/hung out for a few extra hours.

Next adventure...

HIlton Head con mi amiga Laura! You can read a bit of her thoughts on the journey down on her blog but one of my favorite quotes occurred during a stupid traffic jam on the way down - "Ha, and only Brandi would say this: 'Alright, we're going 13 mph! That's pretty good if we were in a horse and carriage!'" Needless to say - the trip as a whole was fun. If you don't know anything about Hilton Head, its basically a place where really rich people go for vacation or what we did - crash her dad's work conference :)! Anyway, there was a cocktail hour (or longer) each night that included talking to people about concrete - sounds SUPER exciting right?! Although Laura thought so, I did not. One day we took a ferry boat to Savannah and met up with 2 people from the Anderson family that I like very much and hope to visit again soon. OH and major development for the weekend - I finally got to meet Laura's parents gah what took so long? Oh and Laura got to test out her new B&N Nook while I read on my Amazon Kindle - a battle ensued - she may have won with its capability to get online with WiFi access but, mines better because I got it first! Whatevs! Anyway, it was really fun to get dressed up each night and hang out with adults and not have to worry about anything for a few days.

NEXT...

I did have to spend two days working :( booooo but, I got paid for attending a two day workshop where I actually learned some good, new stuff so it was definitely worth it. I also got to spend time with a couple teachers I didn't really get to know this year and a few I got to know even better!

And den...

ECLIPSE!!!!! AT!!!!! MIDNIGHT!!!! So I made my mom watch Twlight and New Moon the day before so she would be caught up. Jody and 6 year-old Sydney also joined us for the show. It was really good and right afterwards my comment to my mom was that I couldn't wait for the next one. I am really sad that I have to wait a long while for it to come out. Now my mom bought all of the books, including the addition of the one about Bree, and I hope that she actually plans on reading them and not just adding them to her bookshelf.

And den...

I spent a few days at Kerr Lake where I LOVE celebrating "lake time". Lake time is a concept I have where it doesn't matter what time it is because I can do whatever I want. Case in point - many days I wake up around 10ish and proceed to make a ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast. Now you may think that sleeping late is bad but what you didn't know is that many nights I stay up until 2, 3, even 4 in the morning reading whatever book I just started. It may seem sad to you but it is like my "zen place" if I really believed in that junk. The lake is also the place that I have celebrated my birthday for the past 3 or 4 years so thats exciting. I'm 23 now and I feel the same as I did when I was 22 - we shall see what the new year brings.

And now...I am at home - at my apartment chillin' for the week until my next adventure - maybe the beach tomorrow - and then Charleston with my mom. Although I very much appreciate Christina letting me borrow/use her computer while mine is being worked on, I will gladly take my PC back when it is done being worked on. The mouse usage on the Mac still baffles me a bit but I am starting to get the hang of it.

My summer is also dotted with SUPER exciting World Cup and SwampDogs games.

Hope you made it through all that. I guess that what I get for being "silent" for a while! Come back for more updates soon!