Life Lately: Teacher Credential Progam Edition

Sup. I'm here for my monthly check-in ;) 

School has been kicking my butt and has left little time for much else! 

So let's talk about it! 

I started back in August, and my semester the schedule is as follows: The first 8 weeks of the semester (M-F) were strictly coursework, learning about methods, theories, strategies, lesson planning, standards, etc. Every Thursday of weeks 4-8, we went to our clinical practice sites and observed classes, shadowed students, interviewed students, interviewed teachers, etc. Sounds complicated. It was. Trying to juggle all of my coursework with assignments, reflections, presentations, TPA Task 1 (which I passed!), personal life crap, baseball, and concerts was rough and caused many breakdowns. But coursework is finally over and I made it out alive with passing grades and into the second half of the semester! 

These next 8 weeks are strictly clinical practice (M-F). I'm in an 8th grade humanities class that covers English Language Arts and Social Studies. I have two sets of weirdly entertaining students and a cooperating teacher who I've learned a lot from! Today is the start of week 3, and at this point I've gradually taken over more and more of the instruction! It feels SO weird being the grown-up in the room who is supposed to know it all. Spoiler alert...I don't. My first official observation is this Thursday so we'll see how effective I am at putting everything I've learned into practice!

That's about all I've got...see ya in a month. 

Seriously though. How terrible is it that I only post monthly these days?! Especially when I have this new awesome blog design courtesy of this lovely lady and I feel like I've wasted her talent. November goal: post more than once! 

SEPTEMBER IS FINALLY OVER

And I couldn't be happier.

I usually love September. But it was lame this year. My birthday is usually something I'm all about. This year is was meh and not what I wished it would be. Regular season baseball is coming to an end and the games are starting to mean a little more. This year the Yanks were eliminated from playoffs, Derek Jeter retired, and my last few Padres games had the worst timing ever. There's a bunch of other stuff that I don't feel like sharing, but just know this month hasn't been a happy feeling month. No lie, I spent more nights crying this month combined than over the course in my entire life. 

School started in August, but we started to get into the meaty stuff like theories of education, reading, techniques, and assignments in September. Right when I was trying to get my season ticket money's worth and squeeze in the last few baseball games of the season. On top of that, I had a minor breakdown over content standards and lesson plans and what resources I'm supposed to use and know about. Normally my notes are orderly, neat, make sense, and on paper...but this year, most of my textbook are on an iPad and I'm still struggling figuring method that works for me.

This is more of a ramble and starting to pick up on this blogging thing again since it's kind of been 40 days since my last post! 

Anyways...the month is over, and we're starting a new one. It's time to move on and focus on what's ahead!

Things to look forward to in October: Countryfest...mostly Sara Evans. Luke Bryan. TPA Task 1 will come and GO! I'll be at my clinical practice site full time instead of just once a week! And with the exception of my bilingual course, I'll be done with my methods courses for the semester. 

Hot Dog & Hamburger vs. Burrito & Taco

So this is my unofficial first week of school. I'm spending time at a middle school observing and helping with opening up a classroom for the beginning of the year. There may (probably not) be a post about that later, but that's not what today is about. I'm sharing a story today!

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The teacher I'm with has two classes, AM and PM. She had the kids make name tags to sit at their desks. She was describing the difference between the hot dog and hamburger paper folding methods to her morning class for these name tags. She then mentioned an alternative description that would be more relatable since we live in San Diego. A hot dog fold could also be thought of as a burrito fold. Then she had the kids guess what a hamburger fold could be thought of. I confidently said quesadilla, the rest of the class said taco. Whomp whomp. 

The afternoon class did the same thing. Same spiel. Same description. When it was time for kids to guess what hamburger was...I didn't say anything. But I listened. And a kid in that class said quesadilla. While the rest of the class said taco. I said "yes!" and pointed at the kid who said quesadilla because at least one other person in the class was on the same page as I was. It made my day :]

Happy Thursday peeps.

Why I Resigned...

School.

Shout out to Lebron!

It's August, and I officially start my teaching credential program this month. The hours of school and student teaching conflict with my office schedule. So I decided to take a break from work (until I run out of savings) and totally focus on school. I'm happy, excited, nervous, anxious, and scared to start this program...all at the same time. 

Happy and excited. For so many reasons. I've wanted to teach since I was in 7th grade. (2000) I spent 7 years in college, with a course schedule that looks similar to my high school course list. I owe that to my liberal studies major. With the exception of college softball, some electives, and my personal life...school wasn't that exciting. But I got it done and got one of my first pre-requisites checked off for my program. This time around, when I start school...I'll be taking classes that relate to what I want to do with my life and directly relate to my career. Andddd after 14 years, this program is the last step before becoming a teacher! I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Nervous. Because this program is totally different than anything I've done both with my undergrad and work. So even though I've asked tons of questions about this program and what I'll be doing, I still have no clue what's gonna happen. 

Anxious. One of my favorite sayings about anxiety is it's not fear of the future, but wanting to control it. Any one that knows me knows that I like to have every minute of my life planned out. So I was a little anxious when the coordinators of our program interrupted our question and answer session of orientation and said "trust us"which I totally should since this is their 23rd year doing it. So I'm still a little anxious because (as of now) I have not control of anything. Once I figure out the school schedule and get into a groove, I'll be fine...but that moment is not now.

Scared. That whole not having a job thing...scary. Because that means no income. But I've still got bills. I should have done a better job of saving money but I suck at that. Also...this whole money thing kind of means I'll be giving up some stuff. Like season tickets. And going out to lunch/dinner and drinks with friends. Concerts. And maybe a gym membership. And Netflix...after I catch up on some shows. Hahah. It'll all work out. Some how. But I don't know how.

Since I haven't consistently posted, I haven't given many updates. I spent all summer working on prerequisites for this program. Bachelors degree: check. CBEST: check. Multiple Subject CSET: check. CPR certification: check. Fingerprints & Certificate of Clearance: check. Letters of recommendation: check. English CSET: Half check. I found out on Monday that I passes that the 2 (of 4) subtests I took in July! The other 2 are scheduled for September...so I should probably start studying now!

Happy Wednesday peeps :]   

Breathe In. Breathe Out. Life Lately

Hi Internet! I’m alive. Barely kicking, but alive.

Let’s update you on my life…

School: Credential program applications to SDSU and CSUSM have been submitted. There was lots of rescheduling and juggling around but I have my interviews for all 3 programs scheduled. I actually did one last week…kind of went meh, because they were short on time when it was my group’s turn to interview so we all had to cut our responses short. Whomp. Except for the fact that of the 3 programs, this is the one I really want to get into. Oh well. Hopefully the timing for the other program interviews is better managed.

Testing: I PASSED MY MULTIPLE SUBJECT CSET! Which I’m totally stoked about because even though I studied, like none of that material on my actual tests was mentioned in my study book or practice tests. But I passed, so that’s all that matters. The next exam on my list is an English CSET. If I get into the middle level program/teach middle school, I’m going to be teaching an individual subject. I decided I’m probably most qualified to teach English and would have the most fun with that over any other subject. Doing the CSET over getting a subject matter authorization makes the most sense to me because when I apply for jobs, a passed CSET is less objective than a list of college courses I’ve taken.

Work: OMG. Let’s talk about my office job real quick. Everyone kind of took vacation time throughout the last 2 weeks. So the office was already busy from the lack of people. But then I started to get e-mails about dates for interviews for my programs that fell among the same time everyone was gone. My boss was kind of overwhelmed with everything and me being gone was not an option. Which sucked because these interviews kind of needed to happen. So that’s where all the juggling, rescheduling, and being an inconvenience to these programs came into play. It all worked out but I was kind of stressing and upset over the situation for a while. I am totally loving my second job at the Safari Park. It’s easy. I don’t have to follow up with people, make phone calls, fill out paperwork., etc. Working with people my age is fun. I have become one of those people that gets easily excited about being around the animals. Hearing the lion roar in the mornings is amazing. Watching the lemurs do their thing is so cool. The fact that I see keepers take a camel for a walk and I’m less than 20 feet away from it is incredible. The only downer is being on my feet alllllll day. I’m not used to it, but I will be. I’m really happy with this place.

Weight Loss: Why is this not something easy? There’s so much fatty goooood food. I’m trying to make it to the gym as much as I can and watch what I eat, but with how crazy things are…it’s a little difficult. I haven’t totally abandoned my goals, but priorities are elsewhere right now. One way to make sure I’m still moving around is by pacing around at the Safari Park. This week I decided to kick it up a notch and try to reach my 12k steps goal by the time I clock out of work! Yesterday was the first day, and I got it done!

Umm…that’s about it. How's your life going? Lots of good things happening? Let me know!

Happy Wednesday all!       

Meh. Life Lately...

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything good on here…and it might be a while longer before I do. Life is a little nutty, definitely busy…and I haven’t really done anything exciting. How can you tell? My instagram hasn't been updated with sweet pictures to make people jealous in for.ev.errrr. Whomp. Life lately…

Credential Program Applications: I’ve decided I’m applying to both CSUSM and SDSU’s teaching credential programs. I figured I’d increase my chances  to get into at least one of them. I’ve collected about 95% of the stuff for my CSUSM application, just waiting on a letter of recommendation and I need to take (and pass!) the first subtest of the CSET. I still need to figure out everything on SDSU's app so I'll be visiting their campus tomorrow!   

CSET: Totally sucks. I’m letting it intimidate me and I keep on postponing it...but now I’m running out of time. I was originally scheduled to take the test as a whole on Jan 11^th. Then I postponed it to Jan 18^th. Then I postponed it again to Jan 28^th. Then I cancelled it and decided to take the individual subtests so I scheduled subtest 1 for Feb 8^th. Then I postponed that to Feb 13^th. And finally postponed it to Feb 17^th. And with each postponement comes with procrastination in the form of flappy birds since I have more time to study. Now it's 7 days away! Which is super soon. But I’ve gotta take it, so it’s crazy study mode for the next week! 

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Volunteering: I’m still volunteering in an 8^th grade classroom. I’m learning so much, it’s crazy! The kids have so many outside influences between family, friends, social media, etc. that the classroom these days seems totally different to me than what it was when I was in 8^th grade. The two teachers I work with share students and make it a point to have official meetings once a week to discuss their classrooms, and I get to sit in on them…it’s amazing how invested they are in their students and the concern they have for their success. Both in life and the classroom. I know teachers care about their students…but I’m just starting to see it in action and its impact from an adult perspective. And it’s amazing! I’m so happy to be working with these teachers, they're incredible. I’m gonna be so bummed when I have to stop!

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Work: I’m still looking for a second job. Not as aggressively as I was in that first week…but here and there. The sucky thing is when you call/drop in on places and ask if they’re hiring and they say they’re not sure/no but you’re welcome to fill out (a super long) application. I interviewed and drug tested for the Home Depot last week and should be hearing from them in a few days about a job! Fingers crossed. The worst realization about a second job is that I won’t be able to go to as many concerts and baseball games as I have in the past.

Weight Loss: Happening at a crawl, but it’s still happening. I haven’t been to the gym in a while, but once this application stuff and testing is over, I will make a return! 120-ish days until Vegas and Keri’s wedding so it’s time to kick it into overdrive until then!  

That’s about it! I should have applications and that first subtest completed in a month, and hopefully I have a second job by then. Then I’ll be able to breathe having all this stuff done.

What I’m looking forward to: MLB opening day…because I love baseball, duh. Lady Antebellum in March. If I have the days off. Whomp. Hahaha.

Happy Monday all! 

Resolutions

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Oh hey there 2014. How are you? 

The turn of the year was a good one for me. I was up til 2:00 am celebrating with family, friends, and family friends. Celebrating was followed by 11 hours of sleep, a visit to the [empty!] gym, and then studying for the CSET.

Now onto the point of my post, let's discuss my experience with resolutions. They're something you resolve to follow to complete/attain a goal in any given period of time. A New Year's resolution is one that is prompted with each new calendar year. We all make them. Yes, all of us. We might not all announce these resolutions to the world via social media for everyone to read but we all have something we'd like to change about ourselves for personal growth. And that's not a bad thing. It can be huge things like losing weight, saving money, traveling, etc. or small things like being punctual, spelling correctly, smiling at strangers, etc. No one is totally and completely perfect, and if you are and none of what I just said applies to you...then good for you. Back to me. Let's laugh at my resolutions from last year. I used to think I was above needing an arbitrary date to serve as motivation to get things done. I used to think I didn't need a new year to motivate me to get in shape, or save money. Turns out, I kind of do. I started working towards all my "resolutions" listed below a couple of months ago, but the clean slate that is/was January 1, 2014 lighting the fire under my butt to get everything done so I can move onto the next chapter of my life. 

My 2014 resolutions:     

1- Get into the teaching credential program at CSUSM. I want to be a teacher. I always have. And to be a teacher, you need a teaching credential. For the last 7-ish years, I've been working towards that. The application submission deadline for the Fall 2014 program begins January 15th. I'm still working on getting all of my requirements done for a complete application, and still get anxiety over everything. My not so great GPA plagues me, my CSET is in 14 days, and the big question causes me to lose sleep...what if I don't get in?!! This is something I've wanted since 7th grade and have already killed enough time farting around in college, that postponing it ANOTHER year would kind of just officially suck big time. 

2- Save money. It's on the list every year, but this year it's more significant than those passed. If I do get into the credential program, I'll be in class and student teaching M-F all day! The problem is...those are the hours I work. If I get into the program, I'll have to quit my job, and not have any sort of income August 2014-May 2015. To cover JUST my bills for those 10 months, I will need about $4,000 saved up. That means, I need to put away at least $600 away from my monthly paycheck. With the amount of money I make...that's almost impossible. The rough realization is I do a lot of cool stuff...that costs money. Stuff I won't be able to do in 2014 because of this "saving money" nonsense. To make things even more tight I'm gonna be a god mother, and in a wedding (which includes a trip to Vegas) this year. It might be time to look for a second job. Also time to start looking into financial aid/grants/student loans! I hate stressing about money, but I've got to be realistic and make sure this is a priority if I want to make it out of the program without becoming a bum.  

3- Lose weight. Because, duh. I'm still on the "journey" and haven't totally fallen off the wagon but I'm not where I want to be. The save money thing should help because I won't be able to afford eating drive-thru/restaurants like I do/used to. I've got 60 lbs to lose, something totally do-able. Time to make it happen. 

4- No booze. This one might be rough to do, but something that I would really like to adapt as a lifestyle choice. In 2013 (and in life) I had my fair share of horribly drunken days/nights and didn't like it. They don't happen often, maybe 2 or 3 a year at concerts/ballgames/birthdays, but none of them were good times. The most recent one was Kayyy's birthday in November and looking back...having a buddy pretty much save my life after getting kicked out of a bar is kind of embarrassing. I can usually control my alcohol intake, and have a margarita or two here and there, but when it's time to party, Marty parties too hard. And it's not fun. Sorry to ruin the "Marty with the party" illusion. It's not good for my body, it's not good for my wallet, it's not good for my safety. This should help and should be helped with the previous 2 resolutions. Now to include a exception/loophole...Through this platform, I declare that when I do drink, it's for a special occasion, but I will only allow myself to have 2 drinks in celebrating such worthy occasion. 

That's it. I think. 

What are your resolutions? What suggestions do you have for me to make sure I make mine happen?

Happy 2014 everyone!

The Plan

Back in May of 2013 I graduated college. Good times. 

Except I still went back to school in the Fall to take some education courses that I didn't take as part of my undergrad, but still needed as a pre-requisite for the teaching credential program. Welp, after long hours of homework, observations, and tutoring...I'm done :] To be perfectly honest, this last semester had been the hardest I've ever worked in school, and am totally expecting straight A's as a result. Yeah yeah! The coursework wasn't difficult, just a lot of assignments. Blah. Either way, I'm done!

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At this point, I've checked off a bachelors degree, taking these education courses, and passing my CBEST off the pre-requisite checklist for the program application. 

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What's left: Passing the multiple subject CSETS, getting my fingerprints done, getting CPR certified, collecting letters of recommendation, finding out if I have/need to get a TB shot, and if I decide on the middle level program...figuring out what subject I'd like to teach and take that respective CSET. All this needs to be done within the next two and a half months. Yay for pressure! 

I just spent my last free weekend laying in bed watching mindless tv, because as of today...I start working on getting what's left of that checklist completed. I will spend the next month studying for the CSET because I take it mid-January, and am volunteering in a classroom once a week so I can try and earn a sincere letter of recommendation for an experienced teacher. CPR classes are scheduled for the second week of January, and if my budget allows, I should be getting my fingerprints done by the end of this month. Man. I'm stressing myself just thinking about all of it! But it can get done because plenty of people have done it before me! I'm gonna not have a life for another 3-ish months...bur you know what?

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Anyways, not sure what the point of this post is...maybe just kind of an update, and obviously some hills gifs because I'm totally missing that show right now. Is anyone else's schedule just as crazy? Are you working towards anything with a deadline? What do you do to keep from overwhelming yourself? Ahhhhhhhhh.

Happy Monday :]

Workout Playlist

What's up weigh-in Wednesday?!!

Still not posting my weight. Props to those of you that do.

By the time you read this...I will be on my 3rd consecutive visit to the gym. Actually, it depends on what part of the world you're on. It sounds like something small and insignificant, but since this semester started in August, finding 3 consecutive days to work out has been impossible. I'd dropped in here and there, but nothing habitual. My load has lightened...sort of. I'm done with observations, and tutoring has dropped to once a week, so I have my nights back. There's still homework and credential packet prep to get done. Ahh! 

Anyways, back to the point. Because I'm visiting the gym more often...I created a new playlist that I can dance to jam to while I put in some miles and crunches. I think I've finally perfected a playlist that keeps me moving for an entire hour. Working out for that long sucks, but the good upbeat music makes the time go by faster. And fret not, I spared you all my Disney artists that pump me up. You're welcome. I figured I'd share my playlist with everyone :] They all link to youtube if you want to give them a quick listen before you buy...or rip, Just kidding. Don't steal music.

Jennifer Lopez-Get Right

Pitbull-Bojangles

Beyonce-Crazy In Love

Birdman-Play Ball

Britney Spears-Radar

Flo Rida-Club Can't Handle Me

Britney Spears-Boom Boom

Pitbull-Don't Stop The Party

Shakira-Waka Waka

Kanye West-Power

Brooke Valentine-Girl Fight

Pitbull-Back In Time

Lil' Jon-Outta Your Mind

DMX-Get It On The Floor

Ke$ha-Die Young

Britney Spears-Do Something

Bruno Mars-Marry You

Drake-Show Me A Good Time

Don Omar-Danza Kuduro

Pitbull-International Love

Pink-Raise Your Glass

So what do you think? Any songs in there you love? Any I'm missing? Let me know! Also, how cute is that pup?!! No idea where the original image is from. I found it on Pinterest and tried to track it down, no luck. So if it's yours and I stole it from you...sorry. Happy hump day folks!

Weekend Update: Merp

Happy Veterans Day! 

Hope everyone is enjoying their extra day off! Let's remember the men, women, moms, dads, spouses, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, teammates, best friends, acquaintances,  spouses, colleagues, classmates, professors, enemies, frenemies...EVERYONE who made the decision to join the military and be part of a group that fights for our country. Thank you, to all of you!

If you follow me on twitter, you see that I complain a lot about the amount of homework I have to get done. The goal is to get ahead of schedule, so come Wednesday-Sunday of this week I can take time off from school and study for the CBEST, which I am taking Monday. This weekend was full of complaining, and some soccer.

Friday: I stayed in and watched a video about The Lemon Grove Incident and wrote a reflection on it for my diversity class.

Saturday: Chilled during the day, and read one of the longest chapters of my life...and then wrote my reading log for it. That was then followed by going out with Chels and Lime to see our local professional indoor soccer team, the San Diego Sockers! Unfortunately, the team ended up losing the game. I learned that professional indoor soccer is kind of a bigger deal than I thought it would be.

We got to the game early, so the girls and I
had some booze and dinner at Chili's. I got the
Berry Patron Margaritaaaa. Ayyyiyiiyiyi!

2. Our indoor soccer team has cheerleaders.

3. I don't think I'm going back to watch another game. 

This was my first time there, and it was the first 

time in 4 years that they lost a game at home.

4. A) They play quarters, not halves. B) At the end of 

the 3rd quarter, they do an audience frisbee toss.

5. The halftime entertainment of an indoor soccer 

game...was watching kids play indoor soccer. 

It was girls v. mostly boys, with 2 girls. 

Sunday: I spent the day at Barnes & Noble drinking chocolate milk and writing my personal teaching philosophy paper, which was pretty thought provoking. I also saw a guy skype out loud. If I didn't have ear phones...I probably would have been a little more annoyed at it. I finished a couple of other small assignments, and then got the heck out of dodge because it was freezing cold in there!

What I stared at for a good 9 hours.

How was your weekend? Anything exciting? Did your teams win? Mine lost...way to go Chargers.

Motivated For The 18th Time

Today is November 6^th, 2013. Back in early October I hit -30 lbs. And then I started observations in the mornings and tutoring in the evenings. In between…school and work. I had no time to make myself any sort of food and for the last month 75% of my meals have been drive thru. Also, with the exception of one visit, I haven’t been to the gym in a month and a half. I’ve been too scared to weigh myself, but I’m pretty certain I’ve gained 15 lbs in the last month. My schedule has been kicking my ass and my weight is suffering because of it.

This past Monday, I woke up motivated like hell for like the 18^th time. What inspired this motivation? Not fitting into my jeans again, I’m back up a size in shirts, and a friend who is totally going beastmode at the gym and posting little video clips of workouts on instagram.

I went to the gym yesterday, did some running, and gut workout…since I don’t have abs yet, and squats. Man. I am hurtinggggg today.

I’m finally done with observations and although school is still crazy, that month break was all that I’m cool with. Time to take control of my life again and finish up this weight loss thing I started. Well not some much finish, because it’ll be a life long struggle, but to hit my goal and maintain.

I’m still not ballsy enough to post my current weight for the internet to read…instead, enjoy some motivational quotes courtesy of pinterest.
 
Have a bomb.com Wednesday everyone :]
P.S. Don't forget about that giveaway I'm part of! Have you entered yet?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall '13 Part 1

My career goal since like 7th grade has been to become a teacher. 

One of the first things on the checklist to becoming a credentialed CA teacher is a Bachelors degree. CHECK! After 7 years ;] 

Now that I've got that...I'm taking 3 education classes at Cal State San Marcos that are prerequisite courses for the teaching credential program at school...holy wow. So much work. Thankfully it's interesting work compared to some of my undergrad courses...but still, so. much. work. One class is technology in the classroom, another is diversity in the classroom, and the last is teaching theory and methods.

It's week 6 and these are my thoughts...

Technology: It's in 2nd place as far as number of assignments. The cool thing about this class is learning about all the different apps and programs and technology tools used in classrooms that I've never heard of. Unfortunately, I can relate to 60 year olds learning how to text. I'm so lost with all this new technology. I've never been a whiz at this kind of stuff...but I didn't think I'd be as clueless as I am! I definitely need to be patient and know that I can't turn a project around in 30 minutes like I'm used to. 

Diversity: Probably the most emotional class I have. We're learning about second language learners, bullying, how different socioeconomic levels affect learning, linguistic diversities, special needs students, etc. Tears have definitely been shed in this classroom...not by me, but others in the classroom. Not sure how I feel about that. Also, I kind of just lied. I had to pull old pictures for a presentation about myself and spent one evening a week and a half ago crying my eyes out thinking of the good ol' times from my childhood. Something super cool about this class is the observation hours. We spend 20 hours tutoring a student. Yesterday was my first night tutoring and it kind of started off awesome. The house where I'm tutoring has two siblings that require separate tutors. The other tutor and I walk in at the same time and introduce ourselves and I say that I'm here for [insert older child's faux pseudonym here] and then the youngest child looks at the older kid and goes "Awww you're so lucky." That same child then tries to cover it up and says "I'm lucky too. I'm actually luckier." Moral of the story is my first impression with 9 year olds rocks. My favorite thing about this class [which makes me a total fatty]...snacks <3 The professor started out the semester with bringing in food and a classmate started a sign up list for the rest of the semester.

Teaching Theory & Methods: 1st place when it comes to school work. This is the class that I lose sleep over just to make sure I've got everything done. There's current even posts, reading logs, reading organizers, reading questions, and my favorite thing...classroom observations and writeups. We're required to do 45 hours of observations between elementary. middle, and high school. That is actually cut down to 25 hours since the 20 tutoring hours from the diversity course are applicable to these 45 :] I started my observations a week and a half ago and I absolutely love it. Which is a total shock because I've been dead set on teaching elementary school since 7th grade and now I'm second guessing that option. I still need to check out elementary and high schools before I totally decide...but I'm just surprised as how much I'm loving middle school. I've had a chance to see U.S. History, Algebra, Language Arts, and P.E. Tomorrow is my last day of middle school observations so I'm a little sad about that. But just a little because elementary school is next week and I'll really get to see how I feel about the little kids!

Blah. I guess my reason for this post was to be able to come back to it in about 6 or so weeks and see how my sentiments have or haven't changed. Sorry for the long and lengthy and post about nothing fun unless you're on the same or similar career path as I am. I'm sure you non teacher folks have checked out before getting to this point. To those that haven't...thanks for reading :]

All the images above were stolen from pinterest, below are some other favorites!

Happy Wednesday peeeeeeeople!

Life Lately...Part 2

Whoop. Part 2! No lame-o intro like yesterday, let the good times roll!  

Del Mar Races-

Horse races happen every summer out here and this was my first chance to go in a long time thanks to a work event that was being held there! Bet on random horses mostly because their name related to something in my life. Ended up picking a lot right, but somehow bet wrong and left the track being down $20. Oh well. It was super fun!

Baconfest-

My friends and I had been looking forward to baconfest for months. We are lovers of bacon. Even bought some super sweet day of the pig shirts from Butcher & Baker for this event! Unfortunately, it was kind of a letdown. Extremely hot day, too many people, not enough vendors which led them to run out of food an hour and a half into the event, lots of beeeeer (which sucked for someone like me who doesn’t drink beer) and ran out of water. Our group of 6 probably got about 7 samples out of the 40 advertised food vendors and that was because we split up a couple of times and were in different lines and got samples for everyone. Lots of people were upset, complained on their facebook and twitter. I wrote an e-mail to the organizer and threw a fit because it wasn’t worth the $60 they charged us. They’re working on righting the wrong and offered unsatisfied people VIP tickets for next year…I’ll keep you posted on how that works out :] We went to a friend’s beach BBQ right after and that was cool, but the best thing about that was we all got to see a random couple get engaged! How sweet is that?!!

Our awesome shirts!

The sweet proposal we got to see!

Birthday-

I turned 25 last week. Had some drinks with my friends the night before the big day! Couldn’t hang for a midnight drink because I’m a grandma and was in bed by 11:00 pm. Went to 6 flags with a few people on the day of my birthday. That was tons of fun, but very exhausting. And the drive was kind of veryyy long! Might need to get a hotel in the area next time. Not many pictures of that since I left my phone in the car all day…didn’t want to risk losing or dropping it! Also, one of my biggest goals for myself was to have my degree by the time I turned 25. I graduated in May and got my diploma in the mail the day before my 25^th! Just in time :] Birthday gift to myself was a new watch...I’ve been on the hunt for one for months. Loved this one, pulled the trigger and got it :] 

OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL!

Rascal Flatts-

Wasn’t too excited about this show, would have been the 3^rd time I’ve seen them and the other 2 times were very unimpressive. The only exciting thing about it was The Band Perry was the opener and I’ve loved them and the energy they put into a show for a while now! The Band Perry was great, and Rascal was better than the 2 other times that I’ve seen them, but still…nothing special. Whomp.

Fireball Jello Shots!

Most of us! Including Jessica's crew!

Okay, I think that’s it…or what’s noteworthy at least. There’s a couple of concerts and last few baseball games in the schedule before life settles down a bit. As fun as everything has been, I’m cool with some down time!