leaving on a jet plane

We are heading to CA today.

Husband's brother is getting married this weekend, and Husband is the best man. That's been a load of frustration, but mostly just for a lack of communication. For a while there, we thought BIL wanted Husband to wear his Class A's at the ceremony, which I was totally against. Once we actually talked to BIL though, it came out that he didn't care, so Husband is renting the typical tux. I'm much happier with this development.

We are lucky that my parents live about half a mile away from Husband's parents. We will be able to see both families easily without running around too much. My parents are also flying my youngest sister into town, so I'll get to see her. We are planning to do sisterly things on Friday morning. I'm hoping this entails shopping and eating lunch.

We also have plans to have lunch with my great-aunt and great-uncle, to see our friends and their six month old daughter, to attend a rehearsal dinner, to go to an A's game, to spend the night in Sonoma, for me to have mani/pedis/champagne with the girls, and for Husband and his brothers to have a bachelor party. Wow. I hope we make it home in once piece.

When we travel across the country, which we do way more than I wish we did, I am always thankful that it only takes 4 hours on a plane. For LIW, going from GA to CA for a wedding just wouldn't have happened. And if for some strange reason she felt like packing up the wagon for the 2,500 mile journey, it certainly would have taken longer than 4 hours. I am definitely glad for the ease of long distance travel. Although I would prefer to go back to CA less frequently, I am at least happy that it is a relatively painless trip.

new job

I'm cautiously optimistic about this...

I had an interview, and they loved me, and recommended me to HR for hire!

The cautious part is because I have yet to hear from HR. I'm really not worried, seeing as how the VP called HR on Friday, and they were closed yesterday. I'm meeting the principal today, and I'll ask her when I should expect to get a call. Until I sign those papers though, I'm not counting on anything.

The job is teaching fifth grade, which I love, at a Title I school. Title I pretty much just means poor. To qualify for Title I status, and the federal funding that goes with it, schools have to have 40% of students designated as low-income. Title I often also means low achieving students with poor behavior, but not always.

I taught fifth grade my first two years, both in Title I schools. My students at those schools were a mix of recently homeless and living in transitional housing, Coast Guard families, English Language Learners, and just plain old low income. My second year teaching, of my 30 students, 10 were ELL students, and 5 of those spoke very little English.

In my interview, the VP was very excited that I speak Spanish. She said their Spanish speaking population is increasing, and they need teachers who can communicate with families. While I'm glad to find a place that needs my skills, I'm hoping this doesn't mean I get all the 5th graders who speak Spanish. I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

morning workouts

After a good break from the gym, I'm back at it. Last week Husband and I went 4 times, at 5am. This week I've gone twice already, at 6am. Husband was off yesterday and needed to sleep, and he had to be at work by 6am today. I'm hoping he can go with me tomorrow.

I've been gymming long enough to know that I need to get up and go. If I dawdle too long, I end up skipping it. When I workout before heading to work, I leave the apartment within 20 minutes of waking up. It's wake up, pee, put my contacts in, feed the cats, drink some water, and go.

Back when I was going to Jazzercise (from 2000-20007!), I went after work. I very rarely went home first, because it made leaving so hard. I know that once I'm at the gym, I'll stay and have a good time. But it's actually getting there that's the tricky part. ;)

New dress!

I ordered this dress from JCrew to wear to a wedding next month, and I love it! Even though I got it in petite, I need to have the straps altered a little. It fits really well other than the straps, and makes my legs look long and my waist look small. I'm quite a fan!

I'll wear it with my grey heels, which are from last season, and I can't find a picture.

Husband is in the wedding, as the best man, and he'll have a tux on. I don't know what colors he'll have, but I hope it matches my dress!

Back when I was teaching and making serious (well, serious compared to what I make now) money, I got my toes done every two weeks. Now that I'm part time and hourly, I still get pedicures, but much less frequently.

However, I'm not sure this is an economically wise choice, as I have started buying nail polish like it's going out of style. I really like this Sally Hansen line. They have all kinds of bright colors, and the brush is super wide and makes it easy for me to paint my toenails.

So today, I'm painting them Speedy Sunburst. It looks like a watermelon kind of pink. My toes are currently red, from a pedicure I indulged in two weeks ago. And I hope this Speedy Sunburst lasts until I get to CA and do the girls' day pedicure with my MIL, my SIL to be, and her mother and sister.

Jekyll Island

We went away for the weekend, and had a great time. We left after Husband got off work Thursday, and came back Sunday afternoon. We wanted to leave Thursday morning, but Husband's work got in the way.







After breakfast in the mornings, we walked on the beach. It was huge, and practically empty! We didn't swim though, because the water is sandy. We did our tanning at the pool.

We had a nice dinner on Saturday night, with wine and coffee.

We had no idea this kind of place was in GA! I always knew GA had coast, but never really thought about what it would look like. We definitely made a good choice in going here.















For lunch on Friday we had oysters and shrimp. So.freakin.good. I only eat oysters on vacation, and they're always delicious.















And Husband had a fruity drink. I always tease him that he can keep his umbrella drinks next to my plate, and I'll put my beer next to his. ;)















We wanted to go up in this lighthouse, but it was closed for renovations. It was still fun to look at.

on the porch

Our apartment has a screened in porch, and I love it. I'm out on the porch right now, and listening to about 3879 different birds calling. All I see are trees, with the morning sun breaking through and hitting all the green leaves. (I can hear traffic too, but we'll ignore that right now.)

Juan Carlos is out here with me too, sitting on the windowsill. The cats, especially Bella and Juan Carlos, enjoy coming out here. When I open the blinds in front of the sliding door that opens to the porch, Bella always runs over and waits for me to open the door.


She came out this morning, but the JC did too, and got too close for her comfort. She's a princess like that. When he leaves her alone, she'll just sit up on a windowsill and watch and listen. She's the most graceful at jumping up on the sills. Omar can do it, but he's pretty big, so I think he has a hard time fitting himself n the 2 inch wide beam. JC is the smallest, but I guess he's just not as strong as Bella, because he's always scrambling to make it up all the way.

I really love coming out here at the end of the day, when it's hot and humid, and drinking a beer. Right now I just have coffee. It's not as fun, but I supposed it's more appropriate for 8:40 in the morning.

PS- Of course, right after I posted, Bella came back out!