It's getting to be that time...

So, I write this blog because I just need to let it all out...

I am not a very easily stressed person.  If you ask all roomates I've had, the stress usually doesn't get to me.  I do however remember one day in college my sophomore year when I let the stress get to me and proceeded to cry like a baby on my dorm room floor.

I'm getting to that point right now... yup... the point where something stupid starts tears welling up in my eyes... when all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry for a good long while.

So, I'm going to vent for a moment and I'm going to share my bucket with all of you, cause my bucket is full and it's about ready to tip over and cause a flood of epic proportions.

My Bucket:
- Running Club (I love these kids and I love the club, but it is two hours of each week) on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school.
- Stage Crew (for the 3rd grade musical) for the next two Wednesdays of school
- The 3rd Grade Musical, May 6th
- Creating a montage video of all the Honor Choirs in our district (has to be done by the May 3rd board meeting)
- The May 3rd Board Meeting
- Honor Choir singing at Arts night May 4th
- Teacher Running Club (Again, something that I really do love) on Mondays afterschool
- Honor Choir rehearsals (My favorite thing, but one more thing to wake up early for) every Tuesday morning before school.
- Honor Choir singing at the Kane County Cougars Game May 14th
- Honor Choir Festival May 19th
- Honor Choir Field Trip day May 19th as well
- 4th Grade Revolutionary War night April 27th with 4th graders singing...
- My birthday (sad that this is adding to my bucket) April 26th
- Nicole's Graduation in Peoria May 2nd (wouldn't miss it for the world cause she's one of my best friends)
- My Graduation for my Masters May 9th
- Finishing my Action Research for my Masters
- Running a half marathon May 2nd
- Race Directing our first annual Running of the Wolves 5K Run/Walk at school May 23rd... we already have 113 people signed up... and it's still a month away... this is the BIG one... this one adds to my bucket daily.

That's it... all in the span of a month I need to be completely prepared for all of these things going on in my life... it's CRAZY!!!!!!!!!  So if you were wondering where I am... I'm trying to keep my bucket level so it doesn't go spilling all over the place...  Talk to me on May 23rd and I'll be free and easy... talk to me on June 2nd and things will be even better!!!

The light at the end of the tunnel:

- June 2nd - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
- June 10th - Me and Mom driving to Florida
- June 17th - I'm flyin' to Wilmington, NC to meet up with Denise, Andrea, AND Amy and I get to see where they film One Tree Hill!!!!
- July 4th weekend - Traveling to Michigan to visit the Grandparents!!

So bear with me folks, cause I'm working on hanging in there... barely.

Personal Victory... and Realization

So... today was a great day.  Mainly because after yesterday's 2 mile run outside, I ran 6 miles on the treadmill today!!  That was the personal victory for me.  Here's the deal with this whole thing...  My next race is in May, the first weekend actually.  13.1 miles that I've got to do, but I've got to do the training to get there obviously, so I have come back to this running thing.  I went away from it and sucked it up because I was lazy and felt sorry for myself.  It's interesting because I've been dealing with a lot of stuff involving my work and some uncertain future issues, and exercise has always been a stress releiver for me.  So, why do I then abandon it??

My friend Amy posted a blog a while back about losing weight and exercising, and she has the same thing as me.  Starting to get older and realizing that your metabolism isn't what it used to be, but not necessarily being overweight by any means... but getting bored with the whole exercising thing.

Yesterday was the day that I realized that I need to actually get off my butt and run.... so it is ON.

What Normal Person Does THIS When They're Sick???

So... I'm sick, which totally blows, however, it did let me get some stuff done today.  I have been totally immersed in Ally McBeal seasons since I got them for Christmas.  This have made all of my friends freak out because I haven't been watching my REAL shows at all since I started the craziness of trying to get through Ally McBeal.  I was finally able to catch up on my TV, which is AWESOME!!!  I've caught up on Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, One Tree Hill, HIMYM, and Biggest Loser... oh and Brothers and Sisters and Desperate Housewives.  It has been a good time catching up.

Today, however, I also did somehing else that makes me happy today too!!  I signed up to run my 4th Half-Marathon!!!  The Great Wester Half-Marathon is on May 2nd this year, and my goal is to be sub 2 hours so I can qualify for a Start Corral for the second thing I did today!  I ALSO signed up to run my 2nd Marathon!!  I'm in it for the Chicago Marathon, and I'm sooooo excited about being able to do it this year.  Hopefully, I don't end up getting myself injured or anything, but I'm working on making sure that doesn't happen.  So... training craziness starts u soon, so wish me luck!!

Money STINKS!!!

Money Stinks....

Seriously.

Those are my thoughts on this lovely Wednesday morning.  We had a meeting earlier, and I knew that unless I vented out my frustrations, I wouldn't be able to think clearly at all today, so here I am... venting to all of you.  I don't complain about many things, because I'm of the mindset that if you don't take steps to change it, you shouldn't be complaining about it.  I promise that I plan on writing my congressmen a letter after posting this blog, so let me have my minutes please!

My school district is a great one, and in comparison to other school districts, we definitely hold up as far as our kids performance.  I have great pride in working where I do, and I love EVERY minute of my life as a teacher.  However, I'm flipping out with talks about budget and all of those wonderful things because we are frozen.  Nobody is allowed to spend any money.  My honor choir might not get to do their field trip that they do every year.  And this just in... if they start cutting staff... I'm not tenured.  This is the part that totally BLOWS!!!  The first day of next year, I have tenure, which would make me safe from the craziness of pink slips and firing.  However, with all of the talks that are coming down, I don't know if I'm going to get to see that first day of next year.  I have many friends that are out of work, many of them teachers.  Some are doing aid positions and some are working retail.  While I love my second job at American Eagle... I don't think that I want it to actually be my livelihood.

In short, the state of Illinois needs to start paying its public schools, I'm freaking out about not having a job next year, and I kind of want to cry a little bit...

Back on the Mainland... What Do I Do Now??

Now that I'm back, I'm totally bummed... I admit tthis... It's not like I don't want to be here at all, it is just that I now have the travel bug and I have discovered that there are places that currently have 80 degree weather when we have below zero weather and SNOW.  However, it has forced me to realize a few things.  It has also forced me to think about some things.

I get in "funks".  My best friend and I call them that... just a mood that I can't explain that makes me just "funky".  I am currently in one of those "funks" as we speak, which always makes me think a lot.  It makes me think a lot more than I am probably supposed to, which totally stinks.

During my thoughts, I have come up with a few things.  First being, I'm sorry that I have been MIA.  I have been this to basically all of my friends.  Therefore, I apologize to all of you who usually talk to me on a regular basis, and how I totally fell off the face of the planet for you.  Second thoughts were of New Year's resolutions.  I don't like to just make one resolution, because then there is a let down if you don't make that one resolution.  So, instead I aim to make goals.  This year, I am making ten of them, some frivalous and some serious.  So... here they are:

1. Lose 15lbs. by the end of the 2009-2010 school year.
2. Run a sub-5 marathon (Chicago or Nashville).
3. Run a sub-2 half marathon.
4. Rewatch the entire X-files series (this is one of those silly ones)
5. Go to Wilmington, NC to see where they film OTH (another silly one)
6. Actually finish my Masters project (I know this is required, but it's looking like I'm stalling)
7. Rewatch the entire Gilmore Girls series (another silly one)
8. Spend more time with my friends
9. Go visit my grandmother Underwood.
10. Exercise at least 4 times a week.

Last Trip Blog... See you on Monday!!

Okay, so no joke… we woke up this morning for our rehearsal (for the show in which I am freaking Britney Spears), and it was COLD!! Well… that is… It was 60 degrees, which is far cooler than what it was in Cozumel yesterday. And I’m thoroughly depressed now folks. While I love each and every one of you back at home, I really wish that I could just stay here on the ship. The daily schedule has been as such:


9ishAM: wake up and go eat breakfast.
10ishAM: put on selected swimsuit and cover up of the day.
11ishAM: lay out in the sun or go in to the random port of call for an excursion.
2ishPM: get back on the ship and take a nap.
4ishPM: wake up and shower.
4-8PM: walk around the ship and listen to random singers, or go to casino, or hang outside and read, basically mill around for a while.
8PM: go to dining room and eat YUMMY food.
10:30PM: do some karaoke or see a show or get some frozen yogurt (available 24hours a day)
1:00AM: go to sleep.

I don’t want to go back to the normal grind yet guys!!! It’s okay though, cause I have plenty of stories for each of you… including the best… which will be tonight.

I told you all that I was going to be Britney Spears in the final show on the ship tonight… which is true, but today we reahearsed and got our costumes. If any of you remember the Britney Spears video for “Hit me Baby One More Time”, you recall the catholic school girl outfit. Yup… red and black short pleated skirt, white collared shirt tied at the stomach, black heels, and pigtails… THAT is my costume!! We laughed sooooooo hard when we saw them! Gina’s had the best hair too, the big huge Gloria Estefan curly wig. And Annika’s Madonna outfit is hysterical… black bustier, fishnets, pink skirt, lace black gloves and everything! What the best part is, is that I totally have backup dancers!! It’s freaking AWESOME!! So, we’ll just say that you are going to LOVE the pictures from this night, cause I’m rocking the Britney out!!

This is the last blog of the trip since tomorrow is debarkation and we have to get off the ship sooooo early. Other than that there may be a blog about how it stinks to be back in cold weather! Other than that, I’ll see a lot of you at school on Monday!!!

I Swam with a SHARK!!!!

Okay, let’s get this straight right now… there is now no other way for me to ever be able to celebrate New Year’s Eve. When we got to dinner, they had hats for us, and then later they gave us noisemakers (with our table, that was a BAD idea… but a funny one). The waiters sang and danced, which was awesome, and everybody was all dressed up for the evening. Then we went up on the Lido deck, which is where the main pool area is, and partied and counted down until midnight! The ship blew its horn and we all drank champagne. I have a few funny pics from last night that I wanted to share with y’all too.

This one isn’t really funny… just me and Abbie, gussied up for the New Year!

This one is why they shouldn’t have given us noisemakers… seriously… we almost peed our pants from laughing so hard. At one point I think Matt had four horns in his mouth at once and then Christian tried to put all of the ones from our table in his mouth as well. Nimesh (our waiter for the trip) thought that was amusing.

Now onto today… with the BEST EXCURSION EVER!!! I went snorkeling and kayaking today in Cozumel… as well as had some amazing Mexican food, got to hold a starfish, and played some sand volleyball. There were only 14 of us and we were on the most remote beach like EVER!! No children (thank goodness after yesterday), and there were no other people. However, let me share with you what I actually got to see while snorkeling… because our leader had NO FEAR! The fish were phenomenal, but my personal favorites were the SHARK, lobster, and stingrays that we saw. No joke… saw a shark. I’ll be it that it was a little shark, but it was a shark nevertheless!! This was the coolest thing EVER, cause the shark literally swam directly underneath me, and I hope that the picture turns out that I took of it! Then he got a lobster to come out of hiding and a yellow spotted stingray… all of which were AMAZING!! So, I’m a happy camper…. Minus the sunburn, cause that is pretty bad.

Here’s a picture of the beaches as we were leaving the area… look at how clear the water is!!