STUFF AND THINGS AS OF LATE

I tell you what, this has been the weirdest September of my life, I think. For one, it seems like I'm just completely exhausted. The little introvert inside of me is screaming for some alone time, and for the first time in what feels like a long time, I finally have some. My apartment is quiet and I have the day off! Actually, the only thing I have to do today is go into the spa for my one hour massage appointment courtesy of my sweet boyfriend. Yeah, I know. Spoiled. 

School may not have been in session for me this month, but I've been completely swamped with things to do. Actually, I think this year has made me feel more like an adult than I have in any of my past moments of adulthood. And I'm attributing that to the fact that I am not taking a class or teaching classes as of right now. 

Except on Wednesday I'm teaching a two hour ish watercolor session that includes wine and appetizers and if you're in the area and want to come email or text me! Hashtag shameless plug. 

And if we take a step back and look at all the stuff I've been doing recently, a lot of it is actually art related and that blows my mind. My teaching job at the high school may have closed one door, but then all of these windows just starting opening up and it's been really cool to watch as my life goes in to hyper drive. This has become the biggest season of change for me - in ways that I never even imagined. 

Speaking of being in hyperdrive though, I worked 11 days in the last two weeks and while that's going to make an awesome paycheck, the well that holds my will to interact with other people is running a little dry. I felt sick all day yesterday and while I'm thinking part of that may have been because (hashtag TMI) mother nature oh so kindly let me know I wasn't pregnant this month, the other part of that I think is because I've been so busy with almost no down time and just, introverts don't function that way is what it is. 

I can love you, and love to hang out with you, but there comes a point in time where I retreat to my bedroom and if you follow me, I might cut you. So here we are, Monday! May you be just what I needed. 

And now, three photos. Because, just because, alright?

WHAT DOES WELL-FUNCTIONING EVEN MEAN?

This last week of school before break is somewhat torturous unto my soul. The kids are crazy and their little brains are focused on everything other than the task at hand, and I mean really, can you blame them? Not only is this week their last week before Christmas vacation, but it's also a Spirit Week before a big rivalry basketball game on Friday night. Gasps. My crazy little world just got even crazier.

And then there's the whole OH MY GOSH IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME going on here. I have a week to work with here, people, before there is present opening and monkey bread eating and my brother will be here with his cute little fiance in tow! Then we are all going skiing. And by "all" I mean the whole fam damily. My parents, both brothers, mah seester, mah future seester, and also me and that Nathan guy. I can hardly wait. Like, it might be killing me to wait for that trip. I am not even kidding.

But back to being at work for this week, look, it is tough stuff. I had a conversation with my awesome friend Joel over the telephone the other day, and hey, we agreed that this teaching stuff is pretty rough. He was making sure that I wasn't about to commit career suicide and I had to admit that the gun was maybe loaded, but it wasn't aimed at anything yet. This week is also not helping that case.

I keep telling myself we are just going to watch movies Thursday and Friday and that makes me feel a little better but I still kind of want to pull out all my hair. Kind of.

Oh but to briefly switch the subject, for those of you who were curious, I have slightly updated my wardrobe and that seems to be helping in the 'looks like 17 but is probably older' department. Although, spirit days and all have thrown a bit of a loop into the situation here. Hey, you can't win 'em all. But I'm trying. Wearing my hair pulled back seems to help too. Shoulder shrugs and heavy sighs.

My art room seems to be in a constant state of disarray and I feel like some deep seeded joke in the cosmos is reflecting that in my life as well. Everything is all over the place all the time. Do you ever feel like that? I mean, I conquered one thing (clothes!) and there are still a billion other things that need to be taken care of. It's just awesome, is what.

Also, this post I think is all over the place. Organization? What even does that mean? So here we are. It's definitely Wednesday. I need a glass of wine and a nap.

Over and out.







ps Nathan took me to see The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug on Friday night. It was awesome. Even better than the first. And we saw it in 3D too. AMAZE-BALLS. Go watch it RIGHTNOW and you can thank me later.

macklemore, the ren fair, and other some such things

This weekend was crazy, let me just tell you. First there was Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on Friday and good gravy that was a really fun concert. Oh yes. Lots of fur coats and fist pumps. 

TheBoy and I went out dancing after the concert was over and there were these three guys standing in line in front of us who were absolutely hilarious. Good gravy I do enjoy hanging out with that boy (who insists that he is a grown man, duhh) and he kissed me on lips right as we got in line to get inside the building.

"Did you two just get married?" This one guy asks. TheBoy and I look at each other and laugh, because really.

And then he says "What's the matter? She's pretty! Have you thought about it?"

"Well, I've thought about it-" TheBoy starts to answer. By this time I'm probably nine shades of red embarrassed.

"What, is he not handsome enough for you?" the guy asked, turning to me.

"Oh he's plenty handsome," I answer. If there is anything I like about that boy I'm with, he is probably the handsomest. And also one of the sweetest. I think he's just great. I kind of really like him a lot more than I had originally planned.

"Well, you two should get married," they tell us, laughing. I don't remember the rest of the dialogue that occurred between us and them, but it was funny and I've been laughing about it to myself for days. Some people's kids.



On Saturday was the Renaissance Fair where TheBoy promised the best caramel apples of my life. I was a bit skeptical, but interested. And also, I was not disappointed. Those apples were delicious! And the Renaissance Fair, while highly unauthentic to the time period, was really fun.

Tent after tent filled with everything from wheel spun pottery to handmade jewelry to knitted slouchy hats and scarves. Probably I could have walked around it all day. I felt lonesome for Art On The Green in Coeur d'Alene which is a very similar affair but on a much larger scale.

Unfortunately it seemed that before I could blink the weekend was over and it was Monday morning. Monday mornings are the worst, plain and simple. I hate leaving M-town, like, it physically hurts when the alarm goes off signaling me that it's time to get up and go.

To counteract my ever increasing case of the Mondays that literally makes me want to cry, I decided to curl my hair. I think it was worth it.

a first of sorts

Life has been kinda crazy lately. And by kinda crazy I mean a lot of stuff has gone down in the past month and a half. Some of it good, some of it not so good. Most of it I can't write about here - at least not yet. Which definitely puts a damper on my writing mood. I have probably written at least fifteen different posts and then deleted them all before anyone else laid eyes on them.

Part of that was so I could vent a few things to myself and get it out of my system and part of that was because I was so unhappy with what I had produced that I thought no one should ever read it ever. But you know, someone once told me that you have to create a lot of crap before you start creating masterpieces. So I don't feel too bad. Ahem.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know Alana, you should check out her blog. Also, I guest posted there today - a blogging first for me! Ah! When I originally agreed to write a post for her while she was on vacation I was a little nervous. It was very teenage girl of me, you know. Like oh my gosh what do I write about? Good gravy.

But, if you click over there you'll see that obviously I figured it out. A round of applause and other some such celebrations! Hooray!

And now, here are some pictures of life right now. Sometimes I think pictures speak more than words.

my goofy dog. she's a real snuggler.  

these "cookies" are just made with two ripened bananas, 1 cup quick oats and a handful of chocolate chips. ah-may-zing. 350 degrees for 15 minutes. you won't be sorry.

these pictures are just funny to me. instead of saying bye in person we texted each other pouty pictures. we're the silliest.

soy caramel latte with a feather design. it's like they know me. 

also i got to hang out with this guy. he's always a blast :)  

and well, happy monday everyone.

mission complete

I know it's a little early for an end of the year post, but I feel like it's as good of a time as any to throw out my favorite posts from this past year.

I wanted 2012 to be a good year because 2010 and 2011 kind of mostly sucked because of the drama that beheld them with a certain person in my life. But this 2012 thing, man. It has been twelve kinds of crazy and I have grown a lot from the events of this past rotation around the sun.

In January, SVI and I split ways and I got really involved in church, which was super fantastic and allowed me to build great relationships with awesome people.

February got me tatted up and thinking about the future.

March brought with it a few things, but my favorite part was spring break.

In April, I was super busy with the end of my semester and couldn't focus on really anything else.

I started the summer session in May and hung out with Tiger Lily a ton. I was also really excited for what was in store for me, but starting to realize that my time in Moscow was dwindling incredibly fast.

June was a monster. It was a tough month filled with a lot of transitions and also I started dating TheBoy.

There was a lot going on in July. I started a new job, decided to take a jump, and watched a lot of olympics.

August brought with it the start of my student teaching, and I forgot to blog about my birthday.

Life starting ramping up in September. School came into full swing, I learned massive amounts of pottery trying to stay one step ahead of my students, working with my amazing mentor teacher and making trips to Moscow to see TheBoy every other weekend.

There were lots of things that happened in October too. I think it was possibly the busiest month of my earthly existence. I had the TPA, and spoiled student, loads upon loads of paperwork and grading. I was teaching classes all by myself, subbing when my mentor teacher was gone, and trying to balance all of that with my home life as well. Sigh of relief once that was over.

November was another super tough month where I wrestled with things and feelings I'd never experienced before. And also made a decision that others didn't agree with - which was...interesting.

And then finally, December. I graduated from college (woop woop!), got a big girl job, got a macbook pro and a puppy from my parents, lots of nice things for Christmas and have been skiing to my heart's content.

So there you have it, folks. This year was about exploring myself and I think I accomplished that in ways I didn't know I was going to. A lot has changed and some of that makes me really sad and some of it makes me really excited about what's next. I'm starting to learn that even though years come and go, life never really stays the same even when you cross your fingers and your toes.

Everything and Liebster

So far this is the weirdest Christmas vacation I have ever had in my life. Mostly because of how it started and how it's going to end. The middle really isn't so bad, if we're being honest.

Friday we were supposed to have school, you see. But because of what happened at Sandy Hook elementary and the "fact" that the world was supposed to end soon, some rumors were circling the area and freaking some students out. Students and faculty were worried that some of our own students would get this big idea that they were going to go out with a bang on Friday, shooting up the school. 

I don't know about you, but I take those kinds of threats seriously - because if you just ignore it I think it will happen. And then you have to look back with the guilt of knowing you could have stopped it. So the head honchos called off classes and started winter break early. Which is a little scary, but I'm glad those students never got the opportunity to make those rumors come to fruition. 

And then my graduation present arrived in the mail, taking my mind off of why school was out of session and setting it to focus on one thing and one thing only - my brand new macbook pro. My mom handed me this cardboard box and I sang a few lines of "brown paper packages tied up with striiiiing" and plopped myself down on the couch having no idea what was about to become of me. 

That cardboard box was so deceiving! I looked down inside and saw a smaller white box with a black handle. Looking back up at my mom, I smirked. I smirked a knowing kind of smirk - one that says "really? you got me this?" Thinking that I was about to pull out of a box of expensive art supplies. I was all sorts of prepared for new brushes and watercolors and pencils, etc. 

Instead I got the shock of my life. I texted TheBoy with all caps. You guys! This! This is what I have been wanting and wanting and wanting and wanting and just when you think you reached the end of my wanting there was a crazy underground wanting garage. But macs are so expensive! I never in my entire life thought they would buy it for me, those sneaky rotten so-and-so's! 

I was completely speechless for about ten minutes. It felt like I could only talk in fragmented sentences "I'm so... You guys! ...but really.... it's just... wow." And it kind of just went on like that as I proceeded to open up the box, remove my new computer, start it up, set it up, and figure it out. Their only mistake was giving it to me before dinner, because pulling me away from it to get out the door for pizza was almost impossible. 

But aside from all that awesomeness, I have to remind myself not to get caught up in the commotion of wanting winter break to be almost over. TheBoy doesn't come back until three days before my break is over and when he first told me that I was mad. I was selfish and self pitying, complaining to my mom that all I wanted was to spend longer than a weekend with him for once and he was freaking gone. And then I got over it because there's nothing either one of us can do about it. A weekend together is better than nothing so I'll take what I can get because I'd rather have some than none at all. 

So to distract myself, Mom and I made Stollen today, which is German Christmas bread in case you were wondering. We made four loaves and are currently down to only one....and we didn't give any away. I am not allowed to eat any carbs tomorrow, guys. I swear. I am doing good at this whole losing weight thing and I'm not going to let these holidays stop me! But that bread! It could be my downfall. 

And on a slightly related note, I have recently rediscovered a love of reading. I read The Hate List in a day, it was so good I couldn't put it down. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that book. Although with all the Sandy Hook stuff going on, it hits a little close to home. In The Hate List it makes a small reference to the book Ender's Game - which caught my eye because I remember TheBoy had talked about liking that book. So I decided to read that one too. I think it took me three days to make it to the end. Such a good book - really. So now I need something new to devour over my Christmas vacation.

Reading always gives me ideas for writing too, and I had originally planned to write some sort of fiction piece for Friday's End of the World extravaganza, but then I ended up taking a nap instead. So there you go. I'd like to write more fiction though, I only have a couple pieces here on the blog, but I can't help feeling like I should do more. Maybe next week. 

Last, but not least, the great Stephanie whom I love and adore has tagged me in a blog post for the "Liebster Award" and so, you know the drill. Questions, answers, facts, more questions and tags. Ready....go!

The Qs: 

1. What's one thing you want for Christmas? Money. Honestly, the older I get the more that seems to come in handy. Plus, I already got my macbook pro so I'm pretty much set for life. 
2. What do you think our kids will say about the music we listen to? What will you say back? I'd like to think future generations will like the music we have now and they'll think it's cool because it's "retro" and then I'll play them some disco music to see what happens. We got to lay down that boogie and play that funky music til we diiiiiieeeeeee. Yes. 
3. Would you rather be eaten alive by kittens, or lick a hobo clean? Can I just completely opt out? I hate these kinds of questions. 
4. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself? Oh man, I would tell myself not to waste so much time being hung up on PC. Seriously. 
5. What's one thing you're really bad at that you'd love to do well? Sing. I can't carry a tune in a bucket but I'd like to. 
6. How do you feel about bleached blonde hair? Some people can pull it off and some people can't. The people that can't should really learn that about themselves...
7. Would you rather be a Yankee or a Southerner? I used to think I wanted to be a Southerner but Pinterest kind of ruined that for me with all the "You should prefer Southern girls and if you don't, raise your standards" That just kind of made me want to punch them all in the face. I'll stick with being from Idaho. 
8. Have you ever written a letter to Santa? Do you remember if you got what you wanted? I wrote a letter to Santa in 2nd grade and I had a 4th grader "elf" write back to me. It was a school project and I had grown up knowing that Santa wasn't real, so I never put much stock in crossing my fingers that he would bring what I wanted. 
9. How old were you when you had yours first crush? 4th grade. I had the hugest crush on Marty Hawkins. It was bad. 
10. Do you prefer the country or the city? I'm a country girl, but I could make a suburb work depending on what city I was near. 
11. Do you want to be rich when you grow up? Truthfully I just want to have enough money to live a comfortable existence that afforded a plethora of traveling opportunities, beyond that is not my concern. 

The Facts:

1. I am a huge grinch. I love Christmas, but it just takes me a really long time to get in the spirit of the season. 
2. I wish that holidays were more family filled, but none of my family seems to make that a priority. 
3. We get a brand new puppy on monday! Heyo! 
4. I'm really good at CatchPhrase.
5. I think coming up with 11 facts about myself is more difficult than it should be. 
6. I am not a people person. 
7. The telephone and I are not friends. 
8. I fully believe that actions speak louder than words so if you say something, you better back it up. 
9. Speaking in accents is way more fun than speaking in my normal voice. 
10. Sometimes I just want to run away from everything and go live in a foreign country. 
11. I'm really glad I made it to the number 11 on this list. That was hard. 


The New Qs: 

1. What is one thing you've never tried before but really want to?
2. If you could pick one new instrument to play, what would it be? 
3. What is your absolute favorite book of all time? And if you can't pick just one, give me your top three. 
4. Favorite thing to drink? 
5. What's the question you get asked most often and how do you feel about that? 
6. What age do you most often get accused of being? 
7. How did you meet your best friend?
8. Favorite holiday tradition? 
9. What's the biggest mistake you've ever made? 
10. How old were you when you realized what you wanted to do with your life? 
11. What's your favorite thing to wear? 


And now the Tags:

(If I'm honest, I will tell you that there aren't a great many people here in the blog world I feel comfortable enough to tag in a post, especially because this past year my posts have been so irregular and that I don't really have a steady following, so I'll just tag some people anyway and see what happens.) 
Natalie
Stephanie (can I pick you even though you already got it? I really want to know your answer to my #3 because I'm in the market for new and good books!)
...and I'm done. I'd tag Alana but Steph beat me to it. 

the one where i don't write a lot

I honestly don't know how the heck time travels so fast around these parts. October has been a whirlwind of events and pumpkin flavored things and let me just tell you, I am exhausted. I'm the kind of exhausted where I stand up from a chair and my legs want to go out from underneath me because my muscles just sort of...ache. What's up with that?

Plus, plans keep changing and falling through and you'd think I'd have learned not to get my hopes up about anything anymore, but, well, you know. Life goes on. That's really all I have to say about that. (That's not true, there's lots I could say but then this post would turn into an emo pity party and let's be honest, none of us want that.)

And because I'm not in the mood for a Debbie Downer post, here are some pictures of life lately:

bow-ties are cool

Hi.

It seems I don't know how to blog anymore. And leaving comments? Dudes, I'm so bad at it. Between student teaching and heading to Moscow to visit that one boy, it's like I don't even know what to say anymore. 

So I'll try and give you the skinny about everything. It could be long, so take a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. You know the drill. 

But first! My seester! She is the best, right? I mean, really. 

And now, the stuff. And things. 

Navigating the rough waters of student teaching is proving to not be as difficult as I had originally thought. At first I was like "all my students want to be here! yes! best semester ever!" And then I started teaching lessons. And then I started pushing students to work harder, to give it their best shot. Use the wooden pencil instead of the mechanical. Add value because this is not just a line drawing! 

And I encountered some resistance. Which at first I was like *blink*blink* lol, whut? What is this madness? I kind of wanted to cry a little bit because I felt kind of like I'd failed, and then I mentally kicked myself. I went back over to his table and tried to explain it a little differently to see if maybe I could change his mind? But then when my mentor teacher told him the same thing today that I had told him on Friday and he gave her the same attitude, I didn't feel so bad. 

I knew I was going to be blessed with these sweet moments. However, they still catch you a little off guard at first. Maybe he will like the next project? We'll see. 

Moving right along, you'll notice the walls of my room have changed color. That is because I spent a week painting. It was a long and involved process consisting of multiple trips to the paint department at Home Depot and developing a great relationship with a certain employee who was more than helpful and deserves a plethora of gold stars and awards. Phew, that was a long sentence. I'm glad you made it through. But seriously? I feel like painting took forever and I'm glad it's over. 

I might enjoy oils and watercolors, but friends, interior paint and I do not really get along all that well. I mean, let's be honest here. There's just too much to think about and it all has to be even. Although, as long as we're being honest, I did enjoy strategically placing hand prints on my sister's shirt and the fact that I still find flecks of teal paint in my hair. It's what all the cool kids are wearing, right? 

And then there's the boy. He's good. I'm good. We're good. Long distance sucks. We had to keep posing for this picture until we got it just right. It took like four or five tries. Not that I'm complaining...duhh :)

The upside to getting up early in the morning is that I get to see skies like this. I actually really enjoy being a morning person, I have so many hours in the day to do things! It's exciting! Even though it's not always easy to drag myself out of bed, I'm always glad when I do. 

Ultimately I'd like to wake up early enough to work out before I shower and get ready, but I'm not quite there yet. It would take an extra hour, so my plan is to build up to that. Well, that's the plan anyway. I mean, I have my own room now, remember? So I can totally work out in the mornings if I just find the time...which is really the only problem. Excuses, excuses. Right. 

This week is spirit week for homecoming on Saturday! What up! So I played dress up tonight with my mom's closet. I feel obligated to inform you that sadly she no longer wears this awesome 80s outfit, but she almost convinced me to wear it on Wednesday for decade day. I have opted to go with something a little more subtle than this rad red outfit with the complimentary bow-tie. Although, I make it look good. You have to admit it. 

Okay, not really. But seriously. 

Bow-ties? 

They rock my socks.