a BIG thankful thursday...

Well, I haven't blogged in two weeks, and I didn't really plan on getting back into it today, but last night I received some fabulous news that is perfect for Thankful Thursday:

I'M EMPLOYED!

YIPPEE!!!

Come September, this girl will have her own classroom at a school for the deaf in Brooklyn. The people who hired me can't tell me what grade I'll be teaching yet, but they asked for my preference and I told them anywhere between pre-school and 2nd-grade would make me happy. The bottom line, though, is that I will be a head teacher in an elementary school classroom with students who are deaf, which is all I ever really wanted.

The funny part of the story is that I have spent the past two weeks waiting for the official word on whether or not I was hired, even though my interviewers basically alluded to hiring me on the spot. In my eyes, they wanted to hire me but would be making the official phone call several days later. In their eyes, they did officially offer me the job on the spot and there was nothing left to clarify. So, basically, I've spent two weeks in anxiety when really, I secured the job two weeks ago. Aaand I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to my mother and my handsome roommate for the hours of neuroses I wasted on them.

Anyway, I'll keep you all posted on the details when I learn what they are. For now, I'm just basking in the surreal-ness that I've snagged my first-ever real job and that I can now enjoy summer knowing that once autumn arrives, I'm going to be ok.

thankful thursday.

THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR TODAY:

I have had one interview and one interview-screening-process (don't ask) that I think have gone really well. Fingers crossed.

Fox (the boy I babysit) and his parents have moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn. My door-to-door commute is now about 1.5 hours, but so far, I haven't minded. Extra reading time on the subway and getting to explore a wonderful neighborhood (that includes Prospect Park, hello!) has been super fun.

I got an iPhone, y'all.

Before that happened, my Droid randomly broke out of the blue. I was freaking out about being phoneless while babysitting and interviewing for jobs but Nick remained calm and supportive, let me borrow his phone for the day and helped make phone calls to Sprint stores to set up the right appointments to have my phone looked at. What would I do without him?

Last Saturday, I took the certification test for Education of the Deaf and Hard and of Hearing. Provided that I pass, it was the last certification test I'll have to take. Thank. God.

My summer schedule has been fabulous: I work 4 or 5 hours a day, a few days a week. This extra free-time has allowed for many home-cooked meals and treats (a pitcher of homemade Arnold Palmer sits in our fridge as I type. I know, so Martha Stewart, right?! [sarcasm]).

Eric and Kaylee, two of our good friends who we probably spend the most of our time with, are moving in together at the beginning of July, just down the street from us. Yay neighbors!

SO MUCH READING TIME. I have been zipping through books. Hence all the book reviews. Sorry for the onslaught.

It's firefly season.

Lastly, I'm still swimming in memories from our girls' weekend in Colorado, wishing Colorado was a lot closer and/or that we all lived in the same place. On our last night there, we were watching several (amazing!) youtube videos, one of which was hilariously horrifying but totally sums up how I feel...at least, just the chorus. Not really anything else...

thankful friday?

I missed Thankful Thursday yesterday because I was busy all day but that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about what I am thankful for!

It's been kind of cruddy weather all week (humid and rainy - the worst combination) but up until the day my family left town, we had stunning, perfect, glorious weather. Weather can make or break someone's vacation so I am so thankful the weather was cooperative with my special guests in town and as a result, I can handle the grayness that is now outside.

This weekend I head back to Albany for a nice, long holiday weekend. I am always thankful for my second family, delicious home-cooked meals, furry friends to cuddle with, backyard lounging, and driving in a car.

I made three homemade meals this week when I can't even remember the last time I made just one. The end of my semester lead to a lot of eating out, ordering in, and letting Nick take charge of the kitchen. I was thankful to get back in there and have my own fun again.

Thankful Thursdays got a shout out! It's always important to make gratitude lists and I love when other people jump on the bandwagon.

My teacher at the internship got me a Barnes & Nobles gift card that I hadn't used yet, but when one of my best friends from home also got me one as a graduation gift, I decided to go crazy with the book purchasing again. I swear, I try not to buy books but the opportunities keep coming my way! Coming in the mail: Bossypants by Tina Fey, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, Letters To A Young Poet by Rainier Maria Rilke, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So many books, so little time....but I'm thankful, as always, for my love of books and how many I am dying to read, as well as for the people who know that they are the best gifts ever.

Happy Thursfriday everyone. Have a fabulous first-weekend-of-summer!

thankful thursday.

OHMYGOD I ALMOST FORGOT TO DO THIS.

I have lost track of time. All week. Ok, so that's the first thing I'm thankful for. Yours truly is on no schedule and it has been niiiiiice.

I am thankful for sleeping in until 8 am.

I am thankful for being able to hang out with Nick when he gets home instead of running to my "homework table."

I am thankful for lots of reading time. I am thankful for lots of TV time. I am thankful for lots of gym time.

I am thankful for my wonderful graduating class with whom I had a short but lovely graduation party last night.

I am thankful for family time! Albany this weekend to celebrate mother's day and then my own family arrives in the Big Apple next week. Yahoo!!!

I am thankful for all the support and congratulations that has come my way but you all already know this. 

Anyway, happy Thursday. I love you all. Cheers.

thankful thursday.

Well, tonight, I turn in my last homework assignment...ever. And tomorrow is my last day of student-teaching.

I could just end this thankful thursday post here and now, don't you think?

I predict that there will be celebratory champagne in my very near future...

thankful thursday.

In the past week I've reunited with old friends who are now new neighbors, had the laziest Sunday of my life, finished my application with the Department of Education, finished another book, caught up with my mom on the phone before she jetted off to Italy, was told by a student that she didn't want me to leave early to go to campus, and then later was ambushed with hugs from three of my students before they went off for lunch.

Happy Thursday, kids.

thankful thursday.

In case you didn't see it on facebook, it was a big week for both Nicholas and myself. 

Also, I was emptying an old binder to use for my Master's Project and I found a bunch of scrapbook gems. Things like a copy of my senior speech, old poems I wrote, a ticket stub from the show where Nick and I had our first kiss, and this little photo of Taylor and Jhani circa...1993 maybe? 

Watermelon is back in season, y'all. I am a watermelon hoarder during the summer months. It's on. 

We are in the midst of my favorite possible temperature range (63ish degrees to 77ish degrees, to be specific).

School's not over but thanks to the Master's Project being over, there is more reading time, more TV time, more gym time, more friends time, and more snuggling time. Mostly, I'm just breathing a little bit more. So cheers to that. 

thankful thursday.

Since last Thursday, I have felt like one little busy bee. Yet, beyond the traveling and the babysitting hours and the working on my Master’s Project, there have been quite a few things to appreciate this past week.

• A glorious Easter in Albany with yummy food, quality family time, puppy kisses, and being able to go for a run outside.

• A 30-minute conversation with my grandmother on Monday night. Few things in life are more rewarding than knowing how much just a phone call can mean to someone special in your life. Also, she always ends the conversation by saying, "And say hello to your lover for me."

• UVM friends in town both on Tuesday night and tonight and me actually being able to visit with them thanks to Lexington being on spring break this week.

• Glee is back!

• A brief and distant sighting of a bearded Paul Rudd as he shot an unnamed Christmas movie in Williamsburg on Tuesday night. An autograph or a hug would have really been magical but hey, glass-half-full…

• Wednesday night date nights are back.

• Sunny walks in Central Park with baby Fox who is super giggly these days and finally old enough to sit in a swing. (I’m also thankful his mom hired me for the week so I could get a little extra cash flow!)

• Another day closer to graduation...

thankful thursday.

Everything has been a haze as I move from one activity to the next: wake up, go teach, go to campus, meet with professors, babysit, finish a paper, go to the gym, cook dinner, go to sleep, and so on and so forth. I am a chicken running around with my head cut off - I have been for the last week, and I will be for the next week and a half. Spring break at my teaching internship starts tomorrow but it certainly isn't a vacation. A Masters Project and a huge group project are calling my name. As the semester winds down, the anxiety and deadlines are winding up and suddenly, I find myself making a million lists, asking a million questions, and doing a million things. And so, today, I am thankful for two things.

1) Despite the chaos and the exhaustion, I still feel somewhat sane and like I still have a handle on things. I am busy, but I am not screwed. And the end is so, so close.

2) Wine. Thank. Goodness. For. Wine.

an example of what my daily planner has been looking like

thankful thursday.

Some days just suck, don't they? And sometimes not for any particular reason. I was feeling that way yesterday - stressed about school, worried about finding a job and making money, and definitely missing the west coast and feeling a little homesick. I didn't really want to do a Thankful Thursday today but I knew that that was exactly what Thankful Thursday is for: to find the good when you're feeling a whole mess of not-so-good. So I thought about my week and about the little things that are worth remembering and this is what I came up with.

• Every morning, on the way to my teaching internship, I pass the same old man who wears a newsie cap and walks with a slow determination. Every morning he looks up to make eye contact with me and smile. That small effort always makes me smile back and makes the morning feel a little more glorious. 

• Umm, I skyped with my dad last night. You guys need to understand: my dad doesn't know how to set up a movie in the DVD player, how to turn on an iPod, or even how to sign into Facebook. He is the most technologically incompetent individual I've ever met. My stepmom, however, had someone set up Skype on his computer because she and my little brother Sam are away in Lebanon for several weeks. Seeing my dad's face on my computer last night was a sign of hell freezing over, I swear. But chatting with my dad "face-to-face" is so wonderful and I can't wait for Sam to return to California so I can harass him through Skype too. 

• Last night, I was coming home from dinner at a new Ramen restaurant (Nick went into the city to meet a friend who was in town) and I saw a bunch of kids outside the laundromat next door. They are there almost every night because their parents work in the laundromat. They were playing jump-rope and were so silly and giggly that it was hard not to giggle back. Something about innocent childhood youth makes me nostalgic but also reminds me that we choose whether or not we want to maintain that sort of effortless happiness in our lives.  

• Nick knew I was feeling glum last night and we were having intermittent text conversations while he was out. I couldn't NOT feel better when I glanced at my phone and saw these two texts: 
• "Life sucks sometimes. But at least we have each other to eat ramen with. :)"
• "I'm happy with us. Very happy. I love you now more than ever."

• Lastly, this blog. Amongst all the work I feel like I need to be doing, it is such a safe haven to run to the computer and share some of my thoughts through this creative outlet. I stopped keeping a journal almost two years ago but this blog continues to be a space where I can regroup, talk to myself, and reflect on the things that keep me going. I don't know who or how many people read this blog but at the end of the day, this blog is for me and only me, and on days like yesterday, I am so thankful to have it. 

Happy Thursday, everyone. I hope your week has been good and I hope your weekend is even better.

xoxoxo

thankful thursday.

I'm thankful that I have lunch duty on Thursdays because the high today is supposed to be 75 degrees. Excuse me while I ignore the kids and try to coax my freckles into making an early appearance.

I'm thankful that Nick and I are seeing Levon Helm up in Westchester on Saturday night with his parents. For free. Love mini-adventures like this.

I'm excited because two days ago, I bought my first live music purchase for the summer. Hot Chip is playing in Prospect Park the night before Nick's birthday in July. I can't wait for shorts, sunglasses, music shows, and cheap, watery beers - summer at its finest.

I'm still thankful for the extra hours of sunlight at the end of the day. The bus ride home from campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays is glittery and marvelous, especially as we cross the RFK bridge and the Manhattan skyline pops into view.

I'm thankful that Nick doesn't think I'm crazy for looking at hundreds of puppy pictures on petfinder.com. Or maybe he does think I'm crazy. The point is, he joins in on the fun. Or he joins in on the self-inflicted torture. Whatever you want to call it.

Also, the end of my night last night was painfully simple but exceptionally lovely. By the time I finished all the million things I usually do each day, I looked up at the clock, and couldn't believe it was only 9.30 PM. With no new shows on and Nick heavily invested in the Knicks game, I realized I had a full 90 minutes to sit, relax, and read my book. I poured myself a glass of wine, grabbed our blanket off the living room chair, and snuggled up. It's the little things, right?

 Lastly, THE HUNGER GAMES HITS THEATRES AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! While yes, I am nerdy enough to wish I was at the midnight premiere, early wake-up calls and responsibility (and nobody crazy enough to go with me) keep me waiting for a little bit longer. See you on Saturday morning, Katniss!

(I am getting a kick out of all the sarcastic e-cards that are floating around and I thought the one below was entirely appropriate)

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely Thursday. Get through it and soon it will be Friday! For that...I am thankful.

thankful thursday.

Sunshine! So far this week, I haven't worn my jacket once. I have walked a mile to the internship and a mile back each day in nothing heavier than a cardigan.

Fitness! Subsequently, this weather has me in the exercise zone. I not only have gone to the gym each night this week, but I have been pushing myself harder than I can remember doing in ages. Bring it on, bathing suit season.

I have flossed every night this week! Don't laugh, this is huge for me, guys.

Student-teaching is still in session but Columbia is on spring break! I may be teaching all day but not having night class is making a world of difference. Getting home at 3 pm has turned me into the most productive and pleased person ever.

Phone conversations with Mom! It's sad that this is something to be thankful for, but with our busy schedules, our 3-hour time difference, and our tendency to chat on and off through our g-chats and text messages, we don't talk on the phone nearly as much as we used to. I'm grateful for the hearty chats we got to have this week.

University of Vermont Catamounts! My alma-mater isn't known for their sports, really, so whenever our hockey team or basketball team makes it on TV, it's kind of a big deal. The men's basketball team just beat Lamar last night for a shot in the playoffs as a 16-seed team. This weekend they'll play North Carolina, a 1-seed team. Yikes. Good luck, boys!

thankful thursday!

There is an exclamation above because I almost forgot to do this!

Thankful for:

Ridiculously warm weather that hopefully sticks around awhile.

The surprise book I got in the mail from my mom (Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh).

Bad news: My cooperating-teacher has to stay home with her pneumonia-ridden son tomorrow. Good news: I am running the classroom for a full day! I have to do this at the end of the semester for a whole week so hopefully this will push me through any nerves or doubts I am feeling about my capabilities. 

A short week thanks to our weekend in Burlington. 

I get to eat at least one cupcake tomorrow at Nick's co-worker's dinner party (we're the ones bringing the cupcakes. heh heh). 

Risa is still on the east coast. 

Daylight Savings Time is coming up. Sunshine galore.

thankful thursday.

BURLINGTON TOMORROW! I can't wait to return to the little city that forever has a piece of my heart. Not to mention: best friend reunions - they are the best.

Risa (a best friend from home) was in town on Tuesday night. She was visiting her brother for two nights and was only a few neighborhoods over. While her brother was at rehearsal, she popped by and we made taco salad and drank wine and gossiped and she told me about her month-long trip to Thailand. Needless to say, girls nights like these are simply glorious. I saw her again last night at her brother's play and she'll be waiting for us in Burlington when we arrive tomorrow morning. Once again, yay for best friend reunions.

In the process of making taco salad, Risa and I dirtied almost every pot and pan and used almost every bowl to keep the ingredients separate for self-serve. Nick came home from the gym, ate dinner with us, then cleaned the kitchen for almost an hour while Risa and I girled out. Love that man.

Hello, March! You bring me another month closer to graduation.

About a month ago I bought a new plastic filing drawer from The Container Store. It annoyingly cost $40 and I annoyingly spent almost an hour organizing and re-labeling all the paperwork I keep - schoolwork, bills, financial aid papers, menus, recipes, etc. Yesterday, I needed to refer to a unit outline from a class I took in the fall of 2010. I found it in under a minute. Winning.

I bought two new plants for our apartment. I'm thankful for tiny additions that make a house (apartment) a home.

thankful thursday.

I have been sleeping in until 8 or 8.30 every morning this week. 

I re-potted our plants this week with fresh soil. Grow, babies, grow!

Nick and I head to Burlington in about a week for a Mardi Gras celebration. Food, parades, sequins, and friends. It doesn't get better than that.

The families I babysit for - they are flexible, laid-back, and unbelievably sweet. All of them. When I moved to New York I had ugly predictions of what kinds of families I would find but I have been nothing but lucky. 

Because it's a vacation week, I decided to let myself indulge in an unhealthier breakfast than usual. Helloooo, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Greek Yogurt, you'll be back next week.

Jeremy Lin! Of all the New York teams, basketball is my favorite to watch but they have sort of been awful for a long time. Not anymore. The Knicks are back in action, baby. 

Yesterday I had a two-hour lunch with a friend from graduate school who I hadn't seen in almost a year. Reunions are just the best. 

I found an old gift certificate to Barnes & Nobles yesterday so I went online and looked up a bunch of books I had been dying to read for ages. By getting used books instead of new books I was able to get SIX of them. So. Frigging. Excited. (I'm failing a major goal of mine but hey, that gift certificate wasn't going to use itself)

Lastly, February is almost over. Graduation/summer/personal goal dates are getting closer...