Back to Work!

What a break! One of the best parts about being a teacher is, of course, the breaks! Much needed breaks! I have been SO stressed out and I needed this for my health and sanity. Unfortunately, my break was almost as busy as my time working, but it didn't consist of lesson planning, so I'll be okay. No, really, don't worry, I'm quite alright. I had a minor break down last night at the prospect of going back, but all is okay now.

Most importantly, however, my best friend, Valerie, got married! She was so beautiful and had a beautiful wedding. I'm so happy for them. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves... (I never said they were good pictures...)

Sweet flower girls!

So happy!

Gorgeous!

Pastor Nathan did a great job. The bridesmaids are her sisters (one has a baby on the way!)

Saying the vows

Toasts!

First dance. Love the dress!

A few more...

I've got a few more album pages. I'm a little obsessed. That's a good thing though, I've been meaning to do this for some time. I'm a little disappointed at my last post though. One comment?! (Thanks mom! I love you!) I NEED feedback. Seriously. I have a thing about seeing things from another's perspective. So tell me what you think, mmmkay? It'll make this a little less stressful (even bad thoughts!). I just want to make sure they look okay before forking out that kind of money to get it printed.

So here's another batch for critiquing. I'm expecting a better turnout this time... (hint, hint, wink, wink).

On a more humorous note, Oliver discovered the mouse today. The computer mouse, that is. Oliver and Dudley are my computer buddies. They lay on either side of me while I'm working and annoy me by sticking their noses under my hands and subtly informing me that they want attention. Well, today Oliver was very intently watching the screen. This is very unusual. Then I noticed that he was following my mouse. So I started playing with him. Until he attacked the screen. Don't tell Rob.

Designer's Block

I'm having a bit of a block with my wedding album. I was making great progress for a little while. Then, I got to the set of pictures I have of Rob and I in the woods behind my church and realized just how many good pictures I have! I want to use as many of them as possible, so the problem isn't choosing, it's putting them in some sort of layout. So, I think I'm going to call it quits for tonight.

I realized as I was writing this post that I never told my wedding story here. Going through all the pictures has definitely brought the memories back to the surface of my mind, so I'll put that on my list of things to do over Christmas break. Along with finishing the album, figuring out how to edit video so I can put it on my blog, and catching up on some other topics I've been neglecting. I really was a bad blogger, wasn't I?

I hope I haven't disappointed my readers too much!

I'll leave you with the progress on the wedding album. Any suggestions/criticism/praise are more that welcome! PLEASE let me know what you think! This is my wedding album, I want it to look beautiful and be something pleasing to look at! Its really hard to see something from an outsider's point of view when you're the one who created it. Does that make sense? I guess I just see the layers, cropping, etc. that makes up each page, not the actual page. So, seriously, let me know what you think! Rob says it looks great, but he's a little biased, I think!

Here goes...

By the way, you can click on them to make them bigger!

The first page of my wedding album...

Here it is! Okay, it's not the FIRST page (I'm still working on that one) but it's one of the first pages...

Regardless, I'm excited!

PICTURES!!!!!!

All of our pictures are up!!! I'm thrilled. They are absolutely unbelievable.

Check them out!!!

Click on weddings, proofing and the password is: 061308

Enjoy!

Finally!!!

Okay, okay. It really didn't take that long, but I'm excited to say that a preview for our wedding pictures is up!!!

Check it out!

I'm Baaaaaaaccccckkkk!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm married!!! What an amazing week and a half it has been! The wedding went off without a hitch and our week off of work was way too fast. But, I'll start from the beginning.

The week of the wedding was crazy. We were so busy decorating and making sure everything was ready. The rehearsal and dinner were great as well. I was really proud of myself because I never really felt very nervous beforehand. The day of, however was a different story.

I took everyone's advice and made sure I tried to take everything in as well as stayed hydrated and kept food on my stomach. We all met on Friday at the church to get our hair done at about 8am. Deanna, who is AMAZING, was there bright and early and did everyone's hair. She was literally working from 8am until 3:30pm to get everyone done. I couldn't thank her enough! She did a great job on everyone' s hair and kept a beautiful smile on her face all day long! My only pictures from the day of the wedding are of us hanging out getting ready so, here goes!

Deanna (she's gonna hate me for this picture!)

Doing our hair

Playing spoons while waiting...

Doing my makeup

Steaming my veil

I must say, also, that God is good! I literally sat and stared out the window ALL DAY as it rained CONSTANTLY from 8:30am until Clary (our photographer) got there. It didn't stop!! I was pleading with God to make it stop! He did! So, we tramped out in the wet grass in the wooded area behind the church for some pictures. I'm anxiously awaiting these! I'll definitely let you know as soon as they're posted.

The week after the wedding was a great week off. Not exactly what I had pictured, but still wonderful. Remember how I said Rob hadn't moved anything yet? And he promised he would be moved by the wedding? Well, the day after the wedding he breaks the news to me that he doesn't have any UNDERWEAR! What?! So, we head back to his parents' house to get some of his stuff. We also had a LOT of company the week after. I was hoping for some more alone time, but I still had a good time.


One thing I really loved: spending some good quality time with my babies! I got a whole week to love on them and get them used to their new house. They're loving it here! As am I!


Unfortunately, I had to head back to work today... it was bittersweet. I missed my class and am anxious to establish our routine. However, I don't want to start up the day to day boring stuff. Such is life.

More to come later!

PHEW!

I'm so tired. Not that I'm tired for a bad reason. This weekend was a LOT of fun. But, I'm tired. Saturday I had my bachelorette party! It was a blast. Low key, which is what I wanted. We went to Ariake Steak House and then bowling at Brunswick Zone after which we went back to Casey's house (my future sister-in-law) and just hung out. I know it doesn't sound like much fun to some, but I loved it and I'm the bride, so there. ;o)


Saturday, Rob's dad threw him a surprise party. This was AWESOME! As much as his dad complains about Rob's friends coming over (being noisy and leaving a mess) he's gonna miss it when Rob moves out! So, Don decided to have a last hurrah and had a big poker tournament with all of Rob's buddies. Us girls hung out all night and ate pizza... :o)

Sunday, we took some groceries to the house and then a birthday party for Rob's little cousins, Max, Camille, and Alexandra. It was fun! James, Camille, and Sophia practiced walking down the aisle (hallway) for the wedding. They are going to be great!

On a side note, I went grocery shopping this week. I've definitely been worried about this. We're on a budget, obviously and I was really worried about how much money it was going to cost to get all of those basic things for the house - salt, pepper, vegetable oil, etc. But, I've been clipping coupons, and I went through the ads for the week. Overall, I think I did really well! And, I LOVE Super Walmart! As much as I really don't like shopping at Walmart, you can't deny it when their prices are lower than the grocery store's on sale with a coupon!


I'm going to end this post telling you that I'm getting married next week! AHHH!!! I'm super excited and super stressed. But, after the wedding I have a week off! For now I have to get through a week of a period-induced headache (yuck!!) that hopefully doesn't turn into a migraine, again. I don't need that teaching four year olds.


With that said, I can't say I'll be posting much in the next couple of weeks. I'll definitely make one last post before the wedding, but hopefully after all of this is over I can spend some more time on here!

Getting in the Groove

No, I'm not dancing.... I'm in that transition period I go through every semester when school ends and "break" begins. I put break in quotes because it's never actually a break so much as a shift of focus. I'm no longer focusing so much on homework and grades (ha, like I was actually doing that to begin with) but on working as much as I can to make some money to pay to go to school. Ahh, it's a vicious cycle.

But this summer is going to be different. I'm having my first teaching experience. I've been given the title of Cubs 4 Summer Camp teacher. This means I'm in charge (along with my assistant) of approximately 10-15 four year olds for 9 hours every day of the week.

This is a totally new experience for me. Well, not totally, but that sounds a little more daunting, right? I've worked in classrooms with these kids quite a bit before, but I've never actually had them as MY students. Big difference. It's also kind of strange. I've been going to school for three years to become a teacher. I've learned how to run a classroom, classroom management techniques, etc. But now, I'm actually putting into practice all of these techniques I've learned. And, quite frankly, I really don't think about those techniques I "learned" when I'm actually in the classroom. I'm winging it and constantly taking note in the back of my head of what I need to do to make tomorrow run smoother.

The best part? I love it! It's definitely not what I've planned on. I'm getting a degree in elementary education and middle school math education, not early childhood. The funny thing is, early childhood was my first choice! Except some crazy advisor at Lindenwood decided that I wouldn't like it and steered me in the other direction. At this point, I'm not sure what God has in store for my future, but right now if teaching fresh, young minds is part of it, I think I'd be pretty happy.

Maybe I should knock on some wood though. I mean it is only the first week of school. I just pray that whatever God's plan is for my life, it happens. For now, I'm going to enjoy some funny experiences with four year olds. They have such innocence. I'm sure I'll be sharing plenty of stories!

So, I'm going to spend the next week and a half getting in the groove of things only to switch gears again to get married! That's right! I'm getting married in 16 days! I'm so ready!

Playing Catch-Up

I've decided that I'm a bona fide procrastinator. I didn't use to be a procrastinator. This is why I never blog and never go to the gym. I keep telling myself that I'll go later, or I why bother? Nobody really reads your blog anyway. Just don't eat as many calories. I blame my new procrastinating ways on Rob. Case in point.

Me: Rob, this weekend is Memorial Day Weekend, I'd like to get you moved out to the house for the most part since this will be one of our only free weekends to do it before the wedding.

Rob: Steph, the wedding is THREE WEEKS AWAY!

Me: But, I REALLY don't want to be moving our stuff the week after the wedding when we have off. I want to relax and enjoy being MARRIED.

Rob: We have plenty of time.

Me: Fine.

See, how can I not keep a little of this from rubbing off on me? I mean, Rob is the procrastinator of all procrastinators. Example number two:

Rob: What ring size are you again?

Me: Why? (Is he going to buy me two rings!? Oh wait. Oh, no. My thoughts come to a screeching halt as I realize...) You haven't bought my wedding band yet!?

Rob: No.

Me: Babe, the wedding is in THREE WEEKS!!!

Rob: So, all I have to do is go buy it.

Me: What if it has to be sized!

Rob: Oh.

Yup. We're gonna arrive at our wedding day and I'm not gonna have a wedding band. What am I gonna do, borrow someone's? I need to take a deep breath. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Okay. It'll all be okay.

Speaking of the wedding... I've done a few things in preparation... and I have pictures!!!

Mom and I spent an entire Sunday afternoon tying tags to bubbles with ribbons. It was fun, let me tell you. I'm happy with how they turned out though!


I bought my dress for the rehearsal dinner (again.)! I had bought one earlier and didn't really like it for the occasion anymore so I decided to keep my eyes open. Well, I found this adorable dress from B. Moss for $30! B.Moss is definitely one of my new favorite stores. They have some adorable clothes! (and good deals..)


I also put together my flower girl's gifts... some hair accessories and their Build A Bear giftcards!


Another exciting accomplishment, I dyed my crinoline for the wedding blue! I debated for a while on whether or not to do this, and then thought, what the heck? So we dyed it, and I took it to the bridal shop with Jocelyn to try on with my dress to make sure it worked! I love it.


James' gift came in the mail. I doubled it as his ring bearer gift and birthday gift since his birthday is July 4th. It's a bedroom set with trucks, trains, and tractors on it for the big boy bed he's getting after I move out! He'll love it!


I also had another shower, which I mentioned last time I actually posted. It was a lot of fun. I got some awesome stuff!

My cousin, who's doing my flowers sent a bouquet to see if I like the shape and size of it. It's not at all what my bouquet will look like, but it still looks fabulous after a 4 hour trip in a warm car without water. She also sent a boutonnière, which I'm sure looked a lot better when it was fresh.


One of the gifts I got is a figurine we're going to use for our cake table! Along with this sign. It'll be great.


On a note totally not related to the wedding... WE HAVE GRASS!!! They put sod down at our house on Monday! It makes our yard look HUGE (which, it is at almost 15,000 sq. ft.). Although, now we have to figure out how to water it... since we're hardly ever there. I really don't want it to die.


On a note related to the house, we had our first security scare (and hopefully our last). I got a call from Brinks a couple of nights ago saying that our alarm had gone off in zone 4. I missed the call, so this was a message. I was thinking that zone 4 is the basement (which is guarded with a motion detector) and wasn't too terribly worried considering we live in the middle of a field and a mouse could have gotten in or something (which isn't good, but it's better than a burglar!). Turns out the alarm tripped was the glass break detector in the great room! It detects if glass is broken within a 30 ft radius. They called my house and asked if I wanted them to send the cops. Um, YES! Turns out it was nothing. A false alarm. But, regardless that was scary!