Bye Bye 2010 and HELLO 2011!!

As 2010 comes to a close, a lot has happened within a short 365 days.

Lets see... I have moved across the country over 2,000 miles away from family and friends.

I was pink slipped with 20,000 other teachers in Illinois

I enrolled as a Masters student at St. Martin's University in Washington

Brian finished his 1st year of Residency

Brian took and passed his step Threes

Brian visited California for the first time

Brian & I adopted a puppy, Delilah

Brian & I bought all new furntiure

Brian & I got married and just celebrated our 6 month anniversary

So much has happened I am sure this isn't even the half of the day to day experiences! I am so thankful for all of the wonderful things that happened in my life this year and only slightly bitter about all of the bad things that have happened. :)

Here is to hoping that 2011 is a much better year! Full of love, understanding, partnership, and peace. As for big to-dos in 2011 this includes:

Brian & I having our Wedding Reception

Myself hopefully finishing my Masters Degree

Brian's 10 year HS reunion

Brian finishing 2nd year and having a great 1st half of 3rd year.

2011 may also be our last full year in Washington State. We will have to wait and see what 2012 has in store for us for that part.

School's Out FOR WINTER!!

Well, as of Thursday I was OFFICIALLY done with my first semester of grad school! So far only two out of the three classes grades are in and it looks like all Aces!! HOLLA!! Feeling good and looking forward to the next semester, but lucky for me it is about a month away. Between now and then I need to buy books, take my WEST-B test, and RELAX!! The next semester will consist of 5 classes which maybe a few more hours and a lot more work. This is what I have to look forward to next semester:

Mondays:

1. 4:00 - 5:50 Practicum in Special Education = 90 Observation/ In Field Hours (in addition to class time)

2. 6:20 - 9:30 Legal Issues and Individual Education Plans (IEPs)

Tuesdays:

1. 3:30 - 6:10 Reading Diagnosis of Special Education Students = Includes Weekly Tutoring

2. 6:20 - 9:30 Transitions to Adulthood for Special Population

Wednesdays:

1. 6:00 - 8:50 Language Acquisition Methods

Sounds like fun right??? I sure hope so! First day is January 10th and my last day is May 4th! Lots of other events happening between those times, but school will be my #1 focus! I am pumped, but until then I will not be thinking about school! :D

Tis the Season

Well, I have been home from Thanksgiving Break for about 3 days now and I am all in the swing of things. I am decorating the house for Christmas, I finished one of my classes with a 100% on my final, I have only one class left for my Saturday class, and I have a lot of my stuff done for my Thursday class!! 

I am so glad that both Brian and I are over the flu and that we are starting to be healthy people again!! It's nice not to feel like crap every day!! 

Well, today we cut down our Christmas tree and I must say that it is BEAUTIFUL!! I cannot wait until we get to decorate it tomorrow!!! After that, all we will have left is decorating the outside, which I am hoping to do before Tuesday, since that is when it starts raining again. Unfortunate for my plans... Brian is working the next three days... hmm... maybe I will just hop on the roof myself!! :D

Heading Home

Well, it is official. I am heading back to Illinois for the first time since I have moved to Washington. It has been 5 months since I have been in Illinois and I must say I miss it a lot!

So, for my first time back it will be very interesting... I am going home as a wife, I am going to my in-laws house (not my boyfriend's parents), I get to see my nieces and nephew, my sisters and brothers. WOW!! On top of all that I get to meet my new baby cousin which I cannot wait to do!

I cannot wait to see everyone and already feel like I will not have nearly enough time to see everyone in the 10 days I am spending in the Midwest.

Luckily, my mom will be visiting us this Christmas to spend a week, which I am so excited about! I will be bringing lots of pictures of our puppy and house when I get home, so get excited!! :D

Signed up for Term 02

Well, I am finally officially signed up for Term 02. That will bring my class load to only three, but it is a step in the right direction. I also purchased my books and I am hoping they will be here for the first day of class (October 22nd)! Also today I signed up for my 3 WEST-B tests (All the Basic Skills tests I need for full Washington Certification) and that test will be January 8th. Then I will have to sign up for 3 WEST-E tests (Two Elementary Education and One Visual Arts). Do you hear that Illinois! I have to take DOUBLE the tests I need for Illinois Certification and that is only to transfer a certificate!! HOLY COW!! Hopefully they will not be too bad. 

Let's see I also ordered a bunch of Christmas Presents, in the process of ordering photos, and then thinking about working on homework. This morning I also took the puppy to the Vet, went Grocery Shopping, put my Sauerbraten in it's marinade, and straightened up the house a little. I am rocking out!! I am so glad to be feeling better and able to do things!! WOO HOO!! The only part that sucks about all this is that most of it costs money... I HATE spending money! YUCK!

Midterm

Well, I just finished typing up my Midterm and e-mailed it off! (Super simple!! YEAH!!) No midterm for the other class which is so great! I cannot wait to get home and have a break from school and all the mounds and mounds of reading! I add another class in October which I am hoping it will be easy and not have mounds of reading like my class now!!

Well, here is hoping!! As for now... I am going to tape off and paint the bathroom as a surprise for my hubby!! YEAH!!

Slacker Poster...

Sorry everyone that I have been slacking on my posts. School is in full swing and going pretty well. One of my classes is really tough especially with their required 6 textbooks... 4 of which I was to completely read in two weeks time. Needless to say they were skimmed through, deeply read in parts, but definitely not fully read. My second class requires me to travel to Tumwater (approximately 30-45 min. away) to test two students every week. So... so far, not so bad. I will be registering for a third class tomorrow and that will be a Saturday class from 8AM - 1PM which will stink since it is so long, but at least it is only 8 weeks of it! 

I am super excited to be going home for Thanksgiving and will be buying my tickets soon!! It looks like I will get a lot of time at home with having class on Thursday and Saturday only! Plus... no class the Saturday after Turkey Day!! YEAH!! Now, I am just hoping that my dear husband will be able to meet me in Chicago!! Fingers & Toes Crossed!!

Time to get to Class!!

Well, classes start today!! I am SUPER nervous and part of me doesn't want to go for fear of failure! I will have two night classes this term (Sept 2. - Oct. 4th) Then I will be adding another class for the second term (Oct. 18 - Dec. 16) which will be fun! I am hoping that everything will go well since everything has been so disorganized thus far from this school!! I am just so sick of stupidity from people who are supposed to be in charge, guiding students, and teaching the classes I am paying for! Grr!!! 

I am looking forward and hoping to make new friends. I am hoping that everyone is not all clicked already and that the entire class is not undergrad (these are undergrad and graduate mixed classes) so that there are maybe a few people in my age and professional area. I suppose we will just have to see what happens. 

Maybe since this is supposed to be through Ft. Lewis there will be some other Military Wives. That would be amazing and give me someone in a slightly more similar situation again. Oh well... we will see how this all goes!! :D

One More Week

We only have one more week in Seattle!! Thank goodness!! We can soon be home!! In our own bed, sitting on our own couch, cooking in our own kitchen, and (a personal favorite) showering/bathing in our own bathroom!! I cannot wait to get home! It has been great seeing the city, but I am ready to get my life back on the road at our home. Last time we were back (today) we hung up all but one of the pictures in the house! We haven't painted yet, but it looks much better then having the pictures lying around everywhere! Once we are back I am hoping we can start on painting (finishing the kitchen being a #1 priority!) We also realized that we have no artwork for our own bedroom, so I am looking forward to picking that out with Brian. Any suggestions from anyone? Maybe we can do cityscapes. That would be nice... Maybe some candle sconces... hmm.... Maybe our own artwork... I did just buy some canvases! :)

Are we there yet?

When will it be time for school?? I never thought I would be the ones saying those words!! I am just so excited to start my first semester back at school! Sadly the date has been pushed back and I will not be starting now until September 2nd! I am thrilled to get started but tired of waiting! I did find out that the last full weekend in August there is a Garlic Festival about 45 minutes south of our house... thinking about hitting that up and stinking for a week or two! YUMMERS!!! :)

Vacation is almost done

It feels as though I have been on nothing more then a vacation the past month and a half. I have not really started my life (aside from the stresses of changing my name EVERYWHERE and trying to get people at the school I want to attend to do their job)!

At the end of August (the 26th to be exact)... I will start my classes and first semester of Graduate School. I am nervous, excited, fearful, and joyful! A whole plethora of emotion as I prepare to jump back into school not as a teacher... but a student! I am taking 8 week terms (5 in total... 2 in the Fall, 2 in Spring, and 1 in the Summer) which makes the classes more intense and will allow me to finish almost all of my classes within a year. This will leave my thesis (GULP!) for next fall...

It is very much like me to get ahead of my self and concern myself with my thesis (hence why I bought 3 books last night on how to write a thesis...) but I am going to try to focus on my classes at hand. This term I only have 2 classes which I suppose is a nice way to ease back into school. With only taking two classes I have a required 6 books!! HOLY COW!! 6 books for two classes!! Maybe I wont be easing in as much as I thought!

Aside from the stresses of starting school soon and getting prepared for that, I am trying to apply for my certificate in Washington to be a teacher. Seems silly since I will not be teaching for at least a year, but supposedly some of the requirements are changing and it would just be better for me to apply now before things change. This need and want to apply has also caused me to remember that I need to change my name on my Illinois certificate which has shown to be more difficult being over 2,000 miles away. How interesting in this technology world we live in everything still needs to be done by snail mail and money order. Annoying!

In addition to all of this Brian is on rotation in Seattle this month and we were provided with an apartment to live in while there. So... I am splitting time between our home and the apartment in the city. There are times that I miss my bed and shower so much... and then I am home and miss my husband. Completely a lose-lose situation! Luckily my first day of class is his last day in Seattle and then we will both be home! Two days after that we will have a house guest for a month. Our friend Dan is doing a rotation at Madigan for the month of September and this will provide me with someone else to cook for, someone else in the house, and less chance of having to sleep in a house by myself!

So much happening... so much to happen... Oy Vey!!

Much Love!

House Becomes a Home

Well, I have been here for a month tomorrow and I really think this house is starting to look like a home. Yes, there are still pictures to be hung... walls to paint... and little things to put away, but it has REALLY improved. We have a couch, furniture in the bedroom, a coffee table, and so much more! It is amazing what a little hard work can do. My Aunt Randy who lives in Florida was able to come for a visit this past week on Wednesday for dinner. That was certainly a welcome surprise and really gave us the motivation to get the house in gear. Tomorrow the plan is to... grocery shop, mini-golf, and do some more gardening. I am looking forward to more work toward a beautiful home!! :D

2 Days and 15 hours (approximately)

Time is ticking down SLOWLY! The moving date is upon me, I have some more packing to do of my car, people to see tomorrow, and hopefully get some sleep Thursday night. My plans for the rest of my time in Chicago are as follows...
Today- Packing car some more, talking to Brian, then spending time with my folks.
Wednesday- Breakfast with Shannon, helping take down things in the kitchen, dinner with Brian's parents and some siblings.
Thursday- Laundry, finishing packing my car, and finally enjoying my last night of Chicago pizza while still a citizen of Cook County.
Friday- Leave at 6AM!! I am so looking forward to this trip, but at the same time I just want the trip to be over and be in Seattle already!

Here we go... final PUSH!!!

1 Week To GO!

Only one week left! I can hardly believe it! I have been having such a great time seeing everyone before I leave. This weekend (Sunday to be specific) my parents are throwing me a going away party and I am so excited to see everyone for that! Now all I need is someone to help me pack my car. Ha ha ha!! I want to get it all done and have plenty of time to think about how to rearrange things when they don't fit. HA HA HA!!

I am starting to get super excited! I am so glad that Brian's Dad is there with him now to keep his mind off of my upcoming move. I am sure that they are having a wonderful time and hopefully seeing lots of the sights and sounds that Brian and I were able to experience together and some we were not able to.

I cannot wait to get on the road and hope to see lots of you at the party on Sunday!! :D

10 Days Left

Here I am with only 10 days left until I leave... actually (about 9 days and 22 hours.) I am somewhat ready... I have to pack my car still which will not happen until next week. I need to get the house ready for guests coming for my going away party on Sunday. I need to do laundry. I need to organize everything that is supposedly going in my car (we will see what gets in there...). Such a stressful time, but I just keep thinking about that I will be there so soon and I cannot wait!! I am ready to move, I am just not ready to be away from basically everyone. Well, I should get started at least on the laundry part! YEAH!! :D