Dear faithful readers (all 2 of you),
I. SUCK. AT. BLOGGING. There. I said it. Its out in the open.
Maybe I'm just not an interesting enough person to have a blog. I generally just settle into a routine and rarely feel that anything is blog worthy.. And THEN when something blog worthy does happen (like snow-pocolypse) I don't know what to say about it. Maybe I'm just not a good enough writer.. Oh well.. Thats just sad. This is what I've decided though.. I need to blog so that I have some memory of how I felt at this point in my life. In a few years when I'm going back to teaching and experiencing that 1st year again at another school, I need to remember that I felt it before, I survived it, I'll survive it again. I also need to document the endless humorous moments that come along with teaching middle schoolers. Humor is what gets me through the day and some of those moments need to be shared. I promise I will be a better blogger friend. Ich verspreche.
So let me bring y'all up to speed. School started back. I got a brand new bunch of kiddos and they are pretty good for the most part. I've only given a few demerits so far that those were mostly just like warning ones for the rest of the kids. I don't know if they are actually better kids or if I"m just finally succeeding in having more patience like I ask God for every morning. I had kids for one week and then BAM...
Blizzard 2011 started on a Sunday night. I was still exhausted from having basketball games all weekend, but pretty proud of myself for having ran and gone to church that day. That night the snow started coming down and Megan decided that it would be a good idea to head on over to Jonathan's...scariest driving experience of her life.. Jenna and I were checking the news every 5 seconds to see if UGA and MC were closed. After every school in the counties surrounding MC closed they FINALLY closed. Now instead of having to go to bed we could play!! We bundled up and took the puppies out to play! Jamie had texted me and told me that the crew was on some random hill behind some building WITH A REAL SLED! Kelly had brought a real sled!! It. Was. WICKED!
Monday was okay I guess (where is the sarcasm font?).. I ran, watched TV, played with Doo, went sledding again, oh and then I watched Auburn win a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!! Despite Scam and Fairley, I will still pull for my number 2 team.. WDE!
It was a day to day thing but school ended up being canceled for the whole week which also meant that basketball games were canceled too!! The rest of the week was spent either in my bed or on the couch. I read a few books, ran every day, watched some movies, did some crafting, and spent time with the Doo. It was great!
Mama, Daddy, and I were planning on leaving Saturday after my basketball game, but since we didn't have school or basketball we decided to leave on Friday instead. The ski resort is like 30 min north of Asheville so we decided to just stay in Asheville. I. LOVE. Asheville.
Can I just talk about Asheville for a minute? The first time I went to Asheville was when I was a freshman in HS and I was in Black Mountain for CONA. I didn't know anybody going to CONA and I mean, I was a freshman, so Mama was staying at a precious bed and breakfast in Asheville (you know, just in case). Wednesday during our free time Mama came got me and we went back to the B&B and watched Pretty Woman in her big bed. Its a GREAT memory. Its a little thing but it will forever make Asheville have a special place in my heart. Mama and I went back last SB to go to Biltmore. Perfect mom/daughter trip!
This time we stayed at Brookstone Lodge (i love Hotels.com; yes I would like welcome rewards) and our (well my) mission was to find good food! I feel like I've been really good with my diet lately and I even did good during my snow-cation, so it was time to enjoy myself! Our first night we hit up Tupelo Honey Cafe.
SO GOOD! We started with grit cakes which are basically fried grits with some chili sauce, sour cream, and homemade salsa. Mama got tomato soup and a grilled pimento and havarti cheese sandwich; Dad got shrimp and grits; and I got a grilled chicken sandwich on sourdough bread with havarti cheese and, wait for it, CRANBERRY MAYO! For my side, I got the most delicious mashed sweet potatoes you've ever tasted.. Perfection.
The next day we went skiing. It had been a while since I have really tested my skills so I was kind of nervous that I was being overly confident in my unproven skills; however, I was pleased to find out that I was still pretty good. Wolf Ridge had a good mix of runs. Some were very enjoyable and leisurely.. others scared the shit out of me!
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| View from the Upper Lodge |
That night, after coming back and warming up in the hot tub, we hit up Cucina24. It was a little fancier than we thought it would be but the food was all seasonal and fresh! Mama got pizza, Daddy got trout (sans head and eyeballs), and I got lemon spaghetti with scallops and crab meat. SOO GOOD!! Sunday we headed back to Athens and the real world.
School started back that Tuesday, and thats when I found out about the basketball games... Our make up schedule called for us to have a game EVERY SINGLE NIGHT this week. So that is where I've been.. at basketball games. Tuesday, however, after our middle school games I headed over to Stegeman for the UGA v UT game with Ashley, Chels, Jamie, and Jill. I had a pleasant surprise to find out that Berri was there too!! Y'all should be proud of me for trying to keep one of my resolutions.. spending more time with people over the age of 14. It was a heartbreaking loss, but hey, I still had a good time.
Right now, I'm sitting at a middle school girls basketball game. That is why I've been rambling.. because I have time.. LOTS OF TIME..
So.. what's going on now? Lets talk about books. Over Christmas break I decided to reread the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty. The first time I read them I was a soph in college and I loved them but she had only written up to the thrid book at that point. Now there is a fourth and a fifth. During the snow-cation I finished the 3rd and got to the one I had really been wanting to read.. the 4th.
Would Jessica and Marcus get together and stay together?! The entire series has been about the evolution of their relationship, sure they had to have the rocky bits to make them characters that we could relate too, but OBVIOUSLY they HAD to end up together. *Spoiler alert* They don't. I haven't been that disappointed in the outcome of a story since Kevin Spacey really wasn't an alien in KPax. I'm so upset that I don't even want to read the 5th book especially since i read that the whole 5th book only spans an 18 hour time period and takes place in an airport. I feel like the rekindling on that relationship is doubtful which provides absolutely no motivation on my part to read it. The series has little chance to redeem itself.
Since I was in such a book funk I decided to FINALLY read Eat. Pray. Love. which I borrowed from Meg forever ago. She loved it, but I was skeptical since the movie sent me into a minor panic attack and left me in tears certain that I would never find my Felipe AND I wouldn't ever get to live in another country because the DoD thing just didn't seem to be working out. Maybe it was just a bad time.. So I decided to give the book a shot.
I love it! Its so easy to relate to! It explains things so much better than the movie. I feel like it is a little mini how-to guide for having reasonable expectation when living in Europe. I'm currently at the part where she is at the end of her stay in Italy and I'm jealous. Just jealous.
I want German to just come to me. I know that she worked really hard, but I feel like the fact that Italian is a fun and pretty language probs helped a lot. German is not pretty. Why do I want to learn it? I've tried to figure out why I like Germany so much. I think that since it is the origin of my last I've always thought of myself as having German heritage, but lets face it.. I'm probs only like 1/32 German--the Beltz has probably stuck around longer than the blood, but I consider myself of German heritage none-the-less. SO why do I want to learn this rough language? Why do I want to live there? Because I just do and this book is helping me realize is all the reason I need..
That is all I have to allow for now.. Hopefully I wont make a liar out of myself and I'll be better about updating..
