Short and sweet? Haha! <- Current commentary on my below thoughts from 3 years ago!
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Paying bills, setting up the cable in my room, doing laundry, feeding my fish.
Category: Random
On March 10, 2013…
I took these pictures:
Haha! I remember this day – although I don’t remember doing so much. I know that I was playing with Elyse’s camera (obviously loving the macro), and then my family came up to drop Alicia off after spring break (I had to stay up here for the week because I had to teach) and stopped by to say hi and bring me some things, and then apparently Ryan, Elyse, Matt and I went to Red Lobster for dinner!
Whenever I upload pictures to WordPress from iPhoto, I normally just click on ‘Last Import’ because what I’m uploading is mainly recent. However, when I was looking for an older photo recently, I found a ‘Last 12 Months’ option. This is what I have been clicked on now for the past few times I’ve uploaded pictures, and I’ve really found it fun to scroll through what I was doing last year around this time. iPhoto really does update daily and includes the pictures you took on this exact date a year ago as the first pictures in the category. When I have a chance, I’d really like to scroll through the whole 12 months and pick out some of my favorite pictures I’ve never shared. Scrolling through quickly gave me tons more ideas for blog posts – especially one sharing some of my awesome Australia pictures that I never posted!!!
On My Mind
- – i’m going to Australia in 3 months! ….WHAT?!!!
- – each student teacher has to write and teach a unit this semester. my supervisor sent out the calendar guideline for that the other day outlining how we would work toward completion of our units over time. this calendar spanned over the course of the entire semester, with the teaching of the unit happening in April. instead of following this timeline, i’m teaching my unit on MONDAY. as in less than a week from now. that’s right, i’m starting to teach it as soon as i get back for the semester. i do think that it will be great to get this huge assignment out of the way (although i’ll be constantly teaching all semester, finishing this unit will allow the most structured assignment to be completed), but it’s creating a lot of stress at this moment! i still need to finish my lesson plans and create the entire unit while still giving time for my mentor teacher and supervisor to look it over before the weekend.
- – christmas this year was great, hanging out with family and relaxing was awesome. i also felt completely spoiled! i got some great new kitchen supplies, like a brita and a george foreman grill, and i got some other fun things like a hat and a car emergency kit and some earrings. i shopped for christmas presents pretty early this year by keeping my eye out for deals online. i got everyone’s gifts over the course of a few months and had them wrapped and ready a week before christmas. this was great and i’ll definitely try to do this every year.
- – it’s 2013!!!!!
- – i can’t believe how much time i’ve spent with these 4 people over the past few months. we’ve been inseparable and we’ve made some pretty great memories.
- – i spent last night downtown watching the strawberry drop, and then brought in the early hours of 2013 watching movies and eating cheese sticks with everyone. it was fun.
Priorities
I’m sitting on my couch with Four Weddings on the TV and my feet up on the coffee table. Books and papers are spread out around me and one of my roommates, Elyse, is sprawled on the chair across from me. We both have our laptops open on our laps, seemingly absorbed in our homework. Once in a while, we’ll share something funny or start a random conversation that normally ends in laughter. We’ve been best friends since 7th grade, so this is the norm for us. Elyse is finishing a paper while I write up a lesson plan. We’re both trying to get our work done before heading to Zumba tonight. The blinds are pulled up and the windows are open, letting in the fresh air and subdued light of the evening sun. Cars drive by on the street outside the windows, giving us a smooth lullaby of background noise. As I glance at my huge to-do list, one thought runs through my mind……
Should I do some more homework or make chocolate chip cookies!?
Yummm, Elyse and I made these a few weeks ago and I think we might need to again tonight!
Craziness
If I had to pick one word to describe this current semester, it’d have to be constant. I’ve been constantly going, going, going these past few months. I’ve always heard that your junior year of college is where you get more into your major and things start getting harder. While I can’t necessarily say anything is hard per say, it’s definitely a ton more work. These days, I think back to last year when I could lounge around in my dorm room and read a book and that sounds amazing right now! I normally read a book or two a week, but it took me almost 3 weeks to finish the last book I was reading! It’s just constant everything! With a little over a week left in the semester, everything is coming to a close…but first a million final projects have to be completed and handed in. I have two projects to do tonight that are due tomorrow and I’m teaching a lesson in the morning as well. After that, I can move on to the things that are due on Friday and then on Monday and Tuesday and so on. I really am loving all my classes though; everything is going so well. My Assessment for Instruction class is still so interesting and my Special Education Pre-Student Teaching is going great. I really love it and I love the community of teachers that I get to work with.
Here’s what November looked like:
Thanksgiving break was really nice, but now it’s time to get back to work! Pretty sure my math teacher just called on me…..
xox,
Sarah
October Fun
This month has gone by so quickly! I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that i started pre-student teaching on the 11th. I’m definitely not used to waking up at 6am every morning; I haven’t had to do that on a daily basis since high school! I was talking to one of my friends who also started pre-student teaching about how I felt like I couldn’t catch up on sleep. She pointed out that even though we now wake up at 6am, we still have the rest of our usual course load so we can’t go to bed any earlier. I’ve been trying to get more use out of my time so that I don’t end up doing work till 11 or 12pm, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.
My goal for this week is to go to bed by 10 or even 11 every night. Already I know I can’t do that every day, since I have a meeting starting at 9:30pm on Tuesday. Sigh, college life. =) I know this sounds like a lot of complaining but really I’m enjoying it a lot. It would be nice to catch up on sleep, but I’ve been in a constant good mood lately, so I can’t say I mind too much. Plus, I know I’ll look back on this hectic time in my life and remember it in the best way.
Even though I’ve been busy, I’ve still had enough time to enjoy this fall weather, go to a pumpkin patch (okay, roadside stand, but still), try out some new fall recipes, and really enjoy my pre-student teaching position. I really do love it so much and it’s such a cool experience. I have to teach my first lesson on Thursday. This is kind of a big deal because it’s the first lesson I’ll ever teach to an actual group of students!! Luckily, it’s only a small group of three students, so that’s a very nice way to ease into everything. The more nerve wracking thing will be having 4 adults watching me intently as I teach the students. Honestly, if it was just the students and I, I wouldn’t be nervous at all. I’m sure it will go great though, and I’m excited to get this first experience under my belt.
Here’s some pictures of what’s been going on in October:
My friends Anne, Elise, Elyse and I went shopping and all ended up buying so much stuff at Charlotte Russe because they were having a huge sale. I got four pairs of shoes for $7 each! Seriously, I’m amazed I didn’t buy every pair there. I love the ones I got so much though!
hahaha these next pictures kill me. We found a cardboard cutout and of course Elyse and I had to pose with it. Regular faces vs. tough faces. (The order I put them in doesn’t do the story justice, but this order made me laugh the most. Elyse actually smiled nicely for her picture, then for my turn I decided to make a tough face. Then the next picture is me laughing at my tough face. Then we had Elyse do a tough face too since it was so funny. But, yeah, this order is the funniest). We didn’t even buy anything in this store, we just ran inside, took tons of pictures with their cutout, and then went back out to keep walking around the mall.
Tailgating before the Homecoming game was really fun. We ate lots of pumpkin donut holes and had hot apple cider yum =)
And let’s take a minute to look at how photogenic Matt and I are. Man, great pictures haha. Elyse just took a bunch in a row of us being weird and they turned out so ridiculous. They make me laugh though.
Pumpkin picking and carving! Yay! I loved how my pumpkin turned out even though he fell apart after two days =( I’ll have to work on the structural soundness of mine next year.
THON 5K!
October has been such a fun month and it really has gone by so fast. I was doing homework for my math class today and I realized that we only have 4 more homeworks due! That’s how I’m measuring time lol, but really I feel like I just did my first homework for that class last week.
Let’s talk about one more thing..the SNOW YESTERDAY! I so did not expect that! I’m really glad that I did fall-ish things before it became winter all of the sudden. I did want to decorate for fall more, but I’ll have to have that goal for next year. Looks like I can start decorating for Thanksgiving though! Can’t believe it’s only a few weeks away.
xoxo,
Sarah
Hectic
This week has been the craziest of the semester so far; I feel like I haven’t taken a breath since Sunday night! I did manage to do some baking while doing homework though. Sometimes I just want the satisfaction of making something, but I don’t have much time.
I ended up making cupcakes from a boxed cake mix, and I even used store-bought frosting which is a huge no no when I’m at home. My mom makes amazing homemade icing so we never use store-bought, but this time it was too easy to pass up.
It was perfect to be able to mix up the batter and then get some assignments done while I waited for them to bake.
When I’m at home, this many cupcakes would last about 3 days with our family of 6. Here at school, I’ll be having cupcakes for a lot longer, even after giving some away to my roommates and friends.
This past Sunday, before my week got crazy, I actually made my favorite cookies ever. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Unfortunately, they’re all gone already =( They’re so good and everyone loves them so much, they really didn’t last long at all. I saw the recipe on MADE (a blog I LOVE) back in November of last year, and I knew I had to try them. I love soft cookies and even though I don’t remember ever trying pumpkin cookies before, I thought it’d be worth it to make them. Oh my goodness they are amazing. They’re seriously my favorite cookie ever and everyone who has tried them has loved them just as much. I’ll definitely need to make those again soon. I’ve never even made the cream cheese frosting that Dana puts on top, although I really should try that some day.
I’m looking forward to this weekend and doing some relaxing along with going to the football game and practicing for a lesson presentation that I have on Monday morning. Oh man, that sounds busy already. I’m planning to start the weekend off right though, with breakfast tomorrow morning with friends and then a bike ride later after classes. I can’t wait to explore the bike path near my apartment some more. My boyfriend, Matt, and I rode it for 3 miles last week and we wanted to keep going but it was getting dark. So we rode the 3 miles back and I’ve been wanting to explore it further ever since.
The local Farmer’s Market also takes place every Friday (along with every Tuesday), so I might stop by if I have a chance. Last week I bought peaches and fresh cinnamon raisin bread and they were both delicious.
Oh, and completely random, but when I went to bed last night I looked over at my night stand and saw this:
It made me laugh to see this little guy glowing in the dark next to my bed. I know the picture is really dark, but I wanted it to show exactly what I saw from my bed. He’s just a faint glowing ghost with a huge smile haha. He’s actually on a little pail that I got in the dollar section of Target. I know it’s a little early for Halloween stuff, but it was too cute to pass up. I got one pail with a ghost and one with a spider. Here’s what they look like with the light on:
Since I change bags almost every day, switching between my backpacks and messenger bags and laptop bags, I put all my little necessities that need to change bags with me into these pails at the end of the day. It makes it really easy for me to throw it all into whatever bag I grab before leaving for the day.
Anyway, really random post.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to relax a lot this weekend, while still being productive. Wish me luck!
everyday keepsakes 