Ramblings of a Short Girl

Sorry for the delay...

2008-06-19T23:21:00.002-05:00

I keep on meaning to put the pictures up for part three of the bachelorette party from Saturday, but I've been busy with painting my kitchen and writing thank you notes for the gifts I received at the bridal shower two weeks ago. Hopefully I'll get the pictures up by Sunday...

Bachelorette Party Part 2: Tic Tock Room

2008-06-16T09:09:00.003-05:00

After Taki we went to the Tic Tock Room. We all had a Buttery Nipple shot along with our Martinis. I had a Dirty Martini-I mostly just wanted the olives with blue cheese in them. We all mostly sat and drank our martinis and talk.

Next it was off to the Dirty Iguana...

Bachelorette Party Part 1: Taki

2008-06-15T16:28:00.011-05:00

Yesterday I went out with some awesome friends and had my Bachelorette Party. A great time was had by all! We went to three places, therefore my blogging about the Bachelorette Party will be given in three parts.

My sister Karen, my cousin Christina and I met Beth, Renee, Sarah, Stephanie, Mary and Josie at Taki in Macon for some Japanese food. This is where I got all decked out in my Bachelorette gear. Sarah and Renee brought these cool "tickets" were I could find some guys in violation of things and write them tickets (more on this in part 3). They also brought some straws that were in the shape of a certain part of the male anatomy. I also had this cool light up button that said "Bride to Be". Karen got me a big diamond ring and a veil. I don't think that anyone could miss that I was the bride to be. We all had some delicious Japanese food. I had some sushi and some vegetables and drank two Mojitos. I love me some Mojitos!

Here are some pictures from Taki:

Sarah, Renee and Beth

Stephanie and Mary

Christina and I

Karen and Josie

The ladies on one side of the table

The ladies on the other side of the table

Wedding Shower

2008-06-09T12:01:00.010-05:00

On Saturday my wonderful sister Karen and my awesome cousin Christina threw me a Wedding Shower. It was a lot of fun and I had a great time hanging out with family and friends. Here are some pictures:

The food which was totally delicious!

Renee, Debbie, Stephanie and Beth

Noel and Mary

Loidy and Maria

Opening many presents (which took me about an hour)

Christine, Kayla and Christina

Erika

My lollipop ring

There were many presents. I think that I took about an hour opening them up. It took me so long because I open presents slowly-I don't like to tear the paper. I think that by the end I started tearing the paper. This week I will start writing thank you notes to everybody.

Next Saturday I will be having my bachelorette party. I'll post pictures from that too.

School's Out!!!

2008-06-04T09:36:00.003-05:00

Well, most of my stress is finally gone! Last Friday was the last day of school for students and yesterday was the last day of school for teachers. Thus is the end of an era-the Ludwig era. Next school year the Gallagher era begins. I felt a little weird yesterday taking down the letters on my classroom door that spell out Ludwig. I've used them for the past 5 years of the 8 years that I have been teaching. When I turned in my key to my room, I had to write my last name on them and I didn't know what to do. I just wrote Ludwig on them since I'm not quite Gallagher yet.

Some of the students were nice the last few days of school. Some of them drove me crazy, which was expected. Out of all my classes, I'd have to say that I am really going to miss my 4th period. I actually got all teary-eyed before the bell rang. The class that I am least going to miss is my 2nd period. I'm not going to miss the whiny kids that sat close to my bulletin board and the rude ones that sat in the back of the room. I had a few good nice students in that class-I'll miss them.

Now that school is out, I'll be concentrating on the wedding. Last Sunday we bought out rings. We got a great deal on them since Friedman's jeweler's have gone out of business and they had a huge sale. Let's just say we spent under $130 for both rings. Today we are going to get the marriage license. Saturday is my wedding shower. It will be nice to be with family and friends that day.

This month I hope to stay a little relaxed and keep the stress away.

Planning, Planning and More Planning

2008-05-05T11:23:00.003-05:00

It has been awhile since I last posted. I'll be honest-I've been too lazy to write. I get home and I sit down at the computer to write something and then I decide that I really don't want to. I have so much going on right now.

Wedding plans are going well. Nathan and I registered at Target on Saturday. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the store and trying to figure out what we needed. Since we each have our own places, it's hard to pick things out at the store. We mostly looked at the list that Target gives you and we decided on things that we don't have or things that we have but would like to replace (mostly because they were hand me downs). Nathan had a fun time scanning the things that we wanted. We still have to add a few more things to the registry. Our scanner was running out of battery power and we still needed to go to my parent's house and it was getting late.

While at my parent's house, Karen helped me with the wedding invitations. We ended up translating my parent's old wedding invitation (since it is in Spanish). The wording is not the whole traditional "so and so would like to invite you to yadda yadda" type of thing. We liked the one that my parents had because it sounded more personal. Karen picked out the perfect font to go with the invitations. She also printed them out for us and made some in Spanish for my family in Spain. I started putting the invitations together, but it got late, so I had to stop.

On Sunday I went to church and then went home to work on more wedding things. I mostly put more invitations together. I still have a few more to do, so that's what I'll be doing when I get home from school. I should be finished with them today. The next invitation-related thing that needs to be done is printing out the reception cards. Karen is also going to make a little flier with the directions to the church and hotel information (for out of town guests) that will go in with the invitations.

Last week I also bought half of the favor boxes. Michael's was offering a 50% discount for teachers last week. The 100 count favor boxes are $19.99, but I was able to buy them for $10.00. I have to go back and buy another 100 count box. Michael's had two coupons in the newspaper on Sunday, so I'll be using those. Some of my wonderful friends have also been saving theirs and giving them to me.

I still have quite a bit of wedding planning to go. Among the things that I have to do are:

Pay the caterer the deposit (I'm waiting on my Economic Stimulus Check for that).
Decide what flowers I want for the bridesmaids and myself. I looked around Michael's and I have a few ideas. Micheal's also have some nice bouquets that are already made. I decided not to go with the Pomander.
On the 17th my bridesmaids and myself have our alteration appointments. I have still have to buy some shoes before I go to that appointment.
I still have to find a photographer. I would love to find one that is affordable since most of the money seems to be going to the caterer.
Start making room in my house for Nathan. I have already gotten rid of some of my Bath and Body works stuff that I really wasn't using (my sister Erika was happy). Next to go will be some purses and shoes.
Speaking of getting rid of things, I also have to go through my clothes. I have now lost a total of 27 pounds and some of my clothes are big on me.
On the subject of losing weight, I have to continue going to the gym. I found that's it's easier for me to go after school. I've been walking for about 30 minutes and then I've been lifting weights-mostly concentrating on my arms. I was thinking about starting to ride my bike again, but I'm afraid that I'll fall and get hurt. I don't need any scars or injuries right now.
Find decorations for the reception. I got some great ideas on how to add some color to the Parish Activity Center when the church had Casino Night there.
Before I can send out the invitations, I have to finalize the guest list. I need to get Nathan to get some addresses from his side of the list.
I also still have to get the cake topper, the cake cutter and server, and the champagne glasses (and get them engraved).
Buy the rings!

That's about all that I can think of. Nathan has put himself in charge of the Honeymoon. He has already informed me that I do not have to worry about it. I wonder what he is planning.

I can't believe that the wedding is almost two months away. It looks like these next few months I'm going to be quite busy. Thank God I have June off!

I Found "The One"

2008-04-03T21:29:00.007-05:00

Today was one of the days that I have been waiting for since I was little. When I lived in Spain and would go walking around Madrid with my grandmother I would always look at the wedding dress displays of the store windows and wish that I could try one on. Today I did that.

I went to David's Bridal with Karen, Christina and my mom. Erika met us there since she was driving from Atlanta. First I let them try on the bridesmaid dresses. The dresses looked great on all of them. They didn't have Erika's size, so she had to try on one that was big on her. She ended up being measured, so they were able to order her one.

After the girls tried on their dresses, it was my turn to try on mine. The ladies at David's Bridal had me look through their catalog and fold the pages where there was a dress I liked. There was one that I liked, but it cost more than I wanted, but Karen and Christina told me to try it on anyways because it may be the dress that looks the best. After I made my choices, the lady who helped us (her name was Vanessa and she was great) brought some of the dresses that I had chosen. I got teary-eyed when I saw them. I couldn't believe that I was about to try on wedding dresses. I really didn't like the first dress that I tried on. It was uncomfortable and I felt like I was about to flash someone. It was also too big because after I tried it on I realized that I have gone down a dress size (did I mention that I have lost a total of 22 pounds so far).

The next dress was the one that Karen and Christina told me to try on when I was looking through the catalog. I tried it on and went out and stood on the "little stage" (I don't know what it is called) and looked at myself in the mirror and I knew that it was the one. The lady who was helping us put a tiara and a veil on me to get the full effect and I definitely knew that it was the one. I was told that I it looked like I was glowing with happiness. It took me a little while to take the dress off-mostly because I didn't want to. I tried on several other dresses, but I really wasn't into them because I knew that I had already found the one.

I ordered the dress, the slip and the veil and it should all be in on May 15. Karen, Christina and Erika also ordered theirs. Mary will be ordering hers tomorrow. The bridesmaid dresses should also be in on the same date. We all made appointments for May 17 for alterations. I can't wait to put the dress back on!

I would put a picture of it, but the one on the website doesn't really show much of it. Here is a description of it though:

Organza A-line with cap sleeves, side draping, and beaded embroidery. Chapel train. Available in White/Blue, Ivory/Blue, Solid White & Solid Ivory.

My dress is White/Blue. The embroidery is little flowers in light blue, which you can barely tell-we all thought that they were white at first.

If you really want to see it, go to the David's Bridal website and search for Style 9V9302.

(Hopefully a certain person will not find this blog and look at the dress.) :)

Not only did I buy my wedding dress today, but I also bought invitations. Before we went to David's Bridal, we all went to Michael's. I wanted to go ahead and buy the invitations so that I can start working on them (that's one of the main things I have to do this month). Here is what they look like:

We also had some flower and favor ideas. We also saw some things that would be great for decorations for the reception.

Today was very productive. When I finally came home I logged onto the Knot and checked quite a bit of stuff off of my wedding checklist. I can't wait to check off more!

Behold...

2008-03-31T17:46:00.003-05:00

this is what the bridesmaids will be wearing-depending on if it looks good on the two that still need to try it on.

Last Thursday Karen and I met Mary at David's Bridal to look at bridesmaid dresses since Mary can't come with us this Thursday. They tried on a few dresses and this one is the one that looked great. It was very flattering on both of them.

Since this is the dress that I would like the bridesmaids to wear, my colors to the wedding have changed. The color is now "marine". It's the same color that is in the picture. The brown and blue combination that I wanted was just too hard to pull off.

This Thursday Karen and I are going with the other two bridesmaids to see if this dress will look good on them. My mom will also be coming because I will also be trying on dresses. I am extremely excited. I've been looking at the David's Bridal website and I have an idea of what I would like.

Things are slowly moving along.

I'm a lean green...

2008-03-15T09:26:00.002-05:00

cooking machine!!! I have been cooking all morning. Not by choice-I'm not expecting company. I had a nice little surprise when I go home from school yesterday. I went to my kitchen and noticed a puddle in front of the fridge. At first I thought that the dogs had done something there, but when I got close I noticed it was water and it was coming from the freezer. I opened the freezer and lo and behold-the food was all thawed. All the chicken, all the fish and all the turkey. Even the veggies. There was no ice left too-poor Emma (one of my dogs). She has been on ice withdrawal. She still does not understand why when she goes by the freezer and looks at me why I haven't been giving her ice.

Anyways, Nathan came over and looked at the fridge and found that the refrigerator coils had to be vacuumed. I didn't know that had to be done regularly (go ahead and laugh). I never had to worry about it when I lived with my parents and then I don't think Kathryn and Christy knew about it when they lived with me. Nathan and I ended up vacuuming the coils. It seemed like the refrigerator was cooling after that, but I think that it was just my imagination because when I woke up this morning there was no change.

So I have been cooking since about 8:45 a.m. It is now 10:37. I'm taking a break right now. So far I've cooked three packs of chicken breast and I'm currently baking some turkey drumsticks and wings. I still have ground turkey and about 4 bags of fish to go. Then I'm going to take it to my parent's house and put it in their freezer. I also have to take whatever is in the fridge. Then I'm going to call a repairman-hopefully the refrigerator can be repaired. I can't really afford a new one at the moment and I really don't want to open another Lowe's or Sears account (I closed mine a fews years ago after I paid them off).

Well, back to cooking...

Progress

2008-03-11T21:02:00.007-05:00

Last week I was "pinging". You know-stressing out. I realized that there were about four and a half months until the wedding and that I had done not one thing. I'd log onto www.theknot.com and look at my little planning tool to see if there was anything that I could cross off and there was nothing. So this past week I did a few wedding related things.

First off, I met with a caterer. One of my mom's friend's daughters is getting married this year also and they were meeting with a caterer this past Friday. My mom asked if we could meet with the caterer at the same time, which was no problem. So on Friday my mom, Karen, Nathan and I went to Perry to meet with her at my mom's friend's house. The meeting went well-I really liked her. She brought pictures of what she's done and I was really impressed. I was especially impressed with her fruit display. It was so nice-because of the way that she has her fruit, I wouldn't have to decorated the area where it would be. The caterer also does the wedding cake and the groom's cake. I also want to have a small Spanish theme at the Reception, so I asked the caterer if it would be alright if my mom made some Spanish tortillas and if we could put out some tapas, such as chorizo and Serrano Ham, and she said that it would not be a problem-in fact, she was excited about it, especially when we told her about the Sangria that Karen is going to make. She's supposed to call my mom to let her know how much everything is going to cost. My friend Debbie also told me the name of a good caterer, so if things do not work out with the one I met, I'll be calling her.

Reception place wise, I had a little problem. I wanted to have the reception on base at the Officer's Club, but unfortunately it was already reserved. The only other place that I could think of having the reception was at my church's Parish Activity Center (PAC). So on Monday my mom went to see if it was available and luckily it was. She went ahead and paid the deposit for it and brought the paperwork that I had to fill out home for me to do. I stopped at her house on the way home and got it done. So now I have a reception site! We will be using the large area of the PAC and the kitchen will also be available. The church sets up all the tables and chairs and they gave me a list of things that they can provide if I need them. There is also a stage in the large area, where I hope to have a DJ or band so that everyone can dance and have a great time. My mom threw out the idea of having a Latin band play at the reception, which Nathan and I thought would be cool.

I went to Target and bought the ring bearer pillow, the flower girl basket, the garter, and the guest book this week also. Target had it all as a set and it was on sale for about $34.00. I thought that it was a good deal. Here is a picture of it:

I also got crafty. I was thinking about having my bridesmaids hold a Pomander instead of a bouquet. I want to make the Pomanders for the girls but first I wanted to test make one. Michael's has their flowers on sale for half off this week, so I thought that this would be the best time to try and make one. So today I took a trip to Michael's after school and bought flowers, ribbon, wire, and a Styrofoam ball. Here is the end result:

It turned out nice, but too big. I'll have to go back to Michael's some time soon and buy a smaller Styrofoam ball. I may go ahead and buy three more of them and some more flowers and go ahead make them within the next few months.

So the next thing on the agenda that I have to do is go buy my dress and pick out what I want my bridesmaids to wear. I want to find something for them that they can wear again. I would hate for them to get a dress that they can only wear once. I have an idea of what I would like them to get and I already know in what colors. If you look around the blog you can see the colors. Can you guess what they are? What do you think?

Still sick, lost some weight, and wedding stuff

2008-02-19T19:20:00.006-05:00

I am on Winter Break this week. Let me tell you, I needed this. I have still been recovering from whatever funk it was that I caught last week. I'm still coughing, but I don't have the headache and the congestion that I had. Nathan is sick now. Poor thing. I talked to him today and he sounded like I did. He was also complaining that he was cold, which he never is because he's extremely hot natured.

This past weekend went well. We went to our Marriage PREP course and the the church. It was very informative. There were 5 couple total at the course. On Saturday we went to the 5:00 mass and we were all introduced to the church. I was so embarrassed because I had a coughing fit while we are being introduced and standing in front of everyone in the church. That was just lovely.

I did a little wedding planning also. Yesterday I met with the Director of Liturgy and Music at the church. She gave me a workbook so that Nathan and I can start picking out what reading we want to have read and she also gave me a song book so that we can also pick the songs that we want to be sung at the wedding. We have to meet with her again in June so that we can start discussing the ceremony. After the meeting, my mom and I went on base so that we could check out the Officer's Club and the old NCO Club, but they were closed. I should have known that was going to happen since it was President's Day. We did end up getting some names of caterers though.

Today I went to Appearances to get weighed and to get my shot and my pills. I have now lost a total of 13 pounds! I am so totally happy!!! This coming up month I have to work out more that I did this past month. I have not done anything in the last two weeks. Nathan wanted me to go waling or to the gym today, but I am coughing too much to go. Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday I'll feel up to going.

After Appearance I went to Target. I am so excited about what I found there. They have packs of 50 wedding invitation with nice designs for about $20. They come with the whole shebang-envelopes, rsvp cards, etc. All that I would have to do is print the information on them. I am so excited about this because we have about 200+ people on our guest list so far and getting the invitation done somewhere would be expensive. My sister's friend that is getting married this year paid about $300 for 70 invitations.

Before I go, I have to post a picture of the beautiful flowers that Nathan gave me for Valentine's Day. He also cooked dinner for me at his apartment. He is a great cook! Last year we went out to eat and this year we thought we'd try something different. I really enjoyed this year's Valentine's Day. I think that each year it's only going to get better!

Getting sick and other things

2008-02-14T18:53:00.005-05:00

Illness is trying to take over me. That is one of the crappy things about teaching-you catch what your students have. What the students have at the moment is the flu. I have been taking medicine and drinking plenty of water. I would really love to drink some orange juice, but unfortunately I cannot have it because of my diet.

That's right-a diet. I have been on it for almost a month now. I go to a doctor once a month and get a vitamin B12 shot and I am on phentermine. I also have a diet that I have to follow. I cannot eat pasta, bread, potatoes, fried foods, oranges, tangerines, grapes, plums, raisins, watermelon, bananas, corn, butter beans, lima beans, and red meat. I can eat whatever is not on the previous list. The only carb that I can have is rice. I can only have egg whites or egg beaters. Then I have to have breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner, and a pm snack. I also have to walk for 30 minutes at least 3 times a week. So far the diet has been going well for me-I've lost 10 pounds! Because of the weight loss, I am holding off on buying my wedding dress. I'm going to get it around April or May. I'm getting really excited about it.

This weekend Nathan and I have to go to a marriage prep course at our church. It is one of the requirements that we have to complete in order to get married. I'm looking forward to it. It should be quite informative.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day today!

Super Tuesday...

2008-02-05T21:18:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone voted. I did! :)

Washington D.C. Pictures

2008-01-21T20:57:00.001-05:00

I know it's taken a while to post them, but here they are!

In front of the Washington Monument

Us in front of the White House
In front of the Lincoln Memorial

I can touch the tip of the Washington Monument!!!

Amy goes to Washington D.C.

2008-01-16T10:03:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend Nathan and I went to Alexandria, VA for his brother and law's (Big John) promotion to colonel. The weekend started with us driving to Alexandria. We were hoping to leave around 3:15 pm or so, but we did not get on the road until about 5:30pm. We had planned to drive to Richmond and stay at a hotel and get up the next morning and drive to Alexandria. If we had left on time, we would have made it to the hotel at about 1:15 am or so, but we actually got there at about 3:30 am. We checked in, slept until about 6:30, got ready and then we were on the road by 7:00. We just made it to his sister's (Teresa) house-they were starting to get in the cars. We all drove to the metro and went to the Pentagon, which is were the promotion ceremony took place. The ceremony was nice and afterwards we went to the reception. After the reception we got to tour the Pentagon. I would have liked to take pictures, but we were not allowed-which is understandable. I would just like to say that the Pentagon is really cool and I am so glad that I stayed with my group because that place is easy to get lost in. It's huge!

Later that night we went to a party in celebration of Big John's promotion. We kind of got lost going there, but eventually we made it. We had a great time meeting new people and hanging out.

On Saturday I went to the National Gallery of Art in the afternoon with Nathan's brother Sean and his family. I was really excited because I absolutely LOVE art museums. I can tell you I was not disappointed with this one! It had a wonderful collection and best of all-it was free! Apparently all of the Smithsonian Museums are free. Tax dollars at work (that's at least the reason people gave me). The highlight of the museum was that they had a wonderful collection of Monets. Monet is my favorite artist (you would have thought that it was a Spanish one, huh?). Three of the paintings there stood out to me because I have the prints at home. I thought that it was awesome that I got to see them up close and in person.

After the museum we went to mass. After mass we went back to Big John and Teresa's house and hung out and ate dinner. Later that night Big John gave some of us a tour of Washington D.C. I had seen some of it earlier in the day, but seeing it at night was so nice. Washington D.C. looks absolutely beautiful at night. We got to see the Capitol, the White House (which was smaller that what I thought it was going to be), the Washington Monument (from far away), the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the Lincoln Memorial (HUGE!), the Korean War Memorial and the Marine Memorial. We also drove by Arlington Cemetery, but since it was late at night we weren't able to go in. I saw the eternal flame from JFK's burial site from far away.

Sunday was basically a travel day. We left around 10:30 am or so and arrived back in Warner Robins around 11:00 pm. Overall the whole trip was wonderful. I got to meet some more of Nathan's family and I got to see some awesome sights. I can't wait to go back and see things that I did not get to see this time.

I took lots of pictures, but at the moment I only have one with me. So for now, I leave you with this picture of Nathan and I in front of the Capitol at night.

I'll post more pictures when I get home from school later.

I'm engaged!

2008-01-06T09:42:00.000-05:00

Nathan asked me to marry him. Looks like the wedding will be in the summer. I'm so excited!!!

Here is the ring:

My surprise

2007-12-18T17:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was mine and Nathan's one and a half year anniversary. I thought that he was out of town because he was going to go visit his family for the week. I'll be honest-I was a little sad because I wanted to do something special for the one and a half, but at the same time I was happy that he was going to go visit his family. He doesn't really get to see them as much as he'd like, so whenever he goes I'm happy about it.

Anyways, today when I got home from school I got a wonderful surprise. Here it is:
I was so surprised. I got a little teary-eyed. Nathan is truly wonderful. This has not been the first time that he surprised me. One time I got home and he had written me a nice little note and left a small box of chocolates next to it. The nice surprise was when I walked into my room. He had bought me a really cool brown leather jacket.

Nathan is so wonderful. He always makes me laugh and he is the only guy that I have felt comfortable around. I can totally be my silly self around him. I truly believe that God has blessed me with him.

Go to this website!

2007-12-04T14:48:00.000-05:00

This website is hilarious (if you have the sense of humor that I have)!

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Catching up

2007-12-03T15:12:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am alive-I have just been extremely slack about posting. It's not that I don't have anything going on-it's more like I've been too lazy to write. In fact, I've been lazy about everything lately. I'm in school all day and by the time I get home I don't feel like doing anything. That includes cleaning, working on my thesis (yes, I'm still working on it-thank God that there is not a due date) and exercising.

This weekend I did get a little cleaning done. A friend of mine and I were both born on Christmas and we are having a joint birthday party this weekend. It will be at my house, so I decided to start cleaning early. That way I don't have to go crazy on the day of the party.

School is going alright. I'm already burnt out though. That's pretty sad-it's the middle of the year and I'm already burnt out. I'm not the only one. It's seems like all of the other teachers are feeling the same way as me. Thank goodness we have a two week break coming up. I am planning on resting. I'm also going to work on my thesis some.

Since I last wrote I did a few fun things. I went to Memphis and visited my old roommates. That was fun. I got to go to a baseball game and to a local spot called Huey's. I also went shopping to this cool outdoor mall. I was excited because I got to go to Sephora. I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I wish we had on in Macon (lets face it-they would never open one up in Warner Robins). Maybe they'll have one when they open up that outdoor mall.

I also went to Nathan's family reunion. It was the family reunion on his mom's side. The reunion was at Jelly Stone Park in Northern Florida. I had a great time. I enjoyed meeting some of his other family members.

Last month I went to Atlanta to see The Police. I went with Nathan and my sister Karen. Before the concert we went to the new World of Coke. It was a pretty cool place. I kind of liked it better than the old one. The only thing that sucked about this one was that they no longer had Fanta Lemon to taste. I was so sad about that. After the World of Coke we ate dinner and then we went to the concert. Karen had awesome seats right behind the stage and Nathan and I had seats really high up. Fiction Plane (Sting's son's band)was the opening act. They were pretty good. I have one of their albums and I really enjoy listening to it. The Police were awesome! They sounded great live. They have so much energy. I had such a great time (Nathan and Karen did too).

Thanksgiving was good. I went to my family's Thanksgiving first around 4 and then I went to Nathan's family's Thanksgiving. They were making a fried turkey, but unfortunately it didn't get finished on time so we had the sides instead. The next day I went to my first "Black Friday". I went with Nathan's sister in law and her kids and a friend of hers. I woke up bright and early (at 4 a.m.) and then Nathan took me to her house. First we went to Walmart and them we drove to Athens. I bought a few gifts and a few things for myself.

So what is up next? Mostly Christmas stuff. Parties, parties and more parties. I love this time of year.

Rafting, Camping, Climbing...oh my!

2007-07-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful week! Sunday afternoon Nathan and I headed to Tennessee to meet up with his family to go whitewater rafting and camping. It was a nice trip, except for when we got to the Chattanooga area. We got got in a traffic jam that took us about two hours to get out of. It was horrible. We finally made it to Athens, TN around 9 p.m.

On Monday we all woke up bright and early and headed to McCaysville, TN to go rafting on the Ocoee. We used the Rolling Thunder River Company. When we got there we were given a some information on what to expect and what to do. We then got all our gear-a life jacket, a helmet and a paddle and then were given some more information. Everyone loaded up on the buses and then we were taken to where we were going to begin. We got separated into to rafts (there were 11 of us). I was on a raft with Nathan, his mom, and his nephew Jake and a friend of his. We were told some last minute things that we needed to know about and then we carried the raft to the beginning. The rafting was great! I really enjoyed the Ocoee. We went through some class III and IV rapids. I didn't get knocked out of the raft any-I did get knocked in a few times though! Here is a picture from the rafting:

After rafting we ate some Mexican food and headed out to our campsite. It was a nice and scenic route. Before we got there we stopped at Bald River Falls. It was beautiful! Here is a picture:

We camped close to Bald River Falls in a camp ground called Holly Shoals. I got a little nervous riding to the campsite because if you looked out the window there was nothing. We made it to the campsite and set up. We camped for two days with no running water and a gross bathroom. This was my first time camping outdoors in a tent. I shared a tent with three of Nathan's nieces-Erin, Sarah, and Caitlyn. Sleeping in a tent ended up being more comfortable than I thought it was going to be because Nathan's family brought blow up mattresses. I didn't freeze at night (I'm cold natured) thanks to Renee lending me a sleeping bag. Nathan and I brought out bikes, but unfortunately the first night we were there I twisted my knee and it hurt all weekend (it still hurts). I tried riding up and down the hill close to our campsite but the pressure would hurt my knee. Nathan's nieces and nephews enjoyed riding our bikes around the campsite. They all thought that my bike was cool. Nathan and I went walking with his dad, his sister Heidi and her husband. I collected a few rocks as little "souvenirs". It was a nice little walk.

On the 4th of July we took down camp and headed to Heidi's house. I couldn't wait to get there because I hadn't taken a bath in three days. We stopped at the fish hatchery at the bottom of the mountain we were on and saw some trout. We were then on the road again. When we finally made it to Heidi's, Nathan wanted to go climb the small mountain behind her house. I was reluctant about going. We made it about half way up and I was about to give up. I thought that I was going to pass out. We finally made it up to the top.

The mountain

The top of the mountain

After making it back down I finally was able to take my shower. I was so happy. Later that night we all went to see the 4th of July fireworks.

We made it home on Thursday night. I really enjoyed myself in this trip. I can't wait to go camping again!

A recommendation...

2007-06-28T16:28:00.000-05:00

I totally love music. I have so many CDs that I have slowly ran out of room for them. For Christmas/my birthday my sister Karen and my parents bought me an iPod. I was always against having one, but last year I finally gave in. It is the bomb-diggity. I've been told that I have such an eclectic taste of music. I can listen to anything-except for country music and rap. There have been so many albums that I have been excited about buying (especially from my favorite band-U2). I have a bad habit of listening to albums or songs over and over again without getting tired of them.

Anyways, I just recently bought the new Paul McCartney album "Memory Almost Full". It is such a great album! I highly recommend it. It has a wonderful combination of when he was with The Beatles, Wings and his other solo albums. It just reminds me of growing up and my parents playing the Beatles or Wings.

Slow Summer

2007-06-20T10:41:00.000-05:00

Nothing new to report. Nothing exciting going on. Just a slow summer.

The only "travelling" that I've been doing is when I help my mom with field trips. She is in charge of the Summer Institute that the school at our church offers each summer. She offered me a job but I didn't want to deal with other people's kids over the summer. I do that during the year! So instead, I volunteer and drive her to the field trips. She needs to take her car in case of an emergency and doesn't like to drive long distances because she's afraid that she will fall asleep.

So far the field trips have been great. Last week we went to the Hay House. It was so beautiful-the way it was decorated reminded me of some of the palaces in Spain. Yesterday we went to Dauset Trails. The only part that I've ever seen is the bike riding part, but yesterday I saw the animal part. The kids had a great time looking at all the animals. I want to go back sometime this summer and ride the trail again. I haven't done that in a while. The field trip next week should be good-we're going to The Telegraph. My sister and some of my friends work there. I know that I won't run into my sister, but I may run into some of my friends.

I'm hoping that my summer vacation does not end up like Spring Break-stuck at home. I'd like to go somewhere. The summer is not over yet!

SCHOOLS OUT!!!

2007-06-11T15:04:00.000-05:00

School has actually been out for a week. I've been too busy or just plain lazy to post anything until now. So what has been going on lately? Here is a small run down...

I've been tackling things that I did not get to get done when school was going on-namely home improvement things. I finally painted one of the guest rooms and made it into an office/bike room. Nathan came over and helped me paint. He mixed up three different colors of paint and came up with a nice blueish-greenish color. We painted two of the walls with that and painted the other two walls the original light beige that they were. The color part of the room I made into the office and the other part into the bike part.

I also did some yard work. I cut the front and the back yard. I also finally sprinkled the weed and feed around the yard. I did that today because I heard it was supposed to rain. I still have more things that I have to do. I still need to trim bushes, trim the crepe myrtles, get rid of an ugly bush that is in my back yard, trim the rosemary bushes, and landscape a little "island" area on the side of my front yard. I also hope to do some pretty things in my backyard because right now it is just plain looking and ugly.

I also started exercising some more. I've gone to the little gym at Nathan's apartment complex and walked on the tread mill and also used the stair master. Soon we'll be joining the YMCA and working out there. I've also gone riding some too. We've gone riding around my neighborhood and found a small trail over where they are building some houses. It's nothing too difficult. There are a few hills that I am still trying to get up. There is a part with a steady climb that was hell, but Nathan basically pushed me up it so that I would not give up and walk it. It helped, but I was still feeling the burn. It didn't help that it was hot as hell outside too. We hope to go riding a little more this summer.

So that is my summer vacation so far-home improvement and self-improvement. I hope to get a little vacationing in there too. I still have another month and a half to do that. :)

Pardon the non-progress...

2007-05-24T09:27:00.000-05:00

I know that I have not updated much lately. School is slowly drawing to a close (THANK GOD) and I have been busy grading papers, entering grades, updating finals, making final study sheets and many other things. As soon as things calm down and I regain my sanity I will be able to write more.

Finally!!!!

2007-05-15T11:57:00.000-05:00

After four months I finally have my Spanish passport. Back in January, Karen and I went to sign the paper work for it on the same day so you would have thought that we would receive it on the same day. Nope-didn't happen. Karen got hers toward the end of March. My mom called the consulate in Miami to see why I hadn't received mine and they said that they had not received my paper work. They were wanting me to pay more money and take another passport picture. My mom explained to them how my sister and I had gone on the same day and that maybe my paper work was in her file. They said that there was no way that that could have happened. She told them to check anyways. Guess what-it was in my sister's file. Then when they sent me some paperwork I noticed that they misspelled my last name. Luckily, my mom was able to get them to correct it before they sent the paperwork that they had in Miami to Spain.

So yesterday I went to the post office to pick up the passport. I couldn't wait to get in my car an tear the envelope to look at it. It was so exciting. I know that I'm a little too excited about finally getting the passport, but to me it represents the four years that I have spent trying to get my double citizenship. I now know that it is all over and I am officially a Spaniard in addition to being American.

¡Olé!

2007-05-14T11:15:00.000-05:00

I feel like I spent the weekend in Spain! My family and I went to to a "quedada" this weekend for Spaniards. A "quedada" is a get together. The Association of Spain from Florida and the one from Georgia got together at Altamaha State Park in Reidsville this weekend. It was a lot of fun!

My parents, my sister Karen and I all rode together to Alatamaha on Saturday morning. It was an interesting ride. My family is crazy-a fun kind of crazy. Karen drove her brand spanking new Toyota Rav 4 (which I'm going to steal, by the way). I think that my dad might have been driving her a little insane with the "you are going over the speed limit" comments. Then my mom was being totally obnoxious. She was hilarious and very loud. After a while I had to take a Tylenol because of all the noise. All the craziness was giving me a headache.

When we got to the park we found my aunt and uncle's RV. It was set up nicely with the Spanish flag. We met up with my aunt and then helped the rest of the Spanish ladies fix some of the food. I mostly peeled shrimp. After a while my aunt wasn't feeling well, so we all went back to the RV. We ate some barbecue sandwiches and some bagel chips. This was the beginning of me eating horribly this weekend.

The rest of the day consisted of eating food and drinking Sangria. There was all sorts of Spanish food-paella (yum), fried sardines (yum), Spanish tortilla (yum yum) and queso manchego (yum yum yum). There was even dessert! I had a madalena (kind of like a muffin) and something that resembled ice cream. My mom brought me more dessert and I had to tell her to take it away because I was full.

Karen and I even met some people our age. They were very nice. They were part of a program where they some to the United States to teach. Two of them had been here for three years and are going back at the end of June. Another one of them has been here for 9 months and will be staying for another two years. It was really cool to meet them.

Saturday night was more talking and more eating. I went to sleep earlier than my family and woke up later than them. I slept like a log. I slept so well that I was having a hard time waking up.

On Sunday we packed up and went home. The ride home was a lot of fun. I had a great time spending the weekend with my family.

The rest of the day a did a little yard work (mostly cutting grass). This week I'll be watching what I eat. I need to try and squeeze a little exercising in too.

Busy times...

2007-05-08T14:18:00.000-05:00

This part of the year gets pretty busy for me. School is just about over (18 more days) and it seems like everything is getting thrown at myself and other teachers.

First off we had End of Course Tests last week. There is no EOCT in Spanish, but I did have to be an examiner for some two tests. Due to the EOCT, I was not able to teach very much last week. Luckily, I have managed to stay up to date on where I need to be in the textbook.

I had to help administer an AP test. I mostly had to help out with the technology aspect of the test (we have a hi tech language lab)-playing the listening section and recording the students when they get to the speaking section. I'm the only one in my department that has recorded students in the past, so I was asked to help out. Because of the AP testing, I missed my Spanish 1 classes today. They will not be very happy to see me tomorrow because I left them with a lot of translating (hehe). I had a vocabulary quiz planned for Spanish 2, but I have not had a chance to make it. Then I was going to give them a cultural lesson today. I'm was excited about it. They were going to watch a video on Gaudi and then they were going to have fun with arts and crafts. I was going to have them make mosaics out of construction paper. Well, the testing will ran into 4th period, so they had watch a video on bullfighting. That ended up being the plan for the rest of the day. With having to record everything on 10 separate discs, I didn't get to my class until the middle of 6th period. Let me tell you, today was a totally hectic day!

In the next few weeks I have to make sure that I cover what ever else is left. I need to try to leave at least two days for reviewing before finals. Speaking of finals, I still need to make my finals. That is always a fun task. This year I'm going to stay on top of things and finish mine early.

I am so looking forward for the end of school. I'll miss the students (believe it or not), but I will be so happy to take a break!

How I Spent My Weekend

2007-05-07T10:21:00.000-05:00

This weekend was pretty much uneventful. I was going to go riding on Saturday, but my hair appointment took a little longer than I had hoped. My hair looks nice though! :)

I did mangage to get on the trainer for about 10 minutes. That's about all that I can do at the moment. My goal for next time is to stay on for 15 minutes. Little by little I'm going to increase the time.

Saturday night I went to La Cabana with my parents and my sister Karen to eat Mexican food. My other sister Erika works there, so in a way the whole family was there. I enjoyed spending time with them.

I got to spend some more time with my parents on Sunday. After church we went to Middle Georgia College in Cochran to see Erika's last recital there. She thinks that she did not do so well, but I think that she was fabulous. Afterwards, the parents and I drove back to Warner Robins and ate dinner. We had some Captain D's. I only had one piece of fish, one hush puppie, two pieces of shrimp and some cole slaw. I tried to be careful since the food was fried, but then I ate a little more of the french fried than I should have. I finally asked my parents if I could move the box AWAY from me. Luckily when I weighed myself the next day I was not gained anything (thank goodness).

I pretty much had a great weekend. I got to spend it with my family.

Loosing it

2007-05-02T07:38:00.000-05:00

The title of this blog makes it seem like I am losing my mind. On the contrary-my mind is in great shape. What I am losing is weight. At the beginning of the year I was doing great and had lost about 10 pounds. I was so happy because I even went down a dress size. Something happened on Easter Weekend-I gained a few pounds. That weekend was horrible. I didn't really have much to do that weekend since my sister and my mom where in Spain and Nathan was visiting family, so I stayed home and vegged out on the couch and watched some movies. Then I started craving junk food. I did the evil thing and went to the store and bought some junk food-mostly ice cream. Shame on me! The sad thing was that this continued into the rest of the week. Only instead of ice cream I made daily visits to the snack machine in the teacher's lounge. I drank lots of soda also. I even was horrible enough to stop by Burger King on the way to school and buy breakfast.

About a week later my mom and my sister came back from Spain. A few days later my sister and I where hanging out and she asked me if I had gained weight. That is when what I was doing hit me. I decided to stop the insanity. I stay away from the junk food or any other food that is not good for me. I reserve Sunday for eating the bad food-but in moderation. I also exercise at least three times a week.

So my goal for the next month is to go down another dress size (or two). I also want to increase days of exercise to four. So far I believe that I am on the right path. I just have to keep it up.

Finally!!!

2007-04-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to get a bike for about a year and a half now. Well, Friday was the day that I finally got one! I am now a proud owner of a Trek 3700 women's specific bike. It was in the price range that I wanted to start out on. Unfortunately I don't have a digital camera and I'm having problems accessing the pictures that I took on my camera phone, so here is a picture courtesy of the Trek website:

Isn't it pretty? Nathan helped me name it. It is now known as Polka Dot, but I like to call it "Ol' Polky".

Nathan and I went riding around my neighborhood on Friday. We rode about 5 miles. Surprisingly I felt like I could have gone more, but it was getting dark.

On Saturday we decided we were going to hit the trail. I was hoping to go on the Pig Trail because that is the one that I always ride because I totally love it. Well, Nathan took me to Thomson. I got discouraged at first because he took me around the hard part and I walked the majority of it. I guess that now I know what I can eventually try and do. After the hard part, he took me to an easier part. I barely got off the bike at that part. There was one hill that I wasn't comfortable going down and then there was another one that I almost made up if it weren't for a root that was sticking out of the ground and caught my pedal. I also had my first crash on the bike. I saw a big root and thought that it would be better to stay to the left, but there ended up being a tree and I headed right for it. I ended up walking/riding 3 miles. I think that I can end up liking Thomson some.

So now I'm not as scared any more. I did get a little whiny with fear at some points, but I'm just going to have to suck it up. Also, Nathan really helps me because he is always encouraging me. He's really been helping me out and helping me stay positive. He told me that he was very proud of me on Saturday.

At the Tour...

2007-04-23T07:28:00.000-05:00

On Sunday I went to the Tour de Georgia with Nathan, Karen and Renee. Karen and Renee were determined to stalk-I mean-to meet some cyclists. They got to meet David Millar, Freddy Rodriguez, Ryder Hesjedal and Tyler Hamilton. Karen even got to take a quick picture with George Hincapie. They took some awesome pictures with these guys. Check out Renee's blog to see them. My goal was to get a picture of Dave Zabriskie. Did I meet that goal? No. I did what I do best-I chickened out. What is sad is that I chickened out for the second year in a row. Last year I was determined. I had my sister Karen walk up to where Dave was signing autographs and taking pictures with me. I got next to Dave and just stood there. As he was going back into the RV to get ready for the race, my sister had to get his attention and ask him to take a picture with me.

This year was classic. I found out where team CSC was and was determined that I would not do a repeat of next year. It was worse this year. I walked toward a group of three riders-among them Dave, and I stopped and turned back around. My boyfriend even offered to go up there with me. I just couldn't do it. Pretty sad.

Other than that, the day was good. We walked around the Live Healthy Georgia Expo. They had lots of neat things. I got sunburnt-but that was my fault for being stubborn and not wanting to put on any sunscreen. Overall it was a fun day!

Fear

2007-04-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

I have a few friends who are cyclists. Every now and then I would go riding with them and my sister Karen. I had a weird pattern-I would so totally be into it and then I would get lazy and not go. I was doing so well around September-October about riding. My boyfriend and I would go to the Pig Trail and ride or we would ride around my neighborhood. I was doing so much better on the trail. In the past I had to walk the trail a bunch of times because I couldn't do some of the climbs and then I started getting better to where I wouldn't have to get off as much. I loved going down the hills and riding over roots. Then something weird happened-I got scared. I just cannot think of why. I fell twice (in one fall I went over the handle bars), but I thought that it was the coolest thing and kept riding. I tried to overcome that fear about two months ago. Nathan and I went to the trail behind the church by the Russell Parkway extension. I mostly walked the course. I was even scared of going down the hills.

Now that the weather is getting nicer I have decided that I need to beat that fear. I am going to beat it one step at a time. I'm going to start with a little bit of riding around my neighborhood and then I'm going to try and get back to the trail. I will not let the fear get to me. I need to conquer this.

The Tour is Here!!!

2007-04-16T19:35:00.000-05:00

I always look forward to this time of year. The Tour de Georgia has officially begun! The last several years I've gone to see the last three stages. This year I'll only get to see two.

Today Nathan (my boyfriend) and I went to see Stage 1 end in Macon. I left school today the minute the bell rang. I was able to beat the traffic from the kids leaving. I wanted to leave the school the quickest that I could because I determined to get to Macon at a decent time. I was also paranoid about finding parking when we got there. Luckily, that was not an issue. I parked at a bank and we walked to where they had the finish line. We got there just in time because the riders were already starting on the circuit part. We were able to get a good place to stand and watch. It's always a problem for me to find a good spot because it never fails that someone taller than me decides to stand in front of me and then I can't see. I did not have that problem today. Here is the best picture that a took:
After the race was finished Nathan and I walked around a little. I got to see Dave Zabriskie, which was awesome. He's my favorite rider that is on the tour. He was riding away with his teammates. I tried to take a picture, but I was too late. Oh well-another time.

On our way back to the car, Nathan and I walked through where they have the Live Healthy Expo. They were already packing when we got there. I was able to go to the Jittery Joes display where I bought a travel mug and some coffee. The coffee is excellent might I add. I wasn't too worried about not seeing the rest of the stuff at the Live Healthy Expo. I'll be headed to Atlanta on Sunday to catch the end of the Tour with Nathan, my sister Karen and my friend Renee so I'll be able to see more then.

Burnt out

2007-04-13T16:15:00.000-05:00

I am so glad that it's the weekend! I'm in that stage in my job where I start going through "burn out". I teach Spanish in a high school, which I totally enjoy. I've been teaching for about 6 years now. The beginning of the school year is an exciting time-new students, I'm all rested from Summer vacation and new teaching stuff to try out. Mid-year through I'm doing alright. I'm still trying out new things, the students have gotten used to me and I have my little system so that I can get organized. Around this time of year all hell breaks loose. I'm tired, I have no motivation to teach, the students are driving me crazy, and I take forever to grade things. Also, my organization system is totally forgotten. Now its to where I just stick papers wherever.

The count down to summer vacation has officially begun! At the moment there are 34 more days of school left (not counting weekends). Wish me luck so that I can make it!

My mind went blank...

2007-04-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

I've been reading some blogs and found them interesting, so I thought to myself "self, why don't you start one too?". So here I am-starting a blog. The sad thing is that right now I'm just sitting here thinking about what to write. I had all these things to write about before and now I cannot think of a thing. Go figure. My first post and I have a brain fart. :)