Endings

It is Saturday, July 30th.  This morning was officially my last day to sleep in before I return to school on Monday.  Why is it that I get this sad feeling at the end of every summer?  Sometimes I sit and think about the things I wish I had done, like eat at our favorite breakfast place in Atlanta or take a day trip to the lake.  Then I sit and think some more, but now about how much work it is to be a teacher.  In case you don't know, it's a lot of work.

Don't get me wrong.  I love teaching.  I love seeing "my" kids every day.  I am excited to get big hugs from prior students and hear their first impressions of their new teachers.

All of those things are well and good, but I will miss summer. I will miss the sense of feeling relaxed and like I do not have to rush to accomplish my tasks.

But typing that last sentence, I had to stop and think.  Did I really feel that way this summer?  Did I ever truly feel relaxed?  Maybe a little bit, at my most delusional.  All summer, no- all year, there has been this dark cloud hanging over my head: grad school.  It is a hard feeling to describe.  Even when I'm out with family or watching a show on Netflix, there is still the looming thought of the latest paper or discussion post I need to write.  Right now I'm putting off writing a ridiculously long lesson plan that requires me to find nine different books on the same topic for three different reading levels.  No big.

I think that if other people were to read my previous post and this one, they would think I was a big complainer.  "Abby," they'd say, "you are lucky to be in grad school and learn more about your profession."  Why yes, I agree.  I am lucky.  But does it make sense that right now I don't feel lucky?  I feel like I am dragging my feet across the finish line.  I feel like a marathoner who ran out of gas and is literally hobbling towards the finish covered in blood, sweat, and tears.  Well, maybe not the blood, but definitely the other two.

Long story short, I will miss summer.  I will not miss grad school.  Twenty-two days and counting...feels like forever, but I will be done before I know it.
  

Summer!

As my husband so lovingly likes to remind me, yes, it is still technically spring.  BUT to every teacher I know, summer begins the day I walk out those school doors and into two months of freedom.*

My goal is to have a relaxing and fun summer without doing a whole lot of anything.  Austin gave me The Pioneer Woman Cookbook for my birthday, so I am planning to try out many of those recipes and see which ones are easy enough to replicate during the school year.  Other than that, I think our summer will consist of running, reading, and lots and lots of ice cream.  :]  Here's what we've been up to so far.

The face of an excited teacher leaving for the summer.

Lots and lots of ice cream...

Relaxing after the last day of post-planning.  Drinking Diet Coke with my feet propped up.

The proper way to celebrate the successful end of the school year: Starbucks.

First duo run of the summer on Memorial Day.

Super quick (free!) overnight visit to Helen.  So relaxing!

Here's to lots more summer fun with my main man!


*Well, not exactly "freedom."  I do have a week of math training...and an in-service for new teachers...and getting ready for next year.  We will just call it a less stressful busyness.  :]

Excuses, Excuses

Long time, no see.  It seems like it's been ages since I've visited the pages of my blog, but I have a very valid excuse:
SUMMER.
Yes folks, summer.  These last few weeks of summer I couldn't make myself sit down to write a new post.  It could have been the extreme heat that I feel if I'm not lying prostrate under the fan...but probably not.  Honestly, I was attempting to enjoy a lazy, fun summer because I knew that soon enough it would be back to reality.


And tomorrow?  Yep, back to reality.  Another school year starts.  The good news?  There are only 18 weeks of school until I am getting married!  Wahoo! 


In lieu of me typing more barely coherent sentences, here are some pictures and one-word captions.  Maybe they'll paint a picture of the past few weeks.

Hotdogs.

Brunch.

Boo.

Runner.

The end.

Beach Party Date Day

One reason Biz and I have been loving summer is because of the plethora of "date days."  "What is a date day," you ask?  Well, a date day is nothing more than a day spent doing date-type activities together.  We have gone to eat at new places, seen movies, watched sunsets, went people watching at the mall...all sorts of things! 

Today I decided to have an "at home" date day since we've been gone for a while (and also to save a little money on eating out).  After some pondering, a thought hit me at about midnight (as good thoughts generally do): let's have a beach party! 

Don't you love my crazy looking banner that I slaved over for approximately 30 seconds?

So today we've had a lot of fun doing "beachy" things like listening to the Beach Boys Pandora station (fantastic), playing Bananagrams (because bananas remind me of the beach, duh), and playing that fun wiffle ball + scoop game (no idea what it's called).  Soon we're going to have a seafood dinner of tortilla crusted talapia and shrimp cocktail (yum yum!).  But I figured we needed a beachy drink to keep us cool during our outside activities (high of 95 ya'll!), so we put together this concoction.  Enjoy!

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris (Kinda)

In a blender put half a bag of frozen strawberries (I'd guess about 10).

Add 1/4 cup of OJ.  We also considered using lemonade...I'm sure it's good, too!

Add 3/4 cup of diet lemon lime soda.  Or be really adventurous and get the full calorie kind, ohh!

Think about how gross your mixture looks so far, then blend.

 Pour into a glass and enjoy!  We made this twice to get two servings, and I added two teaspoons of sugar to mine to sweeten it up a bit.  It was still pretty tart even with the sugar. 

New York Part 1

Mr. Biz and I got back late Tuesday night from a quick little vacation to Western NY (no, not NYC) to visit my grandparents and other members of my dad's family.  It was a beautiful trip for many reasons, one of which was the weather.  The Atlanta area had record highs that hit triple digits while we enjoyed five days of breezy, high-of-82-degrees weather.  It was fantastic. 

Our flight got in around 11:30PM on Thursday, so we headed straight to bed when we got to my grandparent's house.  Friday morning found us up and at 'em...running time!  My grandparents live a little outside a super quaint village, that was great for a short run.  The only issue was running with a headwind.  I felt like whatever direction we picked, the wind was going against us!  After three miles I set up shop with my Kindle at Panera while Biz went a few more miles on his own.  A beautiful morning.

After our run and breakfast together, we met up with my parents and sisters for a short trip to Niagara Falls.  I hadn't seen the falls in 8ish years, so it was awesome for me, but I loved seeing Biz's reaction.  He had never seen them before and I could tell he was blown away.  But I'll write more about that part of our trip later (esp. since those pictures are in Canada with my youngest sister).

The only picture I took of the falls.  Kelley's pictures are much better. 

Saturday we had a fun surprise...my aunt and sisters threw us a shower!  They themed it after a couple of my favorite things: The Office and Moe's.  It was a lot of fun and the perfect couples shower (since it wasn't super girly).  I have a feeling that this next season of my life will continually remind me how blessed I am to have such loving and generous friends and family.

Sunday we drove to Ohio to visit my uncle's family.  Biz enjoyed talking running with my uncle, and I enjoyed getting to see three of my cousins.  Every year I have more and more fun hanging out with them.  DJ was 14 this year and he loved talking with Mr. Biz...especially when they discovered that they both have the same favorite car. 

Speaking of favorite car, on Monday Mr. Biz and I had date-day and we received this text message from my sisters:

Our dream mini...they even got the color right.  (Sidenote: we saw a mini this same color at Starbucks a couple weeks ago.  We both loved the color and then realized why: that's the color we're painting our living room/kitchen.  Duh.)  One day this car will be our reality...with different rims (Biz thinks they're ugly) and a turbo (so my man can drive fast).  If you know my future last name, then this car makes sense for us.  :]

That's all for today...don't want to overwhelm ya'll with our vacation details.  And anyways, this account is more so that I can look back and remember our first big vacation together.  Fun stuff!  Can't wait for December though...that's the big vacation: honeymoon!  :]



P.S.- I changed my blog header...what do ya'll think?

An Epic May

Hi everyone!  It's been a long time, huh?  Seems like May is tied with December for the busiest month of the year...this past month has been full of celebrating for my family.  Birthdays, family members to be (read to the end to hear about that one), graduations, and the end of the school year.  My summer break officially started on Friday afternoon and so far it has been great!  I have a lot to do this summer, but first let's check out what's been going on. 

What time is it?  Summertime! 

No judgement.  I will not deny that HSM is awesome.  And that song gets me seriously pumped up.  You should listen to it while you read to get the full effect.

Anyways, I have lots and lots to do today, so I won't linger too long in bloggy world.  Here is what I was up to during the month of May, as seen by my phone.

Cupcakes with my newly graduated sister.

Getting creative with my dinner: fiesta black beans, salsa, a whole avocado, and black bean/garlic chips.  DELISH.

My race number from my first ever 5k!  Wahoo!

Action shot of Mr. Biz and myself running said 5k...I don't know why I look happy.  I'm pretty sure at this point I felt like I was going to melt into the pavement.  I guess I was delirious.

Oh yeah.  And I got engaged to the most wonderful man in the whole world.  No biggie.  ;]

So yeah...May was a pretty awesome.  :]

Today I'm Feeling...

My writing has felt very inadequate lately, which is why you haven't seen very many blog posts.  I've had a lot of important stuff going on, but I can't seem to find the words to write about them.  Also, our county is getting pretty strict about not talking about work online, so I can't write about the 40ish hours I spend at the school each week.  I so wish I could tell ya'll all about it.  Other than work, I've been biking, Netflix-ing, hanging with friends, and spending time at church. 

Anyways, my blog inadequacies come from reading all of the amazing blogs I follow.  Ya'll need to stop being so awesome so I can write some more.  ;]  Haha, just kidding you guys.

I'll finish this little post with some of my recent faves from weheartit:

[1, 2, 3]

Can you tell I'm missing summer?  Anybody else in the same boat?

The Joys of Technology

I love all of my technology, especially my computer.  This lovely Viao enables my new Pinterest addiction, along with all of the blogs I try to keep up with. 

BUT (and this is a big "but" as they like to say at camp) sometimes I hate my technology, like when it gets a nasty virus.  

The Geek Squad guy chuckled when he saw the virus I'd acquired and proclaimed, "Oh, this is a fun one."  Joy. 

Anyways, Oopie the laptop is back with me tonight, and here are some beautiful pictures from my life to make up from my absence from the Blogger scene.

Last week was Riverbend and it was great! We saw The Beach Boys--with John Stamos!

Sunset before seeing Casting Crowns @ Riverbend.

Last Thursday we took our day camp kids to a nature center...it was beautiful!

I could live in a little cabin by a lake.

Insane storm that Michaela and I got stuck in.  Our "smart move" turned into "getting soaked."

A few hours before my computer went comatose...enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

A camper asked me today, "Ms. Abby, what's wrong with your feet?" And no, my legs aren't hairy. That's the photo effect.

Jon and Michaela's garden is INSANE.  Jon picked 16 cucumbers today, and yesterday they picked 10.

See?  Cucumbers galore.

I am a very nice counselor. The candy is my proof.  ;]

This cracked me up. The small print reads: Agent Secrets Revealed Inside.

Well guys, it's good to be back.  Does anyone else have insane gardens right now?  Or maybe insane computer issues?

Summer Reading Program @ Twenty-Something "Librarian"

Some of you may know about my love of books (ok, maybe a slight obsession).  When I was a kid, I would get sent to my room to clean, which really meant I sat and read a book for a few hours instead.  But as I got older, something changed.  School became more intense and I started doing this thing called "working."  I'm sure there were years when I read maybe one or two books--but now I'm changing that.  Reading is so rewarding and enjoyable...some of my favorite moments are at Starbucks with a good book.  

All of that to say...I'm joining a summer reading program for grown-ups!  There's this super cool girl that I've known for years named Melissa (or if you're me, you can call her Moosie). 

That's Melissa on the far right and me in the crazy wig. Anyone else do OM?

She works at a library back home and loves books even more than me.  I love reading her blog about the inner workings of our local libraries and she's a very entertaining writer (check her out!).  This summer she's set up a way for all of us older folk to catalog our reading and share the books we've read.  I know some of my followers enjoy books as much as I do, or even just want to set a summer reading goal for themselves.  Head on over to her blog to check out the program, and let me know if you decide to do it! 

I've posted two books so far:
The Help by Katheryn Stockett


East of Eden by John Steinbeck


Both were great books, but The Help was definitely my favorite of the two.  I highly recommend it. 

Ok, ya'll...now it's your turn!  Go check out Twenty-Something "Librarian" and let us know what you've been reading!

I'm alive!

There are 421 unread posts currently chillin' in my Google Reader.  Yeah, needless to say, I've been a bit absent from the blogosphere.  Camp is keeping me pretty darn busy.

But this weekend was all about FUN FUN FUN!  Namely, The Beach Boys at Riverbend (a big music festival in Chattanooga).  And *surprise* John Stamos was playing with them!  It was awesome.  I also ate a ton of Mexican food and explored some neat local spots with my friends.  I'd say it was a successful weekend.  :]