Well school started....

School has been going for 62 days.  My last blog was the night before it all began.  It has been a whirlwind to say the least.  I can honestly say that I love teaching.  I really enjoy the students in my classes.  There are moments where I even feel like I have it all under control.  These moments are few and far between.  I don't think I have ever worked so hard in my life.  I get up at 5:30 every morning and get to school by 6:30.  I stay late after school.  The first year of teaching is nuts!  And just when you think you're getting used to the daily stuff, KTIP kicks in.  KTIP is your internship year your first year of teaching in Kentucky.  I have a committee of 3 other people (Ms. Faw-my resource teacher and fellow second grade teacher; Ms. Brown-my principal; and Ms. Ackerman-my university rep from Midway where I never attended).  There are 3 cycles to KTIP.  During each cycle, each person comes and observes.  There is endless paperwork and lots of projects to be completed, in the correct format of course.  I have completed my first cycle (PTL!!) and it went remarkably well.  I am still in shock.  Of course, that means I have to step it up even more for my second round!
 Here's a few pictures from my classroom BEFORE school started.  It looks much more worn in now!

Calendar math area

Table 3 and my beautiful windows that I've had to cover :(

My desk area.  See my Ms. Mayo desk plate? Nathan got me that and a Mrs. Jackson for next year :)

With school being more than a full time job, I've had much less of a social life.  However, I've squeezed a bit in.  Often times by Friday night I'm so exhausted, I work at school until about 7 and then collapse at home.  A night on the couch is a huge thrill in my life!!

Oh yeah and there's that wedding planning business!!  We're getting down to about 7 months (when did that happen??).  Nathan and I have started registering.  We've been to Kohls with mom and we're hitting up Bed, Bath and Beyond tonight.  Macy's will follow :)  We took engagement photos and here's two of my favorites. 

He always makes me laugh

 

 

see??

Here's a link to the album on Facebook 

  This is my entire 2011 photo album so scroll down a bit to see my selection of my favorite engagement photos.  We really enjoyed taking our pictures.  The only problem being the fact that it was 40 degrees and we were dressed for fall.  It was freezing!!  Our photographer was one of my sorority sisters in college and Nathan and I enjoyed working with her and her husband for our pictures.  It got us even more excited for the wedding!!  Check out Rebecca's website :)

In more recent social news, I avoided Halloween fairly well.  I didn't dress up.  My one Halloween activity was to go see Melissa die in Thriller downtown.  She's so scary and so serious.  How did I live with this?!  Ekk!

Transy also played UK in an exhibition game.  Melissa scored some AWESOME tickets and asked me to go with her!  I almost wasn't able to go because my KTIP meeting was the next dang day, but through hard work, I got all my stuff done early!!  We had a blast cheering for both teams at the game!  I've never known so many people at a UK game!!

Melissa's shirt: We bleed Crimson and also a little BLUE

Last weekend was a fun one!  We registered, like I said.  We also journeyed out to Talon Winery.  Melissa and I had bought a Groupon for Talon about a year ago.  For $20, 4 people could enjoy wine tasting, receive 4 wine glasses, and a bottle of wine to take home.  Melissa, Nathan, Tim and I enjoyed our trip to the vineyard.  

That evening, was Nathan's niece's (my soon-to-be niece) one year birthday party.  She is such a sweet baby and Nathan is so stinkin' sweet with her!  He just adores her and you can tell she adores him!  Here's the outfit he picked out for her! 

Isn't that presh??

Other big news???  I hit my goal in Weight Watchers!!  I am now a FREE lifetime member!!!  Yeehaw!!!  

Thursday night, I was also lucky to spend 2 1/2 hours talking to my baby brother in Italy!!  I'm thankful for technology and Skype to allow us to talk for 2 1/2 hours internationally!  It's remarkable.  

In closing, a few more photos.  Maybe I'll keep up better with this blog.  Maybe and maybe not.  Stay tuned to see!!

UK basketball.  I'm a happy camper!

Roller coaster???

Nathan seems to hate the aquarium

new pencils

I've got my new pencils, new shoes, new dress and it's my first day of school tomorrow as a teacher...Lord, be with me. 

Passport take 1!

On June 26th, Nathan and I headed off to Wingate, NC with 15 youth and 4 other chaperones for Passport choices. We were both excited...me more so than Nathan. Passport is such a huge part of my life and has had such a profound impact on my life. I find my experiences with Passport very difficult to communicate to other people. I was so ready for Nathan to experience Passport and get to hang out with our super awesome youth group.

The week did not disappoint. The theme really connected with our group. They loved their choices and their leaders. The group got a lot closer and really experienced God in different ways. And Nathan experienced Passport and a part of me. We all rocked it out at the dance!! It was just a breathtaking week!! And exhausting. 

And as far as weight watchers and camp, I found a balance. I brought breakfast bagels and spray butter. Stocked up on fruit. Skipped the fruit snacks and cookies at lunch. For dinner, I was completely at the mercy of the cafeteria. And often very hungry. I would try to eat the main item (chicken fingers, pizza, chicken quesadilla,etc.) and then chow down on fruit. I ran one morning. Other than that, I would just sweat the pounds off (thank you, dance with no air conditioning). So after a 3 quesadilla night, trip to Cookout, and Cheerwine sherbet, I came out about even, if not down a little bit!!

All in all, a fabulous and successful week!!

Thanks for the fun Passport!!

June 16, 2011

Today has been a fun day...It is exactly a year until our wedding day!!  Woot woot!!  I'm so ready I could burst.  To celebrate today, Nathan and I went and met with a realtor and a mortgage person to discuss the possibility of buying our first house together (my first house! aaahhh!!!).  Both meetings went well and we are going to start seriously looking at the end of 2011.  A great way to celebrate our negative one year wedding anniversary.  The upcoming year is going to be absolutely crazy but I am excited.  A new job, wedding planning, house hunting, general life living...much excitement and much happiness :)

Half Marathon

This past weekend included a trip to Nashville.  Melissa and Betsey tackled a half marathon!! Along with about 30,000 other people.

Poor Melissa was sick as a dog but she made it 13.1 miles!!!

 Don't they look happy!?  Happy and tired!!  Our little runners :)

After the running, we all went home and rested.  Then we headed out to Satco which was fabulous as always. 

We headed downtown and got there right as a concert was getting out...so it was nuts!!  We found one place downtown that wasn't as packed.  

The Second Fiddle was not packed but I really enjoyed it.  We also met up with Lindsey :)

Very successful trip to Nashville...if only I hadn't come home sick :(

Wedding Website

Only advantage to being sick in bed all day on a Monday?  Getting a great start on a wedding website :) 

meredithandnathan.brides.com

Accomplishment

Today marks a big ol' accomplishment for me.  I had to stay home sick today (blah) but am starting to feel better after resting.  I did go out at 4 for my Weight Watchers weigh in....and boy am I glad I did.  I lost 3.8 pounds this week (a shock after being out of town) which was so exciting!!

I have also now lost a total of 50.8!  50.8!!  I absolutely cannot believe it!  I'm in my healthy weight range finally!!  Such an exciting weigh in day for me!  I wouldn't be surprised if I gained a bit next week after such a big loss but I am still excited!  

50 pounds!  So very exciting...I am still disappointed that I had 50 pounds that I needed to lose, but I'm proud of myself for getting back on track.  I'm healthier than I've ever been.  I work out about 5 times a week and am eating what I want but on a much healthier way.  I'm thankful for all the support I've gotten from my friends, family and fiancee!