I had a dream...

I dreamed I was in a tornado last night. It picked me up and dropped me in a fountain. It took place as I was visiting Scripps - which has popped up in my dreams a couple of times lately, actually. I looked it up and this is what it means...

To see a tornado in your dream suggests that you are experiencing some extreme emotional outbursts and temper tantrums.To dream that you are in a tornado means that you are feeling overwhelmed and out of control. Your plans will be filled with much complications and you will be met with a series of disappointments.

To dream of college suggests that you will achieve your goals through perseverance and hard work. You may be going through a period of stress in your life.

To see a fountain in your dream represents joy, renewed pleasure or increased sensitivity. You are experiencing an outburst of positive emotions. Perhaps you are entering into a new relationship or a new phase in that relationship.

To say the last month or so - particularly the last week and a half - has been difficult would be a massive understatement. This past week I finally reached a point where I just couldn't deal anymore. I have been super cranky, frustrated and just generally unpleasant to be around. Any time anyone asked me anything remotely wedding related I wanted to hit something - preferably their face. Kind, I know. I reached my breaking point yesterday during my prep at school. I shot off an email to my sister and just ranted for a bit. I wasn't looking for an answer, but just wanted someone to hear me. She, being the wise woman that she is, responded with some well-timed words of wisdom. Turns out getting married is hard. BUT I am head over heels in love with this man, so there is just no other option. I have to marry him.

Tonight we got some really great news!! He received an official job offer here in Utah!! It's kind of hard to digest that little bit of information. We're actually going to be living in the same city! Holy crap!! What is that going to be like?? He put in his two weeks today and he's already making plans to get down here. 

Sigh...seriously. Is this really happening??

Once upon a time...

...there was a girl who was frustrated with the dating game. She was tired of going on first dates. She was tired of paying for membership(s) to online dating sites. She was tired of getting involved with men that treated her poorly or were just brain dead. She was emotionally drained and tired of it all and she was ready to throw in the towel. But before she could do that, she decided to give it one last go.

With some reluctance and slight resentment, she charged the dating website membership to her account. She knew what would happen...or so she thought. She'd talk to some men...maybe go on a few first dates, maybe even a couple of second or even third dates. But, invariably it would fizzle or he would be odd, weird, scary or just plain boring. Or perhaps they'd both acknowledge that though they thought the other person was nice, it just wasn't going to work between them.

Her expectations firmly in place, she went forth and attempted to put herself "out there". She came across one profile that caught her eye. He liked to travel...he was self aware...he had a cute smile. He also lived in another state. "Meh...", she thought, "Not like it's going to go anywhere anyway...". And with the click of a mouse she sent off the first round of questions, not really expecting a response.

Imagine her surprise when he answered her questions and then, gasp(!), he kept responding. It wasn't easy for either of them...they'd both been hurt in the past and were somewhat skeptical that something could actually work out for them. They progressed through emails within the website to emailing through their personal emails. Phone numbers were exchanged and with some trepidation, they had their first phone conversation. Clocking in at approximately three hours, it set the pattern for long conversations about any and everything.

Phone calls stalled as he was in a show followed by finals and disappeared for a little while. She wasn't sure what to think but, with some encouragement from her fearless best friend, decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and was patient...ish.

Phone calls picked up again post-show and they started Skyping. Soon they were making plans to meet up when she was on vacation in Portland.

You can probably imagine how nervous and anxious she was to meet this boy. He could be completely psychotic or smell bad or be totally boring or worse yet...be a wonderful guy with zero chemistry. Yet, she needn't have worried. They fell in love in Portland. It wasn't slow but rather like lightening. She watched him as he walked the beach with her, explored the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden and found herself picturing their life together. When he dropped her off at the airport, she wasn't sure how they would make it work only that she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

What was originally going to be a two week separation turned into one week because neither could stand the thought of being apart for so long. She packed her bags and a week later showed up on his door. Luckily, he was expecting her...

The rest, I suppose you can say, happened as these things do. There was a ring and a question. I bet you can figure out her answer...

Something out of a fairy tale...isn't it?

Week one of the rest of my life...

Last week was the first full week of the new year. It's been so great to start from the beginning and set up my expectations from the get-go. I also have had time to set up my classroom, physically, the way I want it. I have no illusions that this upcoming year isn't going to be difficult, however, I am really going to enjoy it.

I've spent the week getting to know my students and we started our first unit by the end of the week. I'm teaching 8th and 9th grade this year. It's been a challenge to plan two different curriculums (what's the plural of curriculum? Curriculi? Curriculea??) and transition between 8th and 9th grade students. I have found that I can't be quite as laid back with my 8th graders. They need a bit more structure than I need with my 9th graders.

I'm tough and I expect a lot from all my students. At first, I'm not sure they knew what to do with me, but I'm pretty certain that by the end of the week, they realized that we'd all help each other and they'd be fine.

By the end of the week I was absolutely exhausted and was ready to sleep the weekend away. But, I did come away from it so excited and thrilled that I have a job that I love!

My classroom!

the love of my life

The Central Book Exchange parking lot sale:

which led to a long-considered, organization of our bookshelves:

A weekend in Midway and a fun used book store resulted in these:

It's starting to become a storage problem....

The bright lights of broadway...across America!

First this on Friday...



Then this on the 15th in Cedar City!



Then this unexpected treat on the 16th....



And finally, because I have the coolest roommate and friend ever, this one in September in Boise...



I am so freaking excited for all of these!

worth a thousand words...

There's no place like home...

Here are some more pictures of my trip to California. Good times.

This is the "travel weary" shot. We had just gotten to Jan and Kay's place.

Walking on the Beach

Seal Beach Pier-can't really see it, sorry

Rebecca, master of the 101!

Classic Sara face!

Yet another classic Sara shot!

I had a really good time in California. I couldn't tell if Rebecca had a good time or not. For the most part I think she did but I could tell she was bored toward the end. I think the highlight of her trip was the H&M in Pasadena. We got some pretty cute stuff and we saw Rachel Bilson (OC Fame) shopping, for those of you who care. I realized how much I miss Scripps and California and the friends that I made there. I love my friends here but it's a different interaction than I have with my friends from school. We're so serious here. Even when we're joking around and "goofing" off, it's not the same as with my Scripps friends. I'm not sure why that is. Possible because my Scripps friends are younger? I'm the youngest of my friends in Utah by at least 3 years. I dunno. It's amazing how you can be gone from somewhere for over a year and then you go back and it still feels like home - like you never even left. I was driving around Long Beach with Jan and Kay and it was seriously like I had never even left. Anyway...I had a GREAT time and I'm going to try to get out there again in the next couple of months.

My Happy 100

A new twist on the "My 100" list. This is My Happy 100. 100 things that make me happy. I will have you know that this list took me all morning. I kept coming back to it. It's kind of sad that it took me that long to think of 100 things that made me happy. I'm going to try to think of at least one thing every day that makes me happy.

1. Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.
2. Calling someone and having them answer with just a "hey" because they know it's you.
3. Kelky
4. the tingling feeling you get from chapstick when your lips are really dry
5. smooth, clean shaven legs-without any nicks
6. new shoes
7. polka dots
8. coloring
9. waking up and realizing you have another hour to sleep
10. waking up and realizing that you can sleep as long as you want
11. flowering trees
12. summer evenings
13. the first snow
14. scarfs
15. finding $20 in your winter coat pocket from the previous winter
16. fresh flowers
17. gooey brownies
18. cooking for friends
19. movie marathons
20. Gilmore Girls marathons wth Sara
21. Lost marathons with Christopher and Rebecca
22. Old beat up trucks
23. Ikea catalogs
24. Pottery Barn catalogs
25. Bed, Bath and Beyond.
26. Roadtrips with friends
27. Getting lost with friends
28. Acting like i'm 13
29. "popcorn popping on the apricot tree"
30. Ma!? Bam-pa!? Mommy?! Daddy?! Kelky!?
31. Reconnecting with old friends
32. making new friends
33. talking until 1 am with good friends without realizing how late it actually is
34. Laughing until you cry
35. Re-reading old journals and realizing that you have learned something...however little
36. Sitting on the beach at night
37. Sitting on the back of the houseboat as the sun sets behind the red rocks
38. Girls night out
39. Girls night in
40. Getting lost in a good book
41. Barns and Noble
42. Old Books
43. New Books
44. Any book
45. Full bookshelves
46. Pictures of friends and family
47. Thought provoking conversations
48. Silly conversations
49. lingering conversations
50. Homemade Chicken noodle soup
51. the smell of clean laundry
52. the sound of rain oustide my window as i fall asleep
53. solving a problem
54. finishing a project
55. going to an interesting class and engaging in an intelligent discussion
56. friendly debate/conversation
57. Friendly silence - being comfortable with a person that you don't have to speak
58. singing
59. finally nailing that difficult piano piece
60. unexpected validation
61. dancing like it doesn't matter
62. deep cleaning every once in a while
63. making lists...duh
64. marking things off my to-do list
65. falling into bed after a night out with friends
66. a smile from a friendly face
67. hearing "i love you" from anyone
68. a favorite song
69. beautiful harmony
70. beautiful melody
71. dressing up
72. lounding in fat-pants
73. hanging out with my siblings
74. rollercoasters
75. talking on the phone for hours
76. loosing track of time because you're busy
77. unexpected compliments
78. Nostalgia
79. letting loose
80. monkeys
81. puppies
82. cheesy 90's pop music
83. warm bread
84. laughter
85. three day weekends
86. Paris
87. London
88. St. James Park
89. lazy staurdays
90. The Pie Pizza
91. Kyoto
92. Pagoda
93. clean sheets
94. clean boy smell
95. White Cherry Blossom-Bath and Body Works
96. innocence of little kids
97. warm fires on a cold winter night
98. campfires
99. trips with friends
100. crunchy cheetos