It's a Crucial Week!

I feel like so much is happening in my life right now that I could write a post every couple of hours and I'd have enough to say. I still want to upload some pictures of graduation and talk about that, but right now, the priority goes to this week.

It's a crucial week for me!

I have four interviews this week. Count them. Four! I am really excited about it. It all started a week ago. Monday afternoon, my mom called me with some really great news. Her current principal is becoming the new principal of Alpine Elementary. She talked with my mom that day and asked her what my grade preferences were. She told her 4-6 but I'd take anything. Her principal got a big smile on her face and said, "Well, I've got a fourth and fifth grade position at Alpine. Tell your daughter to get online Tuesday and apply for Alpine!" When my mom told me this, I just started crying because what a blessing it was to have such a great connection!

Tuesday came and went, and no jobs.

Wednesday morning about 65 jobs got posted in about a half hour. I applied for (almost) all of them. I first just applied for upper grade positions thinking that I could go back and apply for 1st and 2nd if needed. It was a busy day.

Thursday was a bit more laid-back. I wasn't sure what to do so I just let the day fly by. That night I talked with Derek and we agreed that nothing was going to happen if I didn't try to do something about it. I had to be proactive so I wasn't just another name on a page. So, I wrote a letter to all the teachers asking them for help. I asked them to email any principals that they knew just to tell them that they knew an intern at their school that applied for a position. I told them I just needed an opportunity to interview and I would take it from there.

Friday, I put the letters in every teacher's box.

By Friday afternoon, I had two interviews. Lindon Elementary and Bonneville Elementary. Sunday, I got an email for another interview at Rocky Mountain. Today, I got a call from my mom's principal for Alpine Elementary. Four interviews.

It's a crucial week for me!

Two of my interviews are tomorrow (Lindon and Bonneville). I got a 1/2 day sub for the morning so I can go to both without worrying about getting back quickly or anything.

I don't feel too worried about the interviews but obviously I would like them to go well. It's still hard, because my top choice is still Alpine (where my mom's current principal is going next year) but that interview isn't until Thursday. I hope that the decision process takes a couple of days just in case I get more than one offer. That way I can take my pick without fear of time running out! We'll see, I guess. Keep me in your prayers!

It's a crucial week for me!

Butt or Gut?

I know that every woman has an area that she's just not all that happy with most of the time. For me, it's my stomach. I feel like no matter how much weight I lose, my stomach looks exactly the same. It's frustrating, as I'm sure most of you guys have felt from time to time.

Ever since the school year started, I have gained about 20 pounds. There are several reasons for this: it's been the most stressful year of my life and when I get home from work, I'm exhausted. Much too tired to work-out or even make dinner. So, Derek and I have been eating out a lot more this year than in years past.

I had told myself many times that if I ever reached 150 pounds, that would be my wake-up call and I would do whatever I could to get it off. I have now gone 5 pounds over that and I still haven't done anything about it. Here's why:

If the scale didn't tell me differently, I would have thought that I had only gained 5-7 pounds. This is because when I look in the mirror, I see only my stomach. Right? Whenever there's a mirror, I'm either getting ready, so looking at my face, or getting dressed, so looking at how my clothes fit around my stubborn mid-section. (I don't know if this is the same for all woman, but I really only look at my most self-conscious area) I was confused by the scale, because my shirts didn't really fit any differently. I could tell I had gained weight in my stomach, but not 20 pounds! I knew it had to be somewhere, so I just assumed it had spread out evenly on my body because I couldn't see big differences anywhere.

That's because I never turned around!

My butt has doubled in size. I'm not sure why I didn't see this after my jeans stopped fitting, but I guess with all the stress this year, I just never turned around!

Now, I'm not all that upset about it. In fact, I'd way rather have a big butt than a big gut! But, now that I know where all the weight has gone, I can't keep pushing snooze on my wake-up call. It's time to lose some weight.

Derek and I went to his gym and I signed up for a month-to-month contract. I figure I'll have all summer to do what I want, so I might as well do something that will make me feel better.

My goal: lose the 20 pounds. It may be a lofty goal for the summer, but I'm just going to see how far I can get.

In a Nutshell

It's been long enough, I assume. So, I'll share a bit about what we did in Boston and New York over Spring Break.

We got to Boston on Saturday night and had a good time catching up and playing with our favorite 8 month old niece. Jeff and Carolyn took us on a tour of the Harvard Business School and we had a nice relaxing evening. On Sunday, we stayed in most of the day because it was conference weekend so we watched a session and just hung out. The next couple of days were just as relaxing and just as fun. We took a walk along the river, baby-sat Elizabeth (she wasn't too happy that I wasn't mom, but we still had fun...), saw a movie, and Derek got to sit in on a couple of Business and Government classes, while Carolyn and I got to go to a fun photography class. We went out to dinner, got introduced to "The West Wing," and saw the sights. We took a "Duck Tour" which is this big bus that goes around town and then turns into a boat and takes you on the river. It was really fun. We got to see a lot of cool things in Boston.

Boston Bridge while boating/bussing in the water

Cheers!

George Washington

There were a lot of other pictures that I took, but it was really hard to hear the tour guide, so I'm not sure what I was taking pictures of. Lame of me, I know.

New York was a bit more up-tempo, but it's just more of that kind of city. Everyone is always bustling around, it's light outside even at night, and it's really loud! I have to tell you about our hotel. I booked online and the pictures were beautiful. It was really close to Times Square and for a decent price compared to anything else I saw. When we got there, it really was beautiful. It was classy, ritzy and made me feel a bit uncomfortable and out of my league! It's when we got into our room that was a little funny... Derek opened the door and had a really confused look on his face. I was hoping that they hadn't given us the wrong key and we hadn't just walked in on a sleeping couple on the bed. But, that wasn't it. Here, I'll show you...

The room was about 150 sq. feet. Let's just say we had to get a little cozy on that twin size bed...

But, we only needed to sleep and shower there, so it served our purposes perfectly. We did a lot in the two and a half days we were in New York. Thursday we just oriented ourselves and got used to what we were going to have to do. We bought a two-day bus ticket for one of those tourist double-deckers that also gave us tickets to go to the top of the Empire State and a boat taxi to the Statue of Liberty.

Friday was really rainy, but it turned out okay because we just took the bus to Columbia and NYU because Derek wanted to check out the Business and Law Schools there. We really liked NYU's Business School. They were really welcoming, and it seemed like it might be a great fit for Derek. After our day of talking to the schools, we went back to our hotel and decided we wanted to do something fun that night. So we went to our concierge and asked for some tickets. We were able to see Mary Poppins that night. It was really good. I love the music in that show anyway and the dancing was also very good.

Saturday cleared up really nice so we could get on top of our double decker bus and really see the sights. We went up to the top of the Empire State Building...


Took a water taxi to the Statue of Liberty...
met the bull...

and ultimately had a really amazing time.

That night we got to go to another play...this time for WICKED! Now, I know that that's old news and everyone and their cousin has seen the show, but it was a first for Derek and I and we thought it was awesome! It was the only play where at intermission I told Derek that I couldn't wait until I could see it again...and it wasn't even over yet. I really enjoyed it!

So that was our trip, in a large nutshell!

Graduation

I keep telling myself that I will update this thing about Spring Break and spending it with Jeff and Carolyn and baby Elizabeth. But, that requires me to upload all my pictures and quite frankly, I'm lazy! I will get to it eventually (because we really did have a good time) but there is something else on my mind right now...

Graduation.

I graduate on Friday. I don't really feel all that excited because I haven't been in school for a year now but it does make me think about what I'm going to do next year.

I just had an interview with Canyons School District. Last year, Jordan School District split and CSD is the "richer" of the two districts. While Jordan is firing, Canyons is hiring. So, obviously, I would rather work for a district that I have a bit more chances of staying as long as possible.

The interview went really well. It was a screening interview meaning I will be put in the candidate pool for any position available. The interviewer was really impressed with me and seemed interested in helping me get a job with Canyons. I would love to work for Canyons because I think they are going places and they seem to have the same philosophies that I have.

But, I would rather stay in Alpine. I feel like I have a foot in the door here but I don't know. I hope I have the choice, but obviously, I will take whatever I can get. But most importantly, I hope I can get something.

We'll see!

Bungee!

One of the people that went with us on the zip-lines took this video and sent it to me. Now you can see for yourself!

Boston and New York

This week is Spring Break! Woohoo!

We decided back in September that needed to visit Derek's sister and brother-in-law while they lived in Boston for a short time. (I also knew that I needed to see their brand-new baby more than just twice in her first year of life!) So we decided that Spring Break would be the best time to go!

We leave tomorrow and will be in Boston from Saturday to Thursday. Derek has been wanting to visit some schools out in the east anyway, so we figured we would also go to New York. We head to New York on Thursday in time to visit some schools and then play over the weekend. We are going to see Wicked (which I have never seen before) so we are really excited. Derek and I have never been to Boston, and Derek's never been to New York, so it will be really fun!

I'll post pictures soon.

Teacher of the Year

No...not me...but my mom! She just got Teacher of the Year! She's only a 2nd year teacher! I'm super proud of her. She really is an awesome teacher and I look to her a lot for advice and help with teaching! Just thought you all might like to know!