Aww Miss... Whatchyu know 'bout dem shoes??

This last week was my first week with students back in school and it was exhausting. I didn't realize how exhausting until I took a 4 hour nap on Saturday, and slept like a baby that night.

The reason why the title of this post is what it is, was from something a student said to me at the beginning of last year. He commented on my sperry's... it was a compliment. This is how the majority of my students speak, and I love it. There's never a dull moment.

Last year teaching was my first year, and it was really tough. I work in a school with kids who have a lot of issues. Poverty issues. Anger issues. Gang issues. Drug issues. You get the idea. It's not your cookie-cutter school with your cookie-cutter students. It's hard. I get a lot of attitude. I get cussed out on occasion. All in a days work.

Teaching Spanish means that I have an array of students. I get all grades, but being the only Spanish 1 teacher in the school, I have a lot of freshman (by the way, our dept. has 3 people in it. 3). The good new is, these freshman are smart. And when I say smart, I mean smart-smart. At my school, usually when you hear smart it's in the context of the being a smart... well you know.

It's hard to judge just by the first week, but I can already tell this year is going to be easier than last, and I think I have a good group of kids. Don't get me wrong, I have my challenge students... but I'm so much more prepared to deal with those kinds of kids than I was last year.

Wish me luck

Wedding

There are less than 3 months until my wedding, and I just haven't felt that "wedding stress." It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I've had all summer off, and have been spending most of my time planning for up to now, the biggest day of my life. I'm glad that I don't feel stressed, I want this to be a fun experience. I know that you're only engaged once, and it's a very unique, sweet, short time in a girl's life. Our engagement is only 6 months, so I'm trying to get the most out of it.

Speaking of engagement, here's the bling:

The center diamond was given to me by my grandmother. It was from a ring her grandmother gave her. The appraiser said that it was probably made between 1860 and 1920. That's a lot of dinners made and babies' diapers changed!

I have a lot done already. I have the venue. You can check it out here.

I have my dress... sorry no link! Super secret.

Here's a picture my florist and I took inspiration from for my bouquet. I'm just loving the orange flowers.

I'm still looking and thinking about small details. I want to keep it personal while keeping it in budget.

Although, my mom made a good suggestion... would it be weird if I had a caricaturist at my wedding? (answer: no)

2 Bedroom, 2 Bath

Sean and I are all moved into our new apartment. We are going from a 1 bedroom, 1 bath to a 2 bedroom, 2 bath. It makes a world of difference!! I can breathe. I never realized how cramped I felt until I moved into a place with some space!

It's also exciting to think that this will be our first "official" married couple home even though we've been living together for about a year. I know the newness of marriage will be a little easier to deal with since my future husband has been my roommate. I know his quirks and habits... so no surprises (hopefully).


Along with it just being an overall nice apartment, we lucked out on the location of our building. We're on the back end... no road,  no cars. There is a nice little hiking trail. Here are some pictures to help you get the idea of the amazing view from our apartment. This picture is taken from out porch. We have the same view from the bedroom and guestroom. 






















Life is good. Gotta go back to work on the 10th, school starts on the 15th.