Pack Your Trunks

As I alluded to before, B and I are on the move.  Waaaaay back in February, we came home to a letter from The Ohio State that offered B a place in one of their Ph.D. programs.  Hooray!  We flew out to see the campus, meet the people, and get the true feel of what it would be like to become Buckeyes (and I got the email from Goodwill NNE about blogging for them!). 

The campus was HUGE!  It was definitely a beautiful campus, and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with B.  I did not, however, enjoy some of the quirks to the campus, i.e. one professor who told me it was “cute” that I was a public school teacher.  Um, back up, woman.  You do the same. damn. thing.  If I called your job cute, you wouldn’t like it, would you?  Please put that holier than thou attitude away and come up with a better statue for your theatre department lobby.  My thoughts aside, I let B feel out whether the program would be the right fit for him.  I could continue to mock that professor in my head if need be.The next letter came from a smaller liberal arts college in Boston.  Boston, where a lot of our friends live.  Boston, where B went to school already for his undergrad and his Master’s.  Massachusetts, where I am already certified to teach.  Hmmm… this had potential.  But, of course, B had to check it out on his own (no vacation time for me on this one!) and feel it for himself.  He seemed pretty excited when he returned, so I had my fingers crossed for the financial statement to be in our favor.

So it was down to two.  B had applied to three, but school numero three decided to drag its feet and we wrote them off.  You snooze, you lose, suckah!  Please read that in your head using Mr. T voices.

Or so we thought.  Yeah, UMaryland decided to give B a very tempting offer, so he jumped on a plane at 4 AM, toured the campus, met the people, and then jumped back on a plane to get home by midnight.  It was a long day for him, to say the least.  He was very tempted by their financial aid offer, and the flexibility of the program was a definite bonus.

The decision period was LOOOOOOONNNGGGGG.  I set my own deadline for him to make up his frickin mind already! a well thought out decision for our future, and he made it right before Easter.  Drum roll, please!  These boxes (almost all of which are JUST our BOOKS!) will be moving on down to Massachusetts in a few short weeks!  The school B will be attending has a great reputation, a great location, and a pretty solid financial offering, which means that we will be getting paid for him to attend in addition to me bring in the real bacon.  I never thought I would be the breadwinner as a public school teacher.  I suppose B should just start calling me his sugar mama.

So this is our life in boxes… or at least our bookshelves in boxes.  August 5 is the day.  Have I mentioned how much I hate packing up all of my belongings and praying they fit into all of my family’s cars and a rental truck?  Oh sure, it may fit, but where is it all going to go in our new apartment?  Where, I ask, WHERE?!

Oh Hey… It’s Wednesday

Long time no talk.  Sorry about that.  Life here has been absolutely nuts.  I seem to have a lot of fingers in a lot of pots these days (okay, that turn of phrase seems completely out of date), and it has just been wearing me out.  The minute my head hits the pillow every night, I’m dead to the world.  I hit the snooze button twice every morning.  I run around after school every day with meetings, finishing up our run of our one act piece, and getting paperwork to the random people it all seems to need to go to.  Seriously, who created all of this paperwork?  Why so much red tape for every step?  Huh?  Huh?

And yet, life goes on.  It’s already Wednesday!  And my schedule hasn’t calmed down, but that’s no excuse for skipping yet another day of writing.  I’m sorry, dear friends.  I swear writing is still a big part of my life, but the whole “I have to grade my students and give them constructive time and feedback” seems to be leading in the polls of importance as the quarter closes.  The life of a teacher, I tell you.

Being that it is Wednesday, I thought I would still do a “What’s Up, Wife?” entry as I get more entries lined up.  This week, I thought I would share with you five random facts about myself that are just that… completely random.

1.  I have the most random allergies.  Nearly everything that I am allergic to is something that most people wouldn’t think twice about.  Allergy #1:  Nutmeg.  The fall and winter cooking seasons are not my friends.  It started out as some serious acid reflux when I would eat apple or pumpkin pie.  I mentioned it to my mom, so she began experimenting with apple pie.  The first thing she pulled out of the recipe was, you guessed it, nutmeg, and the reflux went away.  From there, my allergy has seemed to get worse.  I accidentally ate a square inch of bread with nutmeg in it last week and I could feel the back of my throat closing a little.  Uh… that’s not good.  I try really hard to stay away from it, but you never know.  I’m lucky not to need an epi pin, though.  Allergy #2:  Chlorine.  If I stay in an overly chlorinated pool too long, the skin around my eyes will turn different colors.  First it will turn bright red, then black, then stark white.  I’m sure my parents had fun figuring that one out when I was little.  Allergy #3:  Jingles hairspray.  It’s just that specific brand, and I can remember it smelling like delicious green apples.  My hairdresser spritzed my hair with it after a haircut one time, and instead of showing off my new ‘do at home, I ended up growing painful, red horn-like welts.  It did nothing to help my sister’s opinion that I was the spawn of the devil.

2.  I have two middle names.  When I got married, I didn’t want to give up any of my given names or my maiden name, so I just kept my original middle name and tacked my maiden name on as a second middle name.  It’s kind of fun to be one of the only people with four initials.  My signature looks super fancy, I’ll tell you that.  I even got a little high five from the woman at the Social Security office when I told her I wanted to keep all of my names.  Hooray for freedom of name choice!

3.  My dream job would be some sort of combination of teaching, fashion, photography and crafting.  Would that make me a camp counselor?  I’m not sure, but if I can continue to teach, photograph colleagues and students during events and outside of school, and keep writing about fashion and crafting, life is good.

4.  I’m still scared of the dark.  My imagination runs wild when I am in the dark, and it always scares the pants off from me when I hear a noise I can’t identify.  Forget it if I’m alone!  I am convinced someone or something will jump out and attack me.  One time, B and one of my college roommates shut off all of the lights in my family’s camp when my other roommate and I went to the bathroom house (yes, the bathroom is a separate building… we’re old school).  He thought it was so funny until I started screaming at him and threatening to make him sleep outside (oh, I was not kidding at all).  There may have also been some expletives involved… I really don’t like the dark!

5.  I learned to tell the difference between right and left because of a scar and a birthmark on my arms.  None of that “your left hand makes an L with the thumb and index finger” for me.  I broke my arm jumping into a sandbox when I was six, so I have a scar from the two surgeries and pins on one arm.  The other has a bunch of spider vein red dots on the forearm section.  It’s a strange mark; multiple people have asked me over the years if it was from self harm.  Um, nope.  Not a chance.  I can’t stand paper cuts, let alone cutting myself.  Not me.  I am more the “eat some chocolate, cry, and watch some movies” type.

So what about you?  What do you have for random facts?  And I promise that I will write more!  Promise!

What’s Up, Wife?: Oh, You’re An Adult?

Not a list today, but I thought I would take some time to reflect on fashion and clothing choices in a different way.  You’ll love it… or you won’t.  Either way, it’s all good.

That title?  I get that a lot.  This past weekend, we discovered that one of the judges for the One Act Festival thought I was a student director.  She even renamed me Josephine.  Very pretty, but I am neither a student, nor am I Josephine, though I may make that my new alias. 

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I have almost always had one of those young faces.  People would always look at me twice when I told them how old I was.  I guess I am more mature than my age but don’t appear to be anywhere near my maturity or real age.  Oops.  My sister, who is three years younger than me, started being called the older sister around the time I was 17 and she was 14.  She tends to wear more makeup than I do, which may add to looking older, and her style does come off a little more older-confident.  My clothing growing up was baggy (I was a chubber) and nondescript because of how uncomfortable I was with my size and my body.  My sister could rock anything, and I felt like I was stuck in paper bag-shaped outfits.

Does anyone else feel like when you turn 22, you get lost between the “teen” section and the “35 and older” section in a lot of stores?  You are either wearing the same clothing as your students or the same clothing as your mom (no offense Mom… we have similar style since I tend to give you all of my old clothing anyway…).  Where are the in-between ages supposed to shop?  Sure, there are stores like Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, and I guess Old Navy is pretty good, but prices can get pretty high.  High prices mean less clothing, which leaves a girl searching through and wearing old clothing that makes her look like a high schooler again (but not in the good way).

I think one of the reasons I love thrift shopping and redesigning my style in general is that I finally get to play with who I am.  Clothing is a huge part of looking like an adult, and I feel like I can play up my personality and look more age appropriate without losing myself.  Plus, the prices are so much better.  When you put me in jeans and a t-shirt, I look like my seniors.  That was probably the reason I got mistaken for a student director.  Put me in a dress or shirt and skirt that I thrifted, and I look more put together, more adult-like.  It adds a greater level of confidence.

For now, I’ll stick to working the unique pieces I have from thrifting to bring out my adultness.  One of B’s uncles told me that his niece had to go through a training on how to wear her hair and clothing when she began teaching high school so she would stand out from the students.  Perhaps I should have attended something like that… though I don’t think I want to go high-speed to school marm status. 

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Yikes.

What’s Up Wife? Wednesday: Five Things I Would Tell My Younger Self

Happy Leap Day!  I think Leap Day is the coolest thing, so humor my enthusiasm if you think it’s just another day to go to work.  Happy birthday to anyone who only really gets to celebrate once every four years!

Again, I thought I would link up to the “Listable Life” to share little bits and pieces of me.  Why not share your own with us, too?  Link up below if you do!

Five Things I Would Tell My Younger Self

1.  Going to a state college will not mean that you are dumb or not as great as anyone else.  You are just getting sucked into the whole “oooh, I have to go to a name brand school.”  Ignore that and feel confident in the school you choose.  There will be plenty of time to make your dream of going to an Ivy League school later in life.  And trust me, when you get there, the best part will be the people you meet, not the school or its name.

2.  It’s okay to be smart.  Really, it’s better than being pretty.  You can always be smart, but looks will only get you so far.  Keep reading, guard the page number you are on whenever you ride the bus to school, and do your homework.  You’ll achieve a lot more in life than those who are only obsessed with their looks.  And yes, all of those grammar exercises will help and will make you a better person.  Trust me.

3.  Be nice to that boy over there crying in seventh grade English class.  He’s weird, he cries over seemingly everything, and it may seem like a good idea to give him a hard time because that boy you like thinks it’s funny, but it’s a way better idea to be nice.  Want to know why?  Well, brace yourself… you marry that kid.  You love him and eventually want to have babies with him (but that won’t come for quite a while… I’m still waiting on that wanting babies thing…).  Be nice to people; it makes you a better person.  Plus, you and he are quite similar, even though you don’t want to admit it.  You’ll love him more than you can imagine one day.  (And yes, he’s still kind of weird.  But it’s okay.)

4.  Remember what I said about being pretty in message #2?  Don’t worry.  Some day you will think that you are pretty, and the man who loves you (see message #3) thinks you’re pretty, too.  Have some confidence, and love yourself a little bit more.  That weight will come off and you will find yourself in there.5.  Get off your butt!  You don’t lose weight by wishing it away.  You would weigh -200 pounds if that were true.  Walk, run, do a workout video, do something!  Oh, and ignore Coach Leland.  The last day of practice for field hockey during your senior year will NOT be your last day holding a stick.  You will love the sport for years to come and you’ll be a pretty enthusiastic coach to some pretty awesome middle school girls.  Being active is beautiful.  Being stinky after is great.  You’ll feel and look so much better if you stop making excuses!

What would you tell yourself?

2002, I Knew It Was You

I may not have known it on February 10, 2002, tucked upstairs in B’s childhood bedroom, but when I said yes to his question on whether or not I would be his girlfriend, I changed my life forever.  Ten years later, we have been together through so much, the good and the bad, and we are happier, stronger, and minus one appendix (which is fine… we don’t miss him anyway). 

B and I have a special dating anniversary date planned for this evening, and I still haven’t fully thought out what I am going to wear.  You can bet, though, that I will do a full post on what we did, what we wore (because I think B is a stud who deserves some outfit time too), and how fabulous my gifts are for him!

HAPPY DATING DECADE, B!  I LOVE YOU!

What’s Up Wife? Wednesdays: Getting to Know You

Some of you who read this blog may have followed me over from my other blogs (Here Comes the Blog {our wedding blog} and Living in Holy Blogimony {my newlywed blog}), but that may not be many of you.  And like I tell my kiddos in the classroom, you are much more likely to like an author if you get to know him/her and his/her work.  Sooo… why not start some posts so you get to know me?  Thanks to Recipe for a Beautiful Life, I found these great prompts for a “Listable Life” from Moments that Define Life.  I know I missed the first few weeks, but you’ll forgive me, right?

10 Things I Would Rather Do Besides Chores (Besides Hang Out with B, My Family, and My Friends)

1. Thrift shop –Well, yeah, you should have seen this one coming.  I love love love thrift shopping, even if I am only stuck with two stores in my area.  I love the hunt.  It’s such a thrill when I find something that looks almost brand new in a name brand label that fits well.  I also love finding pieces that are unique but wearable, pieces that will make me stand out in a good way when I walk around at school or when we go out.  Isn’t feeling special the point of putting together outfits?

2. Read – I am a total bookworm, which is great because I can get away with reading a lot with my job.  I go through books like water, and B and I are serious when we say that our future house has to have a library.  We don’t have anymore room in our apartment for more bookcases!  Reading has always been my escape from life.  I teach a class specifically on Literacy for high school freshmen, and part of our curriculum is reading silently for 30 minutes.  When I don’t have a stack of papers to correct for other classes, I get to enjoy 30 minutes of personal reading.  Score!  My favorite genres are mystery, young adult, and realistic fiction.  I got a ton of books from B for Christmas, and I am working my way through those.  Right now I’m on The Help, which will be followed by The Geeks will Inherit the Earth, Ship Breaker, and Ash. 

3. Watch YouTube videos – This has been a development over the past year, and I have quite a few people I love watching on YouTube.  I’m a big fan of putting on YouTube videos as I paint my nails, do the dishes, cook, etc.  Sometimes I just play them to listen, not even watch.  Some of my favorite YouTubers are Aleexandraaxo, PhillyDiva19145 (great haul videos!), MsPinkFabulous (she does some amazing thrifting), j1mmyb0bba (great for style tips and great accent!), and Panacea81 (Lauren does fantastic makeup tutorials, and she is hilarious!).

4. Workout – Sometimes it takes a lot of motivation, but I really do like working out.  Feeling good about myself, the endorphins, and just getting a good sweat going make my day.  I tend to do at least three days of elliptical/Stairmaster workouts at school each week and the rest are either “Ripped in 30,” “30 Day Shred,” or “Six Week Six Pack.”  Every once in a while I’ll let myself wimp out and do a Windsor Pilates DVD.  Oh, and I run races in the summer.5. Hike – B and I love hiking in the summer.  We will take off on weekends (or days when B is off) and go hike some of the local mountains around us.  If we move away from Maine, I hope there are still mountains and trails around us that we can enjoy. 6. Play with my cats – True story: My students think I have 19 cats that I come home and snuggle with all in a XXXXL t-shirt.  Apparently we all like to watch “16 and Pregnant” together.  How cozy!  While I don’t have 19 cats, I do love the two I have.  Unfortunately, they live with my parents and I miss them like crazy.  My cat’s name is Italics, and my sister’s cat’s name is Abercrombie.  She really wanted me to name my cat Fitch, but I thought I would say it wrong too many time for the cat’s self esteem.  Plus, their names fit.  I’m a writer and she’s a shopper.  Both of them were adopted from a local animal shelter as kittens.  I didn’t pick Italics; he picked me.  He fell asleep in my arms when I held him in the shelter, and it was love from then on.  Italics likes to harass B for my attention.  Abbers loves to be pampered and loves loves loves to be brushed.  You would never guess he was a feral kitty.  I love my cats!7. Plan vacations – Planning our engagement trip (which was the only spring break we ended up taking) to Williamsburg, Virginia, was my first taste of planning vacations, and I loved it.  Planning our honeymoon to Italy and Ireland was a bit more stressful since I didn’t know that it’s not called “roundtrip” in Europe.  Huh.  Okay.  Right now, I am lusting over our future trip to Paris, the possibility of traveling around the U.S., and visiting Bestie Al again on the west coast.  So much fun!8. Photography – With my photography business, it should be pretty clear that photography is a passion of mine.  I could wander around and take pictures all day and be one happy camper.  It is so much fun to look at the world through the lens of a camera.  9. Craft – I have been known to craft for days upon days when I get going on a project.  I craft when I’m happy, I craft when I am excited, I craft when I am inspired, and I craft when I’m sad.  When I lost one of my students, I crafted for the rest of the weekend.  It’s cathartic.  It’s inspiring.  It’s creative.  Projects keep coming in, and I keep coming up with new ideas.10. Ski – My parents taught me to ski when I was five.  I was blessed enough to grow up in an area with a small-ish ski mountain that was relatively affordable (at the time).  Not only has it taught me how to be active in the winter, but it gave me a hobby to keep me busy and happy during the colder months.  I tried teaching one of my friends last month, and it only reminded me how lucky I was to grow up being able to practice when my muscles and brain could get it a lot faster.  I cannot wait to go again in March!

I really like being able to describe myself in a list form, so look for more of these lists on Wednesdays!  Link up to share more about you!