oh the stress

I am starting to feel totally stressed out, now that there is only a week until school starts. I have professional development all week with the whole staff. Before I get into this coming week I'll recap last week (some of which is blogged about on Peter's blog).

Monday I had a planning meeting at CHIME (that's the name of my school btw) where we drafting a plan of the first week of school. Mostly we will be introducing rules, routines, games, etc., but I still have things I need to prepare. Afterwards Peter and I went to a free Gym Class Heroes Concert that was being taped for Walmart. It was short but really intimate and we were able to get all of the members to sign our T-Shirts (pic of Peter's shirt on his blog, mine soon to come.) Then we probably watched a movie or something. (Probably also on Peter's blog.)

Tuesday I got my LiveScan fingerprints done and went shopping for my classroom. I ended up spending $350-$400 total to start my first classroom but CHIME is paying for $200 which is supernice. I seriously thought I was going to have to spend so much more, but my mentor teachers have given me a lot over year to help me start off on the right food. Thanks Beth and Kellie!

Wednesday and Thursday I had new teacher orientation. There are 7 new teachers at the elementary school and we are all young and most first year teachers. I have met a lot of cool girls who I hope to become really close with over the school year. I am going to Shira's housewarming party on Friday and a lot of other teachers and their significant others are coming too so it should be really fun and an easy way to get to know each other. I need to make sure that I actually try to make girl friends in addition to guy friends since I tend to hang out with guys all the time. It is good to have girls too and I need to keep reminding myself of that.

Also during orientation I learned a lot about CHIME and it is seriously such an awesome school. I am in love with my Principal, Julie, she is so amazing. I am excited that the staff is really 100% about the students and everyone does whatever needs to be done for the kids. If you don't know, I am going to be teaching 1st grade but will also be co-teaching with a special educator and working with paraprofessionals for students with disabilities in my classroom. In addition to that I will also be co-teaching with the music and art teachers and I will be fully in charge of PE and Technology. This is really unusual for public schools (at least ones I know of) but I am up for the challenge. We also have an outdoor classroom where students and teachers plant plants, herbs, fruits, veggies, etc. We also have a weather station that is hooked to some satellite so you can track the weather, make graphs, etc. There is also an awesome place to sit and teach outside. Students also plant tree saplings (is that redundant?) to replant in LA to help with the trees that have been burned by wildfires or uprooted for whatever reason. I could go on forever, but I am just in love with my school! I'm so happy that I am because I didn't know a whole lot about it when I accepted the job.

Friday Madeleine came to visit and Peter, Maddy, and I hung by my pool then met up with Elizabeth's crew in Eagle Rock to go out to this bar/karaoke/bowling place that I have been dying to go to. It was super fun and Peter and I sang karaoke 3 times. We were obviously horrible but it was really fun and we were really into it.

Saturday was kind of a lazy day and Peter and I saw Tropic Thunder which was pretty good. Later we went to Elizabeth's to hang out with her and Maddy and stayed there for just a little bit because everyone was so tired.

Finally, today Peter and I went to church then we met Maddy, Elizabeth, Emma, and Amelia at Venice beach. We had lunch there and basked in the sun. It was a good time and I think I am actually making friends, yay! Then we said bye bye to Madz b/c she is leaving for San Diego tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I begin professional development this week (like I previously mentioned...) and I will finish preparing my classroom and prepping for the first week of school. I will also have my first parent meeting and attend a back-to-school picnic Thursday afternoon. Also on Tuesday Peter and I are going to see my cousin Andy play in his band at some place I can never remember the name. And Friday of course is the apartment warming party. Over Labor Day weekend Peter and I will most likely hang with Elizabeth again and hopefully visit my family friends Erica and Kenny Messer and their 2 kids. (Erica works on Criminal Minds.)

Wow that was a superlong post but I have been really busy. I am so nervous/excited for school to start. Keep me in your prayers and I complete my last stressful week before the big day!

xoxo

this week

I have been working on setting up my classroom some more. It is really coming along. I still need to buy more things, organize my classroom library, label every single thing, and put stuff on my bulletin boards; but it has come a long way.

Here's the link to pictures of my classroom:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153452&l=26549&id=18400916

This week Peter and I also partied with Elizabeth Schachter, a friend from Cheverly, and her friends from college. It was a lot of fun both times and I met a lot of really cool, really chill people who I hope to hang out with more often.

Peter and I also went to Malibu. It was beautiful but I think I like Laguna Beach better. Here are some pictures from that trip and other randoms from the summer:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2141483&l=bbd27&id=18400916

Other than that I've been trying to go to the gym every other day and watch movies and lay out at my pool. Peter and I have been having fun getting acclimated to the area and exploring. On Monday, after my 1st grade team meeting where we'll plan what we are going to teach for the first week (exciting!!!) Peter and I are going to go to a Gym Class Heroes concert video taping in LA so that should also be fun.

Next week I'm going to focus on putting the finishing touches on my classroom and plan. Then I'll have orientation and school Starts Sept 2nd.

Here is my potential nightly schedule after school starts:

Mon - Planning
Tues- Gym
Wed-Hip Hop class @ the Gym
Thurs- TV Night
Fri-Gym/The OC while pregaming and then going out somewhere (Peter and I are going to start rewatching the OC series one episode at a time, like the good ole' college days)
Sat-Yoga @ 11
Sun- Church then gym

Sounds pretty good to me.

Miss you!

I always cry at weddings

Peter and I went to San Diego for a few days to visit his grandparents in Coronado and to attend my Aunt Michelle's wedding. I was a bridesmaid and we both had a blast. I got to meet some cousins who I have never met before and we felt like we have known each other forever. Its funny how things work out like that.

The wedding was beautiful and I posted a couple of pictures that Peter took during the wedding.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151769&l=06eac&id=18400916

The real photographers took a million pictures and they will be posted on this site:

http://www.photographybydeshun.com/index2.php?v=v1

the password to view them is "michelle".

The best part of the wedding is that I caught the bouquet and Peter caught the garter!!!! It was really exciting. We didn't do the creepy part with the music where he puts it on my leg, but I still wore it. I left my bouquets and Grandma's house so I don't have pictures of them now but there should be some on the second link I posted.

Today I am going to go to the gym, run some errands, etc. and Peter and I are going to go out to our favorite bar (so far), "Skinny's" in North Hollywood. Tomorrow we will go to church and Monday I have a meeting with the 1st grade team at my school. We will talk about the school day and I will hopefully get money to buy things for my classroom.

I am having a great time in LA but I know things will be less eventful once school starts; although I am very excited for that too. It was great visiting with family this week and it was very very hard to say goodbye to my parents. I won't see them until Christmas, but I guess I'm growing up!

Also remember to check out "Pete's Blog". Since we do a lot of stuff together we end up blogging about different things, so read what he's writing about too!

case of the monday's

This weekend ruled. Read "Pete's Blog" the link at the bottom to see a list of celebs and some pics from the Pineapple Express premiere that we went to. Living in LA is fun, there is so much to do. Even more to do if you have money.

This weekend Peter and I also went to LACMA, LA's Art Museum and that was fun. We didn't get to visit all of the buildings so we are going to go back eventually. We also swam a lot in my pool and I signed up for the gym. I'm successfully sore today so that's good.

Mom and Daddy are coming today to visit!!!! I'm so excited. They are in town for my Aunt Michelle's wedding which is on Thursday and they are taking the train up for the day to see my apartment and my school.

I also get to move into my classroom today. I will probably only bring a little bit of stuff this time since my parents will be here, but I will hopefully bring the rest tomorrow so I know what else I still need to buy. It is seriously going to be so awesome having my own classroom and being a for real teacher...can't wait.

I talked to my 6 year old niece Elisa for 45 minutes on the phone the other day. She is so cute and smart. She told me she is going to Bible school this week so I asked her what is God's sons name and she was like "ummm.....um.......oh yeah...Little God." Supercute.

Altogether I'm doing pretty well adjusting to life out here, it helps having Peter. I do; however, keep having dreams about leaving friends and family and everyone being sad. That's still tough.