everything

mom, finally!

thanksgiving was fun this year, but also weird. i went to chicago with peter to visit his family. we had fun, but i obviously missed mine. it was nice to have cold weather too; i definitely miss it when its always sunny. the day after we left it snowed. in the airport on the way there we saw danny from NKOTB and the girl from the mentalist.

between thanksgiving and christmas i worked a lot and did christmas shopping.

for christmas, i went back home to maryland for the first time since i moved. it was great being back. i cried a lot when i saw my family. mom waited for me to help me decorate the tree! i had a blast hanging with my parents, brothers, nieces, extended family, and friends. eventually peter came and we hung out a lot too. i will post pictures soon, i promise! i was home for two weeks and it was great. i can't wait until spring break when i get to go back for a week again. its weird going home because a lot has happened since i left, but its almost like i've never gone. i already miss everyone, the smells, my room, my house. it is nice being back though where i have my life, work, friends here, and all of my things. when i came back to la, it was weird b/c i was coming back "home." it was different then when i moved her for the first time or when i have come to visit. this time, i was coming back to a life that already existed, not one that i was just beginning. really strange.

now its 2009 the inauguration is tomorrow and i have to go back to work after a 3 day weekend. it has been really hot in la and this weekend i was able to spend a lot of time outside: the park and the beach. i'm glad i had my taste of winter, but i'm happy that it is sunny and warm. this weekend i also celebrated my roommate, jess' 26th bday by seeing Annie at the Kodak theatre which was awesome. it is beautiful there. i kept thinking about all of the celebrities that have been there before for all of the oscars. cool. in 2 weeks, peter's parents are coming to visit and i'm excited to see them. i like spending time with family as much as i can and i definitely consider them family.

big news, i start grad school on wednesday. i've been thinking about it and i applied last week and classes start this week. i sent in the paperwork last minute b/c i was worrying about how i was going to be able to pay, etc etc, but nows the time to do it. i'm taking classes at CSUN california state university northridge. its between work and my apt but farther north. it will take me 6 semesters (3 years) to get my MA, but i will clear my credential at the same time. i'll be taking 2 classes a week and they are both wednesday after school. i'm going to be very busy, but after i complete classes, it will help me bump up on the pay scale. this semester i'm taking a class about lesson planning which will be like every other class i've ever taken, and one about english language learners, which i'm excited b/c i will be learning new stuff.

so things are going well for me. i really enjoy living here; its new and exciting and there is always a lot to do. the weather is great and i'm doing exactly what i always planned to do with my life.

love you mom

we can swim any day in november

check out the link to see pics of me and pete at the beach!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2171691&l=4dd68&id=18400916

speaking of pete, click on his blog's link at the bottom of my page to read very important information!

so far, november has been nice. Yay Obama! I am seriously excited that we elected an African American president. that is awesome. last week i went to a bbq at lisa's. it was a lot of fun and she made delicious food. the next day was veterans day so we were able to party during the week which rarely happens. on veterans day pete and i bought a wii! we are so excited and have been playing mario party a lot.

also a week ago yesterday, peter and i got (non-matching) tattoos. mine is of my nieces names and peter's is of the state of maryland. check out below for some blurry pics. we both love them a lot. this week will be pretty chill and then over the weekend, peter and i are going to visit my grandparents in san diego. after that, i have 1 1/2 days of school then i'm off for thanksgiving break. over the break peter and i will celebrate our 3 year anniversary and go to chicago to spend thanksgiving with his family. we're both siced for both. after that it will be december and i will be coming home!

can't wait to visit, its going to be a great 2 weeks.

in case you were wondering peter and i are safe; regarding the wildfires. we're pretty much surrounded by them but none are really close. the fires make the skies look really crazy/pretty but it smells. i kind of like how it smells; like great bbq but at the same time it can be overwhelming. yesterday when we were leaving the beach is was snowing ashes...so weird. anyhow, we'll keep you posted.

love you all

ash




my left wrist




peter's right forearm, near his "Cheverly" tattoo





the picture collage in my room. needs more pics though.













the LA letters kel gave me for graduation





black and green

october

october is over and i rarely posted. sorries! after working all day i never really want to sit down and write about what is going on. if you notice that i haven't been updating you should definitely check Pete's Blog because we do almost everything together and he is better about blogging than me.

in october i...

• went to the doctors a lot for checkups and i'm healthy yay!
• went to a few parties
• had picture day
• started BTSA - the program that will give me my "full" california teaching credential and help me get my masters
• paid a bunch of bills
• hung out with erica (writer on the oc, and currently criminal minds - family friend) and her husband kenny. peter and i visited the set because a friend i made on the show was getting his episode produced. (his name is mark) we hung out for a while and met a bunch of people including shemar moore (who i met before) and joe mantegna. we also had dinner one time and went to the movies together another.
• saw a bunch of movies including SAW, ROLE MODELS, W., SCHENECTADY NEW YORK, BODY OF LIES, and ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO. probably some more in theatres and definitely a bunch on dvd
• celebrated my 2 years and 11 month anniversary with pete
• ate a bunch of wings at "Big Wangs"
• started going to a dance class at my gym with a fellow first grade teacher, lisa. its a hip hop class and so much fun!!!! i hate going to the gym so doing this class helps me want to work out
• volunteered at church in the kids club with peter so we could help out and also just play with babies. (that was actually today which is november but whatev.)
• celebrated halloween! carved pumpkins, made treats, had a halloween parade at school, made pumpkin seeds, and dressed as tinkerbell to go with my peter pan.

so it was a busy but fun october. i'm planning on doing something supercool soon and i will let you know about it later. also peter and i are attempting to buy a wii after selling some old video games and systems. tuesday is election day but i'm not sure if peter and i are going to be able to vote because we are not 100% sure how to do it absentee and we def don't have an absentee ballot if we needed one. so everyone else, go out and vote on our behalf!

in november, i am going to a few more parties for coworkers, doing a lot more BTSA stuff, paying more bills, celebrating 3 years with peter (officially, but its really like 3 years and 9 months) and going to chicago for thanksgiving. then it will be almost december and I will be going home december 20th!

i can't wait to go home. i miss my family so much; especially my nieces. they are growing up so fast. elisa can read and she lost her first tooth, mia is teething, zoe can talk like a grownup and they are all getting so big!

i promised some pictures and here are a few!

until november....

farmer shelton

farmer shelton and chef ishaq

first grade!

first grade teachers

girls only pumpkin carving party

the second pumpkin i carved

halloween!

some semi-recent pictures of mia, elisa, and mom <3

yay!

read pete's blog...best one yet! pics too. i'll update soon.

promise!

not too much

There doesn't seem to be a lot going on that is new right now. But, here's a list of whats up in no particular order.

• school is going well
• went to some doctors appointments last week and I like my doctors
• last Sunday I was able to see the Dallas/Skins game and that was awesome
• it finally rained yesterday! (first time since I moved here)
• Peter and I babysat for Kenny and Erica on Saturday and that was easy and fun
• Peter and I are volunteering to help out with the Kids Club at our church so we can play with babies
• Christopher turned 25
• Today I saw Shane Sparks (choreographer, and So you think you can dance judge) accept an award at an outdoor festival in North Hollywood
• This week I have picture day and back to school night
• No school Thursday
• School stuff then party on Saturday for Shira's bday
• I'm coming home for Christmas Dec 20th
• I got my haircut and it looks great

That seems to be it. Still no pictures, sorry! TTYL

Love,

Ash

still no pictures

but I will hopefully have them soon. This week also went well at school. I am trying really hard to get what every student needs to succeed. Its a challenging job and I like it. I see no point in lazy teachers. I get my first full paycheck tomorrow....Yay! It will be enough to pay rent, bills, and hopefully pay my mom back the rest of my rent from last month. Since I am just starting to get paid I am still struggling a little bit but after 6 months I think I will be doing fine and supporting my self 100%.

This weekend Peter, my roomie Kati and I went to see "Burn After Reading." We went to a really late showing and I kept falling asleep but it was good. Like he said on his blog we saw Josh from Drake and Josh in the parking lot so that was cool. I'm guessing he probably lives near me. Peter and I also spent the day at Venice beach yesterday which is always nice. I'm always the happiest at the beach. Today we went to church, the gym, and then hung out by the pool. I'm glad Peter and I still get to see each other even though we are both working so much.

This week I started to really feel homesick. I'm getting fully adjusted to living here, going to work everyday, etc. I wish Mom and Grandma were with me in Venice to go to all of the shops
and I wish Elisa and Zoe were at the beach with me to play in the sand. I also really miss watching football and lounging at home. Yesterday I saw a tree that had fall leaves on it and I was excited. I'm going to miss the trees on 5th street with the varying fall colors. All is well but I will never love a place like MD.

Finally

i'm blogging again. It has been 3+ weeks since I last blogged and I have been very very busy.

School has been going great. I'm getting used to the early mornings and I haven't had to stay too long after school. I end up staying at least an hour each day after the kids leave and one or two days a week I stay really late to plan, prep, etc. I really enjoy that the whole first grade team splits up the prep work - it makes it a lot easier. I've had parent/teacher meetings aka TEAM meetings and more professional development things. I really feel like I am a part of the faculty and that I'm not just a noob. I'm making friends at school and I am having a lot of fun.

Last week I got a flat tire on my way home from work which really sucked but I was so close to my apt that I kept driving on it until I parked in my garage. Luckily Geico came and changed the spare for me. What really sucked was that I had just received my first paycheck two days before and I had to spend it on two new front tires among other things. I'm all set now though so thats good.

Friday night I went out with some of my coworkers and we got pedicures then another group of us went out for dinner/drinks. It was fun and I was happy to get to know them and visa versa outside of the school setting. The rest of the weekend I did a bunch of errands/chores and Peter and I chilled out the rest. All day today we just watched movies. I didn't even change out of my pjs at all.

I was really missing home today. I can't watch the Skins game out here which really blows and I miss being at home with my fam watching the game. Its been a part of my life ever since I was born (seriously) and I never thought I would miss it so much. It'll be just a little over 2 months until I'm back home again and that makes me happy. I'm enjoying my time here but like they say, There's No Place Like Home.

Next week will go by quickly just like every other. I have school all week and I'm picking up a sideview mirror for my car on Tuesday which got broken. I want to go to the beach next weekend. I also need to set up various doctors appointments for checkups, a TB test and other random stuff and I plan on doing that this week too.

Things are going well and hopefully since I am getting settled into a routine I'll be able to blog at least weekly. I'm also going to take some updated pics of my classroom and bedroom and have them up soon. Love you!!