It's 900pm, so I think that the ghouls and goblins are back in their homes. And we didn't have one single trick-or-treater! Oh well--that just means we get to eat the candy instead!
Do you have any fun trick-or-treat stories? I told Brett about the dentist down the street who gave away toothbrushes. What a treat to go to his house, huh? And one year I went to a house that was giving away donuts.
Hey, Kids,
It's Saturday evening, and I thought I'd give a little update on our weekend activities. It's been a busy 2 days, it seems. The next few weekends are going to be packed as well.
I left school very early (3pm!) on Friday. It had been raining for about 2 days, the weather had turned cold, and it was just one of those days that I couldn't stay at school any longer. My body was itching to be home! After piddling at home for a bit, I graded papers until Brett got home and we went out for dinner. We ended up at this great Mexican place. Dinner was excellent, and I even ordered dessert! I can't pass up plátanos fritos. Once we got back to our house, we popped in Evan Almighty. Did you know that God is an environmentalist? It was actually a cute movie.
This morning I made a test for my Spanish II students. They are going to be thrilled, I am sure. I'll be gone on Friday, and I decided that the best thing for my sub to do is give a test to my classes!
This afternoon we headed out to one of Brett's coworker's place for a housewarming party. They live in a cutie house. We cooked out and hung out. Now we are catching the baseball game before we head out to the movies. A late movie. Can't remember the last time we did that! ¡Hasta mañana!
He's been a cyclist for a long time now, and this year has gotten a bike where he lives overseas. Several times a week, he treks through the city and up into these crazy mountains (they peak around 6000 feet). It's a 4 mile incline; sounds fun, huh?
What's really funny, though, is that half the time, he passes these old trucks loaded down with their supplies. And he's wearing the spandex, so you know he gets some surprised looks. It makes me smile just thinking about it.
Yesterday was Engagement Day! That means it has been 4 years since Brett surprised me with my big ole diamond and asked me to be his wife! We aren't one of those crazy couples who celebrates every milestone in our couple life, but we do like to acknowledge and reminisce about this one, because he did such a great job with it.
We didn't have plans for the day, so when Brett got a major project at 5pm and told me he was going to be working really late, it was fine with me. I called him about 10pm to let him know I had to go to bed. Then, 5 mins later, he walked through the door with roses! He had already been on his way! He came home to put me in bed and then do work until after midnite. Isn't he the greatest?
The last two days have been filled with errands, fun, and relaxation. For your listing enjoyment, here are some of the things we did over the weekend, in no particular order:
1. slept late (hey, 8am IS late for us!)
2. cleaned the house
3. gave Brett a haircut
4. went to Costco
5. shopped at the outlets
6. found our way through a corn maze
7. picked out a pumpkin
8. washed and dried laundry
9. watched the Redskins win
10. took a nap
11. went to my school's homecoming game
(I must interject here. Brett came down to the metro closest to my school & my friend Sarah and I picked him up and went to the game. I'm interested to see some of my students on Monday, because I saw a number of them, and I'm pretty sure that they figured out that the guy with me is my husband. I had one girl whisper to me "Is that your husband?" and when I responded "Yes." she gave a very enthusiastic thumbs up. Apparently, he's very nice to look at; I think my cool factor just went up for every 10th grade girl who saw Brett and made the connection that he's mine!)
12. listened to the rain
13. ate pizza
14. visited a church
15. changed the sheets
And now we are off to grill some dinner and enjoy the last few hours of weekend bliss. I haven't done a lick of schoolwork since Friday nite, which may explain why this weekend has been so great! We are off to the last full week of October!
Saturdays are the best days ever! They are absolutely incredible!
This afternoon, we enjoyed a bit of fall fun. We headed out to the Leesburg Premium Outlets. Brett has been in need of a new suit, so we went to get a good deal on one at Joseph A. Bank, his store of choice. We had great success! He's gonna look so snazzy!
The Leesburg outlets are the best outlets. They truly have every store imaginable. My favorites there include places like Yankee Candle, Crate and Barrel, Banana Republic, Gap, Ann Taylor, and Coach. And can I just say that I have to be the most self-controlled & money-conscious woman in the world. Because despite the fact that I was lusting over many clothes and cute sweaters for cheap at Banana Republic, I didn't spend one penny while there because it's not in the budget for the month. I'm practically a saint.
Brett had to get me out of there before I crushed under the pressure, so we headed 5 miles north to the real activity of the day: a corn maze! I've wanted to do this for a long time, and it turned out to be a perfect day. We went to the Leesburg Corn MAiZE. They have several acres of corn stalks carved into a design. And it's your job to get from the beginning to the end. We rocked at it.
After we found our way out, we walked over to the pumpkin patch and picked out a lovely little pumpkin to put on our porch. It was fun!
Isn't she cute? Back in September, things at work were especially crazy because I was trying to get all my paperwork in order for the new job. Being one of about 24,000 employees in my county meant that it was a slow and vague process. I found out that a deadline I had of September 30 had been moved to the 15th. It was already the 8th when I was finally given this notice. So, I scrambled and begged and prayed hard that I could get my stuff in to the licensure office. I had my things, but I was relying on some people in NC and TX to get their jobs done. When it all came through, I was thrilled!
Today I finally got my certificate! And, it turns out that instead of the 3 year provisional license I thought I was getting, I got the 5 year renewable! This is wonderful to me because it means I don't have to take all the language tests that are so daunting! I'm SO happy!
And now I'm officially licensed to teach in Texas and Virginia! Wohoo!
I stole this idea from my pal Courtney. I really do love to read, but when I'm working, I never have/make time to do it. Last year, the lady at the Houston library knew exactly who I was because I was in there so often. I didn't underline those on my To Be Read list because I would read almost every one. I have lots of reading to do, though! Where's that library card?
Here’s the meme:
Bold those you’ve read. (That didn't work on mine, so I'm changing the color)
Italicize books you have started but couldn’t finish.
Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once.
Underline those on your To Be Read list.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: A Novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote* (in SPANISH, thank you very much!)
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey*
Pride and Prejudice*
Jane Eyre*
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma*
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner (I'm in the slow process--I just need some time!)
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (I guess seeing the play doesn't count, huh?!)
The Canterbury Tales*
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo*
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility*
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers
How many have you read?
I spent this weekend being completely loved by my FU roommates. On Friday, I flew down to Charlotte, where Lauren and Kelley picked me up. We headed up to the mountains of North Carolina where Jill lives. The four of us enjoyed good food, a beautiful hike, fun stories, great memories, and meaningful conversation. There is no comparison to be with these girls who know me so well. I'm sad that I don't get to be with them more often, but I love those times when we are together. I'll get to see them again at homecoming in a few weeks, and, most importantly, at Jilly's wedding in December! Here's a pic of Kel and me; more to come later. For now, it's back to real life and school. Sad!
Man, you have no idea how wonderful it was to have the day off! Did anyone else besides us? It was a great day for me, because although I spent much of the day doing productive or semi-productive things, most of them had nothing to do with school, which was fabulous! We even took time to walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. If these 90 degree temps would give way to fall, it would make the walk more pleasant! I'm very grateful that we had the extra day to relax. Now let's hope that the rest of the week flies as quickly as the long weekend!
It's 10pm on Sunday nite. I should be in bed. Instead, I'm just getting home from dinner. And I'm not stressed about getting into bed late. Why? Because I DON'T HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!! Do you know how thrilled I am? I can't even express.
Yesterday we spent most the day majorly cleaning our house. It was much-needed, and now it feels so good to have it all spick-n-span. I enjoyed an afternoon nap, we grilled hotdogs, and we finally watched a Netflix movie we've had for about 4 weeks. Have you seen The Illusionist? It's really good, actually. Now that I've seen the whole thing, I'm tempted to watch it again in order to catch some of the things I missed the first time. Nothing is as it seems.
After church today, the Redskins put on quite a show. It's always much more fun to see your team play when they play well and win! Then, after doing some grading and quiz-making, Brett and I picked up Pam from her hotel. She is the secretary for B's old boss and has been in town for a conference. We brought her back to see our casa, where she ooh-ed and aah-ed and made us feel like we had a great place. And she brought me some fun handtowels and hotpads for our kitchen!
We finished the grand tour and headed to our "downtown" area to have dinner. Dave met us down there. He worked in Houston with B and now works at the same place now. We had a great time catching up with one another. We ended up dropping both of them off afterward. I liked dropping Dave off, because he lives in the city, and we got to drive by all the monuments while they are lit at nite. I love seeing them at nite. The city is always quieter and less hectic, so I love being able to drive with leisure and marvel at these amazing sites. We live in a really neat place.
So, now I'm off to bed. I can sleep in tomorrow, if I like (which won't happen; I can't anymore!). Then I have some school stuff and some non-school stuff, such as finally getting that haircut. Ciao!
Well, since I won this fabulous contest in which I get a new template, you know that there will be some changes. The girl who designs this template will do an amazing job, and I want to make sure that I will keep it for a long time. So now begins the debate as to whether I should keep the current theme or move on to something different.
I like Pura Vida. And I like consistency, so that makes me want to keep this one. But at the same time, my new idea of Girl out of Texas is very "me" and would make a great theme (You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the girl.). I'd still post all about my adventures with Brett, because, obviously, he is my life. And I'd probably even give him permissions to be a poster on "my" blog for the few times that he wants to post. So, what do I do? You can vote at the right for the next week.
It's the first day of the month, so I feel the need to post. Here's what October 1 means to me:
