Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

For the few of you who read this and are NOT celebrating Christmas today....Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus, Happy Kwanzaa...etc. And for you Jehova's Witness'.....well......nothing back at ya. :-)

I was chatting with my friend Rich this past week and he said prior to calling that he was looking at my blog to see what he needed to catch up on before he called....and then said that there was nothing posted on my blog for months. Ha! I owned up to that because I've been WAY too busy and in my free time I'm usually reading or sleeping...so here it is. Christmas morning. I'm the only one awake. I figured now is as good a time as any to do this. Expect at least 1 more post before the year is over. I mean, I do need to do my traditional new years resolutions and such :-).

But I digress.....on to the updates:
1. 2011 started out with SO much hope and possibility. The year has had it's ups and downs and for awhile I was SO ready to get off the rollercoaster but realized quickly that not all the bad things going on are truly bad. It's just a matter of perspective :-)

2. Since my last post - I've been getting a lot of things in order:
a. I finished my teaching classes and will now be teaching at Lower Merion High School starting January 18th as a student teacher for Mr. Rich Kressly. I realize this isn't entirely NEW news but it's still exciting nonetheless. It's also official. I think the last time I was writing about it I was SO nervous and had a lot of anxiety about it. Beyond student teaching, I have about three more classes for my second masters degree (READ: NERD). I've already been looking into PhD programs......um, yeah.....
b. The most wonderful time of the year started and is currently en medias res: SWIM SEASON!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYA! We all know how much love to coach and how amazingly happy swimming makes me. This year is no different. The girls are so awesome and we're a solid team! We're already three meets into the season - and this last one made me so proud to be their coach and made me feel like I'm actually doing a good job for once :-).
c. I ran a Marathon! (haha, way to bury the lead katie)....but for realsies, it was by far the hardest thing I think I've every (physically) done. I have friends who I've asked about having babies and how much pain that is. They say a marathon will pretty much beat you up more than having a kid. Sweet - so it's all downhill from here! I'm still debating whether I'll sign up for another one. The possibility of running the Dublin Marathon in October is being dangled in my face. I suppose it'll all depend on how much everything costs (plane ticket, etc). Oh yeah, I finished in just over 4 hours - 4:03 and change....
d. Kelly got her thyroid out (Thursday) and is recovering nicely. Yeah, I know - this isn't necessarily about me - but hey - it affects me and therein it's important so I talk about it :-). Let's hope this helps some of the other medical issues she's been having.
e. What else.............................................................well................................heheheheh. I started dating someone :-) Most of you are friends with me on facebook so you already know who it is but we'll just go with first names on here. I'll write more about the story of us "meeting" in another post but to put it succinctly: He's probably one of the nicest, kindest, sweetest, most caring, and thoughtful people I know in my life. Which only makes his handsomeness shine through even more. I feel as though he sometimes doesn't give himself enough credit when it comes to seeing how truly amazing of a person he is - but then he's a Cancer, like me, and I think that's a trait we all have :-) He makes me so incredibly happy. I can truly be myself around him without worrying whether he'll judge me for the things I said or do or the mistakes I make or how often I forget some of the small minor details that he knows I really know. I'm so excited to start 2012 with him and see what the new year has in store for us. :-)

What's coming up:
1. Student Teaching - as I mentioned earlier. I have three books to read and write out three unit plans for three different classes. I'm pumped but dreading it. The reading part is the easy part. I have to figure out how long the Co-op wants me to spend on each book.
2. Figuring out my workout regime - since I'll be in school by 7:15 every day, I'll need to decide if I'm going to work out early in the morning before school or after Swim?/Lax practices - which means I won't start working out til about 6:30 or so. That's honestly not too late - and might be better for me. I could also teach evening spin class if I did that.
3. The rest of swim season. A few good things about this season - I'm probably going to have a pretty big squad going to Districts this year - Districts is also on a Thursday and Friday this year - so that means I won't have to give up my saturday! Lots of organizing to do. I feel like this season is just going by in a blur!
4. Lacrosse season - starts the week after Swim Season is over. Yikes! No rest for the wicked. We'll be getting a new assistant coach this year because Gretchen now officially lives in Hawaii (damn her).


So anyway - I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. That's all I got for this morning. I'm gonna see if I can't go catch some holiday movie on TV. Or just read (nerd).

Happy Chrismakwanzkkah!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Do Not Worry

I know I've used this on here before but I think right now it rings very true for me and my life.....enjoy.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34