Award!

I've officially received my first blog award! Whoo hoo!! The wonderful Danielle at "The Best Things in Life" gave me "The Versatile Blogger" award! I am soo excited and thankful you chose me, Danielle! Everyone should stop by and check her out sometime! :)

So here goes... The rules are to share seven things about yourself and pass the award on to 15 other wonderful bloggers!

1) I am craft-making obsessed. When I say obsessed, I mean it. In fact, I'm even getting ready to start selling some of my own hand-made jewelry online soon... so definitely check back!

2) I don't have a favorite movie. It's just a question I've never been able to answer. I mean, come on... there's just no place to even really begin! Top 10? That's something I could probably handle. I just can't eliminate it down to one.

3) I'm a complete science nerd. This is something you probably would never know/guess unless you got the rare opportunity to see me in that "element." I could literally sit in a science museum all day. In fact, I spent 5 hours in just the evolution exhibit alone the last time I visited the Museum of Natural History in DC. If my students develop even half of the love and passion that I have for science, I'll be a very happy camper.

4) I believe everything happens for a reason. 100% of the time.

5) It drives me absolutely insane when people misuse "your" and "you're" along with "effect" and "affect." I know this is completely ridiculous and shouldn't bother me near as much as it does, but it's just one of those things.

6) I played softball for 10 years (...another thing you'd never guess!) and coached for 4. Although being a player holds some of the best memories from my childhood, deciding to coach was one of the best decisions I ever made. I still keep in touch with most of the girls from my first couple years, and love each and every one of them to death. I'm pretty sure it was one of the main reasons I decided to teach.

7) Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the cool(er) weather (because it only gets "cold" for about week here! ha), and the the general spirit of everything around that time of year. For the most part, everyone just seems a little bit happier!

And now for the 15 wonderful women to whose blogs I am addicted! In no particular order, they are...
1) Julie at Brown Eyed Belle
2) Sara at Just Don't Quit. Ever.
3) Mrs. Newlywed at Newlyweds!
4) Jessica at Living the Swell Life
5) Polka Dots and Protein Bars
6) Leslie at A Blonde Ambition
7) Amber at The Survival Guide for the Young, Fabulous, and Newlywed
8) MMC at Black Labs and Lilly
9) Sweet Simplicity
10) Amanda at Run to the Finish
11) Lauren at Life with a Lab
12) A Wedding Story
13) Lindsay at Healthy Stride
14) Jessica at Living Better Together
15) Kristina at Fit, Sexy, Super-Wife

Thank you all for sharing a small glimpse of your life with me!

Busy (excited) little bee!

Yikes... a week and a half without blogging! Major oops! on my part. Sorry y'all! To my credit, however, this past week and a half has been busier than the last year and a half (...okay, maybe a little exaggeration there, but you get the idea). In this time, I have...

1. Lost a cell phone
2. Lived for an entire week without a cell phone (extremely difficult, but still "doable")
3. Bought a new cell phone (...with entirely new cell phone carrier. Yes, I caved to the iPhone 4. Sigh...)
4. Studied like a crazy lady for the my last certification exam, the FTCE subject area exam, to (finally) be certified to teach biology in grades 6-12.
5. PASSED my last certification exam!!! Whoo hoo!!!
6. Bought way more decorations/supplies for my future classroom than I will ever need (...a little caught up in the moment!)
   
7. Lived 4 days without my computer, aka my life, while it was getting repaired at the Apple store (waaaaaay harder than the cell phone!)
8. Traveled back and forth to Jacksonville three times
   
9. Introduced Charley to my 3 month old "niece" (I say "niece" because she's technically RK's niece, but I figure 7 years of being around the family makes me at least a figurative aunt, right?!)
   
10. Actually relaxed once, maybe twice.

*Big sigh of relief*

I cannot tell you how excited I am to have all of that behind me. For the most part, things usually don't happen all at once like that, but last week was a major exception. Yay for slowing things down a bit!

As I mentioned earlier, Charley met Catherine (RK's niece) for the first time this past week. For those of you who don't know, Charley (my 1.5 year old labrador) is a big teddy bear who wouldn't hurt a fly even if it followed him around for a week straight. He's the dog that lets all the other dogs play and roll all over him without even batting an eyelash. He does give the occasional "okay Mom, I'm getting a little tired of all these youngin's" look, but would still never do anything about it. He's always had a special connection with children, and I was eager to see how he would handle a baby being in the same room. I mentioned this in a post earlier, but I've always felt that dogs know and understand so much more than we give them credit for. Sometimes I feel like he just looks at me and automatically knows what I'm thinking. I don't know, maybe that makes me a little crazy/weird. Anyway, so the moment came for the two of them to meet. The carrier sat on the couch just out of Charley's reach to let him get used to the idea of a new little person in the room. Monitoring how well he was handling it, we picked up the carrier and lowered it to where he could see her. He sat down very politely, slowly peeked inside, and suddenly got the biggest smile on his face. He looked over at me, and walked away. At first I thought he just wasn't as interested as I thought he would be. But, he completely surprised me with what he did next. He went over to the baby bag, picked up one of her stuffed dolls, brought it back over to the carrier and placed it very gently next to her. It was absolutely one of the sweetest things I had EVER seen. Granted, this will probably never happen again... but I'm okay with that. He is so gentle with her it's unreal. I can't wait to see how he handles our future children in his older years...

On a different note, I bought the iPhone 4 (with an adorable purple cover!) this past week as well. I've been a loyal Verizon-er for about 8 years now, and felt it was time for a "fresh" change of pace. RK has been with AT&T since before I met him and, of course, has had every iPhone they've come out with. He's much more of a "techie" than I am. I have to admit though, I love it! I've heard some people have issues with dropped calls and whatnot, but so far so good with this one. Anyone else have the iPhone 4? Thoughts?!

Lastly, I'm officially a certified 6-12 Biology (potential) teacher!!! I cannot wait to finally have my own classroom, my own kids, and my own "teacher desk." Yes, I know, I'm a nerd! ;) I've completely stocked up on every supply possible (kudos to Target and their $1 school supplies!) and am so excited to start my laminating, labeling, grading, etc. I know a year from now I will be so far up to my ears in the aforementioned that I'll want to shoot myself for ever thinking that, but for now it's still exciting. I think I'll wallow in my inexperienced optimism for now. :)

Enough rambling for now... Thanks for reading til the end. I really do appreciate it! Night y'all!!

Teacher Tuesday

Quick post for the day! A year from now, I'll be teaching my first middle school (or possibly high school) science class. Whoo hoo!! In order to hopefully dodge the financial bomb of stocking my classroom all at once, I'm attempting to buy things a bit at a time from now until next August, when school starts. If any of you have any suggestions for "must-have" items for a beginner teacher, I more than welcome your input! As of now, I'm stocking up on borders and posters. I also want to get some lab supplies, but I want to be sure it'll actually be used and not something the school may supply for me. Thanks!!