Preparing to teach and planning to wed...

I made it through my first two days of student teaching this week! Of course, I didn't actually teach anything this week, but just having two days under my proverbial belt makes me feel better about this spring. I'll start teaching Kindergarten and 1st grade music classes in a couple weeks, and then build from there. After watching my cooperating teacher teach every grade over 2 days, I realized something about Kindergarten kiddos. They think EVERYTHING is funny. They tell you random facts. They raise their hand to tell you that their birthday is in July. I already have 2 Kindergarten kiddo stories after 2 days.

1) Upon the music teacher introducing me to the class as "Miss Lindsey" a girl raised her hand and said, "I had a dog named Lindsey once! But she died." The teacher responded, "You had a DOG named Lindsey?? That's a girl name!" The little girl said matter-of-factly, "Yeh, it was a GIRL dog!"

2) The second isn't quite as interesting, but it made me laugh. After the teacher explained why an unfamiliar girl (me) was sitting at her desk, the whole class stood up to look at me. They all waved with blank stares like they weren't so sure about whether I was going to be nice or not. Then one little boy, who was staring the most intently out of the whole class said, "I like your necklace", and immediately sat back down. I'm so glad that my fashion sense was confirmed by a 5 year old boy! :)

Another funny thing happened after a 3rd grade class in which the teacher had introduced me and given a small tidbit of my life. She told them where I went to college, that I am engaged, and that I am getting married this year. After class, two 3rd grade girls asked to look at my ring. I don't think I even knew what an engagement ring was in 3rd grade. Just kidding, but seriously I wouldn't have thought to ask to look at a ring in 3rd grade. I'm used to college girls and women asking to see my ring, but 3rd graders was a new experience. It was an experience that made me laugh, nonetheless.

It should be fun, but I just have to work on my comedy act for the Kindergarten classes to get them laughing...which shouldn't be too hard. Yesterday they thought a song about hippos in the snow was the most hilarious song ever written! Yet another reminder that the next 2 months will be fun and filled with stories!

Well wedding planning is in full swing. I still don't have any super awesome shoes, but it will come. It's funny to look back each week and see how much has been decided or changed in the wedding plans...even in a week. This week we set the date.

We are planning to get married September 24th.

I didn't want the date to get lost in the rest of the words. Mark your calendar, save the date, circle the number, etc. I'll let the blog world know if it changes, but I don't think it will now. Having a date makes it so much more real, and it gives us a goal to work towards and a specific time to look forward to. We're excited! :) I feel like it's all going to come together, and hopefully for a reasonable price. My goal is to be practical and simple, but still classy.

I came up with some themes the other day while I was cleaning my room. Prepare yourself. The awesomeness of the alliterations may have the potential to blow your mind. Just kidding, but I really like alliterations so I'm proud of my themes.

Neutral and Natural. Linen and Lace. I like the neutral and natural colors, and I think linen and lace add a southern charm of sorts. We'll see if I stick with these themes. Hopefully I will because if I don't, I'm not sure if I can come up with anymore alliterations...

Be inspired by this inspiration board by  Every Last Detail blog

TB tests and Sonic Blasts

Today I went to see the Associate Dean in the School of Education to discuss student teaching. We went over my file (sounds very official, doesn't it...) and discussed what I have left to do before student teaching. Here's what I found out...

I'm a planner, yet a procrastinator. I know what I have to do, I just choose not to do it until later.

We're required to do 205 hours of observation for Music Ed. According to my file, I currently have 35 hours. Awesome. If you do the math, you see that leaves....yes, 170 hours before December. Needless to say, most of my free blocks from Monday to Friday 8-3, I will be at a school. I figured out if I observe every Wednesday, and the mornings every other day of the week, I can have all my observations done the week before Thanksgiving! Good news-I get my observation hours. Bad news- I don't get to sleep in until Thanksgiving. But worse things could happen :)

I also found out I had to have a TB test. Actually I already KNEW I had to have one, I just hate shots, blood, and all other things related with medical things. So I put it off for 3 weeks, and today was my TB test day. It was awful. Worst experience ever. Just kidding, I hardly felt it. Afterward, my awesome significant other insisted on taking me to Sonic after the intensely traumatic medical procedure I had done-I think it's mostly because he wanted some tea...but I didn't question the motives, I just went with it and got a Sonic Blast out of the deal :)

Other than those 2 things, I didn't find out anything interesting. I'm on schedule to graduate...if the Praxis was nice to me...and now I just have to stop procrastinating and get on the ball.

Realization: Making a PLAN to be productive...WAY easier than actually being productive.

Observations here I come.

PS. I thinking about being domestic soon...I think this VERY cute apron from etsy.com would help me do so.
Just throwing that out there.

This is the day, this is the day...

This is my last semester...hopefully. I keep going over the things that I have to do before Student Teaching, and when I think about it all, my shoulders raise, my face tenses, my air flow cuts off, I turn blue... just kidding. My shoulders don't raise.  :)

Anyway, I have to remember to just take it one day at a time. This is the day that the Lord has made and I WILL rejoice and be glad in it...even if I have to do 23409847 things before I can graduate in May. I'm not really THAT stressed out...today anyway. But that's probably because I have had a very productive day thus far. I don't have classes on Wednesdays. (Later in the semester I'll have to observe, but for now I'm enjoying my day off in the middle of the week.) I walked about 3 miles this morning with a dear friend, and not only got some nice physical activity, but also fit some quality talking time in there...it was a great start to the day. Then I did some things and got ready to go to lunch, when low and behold, my significant other asked if I wanted to ditch the caf today and go to Momma G's! What kind of question is that?! It's $1 Nacho day...OF COURSE I want to go to Momma G's. I had a nice lunch, and although he raised my blood pressure because he made me 3 minutes late to piano lessons (and he was talking about gross medical procedures just to watch me gag), I had quite an enjoyable lunch with that Wells boy (as my dad calls him).

Piano lessons were...well, we won't go there today. Let's just say I have 4 weeks to perfect 10 songs by memory. Moving on....After piano, I went by the mail room to pick up packages. I got 2 packages and thought both were books, but one was a packet of flashcards for the Praxis! Now, I was expecting them (since I ordered them), but I read reviews right after I bought them and saw that they had terrible reviews. HOWEVER, after looking through them, I realized the "reviewers" were probably just bitter because they did not use the flashcards to their full potential and probably failed. These flashcards are awesome! Is it weird that I'm really excited to study my Praxis flashcards? It's okay if it is weird. I think I'm excited because I'm a little more confident in my ability to pass it since I have some help. Plus I learn better with flashcards, I just HATE making them. So I'm thinking that money with be well worth it.

I think it's easy to rejoice and be glad in days like today...when I have no school and have time to blog in the middle of the day.  It's days like yesterday when I have to remind myself to breathe that I struggle with rejoicing. The thing is- I do not necessarily have more on my plate than I can handle, but I have more on my plate than I can handle if I don't keep my focus on my purpose. It's the difference in focusing on the whats instead of the whys. If I get caught up in the "whats" by looking at "what I have to do" and marking it off my list, then I've completely lost the point of life. If I strive to remember why I'm doing something, I'm ultimately remembering the bigger picture-which is about more than just me.  I think it's important to prioritize tasks, but I also know it's beneficial to keep the goal in mind. Sometimes the tasks can fog the goal, and that's why I get short of breath when I look at my planner. Student Teaching will be worth it, my senior recital will be worth it (especially when I hit the very last note of the last piece), school will have been worth it in May. Marriage will be worth all the dating and waiting, whether I get married on my timeline or not. Every good thing is worth the work and wait. There are lessons to be learned everyday, and EVERYDAY is a day that the Lord has made and I am to REJOICE (not just endure) and be GLAD in it. Now if I can just remember that, I'll be good to go. :)

Today has been full of rejoicing. My latest smile came from my Papa as I typed this...He called, I answered, and my 78 year old Papa said "What's up?!" Thank you Lord for smiles in the midst of days when I take day to day tasks too seriously.

P.S. Here are some pieces I made before I came to school. I'm hoping Mom will send some supplies by way of a friend that's going home this weekend...I need something for stress relief...I mean, to help me rejoice :)

made from my grandmother's necklace

silver brooch made from a vintage clip of earring of my grandma's

Made with 3mm glass pearls and vintage green brooch