Wedding, Wedding, Wedding!

Yup, I get engaged and that is the biggest thing on my mind! The craziness has died down; the planning has begun. After a week of stress the tide has turned and we have booked a reception venue! Jay and I will be getting married July 19th, 2008! I am so excited! The To-Do list is a mile long but slowly we will get things taken care of… next on the list is nail down a church, find a photographer, and florist and of course BUY THE DRESS! This last part is the part I am looking forward to the most. On Saturday mom and I will take our first stab at it!

On that note my parents make me laugh. I was never sure of how involved they would want to be in wedding planning. They have shocked me a little. Dad has browsed bridal store windows and “found” a dress he thinks I should wear… ummm it has purple on it so I think it won’t work… mom is excited about dress shopping and every once and a while I get phone calls that mention how they were talking about things and what they think we should do. It’s fun to plan this with them. Next week we will be having a wedding planning session with both sets of parents… I can only imagine that between my dad and Jay’s dad there will be plenty of teasing. Ahhh the blending of families!
~S

My “Male Token Place Holder” Asks Me To Be His Wife!

Of course I said YES!

Many of you know the story, some of you do not, so for you here is the story:

Last October (‘06) I was set up on a date (not quite blind, but a set-up none the less). I knew Jay (from Camp) and needed a date (or as I like to say a “male token place holder”) for a dinner theatre with my parents, brother and his date. We were set up by my friend and her mom (who happens to be the mom of one of my students), and although I made a fool of myself that night, we pursued the thought of a relationship. From there the rest is history as they say. Jay lived in Winnipeg and so we did the long distance thing for nine and a half months. We saw each other most weekends, and had many phone calls back and forth. At the end of August Jay moved to Mennville and took a job in Riverton. In the last couple of months it has been nice to see each other in “real life” and not just in moments set aside for one another.

On Monday Oct. 15 Jay showed up at my house as I was getting ready for work and started cooking breakfast. It was his birthday and I was a little thrown by him being there. He then told me that he wasn’t there just to cook breakfast but also there to get his birthday present, I began protesting (he has wanted it for a couple of weeks) when he dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him! I have no idea what I said, but I do know that I ended up with a ring on my finger, so I must have said YES! Really the rest of the day was a little blurry, I just wanted to get home!

I fell in love with Jay early in our relationship, marrying him is just the next step in the journey! Although no date has been set we are thinking of a July wedding.

I know this picture is blury, but it is the best I have!

Stress

It’s 11pm, and I just finished marking science, a couple of book reports ad some writing assessments. Tonight I had my “I have a ton to do and not enough time to do it” freak out. This usually happens at least every couple of months. Right now my list seems endless, my time limited… I guess that is how life goes. These freak-outs usually bring great things, I know it sounds weird but I get more done is stressed mode then I do in less busy times. I always blame it on adrenaline, but it probably also has to do with fear. It has been this way for as long as I remember. In my world there are other benefits of being crazy busy, I usually can predict when I will get sick (often the third day of Christmas break), and I don’t get sick during the craziness. So tonight my freak out ended in a plan: I am going to get extensions on my courses, spend a couple of hours twice a week working on them, write report cards on the last weekend of October, spend two hours more a week at work, make a list and post it so I can see progress and ask people around me for help. It means giving up some time with Jay, getting less sleep, and getting home later. I hate it when I have to give up things I like for things I don’t; but in the end my sanity is worth it!

Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving weekend, and really I love this time of year! I love Thanksgiving because I am reminded how much I have to be thankful for. It's funny how we need a holiday to remind us of all the good things in life. Here is a short list of thinngs and people I am thankful for: My family, Jay, my friends (who I don't see enough but love me anyways), my job (which is amazing), the great community where I live, the fact that I can worship God at home, at church, and at work without any fear of persecution. Oh the list could go on and on!
This weekend Jay and I spent time with both of our families. On Friday we went to Blakes (Jay's littlest brother) hockey game and then header to McGregor until Sunday afternoon. We don't see enough of Jay's family so it was good to visit with them for a couple of days (plus we ate REALLY well). Yesterday we joined the Hayward family at my paren't house. This was the first holiday without Grandpa so it was good to get together. Almost everyone was here so that was good. Today (if Jay ever wakes up) we will head back to Mennville and get back to the grind. These next couple of weeks are a little crazy. Jay has a ton of stuff going on and I have to work on courses (I can see an extension in my future), and think about report cards soon. Time is just flying by! Well as lame as it is that's the update!
~S

Procrastination At Its’ Finest!

Yuppers I am in the process of procrastinating! Write now I should be writing a paper for English 307, but nope I am reading blogs, on facebook and have now resorted to updating my blog. All this after I kicked Jay out of my house so I could work (sorry J ). In my defence I am half way (or a little more) finished my paper and have hit a snag and need time to think! You see procrastination brings blog updates, so it isn’t all bad.
Life is settling into routine (which I love) and becoming normal after the crazy summer that was. Looking back the two months I had off are a blur and September has brought normalcy to my life (at least for the most part). Maybe this is because work becomes a rhythm, one day to the next (with little hiccups in between). I am enjoying work, something that was fading at the end of last year. Teachers really do need a break come June, it saves our sanity! Being back though has been really good, and I am remembering the joy of teaching.
I am finding balance in life lately (it will end soon). Although I have been busy and such with routine brings some semblance of balance. I actually see Jay almost every night, a change that hasn’t been too difficult to adjust to J. It’s nice to actually have conversations face to face at the end of the day. Plus he cooks dinner sometimes so that’s a bonus too! It is great to have him part of my everyday life, and not just in my weekend life! We cleaned his apartment last weekend so he really lives in Mennville now; all the loose ends in the city are tied up! Which means no more crazy weekend trips there at least for a couple of weeks. A weekend at home begins tomorrow and I have no plans to drive anywhere!
I have been thinking about two years ago, when I first moved to Mennville. I was lonely, and often “bored”. I craved relationships, and a sense of community. How things change! Life is busy, but really I like it that way! Last weekend I was lucky enough to hang out with Sherri! It had been awhile since we hung out, just the two of us!
Okay as random as that post was, at least it existed! It is now off to bed, with only half my paper done. Oppps!

First Day!

Yuppers I am back to work! I forgot what a day in the trenches feels like, oh but I remember now! I forgot how much energy teaching takes, as a teacher I am always "on", there are no down moments, there is no time to chatch my breath! This morning I was blessed with a new student. Yes, there was a moment of panic, but it is such a good thing to have a new student at the school and in my class! Other than that the day was pretty uneventful, that is what you get when you have the same teacher, with the same students, in the same classroom… it seems like June was just yesterday and it won’t take much time to get back into the swing of things, and the new things won’t take long to adjust to the changes that I have made.
I am also slowly getting into routine, which makes me happy! I love the sense of normalcy that routine brings. I seem to get WAY more done in life and in work when my life is full but organized. It seems the more I try to squeeze into my life the more gets done… why is that??

The End of the Summer

This weekend marked the end of my summer vacation! It was a good and busy weekend, a good end to a crazy summer. It started Friday with a bouquet of pretty flowers, which Jay gave me. They are very pretty! We then spent some time with Friends out at Hecla on Friday and Saturday. Paul and Ashley are leaving for Australia next week so a game of golf was apparently needed. Trina and I drove the carts as the other four golfed. After lunch Jay and I were off to the cottage to enjoy possibly our last ever weekend there. After watching 18 holes of golf I thought maybe I wanted to try it. Dad was excited and booked a tee time! So after the boys golfed in the morning the four of us golfed in the afternoon on Sunday. I sucked but it was kind of fun and I would even be willing to try it again! On Monday morning the guys went golfing AGAIN! While mom and I enjoyed a late sleep in! It was wonderful!It was back to work today, but with no students, they start tomorrow. I am actually pretty excited to get back to work. I really do love my job and I love my school and my kids. It has been a rather long summer and I am well rested and more organized than I have ever been in September. I have some exciting topics to teach, and therefore my job becomes more interesting. So really I am pretty excited about tomorrow! I always treat September like a new year and make “New Year’s” resolutions as I begin a new year in my world. This year my goal is to stay more organized. I have gotten to a good start, but we will see what happens as the year gets into full swing!