I'm feeling like a little kid on Christmas Eve....

Why???

Oh...I'll tell you why!

Tomorrow morning....I get to....wait for it...

.......

...go BACK TO WORK!!!!

Now I know that sounds like such a ridiculous concept. Most people would be ELATED to have months off of work. (Which I did have.) But sometimes there is only so much you can do with your time off, then you just get bored.

I hit that point in my summer a looooong time ago!

So my job...it's basically the greatest thing on earth. Which is why I am dying to go back!

Here is where I work.

Not the best picture, but it's all I could find!

Gordon L. Grogan Elementary is one of the GREATEST elementary schools on the planet! I spent four months there completing my student teaching a year and a half ago. One year ago to the day, I was starting my first long-term substitute teaching job in the fourth grade. One of the greatest experiences of my life! And tomorrow I will be returning to my favorite place as a Title 1 Interventionist.

And I feel like an excited child at Christmas time!

My job this year will consist of working with small groups of students in grades 3-5. The students I will work with are the students who fall in the bottom half of the class (grade-wise) due to money issues or problems at home. They are capable of achieving higher grades, but outside factors are preventing them from succeeding. It will be my job to work with them in small groups and one-on-one to help them get their grades up. Most of the time just having someone to go over things with you one-on-one will help these kids tremendously, and they start to feel safe at school and learn to love school and want to succeed.

This is a job that I am VERY passionate about.

Since I've been "working" at Grogan for about 2 years now, I have grown very close to the staff and students there. I can honestly say that besides my bedroom, it is my most favorite place to be in the entire world. I consider it my second home and it's a place that brings me so much happiness. I honestly wish that everyone else out there loved their job as much as I love mine!

Cheers to a great first day!

Random thoughts

I got this hilaaarious e-mail from a friend today, and I wanted to share it with everyone! Check out these random thoughts of the day...I know that I can relate to more than a few!

*Random Thoughts of the Day:*

1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

4. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

5. That's enough, Nickelback. (HAHA LOVE ITTTT)

6. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. (Agreed!)

7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

8. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

9. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

10. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

12. The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.

13. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? (They will tell you if you visit Linens and Things! HAHA!)

14. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

15. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

16. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

17. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

18. Was learning cursive really necessary?

19. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say". (Agreed!)

20. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

21. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

22. My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

23. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

24. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

25. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

26. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

27. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

28. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and
instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

29. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

30. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

31. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

32. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

33. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. (Ummm Agreed!)

34. Bad decisions make good stories.

35. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

36. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

37. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

38. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

39. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

40. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

41. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

42. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

43. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

44. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

45. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

46. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

47. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

48. When I meet a new guy, I'm terrified of mentioning something he hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

49. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes. (This ALWAYS happens to me!)

50. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

51. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

52. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

53. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

54. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

55. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

56. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

57. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

58. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that? (BAHAHAHAHA)

59. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text. (This happens to me ALL THE TIME)

60. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

61. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

62. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

63. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag,saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

Which ones can you relate to?

Oh...and one more thing...

The Twilight Saga: New Moon 'Meet Jacob Black' Preview in HD

DEAD.

Baseball Deliciousness!

HEY!

So I know it's only Wednesday, but I've already had a spectacular week! Tuesday night was one of the greatest nights in a really long time! My mom, dad, sister and I went down to Toledo to meet up with my cousins for dinner and a Toledo Mud Hens game. If you don't know who the Mud Hens are, they are the minor league team for the Detroit Tigers. So you know, they have the younger, more in shape players who haven't touched the 'roids yet. ANYWAYS! Dinner was amazing, we ate at Pizza Papalis (we have one here in Detroit also!) and it was DELICIOUS!!! If you ever go there, get the deep dish! It takes a long time to make, but it's worth it!

Next, we walked next door to the game! My cousin Phil is an intern with the Mud Hens. He does stats and runs the score board! This is what he looks like, hard at work! (He's the one standing):

We found our seats once we got inside, and they were THIS GOOD! Like 7 rows away from the field, behind home plate! Once we sat down, I looked through the magazine to find the hot guys on the team lol. I quickly picked a favorite! His name is Jeff Frazier (#35) and he's my age, and married. Bummer, but this was all just for fun! My sister and I cheered really loud for all of the players!

They do lots of fun things during the break between each inning at Mud Hens games! At the Tigers games they usually do one or 2 things, but in Toledo it's during every inning! The highlight for me was the mascot race! They usually do digital races on the jumbo-trons, but here they did REAL LIVE MASCOT races! I diedddd! I got a good picture of all 3 of them right after they finished racing. The pink cat won!

My sister and I wandered around for a bit because we wanted to get t-shirts! We found ones that we liked in the kids section! Score for us, they were only $10! Here is a picture:

L-R: Aunt Diane, Rachel (sister), my mom, and myself!

So the game is ending and we had a fabulous time. My sister had a few pops, so she was really energized at the end. She decided to go down by the dugout with all of the little kids. She ended up getting a game ball thrown to her by...none other then....JEFF FRAZIER!!! Of course I die when she tells me. I was right by her but couldn't see....besides there were so many kids! I didn't want to get in their way. But I DID want to sneak a peek at the ball players! WOOOO!

Anyways, these are like the only pictures I could find of Jeff Frazier:

He's delicious in person, I swear! Plus he has a southern accent....WAIT I didn't get to that part yet!

So after the game ends, my sister texts my cousin to tell him about the ball she got. And my aunt kept saying "Ask him if he could get it signed!" since my cousin is all down with the Mud Hens haha. So he calls us and says "Come up to my office" (in the press box) so we go. He ended up taking us down to the locker rooms, and he pulled Jeff Frazier out! We got to say hi and meet him, and he signed our baseball! He also told my cousin that if we want to go to any more games, he would put us on his "list". UM HI I DIED.

Then we went onto the field! Which was really cool as well. And THEN my sister was embarrassing in front of more baseball players when we got locked in and she tried to climb the fence. But that is a whole different story haha.

So here is a picture of me with my signed baseball...which I accidentally fell asleep with last night. HA HA!

GO MUD HENS!!!!

Weekend Fun

Usually my weekends consist of not much more than movies and ice cream, maybe an occasional visit from friends. But this past weekend, I was so very busy! (Which I actually prefer the latter.) Sunday happened to be the highlight of my weekend. I spent all day with my team at stunt camp! Now I know you are thinking "didn't you just go to camp LAST weekend?" Haha well yes, I did. But this was just a ONE day camp! My team did an incredible job! They learned a ton of new stunts and were successful the entire day. Here are some pictures to prove it!

This is the first pyramid we learned. A "pyramid" is when you have more than one stunt group doing things next to each other. Most of the time the girls on top help each other out. In this one the girl holding the other girl's foot is going to push her up and twist her. You get the idea from the next picture!

After she twists she gets caught by the girls underneath then they go up into another stunt! Which I didn't get a picture of!

This is the second pyramid we learned! There is a lot of throwing and twisting involved...good thing my kids know what to do because I couldn't remember everyone's parts!

The girl in the center is "Peanut"!

After the stunt camp on Sunday, I headed off to see a show in Ann Arbor. I went to see a guy named Daniel Johnston. He's in his 40's now but he has a very interesting story. He looks like this:

You may have seen this weird alien around before, but never knew what it was. Now you do! This is the cover art of the cassette tape that made him famous. He recorded it in 1983, the same year I was born! There is a huge painting of it somewhere in Austin, Texas.

I first learned about Daniel a couple days after my best friend died. He had MANY similarities to Daniel. Daniel is bipolar but he is really a genius at making music. His music is raw and real and 100% from the heart. He isn't the greatest singer and he still struggles on the guitar. (My best friend was just like that too.) His story is just so interesting and amazing and devastating all at the same time. I highly recommend watching his documentary. It's called "The Devil and Daniel Johnston". It's really extraordinary.

I went to the show with my good friend Joe, and my best friend's (the one I mentioned above) brother Phil. It was really great being at the show and witnessing it, but it was also amazing to be there with Joe and Phil. We can all relate to Daniel and his story since it reminds us all of our Greg.

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend!

Can I please look like...

This blog is just for fun, since I know it's not possible to change how my face looks...but MAN do I spend a lot of time wishing I looked like other people! I think so many people are so beautiful for so many reasons. Here are some of the beautiful ladies I would give my left arm to look like! (Because if I looked like them, I would be so beautiful that it wouldn't matter if I were missing an arm!)

DISCLAIMER: I do spend a lot of time wishing I looked like these ladies, but I don't think I'm ugly (most of the time). We all have our days, especially us girls! So I don't want you to think that I'm drastically unhappy with my looks, because I manage. I'd just manage much better with the following looks...

MEGAN JOY

Ok...so she wasn't the best singer on AI last season. And that's being nice because let's face it, she was terrible. But LOOK AT HER! I spent the entire time she was on the show swooning over her looks...until she opened her mouth. I'd give anything to look like her. I also wish I could pull off the tattoos, it's always been something I wish I could do but can't. (I'm a teacher so my lifestyle just isn't conducive to tattoos.)

RACHEL McADAMS

Raise your hand if you DON'T want to look like Rachel McAdams...*sees no hands* That's what I thought! She can pull off ANY hair color, and she still looks incredible. I personally think that she looks the MOST incredible in "Wedding Crashers". I thought her dark hair with her light skin looked so classic. I could never pull it off. She did it amazingly!

HANNA BETH

Most people won't be familiar with Hanna Beth. She's sort of an "internet celebrity". I personally think such celebrities need to get a real life and get off the internet, but I think Hanna Beth is just beyond gorgeous. If I HAD to pick only one person to magically look like, it would be her. You see, I have this problem where I desperately want to be a brunette, but I just can't pull it off. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE that hair color, I just can't make it look good :(. Sad for me, but I'll live! And I'll just go on wishing that I looked like that!

MINKA KELLY

Here is a small fact that you don't know about me...I am OBSESSED with the show "Friday Night Lights". I think that the story lines are great. I also think the actors are amazing! And Minka Kelly is so beautiful on that show! If you haven't ever seen it, GO RENT IT! I haven't seen her on anything else, but I read somewhere that she is dating a Yankee. I can't remember if its Jeter or A-Rod but its one of those 2. ANYWAYS! BEA-U-TI-FUL!

VICTORIA JUSTICE

Now I have a confession to make. This is really hard for me...but I need to confess. Sometimes....I...like to watch...The N! I know, I know. But I love me some Degrassi! And when you watch The N a lot, you catch other shows, like the one this pretty girl is on. (Zoey 101...I know...I need a life.) I'm not a fan of the show, but this girl is so freakin' adorable on it! And now she's grown up a bit and is so gorgeous! So if you can't tell that I'm dying to be a gorgeous brunette at this point, then you should probably leave! (I KID!)

SARAH MAZALOUSKAS

So I know for a fact that you don't know this gorgeous girl...but I will bet that one day in the future you will! This amazingly GORGEOUS girl is my cousin Sarah! When she was finishing high school, she went to LA for a couple months to be an extra on the show "Unfabulous" starring Emma Roberts. I've watched episodes and have seen her in the background many times! After Sarah graduated, she moved to LA permanently to pursue her acting/modeling career. She is just getting started and she has a BRIGHT future ahead of her! I think she is SO BEAUTIFUL! My favorite pictures of her are the ones where she is smiling. :)

Here she is again!

Those are some of the most beautiful girls on the planet in my opinion! I thought this would be a fun post, because I KNOW you ladies out there can relate. There are times where you just think to yourself "why can't I look like HER?" I guess if I'm the only one who does that, then I'm just a freak :) But at the end of the day...I just look like me...which isn't so bad either. :)

Who do YOU want to look like!!??!!

My job

This weekend I got to take my lovely Varsity cheer team to cheer camp! I have been coaching cheerleading for going on 8 years now (I'm soooo fricken old!) and it is my third year coaching Varsity. My team is one of the top teams in the state when it comes to competitive season (starts in November!). But right now it's only football season which means basically we cheer a few games and do a lot of practicing of skills that we need once competitive rolls around. My team is seriously IN-CREDIBLE! Last year they were state champ runner-ups and got their silver medals...but this year we are going to TAKE THE GOLD. I already know it! They proved that at camp! So here is what camp was like for us this weekend!

World...meet my team!

I have 5 seniors - Abbie, Ashleigh, Jessica, Carrie, Lexie; 4 juniors - Megan, Lexi, Peanut, Michelle; and 3 sophomores - Shelby, Christine, and Allie! They are incredible athletes. We are a Division 3 school, which means we do not have very many kids to pick from. Our division is always the most unpredictable when it comes to state finals. Every year there is a new state champion. In D1 and D2, there have been reigning state champions for many years in a row. When I was a senior in HS I was on the very first team from our school to make it to the state finals. The year after, they won the state championship! I missed it by one stinkin' year. But we've been at the finals every year since, and that is a big accomplishment in our Division! So having 12 strong girls is a really good start for us!

This is one of the stunts we did in our final day routine. My picture taking skills are really horrible, I know and I apologize. For those of you who know cheerleading, you know that this isn't a very difficult stunt. BUT - the night before my team won a contest where they did 217 stunts in a row! (Stunts that look like the 2 side ones, not the middle one!) So they were sore and bruised, and then I was really happy that I didn't put anything very hard in their routine. Oh and by the way...every stunt they did was worth $1 donated the the American Cancer Society! My team raised $217! It was such an incredible night for them! :)

Now THIS was probably the most fun thing that we did at camp! They had a high ropes course at the camp ground, and it was all in the trees and made from wires and tree branches and ropes! My team was incredible on it. Even if they were scared, everyone did most of the elements. I even went up and did most of them! It was such a cool experience being on wires and ropes above the trees!

Here is another shot of some of my girls on the course! The swing element was the hardest one that I did.

I took a lot of pictures that turned out like this and I really liked how they looked! You can't really tell who it is but the silhouette against the sky and trees turned out really cool! But I can tell that that is Megan :)

Other highlights from camp include: vicious thunderstorms on Saturday night that knocked out all of the power and water to the campground, seeing my alumni become amazing staffers, making s'mores with my team, and getting so much praise for how good they look and how much talent they have. And I hope that in March I get to write a blog about how amazing if feels to coach State Champions!

How was your weekend???

Cedar Point!

HI EVERYONE!!!!

So its been awhile! Sorry about that! I've been really busy the past 5-ish days!

Today I wanted to talk a bit about this place that I looooove so much! And I went there last week hence the being busy!

Anyways! Do youuuuu like amusement parks?? DO YA??!!

Well, let me tell you about the best one in the entire world...

CEDAR POINT!

Seriously.

If you live in the midwest, you have probably heard of this place. If you haven't, please click

HERE!

Let me just give you a small taste of what I did there...

This is the greatest roller coaster even made! The Millennium Force. From the website:

Consistently voted the "Best Steel Coaster in the World," Millennium Force broke TEN world records when it opened in 2000.

Riders climb the 310-foot-tall lift hill smoothly and quickly and dive towards the earth at an 80-degree angle at speeds of 93 mph!

Ummm yesss!!! Simply amazing!

"Oh hello!! I am the Raptor! When you ride on me, you sit so your feet dangle with nothing below them! I also go upside down 12 different times...sweet!"

The Raptor is seriously amazing and even though it's been there for 15 years, it's still one of THE BEST rollercoasters there!

This young gem is called the Mantis. Instead of sitting on this one, you stand!! I got a bad headache riding this one a few years ago, so I used to pass it up when I went. But this time I decided to give it another try...and I'm glad that I did! I looooved it!

(And ps...I figured out the trick to not getting a headache! You just have to push your head to one of the sides and hold it there when you go upside down. That way your head doesn't smash from side to side, giving you a massive headache!)

Aye. This guy is called the Mean Streak. It is soooo old and just this MASSIVE wooden structure. It is also the BUMPIEST ride you will ever ride. I only rode this one for the first time last year. And when I did last year, my sister smashed her knee on it. Also my bf hurt his back on it. So I would NOT recommend this to anyone who is in any sort of rough shape, because it's a brutal one. But for some reason, I still like it! Oh Mean Streak!

So my trip RULED. I also rode the Maverick, the Mine Ride, the Wicked Twister, and a few more that I can't remember. The only downside was that my legs were sore for days because of all the walking we did. But that is to be expected!

That is about it for now! I'm leaving for cheer camp on Friday morning, should be fun!