25

happy birthday to me :)
i'm 25 today.

so since the year is slight over half way lets look at the goals of 2010 and see how i'm doing....
so it is time to set some goals for 2010.

-have a awesome rest of my first year teaching and get rehired next year: awesome first year =check... get rehired= stupid budget and not finding out until the last weeks of school... still kinda bitter
-hopefully work where i worked last summer or find a fun summer job: dc didn't work out, but i'm loving what i'm doing!
-trip with my 3 best friends from college: road trip didn't happen for me.... but we did have a fun weekend in boston!
-continue traveling around the US: check - adventures in kansas & missouri with ptrish, and possibly 2 more trips?
-move out on my own: this plan has been put on hold by the whole no job thing...
- join a gym: also fail... but i am training for a half marathon
-read 100 books: 36 so far
- scrapbook more: ummm, i need to work on this.
-save $20,000: $17,000 in my savings account since october 2009
-take a college class: ummm, not with the no job
-look for the best in every situation: yes, especially with everything that happened in the last 2 months
-a relationship: ummm, was seeing someone from january to may
-keep in better touch with friends: yes, i have been writing a lot more emails and real letters too!
-get back to europe?: ummm.. nothing planned yet, but possibly in november/december if i don't have a teaching job
-edit thesis for publication: hahahahhahahaha... again
-be happy and love my life: i am pretty happy and things are going well, everything happens for a reason, so just trying to figure out where to go from here.

so things have been good so far, but within the last month things have changed and i'm into the unknown again. and for now... well i'm ok with that. while i'd love to have a job, if i don't the next year i'll be focusing on different things and traveling and having fun. everything happens for a reason so i'm just gonna go with it and see where life leads me.

a few things to add to the goals list:

-start up my photo 365 again. i did it from my july 31, 2007 to march 2009 and loved doing it. and i'm gonna bring it back. i feel like my 25th year is going to be interesting, so why not do a picture a day to document the crazy.

-write a 30 by 30 of the 30 things i would like to do in the next 5 years.

- find a job that makes me happy, where i love going to work in the morning

so i'm not too sure what the plans are for my birthday yet, but it involves a happy hour of some sort! and saturday is the rascal flatts concert! so yay :)

yay sailing :) (and you know you love the pink lifejacket)

how was your 25th birthday? did you do anything special?

running

this is really making me laugh right now:

jane austen's fight club - "come on, hit me... before i loose my nerve"


so i'm running a half marathon september 18th. and i NEED to get more motivated in my running. i'm struggling with running 3-4 times a week like i should be. and right now i'm at about 5 miles. according to my training plan i should be running 8 miles on saturday, but i'll be at 6. and my times are so slow. i don't know if it is the heat (though i've been trying to run at 7am) or that i'm just exhausted from work or what. but i am out of shape. once i'm running i'm ok, it is the actually getting my running shoes on and getting out the door. any advice on motivation. i know part of my problem is i did team sports my whole life... so i always had a friend to work out with, so trying to do this for me i'm struggling with. any advice?

ummm, work this week is a hott mess. there are no words for it but hott mess. let's just say it has been a long time since i've dealt with 10-12 year olds... summer of 2005 was the last time i worked with this age and i hated it.

i might be going to maine! i'm looking at going to acadia national park in august. that would be my 26th state, and my 3rd new place this year! i really want to see a moose!

and i am sooo tan this summer! i guess that is the joy of being outside on the water. and i've been having so much fun sailing! there was some decent wind tuesday so i went out and had a blast and learned how to do a few new things. and i also love that i'm not wearing makeup all summer, i shower throw my hair into a ponytail and use some moisturizer and chapstick. LOVE IT!

happy hour, cottages and lobsters

another fabulous weekend has come to an end. because i really only have a day and a half off on the weekends i like to take full advantage of my time off and do something fun. i was the same way all year planning little trips and fun things to do on weekends because i like to have something to look forward to at the end of the week and i like adventures. and this weekend was a blast.

friday afternoon it was raining and yucky when we finished up for the week. so hallie, mike, amy and i headed to the bar for some happy hour treats. where we had some fabulous conversation and the conversation went downhill pretty fast especially with the games we played and i had 4 arnold palmers... (sweet tea vodka with citron... absolutely delish!) and then we all headed home for a bit for dinner and for me to chug some water, before going back out for a few more drinks. and yes, we did go to the same place both times. (don't judge) where amy and i were hit on by a guy who was so horribly boring that we pretty much ran out of the bar, stopped and got some fabulous pizza and then JUST made it home before it stormed.

saturday amy and i had discussed going hiking. but when we finally started moving and it was almost 90 with 90% humidity at 9.30 am, she looked at me and went newport mansions? so we quickly got ready and went to newport for the day to look at the seaside cottages of the guilded age. so the late 1880s-1900s newport, rhode island was a huge seaside town for the rich & famous and they all built these redic summer cottages (mansions) and today a handful of them are open to the public to tour. so we went to the breakers - the vanderbuilt's summer home, which was impressive and just soooo much gold! and then we went and got snacks and picnicked on the front lawn rosecliff and then toured rosecliff and they had a great exhibit on clothing of the guilded age. rosecliff was gorgeous! i loved it, it was not as glitzy and their ballroom was gorgeous, but our guide. OMG. motionouss voice, no expression, sounded as if he memorized, didn't ask for questions, horrrrible! we didn't get much of a chance to explore the grounds as it stormed as we left, but it was so much fun! i can't wait to go back and look at more!

amy and i outside the breakers

front of rosecliff

and then amy and i went to abbott's for dinner. it is a lobster place right on the water and everything is fresh. so i've never had lobster and well i wanted to try it. (and me saying that is a big step) so we went. and it was a fun experience, but i'm not the biggest fan of lobster. the flavor was ok, but the texture got me. so i'm going to keep trying. but it was still a ton of fun and some gorgeous scenery!

about to try my lobster...

i love living here

playing with lobsters

so now it is back to work, this is week #6. crazy how fast it is going. and my birthday is friday, and rascal flatts is saturday! and i still have no idea what i'm doing after august 18th. but there might be a few fun things coming up if i don't have a job. so we'll see. if i'm not teaching this year i want to do what i did last summer in dc and travel. amy is talking about peru in january and i'd love to go. and i miss traveling, and my passport wants more stamps. so who knows...

how was your weekend?

soaked concert

hi blog :)

i've kinda ignored you the last two weeks, how are you? things here are pretty crazy, but awesome and my wanting to type well, has not been that productive. so it is already mid-july. seriously. how did this happen? i'm in week 5 of camp. crazy how fast time has flown. my birthday is in nine days and then it will be august. and i'm kinda nervous about august. i still don't know what i'll be doing, and well that freaks me out to no belief. but i know something will work out.

so life has been good, slightly crazy and busy and hot. camp is going well. i'm having fun, getting to go sailing, spending time on the water, laughing, dealing with lots of drama and enjoying the hot hot weather. and loving the weekends.

last weekend was magical. twin was in town and her, amy and i went to the tim mcgraw/lady antebellum concert in harford and it was incredible! we tailgated in the parking lot and then just as love & theft was starting a HUGE thunderstorm rolled in. so being in the lawn seats we got SOAKED. but it was so much fun. it stopped before lady a came onstage and omg, incredible. now i LOVE lady a and they are the main reason we went, i also love tim, but i was looking to see if lady a was on tour this summer. my favorite song by them right now is lookin' for a good time. omg, i've just been listening to it on repeat recently. (anyone else do that?)

and then came out tim. and wow, he puts on an incredible show. he is such a great performer and artist. and incredibly sexy. white v neck and cowboy hat... yum! (i really need to not live in nj) and he played 24 songs, and it was a good mix of new and old. and seeing him sing something like that (bbq stain) was fabulous. that was the tim mcgraw song that made me fall in love with him. and also live like you were dying gave me goosebumps.... so it was a great night with my two best friends :) and for a further note, i am not allowing those two to hang out together until my wedding related festivities. they each know too much about me and when they compare stories it is dangerous.

i can't wait for rascal flatts with amy next week! and taylor swift has a new cd coming out OCTOBER 25th! eeeeeeeeee! i can't wait!!! and i'm seeing my favorite patricia on thursday night, which i am soooo excited about!

anyway i need to head into work and finish working on a few job applications. enjoy a few of my recent pictures. so how has your summer been?

me, amy and twin tailgating

i feel like this picture sums up the evening....

YAY!!!

twin and i SOAKED!

tim mcgraw!

absolutely gorgeous sunset last week!

happy birthday america

i had an absolutely amazing weekend. like hands down it was fabulous. last week was a good week at camp but i couldn't wait until happy hour with amy. camp is going well and is a ton of fun and i'm definitely enjoying myself. so friday was kinda quiet after happy hour but saturday was an epic day. it consisted of some of my favorite things that start with the letter b.

biking

beach

boating

amy and i woke up early and met up with the captain and we went off on a bike ride to this cute little breakfast place a few miles away in one of my favorite little coastal towns near us. and then we drove up to rhode island for the morning at the beach. we were there by 9.30 and set out and enjoyed the glorious sun - maybe a little too much, as we are all now lobsters (but we used sunscreen, oops!) and enjoyed walking around and lunch before heading back home where we decided to enjoy a boat ride on the sound. so we had some fun out in the sound and it was just fabulous. then one of our friends who was in town invited us to his yacht club for dinner and fireworks at the beach, which was fun and i absolutely love fireworks.

sunday was a bit crazy we were again invited to the yacht club to help with a 4th of july breakfast on the beach, so we were at the beach at 6.30 am and it was awesome. what a cool idea of breakfast on the beach. had to go into work for a few hours, as it was the first day of camp (should be another awesome week!) and then i went to more amazing fireworks with other friends sunday night, this show was pretty awesome but the coolest part was all along the coast your could see the different fireworks from the different towns. at one point there were 5 different fireworks going off - so awesome!

and now i'm still as red as a lobster on my stomach and upper thighs and headed into work soon. i'm loving my schedule, amy and i alternate nights at camp. so we work like 30 hours on and then like 18 off. and i'm off 3 nights this week. and last week two students made my day, i got an email from one of my now seniors asking for a college letter of recommendation and another girl is in the national guard and is in basic training alll summer so she asked for my address so she could get mail (only way of communication) and i got one from her friday and it totally made me cry because she wrote about how much she liked my class and now has an interest in history. oh and totally random, i bought a pink lifejacket, how awesome is that? i absolutely love it and it totally fits my personality!

fireworks on sunday night (i love the fireworks setting on my camera!)

sunset over the sound on sunday night

4th of july breakfast on the beach

boating on the sound

ahhh, beach :)

how was your 4th of july? (and a happy belated canada day to all my canadian friends!) last year when i went to the national archives in june and got to see the declaration of independence and the constitution was possibly the most awesome thing!